#lets all just be cluster B buddies :)
Note
Here's a prompt
Rowan as a stay home dad or just getting out of his job and going to pick up their children from school and all the teachers and mothers drooling after him
Thx💚
i mean, Rowan is canonically a dilf, right? ;)
word count: 1,558
warnings:
enjoy!!
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Every afternoon when he drove over to the elementary school to pick up his kids, Rowan wished to all things holy that his car had all tinted windows, because gods above, the staring was going to be the death of him. It was all he could do to climb out of the car and walk over towards the playground to collect his children without dearly wanting to crawl into the blacktop pavement and die from embarrassment.
Children everywhere, and still the parents and even the teachers had eyes for nothing but him.
But he had to go and physically check out his kids, because they were all too young to check themselves out and go to their dad’s car. They had to be in fourth grade or above to do that, or have an older sibling in fourth grade or above, and his oldest was still only in third grade.
Today, it was like the usual “sneaky” glances had been amplified by a thousand as he strode across the blacktop to where his daughter’s class was waiting in their line. He swore there was even a muffled wolf whistle that followed him as he passed a certain cluster of moms, all of them in their twenties, all of them blatantly sweeping their false-lashed gazes up and down his form.
“Afternoon, Mr. Whitethorn.” one of the bolder moms simpered, smirking flirtatiously at him.
Rowan grunted something that sounded vaguely like a hello.
“Guess he doesn’t speak much,” the mom murmured to her friends, just loud enough for him to hear.
“That one doesn’t need to speak,” smirked another mom. “One word and I’d do anything he tells me, oh yes I would.”
“And you’d do it with a ‘yes, sir,’ wouldn’t you?” the first mom snickered.
The cluster of mamas broke into giggles and snorts. Rowan locked his jaw and kept going, imagining all the things his brilliant accountant wife would have to say to the moms if and when she ever came to pick up her kids. God, he wished Aelin were here, wished he could watch her grin her vicious grin as she no doubt retorted with something that would leave the smirking moms in complete and utter shock as well as leave him with a mighty blush.
“Dad!” His oldest daughter’s voice broke through his thoughts as she waved to him from her class line.
“Hey, Lana.” Rowan closed the distance between her and where he’d been standing, nodding casually at her teacher.
Who blushed like a schoolgirl as she checked Lana’s name off on her list.
“Have a lovely day, Mr. Whitethorn!” the young woman crooned, blushing up to her ears.
Hell, Rowan groaned internally, the teachers too?!
Lana was apparently oblivious, tugging on his hand. “C’mon, Dad! We gotta go pick Bran up!”
“I haven’t forgotten, Lana,” he chuckled, allowing his eight-year-old to pull him in the direction of Brannon’s first-grade class. “Hey, buddy!”
“Dada!” Bran yelled, running to his father as fast as his six-year-old legs could carry him, rules of checking out be damned. “Wanna see my new band-aid?”
“Slow down there, B,” Rowan laughed, nodding to his son’s teacher. The older woman nodded back, checking off Bran’s name on her clipboard.
“Don’t let that one near the slides for a few days,” she called, winking at Bran. Rowan had been a fan of the teacher the minute he and Aelin met her on their son’s first day, the woman’s obvious love for teaching and affection for the kids she taught evident in the way she structured her class and treated no child any differently than the others.
“Noted,” Rowan grinned, huffing a soft laugh. “Bud, you been going down the slide on your tummy again?”
“Nooooooo.” Bran widened his eyes into the portrait of innocence.
Kid got that one from his mother, he did.
“You have to be careful, Bran,” Rowan reminded the boy, ruffling his hair. “Show me the band-aid when we get home, yeah?”
“It’s Batman!” Bran crowed, beaming like it was an achievement.
Lana snorted. “It’s still ’cause you got hurt.” She tugged on Rowan’s hand again, pulling him towards the parking lot. “You’re so slow, Dad!” she complained. “We still gotta get Emmy from daycare.”
“Like we do every day,” Rowan added, clicking the button to unlock the car so his kids could clamber into their seats. With some pushing and shoving, as the little one always did.
Some ten minutes later, they pulled up to the daycare building and all piled out, the kids running ahead of Rowan to push the automatic door button. They were obsessed with automatic doors lately, taking every chance to go through a sliding door at a store and press all the buttons whenever they saw one.
Rowan ducked his head into the door of Emmy’s room, his youngest daughter spotting him immediately and sprinting to him with all the speed her three-year-old self could muster. “Dada Dada!”
“Hi, baby!” Rowan beamed, swooping her up into his arms. “You have a good day?”
“Lot better now that he’s here,” one of the teachers whispered from her seat by the door.
The other one snickered. “Who needs Tinder when you’ve got eyes on a real life catfish?”
For the umpteenth time since going to pick up his kids, Rowan felt his face start to burn. Even the daycare teachers couldn’t let a day go by without commenting on his appearance. And they were young, younger than the teachers at the elementary school, so it really was like avoiding teenagers.
“Thanks,” he threw over his shoulder as he herded his children out to the car.
“Dada I paint!” Emmy declared, thrusting a paper in his face.
He laughed, buckling her into her carseat. “Hold it a little farther away, sweetheart. Dada can’t tell what pretty picture you made if it’s so close to my eyeballs.”
Emmy giggled. “Is puppy!”
“It’s beautiful, baby.”
The puppy was extremely...colorful. Yes. Colorful.
And yes, he’d be hanging it up on the fridge when they got home. One simply did not put his children’s artwork anywhere else.
Twenty minutes later, they were piling out of the car and racing inside, the older ones shoving each other aside to claim the prize of pounding up the stairs like any herd of elephants while Emmy squirmed and wriggled in Rowan’s arms, demanding a snack. He just kissed her blonde head and let her run around the living room with her siblings while he got some snacks out.
The snacks, of course, were gone in under ten minutes. Because his children had inherited Aelin’s eating habits along with her irresistible puppy eyes.
And then the Whitethorn kids made their way out to the backyard, running and yelling and expending all the energy they suddenly had. Rowan watched them fondly through the kitchen window as he prepared dinner, only having to duck outside once when Lana tripped over something and all three kids somehow ended up in a pile of arms and legs and disgruntled squawking on the grass.
Aelin’s car pulled into the driveway just as he’d called all of them in to wash up for dinner, which was forgotten as soon as their mother walked into the house.
“Mama!” Emmy screeched, throwing herself at Aelin, her little arms wrapped tightly around her legs.
“Hi, lovey,” Aelin laughed, winking at Rowan as she stooped down to hug her baby. “What did you paint today?”
“Puppy!” Emmy proudly showed Aelin the newest fridge decoration.
“I got a Batman band-aid!” Bran declared proudly, displaying his scraped knee and the Batman bandage atop it.
Aelin pressed her lips together to squash down her mirth. “What have we discussed about you coming home wearing more band-aids, Brannon?”
“It was an accident!” he protested. “And I’m fine, Mama!”
“Bet you are,” she snickered, kicking out of her heels and kissing her son’s messy head before rolling onto her toes to kiss Rowan. “Hey, babe.”
“Hi, my love.” He took Emmy into his arms. “Let’s let Mama wash up too, yeah?”
“I hungry!”
“Yeah, and you have to wash your hands before dinner, right, little one?”
“With soap!” Lana chirped, pushing her brother back into the bathroom. “You never use soap, Bran.”
“Do too!” he yelled.
“Whoa there,” Rowan interrupted, breaking them apart before either one could smack the other. “Can I see your hands, Bran?” His son reluctantly held up his hands.
“I washed,” he mumbled.
“With soap?”
No response.
“Want to wash up in the kitchen sink?”
“Yeah!”
So Rowan held him up to reach the kitchen sink and let him scrub his hands that way. Aelin grinned, brushing a kiss onto his jaw as she passed to go change.
“Marry a man who’ll raise your kids right, they said,” she teased.
“Not you too,” Rowan groaned.
Her laugh echoed through the house. “School moms checking you out again, Ro?”
“When are they not?” he grumbled.
She winked. “Ain’t none of them got a real life, don’t worry about what they and the margarita they drank right before they came to the school say.”
He snorted. “Touché, Fireheart.”
She blew him a kiss. “Don’t let the kiddos eat up all the food! Or else I’ll have to eat you for dinner!”
Gods, he couldn’t be reacting to her like that with his kids right there.
~~~
TAGS:
@charlizeed
@cretaceous-therapod
@clea-nightingale
@autumnbabylon
@nerdperson524
@claralady
@fireheartwhitethorn4ever
@morganofthewildfire
@rowanaelinn
@wesupremeginger
@story-scribbler
@nicolivesinbooks
@mackenzieclutt
@stardelia
@shanias-world
@mybloodrunsblue
@swankii-art-teacher
@wordsafterhours
@cookiemonsterwholovesbooks
@violet-mermaid7
@holdthefrickup
@goddess-aelin
@rowaelinismyotp
@dealfea
@irondork
@elentiyawhitethorn
@live-the-fangirl-life
@darling-im-the-queen-of-hell
@chronicchthonic14
@whispers-in-the-darkest-heart
@sweet-but-stormy
@hanging-from-a-cliff
@jorjy-jo
@rowaelinrambling
@thegreyj
@silentquartz
@backtobl4ck
@throneofus7
#my writing#aelin galathynius#rowan whitethorn#rowaelin#dilf rowan#dad rowan#rowaelin kiddos#fluff#fluff to cure my shit day
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Pinky, Brain, and Daniel in Body Rockers ( Mighty B Spoof )
( it was Friday and the Animaniacs cast were on a field trip )
Cast: Peanut butter in a Cup!
We sing this chant
To wake us up!
Bang! Bang! Choo Choo Train!
Come on Pinky
Do your thang!
Pinky: I can’t!
Cast: Why not!?
Pinky: I just can’t!
Cast: Why not!?
Pinky: My back is aching
The sun's too bright
My hips are shaking from left to right
Cast: To the left To the right
To the left To the right
Left right! Left right!
Left right left right
Left right left right!
Nora: ( whistles to silence them ) Quiet Animaniacs! When we arrive at the Discovertorium, I want everyone to stay together, so buddy up.
Daniel: Oh! I call Brain and Pinky! I know you all want them but, you know, you snooze, you loose.
Pinky: And what did I win? Poit.
Brain: ( sighs )
( soon, they arrived at the Discovertorium )
Daniel: Water: Check! Cheese bites: Check! Headlamp: Check! Medical records: Check! Long copy of Atlas Shrugged: Check! Buddies: Check! That’s everything! Come on boys, science awaits!
( they enter in as Pinky drinks his water bottle. Inside, they were greeted by the tour guide )
Mr. Starlight: Good morning Cell Clusters! As we’ll discover today, that’s exactly what we are. I’m you’re tour guide, Mr. Starlight, but you can call me Starry, everyone does.
Nora: I’m Nora Rita Norrita, the CEO of WB. And certified Patty Pay Cosmetics Representatives. Call me when you’re done with this... whole look.
Mr. Starlight: Oh... Well, I hope everyone's ready to get their hands dirty, because today, we are going to explore the stinky messy wiener that’s the Human Body! Let’s dig in!
( the cast follows Mr. Starlight )
Cora: Did you hear that Bucktooth, she called you stinky.
Pinky: She also said wonder.
( they enter a exhibit where a film starts )
Announcer: In the future, doctors will be able to shrink down to the size of a vitamin, and repair your body from the inside.
Pinky: Poit... uh... Dan?
Daniel: Not now, Pinky. We’re looking at the future.
Announcer: If you think that’s wild, just imagine what a year like 2030 will bring.
( Pinky pulls on Daniel's jacket to get his attention )
Daniel: Pinky, please! I’m deep in my learning zone!
Pinky: But I gotta... tinkle!
( Daniel looked surprised before turning to Nora )
Daniel: Uh, Nora? Can I have a second? I think Pinky needs the—
Nora: ( whistles a bit ) Quiet! We are in a museum!
Pinky: Daniel, Brain I have to go right now! RIGHT NOW!
Brain: Pinky, calm down. Let’s just find a bathroom ourselves.
Daniel: I hear ya. When a mouse has to pee, a mouse has to pee!
( Daniel then imagines himself as a superhero )
Daniel: Pinky! Brain! Facilities! Starboard!
( the mouse fights his way through the rest of the cast before busting a door, but then next one knocks them back and reality comes back. They tumbled into a storage room screaming and crash into a box of moths. Daniel removed the sign off his face and they tumble on an electric ball and poom off before riding down a dinosaur fossil and into a elevator. They went up and when they reached the top, they slipped and slide across the wet floor. They slip into the aircon system and were immediately blown away into the vent. After some turns and twists, the three mice bounce on something soft and then onto the ground. After groaning in pain and getting up, they looked around )
Pinky: Uh oh. Someone forgot to flush.
Daniel: This isn’t a bathroom, this is... a human brain!
Pinky: ( gasps ) But I can’t pee in someone’s brain!
Brain: Okay, calm down boys. Thinking, thinking, Brain, processing, piecing together, okay! I know what happened! As foretold by the exhibit, we’ve been zapped to the size of raisins, and— and now we’re trapped inside someone’s head!
Pinky: Trapped!? Oh, no, no-no-no, no-no-no, no-no-no!
Daniel: Wait a minute, Brain, think you meant was we’re stuck.
Pinky: EGAD! Stuck! Forever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and ever and—!?
Daniel and Brain: PINKY, GO TO YOUR QUIET PLACE!
( Pinky calms down but nervously )
Brain: Okay, don’t worry. I know there is a number of exits in the human body. The right eye, the left eye, the left nostril, the left nostril, both ears, and the mouth.
Pinky: What about the b—?
Brain: ( silences Pinky ) Uh, dah-dah-dah-dah, no-no-no, we’re not going there! ( grabs Pinky and Daniel's hands and heads some way ) Let’s find the nose, and get out of here!
( back with the group, they were looking at a huge robotic man )
Mr. Starlight: And who is this hunky fellow? Let’s look at the name tag. Why it’s Jumbo Jim! A perfect plaster replica of the human body. Now we all know what the outside of the human body looks like, but Jumbo Jim allows us to take a plunge into the inside! Did you know, the average human swallows 29 gallons of mucus a year?
Nora: ( gagging ) Ugh! I don’t know a single person who does that! Disgusting!
Mr. Starlight: ( chuckles ) Let’s talk about breathing. ( breaths in and then out in Nora's face ) The involuntary actions that powers all of our other actions. Observe. ( presses a button )
( back with the mice, they found the nostrils )
Daniel: Look! There’s a way out!
( they jump out but were pulled back in screaming )
Dot: Eh... Rhino Nasty. I wonder where my boyfriend is. ( Puts on cotton candy lipbalm )
( the mice struggled to hold on to nose hairs )
Brain: Daniel! Pinky! Don’t let go of those nose hairs! Hold on!
Daniel: I can’t! It’s smelling me too hard!
( The nose hairs snap and they were sent flying into the lungs )
Brain: BOYS, ARE YOU OKAY!?
Pinky: I STILL HAVE TO PEE!
Mr. Starlight: And that’s where coughing comes in. It is the plan B of the Respiratory System. ( presses another button )
( the robot coughs and the winds inside loose control )
Daniel: Hold on! ( lassos Pinky and Brain before they were sucked into something )
Mr. Starlight: And now it’s time for our fantastic journey to begin. ( the mouth opens and sticks out the tongue ) We'll enter the body like most things through the mouth.
( everyone crosses the tongue, with Yakko gagging with every step. Cut to the group in red blood cell carts, cheering )
Mr. Starlight: Before we can take a while ride on a Red Blood Cell Rollercoster, we have to alert the engine of the body, the heart. Ready?
( the ride powers down for a bit. Mr. Starlight bangs on it and it takes off, but slowly, much to everyone's disappointment. They didn’t notice the mice floating through the veins past them )
Mr. Starlight: Woah, hold on to your hats everyone!
Katie KaBoom: Who wears hats anymore? Ugh...
( the mice scream as they enter the heart and bounce all around uncontrollably )
Brain: HEAD FOR THAT HOLE! ( grabs Pinky and Daniel and jumps through the next vein )
( cut back to the group )
Mr. Starlight: Isn’t this exciting? We are speeding along down this vein just like red blood cells collecting and distributing oxygen to the body!
Slappy: Whatever, I’m gonna catch up on my reading. ( takes a book out of her purse and reads ) Chapter 5: The Big Day.
( meanwhile with the mice, they scream as they tumbled into the hand. After getting up all dizzy, rain is the first to notice
Brain: ( gasps ) Let’s see. Radius, ulna, metacarpals, phalanges...
Pinky: TOILET!
Brain: We’re in the hand! There’s no way out! ( throws a lighting rope down to them ) Grab on boys, we’re gonna have to climb all they way back to the head! ( climbs up )
( later, the mice were walking down a pipe )
Pinky: I can’t hold it all the way to the head! Poit!
Daniel: Think positive Pinkadoodle. You are an Animaniac. Picture yourself as a butterfly with beautiful wings, flying over a river of obstacles, letting all your fear flow out of you.
Pinky: ( cringes ) Don’t say 'flow'. Troz.
( back with the troop )
Mr. Starlight: When we get sick, it means a foreign bacteria or virus has invaded our bodies, just like bill collectors or guys in suits telling you to pay your taxes for Salazar. We attack them and we throw them out!
( everyone stares at him )
Slappy: Hm. Surprise, surprise. Wakko's Wish made the hippie not like paying taxes.
Mr. Starlight: ( pulls a lever and white balloons blow forward ) Here we see the body’s bodyguards white blood cells fighting off foreign bacteria. Go get ‘me white blood cells!
( back with the mice, Brain was getting tired )
Brain: Whew... must... rest... ( sits down ) Just for a minute... ( takes a few breaths ) Go on boys... go on without me... save your bladder Pinky...
Pinky: Poit! Come on Brain, don’t give up now! I’m starving and we ate all the cheese!
Daniel: Wha...!? Pinky, don’t you need the bathroom!?
Pinky: I do! It’s making me hungry!
Daniel: Pinky, that doesn’t make any sense.
Pinky: But it’s making me hungry, we didn’t pack lunch, and it took longer than I thought!
Daniel: Quit yelling at me like I did something wrong! It’s not my fault we’re in a body!
( Brain sighs in annoyance as the two mice bickered at each. Suddenly, the balloons hit and trip them. Daniel karate kicks though his way )
Mr. Starlight: Look at these white blood cells, united together to fight of the government... I mean disease! The immune system shows no mercy!
Nora: Couldn’t we focus in n something a little less violent? Like... blinking.
( meanwhile with the mice, they were walking down when they scream and fall into the chest and onto the ribs )
Pinky: ( wiggles ) I’m gonna burst!
Daniel: Pinky, no! These ribs weren’t made for dancing!
( the rib they were on collapses and the mice scream and fall into the pit of the belly )
Brain: ( muffles )
Daniel: You’re telling me. This belly could use a spit shine.
( the mice sink in and land inside of the belly. The troupe is out of the body and back outside )
Mr. Starlight: Food is the fuel of the body and the stomach is where it gets digested. What kind of food should we feed this body today, anyone?
Wakko: Food!
Yakko: He said what kind of food, dummy.
Cora: Sushi.
Mr. Starlight: I heard chili! Chili it is!
( He presses a button and the robot swallows down chili. The stomach gets full and it corners the screaming mice )
Brain: Boys, this could be it! And I just want to say that I’m sorry I lied that time about riding a baby elephant!
Daniel: I forgive you, Brain! I don’t really have drawings and stories of Dot belly dancing stashed away in my playroom in the basement!
Pinky: ( as they get washed away ) NO, YOU DO! I'VE SEEN THEM!
Mr. Starlight: But sometimes when the body is thrown out of whack, we get indigestion. So what do we do? We add a base to a acid to neutralize it. We take an antacid! Get it? An antacid! ( laughs and presses a button )
( meanwhile inside, Pinky was eating all the chili when suddenly, a antacid drops and lands in the ocean of chili, causing it to foam )
Daniel: PINKY! DON'T PANIC! REMAIN CALM! REMAIN CALM! PINKY, DON'T PANIC! WHATEVER YOU DO, REMAIN CALM!
Mr. Starlight: Then, this lovely mixture can be drained into the intestines. ( presses another button )
Brain: OH NO!
( they were suddenly drained and began to rush down the intestines, screaming )
Mr. Starlight: The intestines span miles and miles ultimately connecting to—
Nora: A dead end! Nothing more! Just like a cul-de-sac!
Mr. Starlight: Oh, on the contrary, waste has to leave our bodies somehow, which brings me to another hot topic: Gas!
( Nora moans and faints. Inside, the mice burst out a plug and land on the ground. They then hear rumbling )
Pinky: NARF! Oh no! This is the big one!
( the chili bursts out and the mice scream and run for their lives. Brain lighting lassos to a hook and they all hold on for dear life )
Brain: I really didn’t want to go out like this! Hold on boys!
( cut to outside )
Mr. Starlight: And that is the beauty of the human body!
( a door to the rear opens and the mice and chili shot out )
Dot: CHILI!!!
( the chili sprays all over everyone )
Mr. Starlight: Oh, wasn’t that moving?
Minerva: Oh, my hair, my dress, my shoes... ( groans )
Nora: ( angrily ) The Discovertorium is going to receive a dry cleaning bill! And a very strong letter!
( the mice on the other hand recovered )
Brain: We made it!
Daniel: Wow, I didn’t even feel the unshrinking! The— The deshrinking, the biggening! How about you Pinks?
Pinky: ( spits out chili ) I got bigger but the pee stayed small! I don't have to pee anymore. Narf!
Cora: ( groans ) Gross me out! You three make me ill!
Daniel: ( gasps ) You’re sick? I can fix you! Watch this!
( Daniel shoves himself into Cora's mouth, getting stuck in the process, ending our story )
THE END
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Let’s Talk
If you wanna skip the messiness and go to solutions, skip to the last four paragraphs and the resource list.
I know I’m one (probably loud, probably annoying) voice in a sea of many, but my spirit won’t let me rest until there is some kind of rectification. This is going to be it. If you’ve followed me for a while, you know this isn’t normal for me (and I don’t plan to do it in the future so don’t get used to it). I stick to my own corner of the internet and mind my business, but for now, we’re going to break the fandom wall a bit and talk about harm. As always in these discussions, I choose to practice reflexivity. I am a 27-year-old Black, pansexual, cisgender woman. I’ve been writing fanfiction for about 14 years. Because it’s relevant to this essay, my Master’s is in counseling with a specialty in BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ issues. My ongoing dissertation for my doctorate is on the intersections of race, sexuality, trauma, and cluster b personality disorders. I train new counselors on how to develop cultural humility and practice therapy with multicultural competency. If you’re new to the concept of reflexivity, know that these factors do not serve to claim that I am above reproach but instead serve as a clear understanding of my specific voice and lens. I’m trying to put aside my hurt feelings (and the urge to really dig in my heels and be nasty because the west end of Louisville wants to jump out, don’t let the job title fool you I still knuck and buck) and instead lead with empathy. I do not promise to be good at that, but I’m choosing to try to choose to “call in” rather than “call out.” At the end of this essay, I will also include a series of educational resources to aid in this discussion and provide further education.
I’m aware that Cor is gone, but as her impacts are still being felt, I intend to include her in this conversation. I will not be including screenshots because that feels disrespectful to me, but I will include relevant statements in quotation marks. For those of you who don’t know, Cor and I were paired together for the Buddie Big Bang. We worked collaboratively for several months and, on June 22nd, talked about selecting our posting date. On the 23rd, Cor contacted me in discord to inform me she was dropping from the big bang because she felt the “underlying themes” of my work were racist and that she could not in good conscience continue to work with me. I requested elaboration, but she did not respond. The way she phrased things, she made it seem like she had shared my work with “the BIPOC around me” as well as the mods of her server without my knowledge. Later, when pressed about this, she admitted that she had discussed my work with another individual without my knowledge or consent, which lent legitimacy to my concerns. Because of this, I chose to leave her server, not knowing that when you don’t share a discord server, you can’t talk to someone (I’m a Twitter girl like all the other therapists). Because of this, I tried to re-enter the server with the intention of leaving after I and the mods spoke. Seeing my request, Cor finally reached back out, apologized for “the way I phrased things,” and gave a surface-level explanation of the tropes of the white savior and spicy Latina, claiming that my fic fit into these tropes because Buck and Adriana are in opposition to one another. Personally, I encourage you to read it for yourself and draw your own conclusions but suffice to say, I did not agree. She informed me that she was attempting to protect me from “being torn down” like other authors she had observed during the blowback of the situation™ on her server. (Genuinely, I had no idea what she was talking about (I just caught up). I work 10-hour days, so I miss a lot. [Also now that I think about it, Cor trying to save me and be more “educated” than me literally places her in a white savior position. The jokes…well you know what they do.)
Again, I’m not beyond reproach. Because I always want to be reflexive, I shared my draft with my writing community, which consists of about 25 Black and Brown writers. They were confused about the claim. I was confused about the claim. We were all confused. I again attempted to engage Cor on this, but she was immovable. At this point, I wanted to discourse with someone other than her, so I contacted the 118 discord Tumblr account. It was still Cor. She made it appear that she had made the move to bar me from re-entry to the server (just to talk to her) not in isolation, but in collaboration with others (who? I didn’t know and no one else would answer me.) The conversation continued to be unproductive. She continued to emphasize the “immense amount of education [on race and racism in fic] that I have received over the last 10 days.” I will disclose that this is the point where I really started to get really pissed. There is something very activating about a white woman who’s been educated for 10 days trying to “educate” me on racist tropes while not being open to a perspective other than her own. In response to this, I chose to drop out of the big bang and upload the fic I wrote with a note calling attention to the claims (at this point, I hadn’t known who she had or hadn’t talked to and I was preparing myself for backlash.) If I had made a mistake, I wanted to face it head-on and open myself up to correction. I never want to cause harm with my writing and if I have, call me all the way out. We’ll discuss. We’ll confer. Changes will be made. The feedback I received was a resounding “WTF is she talking about,” which again pissed me off. When I again approached Cor with this, she gave (what felt to me like) a half-assed apology. We did not speak again, and there was never an attempt to rectify the situation despite the harm caused and I realized that had I not reached out to her, she would never have apologized. I was very upset about the experience, and when I noticed that Squid commented on it without ever speaking to me at all, I felt a type of way. I’ve tried to put to words this feeling, and I’ve decided that it felt like I was being left out of my own narrative. You could acknowledge that harm was done when speaking about me to others but couldn’t part your lips to speak to me about it until I tugged on your wig. It also again gave the impression that Cor’s decision had not been made in isolation. Language matters. Phrases like “our server,” and “we made the choice,” and “we weren’t comfortable with what might come from it” make this seem not like an individual action but the actions of a collective.
We’ve now gone from pissed to volcanic. I’ve kicked and screamed and cried and felt like shit and it all feels like it was for nothing.
But we move on.
Why do I still care so much, you may be asking. At the end of the day, this is conversation that is less about race and more about communication. Direct communication to be specific. When Cor came to the mods and made her claim, an easy way to rectify this situation quickly would have been to simply reach out and ask questions. “Can we read your draft?” “We have some concerns and we want to make our decision fairly.” I would have readily agreed and hurt could have been avoided. After everything came out, there still was no communication. There’s a saying: silence is complicity. Silence implies agreement (no matter how passive) with an action taken. Staying silent also puts the onus to correct the situation on the person who was harmed rather than the person (or people) who caused harm. It’s an inequitable shifting of power. This could have been resolved simply by someone be it Cor, be it a mod, anyone even passively involved choosing to reach out and say, “hey, we fucked up. We made a mistake and while we don’t want to let you back into the server, we acknowledge that it wasn’t right. We’re sorry.” It’s simple. This action requires a degree of humility and awareness. The fact that people had to be badgered into apologizing directly to me is, for lack of a better words, fucked up. It says to me that you’re not really sorry. You’re just saying what you have to in hopes that I’ll stop talking about this.
In the future, know that direct communication almost always leads to better outcomes. It’s what I teach my students, my interns, and my clients. Direct communication is a sign of respect. This all could have been avoided with an acknowledgement of harm and communication. We didn’t have to fight like this. I’m so frustrated that I had to get out of my character to get someone to say “sorry.” Maybe it’s a cultural difference but when I wrong someone, I go to that person, I don’t make excuses, I acknowledge what I did and I attempt to repair.
And since people want to talk about the racial implications of things, I think there is a conversation to be had about a group of white or white appearing women who know they did something wrong choosing to stay quiet and refusing to acknowledge that they wronged a Black woman, especially after I called attention to the fact that I was hurt. And when I do complain and make noise, I’m “wearing you out.” I think that’s very interesting and if you all want to talk about “underlying racist themes,” I would unpack that statement. Ask yourself where that’s coming from. Some of you are wielding these terms with very specific definitions, implications, and connotations, like a child wielding a gun and then acting surprised when someone is shot unintentionally.
Imma leave that alone though. Here’s so resources. Disclaimers: I am Black. Most of my resources are catered towards Black authors and Black thought. It pays to speak to diverse voices and discover your own diverse resources. Don’t burden people but seek out people who are interested in educating. They exist. Also, always check your local libraries and locally owned bookstores before renting or buying books from Amazon! Links are just provided, so you know what you’re looking for.
Why "Allies" Need to Learn to Knock
How NOT to be an Ally (BMB #14) Start at 14 min
White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color
killing rage: Ending Racism
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
All the White Friends I Couldn't Keep: Hope--and Hard Pills to Swallow--About Fighting for Black Lives
Tagging: @chromatophorica, @sadieyuki @aros_sage
#lynn speaks#911#911 discourse#118 discord#buddie big bang 2022#one last time with feeling#now that i've calmed down#i can put my academic hat on#i ate a snickers#and talked to my community#long post#if you say this is mean trust me the first draft was worse#this was very cathartic#i talked to my mom (a professor of black studies ironically)#and we talked for hours about what this needed to look like
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Of Birds and Butterflies
by DinofelisSnow1985
Chapter 6
Two days later the three Sanses sat on the Couch to watch some stand up comedy show.
A knock on the door, Saphy hurriedly putting on her shoes while calling out "comin'," door opening and slamming shut, and she was gone, giggling greeting whoever had knocked.
Red turned his head to Blue. "She really takes afta ya. If she had more from Sans' side of da family, she would've used da opportunity."
Blue looked at him puzzled. "What opportunity"
Red exchanged a look with Sans and both began to grin as if sharing an inside joke. Then they both looked at Blue at said unisono, "Who's there?"
Blue stared at them, stunned into silence.
"No matter how much she likes you, i will personally make sure that she won't spend too much time in your Nest, Red. By the way, we should get you the materials, so you can build one before Miss Toriel starts treating your old Injuries."
Red gave Blue a confused look. "The fuck are ya talking about? Why would i need ta build a Nest? 'M a Skeleton, not some bird."
Blue furrowed his brow. "But...you are an Omega. Every Omega builds Nests. It's in their nature."
Red gave Blue a blank stare. "I have no fuckin' idea what'cha talkin' 'bout. Whattefuck's an Omega?"
Blue stared around Red at Sans, looking for help.
Sans took a moment to get his thoughts in order before starting slow. "Buddy, you know about the whimsums and moldsmols, right? I mean, you know how Kids happen."
Red nodded slowly. "Yeeeeaaahhhh, dat's how i got mah lil Butterfly. So what?
...
Wait. Izzat 'bout 'Heats' an' shit? Tori told me ta ask ya 'bout tha' when da babybones isn't 'round."
Now it was Sans who wrinkled his forehead. "You... don't know what a Heat is? How?!"
Red shrugged. "Dunno. Mebbe if ya 'xplain this ta me, we can find de hangup."
Sans took a deep Breath, Blue was blushing like an Echo Flower.
"Mkay," Sans finally said, "let's sort out where you stand with your knowledge. You obviously know what sex is, how to form male and female Ecto and how to make a Baby. *Red nodded* Have you ever heard of Mating Cycles? *Red shook his head no* Alphas, Betas and Omegas? *Headshake* Hmmm, ever felt...weird? Y'know, hot and bothered and needy, for more than just a horny instant? *Headshake* ...Okay. How do we start? First the Heat or the second gender?"
Red tilted his Head. "Wazzat?"
Sans inhaled long and slow. "Okay, storytime. Listen.
After Blue popped up in this Universe i tried to repair my Machine to send him back home. Sadly all i managed was to get readings on the other Universes, including Blue's. The readings showed different informations like the Name, Number of Timelines, the progress of the respective human, and certain things about the nature and dynamics. Our Universes, this, Blue's and yours are located in the A/B/O Cluster. All Universes in this Cluster have some kind of Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics.
Meaning, everyone born in such an Universe is born with a second gender which is either Alpha, Beta or Omega, and starts to show with the beginning of puberty, the time when most Monsters grow out of Stripes.
Alphas are big, strong and protective. They can send out Pheromones to project their aggression and dominance or subdue or calm an Omega. Their Cycles only consists of Ruts and they might hump the first person they set their eyes on, they also most of the time have a knot. In bad Universes they get pretty aggressive and possesive." Red wrinkled his forehead. "Sounds familiar...Boss got...weird from time to time. Was more likely ta dust some poor bastard and wouldn't stop ta fuck me until he passed out. Always thought 'e would kill me during such a frenzy."
Sans nodded. "Betas are kinda inbetween, in some Universes they don't have any Cycles, in others they can go into Rut as well as into Heat without control over what they go into, it's everytime by chance.
Omegas are usually small and weak. They are naturals when it comes to handling Children, be it their own or not. Omegas have an instinctive urge to care for the kids and tend to their home, they yearn for the protection of someone stronger, to feel safe and cared for. Omegas always have Heats. They feel the urge to build a Nest to create a safe space and become all cuddly and clingy, in the later stages of their Heats they feel the need to have their partners close by to take care of them. Omegas also emit Pheromones to soothe potential aggressions that might be directed towards them, and to find a mate."
"Are Heats always like tha'?" Red asked. "Mostly for Omegas," Blue chimed in. "In the majority of Universes without A/B/O Monsters in Heat are entirely sexdriven."
Red thought for a while.
"So... ya said Omegas have a need ta feel safe? An' der Heats are allabout feelin' safe? Mebbe dat's de hangup. I never felt safe. Mah Universe isn't a place to feel safe ...or cuddle up in a Nest...If ya show weakness ya're dust. I never...was able to...be soft..."
Sans and Blue exchanged a look. They already knew Red's Story, but now, under the light of his status and needs as an Omega, his world had really been cruel to him. To have to suppress your body's needs and instincts in order to survive, without any kind of break...That thought was horrible for the two of them, yet Red had to live like that!
"Uh...by the way, what are you?" Red Interrupted the heavy silence that had settled between them.
