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sachigram · 3 years

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With Teeth Chapter 4

((click here to read on ao3!))

The next few days pass by normally for Shizuo. He's been making more of an effort to be social, doesn't want to make his friends feel left out of his life. He could see how it hurt them before when he pushed them away. As a result, he has more things to do, and he feels better than he has in ages.

Tonight, he's sitting across from Tom, next to Vorona. They're all having drinks to celebrate a successful week at work, and Shizuo is looking forward to the weekend. He doesn't have any plans on his off days, but he likes not having to worry about tracking down some low-life, even if he's only free of it two days a week.

“Any plans this weekend?” Tom asks them both. He's flushed, clearly tipsy already. Shizuo has a high tolerance, and he's pretty sure Vorona does too, because she's drinking faster than either of them, and she seems perfectly sober.

“Negative,” Vorona replies while Shizuo merely shakes his head. “I may go to the bookstore tomorrow.”

“Your checks all go to books,” Tom says. “You should live a little.”

“To acquire knowledge is life's goal.”

Tom looks from her to Shizuo and raises his eyebrows. Immediately, Shizuo feels like Tom is about to do something stupid.

“Why don't the two of you hang out together? Since neither of you have plans.” Tom sips his drink, a smug look of satisfaction on his face. Shizuo's blood boils.

“I—“ he starts, but is interrupted when Vorona speaks.

“That would be nice.”

“Huh?” Shizuo asks, turning to face her. She's looking at him with her usual indifferent gaze, not the least bit affronted by the idea.

“If it would be agreeable for Shizuo-senpai, I see no reason we cannot meet tomorrow,” Vorona says, and she tosses back the rest of her drink. It's straight gin, no mixer, no rocks, but she doesn't even flinch. Just the smell of it has been burning Shizuo's nose.

“Oh, um. If you want to,” Shizuo says, unsure of what's even happening.

“So it's a date then,” Tom announces, and he goes to get them all more drinks.

***

“You shouldn't have done that,” Shizuo grumbles later, after Vorona has split away from them to go catch her train. “You made her feel like she had to agree.”

“Shizuo, come on, man. How do you miss the way she looks at you? She's had a thing for you since she started working with us.” Tom is stumbling a bit as he walks, and Shizuo considers letting him face-plant if he falls.

“She does not. And even if she did, what the hell am I supposed to do about it?”

Tom looks up at Shizuo, giving him such an incredulous look that it's almost reminisce of the way the flea looks at him.

“What are you supposed to do about it?” Tom repeats, and then he laughs. “Oh, my god. You're killing me.”

“Shut up, you know what I mean. I'm not someone that anyone should have a thing for. I'm dangerous, and it's only gotten worse.” Shizuo looks up at the sky, sees the lights of airplanes flying overhead. “I don't want to hurt her.”

“You don't hurt people who don't deserve it,” Tom replies, and Shizuo thinks of that strange dream he had before, the one where Izaya was there, seeing his worst memory. “Give yourself some credit, would you? Have fun. Try to be happy.”

“I am trying. This is a bad idea.”

“Well, too late now. If you stand her up, you really will be an asshole,” Tom says, and then he falls on his face. Shizuo makes no move to help him up.

Shizuo doesn't sleep that night. He's too anxious about his “date” with Vorona, has no idea what they'll do or what they'll talk about. He's tried before to think of himself as the kind of guy who would be lucky enough to have a pretty girl on his arm, but it's always too much of a fantasy, something unattainable and pointless to hope for. Vorona is strong, and she's seen him fight, knows what he's capable of, but it's different to behold someone dangerous from the sidelines and then up close, when it's turned on you. He imagines her look of indifference changing to real fear when he lunges at her, and he doesn't realize until he's waking up that he actually managed to slip into unconsciousness.

“Fuck.” He gets up from the bed, moving to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. He's terrified of what will come, of what he is. More than anything, he's sick of being so terrified. His reflection is older, maybe wiser, but all Shizuo can see is that same snotty kid who hurt someone he wanted to protect once.

***

He meets Vorona at the train station. She's dressed the same as she always is, and he's grateful she didn't do anything different in her routine for his sake. She lifts a hand in greeting, studying his face.

“You appear tired,” she says.

“Yeah. Didn't sleep well last night. Sorry.”

“No apology necessary. Perhaps we could get coffee first, both wake up a little more.”

As it turns out, following Vorona around isn't too different from trailing after Tom. She doesn't talk nearly as much, but she doesn't seem to mind taking the lead, and she doesn't take his silence as disinterest. They wind up going to the bookstore Vorona mentioned, grabbing coffee from a little kiosk outside before wandering the aisles. Vorona picks up a book every now and then, explains it to Shizuo in a way he can understand without being pretentious about it, and he finds that he's actually enjoying himself.

After Vorona purchases some new books, they make their way down the street to a restaurant she says she's been wanting to try. This is the part Shizuo was worried about, having to sit alone with her and have her realize he's got absolutely nothing interesting to say, but they manage to keep the conversation going. It's easier than Shizuo expected, and he finds himself thinking he should thank Tom later for setting this up.

“You seem happier than before,” Vorona says when they're walking out of the restaurant. “You were so quiet for so long.”

Shizuo opens his mouth to ask what she means, but he thinks he knows. He was feeling sorry for himself after the bite, wanted to keep everyone out, pushed them away. He is happier now than he was then, but he's still a coward, and he's still scared of anyone learning his secret.

“I'm better now,” he says, feeling that it's true.

“I am very glad,” she replies, and she gives him a rare smile.

That night, as Shizuo walks home after escorting Vorona to the train station, he feels his phone vibrating in his pocket.

“Yo,” he says, picking up the call.

“How did it go?” Tom asks.

“It was...nice,” Shizuo says. He can practically feel Tom's frustrations through the phone.

“Nice? That's not telling me anything!”

“We had a good time. It was much better than I thought it would be.”

“I guess that's all I'm going to get from you. Either way, I'm glad. I think you'll both be good for each other.”

“Yeah,” Shizuo replies. For the first time in his life, he can picture a girl on his arm. “Me too.”

***

The days that follow are slow, but enjoyable. Shizuo goes to work, hangs out with Tom and Vorona, makes plans to spend time with Vorona again on the upcoming weekend. He's almost able to forget all about his ailment, and the bullshit alliance he has with Izaya, who has been silent since storming out of his place the morning after the full moon. Shizuo will have to see him soon so he can stock back up on his potion, and he's not looking forward to it. Part of him worries what Izaya might do if he learns Shizuo is dating Vorona. Izaya wants to ruin every good thing in Shizuo's life. There's no way he wouldn't interfere.

Still, Shizuo is enjoying his period of peace. He's able to sidestep his involuntary entanglement with the other world, with Izaya. He's enjoying feeling like himself again, whoever that may be.

Friday night, before his date with Vorona on Saturday, he's able to find sleep easily, but it doesn't feel like sleeping. He closes his eyes in his room, opens them somewhere else. He hears the sounds of crying, of screaming, and while he should move away from it, he finds himself moving closer. There's a familiar scene before him, one of himself standing in front of a small boy cowering in a corner while two toddlers scream in their cribs. It feels like he's been here before, but he can't place why, not until the small boy looks up at him.

“Izaya,” Shizuo breathes. He doesn't know his own age here, but he can see how small Izaya is, how scared. It's unsettling. Shizuo has never seen fear on Izaya's face before.

“Who are you?” Izaya asks him, looking up at him with wonder.

“You don't know me?” Shizuo asks in disbelief. Izaya has his webs of deceit stretched over everything, over everyone, so time and space probably mean nothing to him either. But when Izaya shakes his head, Shizuo finds he instantly believes him.

“Am I dreaming?” Izaya looks around. “Are you a vision? You're not a ghost, right?”

“No,” Shizuo says. “I'm dreaming. I don't know what the fuck you're doing. You're a witch, right? You've gotta be the one doing something.”

Izaya flinches at the word “witch”, and he looks nervously around himself before looking back up at Shizuo.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Shizuo snaps, and Izaya flinches even more. Shizuo feels concern for the kid in front of him, even knowing who he is, or at least who he'll grow up to be. Is this real? It's not real; it can't be real. It's a dream, one of those lucid dreams he's heard about. He'll ask Shinra about it later.

“Your mind is loud,” Izaya says, and he stands up, padding across the floor to stand in front of Shizuo. How is the flea so tall? He's a small kid, can't be more than twelve if the twins are still toddlers, but Shizuo is looking in Izaya's eyes. Izaya snorts, amused. “I'm not tall. You're the same height as me.”

Shizuo looks down at himself, realizes he's a kid here, too, but with all his memories of the future. He looks back at Izaya, dubious of him, and the amusement drains from Izaya's face.

“You really don't like me,” Izaya says, and he fidgets.

“You ruined my life,” Shizuo spits. “Or you will, anyway.”

“Oh.” Izaya's voice is small. “I've sensed terrible things to come in the future. Things for myself, especially, but I don't know how to stop any of it. I don't think it can be stopped.”

“The future is shitty already, but you make it worse. You enjoy making people suffer. The Izaya I know is—“ Shizuo stops himself, realizes he was yelling. Izaya seems terrified of him, but also curious, his eyes shining even in the darkness of the room.

“You're the realest vision I've ever had,” Izaya says. “I hope I remember you. I forget them sometimes when they're over.” The lights of the room begin flickering on and off, and Izaya puts his hands over his ears. “Go away!” he shouts towards the corner of the room.

“What's happening? Who's doing this?” Shizuo asks, feeling like he should protect this child version of his greatest enemy. The Izaya before him is just a kid, and Shizuo doesn't know how or why, but he can feel how incredibly lonely Izaya is.

“A ghost,” Izaya replies, and he narrows his eyes at Shizuo as if daring him to argue. “I see them all the time, and they want me to help them, but I don't know how. They won't listen to me when I say that.”

“Where are your parents?”

Izaya shrugs, and Shizuo feels rage boiling inside him. He remembers hearing from Shinra once that Izaya's parents were never around, that Izaya raised the twins practically on his own. Mairu and Kururi are weird, certainly, and Shizuo isn't fond of the idea of letting them anywhere near his own brother, but he think they're good kids, all things considered, especially if this is how they were raised.

“My grandparents are around,” Izaya says, seeming to read Shizuo's thoughts. “Or, they will be tomorrow. They already came by today to bring food.”

“That's so fucked up,” Shizuo blurts, and to his surprise, Izaya smiles.

“My parents aren't bad people. They're incredibly busy, and they weren't expecting to have more kids.” Izaya looks to the the twins, who are watching him, still warbling even though the lights have stopped flickering for now. Their little hands are reaching towards him through the bars of their cribs. “As for my grandparents, they're not in great health. They can't do much to help aside from cooking and checking in every now and then.”

“Sounds like a lot of excuses,” Shizuo says, thinking of his own family. His mother never even wanted to leave their family overnight, much less weeks, months at a time. Izaya shrugs again.

“Maybe so. It doesn't matter much to me anymore. They never listened to me even when they were here.” Izaya studies Shizuo for a moment. “Your mind is—“

“Loud, yeah. You keep saying that.”

“It's more than that! It's like static and whirlwind mixed together. I can feel you wanting me out of your head, but you keep letting me back in, pulling me in, really. It's like you want me to hear you.”

“I don't,” Shizuo says flatly. “How are you doing any of this, anyway? I'm not anywhere near you in the present right now. Why are we sharing the same dream?”

“How should I know? I was born with this power, but I don't know how to use it all yet,” Izaya says, and Shizuo frowns at him, wants to bring up the future and all the terrible things Izaya will do once he does master his stupid power, but it would be pointless. This Izaya has no idea of the future, probably isn't even real. This is a dream, probably, Shizuo's brain attempting to humanize the flea.

“You called me a witch,” Izaya murmurs, more to himself than to Shizuo.

“That's what you call yourself,” Shizuo says.

“I've never had a word for it before. I just knew I was...different. People romanticize it, you know, being different from everyone else. Standing out. Maybe for a while, it was fun. But lately I'm like an island in myself, and every day the distance to the mainland grows.” Izaya pauses, as if hearing himself say so out loud is illuminating in some way. “I'm being dramatic, aren't I? I didn't mean to say any of that.”

“I know what you mean,” Shizuo finds himself saying. He doesn't elaborate, but he doesn't really have to. He can feel Izaya in his head, like a prickle on the edges of his subconscious.

“Why aren't we friends?” Izaya asks, and the question is so earnest, so innocent, that Shizuo finds himself bolting upright in his bed, jerked back into wakefulness.

“Fuck these fucking dreams,” he hisses, rolling over to check his phone. It's a little after seven in the morning, an hour before his alarm was set to go off. He's already got a message from Vorona, telling him she's looking forward to their outing.

He doesn't know why he can't get Izaya's face out of his mind.

***

Shizuo's second date with Vorona goes well.

They meet at Sunshine 60, have some drinks with their food. Conversation comes easier this time, and there's hardly any silence between them. While they walk, Shizuo finds her hand in his, and he doesn't hate it. Her hand is soft, but not too soft. She has the same callused hands he does, and it reminds him that she can take care of herself, that she can handle him, so long as he's careful to remain human around her.

He drank enough to have a little bit of a buzz going as they make their way up towards the observatory. Vorona says she hasn't seen it yet, and wants to. It reminds Shizuo that this is the sort of thing people who visit Ikebukuro find exciting, while it remains mundane to the locals. He trails after her as they walk, and he doesn't know why he notices a familiar face off to the side, outside a comic book store, but he does notice, and he stops in his tracks. Vorona looks up at him questioningly.

“What is it?” she asks.

“Hey, I'll meet you up there. I need to ask someone something really quick.”

Vorona studies him. “Affirmative. I will go on ahead.”

Shizuo watches her go for a moment, and then he turns back to the comic book store, making his way through the crowd. A redheaded man is leaning against the building, his arms crossed. He grins up at Shizuo when he notices his approach.

“Well, well. Heiwajima Shizuo. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I don't remember your name,” Shizuo says bluntly, and the man laughs.

“Yeah, why would you? I'm sure you've got more pressing things to manage these days. You can call me Akabayashi, if you bother to remember it.”

Shizuo recognizes him from all that shit with Akane. Akabayashi also was there with the twins that day at the dojo, Vorona's first day of work.

“You know, don't you?” Shizuo asks, keeping his voice low. Akabayashi raises an eyebrow.

“You'll have to be more specific.”

“Cut the shit. You know what I am, and you know who did it. I wanna know why.”

“Well, let's see,” Akabayashi says, scratching his chin. “As I recall, you don't keep your head down much. In fact, you've gotten involved in plenty of things you shouldn't have been. You know that already, so your pressing question really is who, isn't it?”

“I already know Izaya ordered it. I wanna know who it was that did the dirty work.” Shizuo glowers at Akabayashi, hating how amused the man seems. He's not scared of Shizuo in the least. It's refreshing, but it's also irritating.

“Don't make assumptions that we take orders from the likes of that brat. Anyway, yeah, I know who did it, and so would you, if you saw him. He's laying low for now, under orders. I can't give you a name. You understand.”

“Bullshit, I do!” Shizuo snaps, and he lifts Akabayashi up by the collar of his suit. “Give me a name, dammit! It's the least you fuckers can do after you all stood back and let me turn into this— thing!”

“This is the problem with youngsters like you. You're too emotional. It's okay, kid, I was like that before, too, but this city has a way of beating passion right out of you.” Akabayashi doesn't seems concerned at all, even as his feet dangle. In fact, he looks like he's having a blast. “You'll know in due time. A little patience would do you good.”

“It's been seven months,” Shizuo says, offended at the idea he hasn't been too patient already.

“And? What do you want, a medal?”

“You fucker—“

“They had it! They really had it!” A small, excited voice says, and Shizuo finds himself looking down into the wide eyes of Awakusu Akane. She's carrying a bag from the store, clearly over the moon about her purchase.

“I'm glad,” Akabayashi says. “You can tell me all about that story of yours while we get lunch.”

“Shizuo-san...” Akane whimpers, and Shizuo releases Akabayashi. “You're not here to fight, right?”

“I was thinking about it,” Shizuo admits, “but I decided against it.”

“I'm not ready to fight you yet!” Akane says, her voice more determined now. “But I will be! I'm trying extra hard at the dojo, and I can challenge you soon!”

“I look forward to it. Just don't work too hard, okay? Getting strong means taking it easy sometimes, too,” Shizuo says, putting a hand on her head.

“Right! I'll do my best!”

“Anything else, or can I take the little miss to our lunch date?” Akabayashi asks, and Shizuo glares at him.

“I'll ask you again later.”

“Go for it! Maybe I'll give you an answer. Maybe you could ask that information broker friend of yours, too.” Akabayashi turns on his heel, pulling Akane along with him with one hand, his cane in the other. “Or then again, steer clear of that one. He's not right in the head.”

“Bye, Shizuo-san!”

Shizuo growls after them, and then he goes to meet Vorona. Akabayashi was right; Shizuo does have more pressing things to worry about.

***

After parting ways with Vorona at the train station again, Shizuo considers going to see Shinra and asking about the dreams he's been having, but he decides he'll do it later. He had a good day, and he doesn't want Shinra dampening it with his overstepping. Especially while Shizuo has something else even more terrible to deal with.

He knocks, and it takes a few moments for the door to open. Finally, an irate brunette appears, glaring at Shizuo.

“What do you want now?” she asks, and her voice sounds accusatory, as if Shizuo is interrupting more than just her current peace.

“I'm here to see Izaya,” Shizuo says, and she rolls her eyes.

“I didn't think you were here for anything else. Come in, I guess.” She steps to the side, allowing Shizuo inside. He doesn't see Izaya anywhere.

“He left something for you,” she says, moving to the corner. She emerges with a large box in her arms, and she shuffles towards Shizuo, letting him take it from her. “He said he knew you were coming, and that he didn't want to see you.”

“Of course,” Shizuo spits, taking the box that's filled with his potions. He doesn't know why he expected to see Izaya here, why he's disappointed he didn't.

“Please tell me you didn't give him anything to use against you,” the woman says. Shizuo frowns at her.

“What was your name again?” he asks.

“Is that really relevant? I'm your mortal enemy's secretary, and I also hate him. Watching him be angry about you is one of my few joys in life.”

“That's pathetic,” Shizuo says, feeling a vindictive sort of satisfaction when her lip curls at him.

“I wasn't looking for your approval. Answer my question.”

“Where is Izaya?” Shizuo asks, bypassing her and her scrutiny.

“Does it matter? Out. I thought you'd be happy. Now answer me, dammit. What's he holding over your head? Is it worth seeing him so frequently? To my understanding, the two of you only crossed paths before by accident, and it was always antagonistic.”

“If you hate him so much, you shouldn't work for him,” Shizuo snaps, disliking her and her unwanted insight into his life. “You seem capable enough to handle yourself. What do you need him for?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” she says flatly, and he scoffs.

“Yeah? Well, I asked you first. The thing is, we both know what we're getting from him, right? And neither of us feel the need to share it with anyone else.”

“Whatever. Sue me for wondering. I won't take pity on you again.”

Shizuo is all but shoved from the apartment, the box of potion vials in his arms. He doesn't like anything about the way he feels, but he trudges home, his stomach in knots the entire way. Not seeing Izaya feels like an omen of sorts, like a harbinger of things to come.

***

He dreams later, first of nothing, and then of that same room, of the twins screaming in their cribs, and Izaya crying out in fear. It seems like the slate has been wiped clean, like this version of Izaya never spoke to any version of Shizuo. But that's accurate, isn't it? This is all pretend. It's all just a dream.

“Why do you keep coming back here?” Izaya's voice asks, and when Shizuo meets his eyes, it's the present version of Izaya. He's standing in the corner, right beside his past self, who doesn't seem to be able to see either of them now.

“I don't know,” Shizuo says. He's not a kid this time. He's towering over Izaya, but of course Izaya isn't backing down. “How are you doing this?”

“Me?” Izaya asks, incredulous. “How am I doing what? You're the one spying on my past.”

“I'm not the one with magic!” Shizuo roars. “Don't act like I'm invading your privacy, not when you're the one who's always linking us. It's not my fault that it goes both ways.”

Izaya pales, as if this thought only just occurred to him. He recovers quickly, schooling his features, turning away from Shizuo in a show of nonchalance.

“You got what you wanted from me. You got your potions, the ones that keep you so fucking tame—“

“Who are you to tell me what I want?” Shizuo interjects. “I never wanted to deal with you at all, especially so frequently. And even then, you couldn't leave well enough alone, right? You had to start haunting my dreams, too.”

When their eyes meet again, Shizuo is filled with a sudden onslaught of understanding, thoughts he knows aren't his own. Izaya isn't doing this on purpose, doesn't know how it keeps happening, doesn't like it any more than Shizuo does. Shizuo's mind is almost impossible for Izaya to pull away from, like a black hole, and even with Izaya trying to pull back, Shizuo doesn't seem to be allowing it. In fact, Shizuo is strengthening the link by being here, by interacting with Izaya's past. He's the one pulling Izaya in, like a child in desperate need of company.

“That's not true,” Shizuo growls, not appreciating Izaya's comparison. He can't help looking over to the younger version of Izaya, who is still crying pitifully. Shizuo feels the need to protect him from his future self's callous words, too, even if he can't seem to hear anything other than the twins and the ghost terrorizing them.

“In case you haven't noticed, I have been leaving you alone. I'm incredibly busy, and every time I actually manage to sleep, here you are, poking around. Snooping. Don't you have better things to do, like entertain that Matryoshka doll of yours?” Izaya asks, and Shizuo whirls back to face him, his mouth a twisted snarl of rage.

“Don't you fucking talk to me about her.”

“Don't talk to me at all. Get the fuck out!” Izaya shouts, and the door behind Shizuo opens. He's yanked backwards by an incredible force, and he falls through the doorway. He keeps falling through black nothingness, images flashing before his eyes as he does, memories he knows aren't his own. He tries to grab onto them, tries to make sense of any of them, but he can't. They're gone as soon as they appear.

Right before he hits whatever ground is below, he jerks awake, finds he's twisted himself into his sheets and managed to topple over into the floor. Cursing, he untangles himself, and he thinks back to the dream, at least, the parts of it he can remember. The image of a young, nervous Izaya talking to older men in fine suits is at the forefront of his mind.

Miles away, he knows Izaya is awake, too.

#with teeth fic #shizaya #Shizuo Heiwajima #Izaya Orihara #werewolf shizuo #witchy izaya

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allkinds-oftrash · 3 years

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To Lady Paige, With Love

A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first time writing for Bridgerton and Regency in general so hopefully it's not too OOC and modernized but do let me know if you have tips to make the writing style seem more regency-like.

Main Pairing: Eloise Bridgerton x FemOC! Paige Crane (Past! Marina Thompson x Paige Crane)

Anyways this came to me as an idea because I just could not stand Phillip in the original To Sir Phillip, With Love and big thanks to @ladiesofwinterfell whose Phillip posts only fuelled my need for a new version of TSPWL. So I wanted to try my hand at writing a genderbent version of him who softer and kinder in her approach when with Marina. Instead, I somehow made a completely new character who happens to be his twin sister Paige. I tried my best to follow the book very closely with of course changes to the point of view and how Marina is treated by Paige. Another thing to note is that I used a mix of the show (especially when crafting Marina's backstory it's straight out of S1) and book's background of the characters.

I'm going to stop babbling now, and happy reading everyone!

Content & Trigger Warnings: Mentions/Descriptions of (Postpartum) Depression, Implied Child Neglect, Suicide Ideation, Suicide Attempt, Teen Pregnancy (?? I dunno if this needed to be tagged as tw but Imma add it anyways), Death and Grief.

Part 2 - Chapter 1: Right Where You Left Me

Prologue: Take Me To The Lakes [14th February 1823]

It shouldn’t have been a sunny day. It was far too beautiful of a day for a tragedy to occur.

A tragedy on Valentine’s Day, it was almost laughable.

Paige had asked the servants to open up Marina’s curtains. She knew the sunlight would do her some good. While waiting for the kitchen staff to prepare a delightful breakfast of pancakes - Marina’s favourite - she decided to check on her flowers. She had grown a lovely patch of Eden roses, specially for her best friend.

Ever since her brother Phillip and her were children, they were enamoured with botany. Phil, of course, immersed himself in the science of it. Paige preferred simple gardening. If she needed information on more complex maintenance of their plants, she knew where to find his textbooks. Over the years, Paige had developed a thumb as green as her brother’s. While Philip used botany as an escape, Paige used it as a way to connect. It was the very same type of roses that helped Paige find her way to Marina.

September 1812

Marina Thompson was a sight to behold. Her corkscrew curls were half pinned up, allowing the bottom wave of curls to be free. Paige couldn’t help but be mesmerised at how well suited her hairstyle was. Marina had a side part, almost covering the left side of her face. She donned the most simple of peach day dresses. Yet to the Crane girl, it seemed to be the most beautiful piece of garment she could have worn. To this day, Paige swears she heard music swell around her the moment she saw Marina bent over, smelling the rose bush.

