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charmed-and-alarmed · 5 years

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If you enjoyed my nonsense about Aziraphale loving grad students then look no further, I have something even better. That’s right, I have some ‘furiously doting Crowley’ shenanigans for you

- If you ask Crowley, he will say that he loves college kids because they’re an amazing source of bad ideas and poor decision making. They’re hormonal, stressed, and usually inebriated right at this pivotal moment in their lives - what more could a demon want? And best of all? It was programmed in humans at the very beginning. It was enough to make you wonder what a certain Someone was thinking when they made that decision.

- Aziraphale does not wonder. It’s part of the great Ineffable Plan. The reasoning will become clear to him… eventually. Hopefully.

- Many drunk students over the decades have stumbled out of a bar or party alone, miles away from their beds. They may notice a taxi cab idling just around the corner, light on, waiting for passengers. The window is open and the driver calls out to them as they pass by, offering them a ride home. When you wake up after a night of heavy drinking, you can’t expect to remember much of anything but you can’t help wondering how you paid or why the driver didn’t ask for their address. But with a massive hangover and some social damage control to do, it’s quickly forgotten

- Days or even weeks later, you will find a little business card tucked away in their bag or pocket is black with the words ‘Don’t Be An Idiot’ and the number of a cab company. This company will bring drunk young people home for free, thanks to charitable organization that funds the program. If pressed for details about this charity, the employee will offer to transfer you to the person in charge. You can listen to the tinny, musak cover of ‘Margaritaville’ as long as you want, it doesn’t matter. The call always drops.

- There are tiny slips of paper hidden all around the Fell & Co. bookshop. Between book pages, tucked underneath coasters, crumpled up at the back of a desk drawer. They are coupons, every one unique with its own uniquely hideous design. If you find one, you will be surprised to see that it’s 75%, 90%, off for college textbooks at your local (non-antiquarian) bookstore. It’s always your local bookstore, actually, regardless of where you live. [1]

- Crowley likes to remind everyone that he is a very mean, nasty demon who causes chaos and destruction wherever he goes. Aziraphale likes to remind him of that incident in the 1890s when a young theology student’s beau stormed into the store. He was shouting and threatening violence and shoving books onto the floor as he advanced on the poor, trembling student. It was obvious something had to be done but before Aziraphale could do anything, the awful man cried out in pain and started hopping on one foot, shouting about something biting him.

He still remembers the look on the students face (Jim? Or Jill, he can’t recall) when the brute screamed in terror as a long, black snake slithers across his chest and out behind his neck. There was a moment of shock before Jim or Jill burst out laughing. As the snake slithered down his arm to the shelf nearby, the whole store erupted in laughter. This snake avoided the human hands that tried to pet him, hissed at their cooing compliments and bared his fangs, but no one was afraid. Especially not when it took to napping on the table by the door and hissing at new customers.

- Crowley has no idea what the angel is talking about. On a completely unrelated note the student’s name was Meredith and they went on to teach a course on demonic symbolism in literature at Cambridge. Or so he heard.

- it’s not until the whole “Prepare to Die Fools you shall all peri-, psych! did you really think we were going to end the world? oh man, you should have seen your face” mess was over that Crowley spent any time in the bookshop when it was actually open. That is, not as a snake. It was only after they all didn’t die that Crowley came to the shop shaped like a person.

- those students that recognized the Bentley parked outside started to pack up. The man came inside, calling out ‘Angel’ and waving his hand vaguely in their direction. Suddenly, those students were very interested in staying for a while, maybe play games on their phone for a few minutes as a well deserved break. They returned to their work eventually, annoyed with themselves for procrastinating. Mugs of cocoa appeared, sloshing a little as they ‘thunk’ed onto their coasters. Mr. Fell had asked his friend to serve cocoa which he did as dramatically as possible, sneering at everyone and ‘thunk’ing mugs as loudly as possible. You might have been afraid of this angry man but you can see Mr. Fell in the background smiling fondly at his friend. That initial unease evaporates and you smile at the man. He makes a face and sticks out his tongue at you before turning away. If you noticed that tongue didn’t look normal, you decide it’s not important and go back to work.

1. Crowley invented coupons. The trick, he had explained to the brainless masses of hell during his bi-annual progress report, was the expiration date. You get the human’s hopes up, they think that they’re going to save a little money. Feel oh-so-clever until WHAM. It’s past the expiration date. Humans are so easily distracted. they forget all about it until it’s too late. And there’s that lovely moment of frustration when they find it at the bottom of their bag, reminding them it’s all their fault. It’s just like when one sidewalk segment is slightly taller than the other - a little nudge of anger and frustration ripples outwards all day, passing from one angry human to another. And they do it to themselves!

Hell had not appreciated Crowley’s idea about the sidewalk pavers, and considered the coupon-scheme too complicated to have any real affect. In protest, Crowley invented the manufacturers coupon but that went south quickly, arguments and fights breaking out faster than he predicted. Heaven quickly retaliated and invented the gift card. At this point, it is considered a draw with no points to either side.

#az fell & co #valued customers tag #bc students are the only costumers aziraphale wants in his shop #crowley misses the kids during holidays#but then they bring xmas gifts #crowley tries to make some scathing comment about commercialism and jesus' actual birthdate #but a bunch of them pooled their money together to buy crowley a nice big rock to sun on #err #not for crowley #for the snake #it's a snake gift #for snakes #who miss sunning out in the Garden# i'm not crying angel #you're crying #shut up

#good omens #crowley #aziraphale #az fell & co #valued customers tag #bc students are the only costumers aziraphale wants in his shop #crowley misses the kids during holidays #but then they bring xmas gifts #crowley tries to make some scathing comment about commercialism and jesus' actual birthdate #but a bunch of them pooled their money together to buy crowley a nice big rock to sun on #err #not for crowley #for the snake #it's a snake gift #for snakes #who miss sunning out in the Garden #i'm not crying angel #you're crying #shut up

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frostskader · 4 years

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To The Moon, To The Sun & Back {Frost Nurse}

Just two girls getting friendship tattoos. Nothing Special but always fun.

@sweetheart-minnie

PERI

Peri was still working on the designs when Minnie came into the shop. It had to be perfect if Peri was designing Minnie’s first tattoo. She needed to make sure it was perfection. The petals, the lines. The dots.

“What do you think?” Peri eventually asked. “You know you need to tell me where you want it too. We can get them in the same places or different too.”

MINNIE

It hadn’t taken Minnie long to reach the shop and she was glad to see Peri already there musing over the design they had thought up of together. Truth be told, Minnie was very excited of the prospect of a first tattoo, especially it being a best-friend tattoo.

She walked up to wear Peri was seated allowing her line of sight to scan over the tattoo design.

“It’s beautiful! I love it! How are you this talented?”

The brunette teased even though she also meant it as a compliment. It was extraordinary the things Peri could create, but at the question Minnie found herself pausing getting lost in thought.

“You know… I actually hadn’t thought about that. Maybe the back wrist area? Isn’t that where best-friend tattoos normally go? Oh, but maybe I should find somewhere where I can cover it too because of work… but then I don’t think I would want to cover it all.”

PERI

Peri grinned but shook her head at Minnie. It wasn’t that fancy, but it was still something Peri was of course proud of. She didn’t want anything on their bodies that they weren’t proud of or happy with. Too many friendship tattoos she had seen weren’t well thought of. A sun and a moon, both supporting one another, something you couldn’t have without the other. And they didn’t always need to be out at the same time but they were always there.

Peri loved it.

“You can, it’s no big if you have to cover it when you’re at work. Maybe inner elbow it might less likely to show. Or your ankle too. I’m thinking my forearm.” Right above her scars.

MINNIE

Even though Peri was fine with the idea of Minnie needing to cover it, she still didn’t know if she wanted to. The design was absolutely beautiful, almost as beautiful as the meaning behind it, and she wasn’t so sure that should be something that should constantly remain hidden under some piece of clothes.

Besides, Swynlake General didn’t really have terrible restrictions concerning tattoos, and she hoped that the school didn’t either.

And it wasn’t like it was a provoking tattoo.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to see it a lot if it was done on my inner elbow. It probably would look very cute on my ankle, but then again I’m constantly wearing shoes… I want to be able to see it often. Maybe I should do it on the back of my wrist. I wear long sleeves most of the time to work anyways. Both the school and the hospital are always freezing for some reason. Am I choosing a spot that’s going to be very painful?”

The brunette couldn’t help but to smile when she heard the spot Peri chose. She knew the significance behind choosing such the spot.

“And I think that spot is perfect.”

PERI

"If you're up for it then I think the spot is perfect." Honestly it was kind of cute that Minnie did want it somewhere that she would see if always. Sometimes she assumed Minnie meant more to her than she did to Minnie. But that was mainly because Peri needed a lot of help sometimes.

"It can be because the bone is there and the wrist is so narrow. Inner elbow is probably worse so because of how thin the skin is." Her newest one hurt like a bitch though peri was going to avoid those areas again for awhile.

MINNIE

Minnie took a moment to look at the spot she was thinking of choosing for her tattoo, moreso to wash away any doubts before she made the decision permanent.

“I really like the spot. I’m going to go with it and thankfully I’m not afraid of needles.”

Would be rather ironic if a nurse ever was.

“So, do your worst or well Pascal can in this case just as long as it comes out as beautiful as the design looks on paper. I think I want it on my right side. I wear my watch on my left and it’s almost always on me.”

She plopped her arm back down looking over the design once again.

“I wonder if my co-workers would freak when they see it. I don’t think the lot of them ever pegged me as someone who would get a tattoo. I’m practically a saint to them.”

PERI

Peri grinned at that swiveling in her chair to make the final adjustments now that she knew where it was going.

"Well they have to imagine you've got a little but of a bad streak when your best friend works at a tattoo shop and owns a club." Peri wiggled her eyebrows at Minnie with a laugh.

"It will have to be the size of your palm for the details or we can size it down and make the flowers a little simpler."

MINNIE

Minnie let out a little snort of a laugh as she shook her head.

“Oh please, you’re hardly a bad influence. You’re one of the kindest people I know, if anything Lily is worse and even so my co-workers get shocked even if a bloody curse leaves my mouth.”

It was something Minnie never understood, especially because she had made some questionable choices in her life. It was also something she never truly minded either. There were worse things people could get teased about being saint-like was light.

“Little do they know that I have an exceptional talent for picking locks.” She laughed a little fuller now. “I don’t know if that’s something I should be that proud of.”

Getting her mind back to the topic at hand, the brunette took another glance at the design trying to picture if she would like the flowers to be simpler.

“Would it still look as nice if the flowers were simpler?”

PERI

“Yes but visual appearance is everything and I look like a bad and tough girl.” Peri teased. “I look like i’m the one that would know how to pick locks. Which I know how to frost and break locks probably.” That was just assuming she was correct and knew how those worked but she imagine it could happen. Oh well.

“It would, it would be flatter instead of the shading since we don’t want it to blow out. I can draw it up smaller though?” Peri offered.

MINNIE

Minnie gave a small whiny pout before slowly nodding her head.

“You’re right. I can’t pull off looking bad or tough to save my life. I can barely say no half the time. I’m not even sure how my patients listen to me when I’m being stern. Actually, I distinctly remember one laughing at me. It was during my first years of nursing, but still it was very rude.”

If she had to sit back and recall all of her old nursing days, she would probably end up choosing an entire new profession for the present.

Upon hearing how the design would only appear flatter, Minnie made a bit of a face automatically shaking her head.

“No, don’t bother. I really don’t want to take anything away from how it looks now.”

PERI

“Let me cover you with tattoos, we’ll get you in some black, add hair dye and piercings and you’ll rock the look.” Peri teased before spinning back. If Minnie wanted all the detail and the size then they were all good.

“Well then Pascal is all ready for us. I just have to put the stencils on and make sure you’re good to go. Are you good to go? There’s no going back after this. It’s permanent.” Peri teased.

MINNIE

“You’re already starting the process because here I am getting a tattoo. This is it for me now, I’m on my way to being bad and tough.”