"Betas. Both of us," Sans answered. "Blue has a Cycle, i don't."
Blue scooted closer to Red and put his arm around him. "What do you say? Let's turn your room into a fluffyland."
Red blushed and smiled shyly. "Dat...ah fuck, actually dat sounds really nice."
"Okay," Sans said, "how about you go back to your room to choose the best place while Blue and me ransack our closets for blankets and pillows and bring 'em upstairs?"
Red looked uncertain again. "...izzat really 'kay? Dun wanna inconvenience ya..."
Now Sans put his Arm around Red as well and rested his chin on the crown of Red's skull. "Don't worry about it, Red. We want you to be comfortable and feel safe with us. Maybe it's just your scent, us Betas are receptive for it too, even if not as much as Alphas are. Just humor us and let us take care of you for now. Please?"
Red's skull glowed like a traffic light while he couldn't help but snuggle into the double side hug and purr like an oversized cat.
Blue and Sans looked at each other over Red's head and shared a gentle smile. They both realized in that very moment that they were about to fall head over heels for the small Skeleton between them.
When Blue gave Red a small innocent peck on the temple, Red startled to awareness of what he was doing and the position the three of them were in.
As soon as they felt Red stiffen, Blue and Sans loosened their grip on him so he could leave if he wished.
Red relaxed slowly before getting up and nervously clearing his throat, declaring he'd go then and wait for them in his room. Then he limped to the stairs awkwardy, ascended them and went to his room, leaving the door ajar.
"Do you think we were too straightforward and scared him?" Blue frowned.
Sans shook his head. "Nah, don't worry, Blue. I can imagine that he's just a little overwhelmed and need a minute or two to cool down and process everything.
C'mon. Let's gather those blankets and pillows for his Nest.
...
If i think about what he just told us, he maybe never ever built a Nest before...poor little guy."
Blue seemed to think about something. "In my AU it's common for Omegas to have stuffed toys in their Nests to cuddle with, especially when they don't have a partner."
"That's actually quite a good idea. Somewhere in the attic has to be some boxes with Paps' old plushies. If we put them through a round in the dryer they should be as good as new."
And so, while Blue emptied the closets and gathered all the spare pillows and blankets they had, Sans teleported into the attic to look for his brother's old plushies.
With three boxes, bursting with fluffy childhood, he ported straight to the laundry room and started sorting through fluffy toddler blankets, knitted dolls and different kinds of stuffed toys and plushies.
First he put the blankets aside in case Blue might decide some of the stuff from the closets needed washing or to be put in the dryer as well. Then he put the first load of stuffed toys into the dryer.
After starting the quick program he left the laundry room to check if his mate needed any help.
He found Blue in the living room between seven piles. One contained all the pillows and blankets he could find, three were made of pillows and three of blankets. Blue sorted the materials after 1) ready to use, 2) need to be put in the dryer and 3) need to be washed since the stuff had been too long in the closet without being used.
Sans helped Blue to finish sorting the remaining materials and took what needed to be washed to the laundry room to start the first load. He started with the pillows since they were the base for most kinds of Nests.
In the meantime the first load in the dryer was done and Sans took it out and started the next one, before returning to the living room to get the other piles. After that he helped Blue bringing the pillows and blankets to Red's room.
Red had chosen his (almost empty) closet as a good safe space since he would be hidden in there and with some blankets and pillows it would be pretty cozy. So he had cleared out the few things on the closet floor and put them under his desk for now so the room wouldn't look messy.
He was sitting on the bed, thinking, when Blue, followed by Sans, entered, with lots of soft and fluffy looking pillows in their hands.
Red looked up and his Eye Sockets widened when he saw the big soft pillows. He felt drawn to them by instinct. "Are 'dose really fer me?"
"Indeed," Blue chirped in his energetic way. "We have a lot more if you wish."
Red lowered his gaze nervously and like he was ashamed of something. "I...never did...this. Like i said, never had da chance nor were i ever allowed ta...show ...weakness. Have no idea how ta do this..."
Blue and Sans exchanged a heartbroken look. "Don't worry, Red. We can look up everything we want online. That includes tutorials for Nest building. Bluebird, can you look it up with Red while i take care of the materials?"
Blue quirked a brow. "You offer, voluntarily, to do the more strainous task? Who are you and what have you done to Sans?!"
Sans snorted and rubbed sheepishly the back of his head. "My phone died somewhere during the night. I... somehow...forgot to charge it."
"Again?! Sans, you are worse than my brother, when it comes to such things."
"Heh, sorry Bluebird. Guess we can't all be as magnificent as you are. I've put it on the charger as soon as i noticed, don't worry, hon.
Welp. Guess i'll go back to the laundry room. Later."
With that he teleported away and left Blue and Red alone.
Blue rolled his Eye Lights and turned his attention on his Smartphone, muttering under his breath. "This guy is unbelievable. Sometimes i wonder why i chose him as my mate."
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BACK TO THIS POST, and some of the major things that would play out differently if the events of HLVRAI eventually happened in the THINGVRAI setting:
benrey wouldn’t follow gordon into the test chamber (but would still use the passport thing to follow him a good bit as a thinly veiled excuse to chat up his boyfriend s’more before work :3c)
rescas still happens, as it didn’t matter how fast or slow gordon pushed the crystal into the laser. shit was always gonna hit the fan.
once gordon, benrey, bubby, tommy, and coomer all gather up, they’re at first gonna make a plan to head to the surface to leave, but then “Oh no, wait! Darnold! He- he’s down in Mixology!” so then they change the plan to head down there to grab darnold and THEN escape.
benrey assimilates a xen alien and is very briefly able to pick up that Something Weird is going on in their brains. like something that wasn’t supposed to be there. couldn’t get a better feel of it before it quickly faded, once he’d fully absorbed the other alien’s brain.
benrey gets cut in half by the door, and now has to find an alternate route to get his other half that was separated from the rest of him and the team back to them. he’s no longer concerned about outing himself as an alien in black mesa cause lol those bastards got way more pressing concerns at the moment. and also might not ever recover from this localized apocalypse that’s tearing the facility apart.
no skeletons freaking gordon and the others (but mostly gordon) out this time.
benrey gets his biomass back together when they reach the elevator (where benrey showed up after his first ‘respawn’ in canon)
benrey doesn’t get separated from the group again after that.
bubby and benrey don’t help stage the ambush for gordon. bubby doesn’t because him and gordon have known each other a good while by this point, and bubby considers him a friend, and like hell he’s gonna hand over a friend to those bootboy bastards. benrey is very well acquainted with the human body and all it’s strengths and limitations and also gordon is his fucking boyfriend and the first other sapient that was ever nice to him even after finding out what he really is, he’s not gonna hurt gordon, hell no.
gordon still gets ambushed, as he still needed to hit up that med station in the room. only this time after the lights go out, the soldiers only manage to go as far as knocking gordon to the ground before one of them lets out a blood curdling scream that quickly becomes muffled by horrible flesh tearing and meaty squelching sounds. other soldier kicks the lights back on to see his buddy getting engulfed and merged into some fucked up bloody mass of flesh and teeth and insectoid limbs. and eyes. lots of very angry eyes that are glaring daggers right at him. before the remaining soldier can try to shoot though, tommy nails him with a well-placed bullet, now that the lights are on again.
benrey learns from the memories of the bootboy he ate that they wanted some data storage from gordon’s HEV suit, that’s apparently stored in the right gauntlet, and they were planning on cutting his fucking arm off to get at it. major fucked up, bro. benrey temp assumes the soldier snack’s form, and is able to send a fake message that, while they caught freeman, the data storage was too damaged to recover, and that manages to get the bootboys off their backs. well, to a degree. the rest of the soldiers there are still gonna try and kill them along with every other living person left in the facility. but hey, at least they’re not specifically chasing down the science team, now.
they get to mixology and are glad to see darnold is okay (and also find out he had no idea what the hell was going on). their plan WAS to then try and go home after this, but by this point they’d been urged by so many other scientists and guards to get to the lambda lab, as they need help trying to stop all this.
darnold actually comes with this time! still doesn’t fight, though. benrey takes advantage of the extra biomass he’d gained and splits off an extra body guard for potion bro.
darnold also doesn’t go with them to xen. benrey’s extra body stays with darnold, and is able to keep darnold informed on what’s going down on the science team’s side of things as they happen.
benrey isn’t the ‘final boss’ this time, and the team actually get to see the nihilanth. which they’re not entirely sure how to deal with. benrey gets an idea though.
benrey launches himself at the nihilanth and manages to get a good couple of stings in, injecting it with clusters of his own cells. he gets smacked, hard, and then just lets the rest of his biomass lay there playing dead because owwwwwwwwwwwww. after that, the rest of the team are basically just having to ‘survive the clock’ while benrey’s cells make b-lines for the nihilanth’s most vital organs and start assimilating them. after he’s successfully replaced the nihilanth’s organs with himself, he just. stops doing organ things. no more beating heart, or breathing lungs, none of that. obviously this kills the nihilanth. not the most showy or climactic victory, but gordon doesn’t give a shit, he’s just happy they’re all fucking still alive.
i want whether mr. coolatta is actually human or not to be really vague, so no obvious alien power displays. thus tommy’s dad isn’t the one who gets them back out of xen. benrey is! he managed to pick up that portal creating ability from the nihilanth, and he opens up the way back home for everybody.
they don’t end up at chuck e cheese once they cross over, though. instead, they’re out in the desert by the roadside, a ways away from (what’s left of) the facility. darnold and benrey’s other body are waiting there... along with tommy’s dad, the three of them waiting in a big black van. mr. coolatta showed up and lead darnold and benrey up and out of the facility, and then drove them out there... where he somehow knew benrey would open up a portal from xen to get the rest of him and the science team back to earth.
“dude, tommy, there is no way your dad’s human. like for real, that guy seems even less human than ME.” “Right!? FINALLY someone agrees with me!” “I don- I don’t know what you and Mr. Freeman are talking about, Ben. My dad- he’s just a guy!”
the science team are all given nice fat hush money checks to keep quiet about all the shit that went down at black mesa. and benrey.... is allowed to continue on as he was. mr. coolatta will make no reports of his non-human status to his... employers... out of respect and thankfulness for helping stop all that business with the nihilanth, and keeping his son safe.
...mr. coolatta does make one vague comment about the antarctic outpost incident, though. a vague and very slightly threatening sounding comment.
benrey, uh, assures him he’s... chill. like, totally. cool as a fuckin’ ‘cuke over here, man.
the science team all decide that quitting working for black mesa and moving out of new mexico sounds like a great idea.
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Happy birthday, Mal! I love your fics, they evoke so much emotion in me and have made me cry many a time. I don't often reread fics, but i've reread multiple chapters of Rhythm and Blues because they're stuck with me so much. You capture the emotional pain of their trauma and the catharsis that comes with their growth so beautifully. You also write some brilliant meta and just consistently post some fantastic thoughts. Also your love for swords is very appreciated. <3 have a lovely day!
First of all, my apologies for not replying sooner. I was making my mind up about something that would definitely require the use of a read more and thus necessitate dragging myself to desktop (which I hate because my laptop predates the dinosaurs.)
But seriously. Thank you so much. This is honestly one of the sweetest comments I've ever gotten and definitely made my already pretty sweet bday even better.
So about that read more. In honor of you, @metalesbo, my friends @n7punk and @jem-jarrett and everyone else who sent me well wishes or just really loves my work... Here's the opening section of the next chapter of R&B. Enjoy. It's a long one.
Adora Eternia is about two months shy of her fourteenth birthday when she first realizes she's in love with her best friend.
Though--if asked--she would hasten to explain that it wasn't when she fell in love. But trying to pinpoint the exact moment is an exercise in catching mist: the more she tries to grasp it in her hands the more it spreads out and covers everything. It just is: pure and simple and very, very complicated.
It's the beginning of December and the whole town is covered in a thick blanket of snow. Winterfest will be here in a few weeks, so to help out the kids who want to get gifts for their friends the Right Zone administration has shuffled around the groups that usually take their monthly trips on the third and fourth Sundays of the month to double up with the other two. As part of group three, she and Catra got the first week (the other three members of their crew are week two folks anyway and thus outside the reorganization.)
It's still kinda weird to think that: their crew. For so long, it was just Catra and Adora. Adora and Catra. One unit bound together, just them against the world. But there's also something nice about being part of a small cluster, their "scrappy little lone wolf pack" as Catra had once put it with a wry grin before Lonnie shoved her over with an, "Excuse you, I'm a great people person when I'm not busy making sure you idiots haven't set yourselves on fire!"
They all got a good laugh out of that one.
But regardless, the holidays are coming up and this is the first year that any of their group has felt like actually doing anything for it, aside from wrangling together a sleepover and seeing if they can convince the kitchen staff to slip them some leftover eggnog.
They made each other promise not to go too extravagant and keep each person's gift to ten dollars or lower. Even though their quarterly stipend has increased from three hundred to four hundred to match with inflation over the past eight years, it still isn't a whole lot for three month's worth of expenses, especially when they also have to budget regularly for clothes to keep up with the seemingly endless growth spurts.
There's also the usual budgetary concern of keeping her and Catra's first aid kit well supplied...
Adora shakes her head to dislodge the intrusive thought and continues marching onward through the snow. This trip is a good thing. She won't let all the awful realities of their life taint it.
With so many kids running around and wanting to shop on their own to surprise their giftees, Right Zone had to negotiate with both the local police and whatever other civic authorities they could get ahold of to come out en masse and keep an eye on them all. The kids had still come with their usual teachers, of course, but doubling the load and also splitting up was a logistical nightmare. Which is just a convoluted way to say the town is positively crawling with uniformed officers, off duty members of the fire brigade, emergency personnel, and other such authority figures quietly keeping watch and making sure no one tries anything.
Adora knows that somewhere in the press of bodies, Grizzlor's busy wrangling two new "brats" (seven and nine, respectively, and definitely not friends.) Somewhere, a certain Magicat is probably grumbling over the indignity of being forced to wear shoes and kicking every snowpile she can, like she can send a direct message to whatever cosmic force is responsible for her current frustration.
On an ordinary month she and Catra--being old enough to be allowed a bit more freedom to do what they want--would buddy up to watch each other's backs while they did their shopping. But this isn't an ordinary month, so once they'd each gotten gifts for the other three they'd split up on opposite ends of Main Street with an agreement to move clockwise to avoid running into each other. Afterwards, the entire group would rendezvous at the small clock tower in the park a block over before heading back to Right Zone.
Ten dollars wasn't a lot to work with, but Adora had done her best: a new stress ball for Kyle, some moisturizing oil for Rogelio since the early winter shed had wiped out his supply and he'd been too busy to pick up some more, a twelve pound kettle weight for Lonnie now that their shared exercise routine was getting a bit too easy for her... Utilitarian choices, to be sure, but she's been paying attention and that has to count for something.
Catra's the difficult one, of course. Partly because Adora doesn't want to just get her something practical, but also because they share nearly everything between them already. About the only thing that is definitively off limits is Catra's guitar, and she's told Adora enough about her time with Tao over the years that Adora wouldn't even ask. Beyond that... Well, there's a reason why most of Adora's day off hoodies have small strands of orange fur stuck to them.
Still. I want to get her something that's hers. Something she'll like. Something she doesn't have to share with anyone, not even me.
In the end, she nearly walks past it. In one of the artisanal shops that dot small towns like liver spots, she finds a display of hand stamped necklace pendants, with a design sheet beside it. There are a lot of the usual nature designs and such, but the one that catches her eye is a treble clef with the five staff lines bleeding out from it. They ring the edge of the pendant in a half circle, and scattered haphazardly along the lines are the other music notes.
The lack of proper order would drive Adora insane. She understands that it's just meant to look pretty, not be an accurate representation of musical notation, but still... She knows her own (broken) brain well enough to know that.
It suits Catra, though.
"Hey," Mismatched eyes looked down at Adora as her head draped backwards over the back of their desk chair, the throbbing behind her left eye threatening to escalate into a migraine. "Guess I don't have to ask how the composing's going."
"It sucks," Adora groused back, sitting up and gesturing Catra over. She jabbed at two particular spots with the half chewed off eraser end of her pencil, two hard jabs each, like she was filing a complaint. "Most of it is just what I'm going for, but these two places here... They aren't sounding right. I've been going back and forth over structure all afternoon, but nothing I do helps."
"Hmmm..." Catra stroked her chin and nudged Adora over so she could sit on the arm of the chair (they'd never gotten around to requesting a second, mostly because Adora didn't want to risk Shadow Weaver suspecting they were getting too chummy.) "Got any scratch paper?"
Adora pointed to the pile of half crumpled notebook paper she used when making adjustments and Catra snorted. "Ok, dumb question. Just let me see here..."
Grabbing a pen, she quickly inked a fresh set of staff lines and copied the notes Adora had already put down, making sure to leave space to work. Glancing between the two, she drummed her fingers on the desk, playing along in her head.
"Hmm..." Catra murmured, worrying at her lower lip with a fang in a manner that was... Oddly distracting. "Ok, how 'bout this?"
Adora jolted, tearing her gaze from Catra's face to look at the sequence of notes scribbled onto the scratch paper. She paused, brow furrowing as she played them over in her mind's eye. It was a little unorthodox, veering away from the path she had carefully laid out... But also blending well with the next part. Almost like the notes took a quick detour and then lead the listener back to where she wanted them.
"Yeah..." Adora replied thoughtfully, the tension all over her body starting to smooth out. "Yeah, that could work."
"Awesome. Let's take a look at the next part."
They ultimately ended up spending several hours going over the entire piece, sussing out every place where Adora was having even the slightest niggle of unease. She didn't accept all of Catra's changes and Catra didn't push the matter, but the ones she did...
They felt right. More right than they had ever felt when it was just Adora running circles around herself.
When they finally finished up she looked over at Catra, tail waving sedately in that way it got when she was simultaneously engaged but relaxed, and asked, "Umm... Do you want to learn with me? I like doing this."
'I like making music with you.'
Catra paused, looking over at Adora searchingly, almost like she couldn't believe the question had come up. No matter how many years had passed between them, that look never really went away, and every time she saw it Adora's chest ached in a way that was hard for her to process.
"I'd like that."
Catra's composing style is very different from Adora's. More wild, more willing to bend and break the rules if it means maintaining audience engagement, but there's always an underlying order to the chaos. To her surprise and pleasure, Adora found herself learning just as much from Catra as Catra was learning from her. Their styles brought out the best in each other.
The jingle of a bell kicks her out of the memory. Mind made up even though it's nearly double her budget, Adora scans the stand of necklaces for the one with the treble clef pattern.
It isn't there. Adora swallows down the disappointment, though she can't help the sigh. Of course. The town was well aware of the large population of music students a short drive away and catered to them accordingly. But there are also dozens of kids out on the street tonight. It isn't that big of a surprise that the design sold out.
Not surprising, but disheartening nonetheless.
She's just begun to turn away when a voice calls from the back. "Hang on a sec there, little miss."
Adora jumps, but remains where she is as a large Taurian man with a massive snow white beard trundles out from a door behind the counter, wiping his hands on his apron. "Was there a particular design you were interested in?"
Adora points at the treble clef, hope rising. "This one. But it looks like it's already sold out."
"Hmm..." The man scratchs at his chin. "Well with Winterfest coming up, I'm out of blank pendants-"
Adora's shoulders slump.
"-But," The man continues with a smile. "I can double stamp it onto the back of another. Ordinarily I'd charge extra for that, but it's my fault for not ordering enough blanks. Rookie move. Besides, it's the holidays. Now would that be all right by you?"
Nodding frantically in case he changes his mind, Adora scans the other designs, quickly alighting on one in particular. "That one!"
"The claw marks? Bit of an odd combination, but the customer is always right," The old man winked as he reached out to take the necklace from her. "My jig and press is in the corner over here if you wanna watch."
Adora was glad he specified, because as nice as the man seemed there was no way in hell she was going into a back room with a stranger. But she stood next to the window beside a display of miscellaneous knick knacks and puzzles, watching him carefully place the pendant in a cushioned stand to avoid damaging the already printed side and tighten it into place before moving beside the machine.
"You're gonna want to cover your ears," He tells her, patting the machine with one massive hand. "Had to switch to a steam press when the arthritis caught up to me. Used to do it all by hammer. This boy's okay, but he gets loud."
Adora nods, glad for the warning when he bellows "Clear!" and the machine's hammer comes down once, twice, three times with a sound like the ringing of an enormous bell. Once the machine is stopped and carefully turned off, the old man removes the pendant from the press and hands it over to Adora for inspection. "What do you think? Does it pass muster?"
Adora runs her fingertips over the impressions in the metal, memorizing the feel of it, the leftover warmth of the impact. "Perfect."
"Good. Now let's get you rung up."
Counting the five dollars she attempted to surreptitiously slip into the tip jar (the old man winked as he turned back around, so stealth fail) Adora went very over budget, but the others would have to put a gun to her head for her to admit it.
Besides, it's Catra. They already know she's the sole exception to all of Adora's carefully maintained rules.
With everything finished, she continues trudging through the snow toward the park, breathing a sign of relief as she moves away from the shopping district and the people thin out; no one wanting to go to the park in the middle of such bleak weather. Angling around a clustered group of bare trees, she spots the small clock tower in the distance, as well as the figure already standing beside it. Grinning, Adora picks up the pace a bit until she can see Catra clearly and--
Her breath catches.
Since her only experience with this kind of thing has been through books, Adora always expected this moment would be more dramatic. Like back to back in the middle of a fight, or eyes locking from up on stage. Something spectacular, like fireworks, lime explosions, like the feeling of playing a song without a single mistake for the first time. It's always seemed like such a big deal in the stories, and in a way, it is.
Because there's Catra, lost in her own world as she gazes up at the streetlight that's just come on, her left hand extended to let the snowflakes fall into her palm and the light catches the orange of her fur just right to make a blaze of color against the black of her coat. She looks so small, standing in that space all alone on a cold winter's night, but Adora knows deep down that she could never be that small, not when she's Catra, not when she means so much...
Pretty much everything about the past hour--about her entire life since they met if she's being honest--snaps into crystal clear focus.
Oh. I get it now. I'm in love with you.
It's a bad idea. Adora knows that. Shadow Weaver is enough of a menace while believing Catra is simply her roommate, her sometime tool--and Catra had ended up being all too right about the torture not stopping, even after years of Adora trying to direct Weaver's attentions away from her. If the evil old bitch figures out Adora's feelings run deeper, so much deeper...
Her heart beats double time. This whole thing is an unmitigated disaster.
But it's still the best worst thing that's ever happened to her.
She must make a noise, because Catra's ear twitches in her direction, snapping her out of that distant contemplation. She turns her head and looks at Adora, lips curling in a lopsided grin. "Hey, Adora. Wow, you look like you've seen a ghost."
Adora blinks, coming back to herself and mumbling the first excuse that springs to mind. "... Just cold."
"Well no shit. C'mere."
When she closes the distance Catra glances around warily, making sure they're the only ones around, before reaching up and retying the scarf around Adora's neck, patting it once when she's done. "There. I know I make it look good, but you don't have the advantage of fur like me."
Adora looks down at the thin AC/DC t-shirt that Catra's wearing beneath her half open coat, the line of her collarbones and neck, and makes a snap decision. "Is it okay if I give you your present now?"
Catra blinks, a little thrown by the non sequitur. "I mean... Sure? Do you want me to give you yours?"
"I'm good with either," Adora shrugs, trying to ignore how fast her heart is beating, how much she wants to do this before this moment slips away. "I just want to."
There's a long moment of silence as they each examine the other, equally searching. What Catra's looking for, Adora doesn't know. She isn't sure she wants to know.
"Okay."
Breathing deep, Adora reaches into her pocket and pulls out the necklace on its leather cord. Careful to keep the pendant hidden in her hand, she passes it over, fingertips sparking as it's taken. Catra brings it close to her face, running her fingers over the four parallel slashes on the side facing her.
"Why the claw marks?"
Adora laughs, nervous butterflies positively rioting in her stomach. "Because you're a badass. Duh."
"True," Catra smirks, flipping it over and squinting at the other side. "And this?"
"Badass, loves music with all your heart. Not mutually exclusive concepts," Adora says, trying not to give away how much she thinks about this, how much she wants to take that hand in hers. She settles for a playful shoulder bump instead. "Plus we all know you're secretly a big softie."
"Excuse you, I am all sharp edges," Catra giggles, lightly elbowing her before transitioning into a soft little smile. "... Just not with everyone."
Oh God oh God oh God. That smile will absolutely be the death of her.
Swallowing past her horrible awareness of that softness, Adora asks, "So you like it?"
"I love it. Good luck ever getting me to take it off," Catra laughs, then frowns, flexing her fingers. "Hands have gone a little numb, though. Help me put it on?"
Adora.exe promptly crashes to desktop. But she still somehow manages to move, helping Catra hold back her mane so she can slip the leather cord over her head and tuck it beneath her hair. If she hesitates a moment too long in letting go, at least Catra only shoots her an amused glance. "How's it look?"
"Great," Adora manages to croak out, trying to swallow past the sudden dryness in her throat. "You look great. Umm... Happy early Winterfest, I guess?"
"Well, I'm gonna hold onto yours a little longer," Catra laughs, playfully sticking out her tongue before reaching out. "C'mere, you big dork."
Adora shuffles closer, mind and heart both screaming as Catra draws her into a hug, nuzzling her head against the side of her neck. A little whisper. "Thank you."
Adora swallows again, even harder. "You're welcome."
Between them, the necklace rests, the music side pressed right up against Catra's heart.
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Fun fact: the shopkeep is based off a cool old dude selling machine pressed necklaces I ran into at a Scottish festival when I was 13, and he made such an impression I never forgot him. Anyway, happy Valentine's! Have a Big Gay Realization!
#answers#rhythm & blues#the catradora rockstar au#featuring adora's big gay realization#and also fantasy christmas
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How about the Leverage Crew arriving in Central City in time for the that time Barry got accused of murdering DeVoe. Basically, Leverage Crew (Classic or Redeption is your choice) meddling in that plan. Because screw DeVoe. Can be in the same universe as The Central City job, or a brand new AU; your choice.
this one Long
The courthouse was packed when a sleek black van pulled up to a loading zone. Nathan Ford turned from the passenger seat. “You all know the play?”
“Mm, yup,” Parker said, clipping a badge to her blazer pocket. “The Boston skip.”
“It’s not the Boston Skip,” Hardison snapped, fussing with his tie..
“You’re just grumpy because you have to play the lawyer again.” Eliot smirked.
“Hey, you said only if it comes to a cross examine, I did my job, if you all do your jobs right and it doesn’t come to that,” Hardison’s voice pitched upwards.
“If?” Sophie put on the emergency break. “If? Hardison, I’m hurt.”
“Soph,” Nate sighed. “Let it go.”
“For now. We’re having words later,” Sophie insisted.
“Can we just get this over with?” Eliot asked, maneuvering to take the driver’s seat. “ you know I don’t like us splitting up like this.”
“It’ll only be for a bit,” Parker said, squeezing his hand. “ We’ll be fine.”
They left the van in twos, first Parker and hardison, briefcase and extraneous computer in hand, and a minute or two later Sophie and Nate followed-- and Nate with a plain folder tucked under his arm. Eliot drove in the direction of the police station, ready for the next phase of the plan.
They hadn’t exactly called ahead, but that wasn’t going to be much of a problem.
Cisco Ramon was the first to spot them. He goggled a bit.
“What are you doing here?” he asked as Hardison approached the bench where Team Flash had congregated. Hardison smiled, knowing the prosecutor was watching.
“I came to offer my services,” he said, sending a quick text with a thought. “ Where is Ms Horton?”
“Here,” the short woman said, her eyes cutting between the two as Cisco checked his phone. “ Who are you? Cisco, who is--”
Cisco looked up from the message--you didn’t see us coming?-- and relaxed slightly for the first time in weeks.
“I’m part of Mr. Allen’s legal team,” Hardison smiled wide.
“He’s ok, Cecile,” Cisco vouched. “ He and his, uh, coworkers have helped us in the past. With Z--wait, that was before you. Um.”
“My firm helped get Henry Allen some money, after that unfortunate mess. And we’re here to see justice through again.” He hesitated. “ Or pick up where it leaves off,” he said under his breath.
Cecile took in a sharp breath. “When did we hire you?”
“Uh--”
“Cecile, it’s really ok,” Caitlin joined the cluster. “They know about STAR. And apparently about the recent… developments.”
“You think we don’t keep tabs on your crazy city? Now, Ms. Horton, as your co-lawyer, we need to discuss strategy. I’ve got some character witnesses I’d like to introduce, some crucial evidence that needs to be submitted, is there an office we might use?” He steered her away, nodding to Parker, deep in conversation with the prosecutor.
“You let that jerk stick around?” Iris jumped when she heard the voice in her ear. Turning she sighed with recognition.
“ Lilli--Sophie?”
“In the flesh.” She smiled. “I can’t stay long, but Eliot wanted me to ask.”
Iris sighed. “If it’s Eliot asking, I guess you mean Harry. He’s been a lot better since Eliot kicked his ass, that’s for sure. And he has been helpful.”
“I’m sure,” Sophie sounded anything but sure. “Listen, we’ve got this pretty well handled, but you and your friends may wish to be ready in case of reprisals. Have you upgraded security lately?”
“Cisco’s worked on it,” Iris confirmed.
“Good. Hardison would love to take a look, later. We’re probably going to be in the area, we’ve had word something’s fishy at that prison of yours.”
When Iris opened her mouth Sophie shook her head. “Iron Heights. Point is, we’ll be around should you need anything.”
“Thank you for the offer,” Iris said. She shook her head. “ These people are smart, Sophie. Dangerous.”
“Not compared to my team,” Sophie smiled. “Save your worry. Look, see? Hardison’s in place, and Parker’s in the wings. I’ve got to go take care of my part. If you see your husband, let him know, will you?”
“I-- sure,” Iris said, and she watched as Sophie stood and walked into a crowd. An entirely different person made her way past a bailiff and into the Juror’s box, leaning over to the man beside her and nodding in the direction of the door Barry Allen had just been escorted through.
As Iris stood to take his hand across the gap between his seat and the benches, Sophie gave a little nod to the two of them. “It is strange,” the man said. “But I don’t think we’re meant to discuss the case until we’re in the back.”
“Of course not,” Sophie said. “I was just thinking about it, is all. If it were a scene in a mystery novel, I’d call it too obvious.”
“You do have a point,” the man agreed. “I’m actually a novelist myself.”
“You don’t say,” Sophie smiled. “Classic red herring, am I right? And what a story. Two men in the same family accused of nearly identical murders…”
She tapped her com, giving a quick signal. Nate was up.
“Ah, a quick word?” Nate stepped away from the wall, flagging down Mrs. DeVoe and her companion.
“No,” she snapped, putting on what Nate could see was a reasonably convincing mask of Grieving Widow. Convincing to a mark, maybe. But the Mako was right--you can’t con a conman. “Vultures, all of you.”
“Oh, I’m not a reporter.” Nate said easily. He nodded to the tall man at Marlize’s Elbow. “Mr. DeVoe, I’m sure you’ll want to hear what I have to say.” He was pleased to see shock cross the face of Dominic Lanse.
The man grabbed him by the arm, yanking him into an empty room. Mrs. DeVoe followed, locking it behind her.
“Just so you are aware, there is video footage of you dragging me in here,” Nate said in his most helpful voice. “In case you decide to kill me here, probably not your smartest move.” he glanced around. “Private, though. Good.” He gave his signature infuriating grin.
“Make this quick,” Clifford said in Dominic’s voice. “Court begins soon.”
“Right, well, that’s going to be your problem.” Nate shrugged. “ Let’s skip the pleasantries. I know everything, about your plan at least. Your computer banks! Normal people couldn’t even find them, so you’ve got that going for you, though the security is lacking once you get past that, so B+. I am not Normal People. I have the best hacker in the multiverse, though, so,” he clicked his tongue in mock dismay, “like I said, my team and I --I’m sure you’re trying to think of who we are right now--know everything.”
Marlize glanced at her silent watch, frowning.
“Oh, no, no, I’m not a meta.” Nate shook his head. “But the thing is, I don’t have to be to destroy you.”
“What--”
“Again. I know everything, Thinker. Your basement prison, your hidden files, what you want with that satellite… you really shouldn’t have written everything down… twice even.” He fished a small book out of his pocket, and let them see the plain cover. Clifford’s eyes darkened.
“That’s mine.”
“Yeah, well, I also have the
multiverse’s greatest thief.”
“Our home is under police protection and surveillance. There are officers--”
“There right now, I’m aware.”
Eliot Spencer, clutching a cup of coffee in one hand, flashed a badge at the pair of officers standing by a door. “Any trouble?”
“Nope. She just left for the courthouse. Some work, huh? Just standing here.”
“Hmm.“ Eliot agreed. “Though I guess if something did happen, the Flash would swoop in.”
“Nine times out of ten,” the first officer agreed. “Or one of his buddies. “
“Maybe 8 times,” the second officer shrugged. “ You new?”
“Just transferred from Keystone.” Eliot said. “Not so much nonsense there.”
“I hear that. Good to have the backup though.”
Eliot nodded. “ You do a walk through?”
“Uh, no…. Like I said, no trouble, officer--
“Ted Crichton,” Eliot interrupted. “You haven’t walked through? What if someone’s in there, waiting to assault Mrs. DeVoe when she gets back?”
“Well, uh, we don’t have a warrant--”
“For crying out loud--” Eliot pulled a paper from his pocket. “See? Now let's go. You stay out here. Who has the back-- does no one have the back door? “
The officers hurried inside.
“Don’t forget to check the closets,” Eliot called. --
“ Like I said. Best thief. Best hacker. Now, honestly--and you can run the numbers-- your best bet would be to cut your losses right here, right now. You’re already lying on the stand, so say you were coerced into implicating Mr. Allen--if you need someone to blame I do have a list of patsys that really need the jail time. You do that, put your little plan,” he waggled the book “ back in the box or write it up as the next dystopian best seller for High School English classes to dissect for decades to come, and you can walk away from this.”
A laugh. “No one will believe anything you say. That book can’t be traced to me, and even if it could be, it doesn’t prove anything. So someone thinks I’m a supervillain. I’m dead. You have nothing that proves Mr. Allen innocent. You’re out of your mind, Mr. Ford.”
“Oh good, you know who I am. Think a little harder.”
“As threats go, it’s half baked,” Marlize challenged. “What are you going to do if we refuse? Break Allen out of jail so he can be a fugitive? He’d never go along with it. And the Flash can’t stop us.”
“I’d run those numbers again, you’ve left out quite a few variables. But no.”
“No?”