She takes a deep breath. It helped ground her to muster the confidence to approach the beautiful stranger. The Crane twins have always been shy and reserved. It had done nothing good for them. She was tired of letting life pass her by. Philip could hide in the bushes for all she cared. Today, Paige decided to make a choice. A choice that could potentially bring her happiness. She was going to talk to the girl who made her heart sing.

Taking baby steps, she finally reaches Marina and gives her an awkward smile. When she needed it most, words seemed to fail her. Marina felt Paige’s presence hovering and looked up. She smiled kindly at her and handed over a rose she had plucked. Paige looked down at the rose, in a slight panic. She was rooted to the ground, unable to say or move.

“Good evening, Miss…?” Marina kept her eyes trained on Paige. She trailed her greeting off, hoping to get a name. Paige immediately fell for the warmth in her eyes. She felt safe. That definitely helped to ease her up.

“Crane. Paige Crane.” She cleared her throat awkwardly before introducing herself. She takes the rose from Marina and the two girls shake hands. All Paige could think about was how warm and soft her hand felt. Struggling to say more, she turned her focus to the rose. She twirled it around in her fingers and looked at her companion.

“These are Eden roses, also known as Rosa ‘Pierre De Ronsard’ named after the French poet. However, it was far too pretentious of a name for those out of the French border. So it was renamed Eden Climber to convey the idea of paradise was created by the exceptional beauty of this rose.” She was acutely aware she was rambling. It was the way Marina was watching her intently that brought her comfort. Marina gave her a cheeky smile when she was done with the fun fact.

“An exceptionally beautiful rose for an exceptional beauty.” Marina gestured to Paige. The botanist’s cheeks started to turn as pink as the rose.

“Eden roses from the girl who seemed to have fallen from Eden.” She thought to herself...until she heard Marina chuckle. Paige stared at her, horrified. “I thought out loud, didn’t I?”

Marina nodded, laughing with her whole body now. If Paige could have bottled the sound, she would. Marina grinned at Paige as she looped her arm through hers.

“Don’t be embarrassed. That was a lovely compliment. I think we're going to be wonderful friends, Paige Crane.”

They have been inseparable since.

***

With Phillip away on business for the week, Paige made sure to spend extra time with Marina. She carefully cut the stems of the roses to make a small bouquet. She tied them together and brought them straight to the kitchen. She placed the roses by the pancake plate. She picked up the tray and made her way to Marina's room. She balanced the tray on one hand and knocked with the other as she crossed the threshold.

"Marina, are you awake, love?" Paige asked gently. She stepped closer to her and held out the roses. "I brought you your favourite roses too, Eden Climbers. An exceptional beauty for an exceptional beauty." She echoed the line from their first meeting.

It was love at first sight. She remembered how much fun they had together. Oh where had the time gone? She frowned when she noticed the curtains were shut again. She set down the breakfast tray by her nightstand before making herself comfortable next to Marina lying down.

"If you could walk to shut the curtains, you can sit up to have some breakfast. I had the chef make your favourite." Paige attempted to waft the smell of pancakes in the direction of her companion. Marina simply turned away and stared out at the window. Paige reached out to gently stroke her hair.

Marina had her good and bad days come and go. Paige knew she had to give her space and let her heal on her own. It had been 9 years….this was definitely more serious than postpartum. She was sure of it. Paige gave her a few more minutes before digging into the breakfast herself.

"Rina, I will finish all of the pancakes if you don't come get some!" Paige attempted to sound threatening but her meek voice did her no favours. She caught a silver of a smile on Marina's face. That was all she needed that day. They just had to get through this one moment at a time.

"I saw that, love. Would it be easier if I fed you?"

Marina managed a small nod. She detested feeling like this. Like she was constantly drowning. If everyone thought they couldn't understand why she was this way, she hadn't had the foggiest idea either. Most of all, she hated how it affected Paige. Marina knew she didn't deserve this. Paige deserved a whole person not the shell of a woman she had become. She let out a soft sight and did her utmost best to sit up slightly so they wouldn't get syrup all over the sheets.

Slowly and surely, one bite at a time, Marina finished a full pancake by herself. Paige beamed at her proudly after she was done. Marina took the moment to relish in her smile. Paige always made everything better. Marina might have been depressed but she was no fool. She knew what Phillip thought of her. Even if she spent most days unable to leave her bed, she saw the way he looked at her. Like she was a fragile, broken melancholic thing. He didn't see the person underneath. He only saw the shell. Paige… She knew Marina before the twins came along. She knew the true Marina. The one who laughed and smiled and had known joy. The Marina Thompson that loved Paige Crane with all her heart. That should be reason enough to work hard to recover. To retain who she once was. Paige should be enough.

The botanist saw her companion's vacant eyes and knew she was gone for the day. Paige smiled at her comfortingly. "I ought to check on the children. I shall leave you to rest, dearest. Do ring the bell should you need anything at all." She pressed a soft kiss against her forehead before taking her leave.

As she stepped out looking for the children, Miles directed her to Phillip's greenhouse. The children loved to make mischief there when their father wasn't there. She popped her head into the Greenhouse.

"Amanda! Oliver!" She said sharply to startle them. Seeing them jump out of their bones, she couldn't help but laugh. The twins turned to her and frowned.

"Aunt Paige, that's not funny!" They pouted at her. She snorted.

"Well it was pretty funny when you did it to me yesterday. I'm simply returning the favour, my dears." She chuckled, pulling them into her embrace.

Just as she was about to suggest playing hide and seek by the lake, Amanda squeals. "Mother!" She pointed behind Paige. Paige simply blinked at her niece before slowly turning around.

Marina? It couldn't be. She caught sight of a flash of red. Red. Paige smiled to herself as she shook her head. It must be her. Red was her favourite colour. Marina always said she liked it because it was a strong colour and it made her feel strong.

Paige was filled with joy. Marina had finally gotten the strength to step out. She grabs the children's hands to bring them over to their mother. It would do them good to spend time together outside of her room. The trio was halfway across the field when Paige worked out exactly why Marina had come out. The horrifying epiphany clicked when she saw Marina slip rocked into the pockets of her dress. She immediately turned to the children. They did not have to witness this.

“Children, I need you to do me a favour.” She put on her most calming smile. She kept looking back at Marina to see how far she was away from the lake. “Could you be dears and please fetch Miles for me? Then I need you to go and play in your room. Your mother and I need to speak privately.”

“Why is she walking to the lake?” Amanda questioned. Paige tried to keep her composure. If the children kept questioning, she wouldn’t be able to reach Marina in time.

“I will explain later, please get Miles. It’s urgent.” Paige sent them off running while she sprinted in the other direction the moment they were out of sight.

“MARINA, STOP!” She bellowed at her best friend. She skidded across the field and fell face flat just yards away from the lake. Marina was completely oblivious, submerging herself into the depths of the lake. It was just her and the magnetic pull of the lake. It was like Paige wasn’t even there. She quickly recovered. She didn’t waste time undressing and dove straight into the icy waters to rescue Marina. She’ll be damned if she was going to let the love of her life go without a fight.

She couldn’t find her. Marina had dropped off to the deep end and Paige felt like she couldn’t breathe. She could never forgive herself if Marina succeeded. A glimmer of hope shone through when she caught sight of Marina’s ruby red cloak floating to the surface. Before it could get sucked into the depths of the lake, Paige screamed Marina’s name one last time as an attempt to snap her out of it. Of course, Marina couldn’t hear her. Paige set her sight on the flash of red and swam to it.

Paige did the math; Marina had been under barely a minute. It was probably not enough time to drown, but every second it took her to find Marina was one second toward her death.

She remembered swimming in the lakes with Phillip when they were children countless times. While he still swam and knew the lake better than she did. She had a vague idea where the bottom dropped off. She felt relief when she quickly found the critical point with swift, even strokes. The main obstacle was her dress working against the drag of the water, slowly her down. She cursed, not having stripped before she went in. She did her best to overcome it. Saving Marina was far too important.

She told herself she could find her. She had to find her. Before it was too late.

She found herself diving further down the murky waters. She struggled to keep her eyes open with some of the sand from the bottom swirling around her. Marina must have kicked it up as she went down. The opaque clouds of sand were making it difficult to see. Eventually, relief washed over Paige again when she spotted Marina’s red dress.

She didn’t hesitate to shoot through the waters, down to the bottom where she saw the red of her

cloak floating through the water. Paige felt her heart slow down the moment Marina was in her arms. While they were both petite women, Paige did struggle initially to swim up with Marina. Slowly but surely, she forged their way to the surface. Once she had pulled her onto the grassy knoll of the meadow, she had already lost consciousness and was nothing more than a dead weight in Paige’s arms. She took a moment to take big gasps to fill her aching lungs once again. She made sure she was okay herself before turning to save Marina.

Paige tried shaking her awake, rather violently to get the water out of Marina’s system. Just as she started chest compressions, Miles came running over.

“What happened?”

“She...fell in.” She didn’t even look up at him. She hated how her voice trembled as she said that out loud. She couldn’t bring herself to admit that Marina had gone in on purpose. Marina had chosen to leave her. She knew it was hard on her love but she refused to think about it presently. She was too busy trying to revive her. When the chest compressions felt like a failed task, Paige turned to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She blew the air into her mouth, hoping the water would come up her throat.

“Marina, please.” Paige pleaded as she finished her set of resuscitation. All she could do was wait. She finally turned to look at Miles, “Miles darling, could you help me send someone to fetch the doctor.” She requested, exhausted clear in her voice. He nodded swiftly and set on his task. Just as he turned to head to Romney Hall, Marina coughed up the water and started rasping. Paige gasped and squealed in surprise, launching herself into Marina’s arms. She called Miles back to help her guide Marina back home.

“You came back to me.” She whispered with relief, starting to softly sob against Marina’s chest. Marina was tired and she could barely keep her eyes open. Her head lulled against Paige’s.

“It’s okay, we’re going home.” Paige continued and Marina stirred, frowning.

“No…” Now it was her turn to sob, “Please don’t. Let me go, Paige. I don’t want...I don’t….” She struggled to get the words out. As much as she felt guilty for putting Paige through this whole ordeal, her pain outweighed that. The pain outweighed everything: her love for Paige, the children, even Phillip - as much as he misunderstood her. It outweighed her will to love.

Paige watched her flounder helplessly. She hated seeing Marina in so much turmoil. She didn’t want to say anything to make it worse. She just held her close and brushed her hair soothingly. “It’s alright. Let’s just get you warmed up first.”

“I can’t.” She whispered with the last ounce of energy before passing out in Paige’s arms. Paige looked down at her sadly for a moment before looking up at Miles. She shot him a sheepish look and gestured for help. Miles carried her in his arms easily while Paige just watched her with worry the whole walk back.

Once they reached Romney Hall’s foyer, she instructed Miles to send a telegram to Phillip informing him of Marina’s condition. She also called for their housekeeper, Mrs. Hurley. After she had gotten Mrs. Hurley to help her strip Marina of her drenched clothes, the older woman practically shoved Paige to her own room to change into dry clothes. She argued with her, refusing to leave Marina alone for even a moment.

“Go on, dear, I’ll be with her until you return.” Mrs. Hurley shooed Paige out of the room. She huffed and obliged. She dashed to her room to quickly change out of her own icy clothes.

She found one of her old dresses, it was a yellow floral one that Marina loved so much. Marina used to tell her that it brought out the golden flecks in her brown eyes. Paige never liked her brown haired-brown eyed look and found herself to be plain looking. It was only when Marina came along, she felt seen. Maybe being plain didn’t matter when someone loved you in spite of it. Hopeful the dress would stir up old memories, Paige stepped into Marina’s bedroom nervously. She said a silent prayer for her to be well. That the 7 minutes didn’t do that much damage.

Marina was sleeping soundly when Paige entered the room. She couldn’t help but smile at how at peace Marina looked. At that moment, she understood why Marina spent so much time hiding away and sleeping. This was probably the only place in the house that brought her peace. Sleeping brought her peace.

She had Miles check on the twins before she settled into staying by Marina’s side. She wanted to be there every step of her recovery. Then after, they could get her some real help. The twins were plenty occupied with their playtime for the day. While waiting for the doctor, Paige slipped into the bed by Marina’s side. She cradled her head against her chest and prayed. Even though she was a woman of science and was the type of Christian that only attended church during Christmas, praying was one comfort of her religion she allowed herself. She prayed for all her wishes for Marina. For her happiness, recovery...for the good times to hopefully return. As she wished, hoped and prayed, she found herself falling asleep.

When the night came and brought the doctor along with it, Paige woke with a start at the feverishly warm body beside her. The panic set in and the doctor did his best to soothe her. He coaxed her out of the bed so he could check on Marina. Paige was more than happy to oblige but stood hovering over the doctor’s shoulder the whole time.

When he diagnosed her with pneumonia, Paige’s heart sank. That was definitely going to finish the job Marina set out to do in the lake. He saw her expression and comforted her by saying she could very well recover. Essentially, it was a waiting game. Paige made peace with those odds, she would gladly take all the time in the world with her. She spent the rest of the night and the next three days nursing her. She dabbed wet cloth after cloth against her warm forehead. Made sure she had the fluffiest pillows and duvet. She specially had the cook make all of her favourite dishes to go with the broth Marina detested.

Paige wanted to tell her to fight but she didn’t want to push her. Instead she spent the last few days together, helping Marina remember the woman she once was and could be again. Paige wanted her to remember to fight for herself.

The morning after, she sat by Marina’s bedside and smiled tenderly at her.

“Do you remember our first season together?” She asked, her elbow propped against the mattress, her face resting on her palm.

Marina turned to her and looked straight into her eyes. For a moment, she was lucid. “Of course,” She said, coarsely. Paige smiled, that was the best response she had gotten from her in the last few months.

“Best and worst year of our lives, I’d reckon. I was so certain I finally had the courage to tell you how I felt. Only for me to find out you were besotted with George and was pregnant with his child!” She could chuckle about it now but she remembered feeling so awful.

Paige Crane has always known she was different in that aspect. None of the boys growing up ever caught her attention. When she became a woman, out during her first season, she couldn’t relate to the way other girls had talked about their suitors. Nothing about the male species ever stirred anything romantic within her. They were just really good friends to her. Women, on the other hand, gave her all the feelings the human emotional spectrum allowed. She wanted to love them and worship them forever. When she met Marina at Romney Hall for the first time smelling the rose bushes, it had confirmed everything she already knew. She loved women. A regular Anne Lister.

She spent a few years loving Marina until her father had sent her away to stay with her London cousins, The Featheringtons. When she heard Marina was moving, she immediately sought out her mother.

“I couldn’t bear to part with you so I convinced Mother to let me debut that season in the city.” She chuckled, recounting the lengths she went to be close to her.

“I’m glad you did.” Marina croaked, the water still hurting her lungs. Now that she felt like speaking to Paige, her body was failing her. She managed a small smile and slipped her hand into hers. She definitely remembered their first season together. It was the best time… til everything quickly went downhill with the news of George’s death, being pregnant with the twins and feeling so alone. Paige was the light in all of that darkness, she had helped pull her out of the loneliness.

Paige grinned back wildly. "I think that's the first full sentence I've heard you speak in the last few months." She nudged her teasingly.

"Oh hush." She attempted to be annoyed but started coughing violently. Paige immediately shot up.

"I'm going to fetch the doctor."

"I just need some water, darling." She coughed once more. Then took a deep breath and managed a smile to show she was fine, despite her exhaustion. Paige nodded and went to fetch her a glass.

As Marina watched Paige walk out the door, she thought back to how much everything had changed in the last 10 years. It only felt like yesterday they had debuted and Marina had tried to marry Colin Bridgerton. Oh, what a mess that was. She was so consumed by her love and grief for George, she missed what was right in front of her.

It took Marina a long time to realise it but she loved men and women the same. Paige was definitely the first woman to stir up romantic feelings within her. It also took her a while to realise loving Paige doesn't count the love she held for George. He would always be the father of her children. Paige was the love of her life.

She never expected to be like this. She always thought she would be a good mother, full of life and happy. Happy was such an overrated emotion, Marina thought bitterly. It's not something that happens, it's something you work for. You make happiness for yourself. She knew that all too well. She spent the better part of the last decade fighting off her grief and postpartum with no success.

Paige reminded her to take comfort in the good days. It was rather jarring to Martina how she was experiencing a somewhat good day after all these months. Especially the day right after she made an attempt on her life.

"Penny for your thoughts, darling?" Paige asked, handing over the glass. Marina gulp it down quickly and set the cup aside.

"Just...how we got here. I thought it would be…" she ponders over the word, "different."

"Hmm," Paige hummed, "You're telling me. We could have had quite the life if I was a man. I could have married you instead of Phillip." She wrinkled her nose. She really does love her brother, Lord only knows. And Paige is pretty sure it's a crime to hate your twin. But she absolutely despised the way Phillip treats Marina. Or rather not - he completely abandoned her in the last few years.

It's no secret that Phillip and Marina's marriage was one of convenience, security and protection for Marina. Of course, Romney Hall needed heirs and so two birds. But, he could at least pretend to care for her.

"I could have become a spinster like you. We could have been the two crazy spinsters that lived in Romney Hall together." Marina chuckled. Paige beamed at her. It had been so long since she had heard that wondrous laugh.

"I'm not a spinster!" She clasped Marina's hands in hers. "We may not be married on paper but I couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone else. I can't imagine...loving anyone else." Paige looked deep into her eyes. Marina shivered slightly. Her lover had a way of looking directly into your soul.

Paige knew what the doctor had said. That Marina could possibly recover but her gut was telling her something else. She was hit with the sudden realisation that she could lose her. The love of her life.

"Please fight this, Marina. I know you can. Look at today, it was a good day. You just need to survive the pneumonia and you can start over. We'll erase the last 7 years. Slowly but surely, we can manage your melancholy. You're so much more than it, my love. You know that. Your children deserve to know that."

Paige didn't realise how increasingly desperate she sounded until she began pleading with her. She found her face wet with fresh tears. Marina reached out to wipe the tears of her face.

"I'll try." She said quietly.

"That's all I ask, thank you. I love you, Marina." She leaned over to kiss her. Kissing her back, Marina sighed against her lips. "I love you too."

That night Marina lied awake, watching Paige's chest rise up and down. Marina smiled at her little snores. Just as she felt a glimmer of happiness laying beside her love, the guilt washed over her. She didn't want to promise anything. While today reminded her of the hope she felt to feel alive, deep down she knew it was temporary. She couldn't see herself living past tomorrow.

Sure enough, she was dead in two days.

****

[Read Part 2 Here]

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crashingmeteorz · 3 years

Text

the ba sing se bimbos all become older siblings entirely by accident

remember the child trafficking ring they broke up? well, a lot of the kids scattered. but not all of them. some of them don’t have homes, or don’t know their homes, or are too little to understand what’s going on.

jin, song, and zuko are in varying degrees of distress when they realize they have to care for five young kids, aged 4-9. song is panicking because “we can’t even take care of ourselves, guys!” jin is like “i really don’t want this responsibility but somehow i know we’re going to end up looking after for these little brats”. zuko is like “look kids like me for some reason but i am Not Good At This.”

jet, meanwhile, feels more at home with a bunch of misfit kids than he has in his entire time at ba sing se. he plays games with them and sings to them and calms them down while the other bimbos debate what to do. they watch jet interact with the children from afar and are like wow this is...wholesome? it’s a whole different side of him they never knew existed.

when the kids have all relaxed a little, jet’s just like “so, we’re adopting them, right?” and everyone’s like jet you’re the oldest and you’re not even 17 No We Are Not Adopting Them.

“they’re not pets, jet!” song hisses. “i know that!” jet hisses back. “but someone has to take care of them!”

“let’s just ask mushi and song’s mom,” jin says inching away from a totally silent six-year-old boy who is Staring At Her And Not Blinking. “they’re good with kids, probably.”

everyone agrees this is a good idea and they’re stupid for not immediately doing that, except jet, who still does not understand that children shouldn’t have to parent other children, but hey, he trusts mushi and song’s mom at least.

so they parade the children back to song’s mom’s house, zuko and song holding one each by the hand, and jet holding one on each hand and carrying one on his back. i cannot explain to you how delighted these children and jet are by each other. it’s so cute song and zuko are just like infatuated with jet for a full hour. jin also thinks it’s cute, but in the way that makes her want to throw up, mostly because the six-year-old whose hand he’s holding is Still Staring At Her.

song’s mother opens the apartment door to find more than twice as many children as she had fed that morning, lets out a very long sigh, and then just says “you’re lucky i always make extra food. come in.”

(song has to fight the urge to roll her eyes. caring for children is her mother’s favorite thing in the world.)

they find out that there’s: a giggly four-year-old who calls herself ila. a pair of siblings who’s parents are from the si wong desert tribe, six-year-old sandbender abbas and his nine-year-old non-bender sister faiza. finally there’s shy and sweet seven-year-old ning and her boisterous twin brother rong.

over time, the bimbos work to get the kids back home. it proves tough - ning and rong know that their parents are dead. abbas and faiza have no idea how to get home, or if their parents are alive, and ila doesn’t seem to even know what they’re asking. she claims she never had parents to begin with, but in a confusing four-year-old way.

but they form a plan anyway. they’re going to try and bring abbas and faiza back to the desert tribe, and when ila reveals herself as a waterbender, they at least have a clue of where she might have come from.

while they try and figure all this out, song’s mother takes the twins and ila, while iroh takes the desert kids. the bimbos are around them all the time, obviously, and whether they mean to or not, they all become really close to the kids.

all the kids love jet, but the twins in particular find him to be amazing. he has patience for ning’s mumbling speech, he has the energy for rong’s constant need for attention, he is always willing to play with and listen to them both. they tell him, eventually, about how they lost their parents in a forest fire caused by the fire nation. he holds them and listens and says he went through something similar. that it’s unfair, but that he won’t let anything bad happen to them again. song’s mother and mushi both try to tell him that’s a big promise to make when he’s only a boy himself. he disagrees, of course.

ila is obsessed with song. she thinks song’s silky hair is fun to play with, she thinks song’s warm arms are the perfect place to sleep, and she thinks that song smells sweet and welcoming. song melts over the little girl, often carrying her in her arms or on her shoulders. ila has the sweetest laugh, and song loves tickling her to produce it. song never wanted a sibling before, but these kids are beginning to change her mind. ila ends up being a natural healer, healing her own parchment-cut with ease. delighted, song teaches ila as her mother used to teach her, balancing the little girl on her hip and explaining what each vial and herb means and does.

faiza, brave and protective, gets along really well with zuko. she thinks he’s funny when he doesn’t mean to be, and begs him to teach her how to use duel swords, which, eventually, he does. she’s ashamed of being a non-bender, but zuko assures her it’s really not all it’s cracked up to be. faiza teases zuko right along with the rest of the group, but zuko lets her. she’s just too adorable to get mad at. faiza secretly thinks zuko’s super cool, but she doesn’t tell him that.

the strange and silent six-year-old abbas latches on to jin like glue. you know that scene in the office when angela shows up at dwights side and he’s like “ah fuck!”? that’s jin every time abbas shows up next to her. she could be dangling off a rooftop and then abbas is just staring at her through the nearest window. how did you escape iroh’s apartment? how did you even get in there? do you even blink? eventually, it turns out abbas can talk, he just doesn’t like to do it a lot. everyone adjusts. jin comes to love this kid like a brother. whenever anyone comments on how weird he is she smacks them. it could be an old lady. it could be another kid. she doesn’t discriminate with smacks. the other bimbos often have to stop her from smacking.

the kids find their way home, as they must - first faiza and abbas, after the bimbos take a long journey into the desert to find their home. it turns out their parents have passed away, but their loving aunt and uncle have been worried sick. zuko and jin promise the children they’ll stay in touch. faiza whisper to zuko that she actually thought he was cool the whole time. abbas also whispers in jin’s ear. everyone asks what he said but she’s too busy crying to tell them.

then ila talks about how she and her mother left home because “mommy didn’t like that she couldn’t waterbend”. zuko puts together a few things: there are practically no southern waterbenders, there were only male waterbenders in the north. they figure out where she must be from. they travel around the city, looking for women who may have fled the north pole - and they find her. ila’s mother has been searching for ila right in this same city, and when they reunite it’s beautiful to behold. song gives ila’s mother her address, and they visit from time to time.

in the end, though, rong and ning have nowhere to go. song’s mother, who has come to love them as her own children, takes them in permanently. the bimbos are relieved. saying goodbye to the other kids was almost too difficult. slowly, jet learns how to be less of a dad to the twins and more of an older brother. he finds that it’s not so bad.

actually, it’s kind of nice.

the second ba sing se bimbos post as requested for my 100 Followers Celebration!!! thank you as always to @azenkii for coming up with this amazing idea.

masterpost

#the ba sing se bimbos #100 follower celebration #jinjetsongko #jin #jet #song #zuko #iroh #song’s mother #ba sing se #atla #avatar the last airbender #my stuff

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vivi-the-sky-kid · 3 years

Text

Sowing the Seeds (of Love), Chapter 2

Aka the Resh/OC Fix-It Fic Nobody Asked for but I'm Inflicting on All of You Anyways as Punishment for Kai's Your Hubris

The King has always been a mysterious figure in the annals of the Sky Kingdom's history, generating both awe and fear within the hearts of the sky spirits. Few can claim to have met them in person; certainly not Tav, a researcher of light creatures for the Vault of Knowledge. But when they discover their research may be used to harm the very creatures they know and love, Tav knows they cannot allow this to happen.