Minnie should’ve barked into a straight laughter right now because she knew even with everything she would still manage to not pull it off. Besides, it wouldn’t last long, she wasn’t much of a fan for the color black and always loved some red or pink on her. She’ll just stick to her secret pick locking skills.

“And yes, I’m good to go! I have no plans of running and I also didn’t sign myself up for any hospital shifts these next couple of days just to give myself some healing time so I definitely cannot turn back now.”

PERI

Peri couldn’t stop the laughter that escaped her at the thought of Minnie looking all bad ass. She would be hot that was for sure. But she wouldn’t be a badass in appearance. But Minnie was a badass in general and people needed to recognize that.

“That’s perfect! Especially in a hospital wouldn’t be the best place for it to heal.” Fixing the stencil on Minnie’s arm, Peri pulled it back for Minnie to tell her if she wanted it higher or lower before Peri put it on her left forearm before deciding she wanted it higher and had to adjust it.

MINNIE

Minnie gave Peri a mock glare as she watched the blonde laugh.

“See! Even you know that I wouldn’t be able to pull that look off. I think it’s best for all humanity if I stay with my hair color and keep the piercing to a minimum. Plus, I really like how red looks on me over black. I can live with the saint teasing.”

She placed her arm now so that Peri was able to do what she needed to do with the stencil. She moved it just an inch higher as she didn’t want it directly under her palm.

“That’s what I thought. I’m always grabbing different things and running about that I would ruin the tattoo. I probably wouldn’t even realize that it was ruined until it was too late.”

She shrugged and stopped midway realizing that moving her arms probably wouldn’t be the best thing when Peri needed it.

“Plus, I probably could use a bit of a break too.”

PERI

Minnie could always use a break, the girl worked too hard but Peri couldn’t ever really say anything about it because she worked just as much. They both needed a chill pill. Majorly.

“Well you wouldn’t ruin it like that, more if something you wore pulled at the skin while it was peeling or it got infected. Those are more of the concerns when it’s healing.” But just like that both of them were set up.

“Pascal! We’re both ready if you are.” Peri called out nodding her head for Minnie to follow her into Pas’ tattoo room.

“Do you want to go first?”

MINNIE

“I’m actually relieved to hear that because now my tattoo has a shot in life. I couldn’t take off from school, but I’ll just make sure that none of the kids go poking at it.”

Her school nursing job was less heavy than her hospital one, so Minnie figured that she should be okay. There really was a rare chance that something completely out of the norm would end up happening. If she were in the hospital however, that was something she couldn’t guarantee.

Minnie began to follow Peri into a different room and gave her hellos once she spotted Pascal.

“I’m leaving the mercy of my arm to you Pascal.” Minnie teased. “Don’t let me down.” Turning to Peri now she took a moment to maul over whether or not first was best.

“You know what, yes, let’s do this. I’d rather go first and witness less.”

PERI

Peri laughed but gestured for Minnie to take her seat. Pascal wouldn’t let Minnie down and their magic would just make it look so much cooler than Peri could every do which was sad for her but cool because this would be her second colour shifting tattoo.

“Just remember to breathe and try not to tense up. I’m right here obviously and if I can get one right under my boobs I believe in you to handle this one.”

MINNIE

Minnie took the seat suggested and waited for Pascal to do what he needed to do as she looked over at Peri.

“The one under your boob wasn’t your first one though, you already had previous experience.”

This was Minnie’s very first tattoo, ever. She never had any done before and even when it came to piercings she had the basic one piercing per ear, so this was all very new for the brunette. Even so, she felt remarkably calm maybe because she was always around needles so the thought of another one didn’t shake her.

“It’s funny, I tell my patients the same thing when I have to poke them.”

PERI

"Well true and technically behind the ear is one of the more painful places and I got my first there." Peri shrugged and laughed. "You'll be fine I promise."

Peri knew minnie could handle this. It wasn't some girl who would scream everytime the needle hit her skin even though there was no reason for it.

"And you better follow your own advice then."

MINNIE

“I’m taking you for your word on this.”

At this point Pascal had begun and true to Peri’s statement it actually didn’t feel too terrible. If anything Minnie has felt worse pain before, so this fell in comparison. At the same time, she was never one to be frightened or whine over needle pain.

She took a couple of minutes just to simply watch Pascal work. He was very concentrated in what he was doing and so the brunette figured that she probably shouldn’t stare too long.

“Distract me. Talk to me about something because I’ll just sit and stare at Pascal work just to stare and that probably isn’t very comforting for him.”

PERI

Peri grinned just as much watching Pascal as Minnie was. She could always watch her boss work. The way they worked was magical. The colours they could use. It was perfect. “Okay okay. Um how about our next trip. We have to go somewhere other than London. Maybe somewhere we have to go on a plane to. That would be fun.”

Unlike the last time Peri’s life changed she didn’t dive into alcohol. She of course drank a little more but she was determined to be moving and doing and experiencing as much as possible. While drinking and partying.

MINNIE

Vacation was definitely a welcomed distraction, especially since Minnie was one who hardly ever took any. She was surprised that she even knew what it was. She has been devoted to Sywnlake General Hospital from the time she was hired.

“Yes! We do! I love my hometown but I think we need a little break away from it. Didn’t we want somewhere tropical?”

She could have sworn remembering them speaking of that, and besides, who wouldn’t enjoy a nice time under the warm, bright sun, especially when the sun didn’t show it’s face too often in Swynlake.

“It could be Carribean-like. There is Jamaica, Bahamas, any of those islands really. We could enjoy the sun! We honestly don’t see enough of the sun here.”

PERI

“We can somewhere warm sounds wonderful.” Which was always a funny thing when considering Peri was a frost fairy but she really did love being warm. “And we deserve it.” If there were two people in Swynlake that deserved a warm holiday it was Peri and Minnie.”

“I always hear good things with Bahamas.”

MINNIE

“I will definitely be happy with the Bahamas. I have never been there before, but a least this way we can now find out if what everyone has said about it is true. I’ve heard that the beaches there are beautiful.”

Minnie was very thankful that her mind was currently occupied with thoughts of a vacation rather than the tattoo that was currently being worked on her. It wasn’t hurting her terribly per say, but if she would’ve been solely focused on it, she knew she would've felt worse then what it really was.

“Clear blue water and you can get served alcohol for a change instead of being the one serving them, probably right on the beach too. We can even go scuba diving. I’ve never done that either.”

Minnie paused a moment before letting out a small soft laugh.

“Apparently there is a lot that I have never done before.”

PERI

“I’ll be thinking about the club the entire time though.” And that idea sucked but Peri had built up a really good team too and being served instead of the one serving sounded like a great time. Peri just wouldn’t know what to do with herself.

How could they stop moving. Stop doing. It was a weird idea.

“I’ve never scuba’ed either. Though I’m not really a strong swimmer so I might need to fix that.”

MINNIE

“No.” Minnie immediately reprimanded.

“You will not be allowed to think about the club and I will not be allowed to think about the hospital or the school. The only thing we will be allowed to think about is beautiful blue clear water.”

Minnie hoped that will be the case, that by some miracle she will be able to pull herself away from her job.

“And just to be safe we will take each other's phone because I have a problem ignoring the hospital’s phone number when it appears on my cell phone screen so I’m going to need it taken away from me.”

There, problem solved. They could both do this. They can have a vacation without going through work withdrawals.

“It’ll be a fun thinkless free vacation with scuba diving and pina coladas.”

PERI

"We're a mess arent we?" How was it that both of them wouldnt ignore their phones even across the ocean and they would be checking in on Swynlake.

They had a problem.

"That sounds like a deal though. We can lock them in whatever safe is there and then we cant do anything about it." Glancing back at Pascal's work Peri nodded. It was clean. No surprise. It was beautiful. No surprise. And it was almost done.

"What do you think?"

MINNIE

“Oh, I’m not admitting to anything. I just call this having a nice strong work ethic. Nothing wrong at all.”

Of course, Minnie couldn’t keep a straight face while saying all of that but she still wasn’t going to openly admit it. It would mean she had to give an honest effort to learn how to say no and that was a lot.

Her eyes now fell over Pascal’s work. She was surprised to see that it was already almost done! It looked beautiful!

“I love it! It looks amazing! I can’t believe it’s already almost done.”

PERI

“They are amazing. I learned under the very best.” Peri grinned getting more and more excited by the moment to get her own done. She hadn’t ever gotten two tattoos so close together but she loved it. Both of them meant so much to her.

“We’ll have to find someone to look after Figgy and Nova.”

MINNIE

“Figaro! I hadn’t even thought of him. I’m horrible!”

Minnie really did forget all about her precious Figaro and she immediately felt like the worst person on earth. Figaro had been the only male that had never hurt her.

Goes to show how her boyfriend history looked like.

“You think Ollie would look out for them? He’s someone Figaro has seen a lot so he will feel most comfortable with Ollie. You know how Figaro is, he isn’t the most pleasant with just anyone. He has scratched before.”

PERI

“Yeah I don’t see why not. Let him stay at our place him and Isa can have the place for the week if they want.” Peri wiggled her eyebrows at Minnie all while giggling at it. “Let teens be teens it will be fun!” And if Peri could cause trouble and excitement in the kid’s life that would be fun.

“And you’re not bad forgetting him it happens. No big deal.”

MINNIE

At Peri’s eyebrow wiggle Minnie couldn’t help but to give a bit of a face.

“Now I just have disturbing pictures in my head on what Ollie and Isa could do with a flat all for themselves.”

Not that she didn’t trust Ollie, she did, she absolutely adored him, but hormones were very wild at their age. Minnie was once their age before so she knew.

“And it is bad! Figaro has been the only male in my life who has never hurt me and that is how I repay such faithfulness by forgetting about him. Did you know that he would always cuddle me more whenever I cried over an ex. It’s like he knew.”

PERI

"You should have some disturbing images I'm your head." Peri laughed, working with Ollie now she got to know him more and teasing him was adorable. She was pretty certain he was still a virgin too if that truth or dare game had anything to say about it.

"He knows you, he loves you and he will always be there and one day someone will be there for you too." Peri was just sorry she thought that guy was Marzel.

MINNIE

Minnie immediately shook her head. “Peri! No! Not that I’m against it all.” She actually wasn’t. Ollie was of age and he has been with his girlfriend for a very stable amount of time, hell she approved.

“I just don’t need to be thinking of that in my head. It could remain in his head.”

Pascal was done with their work and so of course Minnie had to pause in her conversation to take a proper look at it. She even lifted her arm and everything.

“Oh, I love it!! Pascal, it’s perfect and so beautiful! Thank you so much!” Minnie even proceeded in giving them a hug, being careful of her tattoo of course.

“Your turn now, Peri.” Minnie purposely didn’t mention anything again about their other topic. She didn’t want to say out loud how she started to believe that love simply wasn’t in the cards for her.

PERI

Peri laughed nudging Minnie now that the tattoo was finished, she didn’t have to worry about messing Pascal up. Peri moved quickly into Minnie’s spot as Pascal disposed of everything and sanitized it before starting on here as well.

“Now it’s your turn to distract me.” Although Peri wasn’t worried about the pain at all.

MINNIE

“Like you need one. You are a professional at this point.” Minnie teased.

Even so, she grew quiet a moment to think of a topic to bring up. Peri may be a professional but she was nice enough to distract her so it was only fair that Minnie repaid the favor.

Finally, something popped up in her head which took a little longer than usual because she was still looking down at her tattoo.

“How was that party you went to the other night? I forgot the bloke’s name who was having the birthday.” She hadn’t gone because she was pulling a night shift at the hospital that night.

PERI

“Probably but talking is fun.” She couldn’t talk at all during her chest piece which kind of sucked. But she had music to listen to at the time.

“Oh gosh that thing it was hilarious, a little awkward since Lou was there too but it wasn’t bad. Danced a bit, drank a bit got dared to switch shirts with a guy and dance in a circle but that was about it. Saw Dodger and Lou kiss.”

MINNIE

“Lou kissed Dodger?!”

Minnie was kind of surprised to hear that Lou even went to a house party. She didn’t think that it was his type of environment, but then again, Lou was someone Minnie was never able to fully understand.