“If you refuse, if you keep up your little game, lie on the stand, sell that sob story, maybe you're right and the Flash can’t stop you. But he doesn’t need to. I’ll destroy you.”
“You.” It was not a question.
“For someone claiming to be the smartest man in the world, I’m a bit worried about your memory. I said it already--I’m not here alone. But be my guest. Tell your lies. Right about now the Jury is thinking about what an embarrassment to the city Henry Allen’s trial was and how closely this resembles it… the similarities, the way the timelines don’t quite match up… “
“Really? You’re trying to convince the jury to ignore evidence and go with their hearts? A pathos appeal? That’s not going to work. There’s less than a 3% chance of that even ending in a mistrial, much less acquittal.”
“I’m sure that’s what your numbers said,” Nate smiled yet again, this time sharklike. “Cute. I bet you think it’s difficult to get assigned jury duty. “
“It-- we checked all the names. We know--”
“You know who they are, yes, yes. But you don’t know who we are. Another sloppy mistake. Now, the jury’s, you're right, not a total slam dunk. So, right now the prosecutor is getting word of some new evidence from a very well respected FBI agent about how helpful the Flash and Mr Allen have both been in assisting with a case against a known human trafficker--you know her, Ammunet Black. The one you bought your puppet from. FBI picked her up…mmm, ten minutes ago? And she had some very interesting things to say. You can guess what they were. Add to that the evidence--”
“What evidence?”
“The wire transfers between you and Ms. Black. In December and a few days ago. We didn’t even have to fake that first one, but even if the second
one looks a little fishy, the fact that--”
“Nate, we got him,” crackled Eliot’s voice in his ear.
“--the police just found a metahuman locked in your hall closet--Weeper, I think is what Ms. Black called him-- should make things clear. He wasn’t thrilled about having to stick around much longer but your basement is pretty hard for normal people to find so we had to nudge that a bit. But hey, you’re all for planting evidence. Anyways, court’s in ten minutes…. but the police will be arresting you in about three, if my math’s right-- care to check?-- so I can make this very quick. We have video of you threatening the Flash, holding him prisoner the same night as that wire transfer, proof of Dominic’s powers and sale--my hacker thanks you for all those cameras and bugs, by the way, made his job much easier-- and you add that all up and it sure looks like you got upset at the Flash and Allen for poking into your meta trafficking and decided a frame up was in order.” Nate hefted the folder, “and then there’s this.”
“And what,” Marlize asked, shaking with rage, “ is that?”
“A copy of files that will be delivered to the FBI, NSA and Dean of Husdson University if you don’t admit to the frame up.” Nate said, thumbing through them. “Proof that you, Mrs. DeVoe, fed information to certain entities across Africa and the Middle East where you were doing your research and aid work to assist in their terror attacks and human trafficking--ties in quite nicely to your work with Ammunet, if I do say so myself. And proof that the “late” Mr. DeVoe plagiarized his thesis, his dissertation, even the syllabi for his classes.”
“Lies. No one will believe any of--”
“Oh, it’s all very well forged. Except for the bit about the Syllabi. For shame.” Nate tutted. “And part of the dissertation. Can they take away a PH.d posthumously? Anyways, even if it wasn’t, do you really think that no one would believe a man who thinks that giving everyone on the planet late stage Alzheimer’s is going to solve famine and illness? What kind of legitimate history teacher doesn’t know about cholera or the effects of the agricultural revolution? Every lie has a kernel of truth to it.” Nate glanced at the clock on the wall. “Well, that certainly was enlightening. And before you decide to simply kill me, run your little calculations with one more variable: Eliot Spencer.”
DeVoe’s brow furrowed and what little color he had drained from his face.
“ That’s what I thought. Three.. Two.. one.” Nate raised his voice. “ Help! I’m in here!”
The door crashed from its hinges.
“The Gloat is the best part,” Parker, FBI badge swinging, put an arm over Barry’s shoulders. He stood with Iris next to her and Eliot as the DeVoes were hauled away.
“You know, I think I might have to agree,” Iris said, squeezing Barry’s hand. “Or second best, at least,” she added meaningfully.
“So… what now?” Joe asked. “I mean, there’s still… the red tape, but… do we need to be worried? Don’t they still have--”
“Oh, that sick chair and computer set up?” Hardison asked with a smirk.
“I want it.” Harry announced.
“When did you get here?” Hardison asked, affronted.
-- Parker held up her badge as she pushed the crate up a ramp into Lucille.
“Special Agent Hagen! Let me help you with that,” Agent McSweeten said, taking the dolley handle from her.
Parker beamed, patting the side, careful not to dislodge the panel on the side. “Thanks!” --
“Anyways, you can’t just call dibs. You’re too late,” Hardison added, giving Parker a fistbump. “We stole it.”
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So in the middle or writing something else, I had an intrusion of thought about one of the components.
My favorite book on Universal Patterns of Story is Save the Cat! but I was also looking at my demoted second favorite, 20 Master Plots and how to build them by Ronald B Tobias and it occurred to me that they really ought to fit together. So I started fiddling with them and I think I kinda see something a little different from either but which is also clearly the same thing.
There's a cluster that is about Equations of Power
STC!'s Super Hero, A person is blessed with talent and power but cursed to suffer an achilles heel (usually separation from the society they wish to keep) so they have to choose which to let win. which is when the power is really on the protagonist's side.
STC!'s dude with a problem. Average, competent person has to face huge problem. Protagonist is fine in power, it's just that the problem is so big.
Tobias' Rivalry. Equal powers in competition for one goal.
Tobias' Underdog. Protagonist is not up to the match but tries to compete for the mutually exclusive goal anyway.
Tobias' Sacrifice. Protagonist volunteers themselves and what is dearest to them in exchange for a success they will not be able to enjoy. The Protagonist's only power is in their abnegation of power.
All of those really are about power and how it balances.
Next cluster is trapped. There's social traps, physical traps, and traps for the soul but they all come down to the protagonist is trapped in a space with something terrible that they can't get away from until they deal with the fundamental nature of the trap, WHY they are trapped.
Snyder - Institutionalized. A person’s struggle for individuality vs being part of the group. Social trap.
Tobias - Escape: Confined against their will, the character tries to escape. Physical trap.
Tobias - Rescue: The Protagonist goes out and steals something that the Antagonist has stolen. Physical trap but for someone else. Breaking in instead of breaking out.
Tobias - Pursuit: One person chases another. The chase is more important than the people. The trap follows you, no escape.
Snyder - Monster in the House. The MC is locked up with something that imperils their life and soul. Spiritual trap, no way out until you discover and deal with your sin.
Tobias - Revenge: Retaliation against the antagonist for real or imagined injury. Inability to let being trapped go, continue to pursue it, trying to metaphysically free self from the trap.
Tobias - Temptation: A mostly internal struggle between a Protagonist’s desires and their moral code. Carry the trap with you and know your sin well, the task is figuring out how to free yourself from the trap when it is that good.
Again, all about being trapped with something that will destroy you unless you figure out how to come to terms with it.
Questing
These are the heroes journey plots
Tobias - Quest: A character searches for something, tangible or intangible.
Snyder - Golden Fleece. The MC needs to go on a journey with some allies to get something.
Tobias - Adventure: The character goes in search of fortune, the focus is the journey itself.
That's Just Life, you have to change cluster, is that life is hard and you have to just change what you are to meet it, or die really.
Snyder - Rites of Passage. Certain events are just part of the experience life, that doesn’t make them any easier to deal with when someone has to look inside themselves and just deal.
Tobias - Maturation: The Coming of Age from an innocent or child into an experienced or adult.
Tobias - Transformation: Slice of life around a dramatic change from one life state to another where the protagonist is recognizable as a “different person.”
I feel like in this one in particular, Snyder got it, and Rites of of Passage really is the best term.
Abnormality teaches about Normality
Snyder - Out of the Bottle. The MC gets a wish, or gets cursed, and learns the value of a normal life.
Tobias - Metamorphosis: A character is literally transformed into something else. As much about why they deserve it as the physical transformation.
Really, Snyder gets it right again here. Metamorphosis is just a specific sub-type of OOB
Love, all kinds, But
Snyder - Buddy Love. Romance / Friendship, every story fundamentally about learning to be together.
Tobias - Love: A meets B and it would be great BUT… So A&B try to overcome that BUT.
Tobias - Forbidden Love: As Love. The BUT is that at least one is unpalatable to the other’s society.
I feel like they're all subtypes of Tobias, here. Buddy love is where the BUT is the character's ignorance of how to co-exist. Forbidden Love is clearly a subtype of Love. It's that but that really encompasses it all. Even A Boy and His Dog plots where the But is that Dogs don't live as long and they can't do all the things a human can, and other people don't respect your dog.
Mysteries
Tobias - The Riddle: Protagonist and reader must solve an enigma that is occluded by the plot.
Snyder - Whydunit. Mystery where the deepest secret is WHY the crime happened at all.
Tobias - Discovery: The character seeks understanding of themselves. As Riddle but mystery is the inner life of the investigator.
Sorry, WHY is a great mystery but it's just not the only mystery.
Power to rise and the weakness to fall
Tobias - Ascension / Descension: How a Protagonist’s personal character drives their rise from rags to riches (Ascension), their fall from grace to privation (Descension), or both their rise and fall.
Snyder - Fool Triumphant. A Fool doesn’t realize their power to change lives or the consequences of their unbridled success.
Tobias - Wretched Excess: A relatable Protagonist is cast out from the center of society and must endure the fringes of society beyond what most are willing to consider acceptable. The essence of this plot’s power is the belief of the reader that this could possibly happen to them.
Wretched excess is a way of Descension. Fool Triumphant is particular twist on the rise and fall. Ascension/Decension, actually two different plots, but malleable describes it all best
Which gives me 8 instead of ten.
If that is of any use :/ Which it may not be. Mostly Snyder’s 10 work for me. It’s really Trapped where I feel there is weakness. Revenge is such a blatant there thing it needs some kind of direct address. But it’s also too narrow to be it’s own I feel like. So... I dunno. As ever.
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Friends With Benefits Part 4 - Keanu Reeves x Reader
Chapter IV ~ Her Name Seeps From His Lips.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
I’m so sorry this sucks but I promise promise promise chapter 5 will be good.
Word Count : 3362
Warnings : NSFW, 18+ content. Masturbation.
Series Summary : What happens when two, lonely friends start seeing and confiding in each other for sex? A tricky friends with benefits love story, when feelings get in the way.
A/N : Y’all I’m not a guy but I tried okay. I hope you enjoy this chapter, friendios 🖤
Keanu and you had an unspoken bond to each other. In fact, your entire relationship, which started off as just friends, only came to be because you appealed to each other. You appreciated each other’s company above all, especially due to the fact neither of you had ever had much interest in the mass of social crowds.
Sex only became part of the equation well after. You were friends, before friends with benefits.
Of course, the sex stuck around because of how mind blowing it always was. Neither of you meant for it to, but it had become routine. Needless to say, Keanu and you had a very frequent and healthy sex life together. Your need to satisfy each other only grew with time, almost becoming religion.
•
As Keanu collapses on his bed, propping his feet up, he can hear the faint sound of the misty LA rain out his window. December in LA tends to be wetter than the rest of the months, the days shorter and gloomier than before. The steady drumming on the window feels nice. Its calm, serene, contrasting to the intensity of the work week thus far.
Naturally, when Keanu hadn’t seen you in over a week, he found himself missing you. A lot. You had suddenly left the morning after your steamy midnight session a week prior. The morning you showed Keanu the galaxies alike, woke him up in the most sinful of ways with your gorgeous little mouth. The morning Keanu and you had ventured out together for plan B. The same morning the media caught you at brunch.
Keanu and you hadn’t met up since that day, which left him feeling very unsettled. With Christmas approaching rather soon, Keanu had planned to spend more time with you this week. He wanted to have a movie night or two, or perhaps take you out to a nice dinner. He knew your family was back home, and you didn’t have anyone in LA to spend the holidays with. Keanu understood that. He felt lonelier than usual around the holidays as well. He thought you could use each other around this time.
Keanu always tried his best to show you how much he valued you. Your relationship was a special case…for sure. But it worked for you. It was always his priority to make sure you never felt used. For Keanu, you weren’t solely just his fuck buddy. You were one of his best friends, a woman he respected, appreciated, and cared for deeply. He’d seen you at your most vulnerable. How could he not feel so deeply connected to you? The intimacy you shared together was precious. He often found himself reflecting on just how beautiful it really was. Just how lucky he really was to have you fill his needs, and to be able to fulfill yours.
However, the week hadn’t gone as planned so far. Keanu and you were normally very active. You both always managed to make the time to see each other, to be with each other. You hadn’t been intimate in a week. Each time he proposed, you had rubbed him off, claiming a busier workload, or just being plain tired.
That didn’t seem like Y/N though, and Keanu knew that. In fact, normally when she was tired, Y/N wanted Keanu to please her even more. They did that a lot for each other, when one needed relief, the other would work harder to give them the release they so desperately craved, whether it was just a brief pop in for a quickie at her office or his trailer, or a long, steamy evening at one of their houses, where they left each other gasping for air by the end of it, their skin sticking together as if bound as one, their lips shaping, dripping each other’s names.
Gosh, it had been a week since Keanu had had any sort of release. A week of tense, diligent, exhausting training without Y/N to make him feel good. He’d craved her body this past week, almost as if reciting a prayer, he so desperately needed to be heard.
Y/N was amazing, to make an understatement. She was as gratifying as a siren, an enchantress with her body, so skilled, so perfect. He had had her a hundred times, which may be what lead him to become so addicted to her. The feeling of her, all of her wrapped around him, the feeling of her soft, delicate hands running over his calloused skin, the linger of her warm breath.
The way her warm, velvety, sinfully wet tongue felt lapping around him, the way her shallow bobs could almost take him whole.
Keanu hadn’t realized himself palming at a growing bulge in his sweatpants, gradually leaning against the headboard of the bed, eyes drifting closed with a mural of Y/N clouding his mind.
Before Y/N, Keanu used to relieve himself often. He hadn’t been in a real relationship in years, and one night stands weren’t too frequent in his busy schedule. Not to mention, he was never too fond of one night hookups. He enjoyed feeling an emotional connection to his partner, liked the added sensation it brought to know the woman taking him is someone who cares for him, and not just another brag to the world of sleeping with movie star, Keanu Reeves.
He began groping his bulge unknowingly, his pants undoubtedly growing tighter and tighter at the thought of Y/N. Keanu’s sex drive was rather high for a man his age, although he was never much of one to act on it. Of course, until Y/N came along. She had always been there to help him when he needed it, happy to give him the ecstasy he so desperately wanted.
With a bite of his bottom lip, Keanu slips his hand into the waistband of his sweats, feeling over his sensitive skin. He hadn’t done this in a while; he hadn’t needed to. But it had been 8 days, not that he was counting. 8 days without any release. 8 days without Y/N.
Kicking off his sweats, Keanu positions himself comfortably in his bed, the rain at the window still pelting away. His eyes catch the splatter of tiny water globes, sprayed across the glass. There’s so many of them, thousands if he tried to count, millions. Numbers, quantities, digits. It’s a funny thing to think of how much of so much there is of everything in the world. So much love, so much admiration, so many people.
Yet here he was, on a cold, rainy day, alone. Feeling more alone than he had in a while. He wondered what Y/N was doing in that moment. If she had thought about him as much as he thought about her this past week.
He pulls out his cock to the sound of the rain getting heavier, the sleet downpour thumping on the roof, almost entwining with the beat of his heart racing faster by the second, blood pumping to his lower. Wrapping his palm sloppily around his base, Keanu pumps himself full, base to shaft, leisurely, up and down a few times. His hooded eyes trace down and see his girth growing bigger and bigger through the touch.
A light moan escapes his lips at the sensation. It’s not the same as having Y/N’s tight, dripping cunt engulfed around him, but its something. Something to feel. He reaches over to the bedside table into the drawer, for a bottle of hand cream he keeps available. He hates to admit it, but its kept for times like this. It hadn’t seen the light of the bedroom for a while, not since Y/N had been coming around. But Y/N wasn’t there today, leaving the timeworn, guilt ensuing hand cream to accompany him through the deed. He felt pathetic, pitiful on himself.
But he couldn’t bring himself to stop. Not when he needed this so bad. Squirting a dime sized amount onto his palm, he jerks himself whole. A low groan stumbles from his lips as he strokes his entire length, his thumb swirling over the tip of his cock, smearing droplets of clear, gooey pre cum over his head. He closes his eyes, trying to remember the feel of Y/N’s plump, moist lips swirling him, the sounds of her tiny gags as she took him in and out.
His cock begins twitching, sending shudders through his nerves. He begins pumping himself harder, tighter, faster, grunts and low moans sashaying out of his mouth with each jerk. With his spare hand, he brings it down to toy with his balls, massaging, kneading to add to the pleasure.
“Fuck…oh fuck…Y/N, baby..” your name slips from his mouth, the thought of you fogging his mind as he worked expertly with his hands on himself. He was a bit rusty, but it all came back once his hunger for relief overtook all his senses. He begins adding twists into the combination, trying to simulate the feel of any part of your body on him, making him feel so good the way you always do, the way you so proficiently bring him to the edge with ease, as if second nature.
He feels himself close, his cock twitching, throbbing, pulsating as he yanks himself, your name habitually falls from his mouth in sinful baritone. Keanu had never met a woman that had reduced him to a moaning mess like this before, he’d never dreamt of a women making him feel this way, the way he hardened instantly at the thought of you.
He had always needed something to get him going before you, a video, a magazine, anything. He was surprised at the effect you had on him, he had no idea it was that strong until this moment.
“Y/N…oh Y/N. Fuck.” Keanu growls, whimpering as he pumps himself to the edge. Grabbing a cluster of tissues off the bedside table, while simultaneously stroking himself faster and faster, he reaches his climax, his silky, creamy, succulent release shooting into his tissue equipped hand.
With a string of moans, he felt himself lighten at the vast amount of seed he’d released, the tissue heavier and heavier until he drained himself completely. Panting, with a thin line of sweat glazed across his forehead, his head falls back, relaxing, breath heavy.
He lets the tissues fall to the floor, as he rests his eyes, chest raising and falling gradually. He’s cleared his mind, his release so powerful, but never the same. Not what you could give him. As his cock falls flaccid, he brings his forearm to rest over his head, surprised at how easily he had just masturbated to the thought of you.
The rain hasn’t stopped. Its been complemented by gradual rumbles of thunder. The day is only growing darker and darker, mirroring the way his chest felt in that moment. He missed her, he missed her a lot. Y/N was his friend, not just someone he had sex with. Why had she left so suddenly that morning? Why hadn’t she wanted to meet up this week? Had he done something? He couldn’t shake the feeling. But he needed her. He needed to see her, if not be with her. He needed to know she was okay, and that there wasn’t something wrong in her life for her to keep herself so occupied, so deserted from him.
He reaches over to check the time on his phone.
4:00pm. Y/N wouldn’t be home from work until at least 6:00pm.
He decided he should check up on her tonight. Scarce text messages hadn’t been cutting it, and she hadn’t answered any of his phone calls recently. This wasn’t like her at all. He needed to hear from her in person. It wasn’t about wanting sex or her body, he wanted to be there for her in case something was terribly wrong. Y/N was an independent woman, headstrong and assertive. She wouldn’t boast or cry about her sorrows to anyone. Not even him. That’s why he needed to make sure she was okay. He needed this for peace of his own mind.
She was one of the most important people in his life after all. She took priority over a lot of other people in his life.
•
As evening falls over the LA coast, Keanu finds himself driving to Y/N’s apartment further into town. The tar black sky hadn’t finished its showery monsoon onto the city. Everywhere he looked, he saw colourful umbrellas sprawled about, peppering the town with specs of reds, yellows, some blues, some grays. Beads of water trickled down each of his car windows, slightly blurring the sight of the city folk continuing in on their day.
He couldn’t help but notice couples hand in hand, walking together under scattered umbrellas. It must be nice to share such a limited space with someone, such an intimate setting, shielding each other from the downpour.
Pulling into Y/N’s parking garage, Keanu paces up, into the elevator, an unopened bottle of Y/N’s favourite red in hand, wrapped in a brown paper bag. His black leather jacket is speckled with rain dewdrops, his hair a little damper than when he had left from his house. He hoped Y/N wouldn’t mind. He often found himself wondering if Y/N cared about how he looked. If she found him…attractive. Or something like that.
With a ring of the bell on her floor, he hears Y/N’s voice over the buzz of the apartment door.
“Who is it?” her soft, tuneful voice asks. It was so fucking nice to hear her voice after a week long hiatus.
“Hey, its me. Keanu.”
After a momentary pause, he hears a jingle of the lock, and the door opened to reveal Y/N. Her hair is thrown up in a messy bun, and she’s dressed in a loose v neck shirt and some sleeping shorts. He can tell she hasn’t got a bra on underneath, not that he meant to look there.
“Hey, come in. Sorry, my place is kinda a mess and I look horrible. I wasn’t expecting anyone.” She shrugs, running a hand over the back of her head, closing the door behind him.
“It’s fine. You look nice.” Keanu assures her. “It’s Friday, thought we could leisure a little.” Keanu chuckles, holding up the bottle.
Keanu swore he saw a twinkle in her eyes, complemented by a curl of lips into a small smile on face. However, it dropped so slightly, her eyes falling a little. He swore he saw it, no matter how brief.
“Yeah, sounds like a great idea. Thanks for coming, Ke.” She offers him a smile, patting his bicep. After a slight contemplation, she nods her head and goes in for a hug. Keanu was her friend, and despite her feeling a bit weird lately about their relationship, she couldn’t deny the fact that she loved the care he showed for her. Why did he always have to be so god damn thoughtful? Why couldn’t they just be fuck buddies who just fuck? He probably didn’t think much of his nice gestures. He was just that much of a wonderful, compassionate, considerate gentleman. He did these things for everyone he knew. He treated everyone with this much love.
Keanu wrapped his spare arm around her, pulling her in close, and planting a kiss on her cheek. Y/N didn’t know how to feel about that. She did feel…something…when he did that. But she knew she needed to shake away those feelings. It was just sex. They were together for just sex. They’re not in a romantic relationship. She doesn’t come home to him everyday. She doesn’t get to wake up to him every morning. She doesn’t get the anniversary dinners or the casual nights in, enjoying each others company. This man wasn’t her boyfriend. He doesn’t feel that way for her.
Pulling away from him, she asserts herself. Tonight needs to establish, emphasize that their relationship is just physical. She’ll be sure of it. The second they start behaving in any way that normal friends with benefits don’t, she’ll draw the line. She��s sure of it.
“Make yourself comfortable. I’ll grab the bottle opener and a couple of glasses.” She smiles at him, before trailing into the kitchen, Keanu behind. He shrugs off his coat in the process.
“You been away lately. Everything okay?” he asks, setting himself down on a bar stool in her kitchen, resting his head on his hand leaning on the counter.
“Yeah. Just been taking up some extra projects.” She replies, avoiding eye contact, pouring the wine into two glasses for them.
“I was worried. You barely kept in touch. Thought something was wrong.” Keanu empathized. He made sure to let her know that she was on his mind. He hadn’t thought of it as “not a big deal.”
“All good. Only thing to worry about is this horrendous look I’m flaunting right now.” She laughed, gesturing down to her attire. Y/N usually tried her best to look good for Keanu, she wanted him to want her. Wanted him to think she looked good.
Sliding over the glass to Keanu, Y/N holds her glass in the air, gesturing a “cheers” before taking a sip.
“I’ll keep saying it, Y/N. You look good. You always look good, honey.” He smiled, making direct eye contact. There it was again. The thing he did to her. Y/N pauses for a moment, getting lost in his eyes. She shakes herself out of her trance, walking closer to him, setting her glass down. She needed to draw the line. This was the time for that.
She positions herself in font of him, grabbing hold of his collar. With lust in her eyes, she lowers her gaze.
“Do you wanna…” she starts her sentence, trailing off as she bites her lip, staring him right in the eyes. Keanu’s taken back, she normally isn’t this way, she never initiates sex out of the blue. Not when they’re just spending time together, like they do often.
But he couldn’t help the bulge that threatened to grow in his pants. Y/N was in just some booty shorts and a loose top, sans bra. Her breasts looked so firm, perfectly plump resting on her chest. Gosh, he loved those fucking breasts, loved the way they provided a safe haven for him to rest his head when he was on top of her, thrusting in and out, the way they practically melt in his touch. So warm, so inviting. Just like Y/N looked right now.
“Y/N, we don’t have to, I’m here to just…yenno, check up. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. If you’re not in the mood, I’m okay. We can do it another time.” Keanu rambled, watching her every move as she began lowering her shirt off, exposing a bare shoulder. Her skin looked so dewy, so soft for the taking.
“No, I want to. It’s been a while, Keanu.” She mumbled, running her hands over his chest as he still rest on the bar stool, waiting for him to say yes, as she eyed his lips. “I want you.” She whispered, lips close to his ear, grazing over the thick skin.
She felt his hands plant themselves on her waist, as her hand cruised the inside of his thigh. She could see him growing harder, his pants tightening as she threatened to run her hand over his crotch.
“You know I can’t say no to you, darling.” Keanu murmured, attaching his lips to her jaw.
Y/N’s eyes went dark with the words that escaped his mouth. It had been a while. She missed the way he filled her up so fucking well, the way she’d be left sore and throbbing after he was finished, the way her thighs would stick together with what he left behind.
She was going to make him see the stars tonight; she was sure of it. She was his fuck buddy, and she was going to be the best at just that. Make him forget the world behind them.
Grabbing his hand off her hip, she guides it into the waistband of her pants, never breaking eye contact with him.
He had no idea
what he was in for.
>>Chapter 5>>
➶ ➴➶ ➴➶ ➴➶ ➴➶ ➴➶ ➴➶ ➴➶ ➴➶ ➴➶ ➴➶ ➴➶ ➴
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Universe Falls Chapter 78
Oy this one’s a mess but whatever I needed to get through it to get done with it. Plus heyoooo one chapter left after this one till RMD yeah boiiiiii. Anyway this one is, ok... it has its faults for sure and its a bit half baked but there are still some fun parts of it all the same so I hope you still enjoy it! (and again for formatting please read this on AO3 or FF.Net, Dumblr is the worst when it comes to formatting). Enjoy!
Previous: https://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/617233070438907905/universe-falls-chapter-77-part-3
***
Chapter 78: Monster Falls
PYEA KYFRZGX JSPHDEF SASIMGX
IBQ GFRZSQ HLDNL BC FMIAAYJ
GFYE YWZXL SEPGRS JMVTOS
JAZLR GYVVD LBDSF KVAEJFBXQ
“Now, now, Yellow, just hold onto your hand ship. These things take time! You just gotta be patient!”
“I’ve been patient for over 5,000 years now! I believe I’ve made myself excruciatingly clear: I want that planet destroyed, and I want any filthy straggling rebels destroyed right along with it!”
“Hey, we’re on the same page here, Yellow! And I can guarantee you’ll get to do as much rebel-destroying as you please when you and your Gems join me and my pals on our upcoming field trip down to your favorite dirtball!”
“Ah yes, an excursion that’s taking far too long to actually happen! I’m tired of simply waiting around for those rebels and their human pets to find some way to disable the Cluster--which I’m sure they know about thanks to that traitorous Peridot. If you won’t wipe them out like they deserve, then I’ll do it myself!”
“Whoa-ho-ho, no need to be so hasty! You wanna nip those Crystal Chumps and their human buddies in the bud? You got it. Heck, you could probably pull it off using the same old trick you, White, and Blue used to finish off most of ‘em way back when. Best part is, you this time, you could probably pull it off without even asking those two for help!”
“...You mean use my power… alone? I fail to see how that would-”
“Not alone! I’ll lend you a hand instead. Between the two of us, all it’ll take is a direct hit straight on their “base” or whatever ya call it, and they’ll never know what hit ‘em!”
“Hm… I suppose it is worth a try. Especially if it will finally wipe the last of those despicable Crystal Gems and their wretched leader out of existence once and for all.”
“Yeah, sure, that’s absolutely what it’ll do. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s give those chumps a real blast from the past…”
“Thanks for coming over and helping me with my spring cleaning, you guys!” Steven grinned down to Dipper, Mabel, and Connie from his spot up on the loft. The kids had spent the better half of their morning sorting through Steven’s belongings to help him decide what to keep and what to throw away or donate. A rather mundane task compared to what they usually tended to get up to, but a surprisingly enjoyable one all the same.
“I think you mean summer cleaning, Steven,” Connie chuckled as she neatly folded up a shirt.
“...Huh… yeah, I guess I do!”
“Not that any of this stuff even needs cleaning,” Mabel said as she carried a box of various nick nacks up onto the loft. “I wish I could keep all my Crying Breakfast Friends merch as organized as you do, Steven!”
“So do I,” Dipper remarked to Connie more than Mabel. “Especially since her “merch” usually ends up on my side of the attic.”
“Well, Pearl once told me ‘the cleaner the room, the happier the human’, so I--oh no!” Steven stopped short with a sudden gasp as he lifted one of his several stuffed animals. “MC Bear-Bear! You’ve got a tear-tear!”
“Not MC Bear-Bear!” Mabel exclaimed just as dramatically as Steven showed off the relatively tiny tear under the bear’s armpit. “He was too young! Too pure!”
“It’s a stuffed bear, Mabel,” Dipper deadpanned.
“A beautiful bear with so much to live for!”
“I should have been more careful,” Steven added onto the round of laments. “We’ve lost too many good bears this way. Well don’t worry,” he said to the bear as he held it close. “You’re hurt, but I’ll look after you.” With this, the young Gem planted a gentle kiss on the bear’s head, and as a result, his healing spit swiftly did its jobs, magically mending the tear back together until it looked like it had never even happened at all.
“Huh, well that’s one way to patch up a tear,” Dipper noted, genuinely impressed.
“Yeah! Way to go, Steven!” Mabel cheered. “Ya know, I have more than a few stuffed animals of my own that are due for the ol’ ‘Magical Healing Kiss’ treatment too… if you’re up for it, ‘Dr. Universe’.”
Strangely though, Steven didn’t answer as his focus was still on MC Bear-Bear, his expression much more thoughtful and serious than it had been a moment prior. His silence wasn’t lost on the others as Connie spoke up to address it. “Uh… are you ok? You sure are staring MC Bear-Bear down pretty hard there…”
“Huh?” Steven blinked, looking between his three friends before turning back to the bear once more. “Well… I was just thinking… We’ve done a lot this summer--saved the town, the whole world, even, but… there’s still something we haven’t done… Guys,” his tone was earnest as he glanced up, resolved. “We haven’t helped any of the corrupted Gems…”
Dipper, Mabel, and Connie alike all quickly adopted the young Gem’s solemn manner at this. “No, I… I guess we haven’t,” Connie admitted with a frown.
“To be fair, we have been pretty busy,” Dipper countered. “Besides, it’s not like anybody really even knows how to-”
“I know how!” Steven interjected, raising his hand. “I-I mean, if my healing powers can fix up humans and Gems and even MC Bear-Bear, then I don’t see why they wouldn’t work on corrupted Gems too, right?”
“You really think it could?” Mabel asked, curious. “Cause if you’re right then that’s a lot of monsters you’re gonna have to smooch…”
“Which sounds… sort of dangerous,” Connie noted worriedly. “Maybe you should try a test run first?”
“That’s a great idea!” Steven hopped up from his bed just as the temple doors slid open just in time. “Guys!” he called, tripping over the side of the loft, only to land squarely on the couch between Dipper and Connie. That hardly stopped him however, as he rushed over to the Gems as the others followed not too far behind.
“Hey, what’s up, little Ste-cup--and amigos?” Amethyst asked, offering the kids a casual grin.
“Guys! I used my healing spit to fix a rip on MC Bear-Bear!” Steven proclaimed, holding the stuffed animal up for them to see.
“Oh, uh… that’s… nice?” Pearl said an uncertain smile, though clearly she wasn’t sure what the cause for the young Gem’s excitement was.
“Good job,” Garnet smiled, sending him a thumbs up.
“That all you wanted to tell us?” Amethyst asked, crossing her arms.
“Not even close!” Steven continued. “What I really wanted to tell you is that we were all talking and, well… we wanted to see if we could try-”
“No,” Garnet staunchly cut him off.
“Uh… Steven didn’t even ask you anything yet,” Dipper pointed out, confused.
“And even if he had, it was gonna be something you should totally say yes to, by the way!” Mabel added enthusiastically.
Yet even so, Garnet shook her head. “With my future vision, I can see that you’re going to ask me if you can try healing one of the monsters in the bubble room.”
“So… that’s a no then?” Connie inferred.
“Can you see if we can get you to change your mind?” Steven ventured, offering the Gem leader a pleading smile. Soon enough it was one that Mabel, Connie, and Dipper all picked up in turn, each of them eager to assist the young Gem in his altruistic plan, even if it was a rather risky one. And though Garnet seemed to hold her ground at first, against all four of the kids hopeful smiles at once, she ultimately found she was no match whatsoever.
“Why did you agree to this?” Pearl asked Garnet as they all filed into the temple’s bubble room moments later.
“I lost a battle of wills,” the Gem leader said plainly.
“So, who are we healing up first?” Mabel asked, eagerly running into the room as she pointed out a handful of bubbled Gems. “Ooo, what about this one? Oh! Or we could try her, I bet she’ll be a ton of fun when she isn’t corrupted anymore!”
Despite these spirited suggestions, however, Steven already had his sights set on one bubbled Gem in particular. With a floating leap, he was easily able to catch the bubble and bring it down to its level, looking over it with a small, hopeful smile. “And gotcha!”
“Hey, isn’t that…?”
“Yeah,” Steven answered Dipper’s unfinished question with a sincere nod. “It’s Centipeetle. If I can help any of them, I want to help her first.”
“Oh, isn’t she that monster we fought at the beginning of the summer?” Connie asked, intrigued.
“Yeah, but also she totally saved us from turning into dino-chow,” Amethyst pointed out. “Oh, speaking of chow, don’t forget about these!” She summoned her whip to pull down another bubble, one that had been hanging next to Centipeetle’s with a familiar bag of chips in it.
“Chaaaaps!” Steven exclaimed excitedly as he unbubbled the snack. “They’re her favorite! Okay,” he said, taking in a deep, determined breath as he looked to the others. “Everybody ready?”
Garnet nodded, giving him the go-ahead while Amethyst and Pearl braced themselves, stepping protectively in front of Dipper, Mabel, and Connie just in case. With everyone in place, Steven gently popped the pink bubble, allowing Centipeetle’s spherical gemstone to hover free from it, glowing all the while as the monster began to take its form.
“Come on, dude, do your thing!” Amethyst encouraged eagerly.