Somehow, they must change the King's mind. If that means throwing butterflies at their royal face, then so be it.

-<◇>-

Warnings: Will be added to each chapter when necessary, but there's not gonna be anything graphic in this (do send me an ask if you think there's something I should warn about tho)

Rating: T (just to be on the safe side)

Pairing(s): Resh/OC

Tag(s): Enemies to Lovers, Fake Dating, Canon Divergence, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies

Additional Tag(s): Resh and Alef are twins, Resh and Tav are both nonbinary, Resh uses he/they, Tav uses she/they, Resh is demiromantic and pansexual, Tav is biromantic and demisexual, no beta we die like moths in eden

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

-<◇>-

Chapter 2

Word Count: 3,464

Warning(s): Some swearing

-<◇>-

How had this happened again? Tav's mind was still reeling the next day, even as she sat amongst a flock of birds near one of the rookeries of the Bird's Nest. Normally, their chirps would soothe them, even as they reminded them of a different life. Unfortunately, the events of yesterday kept playing through their mind like a broken memory cube.

Now the King's Will—they refused to use his name—was coming to Daylight Prairie, and all Tav's courage had run out. In the time it had taken to travel to Prairie, her false bravado had melted away like snow in the bright sun. Panicked thoughts now ran through their mind, and not even the cheerful chirps of birds, or the soft squeaks of butterflies, or the whimsical whoops of mantas, could help. Most of them were because of the Will, if she was honest with herself.

Their gray gaze had been so cold. So... empty. Like any warmth and life had faded away long ago. Like they could no longer care about anything.

And now they had to convince him to care about light creatures?

It was impossible. There was a better chance of becoming King herself and killing the project that way.

A chirp from the bird perched on their knee caught their attention. She reached up and tugged on one of the flat locks sticking out of her hair, mouth tightening.

Yes, it was impossible. But they had to try.

-<◇>-

Kumibir hummed as ey left the solar altar, the morning's prayer putting a spring in eir step. With the Megabird's blessing, the Prairie was sure to flourish with light and life. Now ey just needed to get to work tending to the prairie lilies...

“...from Eden, you say? How fascinating!”

A conversation nearby caught eir attention, and ey slowed.

“Isn't it? From what Omifiti told me, the spirit that arrived went into Elder Ayin's temple right away! I wonder what business they could have.”

A spirit from Eden? Could it be...?

Kumibir smiled to emself, taking hold of eir chin. Then ey turned away from the boat that would take em to the Butterfly Fields, and instead made for the next boat bearing a shipment to the temple for processing. The lilies could wait a little longer. Ey had a spirit to catch.

-<◇>-

Feeding time at the Bird's Nest was a sight to behold. As the caretakers spread seed across the grass and stone, flurries of white would descend from the sky to feast. A cacophony of chirps filled the air as the countless birds flocked to their meal. It was a welcome distraction from the thoughts racing through Tav's head.

Unfortunately, it didn't last long.

“Are you Tav, from the Vault?”

They turned to look at the speaker. A messenger fresh off their boat, by the looks of it. She nodded. “That's me. Do you need something?”

“A spirit from Eden is asking after you at the temple. If you would please come with me...”

From Eden?

Tav swallowed the lump in their throat. With the help of the messenger's proffered hand, she got to her feet. Together, they went to the nearby empty boat, and set off for the temple. The ride was quiet. They would have preferred the agony of small talk with a stranger. At least it would have distracted her from the feeling of going to her own execution.

Tav disembarked a short distance from the pond outside the temple, and the messenger got off to load nearby pots. They took a deep breath and moved toward a very tall spirit standing on the bridge arching over the pond. With the warrior's garb and spear slung across their back—two things nearly unheard of in the peaceful realm of Daylight Prairie—it was clear they were the spirit from Eden.

The King's Will had arrived.

As if sensing their eyes upon him, the Will turned. She gaped at them, thankful her mask hid her look of surprise. An elegantly patterned cape draped from beneath the stone pizaine resting on their shoulders. Long, silky hair drifted in the wind from beneath the diamond-shaped crest of his mask. She had to admit, it was all rather striking, except for one thing...

Tav shuddered slightly when they saw the Will's stony gray skin—as chilling as his gaze.

Then they froze as another spirit peeked out from behind him. An impish grin broke out across eir face when ey caught sight of her.

“Oh, and look who it is!”

Kumibir walked up to Tav, wrapping them in a tight hug. She hugged em back, a little numbly, and tried to ignore the piercing look the Will was shooting her. Thankfully, Kumibir soon released them, though ey kept an arm slung about Tav as they walked back to the Will.

“We were just talking about you!”

“Y-You were?” she said, beads of sweat forming on her back.

“You know, when you said you were expecting someone from Eden, I didn't think you meant your partner! You should have told me. I would have gone to stay with one of my own so you two could have some space.” Kumibir grinned and added, in a conspiratorial whisper, “I can see why you like them. So polite! And so tall! They're just your type!”

Tav blinked. Then blinked again. And then a third time for good measure.

“My wha—?”

“You really are so generous, Kumibir,” the Will cut in smoothly, wrapping an arm around Tav's shoulders and pulling them against his side. His other hand curled by the side of their face, gloved fingers brushing against their mask.

What.

With a squeeze of her shoulders, they continued, “We've been wanting to spend more time together, but sadly, Tav's work has kept them so busy I could rarely see their darling face.”

What.

“Oh, I know how that is. Sometimes the others' work keeps them away for almost the entire day,” Kumibir said, nodding solemnly. Then ey glanced at the sky and squeaked in surprise. “Speaking of work, I have some prairie lilies to tend to. Have fun, you two!”

Ey waved and ran off to the boat Tav came in on. Tav themself remained frozen, trying very, very hard to wrap their head around what just happened. It wasn't until the Will was pulling her around the walls of the temple and out of sight of the boat that she regained her senses. They wriggled out of his grasp and folded their arms in front of them.

“What was that?”

The King's Will scoffed. “You tell me, little researcher. You're the one who told that spirit we were partners.”

“I never did that! I just told Kumibir that you were coming so ey wouldn't be surprised. It's not my fault ey jumped to conclusions.” They turned away, eyes squinting in confusion. “Also what did ey mean, my type...?”

“And why would you not tell them my purpose for being here? I doubt one of your position would be very familiar with a soldier.”

Tav glanced back to him balefully, but they could not deny it. Although the midnight blue and electrum threads of the Will's cape would fit right in amongst the Vault's denizens, soldiers were a less likely story. The Golden Land's lack of light creatures near its dunes meant she was even less likely to go near it. The odds of them and the Will chancing to meet were slim enough to be unbelievable.

But they couldn't tell Kumibir the truth. It would break eir heart.

Ey couldn't know about the Dark Matter Bioweapon project.

Taking a deep breath, Tav said, “The people here love light creatures. If they found out you were here because of a plan to turn them into weapons, it would ruin any chance of cooperation to get you to not want to do that. So I told them you were just here to confirm my research. That's all.”

The King's Will studied them, arms crossed in front of him. Then their demeanor changed, and a shiver ran down Tav's spine.

That wasn't good.

“Very well. In the spirit of cooperation, I will not speak of my reason for being here. But” —and he held up one finger— “you have to pretend I am your partner for the duration of my stay.”

“What?!” Tav said, clapping a hand over their mouth at their volume. She scowled and lowered both her hand and her voice to add, “Why?!”

“Despite what you may think, I too would prefer my identity remain a secret. They don't need to know of my connection to the King. As far as these spirits are concerned, I am Resh, a high-ranking member of the Sky Kingdom's army, and nothing more.”

“Why do you care if these spirits know about your connection to the King?”

They turned away. “I have my reasons.”

“And those are...?”

“None of your concern. Now, do we have a deal?”

She stared at them incredulously, then threw her hands in the air and marched off, much to their surprise.

“Where are you going?”

“To the butterfly fields. It's time for your first lesson on light creatures, darling,” Tav replied, jerking their thumb towards a nearby boat.

-<◇>-

The boat to the edge of Prairie had arrived before any further stilted conversation could occur, and the two had spent the ride in relative silence. That had been a mercy. Now, however, she wanted to scream in frustration. The butterflies were acting strange and uncooperative today. They were fine with Tav themself; it was the King's Will they had a problem with. They flew away squeaking as soon as he approached. Even those she could coax to her hand fled as soon as she beckoned the Will forward.

So things were going just fine.

In the end, as the sun began to set and the butterflies flew off to the nearby sphere they slept within, they had decided to call it a day.

Of course, that didn't mean their bickering had ended. Even when they passed other spirits, the two kept it quiet, making it seem more like two partners sharing private thoughts than opponents exchanging barbed words.

“For a creature claimed to be 'loving' and 'kind,' these butterflies were rather standoffish today.”

“Maybe they sense you're a terrible person who wants to use them as weapons. They're perceptive like that.”

“And yet they cannot perceive the bitter heart inside you, my dear.”

“They can't perceive what isn't there, darling.”

“Ah, of course. How could I have been so blind? You don't have a heart.”

So caught up in their verbal battle was Tav that they didn't realize they had boarded the same boat as the Will until the two were standing outside the elder's temple.

“Good night, my dear. I look forward to tomorrow's efforts,” the King's Will said, pressing a masked kiss to the back of her hand.

Tav narrowed their eyes, but nodded and managed to hold back a shudder as their hand was released. “Until tomorrow, darling.”

The Will nodded back and entered the temple, leaving them to sigh heavily and wait for another boat.

-<◇>-

“So... how did it go?” Ayin asked, a hint of nervousness in their voice.

“Oh, horribly. The butterflies refused to go near me. But that Tav... I must admit, they're a stubborn one. Either they're planning to assassinate me, or they really believe they'll be able to change my mind over this matter. This may be the most entertaining thing I've done in... I can't remember how long. I'll have to thank Alef when I return. After punishing him for enabling this nonsense in the first place, of course,” Resh responded casually, lifting the stone pizaine from their shoulders to lounge more comfortably across the bed provided. For a moment, they thought his skin seemed a little less gray, but it was likely just a trick of the light, nothing more.

“I see.” Ayin turned to leave, but lingered in the doorway long enough to say, “Rest well, Resh. You have a busy day tomorrow.”

Resh grunted in acknowledgment, and the room fell dark.

-<◇>-

The smell of fresh bread greeted Tav's nose the next morning, as well as Kumibir singing a cheerful song praising the sun. It was a welcome start to a day that would doubtless be a strain on her patience. They'd try again with the butterflies, and hope that somehow Resh would be... more cooperative.

Perhaps a vain hope, but she'd hold fast to it.

Tav managed to answer Kumibir's excited questions (“Where did the two of you meet?” “They're so tall! Is that why you like them?” “Do they have a sibling?”) with vague replies that technically weren't lies (“Oh, we met because of my work.” “What? Why would that be a factor?” “Oh, they might. We haven't talked about our families yet.”). Eventually, Kumibir left to attend the morning's prayer to the sun, and Tav was free... for now. As they sat there, idly munching on a slice of bread and listening to the soft whoops of mantas in the distance, irritation rose once more. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner they could escape this miniature hell.

With that thought, she stuffed the rest of the slice into her mouth and left, slinging a light staff across her back. At the very least, it might help in coaxing a butterfly within reach of Resh.

-<◇>-

Resh waited at the dock for Tav, arms folded before him. Ayin had suggested being a bit more agreeable when they awoke, and despite their better judgment, they had agreed. Unfortunately, it was hard to be agreeable when the person in question was late.

...All right, maybe not late, but later than he liked. Too many locals had gawked at them while they waited, muffling their voices with their hands. Too many had giggled in his direction, and all had avoided eye contact when he turned to glare at the offenders. The same nonsense had happened many years ago, when they had first grown into an adult under the watchful care of the Elders. He could still remember some of those that commented on how handsome they had become.

They were all dead by now.

“Good, you're here.”

Thankfully, a familiar voice drew him from that unfortunate reverie. Tav was now approaching... with some kind of staff across her back for some reason. Resh huffed and placed their hands on their hips.

“You're late.”

She shrugged. “I was eating breakfast. You know, since it's morning? What, too good to eat breakfast like the rest of us? Or are you too used to the fancier fare of Eden?”

Ah, yes, such fancy fare as standing near a blazing fire long enough to push back the ache deep within. Too long, and a different pain began. But they didn't need to know that. They were just some too-bold researcher.

“Something like that,” he said curtly.

They continued to stare at him, eyes narrowed, before shrugging again and gesturing to the boat. “Well, whatever. Come on. The butterflies should be waking up now.”

-<◇>-

Just as they had said, the butterflies were starting to pour out of the sphere and head towards their typical spots for the day as the two of them stepped off the boat. It was a beautiful sight, although she doubted Resh appreciated it. Still, it meant they could start for the day.

Like before, the butterflies came willingly to them, as long as they stayed away from the King's Will. At one point, six were perched on her hands, which she then promptly, and smugly, showed them. Their response was to turn away with a grunt. Tav snickered and lifted their hands, releasing the butterflies to return to fluttering about the flowers of the field.

“Here. Let's try this,” they said, drawing the light staff from their back. She held it out, and soon enough, a butterfly perched delicately at the diamond-shaped tip. Then they slowly moved their end towards him, holding it out for Resh to take.

Instead of grabbing it, however, they stared at it. Tav's arm began to ache as the seconds dragged on. When Resh showed no sign of accepting it, they snapped and said, “Would you take the staff already?”

“And just why should I do that? For all I know, you're planning to attack me as soon as I try.”

“It's a light staff. The only thing it can do is bruise that thick skull of yours. Now take it.”

He glared at them, but begrudgingly took hold just below their hand. With her hand on the staff, the butterfly remained even as they grasped it. When they removed their hand, however, and left only his, it squeaked, quivered, and flew off. Tav watched in bewilderment as it returned to its flock.

“...Well, then. I can't say I've seen that happen before.”

“And here I thought you were the expert on light creatures, my dear.”

“And I thought you were someone who could be reasoned with, darling. Looks like we were both wrong, hm?”

She turned away to study the butterflies, wondering just what exactly was driving them away. They were normally such friendly creatures, often taking a break from basking in the sun's rays and pollinating the prairie lilies to loop around nearby spirits. To have them avoid a person like this...

Something must be very, very wrong.

That niggling discomfort over the coldness of Resh's skin and eyes rose up once more, and Tav avoided his gaze as they called for a lunch break.

-<◇>-

As she chewed on a piece of crab meat, Tav considered the issue with the butterflies. Like any other light creature, they were drawn to flame and light. It was their bread and butter, so to speak. As spirits had an inner flame granted by Megabird when they were born, a light creature could simply be near them and feed on the warmth given off. It wasn't much compared to the innate light of another creature, but it was enough that spirits were often accepted as members of the flock, so to speak.

Was something wrong with Resh's inner flame?

It would explain the unusual color of their skin, and the butterflies' behavior. Then again, was such a thing even possible?

Their inner researcher burned to figure out more, but Tav beat it back down. There wasn't time to travel to the Vault, let alone search its archives, and Resh was too irritating and evasive to hope for an actual answer. It was bad enough they had to put up with his dour attitude. Trying to pry information from them would be a nightmare.

Tav swallowed and stood up, stretching with a soft groan. The hill they had chosen to take lunch on was near the butterfly sphere, with a small cave underneath that where Resh was currently skulking. And... talking to someone?

Someone actually wanted to talk to them?

They knelt and leaned closer to the edge of the hill, straining their ears to catch a snippet or two of the conversation.

“...so lucky to have a partner like you. With someone like you around, I'm sure they'll have much less trouble getting things off high shelves.”

The spirit chuckled, and Tav had the sudden urge to throw something. Or scream. Either worked.

“I shall, of course, do my best to assist them with any high shelves they may encounter,” Resh replied. She could practically feel the smirk on their face.

Bastard.

The spirit laughed again, and Tav crouched a bit lower as they left the cave, the puff of the two buns atop their head bouncing slightly with each step. More footsteps sounded, and soon Resh was also leaving the cave. Unlike the spirit, however, they stopped and turned to look up at her.

“Do you need help getting down from there? I've heard you have difficulty with heights,” he said, eyes crinkled in amusement.

Tav glared back. She stood up and walked down the side of the hill, then past Resh, making sure to whack their shoulder with the light staff as they went.

“Come on. The butterflies don't have all day.”

-<◇>-

Butterflies are curious light creatures. While birds and jellyfish are content to keep to themselves when it comes to spirits, butterflies (and mantas) possess a kind of empathic sensitivity that, more often than not, draws them towards spirits. Whether it was a sad spirit in need of comfort or a spirit blazing bright with joy, they would soon find themselves with a squeaking companion looping about their body before flying off into the distance. The only spirits they tended to avoid were those with a great deal of aggression.

They avoided both Tav and Resh this time.

-<◇>-

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

#sky children of the light #sky #sky king #resh #resh my beloved /j #here's hoping it doesn't get shadowbanned like the first chapter did #although i think i might have fixed what caused it #btw if any of y'all have questions regarding this cursed cursed fic #feel free to send in an ask #i'll answer as long as it isn't spoilers #i call it cursed but i am actually putting quite a bit of effort into this #this isn't like those quick and lazy meme edits i sometimes do #i am Making An Effort™ here

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minijenn · 4 years

Text

Random Keys/UF Crossover Ideas

Because I’m torn between both of my projects right now and I hate myself, here’s something that’ll only really appeal to the very niche audience of people who read both Universe Falls and Keys to the Kingdom. Basically its a list of somewhat spoilery (for Keys more than UF) headcanons of what it might be like if the Gravity Falls world scheduled to be in Keys was a Universe Falls world instead (in the sense that it still takes place in Gravity Falls physically but like... its set in the universe of Universe Falls (oy I’m explaining too much lemme just start rambling off the random ideas that have been popping into my head over the last several days of this hypothetical crossover of my two stupid fanfics):

For reference’s sake, on the UF end of things, this would take place somewhere around the middle of arc10ish, pretty close to Weirdmageddon as the GF world in Keys is gonna take place pretty close to Weirdmageddon too.

For Keys, the trip to this world would still take place in the same spot the GF world does, so semi close to the end of the story, as one of the last Disney worlds of the fic (guess it wouldn’t really be a “Disney” world here but ehhhhhh)

Guess I better give some context about what’s going on in each fic around that time; UF’s is easier to do so we’ll start with that; basically without spoiling a certain upcoming arc ender too much, during arc 10, everyone’s sorta frazzled what between all of the interdimensional travel, worries about Bill coming back and causing chaos, worries about the Diamonds possibly getting involved in stuff, shaken by the recent revelation that Rose allegedly shattered Pink Diamond and so on (basically there’s a lot going on in the leadup to UF’s ending hahaha)

Context for Keys (again without getting too spoilery (gotta tread even more careful here) is that by this point in the story Sora is basically in nonstop Panic Mode about the whole norting thing thanks to a certain encounter with one Bald Old Fuckhead during the Aladdin world immediately before this; so Sora’s on the run from basically his entire support system cause he’s all worried about unintentionally hurting his friends (and he also just doesn’t want Riku or Kairi in particular to see what’s happening to him cause Disaster Bi).

Cont. Context for Keys cause that last bullet point was Long: Despite all this fuckin Angst, Sora’s still out searching for the Keys on his own in the hopes of securing the final few for the guardians of light before he can be fully norted and forced into handing them over to the Organization instead

Not to mention those freak relatively dark/light powers of his are alll outta whack cause he A. Doesn’t know how to control them At All and B. Is Emotionally Distraught so that’s only making things worse

And the entire gang is more or less out searching the worlds tryin’ to find Sora (he yeeted his Gummi Phone off a fuckin cliff or something just so nobody could get in touch with him smh what a waste of a perfectly good cell phone); among the teams that are out doing so include the one we’re gonna focus on here, Ven and Roxas

Back to the UF end of things, I wanna talk about where each of the Mystery Kids are at this point; Steven is sorta all over the place with, again, the revelation that his mom could have been a murderer; Dipper is hella nervous about the idea of Bill getting his hands on the Rift (even moreso after RMD cause PTSD is Somethin Else kids), Mabel is in that mindset of not wanting the summer to end so they can all stay together, and Connie is basically (as usual) the only one with any brain cells as she’s trying to hold the gang together

(lowkey spoilers for the Keys GF chapters start here) So Sora arrives in Gravity Falls, suffering from all the angsts and anxieties and whatnot and just Not Having a Very Good Time Emotionally/Mentally as he starts lookin around for the Key in the woods or whatever

But lo and behold everyone’s favorite Evil Corn Chip just so happens to be spyin’ on him, and before too long Bill makes his appearance and acts all friendly to Sora, claiming that he can basically undo the whole norting thing (which he knows all about because of course he would, this is Bill Fucking Cipher we’re talking about here)

Sora’s skeptical but at the same time he’s sort of willing to do whatever he can at this point to keep his heart from being taken over by Mr. Bald Old Fuckhead and all Bill is asking for in return is for him to nab some sparkly snow globe that he claims already belongs to him but was stolen by some local family who Bill makes out to be pretty bad so hey, why not at least give it a shot? (dumb, the kid is dumb this is something we’ve established many times over by this point)

So Sora sets out to look for both the rift and the Key (while also being harangued by Xemnas who’s the Org. baddie of the GF world but errrrr i don’t have a ton of ideas about what he’s gonna do yet so we’ll just skip over that for now and focus on somethin else)

Something else being the fact that Sora happens upon a bunch of kids being attacked by a group of Nobodies, so he swoops in to save them even though the kids already look like they’re holding their own pretty well against them (two of them are out here swinging swords around, one’s really handy with that grappling hook while another one has some sort of magical shield? Its weird??? But cool imo)

So they all team up to take the Nobodies out and following that, Sora meets and mostly hits it off with the Mystery Kids

Mabel is super hype (she kinda instantly crushes on Sora as soon as she sees him even though he’s too fuckin old for her); Steven and Sora radiate the same sort of Sweet But Sad energy so of course they’re best friends immediately

Connie’s a lil bewildered by Sora (who the hell goes around swinging a giant key like its a sword, that’s just not practical???) but Dipper’s distrustful radar is instantly raised for a a number of reasons, but the biggest red flag he notices about Sora by far is that his eyes are yellow (btw by this point his eyes will more or less be completely yellow and his hair almost entirely white; he usually wears his hood up to try and hide that, but it got blown off during the forementioned fight)

So the kids were out and about in the woods for mystery hunting reasons, mostly cause they were trying to cool their heads from all of the stress they’re under mentioned earlier (and cause hey, the summer’s ending soon and they gotta spend all the time they can together at this point)

However, they quickly change gears when they learn about Sora’s quest to find some magical Key and they all eagerly decide they wanna help with that cause it sounds hella rad; Dipper would likely be the only dissenter to this plan, but he’d be lowkey about it, kinda deciding to keep a suspicious eye on Sora all the while (he doesn’t really act like he’s being possessed by Bill, but ya can never be too sure nowadays...)

So they all set out in search of the Key (Sora decides not to tell them about Bill or the rift just yet, but even so right off the bat he’s basically decided “yes I’m adopting all four of these kids as my new little brothers and sisters and no one can stop me”)

So cut to the other end of things and we have Ven and Roxas who have basically only just met each other face to face for the first time (they’re both basically constantly doin that spiderman look alike meme); they’ve been more or less teamed up to look for Sora together tho, and they both got a massive guilt complex about the whole thing cause they used to be able to directly protect him inside his heart but now they can’t since they’re out of it so they’re determined to find him and make sure he’s OK

They also show up in Gravity Falls, arriving much closer to the Mystery Shack and the Gem Temple than Sora did; since its the closest thing nearby, the boys decide to venture over to the Mystery Shack to look first

After some brief, confused yet fun conversation with Soos and Wendy, they bump into Stan and that initial meeting goes something like:

Stan: Who the hell are you two supposed to be? You twins or something?

Roxas: No??? What the fuck is a twin??

Ventus, realizing that Roxas has like 0 real world experience or regard for world order at that moment right fucking there: (oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck) Ummmm YES WE ARE WE’RE TOTALLY TWINS AHAHA AREN’T WE BROTHER?

Roxas, immensely confused: What the hell is a brother??