But all in all, Minnie was glad to hear that Peri had a decent time. She deserved it.

“Maybe it was a good thing I was working. Truth or dare was never really my scene.”

She never did well in house parties, unless drunk but Minnie avoided getting drunk because she knew the type of drunk she was. It was best for herself if was drunk as minimally as possible.

“Did you end up coming home with that bloke’s shirt?”

PERI

“Lou kissed Dodger. He was dared to kiss the most attractive person in the room and of course he found that insulting and choose Dodger. Which is very weird.” Peri could only assume Lou didn’t know Dodger and Peri were friends. Or maybe he didn’t care.

“And yeah, the guy I switched with was a total perv kept daring girls to take off their shirts he def wanted to keep them if he could,”

MINNIE

Lou was dared to kiss the most attractive person in the room and he chose Dodger? Minnie found herself to be very upset at the fact that he hadn’t chosen Peri. Obviously, he had to be obscenely drunk, or he did it on purpose.

Minnie simply rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Then again maybe it was a good thing he hadn’t chosen Peri with all that had happened. There was no need to blur lines.

“Well, at least you had a decent time and that’s what counts. That guy wanting to keep all the girls’ shirts though, very disturbing. Who else went?”

PERI

“Ollie and Isa were there, um I think his new roommate. Um some of the Triton girls. Marzel. There was a lot of people. If they hold another one you should come with me.” Peri offered letting out a small sigh. She was fine so far with the crowd there and if she could keep avoiding Lou then everything would work out.

“It was a fun night over all.”

MINNIE

It did sound like a good turn out. For the most part, parties in Swynlake had a very good turn out rate and that could be because it was a small town. People did whatever they could find when living in a small town.

“It sounded like a fun night. Maybe next time I won’t be working.”

She wasn’t sure if she would’ve been a super fun company anyways, so maybe it was a good thing that she went to work. Minnie never minded going out, she liked going to Pixie’s but home parties never seemed to be her type of crowd.

“And you all played truth or dare?”

PERI

“Well if you aren’t and you want to come that will be a lot of fun. We can go and stay together. We can leave whenever you want.” Peri didn’t mind if Minnie wanted someone to have her back then Peri was going to be that person.

“A lot of us did yeah. And if that happens again you don’t have to join either.”

MINNIE

Minnie gave Peri a smile as she walked closer to her to give her a side hug, her head even leaning over the blonde’s. She was very careful with the gesture so as to make sure Peri didn’t move and mess up Pascal’s concentration.

“Thanks, because I’ll go if you go. By myself, not so much.”

Minnie was super grateful to have a best-friend who always looked out for her, even in the simplest of things. Peri knew she would prefer company even without Minnie having to say it outloud.

“And this way you can keep an eye on me and make sure that I don’t drink too much. Horrible things happen when I drink.”

PERI

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to but if you ever do I’ll be right there with you. They never have anything strong enough to get me drunk unless I bring my own stuff. So as long as I don’t do that you’re in good hands.” Peri grinned nudging her friend.

“I’d keep you safe.”

MINNIE

“No, I think I should for the next one that comes around. I need to go out. Get out of work for a little bit. It should be good for me, right?”

Minnie knew she was buried under all of her work. A break at some point would be beneficial for her.

“I would appreciate you forever for keeping me safe. I get very flirty when I’m even a little drunk.” The brunette then looked at Pascal for a quick moment. “You aren’t allowed to judge me for this okay?”

Now looking back to Peri she bit at the inside of her cheek.

“And when I officially pass the line of good and drunk it gets worse. The last time I was drunk, drunk I had a one night stand and I barely knew the guy and it was at his place not even mine. Not very proud of it, so I have to keep myself safe from myself.”

PERI

“Only if you want to, it’s no fun if you don’t want to go. We can always just party at Pixies. I want to plan a new event soon so we can really have some fun with that.” Peri grinned laughing with Pascal but as they finished up Peri admired her arm and the shimmer of colour.

She wasn’t hiding her scars anymore. Anyone would see them now if they looked at the moon tattoo but there they were. A sun and moon together.

“But I promise if you do come out. We’re both heading home to our place that night. No one allowed.”

MINNIE

“Pixie’s would be fun too! I do always enjoy Pixie’s and I will hold you to that promise! Will even let you choose where we will go for next time.”

Pascal was done with Peri’s tattoo and Minnie hunched over a bit to take a good look at it. It looked just as beautiful as her’s did! She was definitely excited with the results.

Minnie then looked at her own and smiled. Sun and moon, it was perfect. Always what the other needed. She thanked Pascal with a hug and everything for their work and then looked over at Peri.

“You can tell me all about what I’m going to need to do to take care of this tattoo on the way back home.”

#sweetheart minnie

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shinneth · 5 years

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Gem Ascension Tropes (Peridot-specific: D - E)

Reference:

Primary Peri Post ▼ Primary General Post ▼ Full Article

Dark and Troubled Past: GA gives Peridot quite the backstory in both aspects. Her living conditions were awful, but Peridot herself was morally corrupt, cunning, and ambitious. The way Homeworld society operates only enabled Peridot to become a sociopathic Manipulative Bastard, but her fateful first meeting with Jasper Broke the Haughty in a wide variety of ways. That made her more of a Jerkass Woobie, and thankfully it wasn’t long before she was captured by the Crystal Gems and Took a Level in Kindness. Still, Peridot repressed the majority of her Homeworld memories to cope after her Heel-Face Turn and was forced to remember them upon returning to Homeworld to rescue her friends. The amount of guilt weighing down on Peridot after this is immense, and even though Steven taught Peridot how to forgive herself by the end of GA, Peridot’s still going to have to be constantly reminded of her past transgressions by the refugees she’s tasked with acclimating to Earth.

Deadpan Snarker: Very much so, per canon. Especially with Lapis, and it’s actually fully justified since the two aren’t afforded time in the story to truly talk about the terrible way Lapis treated her and her friends (outside of the Video Will she made for Lapis). Up to Eleven in Act III with White Diamond, taking advantage of being a valuable Hostage MacGuffin to Trash Talk her literally any chance she gets.

Death is a Sad Thing: Peridot never had to suffer the loss of a loved one until Pumpkin succumbed to her mortal wounds in Chapter 8 of Act III. Once that happens… Peridot’s sorrow nearly kills an entire planet.

Death Wail: She does not take it well when Pumpkin dies right before her eyes. Induces Brown Note levels of damage across what’s left of Homeworld.

Defiant Captive: Very much this while she is White Diamond’s prisoner during the early chapters of Act III. Deliberately invoked as Peridot’s Genre-Savvy enough to understand her value as a Hostage MacGuffin makes her (relatively) untouchable and doesn’t hesitate to disrespect White Diamond in ways no other gem could.

Delirious Misidentification: When even the (illusionary) threat of Peridot’s own limbs being severed to keep a blade from slicing her neck isn’t enough to make the Determinator give in to White Diamond, the latter responds by conjuring a very convincing hologram of Steven who even sounds exactly like the real deal. After nearly a week of this torture she had to endure alone, Peridot is fooled into thinking Steven actually came to save her… and sparing even one second to look in his direction allowed White Diamond to finally overpower her and force Peridot into submission.

Derailed Train of Thought: Peridot is prone to this a lot. The early chapters of Act I especially show Peridot falling into this when she’s trying to lead her team. This trope is how she ends up confessing her love for Steven in every single Video Will she makes to her friends. Peridot herself acknowledges this flaw of hers, but it’s a very hard habit for her to break.

Desperately Craves Affection: Praise, more specifically. Affection is also wanted, but Peridot’s been addicted to receiving praise even since her days as a Jerkass Homeworld gem. In Peridot’s Video Will to Pearl, she acknowledges this and wonders if this was something ingrained into her very being as a worker gem at the bottom of the caste system. With no hope of upward movement for the Peridot kind and often overlooked and underappreciated (and largely disrespected by every gem above them), the best they can ever hope for is being praised for doing their job well.

Determinator: The defining aspect of Peridot’s character in GA; turned Up to Eleven in Act III.

Devoted to You: It cannot be overstated how Steven means everything to Peridot. She will do and say things she’d normally never go through with for this boy if she must. She’s so devoted, Peridot inadvertently makes sure everyone knows Steven means everything to her via her Video Wills in Act II.

Digging Yourself Deeper: Once Peridot’s propensity for running her mouth lands her in hot water, or she says something out loud she didn’t mean for anyone to actually hear, she’s under some delusion that going out of her way to make elaborate excuses or justifications will fix everything… and it never does. It always leads to this. Steven himself tells 5XF in This is Who I Am Chapter 2 that this is just a fatal flaw of Peridot’s she inexplicably can’t overcome.

Disability-Negating Superpower: Ascending to a hybrid Diamond whose power is charged by sheer will enables Peridot to bypass most limitations she had as an Era 2 gem, though there is a cap on her potential when using said powers in her Peridot form. This makes her the only Era 2 gem who can shapeshift.

Disorganized Outline Speech: While Peridot tries to make it out like she was kidding, she struggled with this trope while trying to find a way how to do her introduction for her Video Will to Amethyst in Chapter 3 of Act II.

Double Consciousness: A genuine and understandable concern of Peridot’s when she ascends and gains a Superpowered Alter Ego in Chartreuse Diamond. Although there hasn’t been much room for distinction between the two, Peridot knows in her heart there are at least a few exclusive factors to their natures. And she will need to make use of her Chartreuse alias in the Post-GA era, so while Peridot did learn to accept that Chartreuse is legitimately just another part of her, she’s a long way from embracing her Diamond persona and is wary about staying in that form for long.

Draw Aggro: Proposed by Peridot when an alligator ambush occurs in Chapter 2 of This is Who I Am, but ultimately averted as 5XF is quick to question this strategy, which results in the two bickering in a corner until Steven comes in to save the day.

The Dreaded: Was notoriously this to her fellow Peridots before her promotion and assignment to monitor Earth. The combination of her ambition, stoic and sociopathic nature, and overall being a cunning Manipulative Bastard made her fellow kind either avoid her out of fear or revere her in hopes of sharing in her success… though that never happened. Peridot saw all of her coworkers as expendable pawns, and if she was ever cordial with them, it was always an act that played into a greater scheme down the road that would only benefit her in the end. The few Peridots who were bold enough to attempt to get 5XG in trouble always met a gruesome end after failing to prove her of any wrongdoing. 3UI learned that the hard way, and Peridot gave the rest of her coworkers a speech that pretty much underlines why exactly she embodied this trope for most of her short lifespan, punctuated with crushing up 3UI’s remains for all to see.

Peridot: “I know this hasn’t been the first time I made an example out of an envious Peridot, but let this be a refresher course to remind everyone what will become of you if you even entertain the notion of snitching on me. Mind your own business, and you’ll live a long, fulfilling life for our Diamond…”

Dressing as the Enemy: Downplayed; Peridot obtains a new set of limb enhancers in Chapter 4 of Act I. While she can traverse Homeworld without them, it does draw a little attention (as Era 2 Peridots are very seldom seen without them), and they’re required for Peridot to “report to work” at her old station. In order to get the Skeleton Key she’s aiming for to optimize navigation of Homeworld to find her captured friends, Peridot needs to find a way to get close to Yellow Pearl; this scenario is the only way she can pull it off.

Earn Your Happy Ending: Hard to argue this. Peridot did work herself nearly to death to coordinate the rescue mission, only to get tortured for six consecutive days after being the only one to get left behind, then having her own identity compromised along with the shock of learning about being an Unwitting Test Subject, having to live with Chartreuse Diamond as her Alter Ego for the rest of her life, being forced to fight her friends… Then after a brief reprieve when she rejoins her friends, carries heavy angst over not being able to fuse with Steven, which ends up being what makes her vulnerable and receptive to a forced fusion with White Diamond, is helplessly trapped within Celadon Diamond and is only able to break free when Pumpkin is killed, which causes Peridot to have the ultimate Heroic BSoD that doubles as an Angst Nuke on an already-crumbling planet. Only after all that does life finally work in Peridot’s favor. She is not kidding when she says she needs a lengthy vacation at the end of GA. Thankfully, she’s granted one in Plans Change.