“You’ve got this, Steven!” Dipper added just as supportively.
“Put that sparkly spit of yours to the test!” Mabel chimed in with a bright cheer.
“B-but be careful about it!” Pearl advised anxiously.
Amidst all this, Steven landed a hearty, wet lick across his hand and, just as Centipeetle’s monstrous body was starting to fully take shape, he placed that hand squarely on her gemstone. The stone sparkled radiently, Steven’s healing magic flowing through it as Centipeetle’s silhouetted form shifted completely. Her long, mandibled body grew smaller, much more humanoid as her many tiny legs became a single pair of normally-proportioned arms and legs each. By the time her transformation was seemingly complete, Centipeetle collapsed to the ground, resting on her hands and knees as everyone else started at the incredible change she had just undergone in dumbfounded awe.
“I-is it working?” Pearl dared to ask, catching the apparently healed Gem’s attention.
However, as she suddenly turned around, it was clear to see that Centipeetle hadn’t been as healed as she might have seemed. She retained her thick mane of white hair, as well as the singular eye that was her gemstone, but just below that was a smaller version of the fanged beak she had when she was fully monstrous. In addition, she had kept a few other insect-like features, namely her pinchered abdomen protruding from behind her, but other than that, she looked decently healed. Physically speaking, at least as she let out a loud, unintelligible shriek of alarm.
“Boy, did it ever work!” Mabel grinned, sharing Steven’s immediate excitement over Centipeetle’s strange new form.
“What? No, it didn’t,” Dipper noted incredulously.
“I mean, it sort of worked…?” Connie said with a diffident shrug. “She isn’t completely a monster anymore, but…”
“Centi! You’re back!” Steven filled the awkward bout of silence that followed this in. Despite the whispered warnings both Amethyst and Pearl sent his way, the young Gem hurried forward to greet the former monster, chips in hand, though he quickly stopped as soon as Centipeetle met him with a harsh, sudden hiss. “Whoa! What’s the matter?” he frowned, approaching her much more carefully as she cowered away from him. “You want some Chaaaps?”
“Uh… I don’t think she remembers them…” Amethyst spoke up as Centipeetle let out another angry squawk.
“Forget the chips then,” Steven pushed the bubbled bag of Chaaaps back up into the air as he addressed Centipeetle patiently. “You remember me, don’t you?” Though she didn’t react as fiercely to this, Centipeetle still tilted her head in confusion as her singular eye stared him down unknowingly. “I… have a bad feeling this didn’t work how I wanted it to work…”
“You think?” Dipper said, crossing his arms.
“Aw, well… at least you still tried,” Connie smiled sympathetically. “And hey, something’s better than nothing, right?”
“I don’t know what you guys are talking about,” Mabel placed her hands on her hips. “I think Centi looks better than ever!”
“Better… but not all the way better,” Steven said, taking another step toward the confused semi-corrupted Gem.
“W-wait! Don’t go closer!” Pearl cautioned nervously.
“Maybe she just needs a little extra love!” Steven suggested, refusing to give up so easily. Fortunately, Centipeetle didn’t lash out to attack him as he leaned in to plant another brief kiss on her gemstone. However, it did little to heal her as she instead reeled back, closing her eye tightly as she covered it with both hands, growling in both pain and annoyance all the while. “Oops! S-sorry…” Steven let out a small, anxious chuckle as he reached out to help Centipeetle back up.
“Hm…” Garnet mused as she watched Steven and Cenitpeedle’s interactions from afar. “This is the best we’ve ever seen it work.”
“But it didn’t work,” Pearl countered. “I guess it’ll take more than a kiss to heal damage from the Diamonds…”
“But why?” Steven turned to the Gems with a fretful frown. “My healing powers have been working great lately. I-I should be able to do this.”
“It’s alright, Steven,” Pearl reassured earnestly. “Remember, she’s not cracked; she’s corrupted, and that’s something different, something nearly… impossible to describe. U-unless it’s by a Gem who’s actually been through it.”
“But, ya know, most of the Gems who have…” Amethyst nodded up at the countless bubbled Gems above them. “Aren’t really doing a ton of describing these days…”
“It’s sort of like… if MC Bear-Bear didn’t just tear the fabric of his arm,” Garnet explained as accurately as she could. “But the fabric of his mind.”
“Whoa…” Mabel gaped, mistified by such a deep explanation.
“That’s… kind of horrifying,” Dipper shuddered, unnerved.
“I guess it’s times like these when being a human really has its perks,” Connie said offhandedly. “At least something like that couldn’t happen to any of us.”
Garnet adjusted her shades upon hearing this, her future vision nearly catching a glimpse of something, though it flashed by far too fast for her to really make anything of. So instead, she shook her head to clear it before addressing the apprehensive young Gem once more. “Steven, I’m impressed with your ability to bring the Centipeetle this far, but it’s time to let her rest again. Amethyst-”
“Uh, sure,” the purple Gem shrugged, summoning her whip again. “I’ll poof her.”
“W-wait!” Steven protested, hurrying to shield Centipeetle as she curiously looked over her new form through a reflection on the wall. “She’s not a monster anymore!”
“Here,” Garnet pulled Steven close, pressing his face against her as she extended a hand out to the other kids as well. “You don’t have to watch. Same goes for the rest of you kids.”
Though Mabel was really the only one to take her up on that offer, Steven suddenly pushed himself away from the Gem leader to rush back over to Centipeetle. “No, please! She can walk, a-and talk! Just like you guys!” Surprisingly, Centipeetle chimed in with a contented squeak, her maw forming something that almost seemed like a smile as she turned back to face Steven. “See?”
“Aw, how can you guys say no to that face?” Mabel said, sending the Gems the same pleading look Steven was.
“Yeah, she doesn’t really seem like she’s that dangerous anymore…” Dipper agreed.
“Definitely not as dangerous as she was the day the four of us met,” Connie said with a small, fond chuckle.
“See? Centi was the one who brought us together in the first place,” Steven said, motioning between himself, Connie, Dipper, and Mabel. “M-maybe she wasn’t the nicest back then, but she’s our friend now! I helped her--we helped her this much; maybe we can help her more. We have to try, I made a promise! Please?”
The Gems exchanged an uneasy glance at this, none of them too keen on the idea of letting a corrupted Gem, even a semi-corrupted one like Centipeetle, simply run around unrestrained, especially around the kids. And yet, even despite her strange form and unpredictable behavior, for the most part Cenitpeedle seemed much calmer and more civilized than she had been before, even if she was still rather skittish and couldn’t quite communicate in anything other than squawks and hisses. But what really broke through their hesitancy was the kids, all four of whom were staring up at them pleadingly in their shared resolve to do whatever they could to help Centipeetle even more than they already had.
So the Gems let out a unified relenting groan as they lost a second battle of wills, much to the kids’ mixed relief and excitement. Still, that didn’t mean that the Gems didn’t have any dissention toward this newfound haphazard arrangement. “S-so what are we going to do with her?” Pearl asked, wincing as she stole another glance over at the semi-corrupted Gem. “Let her move in?”
“Aw, yeah!” Amethyst cheered, in favor of the idea. “Corrupted roommate!”
“Oh, Amethyst, be sensitive,” the white Gem rolled her eyes.
“Oo! She could stay down at the shack!” Mabel suggested enthusiastically.
“Wait, what?” Dipper looked at his sister incredulously.
“Yeah! I bet Mr. Pines will love having Centi as a house guest!” Steven readily agreed.
“I bet he won’t,” Dipper interjected once more.
“That’s what makes it funny,” Amethyst chuckled, amused.
“Well… it’s better than her staying here, I suppose…” Pearl muttered, aside.
“Wherever she stays, whether it’s here or at the Mystery Shack,” Garnet spoke up, evenly catching all four of the kids’ attention. “You kids need to be careful with her. She can stay unbubbled, but you must understand: some Gems are beyond our help.”
While the kids didn’t exactly have much of a plan to help completely cure Centipeetle of her corruption, they were still largely optimistic that they could all the same. Though the Gems still had some reservations, Steven managed to convince them to allow the semi-corrupted Gems to accompany him and the other kids down to the Mystery Shack. And though she was certainly much more tame than the animalistic way she’d been before, it was clear that Centipeetle still wasn’t exactly used to being out and about as the kids did their best to coax her out of the house alone.
“It’s ok, Centi,” Steven urged patiently as he held the door open for her. “We’re just gonna take a nice walk down to the Mystery Shack. How does that sound?”
Centipeetle let out an uncertain chirp at this as she lingered behind the doorway, nervously peering out from it. Her curiosity soon turned to terror, however, as a sudden breeze happened to blow by, tousling the semi-corrupted Gem’s hair and catching her off guard completely. She stumbled back, eventually falling to the floor as she shrieked in alarm, even as the gentle wind started to die down outside.
“Whoa, hey! It’s ok!” Connie hurried to the Centipeetle’s side to calm her down. “That was just the wind. It’s nothing to be afraid of, even if it’s something you can’t see.”
Centipeetle eased up at this, clumsily picking herself back up to stand as she attempted to venture outside once more. This time when the wind blew by her, however, she cowered much less than she had before as she actually managed to step out to join the others on the porch. “Yeah! Way to go, Centi!” Mabel cheered, though her excitement was completely lost on Centipeetle as she shrunk back in fear once more.
“Mabel, not so loud!” Dipper chastised. “You’re scaring her.”
“Oops! Sorry! I meant--way to go, Centi!” Mabel tried again, this time in a cheery whisper.
“Ok, Centi--Oh,” Steven stopped short as he led the way down the stairs. “I guess that’s not really your name. What should we call you?” Centipeetle answered in a series of unintelligible chirps, one that left all four of the kids staring at her, dumbfounded. “Oh, right, can’t talk…” Steven rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Maybe we could try to guess your name,” Mabel suggested. “What about… Lindsay?”
“Mabel, that’s not a Gem name,” Dipper said flatly as Centipeetle shook her head. “It’d probably be something more like… Oh, I dunno, she’s green, so… Emerald?”
Once again, Centipeetle made a face, obviously not a fan of that name either. “Well, there are plenty of green gemstones out there,” Connie noted. “I picked up a book on different gemstone types awhile back for… reasons. So, off the top of my head, I can think of… Jade, Tourmaline-”
“Peridot, but we’ve already got one of those!” Mabel chimed in.
“Demantoid, Aventurine, Nephrite-” Centipeetle suddenly cut off Connie’s list with a loud squeal, which she paired with hopping up and down on the balls of her feet as soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs. The kids exchanged a curious look at this, none of them really knowing what to make of it until Steven spoke up.
“Well, that can’t be it,” he frowned, not noticing Centipeetle’s disgruntled sigh. “We’ll just stick with Centi for now, ok? Just like we did before. Do you remember any of that?” he asked Centipeetle with a hopeful smile. “That time you saved me from a crow, or how you took on that pterodactyl baby, or how we helped the Gems electrocute--uh, actually, do forget that one.”
Centipeetle tilted her head in confusion, though her singular eye suddenly shot wide with alarm as she stumbled back into the porch staircase. The kids didn’t understand where this newfound bout of fear was coming from until she pointed a shaking hand past them to the animal that was peacefully grazing several feet away. “Oh, that’s only a deer,” Dipper explained to Centipeetle. “Don’t worry; it won’t hurt you. In fact, it’s more likely to run away from you than do anything else, see?” Sure enough, by now the deer had noticed the group standing nearby and had taken off, bounding back into the woods it had come from. By now, Centipeetle’s fear had turned into intrigue as she attempted following the deer, only to stop short as she stumbled across something else that caught her eye instead.
“Whatcha got there, Centi?” Steven asked, walking over to where the semi-corrupted Gem had knelt down. She chirped brightly as she pointed out a patch of pink wildflowers, apparently fascinated by them as she turned back toward them. “Oh! Those are some really pretty flowers! Here, hold tight for just a second.” Centipeetle continued to curiously watch as Steven picked a few of the flowers, tying them together into a simple, yet fashionable crown, which he proceeded to place on the semi-corrupted Gem’s head. “Tada! It’s for you! Do you like it?”
Centipeetle did seem to enjoy the flower crown as she cooed happily, though she kept trying to really look up at it to no avail. “Oh, you wanna see how you look?” Mabel inferred, grabbing her hand. “Well, c’mon! You can check out your fab new style right here.” She led Centipeetle over to the nearby stream, allowing her to get a full and proper view of how the flower crown looked on her. The semi-corrupted Gem managed a satisfied smile as she looked at her reflection, though that reflection was soon broken by the small fish that happened to briefly jump out of the water. Centipeetle flinched, afraid, as she fell back into the grass, her flower crown landing right beside her. “Aw, Centi! No need to freak out!” Mabel chuckled as she repositioned the flower crown on her head. “That was just a cute little fish! It can’t hurt you. Well, unless we’re talking about some of the big boys out in the ocean, cause something like a shark isn’t exactly the kind of fish you wanna-” She stopped short upon meeting Centipeetle’s nervous expression once more. “Uh… you know what? Never mind.”
“Boy,” Connie grinned as the semi-corrupted Gem peered back into the stream for another look. “She sure is curious, huh?”
“She must not have gotten to see a whole lot of the Earth before she was corrupted…” Steven frowned sympathetically.
“Speaking of which, I’ve been thinking,” Dipper interjected. “If we really want to help her uncorrupt completely, then maybe what we need to do first is figure out how she was corrupted in the first place and work from there.”
“Didn’t Pearl say something about ‘damage from the Diamonds’?” Connie mused. “What kind of damage could they have done to cause something like… well, what happened to her?”
Centipeetle turned at this, though she quickly froze, her eye going wide as she stared at something beyond the kids gathered before her. A piercing, downright terrified screech escaped her, catching the others completely off guard as they all turned their attention back to her. “What’s the matter?” Steven asked, placing a gentle hand against her arm, which was trembling every bit as much as the rest of her body. “Are you ok? A-are you remembering something?”
Centipeetle reacted harshly, clutching her head tightly as she closed her eye, screaming all the while. She somehow managed to get back to her feet, looking to the sky once again as she finally pointed a shaking finger at what had her so scared to begin with.
Despite the summer skies being crystal clear, a large, bright golden star had seemed to take up a place within them. It shined brightly, clashing with the familiar blue atmosphere, and while the mere sight of it outright horrified Centipeetle, the kids largely had no idea what the cause for alarm really was at all. “Uh… what is that?” Dipper asked, somewhat unnerved.
“Maybe it’s like one of those jet plane thingies you always see in the sky super early in the morning?” Mabel suggested. “Only the pilot on this one woke up way later than he should have.”
“That doesn’t look like any jet I’ve ever seen, even from a distance,” Connie shook her head.
Steven, meanwhile, was largely distracted by Centipeetle, who was looking around in just about every direction, seemingly trying to find some way to escape. “Whoa, Centi, i-it’s alright,” he advised, grabbing her hand. “You don’t have anything to be afraid of when you’re with us!” The semi-corrupted monster was hardy listening however, as she looked back to the “star” once more. It flashed brightly, but briefly, and that alone was to throw her already palpable alarm into an all-out panic. With a manic screech, she pulled her hand out of Steven’s and took off, running off into the forest as fast as her newly-reformed legs would carry her. “W-wait!” the young Gem called, intending on running after her until Connie reigned him back in.
“Uh, S-steven?” she grabbed his arm, directing his attention up to the “star” once more. By now it was practically burning yellow in the sky, yet it hadn’t moved, hadn’t done much at all until it suddenly dialated dramatically.
And then, before anyone had any time to say or do anything else, it exploded.
A bright, blinding golden light flooded the entire area, spreading out far and wide across all of Gravity Falls at a supersonic speed. It overtook nearly everything, from the temple to the shack to the forest to downtown, even as far as the lake and the outlying countryside, all centralized solely on the tiny timberwood town itself. In its wake it covered everyone, humans, Gems, and magical or mythical creatures alike (though only one group among those three would emerge from it unscathed). And as it shined upon them all, if its overpowering, devastating radiance hadn’t momentarily defeated them, they might have heard the briefest bout of twisted laughter, accompanied by a single voice raised in vengeful song.
And just as quickly as the light had come, it was over. It faded, leaving the sky crisp and clear and blue once again. Slowly, nature reawakened after being so sharply silenced as gentle birdsong filled in the late morning air once more. That quiet din was what first roused Steven, who sat up slowly, placing a careful hand against his now-aching head as he did. And yet, before he could even really get his bearings back, the first thing he happened to notice was that his hair strangely didn’t feel much like hair at all. Rather, it had a much softer, lighter texture, almost akin to flower petals, which made the fact that his fingers were seemingly much sharper than he knew they should have been all the more bewildering. Confused as he was, he tried to stand, though as soon as he got to his feet, he received a sudden, involuntary boost into the air. Briefly, he thought he’d accidentally activated his floating powers, until he happened to notice the series of sturdy green vines that were somehow propping him up.
“Huh?” Steven frowned, glancing back only to see that the vines didn’t just seem to be coming from behind him, but from him. They sprouted from his back, and a few of the more thorny ones had twisted themselves around his arms and legs, though those thorns didn’t dig into his skin, which was an odd shade of pale pink. “W-what is all this…?” he wondered to himself, briefly glancing up from himself to look around. The first thing he realized was that Centipeetle was nowhere to be found, having run off into the woods just moments prior, a thought that worried Steven far more than his current peculiar condition did. “Oh no! Centi!” he gasped, alarmed as he searched for any sign of her. “Where are-”
“Ugh… Steven…?” The young Gem immediately stopped short as soon as he heard Dipper’s voice somewhere nearby. Despite his attempts at turning around, the vines suddenly did so for him as they somehow moved on their own accord. Still, Steven ignored how startling the vines, the thorns, and even the surprisingly sharp claws he now had were, in favor of checking on the others instead.
“Dipper! Are you ok--Ohhhhh my gosh!” Steven’s jaw dropped in shock as soon as he actually looked at Dipper, who had just started to partially pull himself up off the ground.
As he did, however, he clearly noticed something was off, particularly about the texture and shape of his nose and ears. “W-what is…” Dipper trailed off as he tried to properly sit up, only to not receive the sort of usual feedback he would have expected from his legs. “Why… why can’t I-” He cut himself off with a sharp, frightened gasp as soon as he so much as caught sight of the lower half of his body. Because by all accounts, it looked identical to that of a deer’s, complete with not just two, but four long, lithe, thin legs, brown fur spotted with specks of white on his back, and even a tiny tail that was currently twitching out of immense agitation. As he fully took in this inexplicable shift, Dipper let out a tight, terrified cry that didn’t sound exactly human, though he didn’t seem to care as he gripped his front set of legs to confirm that they were, in fact, actually his. “W-what’s going on?!”
“Whoa, Dipper!” Steven exclaimed in equal awe as he leaned forward as much as the vines would allow. “You’re like… some kind of deer-centaur! A deertaur!”
“Ok, two things,” Dipper said crossly amidst trying to position his new, rather awkward set of legs to stand. “One, I’m pretty sure that’s not what this is called and two... WHAT? WHY? HOW? What happened to me?! What happened to you?! What’s with all the vines? Why does your hair look like a bouquet?”
“It does…?” Steven frowned, reaching up to thumb one of the “petals” that now apparently made up his hair. “Huh.”
“Seriously, what happened?” Dipper reiterated as he made his first real attempt at standing up. And yet, as unused to his strange new form as he was, balancing on his feet, or hooves, rather, proved to be quite a challenge as he unsteadily wobbled before ultimately falling right back to the ground clumsily. “And why a deer?!” he let out a small, frustrated huff through his now pert, black nose. “It’s not even like they’re even my favorite animal or anything! This makes no sense!”
“W-well, if it’s any consolation,” Steven began with a small, reassuring smile. “You do look pretty cute like this.”
Dipper flinched at this, but said nothing in response as he crossed his arms and glared away, blushing, at least until he picked up on something else. “Hey, wait a second, where’s-”
“Oy, what smells like fish…?” Mabel suddenly spoke up as she finally started to wake up herself. She let out a long yawn, not noticing the dumbfounded looks Steven and Dipper were both sending her way as they realized she’d also gone through an unnatural transformation. For her own part, however, it took Mabel a moment or two to register that transformation as she sat up and stared directly at the scaly pink finned tail that had taken the place of her legs. “Huh… Well that’s new,” she noted, glancing over her now-webbed hands before balking at her tail again with a huge gasp. “OH MY GOSH!” she practically screamed, stars in her eyes as she hugged her tail excitedly. “I’m a mer-ACK!” Mabel sucked in another sharp gasp, an involuntary one this time as her breathing grew short and shallow, her eyes widening in panic as she gripped her throat frantically.
“Mabel!” Steven and Dipper both exclaimed in concerned alarm. On impulse, Dipper rushed to get up to help her, completely forgetting about the current state of his legs until he inevitably ended up tripping and faceplanting right back into the grass again. He didn’t let that stop him however, as he prepared to try again, he happened to catch sight of something Mabel apparently hadn’t as she haphazardly threw off her sweater so she could breathe easier. “Gills…” he gasped in realization. “She has gills! She can’t breathe! Steven, she needs water! B-but I can’t-”
“I’m on it!” Steven readily agreed, his vines moving in accordance with him this time. It was almost as if they knew exactly what he was thinking as they kept him propped up, essentially “walking” him over to Mabel, who was still gasping and choking on air that wouldn’t do anything for her now. While Steven tried to help her himself, the vines did that for him too as their tips gently coiled around her arms before they swiftly pulled her into the nearby creek, submerging her completely.
Both Steven and Dipper waited for an anxious beat for Mabel to emerge from the relatively shallow water, though when she did, she let out a rejuvenated sigh of relief as she perched herself against the side of the creek. “Ah! Much better!” she grinned happily, splashing more water against the small pink gills on her neck. “Guess I just needed to wet my whistle! So, whaaaaaaaaaaaaa-?!” By now, Mabel finally noticed just what had happened to Dipper and Steven, and as soon as she did, a huge, delighted smile broke out across her face. “Ohhhhhh, Steven! Dipper! You guys look so adorable!”
“Uh, thanks?” Steven chuckled.
“Ugh, this is just gonna keep getting more and more embarrassing, isn’t it?” Dipper scoffed, dryly.
“Embarrassing? Bro-bro, what are you talking about? This is amazing!” Mabel proclaimed, flopping back into the creek behind her so she could admire her tail fins noce more. “Check it out! I’m totally a mermaid! Oh, if only Mermando was still here! We could be the cutest mer-couple ever, and have mer-babies, and live in a mer-castle under the sea! And sing mer-songs all day!”
“Yeesh,” Dipper rolled his eyes at his sister’s flights of fantasy. “You would enjoy this, Mabel.”
“Hey, has anyone seen Connie?” Steven asked, glancing around in newfound concern. “I haven’t seen her since all this happened. Do you think maybe she could have gone after Centi when she ran off?”
“What are you talking about, Steven? I’ve been here this whole time!”
Steven, Mabel, and Dipper alike all froze up at this, each of them looking around for Connie upon hearing her voice, only to find no sign of her anywhere. That is, until she happened to reappear out of nowhere right in front of Steven. All three of the other kids let out a startled round of alarm at this, though Connie didn’t share it as she let out a small sigh of relief instead.
“Ah, finally you guys can actually see and hear me!” she exclaimed as she hovered up into the air a bit. “I’ve been trying to talk to you for the past several minutes, but it’s like you all just kept staring right through me!”
“Aw, sorry, Connie!” Steven apologized earnestly. “We didn’t mean to! But I couldn’t see you until now, much less hear you!”
“C-Connie?” Dipper spoke up, trembling slightly until he caught himself doing so. “A-are you… I-I… I don’t know how to say this, but… I-I think you might be-”
“Oh! A ghost!” Mabel guessed bluntly. “I got it right, didn’t I?”
“What? A ghost?” Connie shook her head incredulously. For her part, she largely looked the same as she always did, though like Mabel, her legs had been traded in for a tail, albeit one that wasn’t anywhere near as fish-like. But even beyond that, she had taken on a pale blue parlor, her entire body being more or less completely translucent as it radiated with a dull, unearthly sort of glow. That, paired with the fact that she was able to float above the ground freely, added up to far too much evidence for anything else to really be true, as much as Connie wished something else was. “Oh my gosh, I-I think you guys are right! I-I really am a ghost! B-but why? And how--wait, no, I don’t even want to think about how! A-anyway, w-what happened to you guys? To all of us?!”
“I think I know what happened,” Mabel said as she pushed herself up out of the stream a bit.
“Really?” Dipper asked, skeptical as Steven began to use his vines to help him properly stand. “You know what happened to us when none of the rest of us do?”
“Of course, I do,” Mabel grinned proudly. “We all got turned into totally awesome magical creatures! I mean, think about it: I’m a super sparkly mermaid (with a tail in my favorite shade of pink, might I add!). Connie’s a really cool ghost why can fly and turn invisible-”
“I don’t know if I’d call either of those things ‘cool’ in this instance…” Connie frowned as she accidentally phased her intangible hands into each other.
“Steven’s, uh… w-well he’s some sort of flower… guy… person… thing…” Mabel ventured, uncertain. “B-but that’s awesome, since pink is totally your color.”
“Oh, you think so?” Steven grinned, looking down at his light pink arm with a newfound sense of fondness.
“And Dipper is a super cute deertaur!”
“Again, I’m 100% positive that’s not what it’s called,” Dipper spoke up as he stomped one of his hooves down in annoyance. “Also, would everyone please stop calling me cute?!”
“Maybe once you stop being cute,” Mabel chuckled with a teasing smirk.
“Which will be never!” Steven added much more earnestly.
“Ugh, look,” Dipper began, addressing the enthused pair evenly. “I don’t know if you guys realize this, but this is serious. We just got turned into monsters, or magical creatures, or whatever, completely out of the blue. Something like this doesn’t just happen, not even here in Gravity Falls. Something caused this, and we need to figure out what it was so we can find a way to undo it and get all of us back to normal.”
“Aw, but I like being a magical mermaid!” Mabel pouted.
“Do you like not being able to breathe outside of the water?” Dipper countered flatly.
Mabel flinched, recalling the frightening experience she’d just been through moments ago, an experience she certainly wasn’t keen on going through again anytime soon. “I… see your point.”
“Maybe that star had something to do with it…” Connie mused, looking up to the now-empty sky. “It was the last thing any of us saw before we woke up like this, right?”
“Oh, yeah,” Steven agreed as his vines formed something of a seat for him to recline on. “Oh, thanks!” he said to the vines themselves before returning to the matter at hand. “Plus, Centi seemed to be really scared of that star. She might even know what it was! Maybe if we can find her, then she can-”
A sudden thunderous clamor cut through the conversation like a knife, a clamor that came from the temple, to be precise. The chaotic noise only amplified as the front door burst open and, as opposed to any of the Gems, what seemed to be a monster jumped outside instead. It wasn’t very large, though it was just a bit bigger than the kids, with a purple, bulky four-legged form and a full, thick mane of lighter lavender hair. It unleashed what sounded like a wild howl as it pounced off the porch, its clawed front arms allowing it a square landing on the ground. It didn’t seem to have any eyes, with a set of bright purple horns in place of where they would have been, but it still managed to spot the kids gathered just a bit down the hill from it. The monster’s toothy maw split into an expression that was almost akin to a grin as it made an animalistic sound that sounded a bit like a laugh, though it was still completely unintelligible. Its apparent excitement prompted it to stampede toward the group at a rapid pace, much to their shared alarm,, and at least in two cases, outright fear.
While Mabel and Steven simply gasped in surprise as the monster rushed for them, Connie completely disappeared into thin air, not even making a single sound or uttering so much as a word as she did. Dipper, on the other hand, froze up, his eyes wide but his expression otherwise largely vacant and unreadable. And as the monster drew even closer, he suddenly took off, somehow completely capable of using his new legs, which he couldn’t even properly stand on mere moments ago, galloping at full speed into the nearby woods. Mabel let out a startled cry as she watched him easily leap over the stream she was sitting in before he disappeared into the forest just before the monster could arrive.
“Wait! Dipper!” she called, frustrated by her inability to get out of the water to go after him. Both her and Steven were met with an all-new concern, however, as the monster suddenly slammed down right in front of them, focusing on the young Gem in particular as it reared low with a small growl.
“S-Stay back!” Steven warned, summoning his shield to ward off the beast. The monster leapt at him anyway, however, barreling into him and knocking him to the ground, even despite his vines trying to keep him upright. The young Gem braced himself for a vicious attack as his shield disappeared, yet instead, he was met with a sudden, wet lick from the beast’s large tongue. “Huh?” Steven frowned, looking back up to the monster, who still had him pinned down, but was now panting happily. Though he was already confused, his bewilderment only grew tenfold as he happened to notice the very familiar purple gemstone resting on the monster’s chest amidst her unruly tufts of hair. “Wait… A-Amethyst?!”
The beast nodded vigorously, finally stepping away from the young Gem as her long, messy tail wagged excitedly. While his vines picked him back up above the ground once more, Steven exchanged an uncertain glance with Mabel before he looked to who he could only assume had to be Amethyst once more. “D-Did… you shapeshift to look like this?”
Amethyst shook her head, apparently unable to properly speak. She turned her attention back up to the temple, where another monster seemed to be stomping out, though it was much easier to discern the identity of this one from its appearance alone.
“Garnet?!” Mabel and Steven exclaimed in shock as the creature the Gem leader had turned into jumped down from the porch to join them. There was no mistaking her, namely because of her pair of heads, one of which bore semblance to Ruby in coloration, though the only feature of her face was a fanged maw, while her other head was clearly Sapphire with her singular eye and long blue hair. The rest of her body was much more akin to Garnet herself, though quite twisted, her arms massive and muscular as they reached down as long as her much shorter legs did, her huge clawed hands acting more as her main form of transportation as she slowly lumbered forward. She towered high over Amethyst and the kids, letting out a low, inhuman groan that almost seemed to be a greeting, though despite her admittedly mangled appearance, she seemed just as calm as she always was.
“Garnet… Amethyst...” Steven looked between the monstrous pair, quite shaken. “W-what happened to you? And… where’s Pearl?”
This question was met with a sharp, high pitched squeak from above as a large shadow briefly covered up the sun. That shadow had been cast by a large, majestic bird-like creature, one that nervously touched down to join Garnet and Amethyst. There was no question this was Pearl, from the tell-tell gemstone on her now-eyeless head, resting just above the long, pointed beak she now bore. Her form was sleek and graceful, with a thin, curved, swan-like neck, wide, sweeping peach and white feathered wings and a set of long, narrow legs that carried the same spiraled design as her spears. Pearl let out another unintelligible shriek, one of apparent surprise as she caught sight of Steven and Mabel, her wings flapping anxiously, at least until she heard Amethyst’s amused gruff cackle beside her. The white Gem shrieked shrilly at her in annoyance, though she merely kept on “laughing”, at least until Garnet silenced them both with a heavy, commanding grunt.
“No way…” Steven shook his head incredulously. “I-it really is you guys! A-are… are you… corrupted?”
All three of the Gems reacted to such a claim in shock, Pearl fiercely shaking her head as Amethyst tilted her head, confused. Garnet remained still and silent, though after a moment of thought, both of her contrasting heads finally nodded, much to the shock of her teammates. An argument of various squawks, roars, and groans erupted at this as the Gems “communicated” with each other, though neither Steven nor Mabel could even hope to make out what they were trying to say.
“This is so weird…” Mabel frowned, leaning against the creekbank. “Aren’t corrupted Gems supposed to be all wild and crazy? Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are just… acting like themselves.”
“Maybe they’re not entirely corrupted?” Connie purposed as she suddenly reappeared, catching Steven and Mabel off guard. “O-oh! Sorry! I really gotta learn how to control this whole randomly disappearing thing better…”
“But… why do they still look like monsters?” Steven wondered, catching the attention of his guardians. “I know you guys can’t really… talk right now, but… you can still understand what we’re saying right?” All three of the Gems nodded, though what little their malformed expressions alone could convey told they were just as baffled and concerned as the kids themselves were. “So… you’re all basically half-corrupted then… just like Centi! Man, I really wish she hadn’t run off earlier; she’d be so much in figuring all this out!”
“Speaking of running off…” Mabel said, turning back toward the forest. “It’s ok, bro-bro, everything’s cool! You can come out now! There’s nothing to be afraid of out here.”
“I-I wasn’t afraid!” Dipper protested as he peeked out from the tree he had taken refuge behind. “I-it was just really loud and a lot of things were happening at once and I… might have panicked. J-just a little!”
“Well, deer do have a reputation for having a pretty sharp flight response whenever they get startled, so that might explain it,” Connie pointed out.
“Ugh, great…” Dipper sighed as he fully emerged from the forest. “Just another reason to find a way to get us all back to normal as soon as possible. Especially for you guys,” he said, flinching as he looked to the Gems in particular. “You three look--uh… y-you look great!” he played off whatever he was going to say with a nervous laugh. The Gems didn’t quite buy it however as Amethyst teasingly stuck her tongue out while Pearl squawked, apparently flustered as she nudged one of her wings with her beak.
“Wait a minute,” Connie interjected. “If that star, or whatever it was, somehow transformed all of us, then… maybe we weren’t the only ones affected by it…”
Everyone else took pause at this alarming thought, especially as they all happened to look down the hill toward the Mystery Shack. As they did, Dipper and Mabel in particular exchanged a nervous glance as they both considered exactly who else could be going through the exact same thing they currently were experiencing. “You don’t think…?”
Unsure of what they’d find, once the group of monster-turned kids and externally-corrupted Gems arrived at the Mystery Shack, Connie volunteered to head in first since she could more or less slip in unseen to scope things out. The only problem that arose with this came from Amethyst, who suddenly, impulsively decided to join her right as she floated toward the gift shop door. Connie stopped just as Amethyst rammed into the door horns-first, easily breaking down as she stormed in, eager to find Stan and show him her new form, much to the alarm of everyone else outside. Pearl let out a frantic squeal as Garnet slammed one of her heavy hands to the ground in an attempt to reel Amethyst back in, though the purple Gem, rowdy as ever, hardly paid them any mind. Likewise, the kids also watched with concern as she rushed inside, ensuing a chaotic clamor almost immediately as she haphazardly crashed into several display cases and quickly catching Stan’s attention, just as she’d intended.
“Augh!” the conman shouted furiously from inside. “What in the--wait, Amethyst?! N-no, no, no, no! You better not--” He was cut off by another huge crash, one that promoted Pearl and Garnet into action while the kids stood by just a bit past the door.
“Oh man, I wish we could see what’s going on in there!” Mabel exclaimed, leaning out of the small swimming pool Steven and Dipper were filling up for her. “I bet Grunkle Stan is totally freaking out!”