And then Ford shows up and Roxas looks between him and Stan is just like “ooooh ok now I get what a twin is” and Ven is just like “oh my god I think Roxas managed to catch some of Sora’s stupidity after all asdkjalsdkalsd”

Anyway after all this awkward confusion is over, Roxas and Ven bring up that they’re there looking for someone, and while neither Stan nor Ford are that invested, they do offhandedly mention maybe the Crystal Gems can help

Ironically enough, the Gems happen to burst into the shack right then and there, taking refuge from the surge of strange creatures swarming outside (Nobodies & Heartless); the Gems are rather overwhelmed by them since their weapons don’t work that great on them so they’ve come to seek Ford’s help (since he’s got all those weapons and lasers and shit he keeps stockpiled)

In this Ven and Roxas end up meeting the Gems and both of them are just like :O (Ven’s lowkey like, “Aqua would get along great with these ladies, they’re total badasses just like her!”) and the Gems just kinda pass the boyos off like “yeah whatever there’s a fuckton of monsters outside meanwhile where are our kids?”

Stan and Ford are like *shrug* cause neither of them are very good at being Responsible when it comes to keeping an eye on these danger-prone kids and the Gems are just like *facepalm* “Morons” so they set out to find the kids and Ven and Roxas are like “well they know their way around here so why not go with them to see if we can find Sora too!” and so they all head out on a lil adventure

Then a whole bunch of stuff happens on both sides of the plot that I haven’t bothered to figure out; bunch of cute character interactions and whatever; insert possible second encounter with Xemnas in here somewhere where he basically shows up just to intimidate Sora but Sora’s like “no way jose, you touch any of these precious kiddos and you’ll Die”

Somewhere in here, under... some circumstances, Sora and the MK make it back to the shack but like... everyone’s gone? (cause they all went out to look for them, didn’t even leave a note, fuckin rude)

They search the house for anybody and then, on complete fuckin accident, Sora finds his way down into the basement (the portal room to be exact) and what else does he find down there but that thing Bill asked him to get (the rift)!

Though he’s a little confused about why its there (Bill did say some awful family “stole” the rift from him, but none of the MK are awful, they a bunch of Good Kids); Sora still pockets it like a desperate dummy dumb anyway and doesn’t say a word about it to the kids because he thinks they might be too innocent and young to know anything about it anyway (he’s wrong of course because much like him these kids are Traumatized with a capital T but we’ll just ignore that for now)

Still on the search for that Key, Sora and the kids head out only to run right into Stan, Ford, and the Gems on the way out; course, Ven and Roxas are still with them and they see Sora and they’re like :D while Sora’s just like “aw fuck” and runs away from his problems like always

So he rushes off into the woods and who else would show up but that Motherfuckin Evil Corn Chip again who’s like “yo kid ya got the stuff” and Sora’s just like “brb having a panic attack rn” but then he ends up obliviously handing the rift over anyway cause again he’s incredibly desperate for any way out of his current horrible situation

Of course because I’m a sap for Drama, he happens to do so just as all four of the MK show up, having followed him into the woods and ohohohoh boy oh boy let’s just say them seeing Sora just up and giving the rift over to Bill would be a Moment (well, at least for Steven and Dipper cause they actually know what the fuckin rift is unlike Mabel and Connie who still wouldn’t at that point)

So basically Bill is a little shit and takes the rift, but he can’t actually fuckin do anything with it cause he’s a physical object and he’s still intangible (or somethin like that idk I just don’t want Weirdmageddon to happen cause it would make things too complicated) so he’s like “fuck gotta find some stupid sap to possess so I can smash this dumb thing” and he nearly targets Sora (cause the kid was already stupid enough to help him in the first place so why not?) until Steven ends up being the one to fend him off using his shield

Bill shrugs it off and makes off with the rift anyway (its like... hovering or something? idk I’m running out of steam) and everyone panics of course, especially Sora cause he’s just like “well shit I certainly Fucked Up didn’t i?” and the MK are both a mix of “YOU THINK?” (from Dipper and Connie mostly) and “imo not your fault Bill’s tricked just about all of us he’s an asshole” (from Steven and Mabel)

Amidst this a bunch of lil things also happen; the Stans and the Gems show up (along with Ven and Roxas), basically everyone is immensely confused (aka those who have no idea what the fucking rift is) and alarmed (those who do know what the rift is) that Bill has what he needs to more or less fuck the entire world over

So everyone just decides to put everything aside and team up all together to track Bill down and get the rift back before he can break it (there’s a lot of heartwarming trust moments in here, mostly cause trust is like... the cornerstone theme of the GF chapters in Keys for obvious reasons)

They eventually do find him and *insert big epic battle scene here* where everyone teams up to basically beat Bill to death or whatever (don’t ask me how they be doin that if he’s intangible, again I.... I’m tired and this post is long enough as it is)

Yadda yadda yadda they beat him, get the rift back and effectively prevent Weirdmageddon from happening to begin with (which just does SO much wonderful fuckery for UF’s timeline moving forward but whatever, this ain’t about that)

Oh and during that Climactic Battle Scene somewhere there’s some bit about Sora learning to better trust others/himself that leads to him getting the world’s Key? I-I I dunno its a work in progress...

Anyway after this there’s a lot of good character interactions all around, reconciliations between the UF characters and the Keys characters, particularly between Sora and the MK (again he’s adopted these kiddos and don’t you forget it)

So with the Key in hand, Sora starts to leave and Roxas and Ven almost convince him to go back with them until *insert Big Keys Spoiler here that results in the Organization getting their hands on that Key Sora just got and also results in Sora running away again cause... reasons*

And that’s the end of the chapters or whatever idk

There’s probably more ideas I had in mind for this but I literally can’t do anymore my brain is dying

I might possibly write this for reals someday i dunno I’m stuck in two personal hells here so I might as well combine ‘em

Yes I’m aware this post leans more heavily on Keys than UF but its set in the world of UF so fuck off

Feel free to add on with any thoughts you might have about the idea

I’m tired

Amen

#jen writes #universe falls #keys to the kingdom #long post is loooooong #headcanons #ideas #who am i kidding i will literally never do anything with this idea ofther than this very fucking post #then again... i like Angst :)#and UF and Keys both got plenty of it

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hollywoodhangar · 4 years

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bombs are fallin’.

Claudia&Undertaker got married away from polite society, down in Winchester! Before this, they both got a little getaway cottage that was a fixer-upper; took some serious elbow grease to put it together on the inside and clean it up, but it was worth it. It was spacious and cozy, away from everything in its own little patch of wooded land with enough space to make their own garden. Over time they’d really kit it out, and the payment for it would come through a line of Claudia passing the money to Undertaker who’d deliver it then to Claudia’s mother, Máire, who’d always pay for it when the time came since she lived in the area while they lived far away in London. It was a smooth system! Very secret.

You’d think perhaps the cottage would fall out of shape and the garden would become overgrown, but it never did. Máire and her twin Róisín looked after it well, Róisín more as Mama Ó Faoláin was very busy being the village doctor. It was always just as they left it when the happy couple’d come back to visit - a welcomed relief! It really was their sanctuary away from everything, their special place where they could live under one roof for a while and just be as any other married couple. Wake up together and not go anywhere, not have to be anywhere, just here. Exist here. Do what normal people do; shop at the market, indulge in the fun around them that came with commoner thrills - games, festivities! Work alongside one another on their crafts, work on their garden together, prepare meals together. It felt good, so damn good.. and eventually, there were little feet running amuck the cottage as well.

It wasn’t just a love nest, it became a home for their family. The kids got to live in a big fancy manor and every blue moon go to this beautiful cottage that was so much smaller but was no less enjoyable, especially when they got to visit their grandmother so regularly. Mr. ‘Taker’s presence being constant wasn’t unusual, he’s been swarming around their mother long since before they were born; as such they were used to his presence, and he was oddly enjoyable to spend all this time with. Francis is too stubborn to admit she’d miss these times, but Vincent is much more open and asks the man why he can’t just live with them permanently back home. Mama’s filthy rich, that has to make it easy for him to retire, don’t you think? And Mr. Taker’s an interesting adult to hang around! But Francis always swats at him, chastising that it’s very rude to tell someone to quit their career just because. The Undertaker’d laugh and say one day Vincent’ll understand the truth and figure it out for himself.

From babies to grown children they had this special place. Years of memories in this cottage. First steps were taken in this cottage. First sentences were spoken in this cottage. Baby teeth got knocked out in this cottage! Claudia got to be freer in this cottage as well, and not have to hide her religion so viciously as she does back home. The only eyes are that of her husband’s and their children. It’s safe.. she even gets to commune again with her mother and aunt. It’s a slice of paradise.

But unfortunately, this is a very.. rough period to be not only a pagan in, but an Irish pagan. Máire, while widely loved and appreciated, was not loved by all in Granwy. She was an immigrant who suddenly appeared one day with her sickly child and twin sister, set down roots and became an essential body in the community with her faith healing and expert medicinal expertice with herbs. It put a sick feeling at the base of the throats of some, spanning from both the common to the richer caste. She’d received her share of hate over the years, but the line became crossed when a group decided to bring it into fruition by taking torches to the cottage where her daughter lived. They’d be damned if they let another settle in deep, even though her visitations had long distances between.

“Neighbors” (from the general area) had run to Claudia and the Undertaker while they watched their children dance about at a Maypole festival, told in panicked exhaust that their home was on fire - that they’d seen people set it on fire. Shock and panic set in. Although they told the children to stay with their grandmother, the kids ran after the adults just the same (stubbornness is genetic) and followed them without losing sight, despite their legs being so much shorter. Their parents were the first to make it to the scene, and what a gut-wrenching view it was to behold.

They stand on a hill huddled close, watching this cottage that they had for years burn down before their eyes. The children nearly run past them but their arms are fast to lasso around them and hold them tight and close, wincing as they start to loudly shout and cry, “Why is our house on fire? Why is it burning? Why! Mama let us go! ‘Taker let us go!!”

Claudia’s not the sort of woman to cry easy, not at all, but she is so... angry, that her eyes do get filmed over and she sheds a tear from anger. The Undertaker is very quiet, but the wrath is absolutely present in him as well. They both take the kids to a stunned Máire to hold onto before they go where the smoking remains of their cottage lay, looking over the damage; the burnt furniture Claudia made, the scorched garden, the toys of the children that are still glowing with veins of embers. Nothing’s salvagable, but they take what still has a solid form out of the home anyways and try to rescue just the same, all the while planning to discover who’s done this. Given they are the Wolf of Winchester and the Infamous Informant, it’ll be very easy to locate their perpetrators - the difficult part is finding out how to best make them hurt and how slow they want the deaths to be.

If only they knew this was also a likely warning from the universe of the horror that was to come in the future.

#warning: this does involve a hate crime.#♈ [ CLAUDIA; claudia&ut. ] ━ 『 ‘you know better than to smile at me like that.’ 』#♈ [ CLAUDIA; HEADCANON. ] ━ 『 the wolf of winchester. 』#me: 'angst is very light around here. fluff is the majority. :)'#my brain: '[SUMO SOUND FROM EENE AS IT SLAMS ME WITH THIS IMAGE]'#me: 'oh thanks i hate it'#♈ [ BLOG; OOC. ] ━ 『 out of creation. 』

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camillesfm · 4 years

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。· . ˙ ⌈ alva bratt + cis female + she / her + the intangible concept ⌋ yo , have you meet that KOOK , camille 'cj' petersen , yet ? — no ? well , to give you a little heads up before you do , they’re a TWENTY year old , PRE-LAW STUDENT , and have been living in coston for TWENTY . since i’ve known them , they’ve reminded me of PALE PINK POINTE SHOES , CHAINS MADE OF WHITE CLOVERS , A PURPLE SKY JUST BEFORE SUNRISE , STEADY WAVES CRASHING AT LOW TIDE , AND SHATTERED & SCATTERED GLASS . usually they’re quite LEVELHEADED & THOUGHTFUL but just make sure you keep an eye out for them around town because i heard can be quite RETICENT & ALOOF as well so here’s hoping they aren’t the ones to undo this whole peace pact they have going on this summer . but just between you & me , i kinda hope it all falls apart . the rivalry keeps this whole boring town interesting . –– this is cj . . . let’s just . . . dive into this mess !

𝐁 𝐀 𝐂 𝐊 𝐆 𝐑 𝐎 𝐔 𝐍 𝐃 .

scarlett petersen is a name known statewide, as she’s the best corporate lawyer on the east coast, clever as the devil and twice as pretty with long blonde hair often pinned into a sleek ponytail. david petersen got his degree at vanderbilt university, moving on to get his phd at unc chapel hill where he could never quite shake that carolina blue. he’s been sitting chancellor for the past six years in tandem with a long term sports-medicine, neuroscience research project that studies the long term affects of brain damage in athletes in contact sports. they both hail from old money families, and long lines of success are continued in two people who hold appearance and accomplishment far above humility or even . . . . humanity lol. they’re good people, really . . . just not really the parenting type.

which is unfortunate! as. well into their marriage, they had twins, caleb, first, and camille, ten minutes later. bright eyed and blonde haired, the perfect petersen babies were angels in their infancy, and it was easy to parent them . . . especially when they were paying someone else to do it.

caleb and camille grew up under the watchful eye of a rosy-cheeked nanny. think julie andrews as nanny in eloise. they were happy, but lonely, though you’d never guess it by their wide smiles in cuddled family portrait christmas cards. for all anyone else knew, scarlett and david were perfect parents, raising two beautiful children who they loved more than anything . . . but behind that iron gated entryway to a house on the coast was another story.

they liked their kids, sure, but whether or not they loved them was another question entirely. camille, growing up to be the spitting image of scarlett, was liked in the way a rare porcelain artifact was. she was a beautiful thing to behold; seen, not spoken to. shown off, not interacted with in anyway. held with delicate hands and passed around as a humble brag: look at this precious thing i’ve brought into the world. i bet mine’s better than yours.

but as time passed, the novelty of having children seemed to wear off, and they were moving to the next big thing, the next big step in their careers. they weren’t around when camille began going by cj because it was easier for little voices to say. they weren’t around when blonde ringlets relaxed and grew darker. they weren’t around when she started to develop a personality of her own, interests of her own, talents of her own. christmas cards would go out, but rarely were they all together on christmas morning. thanksgivings were often spent with grandparents, as their parents worked through the holiday. they spent more and more time away from coston, leaving cj and caleb in nanny’s capable hands.

but life goes on, and sometimes it was easy to forget that it was abnormal not to have your parents around. as a youngin, cj was interested in everything. she took a liking to soccer and lacrosse, painting and drawing, piano and guitar . . . but somewhere in between a blue mat and pale pink pointe shoes, she found her thing.

it was obvious, from an early age, that cj was one hell of a dancer. disciplined and precise when she needed to be. creative and passionate when it called for it. gymnastics trained her strength, ballet trained her patience, contemporary pushed her limits with creativity, partner work taught her teamwork. dance was very clearly her best thing and her favorite thing.

her parents only ever attended recitals when it didn’t conflict with anything else on their schedules and when it was classical ballet. dance was a frivolous thing for them, but for cj it was everything. being a naturally shy kid, naturally timid in the shadow of her last name, she became a completely different person on stage who dominated a spotlight . . . without even needed a literal spotlight. ultimately, this is what she spent her life doing. monday through thursday evenings, dance. competitions and performances on the weekends. if neither were happening, you’d catch her teaching classes at coston’s local studio.

it’s what truly made her happy, but that wasn’t something her parents understood. caleb and nanny did, sure, but her parents? not one bit. someone would ask what she wanted to be when she grew up, and if dance was mentioned, she’d be cut off mid-sentence. they didn’t want to hear about it because it wasn’t logical. you can’t make a career out of it. it didn’t help much that her brother was the ideal child in that realm, charming and on a path to success in the medical field. they still had questionable motives, but they favored nonetheless.

sometimes it was a blessing; sometimes it was a curse. when she could slip under the radar, she was grateful, but it seemed that her parents had a keen eye for her screwups. any chance they had, they’d use to scold her or nudge her away from the pointe shoes.

so cj spent a lot of time being pristine in the way that was expected of her, never letting anyone know too much about her, only keeping a few friends close enough to really know her. she stayed out of trouble, kept up exceptional grades, smiled and nodded when necessary, and began catering to the idea that she’d go to law school, a fate pre-determined by her mother no doubt.

nowadays, she attends brown university, pre-law. she’s a picturesque ivy league gal with a dark academia aesthetic when at school, but there’s a restlessness lingering under the surface. even she’s doing what her parents require of her, she never seems to live up to their unrealistic expectations. we rly do be . . . . waiting for her to have a complete breakdown . . . . aklsdfjha

𝐏 𝐄 𝐑 𝐒 𝐎 𝐍 𝐀 𝐋 𝐈 𝐓 𝐘 .

miss camille . . . better known around town as cj . . . is, above all else, the picture of serenity. she’s levelheaded and calm, and patient as all get out which is probably why she’s so damned accustomed to just going with what her parents thought of her. she’s really great to have in a crisis because very few things cause that steady nature of hers to crumble, and because she’s honestly. . . quietly very maternal. putting the needs of others before her own comes naturally.

she’s quiet and shy, yes, but just because she doesn’t speak doesn’t mean she doesn’t listen. she listens and sees and is . . . quite observant. there’s a way about her that notices the little things, which makes her quite thoughtful when it comes to the people she loves. if you’re lucky enough to be close to her, you can bet she quietly takes notes of little habits and favorites and carefully uses them to idk love ya better ya feel??

reticent comes from the fact that she doesn’t often let people get close to her. the way her parents treated her and caleb growing up has taken. .. . a toll for sure because honestly she’s terrified of disappointing people by shattering the mirror of perfection and revealing too much about herself that’s unexpected

aloof comes from the way she’s calm and quiet . . . and how that sometimes translates as apathy . . . on top of that she’s very daydreamy like she is That Bitch who is staring out of the window producing a whole move in her head which sometimes causes her to not hear when people are talking to her . . . cue the ‘hm? what?’ tuning back in

when i say cj is a different person when she’s dancing . . . . i mean it. like i REALLY mean it. she’s confident and expressive. her choreography tests the limits of tradition. she pushes boundaries when it comes to the physicality of performances. like u rly look at her being quiet and to herself in the corner at a country club event and then see her performing like she invented contemporary and ur like . .. . are u SURE that’s the same girl

people who know her most know her as warm. when she opens up, getting past the shy, she can be a little goofy, definitely has avery creative way about her, wants to know that you’re okay and if you’re not, how can she help ya know!!

has a black cat named lucky because ya know . . . black cats are bad luck . . . ha ha ha ha . . . get it

the ‘j’ in cj is for her middle name . . . but no one really knows what her middle name is . . . except family and close, close friends

absolutely hates the energy of the pogue/kook rivalry and thinks violence is most cERTAINLY not the way to go

often times found by the shoreline at night, just a little ways off from the petersen estate because she likes the way the waves sound as they roll in. it helps her think

is trying to make the best of law school by studying to become a defense attorney and she likes it! sort of! really, she just wants to dance for as long as she can and ultimately open up her own studio

definitely believes in wishing stars

bad case of insomnia

has a finsta dedicated to lucky

has a dance insta too . . . . but that’s lowkey bc her parents can’t know about it

please for the love of god watch this because charity and cj have the same energy

this also has cj energy

so does this . . . classical is fun when it’s telling a story and she loves a good pas de deaux but otherwise meh

my girl is physically . .. QUITE strong

says sorry WAY too often

incessant need to prove herself, prove her worth, since her parents never seem to find it

loves caleb sfm but will thump him in the forehead for mentioning he’s older

overachiever . . . . yikes

ABSOLUTELY burns the candle at both ends

idk if y’all watched high school musical the musical the series but gina . . . . . .. minus the ‘mean girl’ plot they tried . . .. is v cj and bitch i hate to say it but neville longbottom??? also a cj mood LMAO

OK THAT’S IT THAT’S ALL THERE WE GO IT’S DONE I’M DONE GBYYYYYE BABIIIIE

#coston.intro #what the f kinda NONSENSE did i just write lmao

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paperwayne · 5 years

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snapshot.

50 Wordless Ways to Say “I Love You” ➡ 23. Taking a picture together to print and hang later.

Pairing: Dick Grayson x Reader

Word Count: 2,095 words

Warnings: Mild violence

“Nightwing! On your left!”

“Got it!” Dick shouts, twisting out of harm’s way. A split second later, he spins around and lands a blow on the screaming android.

Two more come your way. You leap onto the shoulders of one and slap an explosive onto its chest, jumping onto another android right before it goes off. Hot shrapnel cuts into your cape as acrid smoke fills your nose.

“I gotta say – hah! – this is not what I had in mind when you invited me to the mall,” you yell over the chaos.

Dick skids over to your side. His escrima sticks crackle with electricity – and in a moment, he stuffs them into an android’s eye sockets. “Trust me, this wasn’t on the agenda. I wanted to sh – oof! – show you the new photography studio. It’s Wild West-themed.”

“You don’t say?” You link elbows with Dick and he swings you into a robot feet-first. “That’s cool. You know I always want to party with you, cowboy.”

“Aw, you flatter me, Blackfinch.”

Pain shoots through your shoulder right before you can reply. Grunting in pain, you reach up and grab the android behind you, heaving it over you and into the ground. The white tile shatters.

“You okay?” Dick asks. You tear your attention away from the throbbing in your arm and see that he’s fighting the last android; it’s barely standing.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you reply. “Gonna have a nasty bruise, though.”

“Hm –” Dick crouches low and knocks the android down with a sweep of his leg. A well-aimed stomp to its neck ends its rampage, and you watch intently as the neon green of its eyes fade into gray. Guarded relief washes over you the same time your adrenaline rush begins to die.

After surveying the ransacked left wing of the mall, the two of you make your way over to each other.

“You didn’t break anything, right?” Dick asks, brow furrowing.

“Believe me, I would know if something was broken.” You pat his chest, gesturing with your chin at the blaring lights outside the exit. “Look like the police finally arrived.”

While he glances over at the police cars parked on the other side of the doors, you gingerly rub your shoulder and bend over to inspect one of the hunks of metal. “So – I’m guessing this is Glass’s work.”

Dick’s mildly concerned gaze quickly narrows when you show him the patterning on the interior. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

“Wanna bet how quickly we can track him down?”

You raise a brow underneath your cowl. Putting away his escrima sticks, Dick looks down at your outstretched hand and smirks.

“Nope,” he replies. “Not gonna risk it all this time, Blackfinch.”

—

“You know, there’s an old-time photography studio uptown. Not Wild West, but close enough.”

You catch a falling drop of melted ice cream, looking over Dick’s shoulder as he scrolls through his phone. It really is admirable, how determined he is to find a good studio, but you’re quickly distracted by the tangy creaminess of blackberry cheesecake. (You think this particular distraction is well-deserved, though – what was meant to be a one-hour skirmish ended up being a two-hour long battle against Glass’s toys, and by the time the two of you managed to turn him in, both you and Dick were pretty damn sore).

“You really want this photoshoot done, huh, Grayson?” You pause to bite into your ice cream, letting out a pleased hum as it coats your tongue; so expensive, but so worth it. “What’s with the sudden interest?”

He shrugs. “I just think it’d be fun. A ridiculous photoshoot’s a pretty good idea,” Dick reasons, showing you the route to Bearon’s Studio. “See? It’s only a few blocks away.”

“Okay. Let’s go, then.”

Your companion nods just as an explosion rocks the ground. Your ice cream scoop falls to the ground as you stumble and regain your footing, looking up to see smoke billowing from a nearby building.

“Seriously?” Dick groans.

As if on cue, a cloaked figure jumps out from a window and hits the ground running. There’s a maniacal cackle, and you sigh.

“Guess we’re going in a different direction, Dick.”

—

The runaway criminal ends up being a petty thief-turned-pyromaniac due to some street drug with a name too vulgar for public ears. You would have been glad that he wasn't a big-time villain with ulterior motives, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was an absolute pain in the ass to finally get him cornered and secured. To add to the picture, you now have teeth indentations on the same arm that got bruised in the first fight.

At least it's over now, though. Maybe if you and Dick hurry, the studio will still be –

“Closed?” Dick exclaims, hands gripping the door handles. The interior of the place is shrouded in darkness, and right near Dick's shoulder on the other side hangs a sign that reads “CLOSED” in dark, red print. “It’s not even close to six yet!”

“Guess they closed early.” You press your forehead into the glass and squint inside. Nothing happens. (You’re sort of relieved that nobody jumps out of the shadows at you and Dick.)

Dick’s hands drop down to his sides, and his head soon plonks against the door next to yours. “Man,” he sighs.

You turn to look at him. There are many expressions that look lovely on Dick’s face, some more than others, but disappointment is not one of them. It prompts you to think, and you tap on the door in thought, lips puckering.

Finally, you stand straight and snap your fingers. Dick raises an eyebrow.

“I’ve got it. Follow me.”

“Uh … okay.” Dick runs across the street after you, catching up in two quick strides. “Where are we going?”

You flash him a quick smile. “My grandpa’s house.”