Egocentric Team Naming: In Chapter 6 of Act II, Peridot refers to GA’s initial team of herself, Lapis, Bismuth, and Greg as the “Peridot Patrol”; most likely in jest as she hasn’t referred to her division as such ever since. However, given Peridot’s circumstances by Act II, her teammates quickly make it their official Squad Nickname, though they opt to shorten it to simply call themselves the “Peri Patrol”.

Emotional Maturity is Physical Maturity: Per canon with any gem, but Peridot undergoes an unusual case that is strikingly similar to Steven’s Plot-Relevant Age-Up despite that trope not being possible for a full gem. When she first resumes her natural form after ascending to become Chartreuse Diamond, Peridot appears to have a bit of a growth spurt. It’s not extreme, but noticeable in that she outgrows Amethyst and has a more pronounced hourglass figure. Post-GA stories (It’s a Birthday, Yes It Is, most notably) theorize this is a result of Peridot’s final inquiry prior to ascension, which was whether or not becoming a Diamond would give her a mature body so that she wouldn’t have the appearance of a scrawny brat anymore. Given the nature of Peridot’s power in particular, it’s safe to say she willed her Chartreuse Diamond form to have a much more mature and developed appearance and subconsciously willed her own base form to reflect this – but in a subtle manner that still made her recognizable. Another factor may be the Relationship Upgrade with Steven making Peridot even more self-conscious of her appearance.

The Engineer: The Support Engineer.

Erotic Dream: In Chapter 8 of Act II, Peridot (via her prerecorded Video Will) confesses to having this happen to her… in a dream with an otherwise innocuous setup where she and Steven are Happily Married with loads of kids, with Peridot herself as a stereotypical housewife; Steven’s portrayed as an average breadwinner of the family, but after revealing he doesn’t have work today, he seductively asks his wife if she wants to “make another one” before carrying her off to the bedroom.

Extra-ore-dinary: Her ferrokinesis, per canon. They’re later revealed to be merely a branch of her true potential that was awakened via a Despair Event Horizon (something similar happens to Steven in Chapter 4 of Act III), but even post-ascension, Peridot uses her metal powers more often than her vast array of new abilities… possibly with the exception of her utilizing Hammerspace and teleportation.

Extreme Doormat: A trope discovered in hindsight regarding how Peridot acted around Lapis when they were roommates during This is Who I Am Chapter 3, as it’s revealed Lapis (inadvertently) played a huge role in preserving some degree of Peridot’s sanity when they met. Her mere presence is why Peridot’s Near-Rape Experience with Jasper didn’t go any further than that. Since Peridot was already on the brink of completely breaking down and losing her identity from what Jasper already put her through, it’s safe to assume Peridot would have never become the gem she currently is had Lapis not repeatedly taken the bullet for her.

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spacedimentio · 5 years

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Live Impressions of “Change Your Mind”

Neat, a bit of the credits music on the title card is fun and totally not ominous

Oh, this a dream. I was legit worried about Connie for a second there

That thing looks like one of those rainbow caterpillars that really little kids have that you can pull behind you with a string

!!?! I- That’s not worrisome at all, nope, no identity crisis here, oooh boy

Does that mean that Rose knew what the corruption light was? Or just that it was an attack of some kind. Cause if she knew exactly what it was then she should have probably seen it coming.

Déjà Blue is right, they’re using the exact recording/drawing I think

“No.” Damn right you’re not sorry!

Oh Blue, you really did love her, didn’t you… She looks nice with messy hair, it reflects how she feels on the inside.

That easy huh? Haha, look at her face she doesn’t know what eating is and is totally mystified and disgusted xD

Yellow time. Oh, are those…those are fusion experiments. A nice reminder of an awful thing that Yellow is responsible for.

Oh, oh shit! Blue looks absolutely mortified holy fuck

Hey, there’s the scene from the promo. “You’d hurt your fellow diamond?” “Didn’t we hurt Pink? She was suffering in silence for ages, just like our gems, just like me!” Oh man, she does know that they’re responsible for a lot of bad shit, was their behavior all just…fear?

That face Yellow just made stabbed me in the heart jesus No don’t you dumb banana what are you doing holy shit! Oh my god no she’s gonna cry and then I’m gonna cry and she really just doesn’t wanna do this

Did he really just Did he really just hit her with “If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hotdogs” I can’t

Haha fuck yes! Yellow crying was my one wish for this ep :’D Let it all out Yellow, I’m sure Steven will give you hugs at some point Also kudos to the person that made the comic where the dialogue was almost exactly like this in regards to Yellow telling Blue to stop using her powers when she wasn’t doing anything

Oh! They’re calling him Steven now! They probably don’t get what he is still but that’s a good step

I’ve heard “You’re not going anywhere” in the commercial like 5 million times but it’s still creepy af

Oh hell no the ship did not need eyes no thank you

Ok I just thought he was trying to pull a “hey, what’s that” and run away while White looked to see what he was pointing at, but no it’s actually the two arm ships how the fuck did Bismuth fix them so fast (how long were the kids in prison jeeeeez). I like how it looks like there’s bandaids and duct tape on them lol But this might actually be a bad thing because why did you bring the arms, you’re going to make the mech stronger!

Dream: achieved! Ayyy, new designs! Nice glasses Peri, but they too big, so I like Lapis’s outfit more. I do love how you just have the lid to a garbage can, you could have found cooler things to surf on, but nope. Garbage can lid.

No don’t attach the arms that’s going to come back to bite you I just know it!

Man, the diamonds hopped on Team Steven quick, but I can’t be too upset with that because it is also what I wanted XD I guess they’ve been suffering a lot more than I thought.

That’s a nice sentiment Connie, and I’m surprised that the diamonds actually listened to what you said and considered it. Doubt it’ll work though.

Oh, they’ve still got control of their ships. I wonder how that particular bit of bullshit space magic works.

You got this Yellow! Don’t hold it in anymore! Oof, they don’t like the pressure they’re under, and they’re under a lot. The diamonds are responsible for a lot of awful things, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t conditioned and expected to fulfill their roles just as much as any other gem.

Aww, look at how Yellow is smiling, and I love how they’re holding hands! Bellow forever!

Oh that’s… Zero hesitation. Stone cold. I don’t like the way their heads flopped backwards, that’s really unsettling OK IT GOT WORSE STOP SMILING LIKE THAT D:

Steven I know you want them to reform but you should probably bubble them before…you…drop them, just like that.

I demand the BGM for this episode and will inevitably be sad when we don’t get it

Oh what, you can just do that? Fuse with a gem that’s not even formed?

o0o Rainbow 2.0! I had a guess that their weapon would be a parasol and it was even neater than I thought it would be Wow, they’re really, really British. That’s a British accent right, I’m not dumb? They’re just Mary Poppins, holy shit I love them! Jet umbrella leaves rainbow trail, ok yes thank you

Fire lady??? We fusing with everyone up in here today! Steven, in episode fucking 11: So, what’s today’s mission? I hope it’s fighting a giant foot! Today, in episode 157-160: a giant foot almost shatters everyone Well you sure got your wish buddy, are you happy?

Alright we got sunglasses mcgoo over here. Sunstone looks like a cereal box mascot I swear to god. So we’re going full “PSA mascot from the 90s”, are we. Man you are just…continually breaking the fourth wall aren’t you. Of course, Sardonyx also has the power to break the fourth wall so I guess it’s just a Future Vision+ thing. I like you Sunglasses McGoo, but I hope your weapon isn’t just suction cups or you’re never going to show up again in a fight xD

Fuckin rip Nice shades Garnet, I like what you did with your…idk what that piece of clothing is called but it’s the bit in the thin section of her body, I like the way the color goes onto her hips a little.

Oh OH SHIT IS IT REALLY TIME FOR THE LONG-THEORIZED TEMPLE FUSION That’s a lot of arms dude! Oh my god they are so cool I love them already!

Peri I love you, never don’t be ridiculous Oh geez I thought she wasn’t going to be able to catch her for a second because bismuth is a diamagnetic metal and *flashbacks of A Gem is Shattered being on the bingo card*

What’s this…staff thing? Ok that was extremely cool, your face is full of lava and you just made a sword from it. Goodbye hands I’m hearing Alexandrite’s percussion instrument in the music, that’s neat. Obsidian is also just roaring a lot, like Alexandrite.

Oh through the eyes, sure. Idk why she didn’t just close the eyelids to keep them out

With all the commotion and fusions, I totally forgot they got brainwashed, oof. It’s definitely not extremely unsettling to see them all talking at once with one voice, nope, not at all. Please stop talking, please stop talking, christ please stop talking

“But you’re a part of me” I-… Does that mean that the color theory where the other diamonds used to be part of White has more merit than I thought? Is that where they came from?

Nononono leave them alone! Oh god why

NONONONONONO STOP THAT DON’T DO THAT PLEASE DON’T DO THAT OH GOD I AM LEGIT CRYING RIGHT NOW THIS IS AWFUL

I don’t think that’s true, I’m pretty sure Pink was just a naturally social person who’s status forced her into loneliness. She just wanted some got dang friends

I DON’T THINK I’VE EVER BEEN SO CREEPED OUT IN MY LIFE. Why is this animation and these over-exaggerated faces reminding me of Cuphead. I’ve never played Cuphead but that’s what I’m thinking of.

DON’T YOU DARE GIVE THE CHILD AN EVEN WORSE IDENTITY CRISIS I AM VERY, VERY WORRIED SHE’S RIGHT

Wait, what are you doing WAIT A MINUTE NO DON’T YOU DARE DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE OH JESUS OH CHRIST THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING NONONO STOP

THEY DID IT THEY ACTUALLY FUCKING DID IT Is…is she…

(Edit from the future: Probably most of you didn’t have a commercial break after this moment, but I sure did, and I spent the entirety of those minutes with my hand covering my mouth in pure shock, tears trickling down my face. I was left to wonder…is Rose coming back? Is Steven dead? I was left with this image:

I was so astounded that I had to pause for a moment and just breathe. And christ, having to wait just a few minutes in utter shock and terror was An Experience. I feel bad for those who didn’t have a break there.)

*quickly realizes that having half the screen still black means that we’re gonna have double perspective* Oh No Oh Shit Oh No is it really gonna be her?!

Oh thank goodness. Congratulations, you now have two Steves, whatever that means

Ok Steven’s still alive, but it looks like it’s excruciating to be without his gem. I’m glad he didn’t just fall apart without the light holding his cells together. How long can he last without his…soul? Shit what do we call this, what even is this.

This is definitely not what she expected to happen. Oh jesus christ holy shit chill out dude, even White Diamond shook

It’s just…such a relief to finally know. I never believed that the show would abandon its themes of loss by having a miraculous return, but I still wanted to see her anyway. She’s gone.

So what is this guy, exactly? Does he have any conscious thought? Or is he just pure gem energy with the desire to return to his other half

“I only want you to be yourself!” Uh, White honey, you are literally doing the exact opposite thing. “I’ll do it for you!” That’s not how people work White, you are just not having a good time with this turn of events are you

That’s an…interesting shield. Who did Steven say that to, btw? Was he telling White to stop hurting them, or his other self to stop reflecting the attack? Cause White was also in the middle of being hurt, I think

Aww, they’re so happy! It’ll never not be creepy to see White’s voice coming out of Steven’s glass-eyed friends though.

Normally I don’t notice when something in a 2D cartoon is 3D animated, but that shot of White’s head was kind of jarring? I didn’t like it

Oh thank christ he’s alright! I wonder if the gemstone is gonna be turned the other way now? Wait no, it was still turned inside when we went through past reformations.

Oh wow, she’s actually just a 60 foot baby. Look at Steven and Connie laughing cause they’re getting bounced up into the air. Zing! Haha, she’s blushing so everyone’s blushing. …Ok did the ship really need to blush too, come on guys

Ok so whitewashing everyone is something you have to put some effort into controlling. She was literally putting parts of her mind into them.