“Uh… I don’t know if that’s entirely accurate…” Connie frowned as she peered into the shack just as Amethyst scurried out of it, laughing all the while. Likewise, Garnet and Pearl both stumbled back themselves as Stan tried to burst out of the shack, revealing that, much like the kids, he’d gone through a rather monstrous transformation himself.
By all accounts, it seemed as though the conman’s skin had turned to moving stone based on its rough, gray texture. Beyond that, both his fingers and his tones bore sharp, talon-like claws as he sported a small set of stony horns just above his now acutely pointed ears. But his two most notable new features were his eyes, which seemed to shine a bright, almost ominous kind of yellow, and the wide set of pointed wings on his back, which were currently caught on the doorframe, essentially holding him in place as he angrily tried chasing after Amethyst. “Ugh, again? Seriously?” the conman growled in annoyance as he somehow managed to retract his wings in a bit. “I’m already sick of these stupid things. And as for you, Amethyst, I--aye, yi, yi…” Stan trailed off, shock overtaking his expression as he noticed Pearl and Garnet’s changed forms too. “Yeesh, and I thought I had it bad between the new wings and the horns. You three look terrible!”
Pearl let out a harsh, offended hiss at this, though Garnet didn’t really respond. Amethyst however, let out a teasing roar, one that Stan didn’t seem to follow at all. “Uh… what, are you guys done speakin’ English or do you just expect me to understand ‘monsterese’ now?” he asked dryly.
“Uh, actually, Mr. Pines,” Steven spoke up. “They can’t really… ‘talk’ right now…”
At this, Stan stole a glance over at the kids, only to balk in bewilderment at each of them in turn. “W-wha… what the heck happened to you kids?!” he asked, stepping over toward them. “Dipper--or Steven, I don’t care who since either of you if not both is usually behind anything wacky or magical happening around here--explain. Now.”
“We would if we actually understood what happened to begin with,” Dipper replied, crossing his arms.
“Well you better figure it out!” Stan snapped, irritated. “Cause I don’t know how you expect me to send you runts home to your parents with you looking half like a deer while your sister’s flopping around like a fish outta water.”
“Aw, it doesn’t sound anywhere near as magical and cool when you put being a mermaid like that…” Mabel cringed as she popped her head out of the water after refilling her gills.
“You won’t have to send us home looking like this,” Dipper countered, resolved. “Because we’re going to find a way to undo all of this and get everyone back to normal.”
“Yeah!” Steven, Mabel, and Connie all chimed in support of this plan.
“Oh really? That’s awesome, dudes!” Soos exclaimed as he stepped outside of the shack. Upon a first glance, he seemed to look just as he always did with no peculiar transformation in sight, at least until a piece of his arm quite literally melted right off.
“Uh… Soos?” Steven spoke up, all four of the kids looking to the handyman in immense concern.
“Oops,” Soos scooped up the strangely mouldable clump of his arm and easily slapped it back on as if it had never fallen off to begin with. “I’ll tell ya what, being made of clay may seem like it has its perks, but it’s starting to get way less cool the more times a chunk of me randomly melts off…”
“Could you at least stop melting all over the shack?” Stan asked dryly. “The last thing I wanna do is clean up bits of Soos off the floor.”
“Sorry, Mr. Pines,” Soos apologized as he smoothed up the side of his cheek before any clay could drip off of it. “I guess clay and a hot summer day aren’t a great mix…”
“Ugh, consider yourself lucky, man,” Wendy spoke up as she came out of the shack herself. “At least you’re not covered in fur…”
“Whoa, Wendy!” Mabel exclaimed in fascination as Dipper, Steven, and Connie looked to the cashier in shock. “Are you-”
“A werewolf? Ugh, yeah, I guess,” Wendy rolled her eyes as she absently scratched behind one of her now rather dog-like ears. Sure enough, her entire body was covered in thick red fur to match her hair color, and alongside that she bore a bit of a snout with a wolfish nose and plenty of sharp, fanged teeth to match the sizable claws on her hands and feet. Yet despite her rather canine appearance, she was still perfectly able to walk upright, which was apparent enough as she leaned against the side of the shack, annoyed. “All those movies with the hot shirtless werewolves totally oversold this, by the way. The real deal totally sucks between being hot and itchy all the time. So if you guys are dead set on getting us all back to normal, then more power to you.”
“Don’t worry, we will,” Connie assured, though her confident smile quickly fell. “If only we knew where to start…”
“Maybe Great Uncle Ford can help,” Dipper suggested. “After filling up three whole journals, it’s safe to assume he is the resident expert on magical creatures around here. Where is he anyway?”
“Ugh, please don’t get me started on Ford and all those stupid riddles he’s been throwing around since this whole mess startled,” Stan huffed crossly.
“Riddles?” Steven asked, confused.
“Precisely, my boy,” Ford interjected as he rounded the far corner of the shack. For his part, his appearance had taken on something of a lion-eque motiff, with golden-brown fur, a long, thin tail, large (but still six-fingered) paws, and even a rather feline nose. But what set that motiff apart were his wings, just as wide as his brother’s, though bright and colorful and feathered instead of grey and stony. He only briefly regarded the Gems and the kids’ changes in appearance, seemingly not alarmed by them at all as he continued just as calmly. “For instance, what do you call a creature that’s steeped in ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology and has a penchant for presenting all who cross its path with puzzling riddles?”
“Annoying?” Stan ventured, sending his brother a bored look.
“No, Stanley,” Ford countered flatly. “A sphinx. Which seems to be what I’ve turned into. Maybe you’ll have an easier time figuring this one out: what’s the term for a creature that’s made of animated stone and also happens to be what you’ve become?”
“I’m sticking with my first answer and saying annoying,” the conman reiterated, glaring back at his unwanted set of wings.
“A gargoyle, Stanley, a gargoyle,” the author huffed, exasperated. “Come on, that one wasn’t even hard at all.”
“Yeesh, if you’re gonna be a wisecracking know-it-all, then can’t you just get to the point about it?” Stan rolled his eyes. “Do you have to keep at with all these pointless riddles?”
“...Yes,” Ford said bluntly before turning to the kids. “Anyway, children, do you know what a living, human-like being made of an earthen material such as mud, rocks, or in this case, clay,” he nodded over at Soos. “Is called?” The kids exchanged an uncertain glance at this, though it wasn’t long before the author filled in with an answer to his own riddle once more. “A golem. A clay golem in this particular instance, I believe.”
“Oooohhh so that’s what I am,” Soos mused, fascinated. “And I was just gonna keep calling myself “Soos: Clay Edition” but a golem sounds way cooler.”
“Furthermore,” Ford posed another riddle. “A creature with the arms, head, and torso of a human, but the body and legs of a deer is called a…?”
“A deertaur!” Steven and Mabel both chimed in with an enthusiastic answer.
“Ugh, for the last time, you guys, that’s not what it’s called!” Dipper protested, his tail flickering in aggravation.
“You’re absolutely right, Dipper, that’s not what it’s called,” Ford pointed out with a knowing grin. “You’re actually a cervitaur.”
“Eh, that doesn’t have nearly the same ring to it…” Mabel said, looking to her brother dubiously. “Grunkle Ford, can you do me next!”
“Mabel,” Dipper cut in, shaking his head. “We already know you’re a-”
“A creature that’s half girl and half fish would be known as…?”
“A mermaid!” Mabel immediately guessed. “I know because I am one! Right now!”
“Correct,” Ford nodded, pleased. “Now… hm… this one is a bit trickier. A physical spirit tied to… well, traditionally trees, but I suppose just about any form of flora works, as is the case with Steven here, so that would make him a…?”
“Uh… Mabel guessed flower guy earlier so, I’ll go with that?” Steven suggested, though he really had no idea himself.
“Actually, my boy, you’re what’s known as a dryad,” Ford corrected. “Or more accurately, the male form of a dryad, a drus. A rose drus, from the looks of it…”
“...It had to be roses, didn’t it?” Steven muttered to himself as he rubbed his thorn, covered arm apprehensively.
“Now, rounding things off, a creature that’s wolf-like in appearance, but-”
“It’s a werewolf,” Wendy interrupted boredly. “Already figured that out as soon as I realized I had a tail, man, it’s not that hard.”
“Ah,” Ford said somewhat awkwardly before continuing. “Then how about an immaterial spector that’s-”
“A ghost,” Connie readily filled the answer. “Sorry, Mr. Ford. We… kind of already figured that one out too.”
“...Very well then,” the author noted as he glanced over at the Gems. “As for you three, I… can’t quite seem to think of anything-”
“Oh, thank god,” Stan said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Are… are they… corrupted?” Ford asked the kids in particular.
“Sort of?” Steven shrugged. “They’re still themselves though, right, you guys?” The Gems let out a variety of unintelligible answers at this, but all of them seemed to confirm this to be true.
“Fascinating…” Ford adjusted his glasses as he looked over each of the Gems’ semi-corrupted forms. “All of this is just so… fascinating! I could fill up an entire journal alone with all of the scientific discoveries to be found here! And while I’m on that note, another riddle! What’s-”
“No!” Stan quickly cut him off, leaping forward with a powerful flap of his wings to practically tackle Ford to the ground. “You are not asking another one of your dumb riddles on my watch!”
“...Well, you could have just asked, Stanley,” Ford huffed, pushing his brother off him. “You didn’t need to be so extreme about it.”
“Oh, hey!” Steven cut in, pointing to a familiar van driving toward the shack. “Looks like Dad’s on his way here!”
Sure enough, Greg’s van pulled up to a sudden stop in front of the group gathered outside the shack, with the former rock star poking his head out the window frantically. “Steven!” he exclaimed, startled by what had happened to both his son and the others. Greg himself had also undergone a rather alarming transformation, as he was seemingly wrapped in browning bandages from head to toe, with what little skin showing between those bandages looking drastically pale and almost lifeless. Yet he hardly seemed to care much for his own appearance as he threw the van door open to check on his son and the others instead. At least until one of his bandages got caught up in the door as he slammed it shut. “Aw, not again!” he huffed, pulling the bandage out before hurrying over to Steven. “L-look at you!” he exclaimed, practically having to look up at his son thanks to the vines still holding him aloft. “Are you ok? Is everyone ok?”
“Yeah, we’re all fine,” Steven nodded.
“E-even the Gems…?” Greg asked, sending them a worried look.
“Yeah, they’re ok too,” the young Gem mustered a small smile.
“Ah! Here we go!” Ford piped up with a brand-new riddle. “What would you call an undead creature typically wrapped in cloth bandages to try and preserve the decaying body?”
“U-undead?!” Greg balked, glancing down at himself fearfully.
“Join the club…” Connie spoke up as she hovered nearby.
“A mummy! Greg’s a mummy! Geez!” Stan swiftly answered, shoving his brother out of aggravation. “What did I say about the riddles?!”
“Oh, honestly, Stanley! You don’t have to be such a brute!” Ford took a swing at the conman with his claws, only for them to hit solid stone instead.
“And you don’t have to be such a pain!” Stan countered, utilizing his wings to gain the literal upper hand over the author before he could lash out again. Ford didn’t let him get away that easily as he also managed to take flight, and soon enough both brothers were engaged in a midair chase that everyone briefly stopped to watch before returning to the matter at hand.
“So yeah, like Steven said, we’re all doin’ pretty good,” Soos reiterated obliviously.
“I-I can’t believe this whole monster thing happened to all of you guys too!” Greg exclaimed, running a hand through the hair that was sticking out from under the bandages.
“What do you mean ‘too’?” Dipper asked, confused.
“Haven’t you seen the news?” Greg asked, incredulously.
“Oh, yeah,” Wendy spoke up as she pulled the latest town news report up on her phone before holding it up for everyone to see. “Check it out.”
“This just in,” Shandra Jimenez, who seemed to have been turned into a harpy, reported urgently. “Monster madness has taken over Gravity Falls! Residents all over town have reported being suddenly transformed into magical or mythical creatures.” Sure enough, the accompanying footage proved this to be true as every citizen shown seemed to be some sort of monster or cryptid or creature, each in some varying level of surprise or panic over their new forms. “The cause for this town-wide transformation is still unknown, but experts believe the large flash of bright light that encompassed the entire area earlier today might have had something to do with it. For now, residents are advised to continue on with business as usual until some sort of cure can be found. We’ll be back with more details at 5, but for now, I’m Shandra Jimenez, and it’s time for my hourly preening session.” With a loud squawk, the anchor signed off to pick at the feathered wings that had taken the place of her arms and putting an end to the news briefing in the process.
“T-this is happening to the entire town?!” Dipper asked in disbelief. All four of the kids exchanged a startled glance at this as they realized this problem was much more widespread and far more serious than they first thought. Which, of course, would only make finding an elusive solution for it much more difficult than they had originally hoped.
“Yeah, it is, and somebody better do something about it! Soon.”
“No way…” Dipper gasped as he was the first to notice who was emerging, or rather slithering out of the nearby forest. “Pacifica?!”
Like all of the others, Pacifica’s appearance had drastically changed, primarily by the way of her legs being replaced by a long, light gold, snake-like tail. That reptilian theming continued with her hair, which was no longer really hair at all but a horde of snakes, each of them alive and autonomous as they moved about on their own accord. The heiress-turned-gorgon clearly cared little for her own snakes as she pushed the unruly reptiles back as they hissed and maneuvered about freely. Yet her frustration quickly fizzled into shock as she spotted the group of various creatures and monsters in front of the shack, though she focused most of her concern on her boyfriend in particular.
“Oh my gosh!” Pacifica exclaimed, clumsily slithering over to her as Dipper tried to meet her halfway every bit as awkwardly on his still rather unsteady legs. “D-Dipper, you… look-”
“Please don’t say adorable,” Dipper interrupted, deadpan.
“...I was gonna say like a deer, but…” Pacifica couldn’t help but crack a small smile at this, revealing her new set of sharp fangs. “You definitely look better off than I do right now…”
“What? N-no!” Dipper countered, trying to reassure her as best he could as he suppressed a nervous cringe as one of her snakes drew in a bit too close to him for comfort. “You, uh… you look…”
“Don’t lie,” the heiress warned coldly.
“...S-snakes,” Dipper finished, unable to really say much else as he realized he was slightly trembling again.
“Yeah, snakes,” Pacifica scowled, reigning her snakes back again as several of them started crowding around Dipper, their almost hungry stares making him quite uncomfortable. “Please tell me you’re working on a way of undoing this whole mess…”
“Of course, we are,” he said, suppressing his sudden anxiety as he took her hands to comfort her. “We’ll figure something out, I promise.”
“AW!” Mabel suddenly gushed from her pool. “Even like this, you guys are still the CUTEST couple ever! What I wouldn’t give to have my camera on me! Though then again, maybe it’s better that I don’t… I don’t think it’s waterproof…”
“Oh, come on, really?” Pacifica asked in disbelief as she glanced over at Mabel. “You got turned into a mermaid? I wish I could have been that lucky…”
“Tell me about it,” Connie sighed as she suddenly materialized right beside the heiress, startling both her and her snakes in the process.
“Ok, everyone,” Dipper addressed the others, outside of Stan and Ford who were still engrossed in their petty brawl above. “Let’s get back on track. We need to start looking for some way to get all of us back to-” A high, loud screech abruptly cut him off as it echoed through the air, though it didn’t take long for everyone to discover the source of the noise as it came from above. Stan and Ford’s ongoing argument was only briefly interrupted by the arrival of a winged creature that suddenly blazed right past them both. That blue, jellyfish-esque creature was apparently holding something with its thin set of lengthy tentacles, a much smaller, bright green, six legged spider-like monster. While a pair of such peculiar creatures would have normally been cause for alarm, as the jellyfish gently set the spider down on the ground before coming to hover just above it, it soon became very apparent to just about everyone exactly who these creatures, or partially corrupted Gems really were.
“Wait a second…” Steven said, focusing on the familiar gemstones on each of the monsters. “Isn’t that-”
“Oh my gosh! Peri!” Mabel practically squealed with delight at the spider-like form Peridot had taken on. “You look so CUTE! You’re like an itsy-bitsy Gem spider! If I could get out of this pool, you better believe I’d be giving you the biggest hug right now!”
Peridot let out a flustered hiss at this, her large, dark eyes narrowing in apparently frustration and embarrassment as she stomped her two front, disjointed legs down in annoyance. An apparent testament that the green Gem still retained her annoyance at being referred to as small, even in her now largely-corrupted form.
At the same time, Dipper was completely caught off guard as the jellyfish creature suddenly flew over to him, remaining completely silent as several of its long tendrils reached out toward him. Immediately, his relatively new panicky instincts washed over him as he froze up, staring at the monster with stark, fearful, yet quiet alarm. The creature quickly noticed this and drew back a bit, seemingly confused and concerned, though it was still unable to make so much as a sound to convey either of those things.
“Uh, Dipper?” Steven placed a steadying hand on his shoulder as his vines carried him over to him. “I… think that’s Lapis…”
At this, Dipper quickly snapped out of this forceful bout of shock, recognition filling his features as he spotted the teardrop shaped gemstone that was clearly visible through the jellyfish’s somewhat transparent blue body. “L-Lapis…?”
Lapis “nodded” as much as she could in her current form, slowly reaching her tendrils out once more so she could better see how Dipper had changed too. This time, he allowed her to, albeit a bit anxiously as one of her naturally wet tentacles found a gentle spot against the side of his face. “Uh… s-sorry,” he said, backing up a bit. “This is just… really weird…”
Though Lapis didn’t really respond to this, Peridot certainly did in a series of plaintiff hisses as she skittered around in apparent frustration. “Yeesh, even like this she’s still a loudmouth,” Pacifica noted to Connie and Mabel, aside, both of whom couldn’t help but agree.
“So, you guys got corrupted--er, s-sort of corrupted too, huh?” Steven asked Lapis and Peridot, who both nodded in what almost seemed like resignation to this fact. The young Gem let out a small, fretful sigh as he took a moment to glance over the pair, as well as other Gems’ rather monstrous forms. Likewise, he took another moment to take stock of what had happened to his father, to Soos and Wendy and Pacifica, to Stan and Ford, to Mabel, Dipper, and Connie, and even to himself. For whatever reason, they had all undergone some kind of unknown, and in most cases unwanted, transformation, one that had disrupted their lives and left them all with more questions than answers as they tried to adapt to what had so suddenly happened to them, a plight that faced the entire town and everyone in it, Gems and humans alike. And while Steven knew Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl weren’t particularly equipped to save Gravity Falls from such a plight as they usually would have, he figured that someone else would just have to step up and do exactly that in their stead.
“All right, enough is enough,” Steven said, his tone stern and serious as he looked to Dipper, Mabel, and Connie. “We need to do something about this.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying this whole time,” Dipper huffed, his tail twitching in slight aggravation.
“I know…” Steven admitted as a few of his vines curled back in embarrassment. “B-but this time, let’s actually do it! We can find a way to undo this and get all of us, everyone--the whole town, back to the way they’re supposed to be, I know we can! So, are you guys up for another mystery?”
“You bet!” Mabel eagerly chimed, slapping her hand over Steven’s as he extended it to the others. “Mystery Kids!”
“Mystery Kids,” Connie agreed, hovering her hand over the others even though she couldn’t really touch them herself.
Dipper sighed, though he did so with a warm, resolved smile as his hand joined the pile. “Mystery Kids.” He paused right after this, however, as he stole a glance over at Pacifica, who stood on the fringes of the group, glancing away awkwardly as even her snakes seemed to hang low and quiet. She started, however, as she caught sight of Dipper silently motioning her to join them. Considering her less than stellar history with the other members of the group, she hesitated, but she ultimately folded upon meeting her boyfriend’s soft, reassuring smile.
“M-Mystery Kids…?” Pacifica ventured as she slithered over to the group and placed her hand atop theirs. Steven, Mabel, and Connie all offered her the same eager, welcoming smiles, which helped to set her at ease just as much as Dipper reaching up to lightly, supportively squeeze her hand did.
With another daring cheer, the four--now five--Mystery Kids solidified their brazen mission to uncover the truth behind what had happened to Gravity Falls and find a way to solve it. A lofty, brazen goal to be sure, but one they felt largely equipped to handle; after all, they’d faced impossible odds like this more than a few times before.
“Ok,” Dipper said as they all retracted their hands. “Let’s get started.”
“Good luck, dudes!” Soos encouraged with a bright wave, though his hand ended up melting off his wrist before it splattered onto the porch. “...Oops.”
“Uh, you guys might wanna hurry up on that,” Wendy noted as she watched the handyman reclaim his hand with a concerned frown. “I don’t know how much longer Soos can hold out with it being this hot out. Or how much longer I can hold out either for that matter…” she growled, scratching away at her own thick fur.
“Wait, hold up,” Stan cut in as he finally came in for a landing, Ford following not too far behind him as their disagreement had reached a stalemate. “The entire town is cursed or something, and we’re just supposed to rely completely on you kids to get us all back to normal? N-not that I don’t trust you four, but you gotta admit you’re a little wet behind the ears. In some cases, literally,” he nodded over at Mabel.
“Guilty as charged,” Mabel chuckled, showing off her now fin-like ears, which were, sure enough, soaking wet.
“Stanley, don’t be so inconsiderate,” Ford scolded. “After all, who has accomplished impressive feats of discovery and problem solving through pooling their respective talents together on several occasions over the past few months alone?”
“We have!” Steven proudly proclaimed.
“Exactly,” the author nodded, ignoring his brother’s irritated glare over yet another riddle.
“Well, you kids have definitely got my vote of confidence,” Greg soundly agreed amidst resecuring a loose bandage around his arm.
“Thanks, Dad,” Steven grinned, leading the way toward the forest. He stopped short, however, in front of the Gems, all of whom, including Lapis and Peridot, regarded him affectionately as best as they could, even if they had to do so without using words. “Don’t worry, guys,” he assured them with a hopeful smile. “We’re gonna fix this, no matter what it takes. I promise.” Though none of the Gems could properly express it, their pride was clear through the round of various indiscernible, yet clearly happy cheers that rose up among them. Their warm support only gave a boost to the young Gem’s smile as he turned back to the other kids. “Ok, you guys ready to go--oh…”
His question was answered before he even finished asking it, for while Connie was able to freely hover just about anywhere with few problems, Dipper and Pacifica were still quite unsteady on their hooves and tail respectively and Mabel was essentially confined to her tiny kiddie pool (which her long tail was actually halfway sticking out of). “Uh… right,” Steven let out a small laugh, realizing that the others didn’t have an autonomous set of vines to tote them around like he currently did. “We should probably figure this out first…”
The solution when it came to transportation was actually pretty simple, and a large part of that came down to Steven’s several sets of sturdy vines. As intangible as she was, Connie couldn’t really do much to help, but Steven hardly minded as he allowed both Dipper and Pacifica to cling onto a few of his vines, as well as each other, for support as they began to make their way through the woods. Mabel had been a bit tricker, but they’d eventually devised an idea upon finding an old pair of skateboards stored in the back of Greg’s van. It took a bit of doing (namely in getting Stan and Ford to cooperate long enough to work together to lift Mabel’s pool onto the boards) but eventually the pool itself was fully mobile and ready to be pulled along by a few more of Steven’s vines (of which he fortunately had plenty to spare). And just like that the small, but enthusiastic group set out on their daunting quest, though exactly how they were supposed to go about it still wasn’t exactly clear.
“So… what are we out here looking for anyway?” Connie finally posed the question that all of the others had been thinking.
“A way to get everyone back to normal,” Steven replied with a steady grin.
“Ok, but like… how?” Pacifica asked, just as confused as Connie was.
“Uh, well…” Dipper began, exchanging an uncertain glance with Steven. “We… don’t really know what we’re looking for exactly. To be honest, a lot of the times when we do this, we just tend to look around for a bit until a solution just sort of comes to us.” At that exact moment, the entire group came to a grinding halt as something, or rather, a certain semi-corrupted Gem to be exact, abruptly fell out of the canopy of trees just in front of them. “...Like that.”
“Centi!” Steven exclaimed as he reached a vine out toward the disoriented Gem to help her up. “You’re back! A-and… whoa, you look just like you did before!” Sure enough, Centipeetle hadn’t been transformed whatsoever like all of the other Gems had, for she still retained the same semi-corrupted appearance she’d had since Steven had tried to heal her. Likewise, she still seemed to have a rather skittish mindset as she cowered away from Steven, not seeming to recognize him or any of the others in their strange new forms. “Hey, i-its ok!” he said, pulling his vines back a bit so he couldn’t scare her any further. “It’s just me: Steven! I know I look a little different right now, but you don’t have to be scared, ok?”
Centipeetle eased up a bit at this, looking Steven up and down before calming down as she met his comforting smile. She let out a somewhat confused chirp as she walked over to him, and that confusion only seemed to grow as she looked over the other kids as well.
“So this… “Centi” is a friend of yours?” Pacifica asked Dipper to gain a better sense of context. “Yikes, it looks like she got hit by this whole monster thing really hard…”
“Um, actually, she looked like that before any of this happened,” Dipper carefully pointed out.
“...Oh,” Pacifica glanced away awkwardly. “My bad…”
“I don’t understand,” Connie spoke up as she flew closer to Centipeetle, who flinched away from her slightly. “I know she’s already partially corrupted, but why didn’t she fully turn back into a monster like the other Gems did?”
“Good question,” Steven said, watching as the semi-corrupted Gem sauntered past him. “You got hit by that light too, didn’t you, Centi? Do you have any ideas about what might have happened?”
Centipeetle didn’t respond as she was instead far more fascinated in the small pool Mabel was sitting in. Or rather, the pool that Mabel had completely submerged her entire head under for far more than just a few mere minutes now.
“Oh my gosh, Mabel!” Dipper gasped, not hesitating to stumble over to her as fast as he could. Though her tail was hanging over the side of the tiny pool, the rest of her body lay face-up under the shallow water, her expression completely blank as she stared up at nothing at all as her gills “breathed” in the water surrounding her at a steady, synchronized pace. “Mabel!” Dipper reached into the water, grabbing her by the shoulder to rouse her from this bizarre trance. It worked as she gasped, darting up with a start and unintentionally splashing her brother in the process.
“W-whoa!” she exclaimed, pressing a hand against her head. “Uh… sorry,” she offered Dipper an apologetic grin as she noticed he was now dripping wet. “Not sure what happened, I guess I sorta zoned out there. Oh hey! Centi’s back!”
“Ok, can we not backtrack here?” Pacifica asked, somewhat impatient. “We’re supposed to be finding a way to fix all this, remember?”
“Right,” Steven soundly agreed with a hopeful smile. “And I think Centi might just be the key to helping us figure that out.”
Centipeetle tilted her head, letting out a curious coo at this, yet a few of the other kids weren’t so convinced. “Uh… Steven? I know you still want to help her, and we do too, but… we sort of have bigger problems to deal with right now, don’t you think?” Dipper asked apprehensively.
“But Centi was corrupted, just like the Gems sort of are now,” Steven pointed out. “And whatever corrupted them transformed the rest of the town too. So maybe whatever did that did this too!”
“But we still don’t know how corruption even happens to begin with,” Connie noted with a frown.
“Maybe we don’t, but Centi might!” Steven turned back to the semi-corrupted Gem. “What do you say? Do you remember anything from before you--I-I mean… from long ago?”
Centipeetle took a moment to ponder this question before she answered it with a surprisingly enthusiastic nod. Likewise, she began to explain, albeit in her usual language of inhuman squeaks and squawks, none of which any of the kids could even begin to decipher.
“Well, this isn’t gonna work,” Dipper remarked flatly.
“Oh! I have an idea!” Mabel raised her hand. “If her memories are still in her head, we just gotta draw them out. Literally! Through the language… of ART!”
“...Or she could just write it all down,” Pacifica countered much less dramatically.
“Yeah, that would probably be a little easier,” Connie nodded.
“Now, if only we had some paper and a-” Steven stopped short as Dipper suddenly pulled both a notepad and a pen out of his vest.
“I never leave home without them,” he said with a proud grin. “Especially since you never know what you’ll run into next around here. It never hurts to be prepared.”
“Dork,” Pacifica teased, lightly elbowing him, which he was more than happy to accept given the flirtatious nature of the gesture.
“Ok, Centi, check this out,” Steven said, writing his name onto the first empty page of the notepad. “Ste-ven. That’s me! Can you do that?”
Centipeetle nodded, taking the pad as she began to scribble something down onto the page. When she was done and presented her work to the kids, however, the series of jagged, mangled lines she’d drawn didn’t bear semblance to any legible words at all.
“...You know, maybe having her draw might not be such a bad idea after all…” Connie said somewhat fretfully.
“Yes!” Mabel cheered. “Art always wins!”
“Ok then, let’s try this,” Steven sketched out a quick stick figure sketch of himself so Centipeetle would understand what they wanted her to do. “You can tell us whatever you want to through pictures! You try it.”
Centipeetle reclaimed the pen and pad and began to do exactly that, sketching something out in record time before showing her work to the others. “That looks like… some kind of spaceship…” Connie inferred, hovering above as she glanced down at the Gem’s rough, yet understandable drawing. “Is that how you came to Earth?”
Centipeetle nodded, flipping the pad to a blank page as she started doodling something else. “Ooo, they look like you!” Mabel pointed toward the trio of stick figures that bore a passing semblance to the semi-corrupted Gem. “Centi, did you used to roll with a super cool crew back in the day?”
Centipeetle let out a happy chirp at this, pointing to herself with something of a proud smile. “You were a captain?!” Steven gasped, stars in his eyes. “That’s amazing! Sorry, I mean--that’s amazing, sir!” he chuckled with a playful salute before he happened to catch himself. “Oh, right, you guys don’t salute like that. It’s more like… this, right?” The young Gem awkwardly tried to cross his arms, though he couldn’t quite position them in any sort of comfortable manner. “Ow! Oh, this looked so easy when Peridot did it....” It didn’t take long for Centipeetle to catch onto what he was trying to do as she showed him the corrected cross-armed salute. “Oh yeah! Like that!” Steven nodded as the semi-corrupted Gem let out another noisy chirp before she resumed drawing out her tale once more.
“Ok, so… you’re saluting someone…?” Dipper guessed as they all gathered closer to watch Centipeetle draw. “Is that your commander or something?” The semi-corrupted Gem nodded, pointing back to her drawings with another pointed squawk. ‘
“She gave you an order,” Connie continued inspecting the drawings. “And you and your crew got on your ships and--oh, lots of ships. Heading through space to… Earth.”
“You landed and started building stuff,” Steven mused as Centipeetle sketched out the start of Homeworld’s colonization of the planet. A colonization which soon turned to a violent conflict. “But then… the Gem war! You joined the fight…” Centipeetle’s drawings grew a bit more aggressive and hectic as her hand started to shake. She swiftly crossed out several of the Gems she had drawn, symbolizing their brutal ends that happened so long ago. “You and your crew kept going…” Steven faltered as Centipeetle suddenly ripped half of the page she was working on, tearing away her fellow crew members away from her. “You got seperated, but you were still fighting. Then, new orders from your commander… to retreat. Everyone’s running-” The sketches shifted to a massive crowd of Gem soldiers fleeing from some unknown, unseen threat. And among that crowd was Centipeetle, lost in the shuffle and hopelessly confused as to what was really going on. “But from what? You don’t know. Where’s your crew? Where’s your ship? You stopped.” Centipeetle froze in her drawing, captivated by the sky as a large star, three stars rather, appeared in it. “You heard something--from the sky, a sound. A song? And then…”
Centipeetle tore the last page away entirely to a completely blank one. She covered that empty page with her hand as tears started to slip out of her eye and splash down onto the paper, dampening it as she let out an agonized sob. “C-Centi?” Mabel spoke up, concerned.
“That light…” Dipper began in dawning realization. “That’s the same light that hit the entire town! Where did it come from?”
Centipeetle whimpered once more but drew one last image upon the empty page: the familiar symbol of a trio of diamonds. “D-damage from the Diamonds…” Steven whispered, his eyes wide with alarm.
“Uh… what does that mean?” Pacifica asked, largely out of the loop compared to the others.
“It means… none of this makes sense…” Connie shook her head incredulously. “The light from the Diamonds corrupted Gems back then, but… it didn’t work on humans before… did it?”
“N-no, it… it only worked on Gems, like Centi…” Steven frowned, recalling what Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl had told him of corruption before. “But this time, it only affected the Gems’ bodies, not their minds like it did with all the others… And it did work on humans… So, what’s different now?”
“Bill,” Dipper said starkly, panic filling his expression as he recalled a very significant, very frightening recent revelation. “H-he’s working with the Diamonds now, o-or at least Yellow Diamond, remember? What if they teamed up to do this to us?!”
“B-but why would they-” Steven didn’t get a chance to finish his question as Centipeetle suddenly caught his attention. The semi-corrupted Gem was hacking horribly, acid spilling out from her beak-like maw as she abruptly collapsed to the ground. “Centi! Are you ok?!”
Centipeetle let out an anguished cry as light enveloped her arm, forcibly mutating it back into its previously short, insect-esque appendange. “W-what’s happening to her?!” Mabel asked, leaning out of her pool worriedly.
“She’s reverting!” Steven exclaimed, alarmed. “Here, I’ll heal you again!” The young Gem hurried to do so, swiftly licking his hand and placing it against Centipeetle’s gemstone. She reacted harshly, however, her eye slamming shut as her arm glitched out, but ultimately stayed corrupted as the rest of her body began to do the same. “W-why isn’t it working?! How can I help you?!”
All Centipeetle could respond with was a loud, piercing, pained screech, one that echoed through the forest and set off a series of varied responses in the process. As startled as she was, Connie was no longer able to keep herself visible as she abruptly disappeared into thin air once more, despite Steven’s desperate plea for her to stay. Likewise, as horrified as he already was by thoughts of Bill and the Diamonds and their twisted alliance, Dipper found he was completely helpless to resist his new flighty instincts overwhelming all sense of reason and logic as they prompted him to flee, running swiftly off into the forest, even as Mabel and Pacifica both tried and failed to reign him back in.
And yet, Dipper and Connie weren’t the only ones to take off out of fear as Centipeetle started doing the same, distressed as she startled scrambling back through the woods herself. “E-everyone, wait!” Steven called, distraught as he realized things were only going from bad to worse.
“W-what do we do?” Mabel asked, immensely concerned.
“Uh… um…” Steven stammered, racing to come up with some sort of plan, which he surprisingly managed to do in record time. “Pacifica, can you go look for Dipper?”
“Um, yeah, I’ll try,” Pacifica agreed, more than willing to do so, even if she wasn’t entirely sure how far she’d be able to go on her difficult to maneuver tail.
“Mabel, you… stay here.”
“Yeah, I… kinda can’t really do much else,” Mabel noted, pointing to her tail. “Oh! I know! I’ll see if I can get Connie to come back!”
