#apparently the trick is to do them when i'm supposed to be working on something else

[strangersteddierthings]

Porcelain Steve - Part Nine

Part One🦇Part Two🦇Part Three🦇Part Four🦇Part Five🦇Part Six🦇Part Seven🦇Part Eight🦇Part Nine

Not a lot of talking actually takes place. Mostly Steve and Robin cry at each other while Eddie, and presumably Dustin, take turns holding down the button to talk. They don't even say full words half the time, yet still manage to have an entire conversation. (Eddie thought that was a trick that only worked face to face but apparently the telepathy transcends distances).

Eddie has so many questions but he can wait; he doesn't want to interrupt Steve and Robin. Of all the people who should get Steve's time now that he's back, Eddie's certain he falls at the bottom of that list. He's just as certain Dustin and Robin are tied for top, so it's good that Robin was here, anyway.

Steve does take the time to talk them out of going to the Hendersons' house immediately. Claudia is not in the know and they can't really justify the midnight visit otherwise. Steve's shown up and slept in the guest room on occasion, unannounced, so him being there isn't going to be questioned.

The talk ends with a promise from Steve, to let them know when he was home and they could go over.

Robin falls asleep crying on his chest. Eddie doesn't get much sleep.

Steve's back. He's no longer a doll. A full explanation was promised before the walkie's were put down for the night, but he needs to know what happened. Steve had wanted to talk to him and he's a little bit afraid of that. Steve heard him and Jeff, was made aware of his stupid, gay crush, and now- Steve's going to want nothing to do with him. He's going to let him down gently, but firmly, and probably slowly vanish from Eddie's life.

Morning comes slowly and with it, the realization he's not ready to face Steve. He does need to talk to Jeff as soon as he can, though. He pulls himself from bed and gets coffee going almost as soon as the sky starts to lighten. He nurses one cup for so long it goes cold on him three and he has to reheat it in the microwave. Robin joins him at the kitchen table after the third reheat, plopping the walkie on the table before slumping into a chair. A glance at the clock on the wall shows it's a little after eight.

"Morning," Robin says around a yawn, laying her head down on the table.

"There's coffee, but you'll need to microwave it."

"Bleh," Robin wrinkles her nose at that, "no thanks."

"Any news?"

"Yeah. Dustin woke me up. Steve just left, so should be hearing from him soon."

Eddie nods, then says, "I'll drop you off but I'm not- I won't be going in."

"What? Why?"

He feels himself tighten his grip on his mug but if he can tell this to anyone, it's Robin. "I... Jeff accidentally outed me to Steve, yesterday. It's why I was all-" he pauses, waving a hand in the air like that explains anything before continuing, "-falling apart yesterday. Jeff saw Steve, he was on my bed and just, one thing led to another, and Jeff was joking -he'd never have said anything if he knew Steve could hear him- but it. It was. I-I can't-"

Robin's hand falls on his arm, gives it one squeeze before retracking her arm but it's enough to cut off Eddie's words. "I get it. Do you want me to tell Steve anything for you?"

"Just tell him I'm sorry."

She looks like she wants to ask what he's sorry for, but she doesn't. He's glad for that but how can he even begin to explain all the things he's sorry for?

"I need to talk to Jeff. Come up with something to tell him. I was supposed to go talk to him last night but."

"But," Robin repeats with a nod. "What were you going to tell him?"

He shrugs. "I'm pretty good at thinking on my feet. I'll figure it out when I'm lying to his face."

There is silence after that as Robin plays with the walkie on the table, slight frown to her face. He lets the silence hang for a moment before needing to break it, but Robin speaks at the same time.

"You still awake?"

"You should tell him."

They blink at each other before Robin says, "You should tell Jeff the truth."

"I can't do that, Robin. I signed an NDA."

"Since when would something like that stop you?"

"It's not... he wouldn't believe me."

"Do you make a habit of lying to him?"