Haha, good timing guys, you missed everything. Bismuth’s face tho, perfecto At least only Connie has to live with the trauma of seeing Steven get his gem ripped out.

Her face is still cracked? What…what are the cracks from if not from being mind-controlled mercilessly

Yes, congratulations, you are having an emotion. Oh, she’s actually a shade of pink now, what. There’s that color theory again. Guess whose turn it is to have an existential crisis? It’s you!

“I’m supposed to know better! I’m supposed to be better! I’m supposed to make everything better!” Wait, according to who? Theory that someone made her confirmed?

Oh hey, Beach City. It took me a good second to realize that Sadie was doing a remix of a Greg song. Cue a big-ass robot hitting the beach in three…two…one! BAM! A+ timing guys

Oh, White isn’t actually that much taller than the other two when they’re standing together like that. I could have sworn she was at least 100 feet tall, that’s a bit disappointing. Then again, it would be really hard to get her to fit in frame with everyone else. Does this mean that Pink actually might be undercooked after all? Cause when I thought White was 100 feet tall, Blue and Yellow were as proportionately small next to her as Pink was next to the two of them, but now I’m wondering again.

Me too, Ronaldo. Me too.

Uh, wow. Nice timing Lars. Those poor off-colors, it took them a million years to get to Earth and the first thing they see is all three diamonds staring at them. That sure is a mood, Rhodonite. Big mood.

Aww, Lion and Lars are gonna be bros. ‘You’re like me!’

Fucking hug each other you dumbs! God, you’re frustrating.

I demand to know how all three of them fit on the warp pad/inside Steven’s house! Tell me at once!

Oh, we’re doing this right now? I know there’s going to be a season 6, but what are we going to do in season 6? Sneeple? (Re)adjusting to earth shenanigans? Diamond family time?

Nephrites! Look at em all, I love ‘em! And Watermelon Tourmaline too! Ayy, it’s Biggs! I’ve always wondered what she looked like. Haha, if I wasn’t shipping Biggs/Bismuth before I sure am now.

Jasper! Wow that only took like two years for her to show up again. Also I just realized that everyone looks weird because they still have traces of corruption on them and not because they were Like That in the first place.

Oh boy Jasper, you’ve…you’ve missed a lot. I wanna know what Amethyst just told her that made her hide in the water in shame.

Boy that one in the middle with all the different colors is scaring me a little

It’s kind of funny how White Diamond went from Massively Threatening, Narcissistic Perfectionist to Completely Lost Almost Cute Child in a snap. I actually feel bad for killing her off in my fic now, whoops. Ah well, it’s an AU anyway so I’m not gonna retcon anything.

Alright who taught Yellow to make a peace sign

Alright who parked the legs on the cliff like that

All the songs in this arc have been named after the episode title they appear in, nice. I’m kind of disappointed that we didn’t get another diamond song but maybe that’s for later (a song about how everything is confusing now? or maybe about how they let Pink down and suffered themselves)

Welp, that’s a wrap. It is now once again time for hiatus. Yellow continues to be my favorite diamond after Pink; I really hope they all come visit Steven and learn stuff. I’m actually very surprised that they jumped ship so easily; it seems that they might understand that what they do is wrong but they do it anyway cause that’s what’s expected of them. Seems they were suffering a lot more than I thought, and I already thought they were hurting quite a bit.

And that brings me to the biggest question I have. Much like Blue and Yellow, White was acting as if someone told her to do this; it’s like she’s a rogue AI who’s original creators are long gone. I don’t know if I wanna see what White’s afraid of, cause up until the last 10 minutes or so of this ep she was the scariest thing I’d ever seen.

Who made White Diamond?

#steven universe #reaction #spoilers #su spoilers #change your mind

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designdekko · 3 years

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Public sanitation: Design interventions lead the change

A 2017 report by the WHO found while 74% of the world’s population used at least a basic sanitation service, approximately 2 billion still did not have access to basic sanitation facilities like toilets and latrines – a rather shocking statistic when weighed against the amount of progress you see in the world today. Another highly disconcerting statistic on the subject is from a UNICEF blog, which noted 673 million people still defecate in the open, for example, in street gutters, behind bushes, or open water bodies.

Most urban millennials are unaware of the actual impact human waste and its incorrect disposal has on life across the planet. But trips around the country highlight the glaring shortcomings of India’s public sanitation system and every successive government’s inability to stick to its pre-electoral promises of improvement on that count. Of course, there has been improvement, but the pace at which we are changing isn’t still satisfactory.

Also Read | Holt Renfrew Ogilvy dazzles as a sustainably forward luxury flagship

In 1999, the Indian government introduced the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) to accelerate sanitation coverage throughout the country, particularly in rural areas. It focused on information and education to generate public demand for sanitation facilities, particularly in schools. The TSC made some progress, but it suffered from its relatively low priority and ineffective deployment of resources. Renamed Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014, the GOI, armed with a barrage of shocking statistics and a revised mandate, took up the cause with renewed vigour, putting a significant dent in the widespread problem of sanitation.

Where to draw inspiration from?

Japan’s spotless, pop-anime, Kawaii-cute, tech-driven toilets are the stuff of legend, with tourists excitedly using them for that perfect Instagram moment. In fact, the country gained global media attention for its Tokyo Toilet project. Who’d think a public urinal would make for a perfect photo-op?

Switzerland is one of the world’s favourite tourist destinations, has toilets so clean that you can lie down in them. In Paris, the City of Light: a monolithic domed structure stood with a few scattered people standing in a queue in the middle of a Parisian cobble-stoned street. A sliding door whooshed open, revealing a clean albeit soaking wet toilet inside. Pictorial instructions outside the loo read: Post a single use, the entire toilet is sealed and sanitized, and only then access is granted to the next person.

Also Read | Marieville Celebrates Its Past While Building for the Future

All this was planned and executed before the pandemic took over the world. Also, it is free. It is definitely impressive but is this a viable option for a country like India with its large populace and disparate economic structure?

Modern problems need modern solutions. I spoke to Rohan Chavan, principal architect at RC Architects and the mind behind Lightbox, a one-of-kind public urinal for women with space for social gatherings. Rohan engages with projects and issues related to public and community sanitation, urban design, affordable and low-cost housing, single-family houses, space design, and institutions. His signature approach to design created the Lightbox. This public urinal redefines the concept of ‘restroom’, taking it beyond just being a public toilet and creating a unique, visually attractive space that caters to the peri-urban female population living in and around the Thane region in Maharashtra (India).

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Over a short phone interview, Rohan spoke of how, as a designer, he took the initiative to design the Lightbox when Agasti, a social enterprise working in urban sanitation in Mumbai, floated a brief.

Wanting to create something to take to the municipal corporations to add to public sanitation infrastructure, in the hopes that it would be a departure from the largely unappealing ones that already existed, Chavan structured his design around a tree, aware that paucity of space in an urban setting was likely and he would have to work with what he was offered. His design was just as adaptable to smaller or larger spaces and could be tweaked to fit different venues.

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Lightbox is covered under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals at #5 – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Built around a large tree, the 10’ x 30’ restroom features two urinal blocks each at both ends, with a standard washbasin, a nursing room and a toilet for handicapped or senior citizens. The centre of the restroom was a garden measuring 15’ x 10’ that was meant for various activities like a place to rest, a free gallery to display art for amateur artists, a place for lectures and awareness campaigns, celebrating festivals, seasonal activities and events.

The central garden was a metaphor for spaces where people can sit and relax under a tree in the shade and socialize. The restroom with toilet blocks was fitted with a biodigester to reduce freshwater use and improved waste management. It also included a nursing room and amenities like sanitary pads vending machine and incinerator, CCTV cameras, mobile charging points, and a panic alarm system.

Rohan’s efficient use of modern materials resulted in natural light in the restroom, eased the process to keep the toilets clean and ensured high durability and construction within a specific budget. Rohan, however, is quick to point out that the design can be customized to fit a variety of sizes and use different materials, thus making it more sustainable.

Chavan recounted an instance when policemen at the police station across the street from Lightbox were so taken with the concept that they eagerly inquired about why there were no such facilities for men. He was also excited about the amateur artist showcase within the restroom, an unusual venue for an art show but an important one to highlight the accessibility of art and the opportunity to incorporate culture into everyday life.

While Lightbox sees social interaction as the key to the solution, LooCafe wants to hit the root cause of why public sanitation projects fail: Lack of safety, technology, and revenue-generating opportunity.

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With over 450 locations to its name, LooCafe, the brainchild of Abhishek Nath, MD & CEO, Ixora FM, is all set to expand across Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karnataka. The concept is a simple tuck shop with a public urinal attached, sizes ranging from 4x8 ft, 20x8ft and 40x8ft, made of a shipping container or pre-fabricated materials to maintain long-term cost-effectiveness – basically a study in upcycling. And the brand is constantly learning, adjusting its designs and making changes where necessary. A cafe is attached to the front to add a layer of revenue generation opportunity. The attractive facades and cosy, clean interiors are home to thoroughly cleaned and disabled-friendly washrooms which use several sensors and technology to make them sustainable, clean and trustworthy.

With an increase in road trips during the pandemic and transportation of goods and personnel across state lines, initiatives like LooCafe are a viable business model and encourage safe sanitation practices, thereby slowly but surely transforming the nation’s response to public sanitation.

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The societal impact of projects like Lightbox and initiatives like LooCafe was clearly visible. Such unique design interventions represent a burgeoning design collective bent on creating distinctive architectural and spatial perspectives. Some of these are initiatives that governments and municipal corporations across the country must take advantage of and be utilized by the public.

Yes, there have been concentrated moves to build a network of public urinals, with their glossy tiled facades promising better facilities and clean services to its users. But inside, in barely-lit caverns of fetid water, lie disease and stench and the hopelessness of an impoverished citizenry in desperate need of what others might constitute as a fundamental human right.

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However, hope now lies in the hands of a few thoughtful individuals contributing ideas and government bodies prioritizing public sanitation in their regular mandates and worldwide recognition of an endemic issue deeply rooted in neglect.

The article is part of a series of blogs by the writer on public sanitation and design interventions experienced during her travel around India and the world. Views expressed are of author.

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twxntrash · 7 years

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The Moon is Beautiful, Isn’t It? Ch. 3

By the second week, the school had finally let go of the training wheels for their students. Enough class time spent getting to know your classmates, teachers or just going over the kinds of things they’d be taught. Instead, now the class was in full swing and the teachers were actually teaching the students finally. Honestly, Peridot was beyond ecstatic with it. If she had to do one more kindergarten level game just to learn that the boy next to her was named Billy and had been to Chicago once, she was going to scream.

She went to school to learn about the subjects she was studying, to learn about programming and history and math and so on, not what her classmate's favorite shows were or where her teacher grew up.

The only two classes she had that didn’t take the entire first week before getting into gear was gym, which had started off the first day with the rigorous, brutal workouts, and art. By day two, Ms. Lazuli had already started lectures, and last Friday she sent the class off to their weekend with the assignment of brainstorming for their first project and had not-so-subtly hinted that they would need to explain why they drew what they drew.

Now it was Monday and Peridot still wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. It wasn’t like their first art project was going to be difficult by any means. It was just a sketch they were supposed to make that made use of shading and perspective. But, Lazuli wanted the sketch to be about something important to them for their first assignment.

Peridot couldn’t say she really had too many things that were all that important to her. Percy was dear to her, but, she failed at an epic proportion when it came to drawing cats and dogs. But, she was at a bit of a loss today. She didn’t even have an idea of what to do for her sketch, and they were supposed to start working on that today. Maybe she could ask Ms. Lazuli for an extension, claim she was busy the entire weekend helping her mother out in Empire City.

No, Peridot doubted that excuse would fly with her art teacher.

But, the girl was early enough to her first class that maybe she could try to figure something out while waiting for class to start. She could think of some reasons on the fly, pass any stuttering and stammer off as being shy. Not like the class was going to pay any real attention.

Reaching the door, she gave the knob a turn so she could enter, but found the door wouldn’t budge. Pursing her lips, she tried again to no avail. Strange. Maybe she’d come too early and Ms. Lazuli hadn’t unlocked the door yet. If that was the case, then Peridot had no choice but to wait for the teacher to arrive so she could take her seat in the back.