Dick’s noise of surprise turns your smile into a smirk. The relationship between the two most important men in your life isn’t sour by any means, but your grandfather never really cared about social cues, and the most uncomfortable moments of your teenage life had resulted from his comments whenever you and Dick stood in the same room. You’ve gotten more used to his ways by now – which is nice – but still, you’re glad you don’t have to think about what he might say today.

“Don’t worry,” you assure Dick, running down the stairs toward the subway. “He’s out on business.”

Your childhood home was a penthouse suite. Fifteen years living the high-class life there, and not once had your grandfather renovated the place in any way, shape, or form; so after you and Dick finally reach the top floor and greet Miss Paula, it doesn’t take too long to find The Room.

“Okay,” you murmur to yourself, keeping ahold of Dick’s hand as you walk past your old bedroom, feeling your way down the hallway. Eventually, you reach a door with a keypad. “Aha.” Six digits, all in quick succession. “Behold.”

“… No way.” Dick walks over to the far corner as you flip on the light, gazing up at the array of hats hung onto the wall. Carefully, he takes one of them and examines the dark leather, lips curling into an incredulous grin. “How come I’ve never seen this place before?”

You take the hat from him and place it ceremoniously onto his head. “Grandpa’s way protective of his cowboy stuff. He only let me in here once I turned eighteen, and only responsible family and the closest of our friends can come in here.” Reaching around him, you grab a lasso off its hook and give it to Dick. “Here.”

The two of you spend the next few minutes trying on different combinations of hats and boots, modeling for each other and laughing your heads off like a pair of teenager. You tie a red handkerchief around Dick’s neck and fit him with a vest. He finds a giant wagon wheel hidden behind some crates and has you pose in front of it, expression deadly serious for historical accuracy. Finger guns complete the outfit.

“We don’t have a camera from the nineteenth century, but a filter’s the next best thing,” you state, rotating your camera around for a selfie. It takes a bit of stretching to include your enormous hats, but you manage. “Smile!”

Dick squishes his cheek against yours, and you can feel some stubble scraping against your skin as you take the shot. Your phone flashes and you bring it back down to check the result.

“Heh, you’re blinking.”

“You’re blurry.”

“It’s cute anyway,” Dick concludes, arm still wrapped around you as he favorites the picture. “Text it to me, will ya?”

“I’ll do you one better and get it printed out at Walmart. This one should be framed and hung up,” you reply.

“You’re right.”

While Dick takes a moment to send one of the pictures to his siblings, you take off the two ten-gallon hats stuffed onto your head. The boots and spurs follow after a bit of difficulty. Your handkerchiefs go back into the drawers, the lasso back on its hook. It doesn’t take terribly long to put everything away, and when the two of you finish, the room looks exactly like it had before. (Who said that attention to detail was only applicable in the field?)

“Well, that was fun,” Dick laughs, hands on his hips as he surveys the hat collection one last time. “I’m actually glad we did this instead of the studio, to be honest.”

“I agree.”

Miss Paula is still, oddly enough, dusting the furniture when you and Dick come back to the foyer; she raises an eyebrow as the two of you walk to the elevator, all twin grins and muffled snorts.

“I hope you kids enjoyed yourselves,” she calls after you as the doors slide open, pointing her duster suspiciously in your direction. Her lips are pursed, but a twinkle shines in her eye.

You beam innocently. “We did. Send Grandpa our regards, please.”

“Mmhm.”

The doors close. Dick turns to you, eyes alight with mirth. “I hope your grandpa won’t be mad that we used his stuff for a photoshoot.”

“Nah, he’d have a heyday if he caught us. He’d probably want to hire a photographer and everything,” you snort, shaking your head.

He chuckles. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Glancing over at him, you will your next words to be light. “I mean – he always thought we looked cute together, remember?”

“He did.”

Dick’s reply is a mix between a question and a statement – you’re not sure which one it is, and when you try to read his face you don’t get much of an answer. His eyes flit to meet yours, and the slightest of smiles graces his lips for a moment before it’s replaced by a thoughtful look.

You instinctively turn your attention towards the steadily decreasing floor number above the buttons. There’s no elevator music, so now all you can hear is the sound of your breathing and Dick’s breathing, and god, the awkwardness is back again. Geez Louise. Why did you have to say that? That was years ago. Your grandpa probably only liked pairing you up with Dick because he thought it’d be funny.

“I think he was right.”

Your brain short-circuits. “… Huh?”

Dick leans back with his elbows against the rail, staring up at the floor number with you. Six, five, four. “We would be cute together. Hypothetically, you know.”

“Hypothetically.” You swallow, bracing yourself against the wall when the elevator suddenly stops at the ground floor. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Pause.

“Hey, remember when your grandpa made all of us ride on his Fourth of July float that one summer?”

His voice cuts through your fretting. You cling onto the new subject, and it’s thankfully easy to laugh once you refocus. “How could I forget that? God, he embarrassed me so much when I was in high school.”

“It was Wild West-themed, wasn’t it? I forgot that part until today.”

“It was. Damn, that actually makes it more embarrassing.”

“I need to look for pictures of that parade – oh, speaking of which, remember. To print out the photos.”

His expression’s solemn, and you roll your eyes and nudge him with your shoulder. “I’ll remember, Grayson. First thing after work tomorrow.”

“Alright,” he says. “I’m counting on you, partner.”

“And I’ve never let you down,” you respond.

Dick grins. He gives you a squeeze around your waist, looking down the street as you both walk towards the subway.

“Nope. Not once.”

[50 Wordless Ways to Say “I Love You” prompt list (requests using this prompt list are openCLOSED)]

#wordless ways to say i love you #source: @50-item-writing-prompts #dick grayson #dick grayson x reader #dick grayson imagine #nightwing #nightwing x reader #nightwing imagine #dc #reader insert #romance #fanfic #dc fanfic #dc imagine #titans #oof this is long #here is a cowboy grayson for y'all #yeehaw

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brightdrawings · 5 years

Text

Breakfast and Catch-up (Theme: Love/Bonding)

It’s time for @stanuary week 1! Love/bonding. have some classic Fiddstan Set in the mystery Trio au!

(also on ao3!)

Stanley looked up from the stove in time to see Fiddleford rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he walked into the kitchen. The engineer gave a non-committal nod as he took his seat at the kitchen table. The smell of eggs filled the air and the sizzling of bacon made Fiddleford’s stomach grumble something fierce.

“Breakfast will be ready in a couple of minutes,” Stanley said. He flipped a pancake onto a plate next to the stove.

“Well it smells divine.” Fiddleford said. His sandy blond hair was a mess that he couldn't be bothered to fix this early in the morning.

Stan reached for the coffee pot and poured out two steaming hot mugs. “How many sugars?” he asked.

“Two please.” Fiddleford rubbed the last grains of sleep from his eyes.

“Coming right up,” Stanley put in two spoons of sugar into the mug with gear pattern. He walked over to the stove and placed the mug next to a plate stacked high with pancakes, with a side of bacon and eggs. Stanley set the plate and mug in front of fiddleford. He pecked Fiddleford’s forehead before making his own breakfast.

“How’d you sleep Fiddlenerd?” Stanley asked. He took a seat opposite Fiddleford.

“Refreshing,” Fiddleford got to work at his food. “You really outdid yourself this time darling.”

Stanley beamed. He started up with his own meal. It had been quite a while since he was able to sit down and enjoy a meal without having to worry about some magical beast bursting through the window and declaring war against them for stepping on some ancient flower of ultimate power or something.

He had met fiddleford a little while before Ford had called Fiddleford over for some help with some interuniversal portal or something. With nothing better to do Stan agreed to come with. Firstly to help with heavy lifting that might come up, and secondly to stare in awe at his boyfriend’s work. However meeting his estranged twin upon arriving wasn’t what he had expected. If Fiddleford hadn’t stood his ground and forced both Pines twins to talk out their issues Stanley wasn’t sure what would he would have done.

“So how did you meet the nerd?” Stanley asked after a beat. He rested his head in his hand, his elbow sitting against the table.

“We’ve been dating for how long and you’re only asking how I met my boss and got my job now?” Fiddleford raised his eyebrow.

“We’ve been busy,” Stanley replied. “What with the whole ‘making up for ruining his chance at his dream school’ and that goblin attack.”

“Gremloblin,” Fiddleford corrected.

“Yeah, that. Now back to the question, how did you meet my brother?” Stanley pressed.

“If you must know, we were roommates in college.” Fiddleford said. He took a sip of his coffee, making sure not to meet Stan’s eye.

“Roommates eh? Did you two ‘study’ together? What did you ‘study’? Nerdomics? Klingon? “ Stanley waited for Fiddleford to be halfway through his gulp of coffee before making his next assumption. “Biology?”

Fiddleford spat out his coffee. “Stanley Pines! Just what in the lord’s name are you insinuating?”

“What? My brother studies fairies and trolls, he’s obviously have to study how bodies and stuff work.” Stanley blinked innocently. He’d have to clean up that coffee stain from the floor but the look on Fiddleford face was worth it.

“Right-right. Well, not necessarily. I didn’t study biology myself, but Stanford did need some help with his studies and assignments. And if’n I was able to help I would,” Fiddleford recalled. “And in turn he’d help me out with my engineering studies.”

“A bit of ‘I scratch your back you scratch mine?’” Stanley smirked.

“If you call staying up until 3 am for three nights in a row ‘scratching his back’ then yes.” Fiddleford rolled his eyes.

“I don’t know, that sounds pretty productive if you ask me.” Stan smirked.

“If you’re trying to ask if your brother and I were in a relationship you can just say it,” Fiddleford said flatly.

“Aw, but I wanted to tease you more,” Stanley pouted. He took a sip of his coffee.

“Your dancing around the bush was about as subtle as a baseball bat to the face,” Fiddleford said. “And It’s way too early to be dealing with any of that.” He took a very quick sip of his coffee. He didn’t want a repeat of earlier.

“Fine fine, so that's how you scratched his back, how’d he pay you back?” Stanley asked. “From what I’ve heard, your dorms were terrible in winter. Did you two find an ‘economical’ way to stay warm?”

“Ya got me once Stanley, it ain’t happening again.” Fiddleford said. “And let me answer your question with a question, do you ever wonder why your brother always wears long sleeved shirts?”

“Because he somehow thought that Carl Sagan was a Fashion pioneer instead of the nerd he really was?” Stanley asked.

“For someone who claims to enjoy having fun you sure do like to suck the fun out other people, you know that?” Fiddleford asked.

“Oh, I’m well aware.” Stanley smirked. “But because I’m nice I’ll take the bait. Why does Ford wear long sleeved shirts all the time?”

“I don’t feel like telling you anymore.” Fiddleford look away childishly.

“Oh c’mon, don’t be like that,” Stanley said. He walked over to Fiddleford’s side to coddle him. “You know I was just kidding, right?”

“Well i don’t want an inattentive audience when i’m telling my stories,” Fiddleford turned his head away and crossed his arms.

“Come on Fiddlesticks, I really mean it,” Stanley took the seat next to Fiddleford. “I promise I‘ll listen this time.” “Your words are as empty as your stomach, Stanley Pines,” Fiddleford said dramatically. He stared Stanley down, but was thrown off by his boyfriend’s grin. “What’s so funny, Mr. Heckler?”

“Empty as my stomach eh?” Stanley asked. He nodded to his empty plate of pancakes. “You sure about that one?”

“That doesn’t prove anything. You’d put the the bottomless hole we have outside to shame,” FIddleford said.

“It’s a gift,” Stanley beamed.

“At least I don’t have to worry about throwing away food scraps anymore,” Fiddleford said.

“So, you were going to tell me a story about my brother hiding something with shirts?” Stan asked. “I’m not sure if I’m willing to tell you.” Fiddleford smirked.

“Hmm, maybe I could make it worth your while?” Stanley asked.

“Stanley, are you suggesting a bribe?” Fiddleford asked in mock shock.

“I think I might have something to fit the bill,” Stanley grinned. He leaned forward and kissed Fiddleford’s cheek. The engineer giggled as the scruff on Stan’s chin tickled him.

“You were right.” Fiddleford said. He scooted his chair closer so that he could lean against stan’s chest. “That definitely fit the bill.”

“So can I hear the story or not?” Stanley asked after a beat. Fiddleford gotten half way through his pancakes and hadn’t said a word.

Fiddleford took another bite of his pancakes.

“What are you waiting for a kiss on the cheek?” Stan asked.

“Another one wouldn’t hurt,” Fiddleford grinned.

“You set me up,” Stan frowned.

“And they said it’s impossible to out-con a conman,” Fiddleford smirked. Stanley rolled his eyes before kissing fiddleford’s cheek.

“Happy?”

“Very,” Fiddleford grinned.

Fiddleford finished off his breakfast before diving into his tale.

“I was low on parts for my engineering major, and my deadline was breathing down my back,” he began. “Your brother had helped me test out the prototypes but those… didn’t turn out too well.”

“Did they explode?” Stanley asked.

“Not in any way that would be entertaining. Half the time they just started to smoke and we’d have to get the fire extinguisher.” Fiddleford said. “Anyway, we got wind that the science department were planning on throwing out some equipment. And that stuff just happened to have the parts I needed. So Stanford and I got suited up, you should have seen your brother, he got a black sweater and beanie for the occasion.”

“You’re saying that as if you didn’t have a mask and a striped black and white shirt as well.” Stanley accused.

“I thought it would have been appropriate to dress to fit the occasion,” Fiddleford said. “As I was saying, we made our way to the science building in the dead of night. It was so dark we couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces. Stanford was saying something about anti-theft lights that made everything hard to see. Turns out we were just in the shadow of the building.” “Ha! He would think that.” Stanley said smugly.

“Well we walked into the building.” Fiddleford said.

“You just walked in? No security? No security guards? No cameras?” Stan asked.

“Our college advertised ‘roach free dormitories’.” Fiddleford scowled. “This was granted by handing out a free can of insect spray on our first day.”

“Sounds like my kind of place.” Stanley smirked.

“Let’s just say they probably didn’t have the budget for any kind of serious security detail.” FIddleford said. “A I was saying, we walked in, no problem. In fact the equipment was right by the door in the hallway.”

“Sounds too convenient,” Stanley said.

“It was a stroke of luck!” Fiddleford said, pretending that he hadn’t heard Stan’s comment. “But lo and behold the night guard was on his patrol.”

“I thought you said there weren’t any guards,” Stan squinted.

“To be fair, in hindsight they were probably a janitor. But I’m the storyteller here and I decide the roles.” Fiddleford resumed. “Stanford was panicking but didn’t know squat about what parts I needed, so I had him to hold the flashlight for me while I quickly pulled the equipment apart for what I needed. And just as I got the last part free we heard the nightguard walking close by. So using our brilliant minds we dove behind the equipment just in time to avoid their spotlight.”

“Stanford was that daring? Now I wish I was there to see that.” Stanley smirked.

“Just as we heard them walked past; we made our way to sneak past the nightguard. Unfortunately Stanford, the old butterfingers that he was, dropped his flashlight.” He waved his arms as he spoke. “And to make things worse, the parts in my bag had leaked oil on to the floor. His flashlight cracked on the ground and was covered in oil. And when he turned it back on KABLOOEY! It blew up, setting his black sweater on fire and burning his arms terribly.”

“Ha! That’s rich.” Stanley wiped a tear from his eye while slamming his hand on the table. “Fidds you’re a riot,” he said between chuckles.

“And he’s been hiding his arms in shame ever since,” Fiddleford said.

After he finally caught his breath Stanley clapped Fiddleford on the shoulder. “Fidds, that was amazing. But one problem.”

“What’s that?” Fiddleford asked.

“We both saw Stanford with his sleeves rolled up,” Stanley said. “And if memory served we both teased him for having such smooth arms that pixies could use them as a slide.”

“Well I never said it was a true story,” Fiddleford pouted.

The tipped Stanley over the edge. He erupted into laughter once more. He kicked the ground and slammed his fist on to the table, knocking the utensils around in his hysterics. His barking laugh filled the air, Fiddleford himself couldn’t stop himself from joining in. And in a few short minutes the pair had fallen off their seats.

“That was a good laugh.” Stanley said.

“I needed that,” Fiddleford coughed. He wiped away a tear.

“My little Fiddlesticks out conned me. Twice! I’m so proud.” Stanley said. He placed his hand on his heart. “I think that deserves a reward.”

“My my, what have you got in mind?” Fiddleford smirked. He crawled over so that he was sitting on Stan’s lap.

“There’s that sci-fi flick that came out a while ago. We could go check out together,” Stanley offered.

“I thought you hated sci-fi,” Fiddleford said.

“It’s also a horror flick. I’ll get to have you cuddle up to me when the big monster jumps out,” Stanley said with a smirk.

“After the hunts that Stanford’s had us go through? I doubt some goo-covered rubber costume will get my goat,” Fiddleford said.

“Wanna bet?” Stanley asked.

“Who ever screams first has to be the winner dinner,” Fiddleford declared. He offered his hand to Stan.

“You’re on McGucket,” Stanley shook fiddleford’s hand. “I hope you’re not too attached to your wallet.”

“We’ll See Stanley, we’ll see,” Fiddleford smiled.

#Gravity falls #Grunkle stan #Stanley Pines #fiddleford mgucket #old Man Mcgucket #Fiddlestan #fiddstan #My writing #stanuary

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mrultra100 · 5 years

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1000th Post Y’all!

Well how ‘bout that? 1000 posts of my random and ridiculous shenanigans! It’s been a wild ride folks, and I couldn’t be more happy for all of your support! (And to this, that I started this blog for fun back last summer) To celebrate, here are my top 10 favorite posts!

10. https://mrultra100.tumblr.com/post/177268053221/diosmiles (by @diosmiles)

This mash-up of “Interior Crocodile, Alligator” and the SSBU version of “Gangplank Galleon” was made when King K. Rool was revealed as one of the game’s newcomers. When it may be short, it does have a nice rhyme to it. Seriously thou, the updated version of the Kremling King’s theme is fitting for his long awaited return in Smash Ultimate.

9. https://mrultra100.tumblr.com/post/178806537791/amtrax-squigglydigg-new-bendy-and-the-ink (by both @squigglydigg and @amtrax)

Another music one. Out of all the fan-made BATIM songs out there, “Welcome Home” might be my all time favorite of the bunch, with the lyrics, voice acting, etc, Hailey, Austin, and the gang really outdid themselves with this one, especially at the last verse of the song.

8.https://mrultra100.tumblr.com/post/175851041991/cookievampiress-mrultra100-asked-me-to-draw (By @cookievampiress)

Behold ladies and gents (If you remember this one) the very first art request I ever sent! (And also the first V-Twin request at that) Since the first time I since “Fangs a Lot Johnny” (A Johnny Test season 5 episode), the Vampire Twins (Especially Vampire Mary) have climbed onto the ranks of my all time favorite characters. There’s just something I love about evil goth-like versions of certain cartoon characters, and since I love vampires, this ain’t no exception.

Though I don’t like to share personal info or complain, for some reason, Cookie decided to block me shortly after the request was done. I could have upsetted her over something, and I wish in the near future, I can speak with her again to see what happened. Again tho, I’m not big on controversy, but I wanted to point that out. Let’s move on!

7. https://mrultra100.tumblr.com/post/179708341611/mexican64-so-two-major-things-happened (By @mexican64)

This piece was made towards Piranha Plant’s reveal as a fighter in Smash, and our first meeting with Alastor in Hazbin Hotel. If there’s something that the 2 have is common, that would be those sharp smiles they have. More points for adding the visual elements of the Radio Demon onto the carnivorous flora, Especially the ears!

6. https://mrultra100.tumblr.com/post/178498693031/bogleech-i-didnt-even-give-gooseworx-any (Made for @bogleech by Gooseworx)

As you may know, “Awful Hospital” happens to be my favorite web-comic, and that’s coming from a guy, who’s not big on stuff like “Homestuck” and all that. Nonetheless, AH could always used it’s own theme that captures the twisted and bizarre feel of the series, and what other that the extremely talented Gooseworx? (Goose also does music for the aforementioned Hazbin Hotel btw) As Bog stated, this this also count as Dr. Phage’s personal theme, very fitting for him as he is my favorite AH character.

5. https://mrultra100.tumblr.com/post/182018074106/seriously-tho-its-been-lil-more-than-2-years-at (By yours truely!)

Outdated meme aside,not to be rude, Did anyone noticed the similarities at all? Guzzlord basically what happen if you feed Vaka-Waka some experimental steroids and throw him in a another dimension. And to make this more loco-crazy, the Mixel came a little more than a year before the Pokemon (Mixels Series 6 was released on October 1, 2015, and Pokemon Sun and Moon was released on Novenber 18, 2016), weird, right?

4. https://mrultra100.tumblr.com/post/180606173256/retrograde64-art-request-for-mrultra100-heres (By @retrograde64)

At the time of this one, I was getting a lil’ tired of sending V-Twin art requests, since there’s now so many of ‘em, so I figured, why not “stretch” (I ain’t sorry for that pun) the boundaries of what I sent as art requests, and try new ideas? If you’re wondering, my favorite of the Flexers (and the Mixels in general) is Tentro.

3. https://mrultra100.tumblr.com/post/182991618561/here-is-it-the-favorite-character-bingo-that-no (By me again, of course, and this was created by @ trash--senpai )

This was created by a good friend of mine (@trash--senpai) and might count as the weirdest request I ever sent. When I asked her to create this one, she was a bit confused by it, considering that she’s a artist, this was strange to her, nonethless, she not only got mine done, she also made one for herself. (I told her that she can make one for herself when she worked on mine)

2. https://mrultra100.tumblr.com/post/182810505846/kirby-after-the-events-of-world-of-light-this (Done by me, based on @terminalmontage)

This is the only drawing of mine on this list, cuz let’s face it, my art skills suck donkey dongs! (More on that later tho) This one was made for Valentine’s Day, and as well all know, celebrating Valentines is killing world-destroying gods together with your loved ones. Sigh... Kirby makes that part too easy!

https://mrultra100.tumblr.com/post/175498459271/draculabrides-fangs-a-lot-johnny-you-can (By @draculabrides)

To finish this list, let’s go back to where it all began. One summer night on July 3, 2018, a certain fella in his mid-teens (I.E, me!) want to create a fandom based blog on a website notorious for feminazis whining about Steven Universe and “political correctness”, Eugh. Anyways, the first post (Or reblog if you will) was a collection of gifs featuring a certain sparkly undead duo who went on to becoming the mascots of said blog.

Welp, guess that all of them, and that’s only 10 posts out of 1000 posts and reblog that I made in almost the last year. To all of my friends and the followers who were crazy enough to follow a fella who’s obsessed with cartoon vampire girls like me ( @good-guy-is-alive , @naty-js , @odreiwa , @captain-animatordreamer ,etc) thanks for everything! Also, I plan to start digital art sometime in the near future, and I might leave this blog to start anew after some practice (and with a whole new name AND look to boot) Don’t get me wrong, I’m not leaving here, I might keep this blog as a memory. I’m Mr. Ultra, the Fandom Jacka** of the Digital Blue Hills of Hell, and I hope you have a nice day. See you later, and “Stay Ultra Folks!”

#@mrultra100 #Ultra Ramblings #1000th post special #future plans #stay tuned

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makeste · 6 years

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KHR 068: Literal Food Wars

Stay tuned guys, because this chapter features Bianchi’s one and only fight scene, and it’s about six pages long but it’s one of the strangest things that’s ever gone down in this manga.

But before we get to that, this thing opens with one of my all-time favorite KHR jokes! Let’s appreciate it together.

YOU BET YOUR ASS HE HAD A SPARE. And he just WHIPS IT OUT like an RPG character dumping his massive inventory. And Yamamoto is just like, “oh, thank you!” because PAPAMOTO DONE RAISED HIM RIGHT. And his face. Oh my god just look at it it’s perfect.

All in all, a 10 out of 10. Really, we can go ahead and end the arc right here.

Just kidding, obviously we need to continue. At the very least until we find out just what exactly Mukuro is planning on doing with all those teeth!

So anyway, I skipped over it, but it’s important to note that yet again Tsuna is having feelings of guilt over his freezing up and having to be saved by his friends who then end up getting hurt protecting him.

This is beautiful slow-burn character development, so let’s keep track of it as it continues.

It almost seems too easy, doesn’t it? [counts the number of chapters left in this arc] Something fishy going on here.

At this point, poor Ken, who has now been relegated to comic relief status, severely misapprehends the position he’s currently in, and decides to start some shit.

Honestly, he almost even gave the whole game away with that “you’ll die before you see his face” remark. Mukuro really needs to have a talk with him.

An annoyed Gokudera belligerently sprinkles some sand on him (because making his face very slightly dirty, THAT’LL SHOW HIM). An equally annoyed Bianchi tsks at Hayato’s childishness. Clearly, what this situation calls for instead is some light murder in the first degree.

This chapter is off to an excellent fucking start so far.

Reborn then starts hyping Mukuro up again and to be honest he does a pretty good job. But more importantly, he hands the photograph over to Tsuna, so that we, the audience, can get this next page, and presumably scratch our heads in confusion.