"No."

"Then he'll probably believe you. Besides, you don't have to tell him anything about what you did sign an NDA for. Steve turning into a doll isn't Upside Down related. I'll vouch for you, and I'm sure Steve will, too, if that's what it took to get Jeff to believe you."

"We already brought my uncle into the loop. We can't just keep adding people to it."

Robin sighs and sits back. "It's up to you, Eddie. You can make up your lie and it'll be fine. By your own admission he knows you like guys, and that's not something we share lightly. So, Jeff must mean a lot to you. I just don't want you to lose Jeff because of this."

"Jeff and I have a solid friendship. We'll get through this."

"Okay. I just-"

"Robin? Eddie? I'm home," Steve's voice comes through the walkie talkie, startling both of them.

"Be right there," Robin says back as Eddie stands to find his shoes and keys.

-

He drops Robin off at Steve's and pulls away before she's even across the lawn. If he sees Steve, he'll stay, and he can't. Not today.

It's barely 8:30 in the morning so he knows Jeff won't be awake. His mom will, though, and she'll let him in.

"We were expecting you last night," is the greeting he's given when Jeff's mom opens the door enough to see who's knocking this early. Her tone is light, teasing like she usually does, but Eddie's feeling a bit too guilty to joke back.

"I know. But, uh, I was- I'm here to apologize. For not showing."

"He's still asleep," she says even as she's stepping back to let him in.

"Not for long."

"I take no responsibility for any injuries that you may acquire for waking him up this early."

Jeff wakes up with a startled yell when Eddie jumps on him, attempting to use his blanket to trap his limbs in so he can't start swinging (or put Eddie into a headlock until he passes out).

"Jesus fucking Christ, Eddie," Jeff huffs, once his fright has settled and he glares up at Eddie, who is straddling Jeff, pinning the blanket down around him.

"Are you gonna punch me?"

"No."

Eddie signs in relief and flops sideways, off of Jeff and onto the bed. He realizes his mistake a second too late, when Jeff has already shoved him out of the bed with all his strength, so Eddie lands with a loud 'OOF' on the floor. He should have flopped to the other side, between Jeff and the wall.

No. Jeff would have just shoved him into the wall then.

"Why can't you just show up and apologize like a normal person?" Jeff's voice is muffled, like he's shoved his face into his pillow.

"Uhh, because that's what normal people do?"

Jeff just groans, long-suffering, and soon his head peaks over the edge of the bed to look at Eddie. "Apology accepted. So, are we gonna talk about yesterday, or do we both agree it never happened, provided you can keep your creepy Harrington shrines to, like, the back of your closet or deep in the woods, where I never have to see it again."

"I can one thousand percent guarantee you will never see what you saw again."

"Perfect."

They spend a majority of the day together, and Eddie feels himself settle. He and Jeff are good. Will always be good. He doesn't need to justify or explain to Jeff, not on things that don't involve Jeff directly. He's not going to tell Jeff the truth. Not today, or even in the near future. He can't say he won't, ever, finally tell him the truth about the murder accusations and the fallout of that, but Jeff doesn't need to know that to be his friend.

It's a great relief, honestly, to have friends none the wiser to the awful things that lurked in Hawkins. An even greater relief to have friends that know him.

Eddie heads home when it gets closer to dinner time. He's already bummed breakfast and lunch from Jeff and his family, so he tells Jeff they'll hang out later and heads home. He should get there with enough time to share dinner with Wayne.

His uncle is in the process of cooking what smells like seasoned meat of some sort.

"Eddie, come here a second," Wayne says, glancing over his shoulder. Eddie, who had been heading to the couch, instead steps into the kitchen area.

"What's up?"

"Steve is in your room."

Eddie feels a tinge of panic at those words. He does his best to keep his face neutral.