Truthfully… Peridot wasn’t sure what to make of Ms. Lapis Lazuli just yet. Throughout the entire week, she felt like her teacher was watching her. It sent chills up her spine, but every time she’d look up, those blue eyes were either watching some other part of the class or skimming through papers on her desk. Then, whenever Lapis walked by, it felt like she would purposely move as close as she could to Peridot. Be it brushing past her so they just barely touched, or making sure to draw in close whenever she came to their table to scold Amethyst, and sometimes Peridot as well, for making a ruckus in class. When she did that, Peridot felt so terrifyingly small, like a mouse before a lion.

She wasn’t sure if she was just imagining it or not, but it was driving Peridot mad. If Lapis was watching her during class and purposely penetrating her personal space without regard than Peridot wanted to know why . What did she ever do to make Lapis so… so… she didn’t even know how to describe her teacher, that’s how bad it was getting.

Maybe it was all in her head. She wanted it to all be in her head, that would be so much easier to handle. She could take some pills and things would feel more normal.

“Peridot? What are you doing here so early?”

As the saying goes; speak of the Devil and she shall appear. Lapis Lazuli was approaching her from down the hall, one hand carrying her travel mug, and on her opposite shoulder was the straps to one of those artists tote bags. She seemed genuinely puzzled by seeing the blonde outside the class door. But, Peridot was more puzzled by her teacher's appearance.

She had bags under her eyes, and her eyes themselves were slightly bloodshot. Sunglasses were perched atop her head as though she’d just pushed them up when she entered the school. Her hair wasn’t as neatly combed as it usually was, and her outfit wasn’t nearly as put together as she’d been last week. All in all, the teacher looked like a mess today.

“I got here early- are you okay, Ms. Lazuli?” Peridot cut herself off when her teacher got closer, she could see Lapis flinching at the bright lights of the hall.

There was a sarcastic smile now when she heard Peridots question. She pushed past the blonde and fished out the keys from her pocket to unlock the door. “Don’t drink, kiddo. Especially when you’ve work in the morning ” was all she answered with.

Oh, great. Her teacher might be a drunk. What a nice thing to learn.

“I’m underage,” Peridot remarked with an eye roll as she stepped into the classroom as Ms. Lazuli turned on some of the lights. However, both stopped when they saw the current state the room was in.

“Jesus, fuck !” Lapis hissed as she saw the mess.

It was as though someone went to town with the supplies. Paint tubes and cans were strewn all over, clay left open and dried out all about the room. It looked like someone had even strewn paint around the room, caking the walls and floors and even the ceiling. Whatever order the room may have had the previous week was but a happy dream now. The room looked like a tornado had ripped through it.

Peridot blinked as she tentatively ran her finger over some dried up red paint, “This happens like once a year,” she said to her teacher as she shrugged out of her own surprise and trudged to her usual seat. Lapis stared at her as though she had spoken in a different language, blank confusion on her face so Peridot decided to offer a more precise explanation. “At least once a year some students vandalize a room or so. Though, usually, they just steal the supplies from the art room to wreck havoc on some other corner of the school. First time I’ve heard the art room becoming the victim.”

Last year someone had spray painted all over the gym different Pokemon badges and symbols. The year before it, someone drew dicks all over the hallway floors. Peridot was actually pretty sure that one was Amethyst. This year wasn’t anything as ‘creative’ as its predecessors, but they made way more of a mess than the orderly vandalism of the previous years.

Lapis groaned as she took to her desk and sank into her chair, “It’s going to take forever to try and clean this room up,” she grumbled as she buried her face in her hand. “First yesterday and now today, can this week get any better?” it was a bitter remark as she sent a glare up to the ceiling, as though she was trying to stare down God, challenging him to just mess with her more.

A part of Peridot want to try and offer some form of help to her teacher, but the other, much larger part of her decided it’d be better and safer to just stay here in the back and try hope the teacher forgot she was there. It would only be a matter of time until other students came in anyways.

Though, she did feel a little sorry for her. Hungover and having to deal with coming to find her classroom was made into a mess. Well, at least for now Lapis was glaring at the desk rather than looking at Peridot, so, she could breathe a little easier for the time being.

As she had expected, students did start to come after a little bit. Taking up their usual tables and laughing amongst themselves. The volume of the growing class must have been torture because Lapis was holding onto her head as though it might explode. Peridot knew the feeling of an awful hangover all too well and couldn’t help but wince as well as though she was the one suffering the headache too, even if she wasn’t.

“Hey! P!” Amethyst greeted loudly as she entered the room and made a quick beeline to their table. Her eyes practically had stars in them as she took her seat, “Peri, you aren’t going to believe what me and Pearl did this weekend!” she said quickly as she leaned towards her friend, the smile on her face was damn near infectious because Peridot couldn’t help the way her lips quirked upwards when she saw it.

“What’d you guys do? Did you finally get her to a Mike Krol concert?”

“Nah! It was cooler than that!” Amethyst shook her head and grabbed a hold of Peridot by both her shoulders, “Peri, I got her to come to one of my wrestling matches, you know, the ones in the ring by the warehouse hosted by Mr. Smiley!”

Peridots eyes widened, “No way, Pearl hates going there! You’re joking, you’ve got to be!”

“I’m telling the truth. It’s hard to believe it myself.” Amethyst was laughing as she began retelling the story of her weekend, “We were just chilling and chatting and I brought up that I’d need to prepare for my match later that day, and Pearl, she just tried to be casual as she said it but man was it so awkward--it was adorable-- she went on how it seemed so important to me, and how I always had fun and that, well, she used a lot of words I don’t even remember, you know how she is. But she basically asked me if she could come, and she came. It was amazing! I got to show off all my best moves to my best girl!”

Peridot was grinning wide by this point, “Really? Amethyst, I’m so happy for you!” They both knew that Amethyst had been trying to get Pearl to go to one of her matches for ages since Amethyst went to all of Pearls dance recitals. The fact that she went to one, and without Amethyst even asking her too, well that was a shocking but wonderful thing.

“Yeah. Damn, I’d never felt so alive in that ring until I heard Pearl cheering me on,” Amethyst leaned back in her chair, she had a smile on her face, a soft, gentle smile. Her entire expression was that of love and adoration for her girlfriend, “She was so worried too when I was done with my match. Mother henning me the entire time and scolding me for the bruises I got. But, hey if she’s worrying about me that just goes to show she cares about me so I can’t get upset over a bit of nagging from her.”

“You guys are just… something,” the blonde murmured as she shook her head. They were nothing alike yet the two had complimented each other so perfectly. It was the kind of couple someone didn’t see that often.

Amethyst gave a soft chuckle, “Heh… yeah.”

The two fell silent as class began, Lapis did remarkably well with the bright lights and usual noise of the art room despite her hangover. With the schedule for the day scrawled out on the board, she wasted little time getting the class to work. Handing out large papers to sketch on, various pencils, erasers, and any other tools the students would need for their assignment for the day.

“You guys can start the actual drawing in a bit,” the teacher said as she passed by the tables to hand out the supplies, “First, we’re going to go through and you’re each going to tell us what you’re sketching and why. Remember, the sketch is of something important to you.”

Oh, the moment that Peridot dreaded. She’d gotten distracted when she came into the room that she forgot to even think of the last minute idea for her sketch. She had nothing to say when the class discussion reached her. Being in the back had it’s benefits and it’s repercussions. She was either among the first or last during moments like these when everyone in the class had to speak and, statistically speaking, the class tended to remember the first and the last more clearly than the students between. Meaning that they were going to remember her fumbling and not having anything to show for today.

No, no, she still had time. There were about fifteen students before her, she could quickly think of something important and why it’s important to her while everyone else was talking. It wasn’t over yet.

Some student up in the front, Buck or something, said his sunglasses and Peridot zoned out on his reason for why. Another student had their car, one their cat. The class was going through this rather quickly, far faster than Peridot was able to try and process an idea of her own. It was funny how the brain went blank when you were desperate for an idea. There were far to many people saying cellphones so she couldn’t do that.

They were up to her table now and Amethyst puffed her chest out in pride as she spoke, “My sketch is of a wrestling ring,” she announced, “Cause, anyone who knows me know I love wrestling, so what better to show that then to sketch the ring?”

Lapis nodded at that, “I see, thank you, Amethyst,” she said and her eyes locked onto Peridot next, “And you, Peridot? What are you sketching?”

Feeling as though the entire class was staring at her, Peridot squirmed in her seat as her nerves made her feel like she might throw up, “I… well, you see I’m sketching…” she didn’t dare look up from her table, not at her classmates or even risk meeting gazes with Lapis. “I’m sketching my… my game consoles!” she said it so quickly that she felt her face drain and then all the blood rush to it. Hesitantly she looked up and Lapis was still staring at her, waiting for her to go on, “I mean, I like gaming,” her voice found confidence as she spoke, “I like video games a lot, they’re fun and they can have great stories. I really like my consoles too, so… I was going to sketch them.”

Despite having grown more confident in her answer as she spoke her explanation, it all fell into a timid quiet note as Lapis continued to watch her. After what felt like forever, though it was more like a few seconds, the teacher gave a nod. Satisfied with Peridot’s answer.

“Good, I look forward to your sketch.”

With that, the class was free to start on their project and the rum fell into a moderate hum of noise as they chatted while they worked. Peridot couldn’t help but feel like a weight was taken off her chest and she could breathe properly when she took her paper. She managed to get away with that despite being so painfully unprepared and no one seemed to have noticed.

The rest of the class time went with her trying her best on her sketch despite having absolutely no idea on what to do for it. So, she was doing her consoles, did she want to do them all or do it one or two. The suffering of having too many gaming consoles, she supposed. And of not preparing beforehand. But, once she got into the motion, it was easier to work on. Occasionally she’d glance over to Amethysts to see her progress or to chat with her a little bit.

As usual, she felt like she was being watched the entire class time, but each time she looked up there was no one looking at her. It was strange, but, she was doing better at ignoring it compared to last week.

Eventually, the class came to its end and the sketches were collected at the front. Being at the back of the room left Peridot and Amethyst among the last ones to drop their sketches off on Lazuli’s desk and head to the door. However, before Peridot could scurry off into the freedom of the hall, she was stopped by her name being called.

“Peridot,” Lapis said slowly, waiting for the short student to turn and face her. Had she done something wrong? She wasn’t sure, Lapis’ expression seemed friendly enough, but that didn’t promise anything, “If you could, can I ask you to come back during your open period? I could use a hand in sorting out this mess of a room.”

Oh, right. Lapis knew she had a free period in her schedule. Honestly, Peridot didn’t necessarily want to give up her hour of peace and freedom, but, she couldn’t bring it in her to refuse a teacher of a request.

“Oh, um, sure,” Peridot mumbled, scratching at her neck as she looked away, “I can help, it’s no problem.”

Lapis almost seemed relieved when Peridot agreed, “Thank you. Really, thanks,” she breathed, smiling at her student, “Now, you should be off. I’ll see you later.”

It had only been two hours since the first period, and it felt like two years.

Lapis was in misery and regret all day, though she was doing remarkably well at hiding it from the other teachers. She wished she hadn’t drunk as much as she did the previous night because she was suffering sevenfold for it now. Her head was throbbing like someone was playing a never-ending drum solo inside her skull, the light hurt her eyes, and she was just so tired and sore. To make it even worse, the mess made of her art room didn’t do anything to help her mood.

All the woman wanted was to go home, crawl into bed and sleep for the rest of the week. She was swearing off alcohol forever after this.

Though, her morning class wasn’t all suffering. It was a pleasant surprise to find Peridot already at the door before she’d gotten to unlock it. A few moments of privacy with the student that she would have fully taken advantage of despite her hangover if the state of her classroom hadn’t ruined that. Then watching her stammer to try and come up with a plausible subject for her sketch and try to think of a reasoning was amusing. Lapis had known right off the bat that Peridot had only just decided to use her gaming consoles as the focus on the sketch when she was called on. The woman had her fair share of last minute ideas during her years in art classes to recognize one when she saw one.