“These two Mukuros who look nothing alike… does a trap lie behind its secret?”

Well, let me think. We know that the person that Tsuna and co. think is Mukuro is not actually Mukuro. We also know that Reborn has only one Dying Will bullet left. One trump card; two Mukuros.

Nah, I think it’s going to be fine.

Anyway. Look who’s awake!

Hey, Mukuro actually bandaged him up! And put him in bed. And was just sitting there watching him. Mukuro, could it be you’re actually a nice guy?!?!?!

The answer is no, not quite, since there’s still all that teeth-harvesting and attempted murder and actual murder and kidnapping and wanting to cleanse the world with darkness (we haven’t even gotten to that yet but yeah) and stuff. But watch this space!

Chikusa and Mukuro catch each other up on recent events. Take a gander there at Chikusa’s little exclamation mark speech bubble when he finds out Ken’s been defeated, which is almost identical to Mukuro’s little exclamation mark when Chikusa fell on his face after stumbling back wounded a few chapters ago! The emotionally challenged apple doesn’t fall far from the emotionally challenged tree.

And then Mukuro introduces some ~reinforcements~, and lo and behold:

It’s a two-page spread of antagonists! Which means it’s time for a round of let’s-analyze-the-two-page-spread-using-bullet-points! Man, I love this. It’s been a while.

BIRDS - A.k.a. the literal worst character in the entire series! 100% no hyperbole or exaggeration! That is the correct use of “literal.” There is in fact no one worse than Birds.

CREEPY TWINS - I kind of love them tbh. They’re SO FUCKING DISTURBING and I feel like we never get anything even close to that kind of creepy again afterwards. Except for the Vindice maybe. Fun fact, this chapter came out roughly around 2005, so these guys predate Slenderman. Godfathers of creepypasta right here.

LANCIA IN A HAT - Hey it’s Lancia wearing a funny hat

M.M. - Pretty much the only one of these guys who actually sticks around in the long run. (Not counting Lancia, since as far as I can recall he only makes the one cameo at the end of the Varia Arc and then disappears from our lives forever.) She actually makes it into Tsuna’s nostalgic montage in the very last chapter of the series! But the rest of this chapter is about her, so I’ll hold off on additional comments for now.

BONUS ROUND:

Well, I guess Birds did manage to do one good thing during his fortunately-brief tenure in KHR! Somehow I always manage to forget the origins of this little guy.

Does he really? Somehow I don’t exactly associate the Kokuyou gang with piles of cash (something to do with them squatting in an abandoned mall and constantly seeming to be on the verge of starving to death). Maybe it’s illusionary money. This would have been funny to see if it had actually worked out.

I hope the other Kokuyous get Mukuro a “World’s Best Grandma” trophy for his next birthday.

We then cut over to the small child that Mukuro kidnapped! I’m gonna get whiplash from going back and forth on how evil he actually is in this arc, goddamn it.

Whatever, Mukuro!!!

Okay, so after all of these villain introductions, we finally return to our intrepid group of heroes.

This little hobbit’s feet are tired and he wants to stop and have second breakfast.

So they sit down at some picnic tables and Bianchi once again recalls how much she fucking despises Yamamoto!

“MOVE OR YOU WILL BE MOVED!!”

He makes the greatest fucking faces every time she does this shit, I swear.

There are some comedic bits involving Bianchi just straight up offering Tsuna literal bug soup to eat (like, not even any sort of pretense this time around as to whether it’s actually edible or not). But then, suddenly…!

Yikes.

And of course, Tsuna naturally just assumes Bianchi’s food did that on its own, which. Yeah, that would normally check out. But Bianchi says it wasn’t her!

I don’t have any of the Viz-translated volumes but I wonder what they turned this “oh shi—” into. I’m feeling like they would have gone with a good old-fashioned, nonsensical “Cowabunga!”

Okay but apparently M.M., just like Ken before her, for whatever reason has decided it’s better to just dick around and not actually go for the kill. Because I have to assume that if she could do that to a lunch box, she could do it to a person instead. So I guess everyone should be thankful that their opponent isn’t quite fucked up enough to be the type of person who just explodes all of her enemies from off-screen before they ever have the chance to mount any kind of defense.

Gokudera hears music coming from somewhere and tries to blow it up! This is notable because of how he somehow then manages to forget, less than two pages later, that he actually has bombs. It’s kind of amazing, actually.

Because Gokudera used the power of forced perspective, and Ken literally just hyaahoed around and did absolutely nothing!

Tsuna, Yamamoto, and Gokudera immediately exchange confused looks.

“How many does this make? [counting on fingers] OH SHIT.”

M.M. then proceeds to mercilessly ridicule the Vongola boys who apparently are not up to her mafia standards. Being a bunch of self-conscious eighth graders, they have absolutely no defense against this kind of shade and are blown the fuck away.

“SHABBY LOOKING??”

M.M. then again inexplicably refers to Mukuro as though he’s some sort of Rich Uncle Pennybags type figure, just making it rain everywhere he goes, and in all seriousness this is really starting to confuse the shit out of me.

Either Mukuro has some stash hidden away that the others never knew about, or he was lying through his teeth. Personally, I absolutely believe it’s some sort of leprechaun situation, and M.M. was going to receive a mountain of cash that then mysteriously vanished two days later, by which time Mukuro was conveniently on the other side of the planet probably.

Anyways, having tired of this conversation, M.M. decides it’s time to take them out, so she aggressively plays her clarinet at them.

Because it’s KHR, this is actually a really effective attack.

Okay, and this is the shit I was talking about earlier. If only one of you lunkheads had a ranged attack that you could use in a situation like this, Gokudera! That would sure help the others out a lot, Gokudera “SMOKING BOMB” Hayato, it’s you, I’M TALKING TO YOU, YOU’RE THE LUNKHEAD.

I DON’T KNOW, MAYBE YOU CAN GO BACK TO WHEREVER KEN IS AND SEE IF HE HAS A FUCKING BRAIN CHANNEL YOU CAN BORROW

So finally Bianchi steps up to bat, because no one else has seemed to register the fact that they’re hiding from a fucking clarinet, and the most intimidating thing it’s done so far is heat up some sushi and a few water bottles.

[WONDER WOMAN THEME MUSIC PLAYS!!]

CAN’T BUY ME LOOOOOOVE

Bianchi then proceeds to lay out a detailed analysis of M.M.’s mysterious clarinet weapon after seeing it in action a grand total of once, and holy shit, I’m starting to think she may actually be even more of a nerd than her so-called genius younger brother (especially given the severe dive his intelligence has apparently taken in this chapter).

M.M. then breaks it down in even more gratuitous detail, and I’m starting to fall asleep here christ

BLAH BLAH TL;DR THIS DEADLY WOODWIND INSTRUMENT MAKES THINGS HEAT UP AND EXPLODE

That’s what I was saying before! Then why didn’t you fucking do that??

So the boys absolutely FREAK THE FUCK OUT, which, I would too if someone could nuke my fucking body just by playing “Rhapsody in Blue.”

Bianchi, however, isn’t fazed in the slightest, and whips up a couple trays of weaponized P.F. Chang’s to counterattack.

Look at poor Gokudera’s face. [p-pats]

M.M. isn’t having it and slings some smooth jazz Bianchi’s way!

Very impressive that she can shout the attack name and still play the instrument at the same time.

I never made it more than one episode into Shokugeki no Soma because I couldn’t get past the foodgasms, but basically this is what I always imagined that show should be like.

Somehow Bianchi manages to fully dodge the microwave music attack using the power of PLATES, and takes a dive toward M.M.!

M.M. is all like “AAAAAHHH” but then suddenly she’s like “JUST KIDDING”

She then announces that close-quarters combat is her specialty, and proves it by CONVERTING THE CLARINET INTO A PAIR OF NUNCHUCKS AND WHAPPING BIANCHI ON THE HEAD.

OKAY

On the surface, this looks bad—but Gokudera Hayato knows better.

That is the face of a kid who has seen some shit.

Holy shit this arc had some fucked up moments didn’t it.

Quick refresher, so this is referring to chapter 51, “June Bride”, during which Bianchi almost married Reborn but then didn’t! Because it wasn’t really Reborn at all, but a robot. Haha this manga is weird.

Anyway. So M.M. falls over dead and this horrifically weird battle comes to an end!

Yes. Actually yes. It’s completely impossible. But that’s KHR for you.

And it turns out the reason Bianchi was fighting so passionately was in order to protect Reborn’s nap time!

Hibari Kyoya should look into hiring this one.

But before anyone has a chance to celebrate, they’re interrupted by a horrible old man holding up a laptop because tablets weren’t a thing yet!

I know I should be properly horrified, but all I can think is how absurd this looks now. Here he is, introducing himself and then holding up his unwieldy Macbook with two open QuickTime windows and what I’m just going to assume is Winamp running down there in the corner. Like, this guy is in the fucking stone age still.

So yeah, next chapter is the CREEPY TWINS chapter where Tsuna almost fucking stabs himself to death! Gonna be wild.

#khr #katekyo hitman reborn #yay old chapter #who here knows what winamp is #this is one of those things that really outs me as the dinosaur I am isn't it #actually I'm pretty sure it's still around but you can't tell me anyone still uses it #but I did!#I used it to play my mp3s that I got off of napster and kazaa #yeah that's right #fucking kazaa

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verdigrisprowl · 6 years

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Oct 30 Dancitron Movie Night - Dog Soldiers

Soundwave was in a holomatter avatar in his pre-flier frame with impressive tires. Prowl 1) could barely pay attention to anything else all night, and 2) still managed to figure out one of the movie’s major plot twists.

Today Tarantulas 7:41 pm *guess who's been invited over early - it's everyone's favorite science spider friend! he pops into dancitron ready to roll, not sure who'll be meeting him downstairs but not really minding. he's got a CLUB to DECORATE.* ItsyBitsySpyers 7:44 pm Zori is the only one downstairs right now, sporting a tiny copy of Starscream's crown and purple cape. He's also got a miniature scepter held tightly in one claw and is waving it to and fro, humming to himself. He waves to Tarantulas - and then to the twins' choice of decor.

You know. Things like 'paper chains' made of old tire tread; honest to Primus trophies from some of Frenzy and Ravage's hunts in the Underworld; automated bits of (fake) injured or dying mechs 'phased' into the walls, courtesy of Bevel and Buzzsaw; creepy Unicron-purple lighting; energon cubes painted black to show off the glowing, anguished faces of popular multiversal Autobot and Decepticon officers carved into them...

#hi! #C: Tarantulas 7:49 pm *tarantulas snickers at the decor* Hello, Zori - just LOOK at this, lovely, lovely. How can I be of service? ItsyBitsySpyers 7:52 pm He's being a brave, brave scorpion tonight. Soundwave said that bad things don't REALLY happen on this Earth holiday, and anyway, the spider isn't coming near. Yet.

#Rumble and Frenzy said #um #they want spiderwebs #please #and you could have some extra snacks #... #but not by me #okay? Tarantulas 7:55 pm Aww, how generous. *yes, tara's keeping his distance, he knows how skittish the scorp is around spiders. tara starts scoping out the room* It sounds like a perfectly suitable proposal. It'll take me a little while, but we have time, I believe. *tara always does shit last minute, he's good* ItsyBitsySpyers 7:57 pm #we do! #...so #um #um um #I am going to check snacks #yes

Nope. That's it. The bravery ran out. He's heading to the bar, where there are lots of things to hide behind. And he'll be there while Tarantulas works, up until others start trickling in. Tarantulas 7:59 pm *tarantulas does his best to shush his own snickering* Please do. *and he's off to work - sizing up to reach the ceiling with ease and delicately trailing silk around the room. there are a few quick but full spiderwebs here and there too by the time he's done* Tarantulas 8:02 pm *the fact that the silk shimmers and glints in the dim lighting is totally intentional, also. quite eerie, and also sticky to the touch* Swoop 8:04 pm *bounds in, painted head to toe in black, with his bright gold goggles on* Bird? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:05 pm *Rumble and Frenzy are the first to come dancing downstairs, already admiring Tarantulas' work. Frenzy touches a silk runner, gets some stuck to a finger, and makes a grossed out face while laughing.*

*If you think something's off about them, you're right. Frenzy is all blue with red and white feet. Tonight, he'll be Sonic. Rumble's gone all red with white accents, spiny finger joints, and green and yellow magnetic patches. Obviously, he's Knuckles.* //She ain't ready yet, heh. Whatcha got the goggles for?// Swoop 8:06 pm Bird said goggles. And BLACK! Her get, uhh, other stuff. ((i <3 this musical)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:07 pm ((WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY i woulda dragged you to it saturday with us)) FakeProwl 8:07 pm ((IS SWOOPMUN WITHIN DRAGGING DISTANCE?)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:07 pm ((YEAH)) FakeProwl 8:07 pm ((I DID NOT KNOW)) Swoop 8:07 pm ((aww how was it?)) FakeProwl 8:07 pm *appears; for a moment, his optics widen in obvious worry. Dead people and ripped treads, the glow of dark energon, what happened in—?* Swoop 8:08 pm ((Dude, this is possibly my favorite musical. I've seen student productions, but not a professional one.)) FakeProwl 8:08 pm *Oh. decorations. it's fake.* Bevel 8:08 pm ((it was really fun aside from a couple cringy stereotypes mostly left out of the movie FakeProwl 8:08 pm ((yeah, if you've seen student productions then you've probably seen the icky parts already)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:10 pm *Where was the mun. Oh yes!*

//Ohh, the big - yeah, hold on. I think she got it with her.//

*Rumble nudges his brother.*

\\BIIIIIIIIIIRD\\ FakeProwl 8:10 pm ((other than that tho it was a lot of fun. the dentist SERIOUSLY hammed it up, he was a load of fun.)) Tarantulas 8:10 pm *across the room, tarantulas steps back from one last silken thread and crosses his arms, looking around* Hmm. Satisfactory. FakeProwl 8:11 pm *Looks around for Soundwave, can't find him, looks at Tarantulas instead. He's clearly involved.* What's all this? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:11 pm *And in floats Laserbeak, all red, black, and gold, with a fake wide tail on. Those who remember the Civil War movie might recognize Falcon's drone, Redwing. She's got a big yellow beak mask in her feelers for Swoop.* Bevel 8:11 pm *trundles in transformed to look like Alphonse from FMA and stops to admire all the awesome work on the room* FakeProwl 8:12 pm *IS THAT ANOTHER LEAGUER* Swoop 8:12 pm *giggles and holds out his hands for the mask* You Bird all Dinobot colors! Tarantulas 8:12 pm Oh Prowl, didn't you know? It's /Halloween/. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:12 pm *How much does Bevel know about FMA? There's a beige Chimera in feline mode walking downstairs. And there's a lot of long, brown wires on its head and back, presently serving as a creepy mane...* FakeProwl 8:12 pm *IT IS A TALLER-THAN-AVERAGE-HUMANS METAL PERSON, IT'S CLEARLY ANOTHER LEAGUER* Magnum Ace 8:13 pm ((on mobile. it kinda sucks FakeProwl 8:13 pm ... Oh, right. It HAS been a year, hasn't it. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:13 pm {{Yes, yes! Me Bird best Dinobot, got costume present.}} *Holds out the beak. Chimera makes a beeline for Bevel and offers a big, doofy smile.* Swoop 8:13 pm You Bird have fire breath? Kehhehhehhh ItsyBitsySpyers 8:14 pm {{Boss say when Bird mad, Autobot audials burn~}} Swoop 8:14 pm KEHEHHHEHHH Him mean You Bird YELLING Bevel 8:14 pm Nina! *not sure if amused or horrified but she can recognize Chimera under the mane and kneel down to greet them* Tarantulas 8:15 pm (( NINA 💔 ItsyBitsySpyers 8:15 pm <<Yes! Chimera is the Sad Monster.>> FakeProwl 8:15 pm ((nina is one of only three things i know about fma)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:15 pm <<Can Chimera sit with the Bevel?>> Magnum Ace 8:15 pm ((oh my god, snek no ItsyBitsySpyers 8:15 pm ((SUFFER)) Tarantulas 8:15 pm (( is one of the other ones hughes Bevel 8:15 pm You make a very good Sad Monster. Yeah! We gotta stick together. *grins* Magnum Ace 8:15 pm ((EVIL Bevel 8:15 pm ((I like that we accidentally got two FMA costumes here FakeProwl 8:16 pm ((i don't remember the /name/ hughes, but if he's very sad then yes he's one of the ones i know about)) Tarantulas 8:16 pm (( VERY very sad Magnum Ace 8:16 pm ((he is Bevel 8:17 pm ((Bevel is the suit of armor kid https://i.pinimg.com/originals/28/96/14/289614067ed1c67319858376013f5ae2.png

FakeProwl 8:17 pm ((yes, that's why prowl thinks she's a leaguer)) Bevel 8:17 pm ((lol Prowl FakeProwl 8:17 pm ((because that's not a cybertronian)) ((and prowl apparently has no object permanence around bevel)) Bevel 8:17 pm ((Most bots don't, it's ok Magnum Ace 8:18 pm ((actual leaguer will show up when I get my com back ItsyBitsySpyers 8:18 pm ((YAY)) Bevel 8:18 pm ((yay Tarantulas 8:18 pm *tarantulas is gonna stretch and strut over to prowl, putting his paws on prowl's shoulders from behind* Yes, the one day of the year I can simply be myself, hyeh. Gargantuan spider? No questions asked. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:19 pm *The slow drip of mechs down the stairs continues. This time, almost literally. Buzzsaw comes in splattered in fake human blood and globs of congealed paint made to look like gore.*

*Behold: the chainsaw in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.* Magnum Ace 8:19 pm ((did I mention rabbit on mobile sucks? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:19 pm ((it really does)) Magnum Ace 8:20 pm ((yuuup FakeProwl 8:20 pm *Right. If there's another leaguer here and it's possibly Prowl's fault, he'd better go over and deal with it.* FakeProwl 8:21 pm On the other hand, it means you're one of the only people here who isn't in costume. *Briefly squeezes hand over Tarantulas's paw.* I need to talk to one of the guests, I'll be right back. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:21 pm *Ravage is next. He doesn't seem to have anything different about him. At all.* Tarantulas 8:21 pm *snickers, allows prowl to go, with a mandible-bump kiss on his head* Bevel 8:22 pm *glances up when Ravage appears and...* Are you not wearing a costume tonight? Magnum Ace 8:22 pm ((poor prowl ItsyBitsySpyers 8:22 pm *He stares at Bevel and scoffs. Loud.*

=I am Bagheera. OBVIOUSLY.=

*Flops and turns his back on her.* FakeProwl 8:22 pm *Leans into the kiss, then heads over to what is /apparently/ a new leaguer.* Are you lost? Bevel 8:23 pm *...laughs* Sorry! You look awesome. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:23 pm =Mm.=

*That's better.* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:24 pm ((FIVE MINUTE WARNING)) Bevel 8:25 pm *sudden Prowl approaches! she used to bots not recognizing her so she takes the question pretty well* I do not think so. It is me, Bevel. I am just /wearing/ a costume. FakeProwl 8:25 pm ......... Right. Okay. Good. ... Very convincingly alien. Swoop 8:26 pm Me Swoop am COMEDIAN — Plague doctor Swoop for Halloween Me Swoop am COMEDIAN — Plague doctor Swoop for Halloween - Plague doctor Swoop for Halloween Bevel 8:26 pm *smiles happily* Thanks! Swoop 8:26 pm ((quick scribble)) ((of the borb)) Tarantulas 8:26 pm (( GOOD Bevel 8:26 pm ((creepy, i love it ItsyBitsySpyers 8:26 pm ((that's GLORIOUS)) FakeProwl 8:27 pm ((oooo)) Swoop 8:27 pm ((babbe needs minimal edits when he is an actual twig borb)) *puts on his mask and looks up at Bird for a reaction* Tarantulas 8:28 pm *tarantulas is gonna take the opportunity to transform into literal spider mode. probably should PRETEND he's costuming it up* FakeProwl 8:28 pm *Goes over to take his usual seat. Unless Tarantulas has claimed it; in which case he'll scoot Tarantulas over.* Tarantulas 8:30 pm *nope, he's just nearby! tarantulas is gonna climb on top of prowl as soon as he sits though, like a mastiff trying to sit on a human's lap* Fuck You Rabbit 8:30 pm ((I will fucking kill rabbit)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:30 pm ((HERE ARE TONIGHT'S WARNINGS: Violence and gore, foul language, sexist language, faked animal cruelty, vomit)) FakeProwl 8:30 pm *It isn't working.* Shrink a little. Fuck You Rabbit 8:30 pm ((I STG I'm going murder it for holding me hostage until I created an account)) Fuck You Rabbit 8:31 pm ((sorry don't mind me just. ticked off at this stupid website that refuses to let me be a guest????? argh.)) Tarantulas 8:32 pm *some chittering* That's no fun. Hmph. *does it anyway, downgrades from mastiff to lapdog* Swoop 8:32 pm Bird bird *bounces on his toes* bird FakeProwl 8:32 pm *now prowl can hug better. isn't that an improvement?* Magnum Ace 8:32 pm ((here we go! I am on my com! Bevel 8:32 pm *will find a good place for her and Chimera to sit* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:33 pm *And the host is finally here. Someone only about 18 feet tall, very broad, and thickly armored is silently striding down the stairs and over to the couch where Prowl and Tarantulas are parked. Those who have seen Soundwave in the frame so helpfully dubbed "Hot Wheels" might recognize it... sort of. Tonight, it's in shades of black, grey, and red, supposedly for the holiday. And it looks every inch the gladiator he'll be telling most people he is tonight.* Fuck You Rabbit 8:33 pm *finally, the dragon arrives! she looks tired. she also has a cart, a legitimate CART, of goodies with her! they're individually wrapped in a glittering paper-like substance, and they're shaped like energon crystals! thin crunchy shell on the outside, sweet liquid center on the inside! she's also wearing the most hideously green, tacky dragon costume. the tags indicate that it's supposed to be for Earth dogs of some universe. the security device hanging off the tags indicate it was stolen.* Magnum Ace 8:34 pm -and don't mind him. He's had this happen enough times that he doesn't even pause this time- ItsyBitsySpyers 8:34 pm [[He apologizes for being late. There was a malfunction with one of the feeds. Help yourselves to fuel.]] Swoop 8:34 pm *can't stop touching the mask* Magnum Ace 8:34 pm -what does make him pause is the /decorations/ and everything else- FakeProwl 8:34 pm *glances at soundwave. double takes.* Swoop 8:34 pm *what is on his faceee???* *does not evne a little bit captuer the appropriate body language for a creepy plague doctor, even if he has the look* Tarantulas 8:35 pm *that voice - must be sw. but he thicc, wat* Fuck You Rabbit 8:35 pm *looks around, and kind of hesitantly drags the cart over with the rest of the treats* Hello everyone! FakeProwl 8:35 pm *you know those scenes in movies where the main character sees the love interest All Dolled Up for the first time, usually as said love interest is walking down the stairs so that the camera can slowly and lovingly pan up over their body?* *that's prowl's brain right now* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:35 pm *Laserbeak swoops over to... Swoop, and whirs approval of his scariness. Chimera settles on Bevel's lap and gets ready for a nap, not quite into horror.* Fuck You Rabbit 8:35 pm ((puff u dork)) FakeProwl 8:35 pm ((true)) Bevel 8:36 pm *yay lap cat... er, dog monster... thing* Magnum Ace 8:36 pm ....what...happened here? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:36 pm *Rumble and Frenzy are all but scrambling over themselves to get to the dragon and the cart full of snacks.*

//Wait, so, ya... ya came as a weird you?//

\\...I KINDA LIKE IT.\\ Swoop 8:36 pm *flops backwards onto the sofa and giggles* You Bird ready for big fight ItsyBitsySpyers 8:37 pm {{No, but him Boss is.}} =A holiday, Earthling.= Fuck You Rabbit 8:37 pm Isn't it tacky! *the dragon is DELIGHTED by her hideous costume* I thought it fit. Swoop 8:37 pm Boss? *sits up and looks for Soundwave* ...... oh! Him BIG now. Bevel 8:38 pm It is my birthday tomorrow too! ItsyBitsySpyers 8:38 pm {{Noooo, him short, haha.}} Swoop 8:38 pm BIG. *holds his hands out to his sides, clearly the word we are looking for is 'wide'* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:38 pm [[Then we will give you a gift tomorrow, Bevel.]] Magnum Ace 8:38 pm ...Oh. I didn't think you would...well, the decorations are really in the spirit of the holiday FakeProwl 8:38 pm ((that's a waste of a perfectly good k-9 unit.)) ((it takes over two years to train up a dog that can track people.)) Bevel 8:39 pm ((srsly ItsyBitsySpyers 8:39 pm *Soundwave takes his usual seat next to Prowl.*