"We had a chat, he and I. He wants to talk to ya, but he's willin' to wait for you to come to him. So, the options are this. You go back to your room and have that chat, or you walk back out that door and hang out back while I let Steve know I'm takin' him home. The second option does come with the stipulation that you don't let dinner burn while I'm gone."

His first instinct is to run, so he does. Almost. He turns away and makes it to the door but when he puts his hand on the doorknob, he finds he doesn't want to turn it. Steve came to him. Wayne spoke to Steve, so if Steve had any intentions of just punching him in the face and leaving, then Steve wouldn't still be here at all. Wayne would have thrown him out.

"How'd he get here?" Eddie finds himself asking without turning around.

"I think he walked."

He can do this. He'll just go down the hall, look at a spot somewhere above Steve's head and tell him he's sorry, and can they please stay friends, and everything will be fine.

He'd followed Steve into Mordor, once. This will be nothing.

Wayne says nothing as Eddie heads down the hall, to where his bedroom door is slightly ajar. He pushes it open slowly, stepping into his own room timidly.

Seeing Steve knocks the wind out of him.

Steve is sitting at the end of his bed, hunched over so his elbows are resting on his knees while his hands hold Eddie's Walkman between his knees. Steve's got the headphones on, but the right side is pushed back on his head behind his ear. Probably so he can hear when Eddie arrives, but he's either lost in his thoughts or the music but he doesn't notice Eddie at first. So, Eddie takes him in. Gone is the outfit he wore as a doll. Instead, Steve is wearing what appears to be homemade Bermuda jean shorts, his Members Only jacket, unzipped, and a shirt under that that looks suspiciously like the Metallica tank top Eddie lost months ago. His hair looks flatter than usual, like he let it air dry after a shower and didn't put any product in it. It's ruffled though, like it always is when Steve spends the day running his hand through it.

"Hi," Eddie says, and watches as Steve jolts, like he's been caught doing something bad.

"Eddie," Steve breathes out. "Hi."

"It's, uhh, good to see you sitting up on your own, no pillow needed," Eddie says, sliding further into his room, clicking the door closed behind him to give an illusion of privacy.

Steve pulls the headphones from his head with his right hand, transferring everything to his left. He doesn't hit pause on the Walkman, though, so the faint sound of music plays but it's not loud enough to really be heard. "I- I'm glad it's you and not your uncle. I thought for sure you'd want more time."

"Better to get this over with, don't you think? Steve, I'm-"

"No, Eddie, listen to me, first. Please. All I've done this last month and a half is listen and I got things I need to say."

Eddie closes his mouth so fast his teeth click.

Steve takes a deep breath before setting the Walkman on the bed and shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he stands. "Thank you. For everything. For being there for Robin, and Dustin, and everyone else. For talking to me like I wasn't trapped in porcelain hell."

"Yeah, no problem, man-"

"Eddie, you never- never once did I feel like a burden, or forgotten, when you were watching over me. And, I don't know, I don't think anyone meant to let me feel that way, but sometimes- you just went above and beyond and hanging out with you was, like, the highlight of this. The best thing to come out of it."

With nowhere to hide, Eddie looks down, let's his hair form a barrier, even for just a moment. That's a lot to hear, and not at all what he expected.

"Eddie," Steve whispers, and Eddie startles when one of Steve's hands comes up to sweep his hair from his face, tucking the hair on the right side of his face behind his ear before it settles on his cheek. "I know you didn't want me to hear what Jeff said yesterday but I'm so fucking glad I did. I, uhh, I thought you were straight-" Eddie doesn't think he's ever been accused of being straight before. "-and I was just trying to be so normal around you while I was, according to Robin, pining-" wait. what. wait. what!? "-and I thought I was doing such a shit job at it because it was like, you'd randomly pull back and away, distance yourself, and I thought it was because I was making you uncomfortable, flirting too much and showing how stupidly obsessed with you I am-" his brain has turned off. Eddie has stopped functioning. "-but now I think it was, like, the exact opposite. You were pulling away because you thought I figured out your crush, but uh... What I mean is, I've wanted to kiss you since the Fourth of July party last year, and there's like, probably a ton of shit we should talk about but I just really want to kiss you. Can I kiss you?"