She was glad that Peridot didn’t try to argue or refuse when Lapis asked her to come to the room during her free period to help clean up the mess it had become. She wasn’t sure how well it would have gone if she tried to argue with Peridot to get her to join. So much easier if she did it of her own free will.

Yikes, almost sounded like she was trying to force Peridot into doing something illegal. Lapis was going to blame the alcohol for it.

A soft knock on the door and the slow sound of it creaking open alerted her of Peridot’s entrance before the girl even stepped foot into the room. She could already feel her mood, soured by her hangover, lifting up when she saw that round face of hers, and quickly moved to stand up from her desk.

“Glad you could make it,” Lapis said as she approached her student, “It wasn’t too much a problem, was it?”

Peridot wasn’t meeting her eyes, something she found amusing, though a bit disheartening, “I, it’s all okay. Free period, remember? Didn’t have any school work yet anyways.”

“That’s good! Can’t let little old me cut into your academics.”

Peridot mumbled something in return. It was clear that she wasn’t exactly comfortable being one on one with Lapis, and that didn’t bother the woman too much. She was just glad to have some time to talk to Peridot without prying eyes of her other students or fellow teachers. What better time to get to know the student then by having her help her in the classroom while everyone else was gone?

Smiling, Lapis clapped her hands together, “Well, let’s get to work.”

With that, they were off in the room, doing their best to clean up the mess that the vandalizer that made. Lapis tried to strike up some conversations, though Peridot didn’t seem too much for talking. That didn’t stop her from trying and more. Oh, she certainly did more than just try to talk to the blonde.

Every time she got near Peridot, Lapis would be sure to brush against her. If she handed her something then she’d purposely make them touch, she would linger far too close for far too long. Since there were shelves too high for Peridot, Lapis even hovered over her, stretched out with Peridot sometimes wedged between the wall and her to put away or take out whatever the blonde had been trying to reach.

Oh, she just loved the blush that Peridot got whenever she did that.

Her headache was still a problem though, and as time passed the pain only grew even worse. It was a hinderance and one Lapis could really do without.

“Are you okay, Miss?” Peridot asked as she paused in scrubbing away some glue that had been poured onto a window sill. “You kind of look like you’re in pain.”

Offering a smile, Lapis waved her off, “It’s okay, just… hangover is a bitch.” She’d be happy if Peridot left it alone and they could continue to work and her continue with her fun. But, it seemed like her student had other plans.

Worrying her lip between her teeth, Peridot hesitated a few moments before she spoke up again, “You know… I have some aspirin in my bag if that’ll help,” she offered.

Lapis perked up at hearing that, “Really? Yeah, that’ll help a lot, thanks,” she murmured as she followed Peridot up to her messenger bag, being handed the small bottle of pills. Taking a couple of pills, she tossed them in and swallowed them down, “Thanks a lot, Peri, this should help curb my headache some.”

“Um, yeah… no problem,” she mumbled, blushing a little when Lapis used the nickname instead of her whole name. As she put the medicine back in her bag, she spared a glance up at the teacher, “So… um�� why did you get drunk last night? Teaching that rough?”

Lapis laughed at that, “Only just started teaching, don’t think I have the right to become an alcoholic from it just yet,” she grinned as she gathered up some materials that she’d been working on before the pills, “Just had a bad date last night, and between the choices of get drunk or listen to her obnoxious spiel any more, I chose the alcohol.”

Peridot stared at her, clearly surprised that Lapis’ date was another woman, to which the woman only smiled coyly at. After a few seconds of fumbling for words, Peridot followed Lapis who was now making her way into the supply closet to drop off the discarded art tools, “If I can ask… how was it a bad date? I mean… you’re, well, you’re not ugly.” it was so awkward of a remark that Lapis almost dropped her boxes when she laughed at the mortification on Peridots face.

“Thanks, I’m glad you think I’m not ugly,” she teased, moving to put the box on one of the shelves, “Honestly, it wasn’t even me. My date just ended up being a bitch. She was nice last Monday when we had a date at the bar, but yesterday I guess she showed her true colors. You don’t want to hear it.”

“I kind of do, actually,” Peridot answered quickly. Quickly enough to make Lapis raise a brow. Maybe she was just kind of in the mood for gossip, it didn’t matter. Lapis didn’t mind sharing her terrible date stories.

Shrugging, Lapis leaned against one of the shelves, “Where do I start?” she asked grinning, “First off, when she got to the bar she was late, I could forgive that. I’m not too nitpicky when it comes to timeliness, so long as I’m not waiting thirty minutes without a call. But, then she spent more time talking about things going on her phone or dissing the beer she was drinking. I guess she was just trying to act all sweet and nice the first date so she could score a second. She acted like she was the queen of the universe and that we should all bow to her, even complained that I didn’t dress nice enough to have a date with her.”

“Seriously?” Peridot gawked and shook her head, “That’s just rude.”

“I know! And guess what she did for a living.”

Peridot raised a brow now, thinking it over, “Secretary?” she offered after a few seconds.

Lapis shook her head, “Nope,” she answered, laughing a little, “She did a fat load of nothing. Said I got the bottom-barrel job being a teacher while she didn’t even have a job. At least I was employed, but she claimed she didn’t need a job. Not so long as she could leech off the money of her rich dad or whatever.”

“Jesus, you certainly got the bottom of the barrel date is what it sounds like,” Peridot whistled in disbelief.

“Yeah, and after that, I just ignored her in favor for a steady stream of whiskey, and you can see the results of that,” Lapis pointed at herself with a little grin. As she spoke she could hear the bell go off, and a glance at her watch told that they had been in the room for both the initial hour and for the lunch hour. Oh well. Peridot must have noticed too, not that she looked annoyed by it at all, but Lapis got her attention back to her by leaning forward to close some distance between her and Peridot. She wanted to mess with her one last time before sending the blonde to her next class, there was a mischievous look in her eyes now. “What about you?” she asked.

Blinking, Peridot tilted her head as she took a wary step back, “Um… what do you mean?” she asked after a moment.

Lapis followed her with a step foward to keep the distance between them short, “I mean, how about you and the dating field?” she asked her, “You must have dated some people, right?”

“Of course! I’ve people lining up to go on a date with me!” Peridot boasted quickly, hopping back a few feet, giving a nervous grin while pointing a pair of finger guns at Lapis, “No man or woman can resist the charms of the Great and Lovable Peridot!”

They stood there for a few second, Lapis and Peridot just staring at each other in silence after that before Lapis finally broke out into soft laughter.

“You’re too cute,” Lapis snorted as she covered her mouth with a hand. Seriously, Peridot was just too much, from appearance to behavior, she was just so precious and innocent, Lapis just couldn’t help but smile at that dorky, cheesy smile and finger guns pointed at her.

The blondes face heated up a bit as she brought a hand to the back of her own neck, averting her gaze in embarrassment, “Ah… thanks, heh,” she mumbled back.

Peridot would have to get going soon, they both knew that. The next class starts in roughly five minutes and the senior wasn’t one to miss or be late. But, Lapis wasn’t all to ready to go and say bye to the little nerd and wait until tomorrow to see her again just yet. She wanted a little more time to talk and laugh and to cherish this bubbly feeling Peridot was causing in her chest. Well, there was one thing she could do to try and extend her time with Peridot a bit.

“Say, since I made you miss lunch to help me out, why don’t I take you out somewhere after school to get some food?” Lapis offered with a smile, “My treat. It’s the least I can do, you helped me out big time, and you didn’t get to have lunch.”

At hearing her offer, Peridot shrunk back, looking out of the supply closet of the art room nervously, as though there were eyes watching them and ears listening in on their conversation. “I… I don’t know,” she answered, “Is it even appropriate? I mean, you’re my teacher, should you really be taking me out to lunch?”

“What’s so wrong about it?” Lapis shot back innocently, tilting her head as she looked down at Peridot. “We’re just going to eat, friends go out and eat all the time, so why should you and I catching a bite be anything different?”

“W-Well… I, it’s just…”

Placing her hands on Peridots shoulders, Lapis forcefully, but still gently enough, turned the blonde around and gave her a light shove out of the closet, “I’ll let you think it over. If you do decide to take me up on my offer than meet me here after classes, okay?” Lapis offered as she picked up Peridots bag and handed it to her after she got out of the supply room herself, “As for now, you should get your ‘great and lovable’ self off to your next class.”

She couldn’t help but love the embarrassed look on Peridots face when she used her own self-describing phrase against her. Though she may not say it out loud in case others might hear, the blue haired woman just found it adorable. Her smile never left as Peridot stammered a goodbye and hurried out of the art room.

Hopefully Peridot would take her up on her offer.

#TMIB #cam writes shit #Lapidot

12 notes · View notes

geochic03 · 6 years

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Amber Sunrise: Chapter 4

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Fandom: Final Fantasy XV

Pairing: Gladio x Female OC, Mention of Ignis x Female OC

Rating: T (For now)

Words: 3,672

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A/N: So I am introducing Ignis's significant other and more, kind of, in this chapter. It's really just a mention but I plan on including her down the line in the story. In reality, I have a whole character profile for her and outline of a story based all about their relationship and how she came to meet the bro's during their journey. It will be a loooong story so maybe one day I will get around to posting it. But for now enjoy!

It had been a few weeks since he had taken Peri out for a drink at her own family’s tavern. Since then Gladio had been too busy helping Cor train new Kingsglaive recruits and orchestrating some larger hunts himself. He had barely been back in town a few days before he was called upon by the Marshall again to help take out a demon nest that was starting to crop up near Cauthess. If they didn’t act now things would get out of hand.

He and Peri had exchanges a few texts here and there but that had been the extent of their conversations. He hadn’t made much headway in getting to know her better and he had to admit, it frustrated him. Girls had always come easy to him, never taking more than a few smooth lines and a drink to get them to open up to him. But Peri, she was different. Closed off and abrasive she never gave out more information than necessary. By now he would have moved on, tried his luck with another girl, but there was just something about her that he couldn’t put his finger on…something that kept drawing him back in. As soon as he had more time he was going to make it his personal mission to figure out what her deal was, starting with deciphering whatever it was her sister, the tavern girl, mentioned was in her past.

As Gladio chugged down the mud water that passed as coffee he placed his mug into the shared sink as he went to grab his travel bag.

“Leaving already Gladdy?” he heard a soft voice say behind him.

Gladio looked up to see Iris, clad in her night shirt and bathrobe yawning by their shared bedroom door. She had changed so much over the last few years. Aside from growing her chestnut locks out her features had grown hard, toughened by the last seven years of darkness, she even had a few scars that could rival his own. Came with the territory he supposed with being a demon hunter. As much as he despised his little sister taking up the fight, he has grown to admire her determination and unwavering spirit as a leader for not only her fellow hunters but for Lestallum as well. He was proud of her no matter how all of this ends up turning out.

Gladio gave her a small smile as he threw on his leather jacket “Yeah, the Marshall called, said a nest is getting out of hand near Cauthess. Wants me and the guys to help take it out.”

“Ignis and Prompto? Wow, you guys haven’t fought together in ages. Must feel good getting the band back together.” Iris said with a small smile as she joined him in the small living space that made up their apartment. It was a tight squeeze but manged to work for the two of them plus Talcott. Between the three of them only two are ever there at the same time, especially now with Talcott training with the Marshall to fight.

Gladio gave her a shrug “I guess, it’s not like I never seem them. I just saw Prompto out at a bar a few weeks ago. And I saw Ignis at HQ last month.”

“Yeah but you guys don’t fight together like you used to. You know when you guys were with…” Iris began but trailed off as she remembered the glue that held the group together.

Gladio gave a heavy sigh as he rested his hand on her shoulder “He’s coming back…and when he does we will all be ready.”

“Yeah…I know…” Iris said looking up at him, trying her best to give him a reassuring smile.

“But until then, there is a demon nest calling my name. I’ll catch you later sis.” Gladio said giving her a kiss on the cheek before departing their apartment.