“Great,” Steven nodded as his vines turned him around. “I’m gonna go after Centi. I’ll be back soon!”
“Good luck!” Mabel called after both Pacifica and Steven as they set off on their own respective missions. She paused a moment after they were gone, more than set to call after Connie in the hopes of getting her to appear. Yet just before she could, her own bizarre newfound instincts took over as she silently plunged herself back under the water of her pool, unable to really do anything else, even if she could have tried.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Steven to catch up to Centipeetle given how surprisingly fast his vines could carry him. The semi-corrupted Gem had just broken through the edge of the forest, apparently heading back toward the temple, yet as Steven did the same, he was quite taken aback by what he saw happening at the Mystery Shack.
The entire area was awash in chaos as it seemed as though almost everyone who had gathered there had also fallen victim to whatever instinctual impulses that came along with their new monstrous forms. Stan and Ford had apparently gotten into another brawl for whatever reason, though this one was much more violent and aggressive as they chased each other around the sky again. Wendy attempted to follow along on the ground, running on all fours as she growled almost ferally, and though she missed Centipeetle, she did notice Steven and tried chasing after him as well. The young Gem narrowly managed to avoid her using his floating powers to jump on top of his father’s van, though that hardly stopped the frantic scene on the ground below. Soos seemed to have tucked himself away inside the shack to avoid melting any further, and Greg was seemingly nowhere to be found, at least until Steven peeked into the back of the van to find his father sleeping soundly within it.
“D-Dad!” Steven exclaimed, hurrying to his side, only to notice Greg’s arms were crossed squarely over his chest, much like a traditional mummy’s would have been. “Dad, wake up, please!” he shook his father’s shoulder to try and rouse him, though it didn’t do any good. “D-Dad…?”
A sudden screech quickly caught the distraught young Gem’s attention, one that came from Pearl, who he realized was standing right behind him alongside Garnet and Amethyst. While Lapis and Peridot had taken to the sidelines, unsure of what to do, the main trio of Gems had been doing their best to ease the mindless uproar between the others, though there wasn’t much they could really do with their forms as monstrous as they currently were. “G-guys, what… what’s going on?” Steven asked them, realizing they were much calmer than everyone else seemed to be. “Why’s everyone acting so weird?”
Though she couldn’t really give a proper answer, Garnet replied in the form of a low grunt, nodding up toward the sky, or rather, toward where the apparent corrupting light had come from. “C-Corruption… yeah, we know,” Steven nodded, “We think it might have been Bill and the Diamonds this time, but they... “ He gasped as the newfound, horrific realization struck him. “They corrupted everyone’s bodies… but only the minds of the humans! That’s why they’re acting like this! W-we have to help them! B-but how?”
The Gems seemed to agree, though the only way they could really convey their idea to do so was to step aside so Steven could see Centipeetle, who was still frantically making her way up to the temple. “Centi?” the young Gem wondered anxiously. “D-do you think…?”
The Gems exchanged something of an uncertain glance but ultimately they agreed that the semi-corrupted Gem would be their best course of action right now. Something Steven couldn’t really argue with since he was largely out of ideas himself. “Right,” he nodded, his vines starting to pull him forward so he could follow her. “You guys stay here and keep everyone safe. I’m gonna find a way to fix all of this. I mean it this time.”
Even if they couldn’t exactly speak, the Gems still sent him off with a chorus of warm, proud well-wishes, voicing their firm belief in their young ward just as well as any words could have. Their faith did give Steven something of a confidence boost, but as he set off after Centipeetle he couldn’t help but feel quite worried all the same, especially now that the stakes seemed higher than ever before. What if he couldn’t find a way to return everyone to normal? What if his friends, his family, possibly even himself with time, were all eventually lost to their monstrous forms and mangled minds, just like previously corrupted Gems like Centipeetle had been centuries ago?
These were all thoughts Steven could hardly bear to face, so he decided to embrace the opposite instead, the hope that he would find a solution. That he could fix this and save everyone, just as they were all counting on him to do, even if they didn’t even realize it.
The young Gem burst into the house just moments after Centipeetle had, finding her propped up against the warp pad as she desperately tried using it. No teleporting light emerged from it however, much to the semi-corrupted Gem’s distress as her leg started glitching back into its previously corrupted appearance. “I-it’s not working because you’re corrupted,” Steven noted, hurrying over to her. “Where do you want to go? The battlefield you fought at? Your ship?”
Centipeetle squawked out an immediate response to this, though Steven still didn’t quite understand. “Is there something on the ship that can help you? That can help all of us?” The semi-corrupted Gem only screamed louder at this, slamming herself down onto the warp pad as she practically begged him to use it. “O-ok, just… hold on,” Steven said, grabbing her hand to calm her down. “I’ll get you there.”
Despite his own condition, fortunately Steven was still able to use the warp pad as usual. Its light enveloped them both, taking them to the very same abandoned Gem ship that Peridot had tried trapping them in what felt like ages ago now. As soon as she so much as spotted her ship, Centipeetle took off, running through the jungle as she called out for someone she only barely remembered. “Hey! Wait!” Steven ran after her, or rather his vines did, at least until Centipeetle suddenly stopped short. The corrupted Gem unleashed another agonized scream as she collapsed, clutching her head in pain as more traces of her monsterous form began to overtake her: her multiple tiny legs, her lengthy, multi-tiered body, her long, pincher-like snout. As this horrific, slow transformation continued, Steven briefly watched in frightened alarm, before he took the initiative, gently latching onto her with a few of his vines. “You want to get to the ship? Then let’s go.” As unable to walk as she was, Steven let his vines hoist Centipeetle up as she continued whimpering loudly, her form continuing to unsteadily shift as her mind tumbled into madness all the while. Yet despite her wild manner starting to flood her once more, she still somehow recognized Steven, still somehow trusted him to take her where she longed to be. And sure enough, that’s exactly what he did.
The young Gem carefully set Centipeetle down just as all traces of her once human-like form gave way to her former corruption. She squeaked pitifully, acid dripping out of her maw as she looked to Steven almost pleadingly. He shuddered, wishing he could do so much more to help her, but for now, the most he could do was open the door to her abandoned ship and let her back inside of it for the first time in eons.
Silently, Steven followed Centipeetle inside the derelict vessel, only to find that they weren’t alone. Two other creatures, identical to the corrupted Gem, had scaled its dusty walls and had taken up shop there, though as they noticed Centipeedle herself, they greeted her with cheerful chips of greet. “Other Centipeetles…?” Steven wondered, watching as his own corrupted companion scurried over to join the pair. “T-they’re your crew… aren’t they?”
Centipeetle stopped short at this, turning back to Steven as she skittered over to him once more. He offered her a small, sad smile that was quick to fade as he looked between his corrupted friend and her crew. “I-I… I’m sorry….” he sighed morosely. “I wish there was more I could do to help you. T-to help everyone! All of the other corrupted Gems, and especially everyone back in Gravity Falls right now! They’re all in danger and I-I… I don’t know what to do to save them! My friends… e-everyone I know needs my help, a-and I… I can’t do anything for them…”
Tears started to well up in the young Gem’s eyes, yet before they could fall, a gentle, almost kindly chirp from Centipeetle caught his attention instead. The corrupted Gem pulled her lengthy form up a bit so she could gain some height over Steven, and then, in much of the same way he had done for her before, she delivered a soft “kiss” of sorts upon his forehead using the very tip of her beak. It wasn’t much, but in a strange way, it offered him exactly the sort of comfort he needed at a hopeless moment such as this.
He mouthed her a silent ‘thank you’ as she turned again to join her crew, all three corrupted Gems chirping warmly amongst each other as they reunited after centuries of painful separation. Steven stood by, watching them for a moment or two, his mind lingering on Centipeetle’s “kiss” all the while. And the longer he thought about the touching gesture, the more it made him think about how his own healing kiss had, at least in some way, truly worked to partially cure the corrupted Gem, even if it hadn’t really worked as well as he had hoped. Yet still, it had worked on some level all the same. Which made him start to wonder if it could possibly work when it came to another, newer kind of corruption instead.
Steven wasn’t exactly sure what the result would be as he glanced over the back of his now-clawed hand, but as he looked to the vines sprouting from his back and thought about the pink petals that had overtaken his hair, he figured it was at least worth a try all the same. The moment he so much as skimmed the back of his hand with a gentle kiss, however, he found that everything went completely white and numb, until just as quickly, everything abruptly returned.
Except plenty of things didn’t. Because instead of being involuntarily propped up on vines as he had been all day, the young Gem found himself sitting on the floor of the abandoned ship with not a single vine in sight. His skin had regained its usual pallor as opposed to the unnatural shade of pale pink it had become and his hands and hair, he found, were both just as normal as non-floral as they should have been. “I-I… I healed myself?!” he gasped, jumping to his feet, though he just as quickly collapsed to the ground. “O-oops, guess I gotta get used to walking around on my own again, b-but still, this is great!” He grinned brightly up at the trio of Centipeetles curiously watching him from above. “Thank you,” he said to Centi in particular. “I-I know my powers won’t work on you guys, but… maybe someday they will. And when they do, I’ll come back for you first, Centi, I promise.” Centi let out a bright, affectionate chip at this, one that Steven couldn’t help but return with a small, joyous laugh of his own. “B-but for now, I’ve gotta get back and see if I can help everyone else!”
Steven wasted no time in doing so, waving one final, fond farewell to Centi and her crew before he took off to return to town. And all the while, the trio of Centipeetles remained aboard their broken vessel, happy to be, if nothing else, together again, just as they had yearned for all that time apart.
As soon as he warped himself back to the temple, Steven rushed out of it, running as fast as his admittedly sore legs could take him in place of having his vines tote him around. The chaos unfolding at the shack had hardly changed in the time that he’d been gone, withe Gems desperately trying and largely failing to reign the maddened humans among them back in. Still, as soon as they spotted Steven in his usual appearance, the Gems were all quick to hone in on him in rapt, excited, fervent attention. Still, despite the crowd, Steven steadily got to work, even if he did have a few doubts about whether or not his plan would really work at all. All the same, he started with Amethyst, landing a brief kiss against her muscled arm, one that, sure enough, enshrouded the purple Gem in light before reverting her form back to how it usually should have been. While grateful for Steven’s assistance, Amethyst did have the slightest complaints, namely that she had found her corrupted form to be rather fun and enjoyable, something Pearl readily disagreed with as soon as the young Gem healed her up next. Garnet was more than relieved to have her future vision back on hand as Steven healed her, and with her usual level-headedness, she got her teammates into action to round up the scattered humans while the young Gem healed Lapis and Peridot next.
It had taken some doing, but between the three of them, the Gems had managed to round up Stan, Ford, and Wendy just as Steven finished off returning Greg and Soos to normal. The trio was still quite rowdy and untamed, which made approaching them a bit of a challenge for the young Gem, at least until Amethyst came up with the idea of a spray bottle on them. Miraculously, this managed to work as Steven mixed in a bit of his own healing spit into the water before the Gems spritzed the aggressive group with it, healing them in short order and leaving each of them quite embarrassed when they realized what had happened.
With everyone at the shack healed up, Steven made it his immediate mission to find his scattered friends in the forest, a mission that the Gems were more than happy to join him on. Lapis took to the skies alongside Peridot to try and find any signs of Dipper (and Pacifica for that matter) while Steven and the others took to the ground to regroup with Mabel and hopefully Connie. They found the latter first, who had managed to reappear and nearly flew right into them while searching for the young Gem herself. As surprised as Connie was by how Steven had managed to heal everyone, they both found a unique challenge when he tried to do the same for her given her currently intangible form, one that he couldn’t seem to touch at all. That is, at least until Garnet suggested that they fuse. It was a bit awkward and difficult to do so, yet somehow, it worked, with Stevonnie taking on a partially physical form, though they did still hover above the ground while retaining something of a ghostly glow. Still, it was enough for the young Gem’s healing powers to work as they kissed their own arm, returning not just the fusion, but Connie herself back to normal once they warmly unfused.
Since she was essentially unable to go anywhere else, Mabel had remained in her spot in her pool, staying under water the entire time so she could breath easier. Her expression was absolutely empty and she remained completely silent, even as Connie began propping her up out of the water so Steven could heal her. And as soon as he did, Mabel immediately snapped right back into her usual chatty self, even if she was a little disgruntled by her now wet skirt, socks, and shoes as she finally got out of the pool, able to walk on her own two returned legs once again.
By then, Lapis and Peridot had returned with their report that they had spotted Dipper running off deeper into the forest. Not wanting to waste any time, Steven, Mabel, and Connie all raced to catch up with him, though when they found him, he wasn’t exactly alone. Pacifica had also managed to find him, though by now her newly predatory instincts had overtaken her as she cornered her frightened boyfriend as both her and her snakes prepared to take on their easy prey. This tense confrontation was put to a quick end as the other kids arrived to break it up, with the girls making use of the spray bottle on Pacifica while Steven managed to keep Dipper from slipping away again with a well-timed bubble so he could properly heal him. And as soon as the couple were both back in their right minds and usual bodies, they both soundly agreed to never speak of what had almost just transpired ever again.
From there, healing the rest of the town from their monstrous plight was quite a daunting task for Steven and the others, though the spray bottle scheme did make doing so quite a bit easier. All it took was one spritz to each citizen-turned-creature and they were back to their usual fully-human forms. With the Gems and the Pines teaming up together to spread out through the town, it was only a matter of hours before every impacted resident had been healed (even if most of them had no idea exactly what the water that had done so actually contained). Still, the general consensus was a glad and grateful one amongst its citizens as Gravity Falls slowly but surely started getting back to normal (or at least as normal as the strange little town could be).
“And that should be everyone,” Garnet noted, relying on her future vision to confirm that their mission was complete. While a handful of the others who had lended a hand had already headed back home, the kids and the Gems were the last to dole out healing to any remaining stragglers. And with the last few townsfolk healed and human again, the sun was just starting to set as the last of the group began to make their way back to the temple and the shack as well. “Good job, Steven.”
“Yeah! Magical healing powers for the win!” Mabel cheered as she ran alongside the young Gem. “Seriously, I’ve never missed having my legs this much!”
“And I’ve never missed having only two,” Dipper readily agreed with a sigh of relief. “Let’s just hope something like this never happens again. I don’t know if I can handle the whole “mindless deer panic” thing again.”
“Well, if it does ever happen again,” Connie spoke up, glancing over at Steven with a fond smile. “We know who we can count on to save the day next time, right?”
“Wrong,” Steven finally spoke up, his dejected expression more than apparent. “I couldn’t save everyone. You guys were right,” he looked up to the Gems. “I couldn’t help Centipeetle..”
“You brought the Centipeetle back to her ship,” Garnet said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You brought her back to her crew. They were waiting for her there. They didn’t want to leave her behind.”
“Wait…” Steven raised a confused eyebrow. “How did you know any of that?”
“She told us,” Garnet held up the previously discarded notepad Centi had sketched her story in.
“Her drawings…?” Steven flipped through the book, perplexed.
“Her writing,” the Gem leader corrected.
“It’s actually decently legible!” Pearl pointed out the seemingly unintelligible scribbles Centi had written out.
“Wow!” Steven grinned, glad that someone could make it out where they hadn’t been able to. “Um… did she mention anything about… the corrupting light?”
“Mm… no,” Pearl shook her head as she looked through the notepad. “Why do you ask?”
“Well…”
“Cause the light that turned everyone into monsters was totally the same thing!” Mabel interjected. “Or at least we think it was.”
“We also think Bill might have had something to do with it,” Dipper added disdainfully. “That’s why it actually worked on humans this time.”
The Gems exchanged a worried glance upon hearing this, none of them liking the idea of Bill and the Diamonds collaborating, especially on something like this, however plausible it might have been. Yet even so, they did manage to find a few holes in the kids’ theory all the same. “Uh, if it was corruption, then how was Steven able to heal us all up when he couldn’t do the same for your girl Centi?” Amethyst asked, confused.
“I… don’t know,” Steven frowned, puzzled. “Maybe it just wasn’t as powerful this time? Even with Bill’s help?”
“Or maybe it was only one of the Diamonds instead of all three…” Garnet muttered quietly before Pearl quickly cut in.
“W-well anyway, I suppose it doesn’t matter that much now that it’s all over and done with!” the white Gem exclaimed with a bit of a forced smile.
“But… if Bill and the Diamonds can do something like this, then don’t you think we should be worried about what they’re planning next?” Dipper asked warily.
“I-in the long term, yes…” Pearl ventured somewhat anxiously. “But for now-”
“For now, we won,” Garnet interjected. “Let’s celebrate that instead of worrying about what’s to come.”
Though Dipper let out something of a disgruntled sigh at this, the other kids largely agreed, especially Steven. Because just a few hours ago, he had thought he might have very well lost his friends and his family for good, to something that had been far out of anyone’s control. Yet now, through a miraculous turn of fate and a little of his own miraculous magic thrown in, here they all were, together and back to their normal selves again, just as they should have been. Well, almost all as they should have been.
“Hey, Pearl?” Steven began, glancing down at the notepad once more. “Can you teach me how to write in Gem?”
“Oh, Steven, it’s very complicated,” Pearl said with a small smile. “And you won’t have much use for it.”
“Oh, I just want to know a few things like, ‘Hi, how are you?’, ‘Where’s the bathroom?’ and-” Steven stopped short as he flipped to the last drawing Centi had left behind, of the trio of diamonds representing the ones who had damaged her, and so many other innocent Gems in the process, seemingly beyond repair. Or at least it was for now, something that he could only hope to somehow change someday for Centi and her friends, just as he had for all of his. “And ‘I’m sorry’...”
Next:
#jen writes#universe falls#gravity falls#steven universe#monster falls au#monster falls#steven universe/gravity falls#dipper#mabel#steven#connie#garnet#amethyst#pearl#centipeetle#stan#ford#wendy#soos#pacifica#peridot#lapis#greg#monster reunion#keyword is transformation
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Polaroid | Peter Parker x Male!Reader
Pairing: Peter Parker x Male!Reader
Warning: Cuteness
Word count: 3189
His Spider-Man duty had called earlier that day. Peter assured he'd be back soon. Easily enough you dozed off while waiting for Peter to come home. That wasn't particularly difficult, ever since Peter trusted you with his secret. You've been at the ready, taking care of him. Whenever. Wherever. He healed faster than a normal human being, but that didn't mean his wounds needed tending afterward. And all the while Peter was being the hero you simply managed to doze off in that lovely afternoon sun shining through the window. You dart back up from the desk as soon as you feel the touch of a hand on your shoulder. With the page of a comic book stuck to your cheek, you jump back up from the desk. "(Y/N)?" Peter groaned standing beside you, bare chest and one hand clenched to his side. "C-Can… you h-help?" Through your sleepy eyes, you look on as Peter limps back to the bathroom. Your eyes catch sight of the red-stained gauge pressed against his side. Approaching the door, you feel the damp and moist air rolling over you. Indicating that the shower must have run for quite a while. Peter stood there, hunched over the sink. Pressing the gauge into his side. His curly hair cast down his face.
The blood now awakening you from your daydream. The sink beside him, as well as the tub, had watered down blood running down. The whole scene more or less like a crime scene after the murderer tried to cover up his act. "Sit down…" You command him. Trying to let the calmness sound through your voice. Peter took place on the edge of the tub. His back covered in bruises and small cuts. Dried blood sticking to his skin. Wrapping one hand in the washcloth from the sink and with some running hot water. You slowly start washing his back. You can't help but let your eyes run across his muscled body. Those broad shoulders and muscular arms. Your hand runs over the muscles on his back where the dried blood stuck to his skin. Peter felt a bit nervous at first. You could feel it in his muscles, all tensed up. Rapid breathing. But admittedly, you were in the same boat.
You could feel the muscles in Peter's back relax at the second wipe. You hear him release a couple slow sighs as he releases the tension in his shoulders, as they slowly lower. Inspecting cuts and bruises across this back. Ending up at the gauze. Running your fingers between his, taking over the gauze. As you hear him groan a little as you remove the gauze from the wound. Some tissue still stuck to the gauze. On his side ran a reasonable cut of around two inches running sideways. Putting his finger beside, if it wasn’t clear already.
“Something is… stinging… in there. I dunno know…" Peter's voice was ragged. His breathing hampered, groaning at every movement he made. You weren't a doctor, but at first sight, the wound didn't look deep. The cuts weren't serious, nor were the bruises. You have seen worse in the last months. But the wound kept bleeding, drips of blood ran along the cut trailing down his back. As you push the new gauze against the cut. "Looks like it hurts... How long has thi-…” You feel the air crop up in your throat. Your eyes spot the hole in his flesh. Unable to finish your sentence… Your stomach turns upside down as the cluttered blood and tissue poor down this back. Something pierced right through his flesh. As you press the gauze against the cut, again blood poured out from the gaping hole. Peter’s words wake you from your frightened gaze. “I… guess an hour or so. Felt a sharp sting. Came home and saw all the blood. Tried to stop the bleeding but couldn’t.”
"Y-You should go to a hospital." You feel your stomach acting up. The sight of so much blood almost made you throw up your guts. Releasing a small burp in the process. You could smell the stench in your breath. This wasn't your thing.
“What?! You know I can’t!” Peter panics.
“Peter… I-I… I-” You stammer. “-think y-you got hit by a b-bullet…”
“No-No-No-No! You have to get it out! If I go to the hospital, May will found out. And she will freak out and…" Peter's rambling falls against deaf ears as try to focus on the bullet wound. You can feel the lights headedness creep into you. As your hands feel disconnected from your brain. Your legs turning to jelly and your fingers trembling slightly as you take the pincers from the first aid. "I-I will t-try…" This wasn't anything like the movies. Pulling it straight out like some sort of child's game. Then it hit you.
Booze. You stumble back onto your legs as you recall where May left her booze. Peter just looks at you with questionable eyes as you run off to the cabinets in the living room. Returning with a brown liquorish bottle. With a pop, you open up the bottle. The strong scent of alcohol teasing your nostrils. "Take a swig." Holding the bottle up to Peter.
“We shouldn’t! We’re only-“ Peter protested. But instead, the stinging pain in his side makes him stop yammering. Peter was right. You were too young to drink.
“It’s gonna hurt. Bad… Really bad." You take a small nip from the bottle. The liquor burned its way down your throat. The high percentage of alcohol sending a shiver down your body. Deep down, you feel your stomach protesting. On the plus side, you could feel your nerves calming down bit by bit.
“We’re doing it my way, or we’ll go to the hospital.” Holding it up to Peter. Silence falls in-between you as Peter overthinks the situation. Eventually grabbing the bottle and taking a large swig. He gags and hunches forward, his body shivering all over. “Gaaah… Tastes horrible.” The regret painting across his face.
"I'm sorry for what comes next…" You apologies with a heavy heart. You've seen it in the movies. But nothing comes close to the real deal. You pour the liquor down the wound. Cleaning it bit by bit. Peter's body quivering and shaking in the process. Surprisingly your hands shacked less than before. You steady yourself against the side of the tub. With the small torch clenched between your teeth, you work the pincers into the flesh. You felt your heart pounding in your chest as you poke the pincers further in. You had no clue how far the piece of metal worked itself in. That awful feeling crept up in you. You guts twisted and turned at the sight of blood and torn tissue. The sides of your cheeks filling with saliva. You breathing turning rapid and shallow. A small metal glitter appeared through the red cluster of blood and tissue. "Sit tight." Your voice skips a little as the nerves get the better of your body once again. You try to swallow the saliva away. You try to postpone the enviable.
The pincers hardly hold onto the metal splinter as you try to get a hold onto it. Your sweaty fingers slipping more and more in the gloves. Almost letting go of the pincers as you try to wiggle it free. You feel another burp coming up. You turn away momentarily as you feel it coming up again. Your throat felt like it was on fire. Peter groaned more and more as the metal splinter moved through the tissue. “Got it.” You try to assure him. Slowly pulling the splinter out.
A small ping sounded through the bathroom as the splinter hit the sink. You quickly take the thread and needle from the first aid. But the needle keeps slipping from your trembling fingers. Blood on the gloves not helping one bit. What a grueling business. You shouldn't be doing any of this stuff on this age. You shouldn't need to remove bullets from somebody's flesh. This was far from ordinary. Stitching him up as quickly as you can. Every time you push the needle through his skin, you hear Peter hiss for a second. It looked like shit. No denying on that. The stitching all crisscrossed. But it did the job. You finish it off with a fresh bandage. The second you push the bandage onto the wound. You push past Peter, towards the toilet bowl. Crouched on your knees and hunched forward you stick your head into the bowl. You push the entire contents of your stomach and intestines out. No holding back. The grueling stench filling the bathroom. Wave after wave splatter through the bowl. You try flushing the toilet with one hand but are met with another hand. Peter stumbling towards you.
“Heeeeey-Hey… that's the… eh…" With watery eyes, you glance at Peter. His eyes half-closed and a cheeky smile on his face. Pointing a finger into the toilet bowl. "sand-…wich you ate earlier!” He giggles to himself. “Heh… Smells kinda funny.” You’d never seen Peter react to alcohol. You also were at an age you shouldn’t be drinking anyway. But this was new. And the alcohol definitely hit his system now. “I… feel funny…” Looking at his fingers.
Rinsing the foul taste with mouth water, you take Peter and help him back into his room. His legs barely holding his own weight. “Let's get you to your bed.”
Peter just sat there, hunched against the wall on the lower level of his bunk bed, munching and licking his lips. His half-open eyes looking around the room. "My mouth tasted weird." He mumbles on.
"I'll get you something. Stay here." From the kitchen, you grab a glass of water. Occasionally peaking back into the room to make sure Peter didn't do anything stupid. You wouldn't be surprised if he just wandered off onto the fire exit near his window. You quickly throw in a powdered aspirin. Taking one yourself as well.
“Yay! There's my best buddy again.” Throwing his arms up in the air. His legs struggling to get the sweatpants on.
"Here, drink this." With both hands, he clamps onto the glass of water. Chucking it down in a matter of seconds. Meanwhile, you help him get into his sweatpants. "Psst…” Peter leans forward, almost falling over. His face close to yours. “Don’t tell Peter we’re best buddies.”
“But-...” You have trouble keeping your laughter contained. “-but who am I talking to now?”
“Spider-Man!” Peter shoots at you. “Sshht...! Don’t tell anybody!” Raising a finger to his lips.
"Right... Okay." You try controlling your laughter as you pull Peter back against the wall. Afraid he'd otherwise fall over from the bed. Instead, his intoxicated body just slides down onto the sheets. You can't help but laugh at his behavior. Peter laying there mumbling things to himself. His fingers playing with the edges of his shirt. "I'll be in the bathroom for a moment. Call me when you need anything." Peter only responded with a small nod. His eyes fixated at the top mattress of the bunk bed.
With the sponge, you scrub away the many stains and trails of blood covering the bathtub, sink, and floor. The towels, washcloths and other bloodied rags went straight into the washing machine for a spin. Hoping May would be home late from work. For dinner, you had to go online for a moment to check what to eat best after a hangover. At least that's what you thought Peter was going to have rather sooner than later. You'd just order something online. But you weren't sure what to order. You can't leave the house. Not with Peter like this. After searching for some local restaurants online and taking advice from the internet, you'd order something healthy. For now, it would be best to keep an eye on Peter before the food gets here.
You crawl onto the bed, legs crossed and resting your head against the wall as you ‘look’ over Peter. He barely noticed you climbing over you. Your eyelids slowly becoming heavier. You notice the shift in the mattress. You see him crawling closer to you, snapping you out your daydream.
“Can you make my bed stop… like… moving?” Pressing his finger repeatedly into your cheek.
“I-I… don’t know…
“I just... feel like… like… A ship just... floating on the sea.”
“W-... What?”
“Makes my tummy hurt…”
“I’ll get someth-“ With the intention of grabbing a bucket, just in case. And maybe some aspirin. You try moving from the bed. But halfway on the mattress, you feel Peter’s arm slide around your back. His fingers gripping tight onto your shirt. Before you can react, let alone shoot a glance his way. A strong pull launches you back flat onto the mattress.
“Lemme hold onto you.” He mutters calmly. Snuggling close to you. Intertwining his legs with yours. Holding onto you tight. As he cradles his head onto your chest. “This is good…” He sighs dreamily.
That moment was burnt into your memory forever. You can’t help but smile over the polaroid picture. May took it after she came home. Finding both of you fallen asleep. Peter curled up against your chest. Your arms wrapped around him. Underneath the picture was Peter’s handwriting, after all this time barely recognizable, saying: My hero.
That day had changed things in your friendship with Peter. Like a barrier was torn down. Something had shifted. You felt it. You became closer. Shared time together more and more. You had already fallen in love with Peter a long time ago. You didn’t know it back then. You liked him, and Peter liked you. He even said it once. Cheeks colored red and shaking hands. Those butterflies swarming. They tickled. But over the last months, things became more serious. The butterflies began to hurt. In a good way. Back then, you could recall every moment when Peter was close to you. When he touched your leg. Or lay his hand on your shoulder. Rarely a hug. It was something to dream about back then. Now you couldn’t recall a day without physical contact with him. A morning hug at the locker was routine. Surprise hugs from behind during lunch. Hugs at the bus. You couldn’t stop. Neither did he. You didn’t want it to stop.
Your heart skips a beat as the door opens in front of you. You put the shabby looking polaroid back into your jacket. It remained there for months. Close to you. The edges curled up, rough borders, the colors began to fade more and more. Trying to dry the thing time and time again after you got it soaking wet, didn’t help either. You had run the sentences a thousand times through your head. Trained in front of the mirror a dozen times. But the nerves couldn't be contained. Front behind the door, May appeared. “(Y/N)!” Her emotions ran from happiness seeing you, to surprise, into content. She understood why you were here. You could tell from the caring look she gave you.
"Pete! Someone's at the door for you!" She yells across the room. Nodding at you, and giving a wink. Before returning into the living room. "Coming!"
The apartment wasn't anything but large. A small living room with a kitchen. Directly adjacent to it was Peter's bedroom. Just a few meters away. But the footsteps coming from the other side of the apartment seemed like to take forever getting here. Your knuckles turning white as the grip on the flowers stalks increase. Feeling them break one by one. The sweat pouring from underneath your armpits.
“Hey (Y/N)-“ Peter excitingly speaks out before cutting out, as he realizes what’s happening. His eyes wide open, frozen to the spot. You try to swallow the lump in your throat. As you try to remember the words you were going to say. With trembling hands, you try handing over the flowers.
“I-… I…” You stammer. “W-wou…” Nothing more follows. As the flower hang defeated from your hand. Every stalk crushed by your grip. The wrapping barely holding the flowers together. You feel your heart hammering against your ribcage. Drowning in those innocent looking brown eyes of Peter for a moment.
Peter’s lips move. You could see them moving. But nothing audible came out. “N-n-n...ice." Rolled from his lips with a shaking voice. His hand moving towards the flowers. The brush of his fingers against yours make you jump for a moment. Making Peter hesitant for a second. Awaiting your next movement. The heat in your body rising to immeasurable heights.
“P-Peter…” You avert eye contact as you try to get the words out. Biting and licking your lips in such rapid succession you have difficulty to get the words out. Your eyes dart across everything except Peter. “Willyougooutwithme?" The word spill from your lips so quickly, you weren’t even sure even he heard it. Afraid for his answer. You keep your eyes to the floor. Then it catches your eye. From under your boot sticks out a familiar looking piece of paper. You feel the tears welling in the corner of your eyes. Clenched between your fingers, you bring the picture up. The polaroid was horribly scratched and torn from your nerves tapping and turning on your heel.
“Y-You kept it…?” Peter’s trembling voice wakes you. “A-All this time?”
The picture now damaged beyond repair slips from your fingers as you notice Peter’s tears running down his cheeks. “I carried it everywhere…” Wiping the tears from your eyes with the back of your palm. “It meant everything… to me.”
“Yes...” Peter shoots out. Wiping the tears from his eyes with this sweater. “I love to go out with you.”
Time stood still. Like everything stopped moving. The nerves in your body turned into pure excitement and happiness. A sense of relief coursed through your body. You had imagined a thousand other ways to do it. But this wasn’t one of them. Either way, smiles appeared across each other’s faces. It all led up to this. And it felt good.
“Kiss him!” May chanted from across the room. Peter looked back for a second. Before taking a step closer. The boy you fell in love a long time ago was just inches away from you. You could feel his nerves hampered breath against your skin. That cheesy smile you loved and dreamed off, now adorned by his soft sweet lips. Which were soon to be pressed against yours. Your bodies draw closer together. The flowers hit the floor as you caress your arms around his neck. His arms pull your body firmly against his. Your mouths reach closer and closer together, as you feel his soft and tender lips press against yours. For only to be interrupted by a white flash of the May’s camera. Followed by May storming past you, waving her new polaroid picture. Only God knows what she’ll be doing with it.
At least you got the apartment to yourself…
As Peter grinned from ear to ear.
#peter parker#peter parker x reader#peter parker x male reader#peter parker x you#peter parker x male!reader#peter parker imagine#peter parker oneshot#peter parker tom holland
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the ilvermorny exchange (5)
part 5 | index | masterlist
summary: you’re an Ilvermorny student, and you’ve applied to the International Magic Student Exchange Program to attend your sixth year at Hogwarts instead. You and your friends are excited to go to school overseas, but a certain blonde prefect has decided to personally make your exchange year suck. You decide to give him a taste of his own medicine. (draco x reader, enemies to lovers, female reader)
words: 7,096
A/N: hello! thank you to everyone on the taglist for reading and liking all the parts for this. i will have new stuff coming out soon, my break after finishing this won’t be very long. please message me if you want to me added to the taglist for all my future posts or have a request! ONTO THE STORY.
taglist: @tragically-cordelia @mhftrs @2pumpkin-pasty @gingerlouisgirl @seriouslynotfunny @clockworkherondale @cherrie511 @songforhema @marvelrose
Late March finally ended the constant snow outside, but it was still cold. Green plants that were beginning to emerge all across the grounds. You admired them through the windows on your way back to the Ilvermorny common room, from seeing Draco.
To your surprise, everyone was stuffed into the common room. Your entrance makes everyone cheer.
“Finally! I we’ve been waiting on you,” Alex said.
All the available space in the room was taken up, so you planted yourself on Chris’s lap. “Sorry, the moving staircases were slow going.”
Jason sat on the middle of the couch, leaning over the table in the center of the room. “Who here wants to be sorted into a Hogwarts house?”
Everyone in the room raised their hands. Jason rubbed his together eagerly. “That’s what I thought. I’ve come up with another, personally, genius prank. One that would get us all sorted.”
All your friends ooh’ed with excitement. Jason explained the plan to everyone in detail, the idea of it had you all laughing and yelling. Jason put up his hands to get everyone to settle down.