"Yes, please, do that," Eddie blurts and Steve laughs even as his other hand joins his first on Eddie's face and pulls him in.

Kissing Steve feels like coming home. Warmth, and safety, and a sense of familiarity, despite them never having done this before. They smile into the kiss, which makes it harder to actually kiss, but then Eddie's tilting his head, his hands moving on their own, one to Steve's hip and the other to his neck, and it's suddenly deeper, more passionate. Steve steps into his space, gets as close as he can as his tongue licks at Eddie's lips and he can't fathom doing anything other than opening up, brushing his own tongue against Steve's, getting a taste of him.

Eddie's not even sure what his plan is when he tried to walk Steve backwards to the bed, but whatever it was goes flying out of his mind when Steve turns them and shoves at Eddie so he ends up flat on his back, eyes wide as he looks up at Steve. Steve, whose eyes have darkened, and his lips are shiny and kiss-bitten, who quickly shrugs off his jacket and throws it somewhere, allowing Eddie to confirm that it is his Metallica tank before Steve's climb onto the bed, knees on either side of Eddie's hips as he lowers himself to kiss Eddie again.

Steve kisses him hungerly before pulling back to kiss his way across Eddie's cheek, over the scarred flesh there that Eddie's long accepted and embraced, down his neck where Steve peppers in little nips between kisses before he latches onto a place low on his neck. It pulls a guttural noise from Eddie that he wasn't even aware he could make, realizing he's going to have marks from Steve on him. Visible reminders that this is actually happening to him and not just a dream.

He's not even sure how long they make out like that, Steve hovering over him, alternating between kissing lips and neck. Eddie gets a hand on the back of Steve's head to pull him down, closer, so he can trail kisses along Steve's neck, mark him, too, in a mirror of what he did to Eddie.

"Fuck, Eddie," Steve hisses, one hand fisting Eddie's shirt just above where Steve's knees bracket him. Steve's over hand is on the bed next to Eddie's head, keeping Steve from fully face planting onto Eddie. "I can't believe you want me back. Can't believe I get to kiss you, that you want me."

Eddie has no idea why Steve thinks he's the one who can't believe what's happening but the words ignite a fluttering in his stomach and turns his brain to mush and even though they are actively making out, Eddie feels that if he doesn't hold Steve's hand right now he's going to die. He releases one hand from the death drip he apparently had on Steve's hips to drop it on the bed, palm up, sliding upwards to meet where Steve has his hand next to Eddie's head. Eddie wiggles his fingers against Steve's wrist until he gets with the picture, adjusting his weight off his hand long enough to Eddie to wiggle his own under it to they're palm to palm, fingers lacing together.

Steve sits up a bit, then, shifting his weight to his knees as he hovers above Eddie, eyes jumping between Eddie's face and their joined hands like this is the part he really can't believe; Eddie wanting to hold his hand.

It makes Eddie laugh, a soft noise, and move their joined hands to his lips, to kiss at Steve's knuckles, eyes never leaving Steve's face as he does so. It's then he notices the shift on Steve's face, so quickly there and gone that Eddie almost isn't sure he sees it, the slight furrow between his brow, frown on his face, eyes darting from Eddie's face to their hands again, before it all smooths over to look unbelievable fond.

It's enough to bring Eddie out of his euphoria, to look at their joined hands and finally register what it is he's feeling, literally. Steve's left hand is joined with his right, and what Eddie sees now that he's really looking is a new scar on Steve's arm, just above his elbow, running down, towards his hand, towards his pinky-

"Eddie, it's okay," Steve is already saying even as Eddie is unlacing their fingers and sitting up. The action forces Steve to shimmy back a bit but he doesn't leave Eddie's lap. Eddie grabs at Steve's hand again, not to lace their fingers but to examine Steve's.