Gladio gave out a large sigh as he entered the narrow streets of Lestallum. It wasn’t that he wasn’t looking forward to the hunt, or seeing the others. It was just every time he saw them, when they were together, it was a constant reminder of who wasn’t there with them. He would be lying to himself if he said he didn’t feel a little lost the first few years without Noctis. His whole life’s purpose was to be the king’s shield. And here he was, a shield with no king to protect. So instead, he poured his everything into training, hunting and helping out where he could. For a few years it was enough…but lately he couldn’t help but feel like something was missing from his life. Maybe that’s why he was so determined to figure Peri out.

As if on queue he looked up to see the object of his thoughts briskly walking through crowded streets, decked out in her EXINERS uniform, he could only guess by her lack of thermal gear that she was either just getting off work or was assigned to inspection duty. Gladio’s eyes lingered on her, noticing her loosely tied back brown hair and how her eyes shinned in the artificial lighting. She was in her element, and she looked beautiful.

At that moment he decided to delay his meet up with the Marshall for a moment, making his way towards her at a fast pace. As he caught up with her he placed his hand on her shoulder gently, causing her to startle and jump back, immediately getting into fighting stance.

He watched as Peri’s demeanor changed, her eyes narrowing and then letting out a relieved breath as she saw it was just him.

“Uh…hi…” Gladio said with a low chuckle.

Peri frowned as she let her guard down “Damn it Gladio what the hell?!? I thought you were some weirdo coming up from behind me like that!”

Gladio nervously rubbed the back of his neck “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Peri rolled her eyes as she folded her arms “Just don’t do it again. Did you need something?”

“Nope, just wanted to say hi, haven’t seen you around in a few weeks.” Gladio said as moved closer to her.

“Right…uh hi…” Peri said looked away from him, rubbing her arms nervously.

“Are you just getting off work or…” Gladio began trying to make small talk.

Peri shook her head “No…Holly needed me to check an energy transmitter out near the front gates. Said it might be on the fritz.”

Gladio smirked “Sending out her best huh?”

Peri waved him off as she began walking again “No…I was just the lucky victim.”

“Well she must trust you enough to send you out on your own?” Gladio asked her as he followed her.

“I guess…don’t you have somewhere else to be or something? You know, other than following me around Lestallum.” Peri asked him as they continued.

“Trust me…no following here, just a coincidence. But, it just happens to be that I’m going that way too. About to set out on another mission.” Gladio said with a wink.

Gladio couldn’t help but chuckle to himself as he watched Peri nervously rebuff his flirting attempt.

“Right, just a coincidence…” she said as she looked away.

They walked in silence a few more moments before Gladio spoke up again “So…why did you stop hunting?”

Peri bit he lip before looking at him “I…Sera said something to you didn’t she?”

“What no…I just…you know you never said why. I was just curious because you’re a pretty good fighter and…” Gladio said in his defense.

As they rounded a corner towards the main gate to the city the two were stopped by the sound of someone behind them.

“Gladio…” the deep voice said.

The pair turned to see Cor standing behind them with his arms crossed.

“Uh hey there Marshall…I was just headed over to the convoy…” Gladio said running his hand through his long locks.

Gladio looked over to see Peri staring up at the Marshall in a state of shock.

Cor looked them both over, lingering on Peri for a moment before giving her a nod. Peri responded with a small nod of her own before turning his attention to Gladio.

“We’re meeting over in the departure area, I would suspect you won’t be much longer?” Cor said to him with a stern look.

“Right…got it. I’ll just be another second.” Gladio responded.

Cor nodded in confirmation as he turned to Peri “Good to see you again.”

“Uh…you too…sir.” Peri stuttered out as Cor walked away towards to the departure area where Ignis and Prompto were already waiting.

Gladio turned his attention back to Peri “Do you guys know each other or something?”

Peri bit her lip and turned to him “Listen…I told my self what’s in the past is the past. I’d really rather not talk about something that has little to no value in moving forward with life.”

Gladio frowned “That doesn’t mean you should just forget about it you know.”

At that moment Gladio heard Prompto call his name from the truck Cor had reserved for their mission. Gladio gave a heavy sigh as he looked back at her.

“Peri...just…listen I have to go take care of this daemon nest thing out in Cauthess. I’ll probably be gone a few days but I’ll probably have some more free time after. The Marshall owes me that much after the jams I got him out of these last few months. Maybe we can get together for a friendly drink again…or a dinner…as friends.” Gladio said giving her a hopeful smile.

Peri gave a heavy sigh “Ok…fine…as friends.”

Gladio gave her a wide smile as he placed his hand on her shoulder “Great…I’ll text you when I’m back in town.”

“Ok…” Peri said as she watched him wave to her as he walked off towards the departure area.

As he left her he couldn’t help but smile, she had actually agreed to see him again. Before he got too far he heard a voice shout behind him.

“Hey Gladio!” she yelled back at him.

Gladio turned to see her running up towards him.

“This mission…is probably dangerous…right?” she asked him.

Gladio waved her off “Nah…don’t worry. It will take more than a few daemons to take me down.”

Peri gulped hard before responding “Ok…you know…don’t do anything stupid.”

“Aye aye captain, I’ll try my best.” Gladio chuckled giving her a mock salute.

Peri rolled her eyes and shook her head “Forget I said anything…goodbye Gladio.”

With that he watched her turn away and walk back towards the transmitter Holly had wanted her to take a look at. Gladio couldn’t help but smile knowingly as he watched her, hopeful that when he returns, they could pick up where they left off.

***************************************************************************

“Hey Gladio! Long time no see man!” Prompto said cheerily as he taped him on the shoulder.

Gladio rolled his eyes “Did you forget about that beer I bought you a few weeks ago? And that girl I set you up with?”

Prompto waved his hands in defense “No no I remember!”

“Setting you up with a girl? Well do tell how that panned out…” Ignis smirked as he joined them.

Gladio smirked at Ignis’s comment “Yeah, I practically handed her on a plate to you.”

“Uh well…I got her phone number but, I haven’t exactly had a chance to call her yet…” Prompto said as he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

“Well what are you waiting for? She seemed pretty into you last I saw. You shouldn’t keep a girl waiting you know. She might get snagged by another guy.” Gladio lectured.

“I don’t see what you would have to loose.” Ignis added.

“Well I just…who knows what she thought about me! For all I know she was just being nice and will never respond back again if I text her.” Prompto began before Gladio cut him off.

“How bout this, I recently found out that she has an older sister who I’ve been texting on and off lately. How bout when we get back you clear your schedule and we go out to dinner with them? With her sister there I am sure she will at least agree.” Gladio smirked remembering what Peri had agreed to not moments before.

“Whoa a double date with you big guy? I mean, shit I am honored you would even let me come on a date with you!” Prompto said excitedly.

Gladio rolled his eyes “First of all, you’re not dating me. Second of all it’s just a friendly dinner between friends.”

“Right….well big guy you have a deal. Just tell me where and when.” Prompto said ribbing him.

Gladio turned to Ignis and smirked “Well, what do you say Iggy, want to make it a triple and bring Juliet with you? I am sure if Iris is in town I can convince her to watch your little one for you.”

Ignis waived them off “No that’s quite alright, thank you for the offer though. Once we return Talcott has agreed to head out to Malmalam Thicket to inspect the royal tomb there for more information concerning Ardyn and the prophesy. Maybe some other time….if all goes well that is.”

Gladio shrugged “Ok…if you say so. Figured I would give you guys a break.”

“So, are we ready to go?” Cor said as he approached he men.

Ignis nodded “Yes, and good to see you again Marshall, hope all is well.”

“Yes, you as well Ignis. You look in good spirits, how is Juliet and the little one doing?” Cor said with a soft smile.

“They have been well, Juliet is anxious to get back out on the field once she has been cleared for combat as you can imagine. Isabelle is much the same, I must admit though, she is growing much too quickly for my liking.” Ignis said with a smile.

Cor nodded “I can imagine. When I have time I will stop by and see how they are doing.”

“I am sure she would very much appreciate that.” Ignis responded as he adjusted his visor.

Gladio looked on as he watched Ignis speak fondly of his family. He couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealously for the man, one day hoping he could find such happiness in life. He had to admit, having a child had changed Ignis, in a good way. He finally had something else to live for other than his duty, and someone else to take care of other than his charge. He was the kings shield but Ignis was proof that there was life beyond duty.

“Well we better get a move on. We have to make a detour at HQ and pick up a few other hunters who volunteered to help out and then we will make our way to Cauthess.” Cor explained as he walked to the driver side of the truck.

“So Marshal, do you know that girl I was talking to earlier?” Gladio said as he joined Cor in the front seat. Prompto and Ignis had both opted to ride in the back of the truck for fresh air.

“I don’t know her per se, but I most certainly remember running into her before the darkness fell.” Cor explained as he started the truck.

Gladio thought for a moment before respond “How did you run into her.”

“It really was just in passing. She used to be apart of a trio of hunters. It initially piqued my interest when I was at Meldacio helping them coordinate taking out some meddlesome beasts by the Vesperpool while you all were running around Cauthess. I thought it was strange that a threesome would be going out on hunts as typically the hunters stuck to pairs.” Cor explained as he drove through the darkened haze towards Meldacio.

“A trio huh? Who else did she hunt with?” Gladio asked still trying to pry information from him. He knew about her twin brother, but a third member she failed to mention.

Cor looked over and narrowed his eyes “I’m not one hundred percent sure…why do you ask.”

Gladio shrugged “No reason. I teamed up with her at the power plant a few weeks back. She has some impressive fighting skills. I’m just surprised she would waste her talent by working at the power plant.”

Cor shook his head “Not everyone is cut out for the hunter lifestyle.”

“Yeah I guess so.” Gladio responded looking out into the void.

There was silence between the two before Cor spoke up again “I can’t believe I am about to give you girl advice, but if you are so curious why don’t you just ask her?”

Gladio chuckled at Cor’s comment “Who would have ever thought. And for the record, I did…but she wasn’t exactly forth coming with information.”

“Give it sometime. Not everyone is as much of an open book as you are Gladio.. Trust me, when she’s ready, she will tell you.” Cor explained.

Gladio nodded in agreement before looking over to his long time mentor curious “You know something don’t you?”

Cor smirked “Maybe…but it’s not my story to tell.”

Gladio sighed as he went back staring out his window. It wasn’t that he wasn’t patient. She was different than other girls he had met. He wasn’t even sure what he could call their relationship acquaints? Sort of friends? They have run into each other enough times now that they weren’t acquaintances but they had only ever hung out once when he bought her a drink. But she did agree to a dinner as friends. So distant friends he figured at the very least. Maybe before he dropped the double dinner date bomb he needed to let her know that he wasn’t going to pressure her. Maybe the Marshall was right, he needed to back off a bit and let her come to him.

He quickly took out his phone and pulled up the contact in his sights. He quickly typed up a message and sent it off, turning the screen off knowing that he probably wouldn’t get a response back. To his surprise not a few minuets later his screen lit up with a text notification. He gave a small smile as he read the response before typing his reply putting his phone away.

Gladio: Hey, I don’t mean to come off so strong but I’m not gonna lie, you are a pretty mysterious chick. Whatever happened in the past is in the past. But if you ever do feel like talking about it, I’m all ears.

Peri: Ok. Just make sure you come back alive. I heard a few off duty hunters say that the nest that’s out there in Cauthess is the worst seen in years.

Gladio: Like I told you before, it will take more than a few demons to take me down. Just keep the lights on and everything will be fine. I’ll text you when I’m back in town.

Peri: Like I told you, nothing is taking this plant down on my watch. See you around, Gladio.

Gladio smirked at her last line. Maybe things were starting to go in his favor after all. As he put his phone away and looked out at the scenery passing him by, he could help but think that maybe he was finally finding something worth coming back home for. Something more than just duty. But where ever his new found relationship with Peri goes, he knew one thing for sure, this was the beginning of something and only time would tell what the something ends up being.

#ffxv #final fantasy xv #ffxv fanfiction #amber sunrise #chapter 4 #gladiolus x oc #cor the wise #Original Work #iris makes an appearance #oc's galore #gladiolus amicitia

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