“Now, I’m putting myself in charge of phase two. Which means one or two of us and a trusted Hogwarts student to take over phase one.” Jason said.
“Have we tried asking?” Alice interjected. “It’s halfway through the second term. Don’t you think one of the nicer professors would be willing to let us be Sorted? If we say it’s just for fun?”
“I asked McGonagall today,” Sarah sighed, looking defeated. “She was our best bet, and she said no.”
“So, we need to A: locate the hat, and B: steal it and return it. All before the day after tomorrow. Any takers?” Jason asked.
Alex’s hand shot up. “I’ll go.”
“I will, too,” You added. “You can’t go alone.” Alex ginned, and you high-fived.
“Perfect,” Jason said. “See if you can get one of your friends to tell you where the hat is. And remember, unless they’re in this room or we’ve entrusted them with this plan, they’re not to know any details of this operation. Is everyone in?”
Everyone agreed. While most everyone dispersed, You, Alex, Chris, Jason, Kenny and Sarah hung back. “So Alex and Y/N are on Sorting Hat Securing duty. You guys have anyone in mind to help?”
You thought for a moment, and you and Alex exchanged a glance. “Harry,” you said in unison.
Jason nodded. “The rest of us will work on securing the clothes. We need to sort as soon as possible so we can get the rest together. This one is going to be great, I can feel it.”
The next day, you and Alex cornered Harry in a quiet corner of the library. “You want to steal the sorting hat?”
“Yes,” Alex said. “Ron is always talking about how you and Dumbledore are all buddy-buddy, and how you’re always in his office. You’re our best shot at getting in.”
“Fine, I’m always up for some breaking and entering. But why do you need the hat so bad?”
“We all just want to be sorted really badly,” you put on your best pout. “And McGonagall already said no.”
“Alright,” Harry rested his chin in his hand. “I honestly have no idea when he goes to sleep, so we’d better stakeout outside the office to make sure the coast is clear. I’ve got just the thing to help us.” His green eyes glinted in the darkness of the library, a smile spreading across his face.
“So, tonight?” Alex said with excitement.
“Brilliant. Meet me on the third floor at the end of the main corridor after we leave dinner. We’ll go up together.”
You were buzzing with anticipation all afternoon. In Potions class that afternoon, Draco passed you a note while you practiced brewing Wideye potion. ‘Can we meet tonight?’ it read.
You tapped the square of parchment, considering. You trusted Draco plenty, but the prank would be even more funny if he didn’t know. ‘Sorry. I’m hanging out with Alex and Harry :(‘
‘Later?’ he scrawled.
‘Kind of an all night deal.’
‘You’re terrible >:( what are you doing?’
You smiled a little. Snape was still at the front of the room, but you didn’t want your note confiscated and your plan ruined.‘Secret mission’.
Draco glanced at the paper and raised an eyebrow at you. You just shrugged. After class he walked with you down the hall, begging you to tell him. “I want to know!”
“No! This is top secret. If you knew, I’d have to kill you.”
“Come on, pleaseeee,” his arms reached for your sides, where he knew you were ticklish. You gasped, pushing his arms away.
“I really will kill you if you do that right here in the hall.”
“It’s called a corridor, you American,” he leaned down in your face. “Just tell meeeeeeee.”
“Why, do you want to come?”
“Maybe if I knew what it was, I could tell you.”
Gears in your mind started turning. You pulled Draco to the wall, and tugged his head down to whisper in his ear. “We’re going to steal the sorting hat from the Headmaster’s office.”
Draco pulled back in surprise. “You’re serious?”
“No one can know,” you said seriously. “Would you help us? You’re a Prefect, if we get caught you can help us.” Draco’s grey eyes were wide and unfocused as he considered your offer. “You’ve never broken the rules before, have you?” You smirked.
Draco’s brow furrowed. “Yes I have.” He pouted. “Just... breaking into the Dumbledore’s office as a Prefect is generally frowned upon.”
You started off down the hall again. “We’re meeting at the third floor at the main of the end hall after dinner. Are you seriously down to help?”
“Sure,” Draco said finally. “I’ll come.”
“Harry will be there, you know.”
“Just kick him out.” Draco stated. “Bring me instead.”
“No can do. He’s our in; he knows the password and everything.”
“Okay well, if you think I would be helpful, I’ll come. Can’t promise we’ll get along, though.”
“What’s your beef with him anyway? And Ron and Hermione?” You asked.
“We just don’t get along.” Draco shrugged. “Never have.”
You nodded. “Okay. See you later.”
“Bye.” He shot you a wink before you went down separate halls to your next classes.
Later, Harry left dinner early claiming he had detention to serve, while you and Alex both knew he was off to his room to get the supplies he’d claimed would help you on your mission. When everyone was dismissed from the Great Hall, you and Alex made your way up to the third floor. Draco was already there, waiting. Alex pulled you behind a pillar as soon as she spotted him.
“We can’t let him see us meeting Harry,” Alex whispered. “Can you get him to leave?”
“Uh, I sort of invited him.”
“You WHAT!” Alex cried, dropping her whisper. She grabbed your arm and pulled you back into the hall. Draco looked at you both curiously as you approached. “You better have a good explanation for this,” Alex groaned.
“I do! He’s a Prefect! If we get caught, he can just say he found us and we can keep going.” You hissed.
When you finally got to the end of the hall, Alex just crossed her arms in annoyance. Draco turned to you. “You didn’t ask her, did you.”
“If I did she would’ve said no,” you sighed.
“Damn right I would’ve.”
At the far end of the hall, Harry appeared. In one hand he had a thick stack of parchment, and in the other was a bundle of silvery cloth. He caught sight of you both standing with Draco, and silently raised his arms to ask ‘what the fuck is he doing here?’. Alex just pointed at you.
Harry walked to the end of the corridor and crossed his arms. “He’s not coming.” Harry said plainly.
“Guys,” you pleaded. “C’mon. He can be useful. If we get caught-”
“We won’t,” said Harry.
“How are we supposed to sit outside Dumbledore’s office without being noticed?” You asked.
In response, Harry held up the silvery cloth. “And, we’ll be able to see if anyone’s coming with this,” he held up the stack of blank parchment. “He’s not coming.”
“Can we just go,” you groaned, stomping your foot.
“Fine,” Alex said. “But you can’t just go around inviting your boyfriend to extremely-secret prank missions just because he’s lonely.”
At Alex’s words, both you and Draco stiffened. You felt your face get hot. Alex smirked. “That’s what I thought. Now let’s go before someone decides to come this way.”
Harry looked slightly shocked by Alex’s revelation, glancing between you and Draco. You rubbed a hand across you face. Harry shook out the silvery cloth. “Only three of us can fit under here,” he said. “Since you’re apparently immune to prosecution, you stay outside.” Harry glared at Draco.
“Fine,” Draco ground out.
Harry threw the cloak over his shoulders, and almost immediately parts of him turned invisible. He opened each side for you and Alex to join him underneath. “Holy shit,” Alex breathed. Harry pulled the hood up and over, and you held the front of the cloak together. Draco’s eyes widened as the three of you vanished.
Harry pulled out the map, and touched his wand to the surface. “I solemnly swear that I’m up to no good,” he whispered. Red ink appeared all over the pages, creating a moving map of the castle right before your eyes.
“That’s so dope,” you breathed in amazement. Harry opened the map up and refolded it to show where you were. All four of your names were clustered together.
“It would be nice if I knew what was going on,” Draco drawled. His eyes were focused vaguely in the area that you were all standing, but since you were invisible he could only guess as to where you were.
“None of your business,” Harry snapped. “Let’s get going. Looks like the only people in the towers now are some couple snogging.” It occurred to you that if Harry had so desired, he could’ve opened this map at any time and seen you and Draco’s footprints in the same place late at night.
Draco walked in front with the three of you shuffling behind under the cloak. Harry had been right- if one more person had tried to fit underneath, surely all your ankles would’ve been exposed. “Does this map show Dumbledore?” You whispered.
“Yes,” Harry said, “But not if he’s in his office or not. His footprints disappear as soon as he enters.”
Draco led the way to a part of the castle you’d never seen before. At the end of the corridor was a enclave in the wall, occupied by a large sculpture of a gargoyle with raised wings.
When you reached the end of the hall, Draco turned back. “What no?”
Alex poked her head out from the cloak. “We wait. Hopefully Dumbledore will leave soon, and when he does we can slip in and grab the hat.”
You, Alex and Harry all sat against one wall of the corridor with the cloak still draped around your shoulders, ready to be pulled up if someone came your way. Draco sat against the opposite wall. Harry kept the map tucked behind his legs.
After a couple minutes of sitting in silence, Harry cleared his throat. “So, uh… how long?”
You looked across the hall at Draco. He had the same questioning look on his face, letting you decide what to tell them. “Like three months.”
“That’s since…” Harry started.
“Before Christmas!” Alex finished. She reached her leg across Harry to kick you at you. “You fucking suck.”
“How could you tell?” Draco asked Alex.
“She’s my best friend. Who’s also leaving for random reasons three nights a week.” Alex said.
“We were going to tell you eventually,” you said, defensive. “We just knew you guys would get all pissy.” You huffed.
“I’m not pissed,” Alex countered. “Okay maybe a little. But you know I never stay mad.”
“Aw.” You reached your arm across Harry and clasped Alex’s hand. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
“OKAY, well what about me. Can I be mad?” Harry asked.
“No,” you and Alex said together.
“You guys do that a lot and kind of freaks me out,” Harry said.
“Okay, I wanna share a secret, too.” Alex says. “Ginny and I are dating.”
“WHAT?” Draco and Harry cry.
“Oh, I thought everyone already knew that.” you say, looking between Draco and Harry.
“No!” Harry practically yells. “Ron’s going to kill you!”
“He won’t ever get the chance.” Alex says.
Draco rolls his eyes in disgust. “Please, for the love of Merlin, let’s not turn this into a second year’s sleepover party.”
“God, you never shut up do you, Malfoy?” Harry grinds out.
“What’s you guy’s problem?” Alex asked. “I mean I know Malfoy is an annoying shithead but y’all have MAJOR beef.”
“Hey!” Draco interjected.
“That’s what I asked him earlier!” You cried.
Harry scowled. “We just don’t get along, alright?”
“For once, I must agree.” Draco added. “The day we get along is the day we shag, which is not bloody likely.”
“That’s homophobic.” Alex joked.
“Who said I didn’t like boys?” Draco countered. “I’m talking about Potter, here.”
“Ohh, I see,” Alex smirked. “I’m beginning to think all of your anger towards people is just pent up, raw bisexual energy, Malfoy.”
“Mmm, but as you so helpfully pointed out, I have a girlfriend now for me to let it out on.”
You buried your face in your knees. Harry made a fake gagging noise. You pulled your face up and glanced over at the map in Harry’s lap, and your heart nearly skipped out of your chest.
“Fuck, guys, the cloak.” You pointed to the map, trying to pull the cloak over you as quickly as you could. Dumbledore’s footprints were right around the corner.
“Shit,” Alex hissed. “He’s coming.”
The three of you stood, you and Alex pulling the cloak closed. Draco stayed sitting, conjuring glowing white butterflies with his wand, looking nonchalant.
Dumbledore rounded the corner, and you held your breath as he drew closer.
“Good evening, Mr. Malfoy. May I help you?” The Headmaster asked.
“No, sir,” Draco said, guiding the butterflies around with his wand. “Just looking for a quiet place to sit for a moment.”
Dumbledore let out a thoughtful hum. “Well, I shall leave you to your thoughts, then. Please make sure your back in your dorm before curfew, Mr. Malfoy.”
“Of course, sir.”
Dumbledore walked up to the gargoyle statue, and sensing his presence, it turned with a stony grinding sound. You all remained silent until the Headmaster’s footsteps receded, and the gargoyle had rotated back into place.
“Well, shit.” Alex said, poking her head out of the cloak.
“We’re so fucking dumb.” You groaned, sticking your head out, too. “Why didn’t we check the map to make sure he wasn’t somewhere else before we sat around and wasted our time? He was at dinner just like the rest of us- of course he wouldn’t come straight here. We could’ve gone in and out of there in the time we were waiting.”
Draco joined you all in standing. “Well, looks like you’re up, Potter.”
“Me?” Harry questioned, tucking the map back into the pocket of his hoodie with his wand.
“Someone’s got to go in there and distract him while the rest of us get the hat. And it’s bloody well not going to be me, and neither of them have any reason to go up there.” Draco said.
He was right, and Harry didn’t look like he liked that fact. He stepped out from under the cloak with a sigh. “Alright, let’s go.”
You scooted into the center spot, and Draco tucked under the cloak in your previous spot. Harry approached the bird statue. “Ginger Newt,” he says, and the gargoyle begins to move.
The stairs are small, and the three of you under the cloak manage to make it up without falling. There’s another, wooden door at the top of the stairs, which swings open as it senses you all coming. Harry steps in first.
For a moment, you’re overcome with wonder at the interior of the headmaster’s office. Charmed paintings like the ones in the moving stairwell cover the walls up to the top. Most of the figures are sleeping. Various objects around the room are spinning or making quiet noise. There’s a large glass case filled with hundreds of tiny vials with yellowed labels, and beyond Dumbledore’s desk is a small staircase up to a miniature observation deck. Next to the desk, and gigantic red bird is perched on a stick. Dumbledore is standing next to it, offering it food from his hand. He doesn’t turn as Harry enters the room, but simply greets Harry without even looking to know who it is.
“Good evening, Harry. As much as I enjoy your impromptu visits, I do think I am going to have to change the password to my office.”
The three of you under the cloak move as quietly as you can. The whizzing objects around the room make just enough noise to cover the sounds of your steps. You glance around the room a few times, looking for the hat. One of Draco’s pale fingers reaches over your shoulder, pointing just to your right. High up on a shelf is the ratty sorting hat.
“Sorry to intrude, Professor.” Harry apologizes.
“It’s quite fine. I just know your classmate Draco Malfoy was just downstairs when I arrived, and he looked very settled, and I don’t see you sharing the password with him anytime soon.”
You bit your lip to keep from laughing. You know Draco is probably rolling his eyes.
Harry walks over to where the Headmaster is standing, and asks him something about the bird. Dumbledore launches into a long story, and with his back to the three of you and his attention on Harry, you’re free to get at the sorting hat.
Alex pulls her wand from inside her jacket and waves it at the hat. It gently but quickly floats off the shelf. You part the front of the cloak as much as you dare to catch the hat, and it lands softy in your arms. It’s bigger than you expected up close, and there’s limited space under the cloak, so you squish the pointed top flat so you can pull the edges of the cloak together again.
“Oi, what in the devil do you think you’re doin’?” The hat yells.
It writhes in your hands, trying to straighten itself. Instinctively, you drop it and jump back. However, back is into Draco, and the two of you fall, taking Alex with you. The cloak falls away from and you all lie in a heap on the floor.
Harry looks stressed. Dumbledore looks amused at the pile of students who’ve just appeared on his office floor. “Ah, Ms. Huckabee, Ms. Y/L/N. Lovely to see you again, too Mr. Malfoy,” Dumbledore says. “Would you three care to tell me why you’ve snuck into my office?”
Alex looks stricken. You feel yourself start to go hot with embarrassment. “We’re so sorry, Professor,” Alex starts, sitting up. “It was wrong of us to come in her without your permission. We feel terrible.”
“Speak for yourself,” Draco mutters.
Dumbledore leaves the bird and walks down the few steps to pick the sorting hat off the ground. The three of you stand, and Alex balls up the invisibility cloak behind her. “May I ask where you came across that, Ms. Huckabee?” Dumbledore asks.
“Um.” Alex bites her lip. “It’s Harry’s.”
Dumbledore turns back to Harry. “Ah, I am beginning to understand. However, I am still curious as to why you felt the need to break into my office and steal a Hogwarts artifact that is nearly a thousand years old.”
“A thousand?” you squeak.
“Yes, the sorting hat was created by the great founding members of Hogwarts, just for sorting purposes. I can assure you it does nothing else, except, perhaps, chastise others for improperly handling it.” Dumbledore sets the hat on his desk.
“That’s all we wanted it for, Sir,” you say shyly. “We- I mean, the Ilvermorny students, all want to be sorted.”
“You had your friend Harry here right where he could’ve asked me,” Dumbledore gestured to Harry. “Did you not think to do that?”
“No, but we asked Professor McGonagall what she thought,” you started. “But she already said no,” you and Alex finished together.
Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Well, Professor McGonagall is not me, and I am the Headmaster. I shall let you Ilvermorny students borrow the hat for sorting purposes. I trust that Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy will ensure it’s safe return.”
You and Alex exchanged a shocked glance.
“However,” Dumbledore continued, “I feel as if there is… something else you’re not telling me. I would like to know before I turn the hat over to you.”
Alex laced her fingers together nervously. Then she proceeded to explain the rest of the prank to Dumbledore. He listened very attentively, and smiled when she was finished. “But we won’t do that anymore, Sir.” Alex assured. “We do really, genuinely want to know our Hogwarts house.”
“Oh, on the contrary my dear, I would encourage you all to go through with your plan.” Dumbledore says. Your jaw nearly drops. “It sounds very humorous. As long as I am left out of it, so that I may remember it all, I will let you continue with your plan. Ever since the Weasley twins graduated last year, there has not been enough excitement around the castle.”
Dumbledore offers the hat to Harry. “Please see that it is returned before midnight tonight.”
Harry takes the hat gently, careful not to squish it again. “Thank you so much, Professor. We’ll be very careful with it.”
Dumbledore nods, dismissing you all. You scuttle towards the door and down the tiny staircase. You and Alex collapse into a bout of hysterical laughter from relief.
“Oh. My. God.” You gasped in between breaths. “I thought we were dead. That we were headed back to Ilvermorny for sure.”
“A THOUSAND YEARS OLD!” Alex cried. “Dude, we were man-handling an ancient British wizarding artifact.”
“Holy shit.”
“Holy shit.”
“Personally, I’d call that a success.” Harry smiled. “But let’s please get this over with quickly.”
The four of you made your way to the West towers, and when you entered the Ilvermorny common room all the exchange students were assembled on the couches. Everyone looked to the doorway with anticipation.
“We’ve got the hat, bitchessss!” Alex yelled. Harry held it up behind her, and everyone cheered.
“Why are they here?” Jason asked, looking at Draco and Harry.
“They came with us. But to make a long story short, we got caught,” you said. Everyone did a collective gasp. “BUT, we got away with it, and Dumbledore even said he wants to be in on it, so…” Everyone laughed.
Harry placed the hat on the table in the middle of the room. “I think you guys should do it in alphabetical order, like the first years do.” Harry suggested.
“Hey, alphabetical order is unfair. Some of us can’t help our last names start with a ‘Z’” Kenny complained.
“Also, me and Y/N got the hat,” Alex interjected. “Can’t we go first?”
“Okay, okay,” Sarah put her hands up to get everyone’s attention. “Alex and Y/N first, reverse alphabetical order.” Sarah grabbed a spare piece of parchment from one of the tables in the room and began to order the other thirteen exchange students. “Is it going to sing like it did at the beginning of the year?” She asked.
“No, I will not sing,” the hat declared loudly, making everyone jump. “Once a year is far too often to bear the burden of sorting students, you should be grateful I’m not refusing after being squashed so violently!”
“Sorry,” You said to the hat, cringing.
Harry grabbed the hat by the point of the top, and took the list from Sarah. “I’ll be McGonagall. Which one of you wants to go first?” Harry asked.
“Alex, you go.” You gestured towards the hearth for her to sit.
“Are you sure?” She asked.
You nodded. Alex bounced over to Harry and sat on the hearth, and Harry placed the hat on her head. It wiggled a little to settle onto her head, humming. The hat only sat on her for a moment before yelling across the room “GRYFFINDOR!”
Everyone cheered, and Harry especially looked excited. He pulled the hat off her head and she jumped up to give him a hug. “You’re next, Y/N.”
You took Alex’s place on the hearth and rubbed your sweaty hands on your pants. You weren’t sure why you were so nervous- this was sixteen of your closest friends in one room, not the whole school. Harry put the hat on you, and you felt it move around on your head.
‘Hmm, interesting one here.’ the hat said into your mind. ‘I see some bravery here, lots of loyalty, too. Plenty of ambition as well. You have many qualities of all the houses, very interesting.’
You squirmed uncomfortably on the stone as everyone, especially Alex and Draco, looked at you expectantly.
‘I sense a lot of strength in your mind… but no, Ravenclaw would not be the fit for you. Lots of ambition and cunning of a Slytherin. Your bravery and loyalty would make you a good Gryffindor, but I think your loyalty pushes you more towards Hufflepuff.’
You frowned. ‘Hufflepuff? How can I be a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff? Aren’t they opposites?’ You thought.
The hat grumbled into your ear, ‘No so much opposites, but different parts of the same whole.’
You huffed. ‘Can’t you just pick one already?’
‘Now, only a Slytherin would say that.’ The hat said.
‘Huh? Wait, I didn’t mean-’
“You all are too old for sorting!” The hat yelled allowed. “You think too much with your mind and not enough with your heart. SLYTHERIN!”
While everyone else cheered, Alex clapped and looked surprised. Draco started laughing. You sat down next to him on the couch with a huff. “Are you angry?” He asked, incredulous. Harry called Kenny up to go next.
“I think it’s wrong.” You said, crossing your arms. “It nearly put me in Hufflepuff, then I was mean to it so it made me a Slytherin.”
This only made Draco laugh harder. Alex placed a comforting hand on your knee. “It’s alright, Y/N. It’s only for one day,” she said sympathetically. She knew the angst you had about your Ilvermorny house at home.
You sighed. “Yeah. I just wish these stupid magical objects would get it right for once.”
Kenny was made a Gryffindor. Sarah and Alice were made Ravenclaws. When Chris was announced as a Hufflepuff, you wished you were with him. Not that you really minded being sorted as a Slytherin (you were with your boyfriend, after all), you just felt as if you’d altered the decision as you had at home when you willingly picked Horned Serpent. You’d hoped the sorting hat would put you in a house that was about who you were in your heart, not your mind.
While everyone was focused on the sorting, Draco brushed the back of his hand across yours. You intertwined your fingers where no one could see, and that made you feel a little better.
Jason was the last to go, and he was sorted into Gryffindor. “Are you kidding me! Out of all of us here, I’m the only one in Slytherin?!” You groaned, flopping over on the couch into Alex’s lap.
“Don’t be so down,” Draco said, turning towards you. “You can be with me and Emi tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” you agreed. You’d almost forgotten Emi. “She’s a nice Slytherin. I can be a nice Slytherin.”
“What, and I’m not?” Draco mock-pouted.
“Oh, definitely not.” You said.
The whole common room was abuzz with everyone talking about the sorting. Harry tossed the list on the table and walked over to your couch. “Alright, I’m gonna take this back. Can I have my cloak, Alex?”
Alex pulled the silvery bundle from under her leg, and handed it to Harry.
“I’ll go, too. I hate when Snape asks questions,” Draco sighed standing.
“Thanks for helping boys,” you called as they walked out.
“See you tomorrow!” Alex added.
“Hey,” Jason called just before they left. “Don’t tell anyone, ya heard?”
Harry motioned locking his lips and throwing away the keys, then disappeared with Malfoy behind the tapestry.
The next day, you woke up and fixed your hair and did your makeup before putting on the green tie Sarah handed you, and the socks with the green stripes. Her, Chris, Kenny and Jason had all snuck down to the laundry room last night and secured new uniforms for everyone after the sorting. Today, you would all enter the Great Hall with your new houses, as if the Ilvermorny exchange students didn’t even exist.
You turned in front of the mirror, admiring your new green-trimmed cloak. “Hey, you look hot,” Alex says, coming out of the bathroom. The red on her tie makes her hair stand out, and you tell her so.
“You’re right though, these robes make my eyes really green. Do I look Slytherin-y enough?”
“I dunno what that means, but I’m gonna say yes anyway.”
You step away from the mirror and sit back on your bed, rummaging through your makeup bag. You pull out your liquid eyeliner and open the bottle. The tiny brush flies from your hands, and you close your eyes, letting the charmed brush do all the work for you. When you feel the brush fly back into the bottle in your hand, you open your eyes again. “How about now?” You ask Alex.
“Oh, definitely Slytherin-y.”
Alice and Sarah are dressed in their blue robes, and you all make your way down to the Great Hall. To your immense relief, you see Emi just about to go into the Hall with her dorm mates. “Emi!”
She turns at the sound of your voice and takes in your appearance with some surprise. “Y/N! Nice outfit. What are you guys up to?” She asks, looking at the rest of the Ilvermorny kids coming down behind you.
“I’ll tell you in a minute, but could I sit with you at breakfast this morning?” You plead. “I haven’t got anyone else to eat with.”
“What about Draco?” Emi asks, pushing her glasses back with a finger.
“His friends are hella annoying.”
“Fair enough.” Emi shrugs. “My dorm mates aren’t so hot either, but Pansy usually sits near him anyway. We’ll be close by.”
“Thanks Emi!” You turn to go.
“Wait! What’s going on?”
“I told you, I’ll tell you in a minute!” You call as you skip away. “One second, I promise!”
Emi groans dramatically, and then goes to join her friends in entering the hall.
“Okay, everyone remember their positions?” Jason asks one last time. Everyone nods. “Please don’t mess this up. Then we might get into some real trouble. Game time baby!” He claps his hands together.
You all cluster in a group, whispering nervously. As you enter the Hall you all take out your wands as subtly as possible while making your way to your tables. Each of you points you wand at a different teacher, and focuses on all their memories of the Ilvermorny students.
Obliviate, you think, focusing on Professor Flitwick. You feel his memories slip from his mind, and tuck you wand, away satisfied. You’re so focused on making your way to Emi and the success of your spell, you miss Draco openly staring at you as you pass by.
You sit down next to Emi, tucking your skirt in. You steal another glance over at the teachers table to see the aftermath. Most have stopped eating, looking off to the distance as if slightly confused. Professor Trelawney looks to have taken it the hardest, and is patting the many pockets all over her dress frantically, like she’d forgotten something. You bite back a laugh and turn to your empty plate.
“Why are you here?”
You look across from you to see Pansy Parkinson staring at you, not even trying to hide her disdain.
“We’re playing a prank on all the staff,” You say, spreading jam on a slice of toast. “Last night, we got sorted, and we all just oblivated the staff so they think we’ve been Hogwarts students for years.”
“OhmyGOD that’s the FUNNIEST IDEA EVER!” Emi bursts into laughter, almost spitting out her eggs. “What about us? We all will know!”
“That’s the point!” You say. “Everyone gets a good laugh. It’s just to make fun of the teachers.”
“Even Dumbledore?” The girl next to Pansy asks, breathless. You think her name is Daphne.
“No, he knows.”
“He knows?” Emi gasps.
“Yeah, he actually found out, but he thought it would be funny if he let us do it. So none of you go around sabotaging our prank!” You say, pointing your finger around the table.
“Wait, go back.” Pansy says. “You got sorted? How? There’s no way you’re a Slytherin.” Pansy says, crossing her arms.
“I am a Slytherin. Says the sorting hat.” You bite your toast. Pansy has an eyebrow raised. “Ask Draco if you don’t believe me. He was there.”
Pansy’s jaw drops, and she whips her head around to look three seats down at Draco. “Dray! Is it true?”
You finally look over and catch Draco still staring at you. His eyes refocus on Pansy’s face at her words. “Oh, yes. It’s quite true. The hat was very sure.” Pansy turns away, looking disgusted. Draco winks at you, and you sit a little taller.
After breakfast is over, you leave the hall with Emi to go to your first class. You feel someone throw an arm around your shoulder, and you turn your head to see Draco.
“Hey,” you smile.
“You look beautiful in green,” Draco whispers in your ear. You shiver.
“Thanks,” you say, leaning into him a little.
“Draco Malfoy, you are the biggest liar I know,” Emi says accusingly, pointing a finger back and forth between you and Draco. “I see this.”
“What are you talking about Emi?” Draco says with mock confusion, moving to wrap both his arms around your waist. “I can’t tell my girlfriend since the beginning of the school year she looks pretty?” You roll your eyes at his tone, but you still blush.
Emi grins. “AHHHHH, I knew it! Knew it knew it knew ittttt,” she sings, skipping off down the hall to Herbology.
You giggle as she disappears around the corner. You turn around in Draco’s arms. “Let’s do this all day.”
“Act like a couple?”
“ Be a couple.” You say, poking his chest. “It can be part of the prank today, but then we’ll just keep doing it. That way we don’t have to dramatically tell everyone.”
“I love it,” Draco said, his eyes glinting. He leans down and gives you a quick kiss on the lips before slipping away to his class. “See you later, darling.”
You head to transfiguration with a smile on your face.
Classes are definitely more interesting. Kenny, who had been in charge of obliviating McGonagall, accidentally made her forget everyone’s names. Transfiguration was a constant stream of her teaching, interspersed with “I’m terribly sorry, but I and just having a bad day today with names,” followed by a shake of her head. Professor Flitwick was very certain that Sarah was a Prefect, and why wasn’t she wearing her pin? When Sarah tried to explain with a straight face that she had never been made a Prefect at all, Professor Flitwick just responded by giving her a badge right then and there.
By lunch, all the students had figured it out. The halls were filled with giggles, sharing various stories of confused teachers. You shared a lunch block with Draco, and you sat next to him at the mostly empty Slytherin table. “This is the best idea we’ve ever had,” you say, taking a sandwich off the floating tray.
“I must say, it is quite funny.” Draco agreed.
Across the hall, you saw Alex sitting with HHR. You gave them a wave, and Alex waved back. Hermione and Ron were staring at the two of you. Harry watched them with an amused expression.
You put a hand on Draco’s knee. “Kiss me. Quick, while they’re staring.” You leaned over and you and Draco’s lips connected for a moment. The idea that you were kissing in public was exhilarating. Your faces stayed close together after the fact, and Draco brushed your noses together. “One more time, for good measure,” he whispered. He kissed you again, longer this time, his fingertips resting gently on your jaw.
When he pulled away, you glanced over at the Gryffindor table. “Holy shit, Draco, look at their faces.” Both Ron and Hermione were slack jawed, while Alex and Harry tried to contain their laughter.
Draco turned to look at them. You both collapsed into laughter, you leaning your head on his shoulder. “Merlin, she’s coming over here. Oh, she’s proper pissed off,” Draco laughed as Hermione got up abruptly from the bench and stalked around the perimeter of the tables. You tried to eat your sandwich as normally as possible, while Draco just put an arm around you.
“Hey Hermione, what’s up?” You said as she approached.
Hermione slammed her hands on the table in front of you. “How long has this been going on? How could you not tell us?!” She cried.
“I dunno what you’re talking about Granger,” Draco said. “Y/n’s been my girlfriend since October. Don’t you remember?”
“Oh, and you honestly expect me to believe this is part of the prank?” Hermione crosses her arms. “We’re talking about this later.” She points at you.
You hold your arms up in mock surrender as Hermione walks off. “Fuck, maybe we shouldn't have waited so long.”
“Probably would’ve been a similar reaction no matter what,” Draco points out. He grabs a stray piece of lettuce off your plate. “Come on, we’ve got twenty minutes before potions.”
In potions lecture, Snape caught you doodling on your parchment. “Ms. Y/L/N, could you please enlighten me to the purpose of Bundimun acid in Doxycide?” He drawled, stopping next to your desk. You covered the unicorn head you were drawing with your hand self-consciously.
“The Bundimun acid is the first paralyzer of the Doxies when they are exposed to the potion, and eventually the hemlock is what actually kills them. You have to add the Bundimun acid to the cauldron first so it can be heated alone to the proper temperature to ensure maximum reactivity.” You rattled off, remembering what your mom had told you a long time ago.
You looked up at Snape from the corner of your eye. He waited a moment, then continued walking. “Very good. Ten points to Slytherin.”
You barely contained your laugh, which came out as a loud snort, which you in turn had to cover with a cough. Next to you, Draco was biting his lip hard to keep from laughing.
After potions in the late afternoon, most of the upper year students had a free period, and since the weather was nice you were all in the courtyard. Sarah gathered all the Ilvermorny students together, and handed Emi her camera to take a photo.
“The settings should all be good,” Sarah said as Emi examined the camera. Draco stood to the side of Emi, holding your knapsack and cloak. HHR and Ginny were all sitting on a nearby bench to watch.
Emi looked at the group of you and took on a thoughtful expression. “Chris, you’re too tall, go stand in the back… yes, good. Jason, you too, in between Sarah and- yeah there you go. And take off your cloak, you’re the only one. Y/N, get down on the bottom since you’re the only Slytherin.”
You moved from your spot next to Alex and squatted on the ground, holding your arms out to the side and grinning. Emi snapped the picture. “Nobody move!” She let Sarah’s camera dangle around her neck and picked up Alex’s polaroid to take another.
“Take like three, Emi!” She called through her smile.
Emi took the pictures, handing them off to Draco as she took each one. He put your bag down so he could shake them. You all got out of your pose and gathered around to look at the pictures as they came up.
“Aw, you all look so cute!” Emi said, snatching one of the photos from Draco’s hand. “Chris, why are you making that face?”
“That’s my smile, Emi,” Chris said patiently.
“Ah, I’m just teasing,” She said, patting his arm. “Such a Hufflepuff response, though.”
“Throwback to last night when I was almost a Hufflepuff,” you said, gazing at the other pictures in Draco’s hands.
“See, now there’s a sorting that would’ve made some sense.” Ron says from over your shoulder. “Can’t believe we weren’t invited.”
“Jason did say it was top secret,” Alex said.
“I was only there because I helped with the hat and they had to tell Dumbledore. Even I wasn’t supposed to know.” Harry added.
“Yeah, whatever. You’re all a bunch of tossers,” Ron complained. “Y/N, I can’t believe Snape gave you house points. That’s not fair! You have to make sure everything is back the way it was tomorrow- 10 points can be a big difference when it comes to the house cup!”
“No!” Emi and Draco cried.
“Wait, you got house points for Slytherin?” Alex gasped, “Holy shit, that’s funny.”
“It was hilarious. I almost lost it.” You said, laughing again as you remembered it.
Draco handed the other two photos to Alex. “Emi, will you take one of us?” Draco asked.
“Sure. Alex, can I use your camera?”
“Go ahead.”
You and Draco moved out of the circle and stood where Emi told you to. Draco stood behind you and rested his chin on the top of your head. You held his hands in front and smiled. All the Ilvermorny girls aw’d.
Emi pulled the photo out of the top and shook it. You walked over to take a look at it. “Ooh! That’s cuteeee.” Emi said. As the photo developed, you could see more clearly that Draco had closed his eyes on purpose as Emi took the picture. He had only a slight smile, but with his eyes shut he looked very content. The soft breeze had strands of your hair moving in the wind. “It is cute,” you agreed.