He doesn't have a pinky.

"Steve-"

"No. Whatever you are thinking or worrying about or- or whatever, just. No," Steve says. "I'm fine. It's fine. It doesn't hurt, and I'm fine."

His first instinct is to argue, to try and wriggle himself out from under Steve but he's stopped as Steve grips at him.

"Please don't," Steve sounds hurt, in pain, and that stops Eddie immediately, "please don't take this from me. Don't go. I just got you." Steve's hand trembles, still hovering between them. Where he was cracked as a doll, he is now a scarred as a human, the pinky still gone but the skin smoothed over and healed.

Eddie wraps his hand around Steve's wrist and pulls his hand to his lips, placing a soft kiss where his pinky used to be. "You have me. For as long as you want."

Steve collapses forward against him, like a puppet with cut strings, and Eddie hugs him close.

Much later, after some more crying, and dinner, and cuddling, Eddie does have one final question before sleep.

"Do you know what broke the curse?"

"Oh, yeah," Steve looks so amused. "True Love's Kiss. Dustin was so freaked out about what happened he tucked me into his bed and give me a lil' kiss on the noggin. One blinding flash of light later, Dustin and I are staring at each other in surprise."

"You're kidding."

"Man, I wish I was."

-

Aaaand done!! Thank you so much for reading, and a special thanks to @mcneen for letting me ramble about the options I didn't go with. I'll be posting a meta-commentary post about the things that didn't happen/could have happened/unused ideas at some point but the story itself is finished!

Thanks for reading!

#steddie #my fic #porcelain steve #jeff is the real mvp here #this is the final part!! #can't believe it's done. Almost sad about that

[m1ssunderstanding]

Understanding Lennon McCartney Rewatch Part 2.4

It's in the paper that Allen Klein was involved in 40+ lawsuits and John doesn't question it? At this point, I feel like he just didn't want to let Paul be right about anything. 

My question is who did that work on before? I mean who fucking does business like that? Let alone business with the most successful man in the world. 

John's complaining about Paul being too good at his job is both hilarious (what the hell is Paul supposed to do with that) and sad (it shows just how far their musical relationship has degraded from partners to rivals)

How did they lose Northern Songs? Genuinely, if anyone can break it down for me I'd be so grateful. Anyway I'm sure it was devastating for both of them. “Who'd have the children?” “Dick James”. 

I know I'm insane, but can I be allowed to see a glimmer of goodness here? I really do think it's John's kinder side winning out when he decides not to lie. Like, yes, he gets a buzz off of watching Paul go white at his words, but I think he also just – in that moment – didn't have the heart to trick Paul into staying. 

But also. Why are we trying to maneuver Paul at all if the end game is for John to leave? It just doesn't make sense to try to trick Paul into signing the contract unless John's divorce threat is at the very least not meant to be final. 

I will never understand this picture. Even in the emotional state he's in, he's still hamming it up? There is something seriously wrong with this man. 

I do find it interesting that the fact that Paul cried his eyes out after that meeting isn't even mentioned in the doc. I wonder why. 

Let's put the bizarre, super-warped timeline in this quote aside for a minute. Apparently the depression started after Brian died and it lasted for about two years and John was still in it during Pepper. Okay. That aside . . .

I have to assume this negative lense on what I can only assume means the period between 66 and 68 is highly influenced by hindsight bias. I agree that John was depressed at the time, in an unhappy marriage, doing too much LSD, etc and that looking at Paul's prolific talent and expansive , fast-paced life would have been maddening. But everyone go back to the end of part one really quick. He looks extremely happy. He sounds extremely happy. Everyone who knows him says he's never been happier. I think he just can't accept right now that there was so much good and he's lost it. 

“I look from the wings at the play you are staging . . . I don't know why nobody told you how to unfold your love.”