*...And, giving the tiniest glance over, causes one of his glowing red shoulder wheels to spin slowly.* //We like this holiday.// \\WHOLE THING FOR SCARIN'! HOW COOL IS THAT?\\ FakeProwl 8:40 pm *That wheel has ALL of Prowl's attention.* Tarantulas 8:40 pm *tara knows that wheel-spin was for prowl, but it absolutely caught his eye. and his other eye. and his other -* Magnum Ace 8:40 pm It is a fun holiday Fuck You Rabbit 8:40 pm I like the part where people give out treats, myself. *the dragon fluffs herself up proudly* But, of course I would. Swoop 8:40 pm *grabby hands at bird* Bevel 8:41 pm I like that everyone can be anything! ItsyBitsySpyers 8:41 pm {{That best part, snack.}} *Bird lets Swoop scoop her up* Swoop 8:41 pm *has a Bird* <3 Magnum Ace 8:41 pm -right, time to get off the floor- Bevel 8:41 pm *can't get snacks with lapful of Chimera hmmmm* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:41 pm {{You Swoop see others? Them got mech-cooties?}} Swoop 8:42 pm What cooties?? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:42 pm {{Germ! Virus! Nanoflea!}} Fuck You Rabbit 8:42 pm *well, snack is here, and set up, so the dragon will bring some over to Bevel and Chimera and settle herself down nearby* Swoop 8:42 pm Yah! Kehhehh. But them doing??? Tarantulas 8:42 pm *hhhmm. tarantulas... is going to leave prowl to it, escape the lap, and skitter off across the room toward the snacks* Magnum Ace 8:42 pm ((what would happen if you gave a leaguer energon?)) FakeProwl 8:43 pm ((you're the leaguer, you decide)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:43 pm *Chimera pats the dragon gently with one paw before resuming their power conservation mode* *Soundwave pings Tarantulas. Well done on the spider webs, there.* Bevel 8:43 pm Thanks! Tarantulas 8:43 pm *double ping back - kinda gives the impression of HEE HEE* Magnum Ace 8:43 pm ((heh Bevel 8:44 pm *appreciates snacks yay* Swoop 8:44 pm *tries to pat tara when he goes by* Magnum Ace 8:44 pm ((brb ItsyBitsySpyers 8:44 pm {{Them do nothing, just gross. That all.}} Fuck You Rabbit 8:44 pm *the dragon pats back, and offers the treats to Bevel* You're welcome! *her paws are bandaged! and it looks like her face points are darker than normal under the tacky green dragon hood* Swoop 8:44 pm Gross gross *nods* FakeProwl 8:44 pm *Prowl doesn't notice Tarantulas leave. He might not have noticed the movie's started.* Swoop 8:44 pm You Bird not gross. Noo! You Bird BEST. Kehhehh. You go trick or treat. All treat! AND! All trick kehhehhhehh. Bevel 8:45 pm *accepts the snacks and asks quietly* Are your hands ok? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:45 pm *Soundwave appears to still laugh the same way. It's more visible in this frame, but it's just as quiet. He stops spinning the wheel.* Tarantulas 8:45 pm *rears up at swoop on his back leggies if the plague doctor tries to pet him more* Swoop 8:45 pm *if swoop wasn't paying so much attention to Bird, he'd be yelling come at me bro at tara..... give him a minute* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:45 pm {{Us go trick others afterward, yes, yes! ... Heh heh, funny spider trick.}} FakeProwl 8:46 pm *oh no it's charming* Fuck You Rabbit 8:46 pm They'll be fine! Experiments in cybertronian cuisine have their dangers. But at least I was wearing safety goggles. Swoop 8:46 pm Funny spider trick?? *lost* Oh Spider *points at Tara* Tarantulas 8:46 pm *spider is already out of arm's reach, thank primus* Swoop 8:46 pm *throws a pillow* Bevel 8:47 pm You have to be really careful with energon, yeah. Tarantulas 8:47 pm *SPLAT. flat spider* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:47 pm *Rumble and Frenzy park themselves and giggle. This reminds them of missions with everyone all together, sorta.* Swoop 8:48 pm kehehhehhh Tarantulas 8:48 pm *pretty soon the spider's twice the size of the pillow and is giving swoop eight stink-eyes* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:48 pm [[Swoop. Don't be rude.]] Pause. [[Are you all right.]] Swoop 8:48 pm *chirps* : > ItsyBitsySpyers 8:49 pm //Heh!// Tarantulas 8:49 pm Perfectly fine. I'm not so fragile that a PILLOW - hyehehe. *is giggling at movie, spiderwomen* Bevel 8:49 pm *giggles* Swoop 8:49 pm TWO pillow Fuck You Rabbit 8:49 pm *the dragon is giggling at Tara giggling about spiderwomen. a mobius laugh* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:50 pm @Prowl: (txt): Arm allowed behind Prowl? Magnum Ace 8:50 pm -and he's making an attempt to get into a chair- FakeProwl 8:50 pm @Soundwave «Please.» ItsyBitsySpyers 8:50 pm //Hey, Magnum Ace! Or, uh. Is Mags okay?// FakeProwl 8:51 pm *Oh. Wait. Greeting/permission ping.* Swoop 8:51 pm Spider Spiderbot ItsyBitsySpyers 8:51 pm *Buzzsaw suddenly looks uncomfortable at the bit about exploding and being scooped up.* Magnum Ace 8:51 pm Ace is fine if you don't want to call me Magnum Bevel 8:52 pm ... ItsyBitsySpyers 8:52 pm *It passes quickly. Soundwave nods to Prowl and drapes his arm around Prowl's shoulders, curling his claws tight. Good strong hands. Tiny squeeze of affection.* //Ace. C'mon up, you could sit with us.// FakeProwl 8:52 pm *Scoots RIGHT up against soundwave's side.* Swoop 8:53 pm *bats Bird* Bird, bird. Why them all blanks? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:53 pm {{It war game, not real fight. Practice.}} Swoop 8:53 pm Oh practice Practice fun : > Paint rounds more fun than blank Fuck You Rabbit 8:54 pm Unless you're expecting a date, dead animals being flung at you isn't a good sign. Swoop 8:54 pm then you SPLAT shoot brothers kehhehh ItsyBitsySpyers 8:54 pm @Tarantulas: (txt): Tarantulas returns? Swoop's pillow: new seat? @T: (txt): Prowl: shareable space. Magnum Ace 8:55 pm Thank you. -okay, going up with the others- ItsyBitsySpyers 8:55 pm //I'm with the dragon. Great sign if ya ARE expectin' dates though.// ItsyBitsySpyers 8:55 pm {{Them not paint. More fun if paint, Swoop right.}} FakeProwl 8:55 pm *For a moment strongly considers laying a hand on Soundwave's thigh. But no. Not with guests around. Laces his hands and keeps them in his own lap instead.* Swoop 8:56 pm Us get paint, kehhehhh, then practice fight! You Bird fast BUT Swoop am bomber kehhhhhh. Me Swoop fast TOO! Fuck You Rabbit 8:56 pm The bigger the dead animal, the better the date! Except some of the sea snakes. Those tend to not die. Tarantulas 8:57 pm @Soundwave: ::Physically shareable, maybe, but I do believe he's wholly mentally occupied at the moment. Hyeh.:: @Soundwave: ::Besides, I'm busy.:: *he's eating a snack bowl now* *like not actually tho* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:57 pm @T: (txt): Then request: personal. ... When finished. {{You Swoop need biiiiig paint.}} Swoop 8:58 pm Bucket ItsyBitsySpyers 8:58 pm ((i remind you all that youtube videos are shit on LD/SD on rabbit and going to HD will let you see actual color and details)) Swoop 8:59 pm Spiderbot Spider Tarantulas 9:01 pm *turns away from snack bowl, grumpy* Yyyyes? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:01 pm @Prowl: [[He sees you approve of his costume. It was the fourth most frightening thing he could think of.]] Swoop 9:01 pm Where You Spiderbot costume go? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:01 pm \\SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD TIME TO ME.\\ FakeProwl 9:01 pm @Soundwave «... Should have gone with one of the first three. I'm not finding myself particularly frightened.» Tarantulas 9:02 pm What do you mean? Hyeh. This IS my costume. Swoop 9:02 pm That You alt mode 😆 Tarantulas 9:03 pm Yes, but I'm quite the monster myself. No one ever said we couldn't come as we are - and I certainly fit the theme. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:03 pm @Prowl: [[He doubts appearing as Unicron in this environment would have gone over well.]] Pause. [[And he supposes that makes sense. You /did/ like the idea of him having been a senator, when he first told you.]] Swoop 9:04 pm You not a monster. You a spider. Kehhehhhheh. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:04 pm //How fraggin' fast was he runnin'!?// ItsyBitsySpyers 9:04 pm \\GUESS IT DON'T MATTER NO MORE. HEH.\\ Swoop 9:04 pm Her Carly say alt mode not costume. Her say Swoop can't can't CAN'T be pterodactyl for Halloween. Fuck You Rabbit 9:04 pm *the dragon blinks* Faster than he should have been, I think. Tarantulas 9:04 pm Well obviously Carly's a spoilsport. Bevel 9:04 pm Can humans run that fast? Swoop 9:04 pm And. And! Her Bird get *pats his mask* Her Bird get for Swoop :? *: > Nuh-uh! No. Carly not a spoilsport. Carly steal grenades. That not spoilsport thing! Kehhhehh. Magnum Ace 9:05 pm -yup he's mildly uncomfortable with the movie- Fuck You Rabbit 9:06 pm *unnerved expression* That. That is not how intestines should work. What is wrong with humans. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:06 pm {{You not say her Carly steal. Her arrested?}} FakeProwl 9:06 pm *... Supposes he can't deny that.* @Soundwave «Is that your costume, then? Senator S—er.» *WHAT HAD HIS NAME BEEN.* «... Ssssoundwaver? No. That's wrong. I know that's wrong.» ItsyBitsySpyers 9:07 pm //Don't worry, li'l mech. It's fake scrap. Rubber or whatever.// FakeProwl 9:07 pm @Soundwave «SOUNDBANGER. ... No. I'm sorry.» ItsyBitsySpyers 9:07 pm *Another 'laugh'.* Swoop 9:07 pm No. Her Carly steal stuff from Autobot armory. Me Swoop not see. Me Swoop not there. But Me hear story! Her steal from armory and go swim down to Decepticon base - Nemesis - to blow hole in it. Salt water. FakeProwl 9:07 pm *... do that and you're just encouraging him to get it wrong.* Fuck You Rabbit 9:08 pm I'm sure it's fake. Just... you can't. Shouldn't. Whatever. *tries to pat her fur back down* Magnum Ace 9:08 pm !!! ItsyBitsySpyers 9:08 pm @Prowl: [[Soundblaster. And to you, yes. To them, his gladiator mode in 'scary' colors.]] <<Should not what?>> Big blinking grey eyes. Swoop 9:09 pm Spider SPider FakeProwl 9:09 pm @Soundwave «Soundblaster! These are "scary" colors?» Tarantulas 9:10 pm I have a name, you know, Swoop. Swoop 9:10 pm Spiderbot Fuck You Rabbit 9:10 pm *the dragon takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down* There's some-. Well. Don't worry about it. Just reminded of some old records I had to shelve when I was still fledging. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:11 pm @Prowl: [[To humans. Frenzy has told him that their decorations for this holiday are black, orange, and red.]] Swoop 9:11 pm You Spiderbot bring snack bowl - no no snack BOWLS - you bring snack bowls to Bird and Swoop : > FakeProwl 9:12 pm @Soundwave «Ah. Thematically appropriate.» Tarantulas 9:14 pm You're not convincing me very well. What do I get out of this? Swoop 9:14 pm Dunno Swoop 9:15 pm Me Swoop want goodies. And Bird eat AAAALLL the goodies forever ever ever. So. More goodies : > ItsyBitsySpyers 9:15 pm {{Neheheh. Is good plan.}} Swoop 9:16 pm (( o m f g )) Fuck You Rabbit 9:16 pm ((bad dog)) Swoop 9:16 pm ((this dog)) *looks at tara and points at Bird* Her Bird say "good plan" ItsyBitsySpyers 9:16 pm //Groooooss.// Tarantulas 9:16 pm Nope. *tarantulas is going back to his own bowl* Swoop 9:17 pm *blows raspberries at tara* Magnum Ace 9:19 pm -he's just going to watch the movie and cringe a bit- -not too fond of it- ItsyBitsySpyers 9:20 pm *Frenzy nudges Ace with a fist. It's cool, little mech. They got your back.* Tarantulas 9:20 pm *can't physically blow raspberries back at swoop but he might've if he could* Swoop 9:20 pm *sets Bird on his crest and gets up to go get goodies* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:20 pm *The twins scoot forward on their seat, looking forward to some good fighting.* Swoop 9:21 pm *grabs one free bowl (full for bird) and then makes a grab for Tara and his bowl* *MAXIMUM dinobot candy grab* Tarantulas 9:22 pm *swoop snatches/pulls a spider leg. WHUMPH. lorg spider flat on the ground* Swoop 9:22 pm *picks up tara under his arm and takes him along with the candy back to the sofa* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:22 pm [[SWOOP. PUT HIM DOWN.]] Swoop 9:23 pm Why? why? Fuck You Rabbit 9:23 pm *the dragon takes a moment to get up, stretch, and pace around bevel before settling back down. her fur is Maximum Poof.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:23 pm [[He is a living mech. Set him down.]] Magnum Ace 9:23 pm -leans with the nudge, blinking- Hmn? FakeProwl 9:23 pm ... Bridge time? Swoop 9:23 pm ????? *is so very confused what being alive has to do with being picked up* Tarantulas 9:24 pm If you bridge him, you bridge ME *hisses* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:24 pm ((fun fact: the sargeant's actor actually was drunk here and cooper's actor accidentally landed the punch and really knocked him out. that was an "oh god is he okay" rl check they kept in)) Fuck You Rabbit 9:24 pm ((holy shit)) FakeProwl 9:24 pm ((omg)) Fuck You Rabbit 9:24 pm ((that makes this like 100x better omfg thank you crow)) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:24 pm [[You are not allowed to manhandle the guests. Set Tarantulas down. Or he will come separate you.]] Magnum Ace 9:24 pm ((awesome Tarantulas 9:25 pm *shrinks down and escapes* Swoop 9:25 pm *whines* It not MANHANDLE. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:25 pm *Or that.* Swoop 9:25 pm ??? Fuck You Rabbit 9:25 pm ((boi put that sword down before you chop your head off)) Swoop 9:25 pm *is down a spider but has two candy bowls and a bird, seems like a win* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:26 pm *Soundwave shakes his helm and stretches a feeler out to get another bowl for Tarantulas.* Tarantulas 9:26 pm *one of the bowls is mostly slurry tho. tara injected it with dissolving venom* *u don't wanna eat that, swoop* Swoop 9:26 pm *pours it on the floor* *still keeps the bowl* Magnum Ace 9:26 pm ...meant to ask. What are those? -and he's pointing at the snacks- Swoop 9:26 pm *a victory for dinobots everywhere* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:27 pm *Primus damn it, Swoop.*

*Soundwave bridges him out for bothering Tarantulas and making a mess.* Swoop 9:27 pm :V Fuck You Rabbit 9:27 pm I made the crystal-looking ones! I think they'll be tasty. You should eat them? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:27 pm *And uses the feeler to get some cleaning supplies and clean while he sits.* Swoop 9:27 pm *takes the bowl with him* Tarantulas 9:27 pm You didn't need to do that, Soundwave. *minor hiss* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:27 pm *Laserbeak goes with Swoop. They can bother the Autobots there.* Swoop 9:28 pm *yayyyy!!* Magnum Ace 9:28 pm Are they safe? I mean, for me? Fuck You Rabbit 9:28 pm I... *the dragon looks over at Soundwave* I don't know? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:28 pm [[He has told Swoop not to damage the premises.]] [[...And he does not know if they are dangerous. What do you normally fuel on, Magnum Ace?]] Magnum Ace 9:29 pm ...Oil? FakeProwl 9:30 pm ... Right. *Points at screen* The family that's lived here for generations are the werewolves. That's why they're out of the house and that's why there's multiple when only one was expected. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:30 pm *Nods to Prowl. Indeed.* Fuck You Rabbit 9:30 pm What I made are energon, and silver. Ironically, considering the topic! But, uh. Can you eat that? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:31 pm [[...Perhaps the scientist in the room would know better?]] Bevel 9:31 pm I know Cybertronians that drink oil. Magnum Ace 9:31 pm I don't know. I've never heard of energon FakeProwl 9:31 pm *Okay. That's enough paying attention to the movie for now. Caaasually looking at Soundwave and his tires again.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:32 pm *Takes to rubbing the back of Prowl's shoulder with his thumb. Now, now. He'll spin them later.* FakeProwl 9:32 pm *He doesn't have to spin them for them to be fascinating.* Tarantulas 9:32 pm Logical fallacy - just because he drinks oil as well doesn't mean he can drink energon. I highly doubt he'd stomach it well. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:33 pm (( i love the werewolf shooting back)) Fuck You Rabbit 9:33 pm The scientist has spoken. What sort of things are candy to you, Ace? FakeProwl 9:33 pm I thought energon was widely substitutable for many alien fuel sources? I don't know if that applies to Earth fuels, but... Magnum Ace 9:33 pm ...We really don't have many. Some softer metals Bevel 9:34 pm Sword! Tarantulas 9:34 pm ...Hm. Actually, go on and try some, will you, Magnum? FakeProwl 9:34 pm ((I like how seamlessly he switches to hammering the hand)) Tarantulas 9:34 pm A sip won't hurt. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:35 pm ((spoon is great)) Magnum Ace 9:35 pm Ah...well...okay? Tarantulas 9:35 pm Or a nibble, if you'd like. If you can consume soft metals, most of the snacks should be amenable. Magnum Ace 9:35 pm ((and yes, that was hilarious Bevel 9:36 pm ((the hammering the hand scene is one of my favorite bits Swoop 9:36 pm ((OH MY GOD)) Fuck You Rabbit 9:36 pm ((yeah he deserved that)) Magnum Ace 9:36 pm ((whooops FakeProwl 9:36 pm ((he brought it on himself)) Magnum Ace 9:36 pm ((yup Maybe one of the snacks? -he's kinda hoping there's enough metal in there to keep any danger to a minimum- Fuck You Rabbit 9:37 pm *the dragon gapes a grin and passes one of her creations over to Ace* I hope you like it! Tarantulas 9:38 pm *there's like a 50% chance it'll make him sick but magnum won't die at least* *somethin like that, heh* Bevel 9:39 pm My creator is a doctor. We can go to them if you react badly. Fuck You Rabbit 9:39 pm *tara you have to say that before convincing the dragon to help you science* Magnum Ace 9:39 pm Thank you...-stares at it for a moment. Has a feeling this is going to bite him in the butt later- -still breaks off a piece to try- ItsyBitsySpyers 9:39 pm *Soundwave is... iffy about this test, but if Magnum Ace is going to be coming here, he has to know. They'll have to be prepared in case he gets stuck some day.* Magnum Ace 9:41 pm -crunch. and then a hacking cough as it hits. no damage, but wow, he thinks he knows what an energy drink is now- Fuck You Rabbit 9:41 pm Was it good? Tarantulas 9:41 pm *good thing it's hard to tell when a spider's laughing* FakeProwl 9:42 pm ... Hold on. So, she--who was liaison to the spec ops team--told this team freely that there's multiple werewolves, and that they hunt together to take down single targets. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:42 pm [[Yes?]] Magnum Ace 9:42 pm -one hand is covering his face, the other is flapping uselessly at the dragon- F-fine. It was...fine. I'm fine. FakeProwl 9:42 pm But when they found the one spec ops survivor, he said something about how "there was only supposed to be one." ItsyBitsySpyers 9:42 pm *Still petting. Maybe digs his claw in to tease some.* [[He did.]] Bevel 9:43 pm ...Maybe she did not know then? FakeProwl 9:43 pm It's possible that, by that, he meant that they'd been attempting to peel off one f-from— *ooh, keep that up.* from the group to hunt it. Fuck You Rabbit 9:43 pm *the dragon twists around a bit to keep Ace within sight* Tell us if you start feeling weird. Or sick. FakeProwl 9:44 pm But it seems more probable to me that she gave false information to the spec ops team. Bevel 9:44 pm Why would she do that? FakeProwl 9:44 pm Where was she during the fight with the werewolves? Was she fighting them? I didn't notice her fighting them. *Admittedly, he WAS distracted.* Magnum Ace 9:44 pm I'll do that...not weird...more like a sudden surge of energy Fuck You Rabbit 9:45 pm It is called Energon. FakeProwl 9:45 pm She's one of only two houses in the area. The other house they're in is probably occupied by a family of werewolves. She might be friends or allies with them. Windchill 9:45 pm (( Aw man I thought this might be Dog Soldiers. Best. )) Magnum Ace 9:46 pm I figured. Just didn't figure it would hit quite so hard... Windchill 9:46 pm *Appears, takes note of the...decor, and creeps into a seat.* Tarantulas 9:47 pm *alright, tara's done with snacking and messing with aliens, he might as well come back to the couch* Windchill 9:47 pm *Raises eyebrows.* Bevel 9:47 pm Oh no. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:47 pm *Soundwave nods to Windchill and then digs a second claw into Prowl's shoulder. A reward for guessing well.* Windchill 9:48 pm The wariest wolves... ItsyBitsySpyers 9:48 pm @Prowl: [[Sharp guessing. Nicely done.]] Magnum Ace 9:48 pm -he's sitting and putting his face in his knees, still feeling it- FakeProwl 9:49 pm @Soundwave «........ Was it?» *he's too distracted by the claws to tell if the movie confirmed his guess.° ItsyBitsySpyers 9:49 pm *Soundwave bobs his helm to Tarantulas.* Tarantulas 9:49 pm (( i love debussy hhhh. this movie gains points (( also.... clair de... lune... ItsyBitsySpyers 9:49 pm @Prowl: [[It will be.]] *He'll let Prowl be for the moment now that Tarantulas is back. Arm still around shoulders, but no claws.* (( 😄 )) Windchill 9:50 pm *snorts.* Gotta hammer fast. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:50 pm *Rumble taps Ace.*

//...You gonna be okay?// Magnum Ace 9:51 pm Ask me again in ten minutes ItsyBitsySpyers 9:51 pm //...Okay.// Windchill 9:52 pm *Chin, meet hand.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:53 pm \\...NO OFFENSE, BUT THESE AIN'T WHAT HUMANS THINK'RE CUTE 'N FUZZY.\\ Tarantulas 9:53 pm *tara comes up the back of the couch, where to sit, where to sit* Magnum Ace 9:53 pm -he's hoping he'll be good in ten- ItsyBitsySpyers 9:53 pm \\THEY'RE KINDA... KILLER 'N SNARLY.\\ Chuckle. \\I MEAN, *I* LIKE 'EM. BUT, Y'KNOW.\\ *A feeler taps Prowl's leg. Down here will do.* \\OOOOOH.\\ Windchill 9:54 pm The werewolf is coming from inside the house. Fuck You Rabbit 9:54 pm Oh. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:54 pm //Ha!// Windchill 9:54 pm Dead? No? Fuck You Rabbit 9:54 pm That's going to look lovely coming up. FakeProwl 9:54 pm *Twitches. Leg touches, now? In the middle of the movie?* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:55 pm *He wasn't thinking about that one. Do forgive him.* FakeProwl 9:55 pm *............ go on.* Windchill 9:56 pm Is she a werewolf too? Fuck You Rabbit 9:56 pm Why would they assume that werewolves- yep. Tarantulas 9:56 pm *hhhmm. into prowl's lap, methinks* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:57 pm *That's what he was tapping and hoping for. Tarantulas will get an idle feeler pet if he wants one.* Tarantulas 9:57 pm *yis pls* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:58 pm //...Do ya think the dog's one?// FakeProwl 9:58 pm *twitches. Oh. Hi. Runs his fingers through Tarantulas's fuzz. A bit rougher than usual.* Windchill 9:58 pm ...Not the dog. I hope. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:58 pm //...Do dogs turn into humans?// ItsyBitsySpyers 9:58 pm //If they get bit, I mean.// Bevel 9:58 pm *giggles* Fuck You Rabbit 9:58 pm That would be funny! Windchill 9:59 pm Don't think so. Windchill 10:00 pm Ooooh, fire? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:00 pm *Soundwave carefully avoids looking at his deployers at that line. That may be part of command, but he'd rather avoid it from now on. If possible.* Windchill 10:00 pm It's a shame Swoop is missing it. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:00 pm [[He was here earlier.]] Magnum Ace 10:00 pm -might be turtling a bit- -okay, a lot- Windchill 10:00 pm Man, his loss. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:00 pm *Pooooke.*