“Are you guys doing this as part of the prank, or…” Sarah asked.
You and Draco looked at each other a moment. “Sure.”
“By the way, Ginny and I are also dating as part of the prank.” Alex interjected. All eyes turn to Ginny, who was clearly not expecting this.
“I’d bloody hope so!” Ron groans. “That would be too much for me in one day.”
In response, Ginny just whacks the back of her brother’s head as she passes, and plants a kiss on Alex’s cheek.
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A Good Man
@sassenachwaffles sent this to me ages ago in a message when I was deep in the throes of writer’s block and I finally got around to writing it up:
The day of/night before Claire and Jamie's wedding.. a missing moment of her being piss drunk and talking to Murtagh.
Here, Murtagh saves the day, to be honest.
xoxo,
Mod Kate
Blind drunk: so intoxicated as to see no better than a blind man.
Until the night before her eighteenth century wedding, the phrase had never meant much to Claire Beauchamp.
Tomorrow, she would wed a that beautiful Scottish virgin and become a bigamist.
‘Great,’ she thought to herself, letting another finger of whisky burn its way through her lips, over her tongue, down her gullet, and into the pool of booze already sloshing about in her stomach.
Too far gone to appreciate the fire of drink on her tongue and the burn of it down her throat, she just relished the slight tilt to the world and the fading of her peripheral vision.
‘Blind drunk. Let’s do that.’
Her body, emptying of sensation with each sip and gulp of liquor, was becoming just a vessel for heat. And she was just fine with feeling absolutely nothing at all.
‘Great,’ she thought again.
In the last few weeks of her life, nothing more than a smear on a windshield of time, she had thought that over and over.
Great.
She grabbed the whisky bottle by its neck from behind the bar and dropped some coins onto the table. There was something timeless about a bar –– no matter the century, what she had just done was to pinch a bottle in a way that was against any social norms. She did not care. She neither knew nor cared how much she left of the money she had begged off of Ned Gowan.
She needed to go blind with drink, empty herself of anything even remotely resembling conscious thought.
What she needed most was air –– to breathe, to fill her lungs with something other than dread and to shake loose the last vestiges of anxiety in her whisky-addled mind.
Though, she was clinically certain that air would do little to abate the woozy swell of intoxication fogging her thoughts, she nonetheless stumbled into the cool after-midnight air.
She steadied herself against the side of the building and wondered, vaguely, what Jamie was doing.
Was he blind drunk, too?
Did he wonder what he was getting into by marrying someone he hardly knew?
Or was this just enough for him, knowing her name, having seen her face?
Was he getting pep talks from some man. (From his uncle, his god father, or a nameless stranger at a disreputable establishment of alcohol and whores? An eighteenth century mechanical description of sex: Insert Part A into Part B, again and again, release and collapse, sated.)
A hiccup rioted through her chest, the force of it threatening to bring up the booze. She clamped a hand over her mouth as if her fingers would hold in the explosion of liquor rising back up her throat.
When she was certain she would not lose the contents of her stomach spectacularly on the cobbles surrounding the inn where they were staying, she giggled. It was a sound that was almost foreign to her ears, an absurd mirth at the predicament rising up and grabbing hold of her. Good God. Of all the feelings she had dealt with since the advent of this ridiculous situation, a sense of humor about it had not been one. In fact, this was probably the least funny situation she could find herself facing.
Black Jack Randall. Dougal MacKenzie. Colum MacKenzie. Everyone thinking she was a traitor, save perhaps that hulk red-haired man (was he, though? a man?) to whom she was now affianced, knowing little of. Adultery. A tie to this time when all she wanted, desperately and with her whole heart and gut and mind, was to get home.
“Bigamist.”
Her voice was small the first time she tested the word out loud.
Smirking, she found a wall lined with a patch of bright green grass and slipped down onto her arse, hard. The ache of it split her spine and made her nerves sing with a pinching jolt of fire.
She said it again: “Bigamist.”
Syllable by syllable this time, punctuated only by a slight hiccup: “Big–a–mist.”
She had read his name on the marriage contract and memorized it instantly.
James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser. Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp.
A cluster of syllables.
What mother, what father, had given that red-headed child that mouthful of a name?
She wondered what was written in his history –– a series of mysteries and secrets. In her own were secrets she could never tell: the first time she rode a bike, drove a car, saw a movie at the cinema, went to school, rode in an airplane, stitched together a soldier under the cover of darkness and threat of machine gun fire, made love to a husband on a picnic blanket. A husband who was alive but not and likely desperately searching for her.
“Bigamist.”
Mysteries, secrets, no sex. That was Jamie Fraser to her, alright.
She pondered, briefly, which of those mysteries and secrets he would share with her, if any. She could scarcely say that she knew the man, save the shape of his shoulders and the firm triangle of his thighs around her as she rode, the feeling of his unspoken erection pressing against her as they rode, the look in his eyes when she caught his stare, the set of his mouth when challenged, and the streak of a selflessness, the bounds of which had yet to be fully uncovered but which she suspected was boundless.
And this wedding.
It was not that her wedding to Frank had been some elaborate affair, having stumbled into a registrar’s office on the way to lunch with his parents.
But this wedding with Mr. MacTavish (no, Fraser... with all the middle names) seemed particularly hasty.
She wondered what she would even have something even charitably called a dress or wed him with clean hair. Or would she wed him like this –– sour with alcohol, greasy with worry, shining with the stink of her boozy sweat.
The thought of the wedding had started as a patently absurd idea, but now she found herself thinking through to the event as an inevitably.
The reality of it all made her take a long swig, holding the bottle by its neck and taking a long draw.
“Ye’ll be pissin’ yerself soon if ye keep on like this.”
The voice came from beyond her perception. She cracked a single eye. Murtagh –– grizzled, thumbs caught in his belt, one caterpillar-like brow raised.
“Ye’re no’ goin’ to get marrit that boy smellin’ like a drunkard. I willna have it.”
“Mmmm…” she intoned, swallowing a mouthful and wiping the dribble of amber liquid on her chin away with her forearm. “I’ll take a bath, then, and rinse out my mouth.” She made a hmmmmming kind of noise.
He made a reciprocal noise and sat down next to her. He too leaned back against the inn and reached for the bottle, fingers grasping at air as if to say “gimme gimme” like a child would. Claire had stolen the liquor fair and square. She was disinclined to share, but passed him the bottle nonetheless.
“So are you here to laugh––”
a hiccup rioting up out of her throat
“––at me, too? Dougal seems to think this business quite hilarious.”
(At Murtagh’s greedy fingers, she had a sudden vision of Frank of all people. And why not? The man was her husband for Christ’s sake. He had shed his tie and his collar was undone at a post-war celebration. He was laughing, singing and grabbing for her hands desperately. “Dance, dance,” he had begged, smelling like cheap beer and the cigarette he had snuck with a buddy in the alley. It was a wartime habit that she absolutely abhorred. At the time, they were post-war and tentative. They had hardly started to function together in the way of early lovers. They had not yet reconnected as people even remotely capable of saying and meaning “forever.” His tobacco habit would be something she had to work on later. He had cajoled her until she relented: “Dance with me, my love.” Later never came and when she came here, he was still sneaking cigarettes.)
“Are ye listenin’ lass? Or are ye sae far gone wi’ drink there’s no’ gettin’ through to ye?”
Claire blinked hard. Once. Twice. Refocusing. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked ye if ye’re takin’ this seriously. I’ve come from bein’ wi’ Jamie all day. I ken he sees this as no small commitment. Ye’ll be his wife until ye die.”
This time, she swallowed hard. Deception came to her like second nature. “Sure. Serious. Yep”
“He doesna see this as a way tae simply… bed a lass.”
Claire raised a single eyebrow, accepting the bottle back from Murtagh.
The sex; she had thought of it, though shockingly little. She knew it would happen. She had it accepted it as an inevitability, just as she had accepted the prospect of a wedding.
“I have never labored under the de… delus… delusion that he needs an arranged marriage to get a wo... wo-man... into his bed.”
She slurred the words into a string, having known them to be true, but having never thought through them. It gave her pause, then. So what were his motivations?
“S’been war and loss, more war, more loss, for the lad as long as I can remember. S’why he is who he is, how he is.”
Murtagh’s eyes were focused on something (maybe nothing) in the distance. Claire attempted to focus on the horizon, vision blurring and burning with the effort. Instead she focused on the wooden post running around the perimeter of the inn.
“I ken ye’re no’ thrilled wi’ marryin’ the lad, wi’ bringin’ him to yer bed.” Claire tilted her head just enough to see Murtgah’s profile in her ever-fading peripheral vision. “But ye could do a whole lot worse than him. He’ll be respectful, treat ye kindly.”
“He’s a virgin whose name I do not know––”
a slight lie falling from her, even though she knew damn well his name
“I do not know how old he is.”
She sucked in a breath, still not sober but the words absolutely pouring from her now. Oh God –– the number of things she did not know.
“I know little of his family or where he comes from. I know nothing of his wars or losses. I––”
“Ye’re no’ in a position to be choosy, we both ken that well.”
“He’s a stranger.”
Claire fell silent then, fingers of one hand sinking into the earth to ground herself and fingers of the other raising the bottle to her lips for the same purpose.
At some point that felt a lifetime earlier, after Claire had seen Jamie with his tongue searching for something in Laoghaire MacKenzie’s mouth, Murtagh had talked to her then. He said that Laoghaire would always be a girl, until she was fifty, and that what Jamie needed was a woman.
Vaguely, dumbly Claire wondered if Jamie had even kissed a woman before.
“There’s a dress, a ring, and flowers.”
Her heart skipped a beat and she lowered her head to her hands, grime from the earth smearing into the sweat on her cheeks.
“He’s a good man.”
Sometime later, Claire woke in her bed, quilts tucked up to her chin sunlight screaming through the window and burning her retinas. She was unsure of how she got there, but was strangely grateful for it.
Something was making a racket, imploring and pleading.
She blinked again and again until she could bring the noises into her cognition.
She was being roused. Her limbs rose from the bed, partly from her own hungover (perhaps still drunk) effort and partly from the urging of hands.
She was absent while she was cleaned dressed –– scrubbed and perfumed, powdered, cinched and pulled into a corset that marked her flesh, wrapped in fabric that smelled clean but like another woman, pinned and curled until her neck was bare but for a few stray curls, maneuvered and moved until she stood in sunlight.
When they removed the cloak covering her and she saw him, she felt something. Not love, but something akin to curiosity and to hope.
He’s a good man. Murtagh’s words, his voice, flooded her ears.
A bow, words from his lips that barely registered in her brain. (“Your servant, madam.”)
A breathless search for words, eyes traveling over the ground, his feet, her own feet, back to his earnest face.
“I can’t marry you.” Her confession.
He’s a good man.
“I don’t even know your real name.” A lie to start their life together, but she needed to hear it out loud. From his own lips.
Oh God, his lips curling into that smile. The small noise he made.
“It’s Fraser,” he started, nodding and knowing somehow. The offering was a benediction, a counter proposal to her confession. He knew –– knew her panic, the way she felt like she had her back to a wall and something closing in on her slowly. The moment threatened to take her breath away when he continued, his response to her confession intentional. “James. Alexander. Malcolm. MacKenzie. Fraser.”
A dumb, hand with a sweaty palm dried hastily on her borrowed dress extended to him.
“Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp.” Refusing to make it a business transaction, he took her hand with both of his and gave her a slight nod.
His eyes were so blue.
He’s a good man.
The offering of his hands, his name, that look. Together it was enough.
Claire lifted her eyes from their joined hands. It was not resignation she felt when she went into the church and said words and made promises. It was not the feeling of inevitability that came over her as she allowed their blood to melt together with her heart hammering.
It was something else.
Not love and not quite yet hope, but something in between.
He’s a good man.
Later, she would lie again saying she remembered only parts of their wedding.
And somehow she knew that he knew that her memory was full and without holes. He knew that it was a ruse. An early fib between two people, not yet lovers, spoken only to hear it again, told from his storyteller’s mouth.
He’s a good man.
And when his body was heavy over hers, reverent and earnest, she quit hearing Murtagh’s voice in her head (he’s a good man) and instead heard her own (he’s a good man).
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me ranting about yuu once again
no one is saying yuu isn’t allowed to feel happy. (as yuudefensesquad all i want is for him to be happy aight) we are saying we wish yuu was allowed to be upset, hurt, and angry. things that he purposefully avoids feeling.
like really? he’s just chill w ferid hanging around after going on a mind blanking sword slashing spree with him after their first reunion? this dude flaunting around akane’s head and nearly turning into a full demon after experiencing that?
he’s all happy to be talking to guren even though their previous encounter had guren betraying yuu and his squad and stabbing him? did he just get hit on the fucking head and forgot about that? and then being all sympathetic and being like “wow i bet you were really hurting guren im sorry ):” yet guren never asks if he is okay and understands his situation? yuu just had to figure it all out for himself? (i love guren but DUDE...)
plus with guren putting the guren squad’s lives on yuu’s shoulders after saying they’ll disappear if he doesn’t find a solution really makes me feel bad bc. THIS ALL. IS JUST ONE BIG CLUSTER FUCK OF STRESS AND RESPONSIBILITIES HE ALREADY FEELS LIKE HE HAS TO REVIVE THE ENTIRE WORLD AND NOW PEOPLE HE KNOWS AND IN SUCH A SHORT TIME SPAN
also he’s all smiling and eager to help after seeing human experimentation that his father / mentor figure was acting upon? you know, something that destroyed his family?
he’s under all this stress, having guren in one ear and mika in the other, telling him two different things and the realization that’s he has been in a cruel, supernatural practice since the day he was born isn’t making him freak the fuck out like any 16/17 yo would?
how he feels being a seraph? the second trumpet? having it? are the transformations painful because he surely screamed for the first two times. like do the wings leave marks? do they burn or itch? also with guren knowing all along and never speaking up about it, being smug at the battlefield when yuu forcefully turned, how does he feel abt guren saving him just to be a bioweapon? what are his thoughts more than just ‘im able to protect my family with this thing!’ BC GOD DAMMIT YUU YOU ARE SO MUCH MORE THAN A SHIELD PLEASE STOP
his feelings aren’t being explored. yeah, he’s smiling. yeah, he’s happy to have mika like y’all keep saying. but mika coming back to him doesn’t solve all of his shit. mika isn’t his cure or salvation or fixes all of his issues like ive seen people assume he does. we aren’t getting deep in there. yuu’s earliest trauma was briefly explored and then forgotten about and replaced with another seraph transformation
“but we had like 3147891274 chapters of him being emo” yes and it was all forgotten immediately once mika came back into his life. we got no development on yuu’s feelings about it. just immediately he started seeking the cure for vampirism and asking for his family to save mika with him, not him thinking about how the species he wanted to mass murder for killing his family is actually a part of his surviving family and suddenly he views them like fellow human beings, especially FERID F UC KING B ATH ORY WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK KAGAM
and about ferid i know things are kinda tight in between scenes w the story right now and i just want yuu to be like “hey once this is all over i’m fucking murdering ferid” and mika being like “lets kill him together” THAT WOULD BE GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME !!!
and people say “i hate it when ppl say yuu coming back into mikas life solved all of mikas problems” bc surely enough it seems to be the complete other way around to how people interpret this and it sucks because yuu is so much more than just ‘a sad boy who is happy now bc his bff came back’ that’s not how it works. neither of them can fix all of the other’s issues. that includes BOTH. SIDES.
the most relevant thing to yuu’s survivor’s guilt (which should be optimized more in my opinion) was yuu immediately apologizing to mika for running away as their first meeting since sanguinem and his severe abandonment issues, and taking on all the blame
AND YUU CRYING WHEN SEEING THE HYAKUYA KIDS??? CAN I GET MORE OF THAT PLEASE??? THAT WAS SOME GOOD FUCKING FOOD AND I AM STARVING IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I’VE ATE SOME YUU SADNESS
demons use their host’s weakest points to take advantage of them. yuu’s weakest points was being told by his family that he abandoned them, that it’s his fault, that he should’ve done something, asking why he got to meet friends and replace them when he left them all behind in the first place AND OUCH CAN MIKA LIKE SIT DOWN WITH HIM AND CAN THEY COMMUNICATE ABOUT WHAT FUCKIN HAPPENED FOR REAL!!! LIKE A HEART TO HEART!!! BECAUSE CLEARLY THERE’S SOME UNSPOKEN SHIT IF MIKA IS STILL BLAMING HIMSELF AND YUU IS STILL UNABLE TO VOCALIZE HIS FEELINGS ABOUT THINGS im so u p s et
god dammit i want someone to come up to yuu and be like “hey buddy... you know it’s okay to not be okay right... i know things are tough right now and i have no fucking idea how you’re all smiley and giggly right now and i’m wondering if you’re just smiling not only for us but to trick yourself into believing that everything’s fine and dandy...”
YES yuu has his happy moments YES yuu can feel happy
BUT FEELINGS. AREN’T. STATIC. THEY CHANGE.
it makes NO SENSE for yuu’s emotion to only be the ^_^ face
like yuu is literally in a tug of war right now between guren and mika and his squad isn’t helping by just existing in the bg panels and going along with guren’s plan without any complaints
like don’t yell at just yuu for not abiding by mika’s words because the shinoa squad + narumi aren’t clean either AND IT’S NOT A MATTER OF FAULT OR BLAME because not every character is black or white.
i’m so sorry for rambling but just. give me my boy. i love him for his smile but i also love him for his development and entire character. not just his expression and his relationships with people. i love him for yuuichirou hyakuya, you know, the kid who escaped sanguinem screaming and crying, who had night terrors, who blamed himself for years, who wanted to die, who has ptsd, who has trust issues, who has abandonment issues, who is possibly a codependent
like. he hasn’t accomplished his goal for eternal happiness yet. you have to go through so much to achieve that and he hasn’t. i don’t know if kagami is leading up for a severe breakdown or something but... sheesh
and all people ever do is reduce yuu to the “dumbass” character and he’s so much more than that. he’s following his heart and trying his best and it’s not going to make everyone happy. he’s going to make someone upset either way
i know the story is currently plot-heavy and not character heavy but i’m so... KAGAMI. PLEASE. if yall got input LMK i need to know what people think about this and if im the only one or not
#rambling#im so so rry this is such a post...#yuuichirou hyakuya#yuu#mine#yuudefensesquad#long post#owari no seraph#seraph of the end
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Episode 80: Gem Drill
“I’m talking to the Cluster?”
So I finally figured out why I don’t like Gem Drill.
For a while I had it in my head that the issue was pacing. And it does remain true that the episode-to-episode pacing did it no favors, what with the arc it concludes being interrupted by the utterly unrelated Super Watermelon Island before jumping back in. But because Gem Drill’s third act drags on forever and somehow feels rushed at the same time, I just chalked it up to bad internal pacing and called it a day.
However, rewatching the series for Steven, Universally reminded me that there are several episodes that I’ve praised for incredible pacing which share a similar structure to this one: Mirror Gem, The Return, and Message Received stand out as stories that speed right through the first two acts for an extended third, and I love them all. And what’s more, I enjoyed the first two acts of Gem Drill way more than I remembered. Something was up with my pacing-as-problem theory.
So right after rewatching the episode for review, I rewatched it again. That’s right, I rerewatched it. And it struck me this second time through that the X factor is something I’ve taken so deeply for granted that I haven’t discussed it much, or even really thought about it, until now: Steven Universe has unspeakably terrific dialogue.
Individual lines may stick out more in my memory, and are definitely easier to write about in this format (for one thing, I can quote them), which might be why it hasn’t stuck out as much. It sounds so basic that I feel sorta dumb writing it, but this show is so good at developing characters and plot through conversation. It excels at banter and arguments and reassurances and just having people interact in a way that’s always compelling.
The reason I have to mention it now is that something this reliably solid is hard to notice until it’s gone. But sure enough, the conclusion to Gem Drill (and what’s worse, to the Cluster Arc as a whole) is nearly four minutes of Steven talking to an entity that can barely talk back, and it just does not work. He might be astonished that he’s talking to the Cluster, but this episode falters because he isn’t talking with the Cluster.
Compare this to Mirror Gem, The Return, and Message Received, where we use the extended third acts to have major conversations with Lapis, the Homeworld Gems, and Yellow Diamond. You can’t have that sort of satisfying ending when one of the characters isn’t even a character, but a jumble of nearly incomprehensible voices. And what sucks is that making the Cluster “talk” this way is a perfectly reasonable creative choice: it should sound like a jumble of nearly incomprehensible voices.
But the show is usually way better at getting around limitations like this to create compelling television. I know this is a journey of the mind and that Steven is special, but we still could have included Peridot with a wave of the narrative wand to continue their low-key debate about necessary force and commit more to the theme through conversation, where the show shines. Barring that, we could’ve used music to add narrative oomph to a one-sided conversation, which would’ve been especially interesting with such a discordant legion of potential singers. Instead, we get a finale that’s just...
It’s just boring.
And it’s frustrating because I think it’s boring of me to just write “it’s boring,” but lord, this scene is so uninteresting to me that it’s hard to find the energy to write about it. Zach Callison is always great, and the animation is gorgeous, but takes sooooo lonnnnnnnng for the scene to convey something it could’ve done in half the time, and there’s nothing to distract us from how long it’s taking. There’s barely any tension despite this clearly being the intention, because there’s only one character in the scene that I care about and he’s obviously not going to die because the show’s named after him. I guess Peridot is in danger, but maybe we’d care about that if we could see her in danger instead of generic rumblings and loud noises.
If this criticism sounds similar to my spiel about caring about Malachite in Super Watermelon Island because she came out of nowhere, it’s because both episodes share a similar character problem. A show about empathy falls apart when the viewer is apathetic, and giving major plot importance to poorly handled characters is a go-to formula for viewer apathy. For a series that’s usually so awesome at both characters and dialogue, it’s shocking that we end the first arc where our heroes literally save the world with back-to-back episodes that are this weak. The buildup was awesome, and the rest of Season 3 is amazing, but this is a bizarre pair of misfires in the middle of a hot streak, and it couldn’t have come in a worse time in terms of the plot.
Please note that I’m not at all against a conclusion where Steven saves the world by talking it out. It’s the best message a show like this could tell, especially because the rest of the episode does an amazing job presenting Peridot’s brutal pragmatism as the alternative: while her blithe penchant for violence makes for a few great jokes, particularly when it comes to D-pads, the line of the episode is Shelby Rabara’s somber justification for attacking a mindless being: “It doesn’t matter if it knows what it’s doing, it’s still going to do it.” And while Super Watermelon Island bears a lot of blame for sucking all the momentum out of the Cluster Arc before Gem Drill valiantly tries to rev us back up, having Steven’s approach come right after a huge brawl does seal the deal. Steven should save the world with kindness. This would be a top-tier episode if the execution was as good as the moral.
With that said, the episode surrounding this disappointing conclusion is fantastic, even if said conclusion blocked it from my memory. We get off to a breakneck start that concisely confirms the stakes before we leap into the plot. It’s not only great at setting the tone, but it efficiently allows the episode time for the lengthened third act, regardless of how that act turns out.
This is a terrific Steven/Peridot episode, thanks to the same great dialogue I was just complaining about the conclusion lacking. They hit just the right balance of humor and heart, with Peridot finally allowing herself to be vulnerable and admit that she not only misses her home, but doesn’t actually hate the Crystal Gems. We’re already paying off “Wow, thanks!” for emotional value, but this touching scene is still played with laughs instead of pure sap; I love that Peridot feels the need to clarify how little she cares about humans that aren’t Steven in her last words.
Still, I’d love to see an alternative universe where Super Watermelon Island and Gem Drill were made as a full-length episode a la Bismuth rather than a traditional two-parter. Perhaps a more direct juxtaposition of the action of Alexandrite fighting Malachite with Steven talking things out would’ve improved both scenes, and in any case, spending more time setting up before we reached both conclusions would have added more tension than the rush both episodes give us. This is clearly an A-plot and a B-plot that could happen more or less simultaneously; Steven could easily black out in the drill to let him possess a Watermelon Steven, and it would make the team’s split-up make a bit more sense. I dunno, it just seems like any sort of rework would be preferable to the finished products we got.
So yeah, sorry to be so down on these two. But I’m pretty excited to be getting back to episodes I like, and I can’t really think of what the next bad one on the horizon even is. Season 3 ahoy!
Future Vision!
I love love love the recurring plot point that Blue and Yellow Diamond don’t know that the Cluster was neutralized. Because for one, of course they wouldn’t, and for two, it’s the impetus for their appearance in Reunited. All the Cluster needs is a thumbs-up to add more character than Gem Drill did in an entire episode.
This is the exact halfway point of the original series, the 80th episode out of 160. While I’m not huge on Gem Drill, I at least appreciate that the moment that divides both halves of Steven Universe is its title character saving the world.
We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!
Definitely a step up from Super Watermelon Island, and I like a good two-thirds of it, but I’m still not a fan of Gem Drill. The ending just isn’t captivating, which is pretty bare minimum for any form of entertainment, and it’s a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise outstanding arc. At least we still have Message Received for an emotional climax.
Top Fifteen
Steven and the Stevens
Mirror Gem
Lion 3: Straight to Video
Alone Together
The Return
Jailbreak
The Answer
Sworn to the Sword
Rose’s Scabbard
Coach Steven
Giant Woman
Winter Forecast
When It Rains
Catch and Release
Chille Tid
Love ‘em
Laser Light Cannon
Bubble Buddies
Tiger Millionaire
Lion 2: The Movie
Rose’s Room
An Indirect Kiss
Ocean Gem
Space Race
Garnet’s Universe
Warp Tour
The Test
Future Vision
On the Run
Maximum Capacity
Marble Madness
Political Power
Full Disclosure
Joy Ride
Keeping It Together
We Need to Talk
Cry for Help
Keystone Motel
Back to the Barn
Steven’s Birthday
It Could’ve Been Great
Message Received
Log Date 7 15 2
Like ‘em
Gem Glow
Frybo
Arcade Mania
So Many Birthdays
Lars and the Cool Kids
Onion Trade
Steven the Sword Fighter
Beach Party
Monster Buddies
Keep Beach City Weird
Watermelon Steven
The Message
Open Book
Story for Steven
Shirt Club
Love Letters
Reformed
Rising Tides, Crashing Tides
Onion Friend
Historical Friction
Friend Ship
Nightmare Hospital
Too Far
Enh
Cheeseburger Backpack
Together Breakfast
Cat Fingers
Serious Steven
Steven’s Lion
Joking Victim
Secret Team
Say Uncle
Super Watermelon Island
Gem Drill
No Thanks!
5. Horror Club
4. Fusion Cuisine
3. House Guest
2. Sadie’s Song
1. Island Adventure
(As with Super Watermelon Island, there’s no official promo art, so I’m using this nifty piece of fanart by Nina Rosa.)
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Nintendo GameCube
it was strange to imagine that on this
plate was something not made by Sega
or on the other hand Sony or Microsoft that I would put
this plate inside a machine that would
take me to a world that Nintendo made
the time of cartridges on home control center
was over Nintendo spent the Gamecube time
sorting out where it need to go for the
future and we got some incredible games along
the best approach to partake in those works of art today we
do have fresher choices however there are too
valid justifications to stay with the first
equipment possibly you definitely think about
the expense related with GameCube video
quality well we've at last got a few
alternatives presently welcome to RGB 207
Nintendo entered the six control center
age in 2001 including a minimal
what's more, profoundly convenient plan the Gamecube
is by and large considered to sit between
the ps2 and Xbox as far as graphical
potential these frameworks shed the low res
pixelated look of past ages
yet, by and large weren't all set
all out HD the Gamecube is Nintendo's
first control center to focus for ATI as a
standard yield goal regularly
consoles from prior ages
shown their games in a low
goal reformist mode called 240p
while for ATI shows more detail than
240p you may see a bit of a glimmer
impact when seeing the games on a CRT
TV HD TVs then again
naturally wipe out the glimmer with
a cycle called deinterlacing depending
on your showcase you might see additional slack
or on the other hand visual antiquities because of this interaction
in NTSC areas an enormous number of
GameCube titles including a large portion of the
powerhouses likewise support a reformist
examine mode 480p this showcase mode is
now and again alluded to as upgraded
definition however the Gamecube can't utilize
any HD goals however stand by a second
we should not lose track of the main issue at hand here
you'll see that all game 3D squares have
that natural Nintendo AV out port that
we've come to appreciate in NTSC districts
it just gives composite video and
s-video alongside sound system sound just
like the n64 in PAL districts RGB is
locally upheld yet shockingly no
Buddy area games incorporate 480p as an
alternative rather PAL clients have a choice
to pick between 50 Hertz and a
smoother NTSC like 60 Hertz mode in
certain games and viable screens hello
what the hell is this another port computerized
AV out truly
come on advanced really yes Nintendo
had aspirations to bring stereoscopic 3d
to the Gamecube so this ports incorporation
was probably going to deal with 3d able games
also, embellishments that
appeared what the computerized AV out
hypothetically gives all that you
need for advanced sound and video if by some stroke of good luck
there was an approach to utilize it in case you're
watching this video then you likely
realize where I'm going with this these
links need no presentation you need
them yet you disdain them me as well
Nintendo sold GameCube part links
in NTSC districts solely through
their online store these links as it were
handle video so normal AV links are
additionally needed for sound segment links
give much preferable quality over
composite yet the advantage over s-video
may not be clear initially
interfacing with the computerized AV out is the
best way to get 480p with viable
games now I realize you're's opinion
that is not advanced segment links are
simple sounds like Corey's a little
carefully occupied and no doubt you're
right segment links aren't computerized
yet, the port is computerized and that is the reason
GameCube video quality is a major insane
costly wreck while the most up to date supports
available have deserted simple
by and large more established control center changed over the
advanced signals inside into
something that a simple TV can utilize
that is actually what's new with the
GameCubes standard AV port on the other
hand the advanced AV port is
hypothetically the first-historically speaking admittance to a
consoles lossless advanced signs aside from
that a requires uncommonly made outer
equipment to get to it the sign is a
advanced type of video called y cbcr
this sign isn't exceptionally helpful in its crude
structure so the Gamecube part link
contains an advanced to simple converter
or on the other hand DAC inside the actual connector this
changes over the advanced video signals into
simple structure which is in fact
alluded to as Y P B P R and offer
comparable outcomes to RGB however is
sent in an alternate shading space
there's really many kinds of segment
video however this is ordinarily what's implied
by the
Eric term part video since most TVs
at the time it didn't uphold part
input or just offered for advertisement I support
from part video the segment
links were not yet sought after
during the GameCubes day the computerized
port was eliminated from new GameCubes
in mid 2004 and from that point forward endo didn't
sell a huge load of links what's out there is
costly got some uncommon things marked down
more unusual these days they're above and beyond $200
however enough money more unusual composite
s-video 480p part alright
presently we should call these something different free
ten to thirty dollars and 200 to
300 dollars is each bounce in
quality worth the additional expense I don't
know and that is an extreme call to make
return at a time if you have no
hesitations against hacking into such a
extraordinariness it's feasible to alter a
part links for VGA Nintendo moreover
made a D terminal form for the
Japanese market so on the off chance that you have the right
connector or connector for it this may
be an alternative worth investigating we've
heard accounts of individuals investigating
some for just about $100 to raise the
reformist sweep brief hold B while
booting an upheld game here and there it's
programmed they ought to consistently hold B just
certainly
reformist output isn't locally
upheld on any PAL district games for
the framework 480p is a long ways from what
you may be accustomed to seeing from present day
games definitely part links will improve
your picture however we suggest keeping your
assumptions under tight restraints since your HDTV or
framemeister is now fit for the
entwining 480i
the advantages of 480p may not be obvious
to you without an immediate examination a few
individuals may even lean toward the milder look
of s-video
480p can anyway decrease input slacks since
the entwining isn't required this
unquestionably looks great however segment
links aren't care for some enchantment stunt to
transform your GameCube games into the HD
remix or something goodness coincidentally while
you might have seen that we'd love to
flaunt the casing icers dangerously sharp
pixels for 240p games we use smoother
pixel settings for 480i and 480p we feel
that the GameCubes nat play retro yet
not exactly HD look works best this way a
part of individuals even really like to sidestep the
framemeister for 480p and just let their
HDTV do whatever its might feel like doing and 480p truly
does sparkle and expert video
screens for PBM upholds 31 kilohertz
is ostensibly the most amazing
goal for these screens in the
mid 2000s there were likewise a ton of DD
Televisions or upgraded definition TVs
regularly these were LCD screens with a
local goal of 640 by 480 these
are additionally a solid match for 480p however current
LCDs have a greatly improved dark level and
less ghosting on the grounds that the Gamecube
doesn't encode simple part video
inside it's practically inconceivable
to make a straightforward link for it the
connector was special and the DAC chip is
of an application-explicit plan which
implies that to design trade for
it is trying without a doubt
that is the reason we've gone for such a long time
without a reasonable option to the
official Nintendo links yet it appears as
however the circumstance has at last changed
for all their determination Nintendo was
all things considered prepared for advanced video a
age before Sony or Microsoft even
on the off chance that they wouldn't accept it for another
decade
on the off chance that the Gamecube had been available
for an additional five years Nintendo may
have even made a HDMI link for it and
that is the place where the GC video project comes
in to bring the GameCubes computerized
capacities to its definitive potential
the Nintendo avoided in 2014 an
engineer passing by the name inconspicuous
delivered his examination of how the
GameCubes advanced yield
works making an open-source project
called gcvideo this means
gcvideo is certifiably not an exclusive creation
like the HDMI and RGB mods for NES or
n64 anybody can make and sell their own
custom arrangement dependent on concealed
data and firmware gcvideo comes
in two flavors advanced and simple the
advanced form can bring about something
like a standard HDMI structure for instance
the simple adaptation is called GC video
light and opens up alternatives for
changing the advanced sign over to
segment or RGB the explanation we're seeing
mods like this show up now and very little
sooner is on account of the diminishing expense
of FPGAs field programmable door clusters
these are little coordinated circuits that
can be customized to be another equipment
plan or to impersonate other equipment
designs they're generally
accessible as a turn of events
pack however numerous standard models exist
programming can be utilized to plan custom
sheets for forte use or in any event, for
restricted large scale manufacturing since anybody can
make their own adaptation of the GC video
mod we've seen choices utilizing standard
FPGA dev packs just as hand crafts
yet, the video quality and usefulness
for any GC video mod ought to be indistinguishable
since while advanced has lossless quality
also, they all utilization concealed firmware
as of now all arrangements are inner
normal techniques include eliminating the
advanced yield in some design yet not
necessari
ALL GAMECUBE ROMS DOWNLOAD
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