//...Yo, mech. Do ya need a medic?// Fuck You Rabbit 10:01 pm *looks over at Ace* You good? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:01 pm //Cause yer lookin' kinda... like slag.// Magnum Ace 10:01 pm Huh? No, just the topic Windchill 10:01 pm Gotta go fast. FakeProwl 10:01 pm *Sobers, for a moment. Yeah. That's command.* Tarantulas 10:01 pm *don't think tarantulas doesn't notice the roughness, heh. amusing* Magnum Ace 10:01 pm It's not one I like to think about Windchill 10:01 pm *Snorts* Beautiful. Fuck You Rabbit 10:02 pm *giggles* That's one way to do it. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:02 pm \\RUN FASTER, MEATSACK!\\ Windchill 10:02 pm I didn't see any wary wolves in there. Uh huh. *Snorts.* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:04 pm ((never did like that speech)) FakeProwl 10:04 pm ((eugh)) ((The Real Threat Was Women All Along. nah. fuck that.)) Magnum Ace 10:05 pm ((sheesh Fuck You Rabbit 10:05 pm ((the real threat was bad writers)) Magnum Ace 10:05 pm ((couldn't have done anything better? FakeProwl 10:05 pm ((periods are scary and bitches be crazy. really? y'all had a solid werewolf movie until you pulled that rubbish out.)) ItsyBitsySpyers 10:05 pm ((i usually just fast forward about 30 seconds and pretend they ate her instead)) Magnum Ace 10:05 pm ((yup Tarantulas 10:05 pm (( ^^^ i like that better FakeProwl 10:05 pm ((same)) Windchill 10:06 pm He's dead. Magnum Ace 10:06 pm ((yup ItsyBitsySpyers 10:06 pm ((HERE WE GO BEST BIT)) Windchill 10:06 pm Nice. Fuck You Rabbit 10:06 pm ((did he punch out a wearwolf)) ItsyBitsySpyers 10:07 pm \\GET HIM!\\ FakeProwl 10:07 pm *Tiny nod of satisfaction. Called it.* Magnum Ace 10:07 pm -okay, he's better...now...what is going on now?- Windchill 10:08 pm *Trying to not cackle* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:08 pm *Frenzy salutes Spoon. An end he'd be proud of, himself.* Windchill 10:09 pm I could see his guts and everything. Bevel 10:09 pm *proud of Spoon for fighting until the very end, awesome human* Magnum Ace 10:09 pm . . . Windchill 10:10 pm *But will they find Narnia?* Fuck You Rabbit 10:10 pm *they found some bones! that's close* Magnum Ace 10:10 pm -he missed a bit, didn't he?- FakeProwl 10:11 pm ((did they fvcking)) ItsyBitsySpyers 10:11 pm (( 😄 😄 😄 )) FakeProwl 10:11 pm ((did they name him spoon JUST so they could do that)) Magnum Ace 10:11 pm ((yuuuup Tarantulas 10:11 pm (( omfg FakeProwl 10:11 pm ((how dare)) Magnum Ace 10:11 pm ((wow Fuck You Rabbit 10:14 pm Oh. Windchill 10:14 pm I don't think humans are meant to transform. Fuck You Rabbit 10:14 pm I don't think he'd have managed to survive that close to an explosion either. Magnum Ace 10:14 pm -dead silence from him- Windchill 10:14 pm Ew. Ewwww. Fuck You Rabbit 10:15 pm That's bad. FakeProwl 10:15 pm ((NOT THE SQUEAKING OH MY GOD)) Windchill 10:15 pm Good dog. Fuck You Rabbit 10:16 pm Good dog! Tarantulas 10:16 pm (( fricken. wow Magnum Ace 10:17 pm ((pfff ((that was interesting Windchill 10:17 pm *Covers his mouth at that newspaper* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:17 pm \\...I GOTTA. I GOTTA FIGHT SOMETHIN'.\\ Magnum Ace 10:17 pm -marking that as another movie to not show his teammates or humans- ItsyBitsySpyers 10:18 pm \\BOSS. BOSS. SWEAR WE'LL CLEAN UP LATER CAN WE GO HUNTIN' PLEEEEEEEASE.\\ FakeProwl 10:18 pm ((i didn't see soon enough, what did the newspaper say)) Tarantulas 10:18 pm (( "werewolves ate my platoon" ItsyBitsySpyers 10:18 pm (("Werewolves ate my platoon!" and then up in a bigger headline "ENGLAND 5 GERMANY 1")) Bevel 10:18 pm Fighting something sounds fun. Windchill 10:18 pm (( Yup. )) FakeProwl 10:18 pm ((omg)) Fuck You Rabbit 10:18 pm *the dragon shifts a bit* I think I'll stick to fighting dough. Much easier. Windchill 10:19 pm I'm not fighting because...I'm a weenie. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:19 pm [[He wants this taken down by tomorrow night. And you will not be late to your shifts.]]

//We won't! Swear!// Tarantulas 10:20 pm *tarantulas isn't saying this aloud but he's a tad inspired. as mad science goes* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:20 pm [[...Fine. Take Ravage.]] Bevel 10:20 pm *torn on her feelings about the movie but it did make her want to punch things so yay* Magnum Ace 10:20 pm -and a poke to the rest of the snack that was shoved at him. Debating if he should take it back home or not- Bevel 10:21 pm Can I go with? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:21 pm [[...Are you capable of defending yourself in the Underworld?]] Bevel 10:21 pm Sure! Windchill 10:22 pm ... Magnum Ace 10:22 pm -Underworld. Soundwave can't be serious- ItsyBitsySpyers 10:22 pm [[Notify your creator first. Do not stray from the group.]] *Soundwave is /deadly/ serious.* Bevel 10:22 pm ...Fine. Magnum Ace 10:23 pm -That is not comforting- ItsyBitsySpyers 10:23 pm [[Contact Chimera if there is an emergency. The rest of us will come.]] Bevel 10:24 pm *oh right Chimera, she gently pats said bot to wake them so she can get up while simultaneously placing a private comm to her creator, multitasking is fun* Magnum Ace 10:25 pm -concerned look from him all the same- ItsyBitsySpyers 10:25 pm *They're never really asleep, just in energy conserving mode. Chimera shakes out their fake wire mane - a few fall out, whoops - and hops off her lap.* //It'll be okay, Ace. We done this loadsa times. How d'you think we got all them decorations, heh?// ItsyBitsySpyers 10:26 pm *Light punch to the shoulder* *Very light. Doesn't wanna stab the poor guy with his Knuckles knuckles.* Bevel 10:27 pm *after making even more promises to call more bots if something happens, Bevel pings Soundwave with a transcript of the convo. she did the thing even tho she's an adult :|* Magnum Ace 10:27 pm -thank you for that, he'd rather not explain holes in his shoulder- You're sure you're going to be okay? Bevel 10:28 pm *checks the room for Tara really quickly* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:28 pm *She's an adult with a creator capable of making his life a minor level of hell. He'll take the convo transcript and nod.* Tarantulas 10:28 pm *tara's busy climbing off prowl's lap and doing his whole size/transform thingamajig* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:28 pm \\LISTEN. AIN'T NO GROUP SAFER 'N US THREE. 'CEPT MAYBE IF WHIRL WAS HERE.\\ Windchill 10:29 pm *Sighs.* Bevel 10:29 pm *then she'll play it safe and stay in Al mode while levering herself up from the floor, she can transform once they've left* Magnum Ace 10:29 pm -nods- I guess I'll have to take your word for it ItsyBitsySpyers 10:30 pm //Maybe we'll bring ya somethin' back. Heh. C'mon, bro. Ravage, Bevel. Seeya later, Prowl - hey, 'n ya still gotta explain infinity. I ain't forgot.// Bevel 10:30 pm Night, Prowl! FakeProwl 10:30 pm ... Do I? *Huh. Hadn't thought it, y'know. Mattered.* *Nods to the people that wished him farewell.* Windchill 10:31 pm *Waves in a wide, slow, sweeping arc.* *Good bye brave adventurers.* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:31 pm *Ravage gets up, does the cat stretch thing - round back, squish the front, stretch the little does, wiggle the claws. All right, he's ready. Off they all go, with Rumble shouting over his shoulder:*

//Yep.// Fuck You Rabbit 10:31 pm *the dragon stretches* I should go too. Goodnight, everyone! Thank you for having me! *and with that, she wanders out* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:32 pm [[Goodnight, dragon. Thank you for the fuel.]] Magnum Ace 10:32 pm -waves after them- Good night! Bevel 10:32 pm *will follow the twins and Ravage out* Magnum Ace 10:32 pm -and never got the dragon's name- ItsyBitsySpyers 10:33 pm *Soundwave pings Tarantulas curiously. He's transforming? Has he somewhere to go, then?* FakeProwl 10:34 pm *Only reluctantly lets go. He wasn't done clinging.* Tarantulas 10:36 pm *shakes a little to resettle his fluff* Hm? What is it? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:37 pm [[You moved.]] Windchill 10:37 pm *Stretches a little, just soaking in the atmosphere that reminds him too much of The Basement.* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:39 pm *Tarantulas and Bevel contributed to the deployers' efforts.* Windchill 10:39 pm *He's just used to trash and corpses.* *That is, sadly, how it's reading to him.* Tarantulas 10:40 pm *visor smirk* I do that, yes. If you're asking why, I - hyeh. Just had an itch to. *basically he wasn't feelin being a pillow. leans on the couch, not leaving* Windchill 10:41 pm You could twerk to this. *But he won't, he'll spare you all.* FakeProwl 10:42 pm *... Will take his hands back. Laces them tightly in his lap again.* Magnum Ace 10:42 pm -and he's settling down where he is- ItsyBitsySpyers 10:42 pm *Well, Soundwave finds trash and corpses unsettling when they're inside his home, so it's still something.*

[[Ah. Very well.]] *He'll let that feeler from earlier drift back down to Tarantulas' shoulder and rest there.* Tarantulas 10:43 pm ...Is there anything you CAN'T twerk to? Are there requirements for that? agooddistraction 10:43 pm why do humans like trees ItsyBitsySpyers 10:43 pm *Looks down at Prowl's hands and up at Prowl's face. Casual knee nudge.* Windchill 10:43 pm Nah, but some things are better suited. In my opinion, anyway. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:43 pm *Zori peeps an eyestalk over the bar to look at Wheeljack.*

#they are nice #...when did you get here agooddistraction 10:44 pm Zoriii Windchill 10:44 pm Trees are a plague. agooddistraction 10:44 pm I have no idea Magnum Ace 10:44 pm ...? -who is that?- ItsyBitsySpyers 10:44 pm [[The plague that isn't a tree.]] agooddistraction 10:44 pm I'm not a tree?? Magnum Ace 10:44 pm Trees aren't a plague ItsyBitsySpyers 10:44 pm [[Not yet. Give the roots time to settle.]] Windchill 10:44 pm Are too, they're everywhere. Magnum Ace 10:45 pm No. They're a plant Windchill 10:45 pm Taking up space where I don't want them. A plague of plants! FakeProwl 10:45 pm *... Casual knee nudge back.* Windchill 10:45 pm Too much green, which is the worst colour. agooddistraction 10:45 pm You can' tfool me again Green is okay Magnum Ace 10:45 pm That is not how it works Windchill 10:46 pm Green is the worst colour, because it clashes with my pink. Red is a close second. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:46 pm [[Who's fooling you? He can hear them growing from here.]] Magnum Ace 10:46 pm And? agooddistraction 10:46 pm Prove it Windchill 10:46 pm And trees are green. They get in my way. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:46 pm *Soundwave plays wood and metal creaking.* agooddistraction 10:46 pm Fine Magnum Ace 10:46 pm The point being? agooddistraction 10:47 pm Then how come Bee doesn't feel 'em when he's got half a servo wedged in my plating Windchill 10:47 pm The point is there's too many of them. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:47 pm [[They're inside, obviously.]] Magnum Ace 10:47 pm Then move somewhere there are none? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:47 pm [[Either that, or Bumblebee is a plant creature himself.]] Windchill 10:47 pm *Irrationally robo-salty that trees take up more space than he does, or something.* Can't. Magnum Ace 10:48 pm Why? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:48 pm [[Earthlings have an entire documentary about plants replacing humans.]] [[He's certain there are Cybertronian versions.]] agooddistraction 10:48 pm Why would Bee be a plant Windchill 10:48 pm That's the plot of The Happening, too. Kinda. Not really. agooddistraction 10:48 pm what? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:48 pm [[To get closer to you and deposit seeds.]] Windchill 10:48 pm Anyway. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:48 pm *Assigns himself a point for that bad joke.* agooddistraction 10:48 pm Sexy Windchill 10:49 pm I'm stranded on Earth, stuck with all of those trees. Tarantulas 10:49 pm *snrk. plant sex humor* *u get a point from tara* FakeProwl 10:49 pm *Didn't get it.* agooddistraction 10:49 pm Mom ItsyBitsySpyers 10:49 pm *Prowl needs to listen to Soundwave rattle about his plant some time. As soon as he gets more of them that aren't readily identifiable as stolen.* *Then he'll get it.* Magnum Ace 10:50 pm Wait. You're on Earth? Where? Windchill 10:50 pm On...a version of Earth. I can't tell you where. It's top secret. Tarantulas 10:50 pm *comes around the back of the couch. apparently tonight tarantulas has a thing for putting his paws on prowl's shoulders* Magnum Ace 10:51 pm A version...oh. Not the one I'm from then Windchill 10:51 pm I would say not. FakeProwl 10:51 pm *No no, he understands that plants grow from seeds. He doesn't know the OTHER definition of depositing seeds.* agooddistraction 10:51 pm Wait if Bee's pollinatin' me am I a flower? Windchill 10:51 pm No. You're pregnant. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:52 pm [[Isn't that what he's been trying to tell you.]] Magnum Ace 10:52 pm No, most likely not. You'd hate if, if you're so ready to call trees a plague agooddistraction 10:52 pm You didn't say I was a flower Windchill 10:52 pm You think your Earth has more trees than mine does? *PERISH THE THOUGHT* Magnum Ace 10:53 pm -shrugs- I have no frame of reference for that, so... agooddistraction 10:53 pm Alright, time to go get pollinated again Have fun, mom Windchill 10:54 pm I only like one tree. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:54 pm [[Try not to give details. And he is NOT your mother.]] Magnum Ace 10:54 pm One tree? agooddistraction 10:54 pm You're my mom and you wash my mouth out with cleanser every night and it's hot. Night. Windchill 10:54 pm One tree. It lives with me. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:55 pm *Soundwave raises his free hand to his visor and rubs his helm. The tires on his back spin with irritation.* Windchill 10:55 pm I named it Trooper. FakeProwl 10:55 pm *Oh good, closing time. He's going to hope this does not apply to himself. Glances at Soundwave to check.* Windchill 10:55 pm *He loves his one stupid tree.* FakeProwl 10:55 pm *... gets distracted by the tires he can juuuust barely peek from this angle* Magnum Ace 10:55 pm -not commenting- Windchill 10:56 pm *Rolls his massive weight onto his feet, instead of his butt.* Tarantulas 10:56 pm *nice tires, but look at those Good Strong Hands tho* Windchill 10:56 pm You guys have fun fuckin'. I'm out. Magnum Ace 10:56 pm ....what ItsyBitsySpyers 10:56 pm *Soundwave's vents STUTTER* FakeProwl 10:56 pm *Okay the Good Strong Hands are nice but the tires are— Prowl missed something, didn't he?* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:56 pm *...He makes a note to have Buzzsaw remove that function.* *The avatar doesn't need to show surprise.* Tarantulas 10:57 pm I do hope you enjoy sexting your mate as well, or whatever you're doing these days Windchill 10:57 pm *Makes a sweeping, obviously Vosian bow. You're welcome.* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:58 pm [[Windchill is being Windchill, Ace. Do not worry yourself.]] Magnum Ace 10:58 pm -oh, oh no. This feels like it's more of private conversations and he's turning as red as his armor- Tarantulas 10:58 pm *poor kiddo* Magnum Ace 10:58 pm -TOO LATE- ItsyBitsySpyers 10:58 pm [[But he does have to return the seats to where they belong soon.]] Windchill 10:58 pm *Windchill is being Windchill, AKA the resident loud pervert.* I might. You're missing out. FakeProwl 10:59 pm I can help... *vaguely gestures around.* Clean this up. Magnum Ace 10:59 pm -Magnum Ace is not used to these thiiiings- Windchill 11:00 pm *Boy you gon' learn.* Tarantulas 11:00 pm As you say. *snickers, albeit amiably. waves Chill off with a spider limb* Magnum Ace 11:00 pm I...I think...I think it's time for me to go home now FakeProwl 11:00 pm ... Or help bridge him home. Windchill 11:00 pm Good night, suckers. ItsyBitsySpyers 11:00 pm [[Help bridge him home, yes.]]

*He'll find other things for Prowl to do after that.*

[[Goodnight, Windchill.]] Windchill 11:00 pm *Finger guns, walks out backwards now that he's traumatized people. Mission complete.* Magnum Ace 11:01 pm That'd be nice...-thank you so much Windchill. He did not need that- Tarantulas 11:01 pm (( h-how old is magnum (( mentally, at least Magnum Ace 11:02 pm ((old enough, but they're not...they're kinda made to play sports. Period FakeProwl 11:02 pm Same coordinates as usual? Magnum Ace 11:02 pm ((this is kinda new territory Tarantulas 11:02 pm (( hmm! no one's given him the talk, heh Magnum Ace 11:02 pm Yeah. Same as before. Windchill 11:03 pm (( *WHEEZE* )) Magnum Ace 11:03 pm ((and Magnum's kinda a special case in itself FakeProwl 11:04 pm *Nods. Opens up a bridge for Magnum.* Magnum Ace 11:05 pm Thank you. Good night. -and he's going through, still a faint shade of red- ItsyBitsySpyers 11:06 pm *Shakes his helm.*

[[Not what he meant the new guest to know, but he supposes there is no more harm in it than when Whirl realized.]] Magnum Ace 11:07 pm ((dyyyying FakeProwl 11:07 pm He's an alien. I can't imagine what he'd do with the info. Magnum Ace 11:07 pm ((and I am out now that I'm done laughing ((thanks for the stream, g'night! ItsyBitsySpyers 11:08 pm ((night!)) [[Nothing, hopefully.]] FakeProwl 11:13 pm *Right. Everyone gone? Everyone except Tarantulas, anyway? Tarantulas can see, that's fine.* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:15 pm *Everyone except Tarantulas, yep.* Tarantulas 11:16 pm *yeppers, and he doesn't seem to be going much of anywhere* FakeProwl 11:17 pm *Prowl IMMEDIATELY swings around to straddle Soundwave's lap. ... And then realizes he maybe should have explained himself first.* If you actually would like me to clean I'd be happy to assist with that, but I /think/ it was mutually understood that that was a justification to stay late and do far less productive things. Tarantulas 11:20 pm *lets prowl's shoulders go, amused huff* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:21 pm *Soundwave starts slightly, unused to such direct action out of Prowl. Or the way the avatar's contact distribution feels different on this older, thicker frame he's 'borrowing' for the night. He's not actually sure what to do with his hands at first.*

[[It was. He cleaned Swoop's mess and the twins will clear all of this.]]

*He'll just. Where does he put them? Fine, they're going on Prowl's thighs.* FakeProwl 11:22 pm Good. ... I'd still like to help clean, though. *As long as he's already volunteered.* *... And as long as they're relatively alone, turns on the ambient noises he'd suppressed during the movie. Meaning immediate whooshing vents and revving engine.* Tarantulas 11:26 pm Personally I'm not that interested in cleaning, but I AM potentially interested in the unproductivity. If Prowl has room in his processor to spare, that is. *amused visor squint* FakeProwl 11:28 pm *Gives Tarantulas a considering look. Then Soundwave's wheels. Then Tarantulas. Then the wheels.* Tarantulas 11:28 pm You don't have to /choose/ between the two, silly. ItsyBitsySpyers 11:29 pm [[There'll need to be a new mess first.]]

*The whooshing and revving promptly calls forth similar sounds from Soundwave's avatar. If there is one thing Soundwave's good at doing with it, it's making sure it sounds like him.* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:30 pm *He can see Prowl eyeing his wheels. Slooooooow spin and an inviting lean.* FakeProwl 11:31 pm *he is. gonna. rrrrrreach out to touch the tread.* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:33 pm *Nice and deep, lots of paths to trace. The sort that mechs who do a lot of roaming along different kinds of rough terrain have. A little hint about what he did at times.* FakeProwl 11:34 pm *Plus it glows. He's gonna trace it.* Tarantulas 11:34 pm *tarantulas is a tad jealous, his were always street treads* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:35 pm *The revving stops being in bursts and drifts into becoming a dark, low rumble..*

*Well, you know. Not every secret is somewhere nice and clean. Especially if you're tracking down your fellow Senators' messes.* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:37 pm *Soundwave's claws tick their way up Prowl's legs, moving over his hips and toward his sides. There are biolights here. These are his.* FakeProwl 11:38 pm ... Wouldn't have pegged you as the off-roading type. *Oh, yes, good. Shifts slightly to give him better access.* Tarantulas 11:38 pm *don't mind tarantulas if he comes around behind soundwave to examine his back for a while. new frame, new questions, new research* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:44 pm [[Most mechs wouldn't have thought he was a gladiator either. He's stuck his olfactory sensors in more than his share of unpleasant places. Mistakes are hard to make, otherwise.]]

*He's dancing around a hint there.*

*Soundwave leans more, letting Tarantulas toy with the thick plates and glowing wheels there.* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:48 pm *...While he's here he's just going to get his visor rubbing up against Prowl's helm. Like you do when you don't want to take your mask off in front of a spider who still has yet to see the whole thing.* FakeProwl 11:49 pm *Leans in to nuzzle Soundwave back.* Hmm. Did your own dirty work. *Kind of impressive for a senator. With his free hand, he starts tracing the bright biolights over Soundwave's chest.* Tarantulas 11:49 pm *tarantulas had no idea there was a hint there, but he's eating up the tidbits about soundwave's past in general. he hasn't heard much, so some of this is news. he'll be quiet and patient, pawing subtly at his back and slowly trailing claws between plating* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:51 pm [[Always.]] *Plates ripple and shift, making room for claws. He loves them on his back. Loves, loves, LOVES.* [[He has a mind to demonstrate.]] Tarantulas 11:52 pm *heh, tarantulas can take THIS hint. he'll keep on, certainly* FakeProwl 11:53 pm *Dryly.* It's not going to be the kind of demonstration you gave me last time, is it? *You tease.* Yesterday ItsyBitsySpyers 11:56 pm *Injured! He'll let go long enough to splay a hand over his chest glass - which is conspicuously missing the Decepticon symbol, for the record. It's a fair shot though.*

[[He hopes not. We have more time tonight.]]

@Prowl: [[But different location privileges, if Tarantulas joins. The upstairs lounge, specifically. His deployers will remain busy elsewhere.]] FakeProwl 12:00 am *A split second of uncertainty as he processes Soundwave's gesture, wondering if it's actual offense or just humor; before smirking.* I hope not, too.

@Soundwave «Oh? Don't want to do anything in the sultry glow of knock-off Blood of Unicron?» ItsyBitsySpyers 12:01 am *No actual offense. He would not be behaving in such a good mood if there were any.*

@Prowl: [[...No. No, he doesn't. He disliked that decoration choice from the start. But they had a theme.]] @Prowl: [[But he would rather return to the other subject.]]

*Places his hands back on Prowl, specifically where the shoulders are able to open up to reveal tires. Dig dig.* *Hint hint.* FakeProwl 12:04 am @Soundwave «That's fair.» *He lets out a rev as the fingers dig in, clicking open his shoulders to give Soundwave access and kissing lightly around the frame of Soundwave's visor.* FakeProwl 12:06 am *And then straightens up.* I recall trying to coordinate on a narrow couch being a little... restrictive, last time. We should relocate. Tarantulas 12:06 am *hums, hooks a claw on a thin wire beneath sw's plating, and tugs briefly before pulling back* ItsyBitsySpyers 12:08 am *Soundwave returns to revving a little bit. Listen to that smooth piece of pretending Prowl thought of that all on his own instead of going along with Soundwave's earlier comment. What a talented amica he has.*

[[As you wish.]] *Lets go of Prowl and - ohhhh, he barely felt that, but he knows what that was and the idea is working for him - and starts to rise.* [[Upstairs, then. Both of you.]] FakeProwl 12:10 am *Slides off the seat.* Yes, /sir./ *If Soundwave's going to get commanding, Prowl's going to respond accordingly.* ItsyBitsySpyers 12:10 am *BIOLIGHT FLARE.* Tarantulas 12:11 am *chuckles, and follows prowl quietly, fluidly. tonight's the night to practice restraint, for tarantulas, he thinks - tough, but hopefully worth it* FakeProwl 12:11 am *Oooh. He's going to do that more often.* ItsyBitsySpyers 12:14 am *He hopes so. That was... it was. Tonight might not be the night for /Soundwave/ to practice restraint(s), but some other time...*

*Maybe Tarantulas too, once he figures out how to bind up someone who can mass shift that severely.*

*He'll track after them both, silently locking the front door to all but the hunting party and placing the staircase door on permission requirement. No accidental intrusions~*

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