Insanity quote Hall of Fame. Paul explaining why the Beatles just had to break up, obviously, because he and John "didn't marry the same girl." Someone write the fic where John and Paul both marry the same girl. Could be Yoko or Linda. Sister trad wives au. 

Okay, cool, so this means I have full permission to interpret and tin hat about any lyrics I want then, right?

But also. Are we just not going to talk about the fact that Paul dumped a bucket of garbage water and punched this person? And are we not mentioning the depression and alcoholism and heroin abuse during this time?

It's so embarrassing how he looks to her for confirmation here. John, they asked you what you think. Just you. Not some complicated definition. Not Yoko's definition. Just your own thoughts.

“I couldn't wait for them to make up their mind about peace or whatever. About committing themselves.” Yeah, John. You sound real committed to peace. Or whatever. Here's a theory that anyone can shoot down if they want: John asked Paul for some kind of commitment (a friendship wedding, a partnership contract, a mutual wanking pledge) in India and Paul was a chicken about it. 

What was that day like, I wonder? I imagine extremely stiff and professional and horrid. But who knows. Maybe it was nice, and maybe that made everything worse.

I will go to my death believing that instant karma was for Paul. 

Do we think John actually did send Paul “about twenty postcards from Denmark” all covered in hearts none of which Paul responded to? Paul could be just as cruel in his lack of reaction as John was in his over reaction.

I'm sorry but that is not what a man says when he's just lying to the press to buy time for business. That's what a man says to the press when he's trying desperately to communicate with someone who he can't get through to any other way. 

But really, I just don't understand why the creator chose to minimize Paul's emotional response to John's divorce statement. If we don't see him bawling his eyes out and losing the will to live, he comes off like a self-assured, uncaring, jerk. Which. To be fair. John didn't see those things, and that is exactly what John thought of Paul during this time. But still. The audience now comes away from this doc with a skewed view. 

All we get is Paul being pissed off about Phil Spector butchering Let it Be without his consent and John and George trying to change McCartney's release date without his consent. Which are both a) understandable and b) strong, male, angry reactions. Making this section portray Paul in the same one-dimensional hyper-masculine way that John so often is. Which isn't my favorite. But hey, it's my only complaint about this doc so far.

Anyway, update: I won't be able to do part three until it gets reuploaded, so we're on hiatus for this project for the time being.

#paul mccartney #the beatles #john lennon #mclennon #ringo starr #george harrison #understanding lennon mccartney #ulm

[aanoia]

You (pt.2)

Remus Lupin x reader words; 3477 warnings; werewolf, murder part one here I'd suggest reading part one first! again, I wrote this on my phone so thats my excuse for any mistakes :) i will most likely be making an alternate ending type deal sorta thing because an amazing human gave me an awesome idea so that will be linked to this when it comes out (comment if u wanna be tagged in it) i made you a lion because why not and i made you close with Severus as well

“Professor!”

I smiled as I walked through the doors, “Harry, why it’s almost dinner, what are you doing?”

“He's recovering from the dementor.” Hermione said matter-of-factly and Ron groaned. 

“We weren't supposed to mention that, Hermione.”

“Dementor?” I asked Harry. Obviously I had read the papers and obviously I knew Sirius escaped. Why else would I be late on the first day?

“Yes. Because of Sirius Black.” Harry explained as we all walked to the Great Hall. “You knew him, didn't you?”

“Why would I know Sirius Black?” I asked with a laugh.

“Well, you guys were in the same year.” Hermione stated.

“We're we?”

“Indeed.” We walked into the hall.

“Oh, well, I'm not sure I remember him much. I wasn't a very out-” I froze and the three looked at me in wonder.

“Is everything alright, Professor?” Harry asked. 

Remus made eye contact with me and his eyes widened. He didn't know I worked here. I didn't know he worked here. He must've been hired for the DADA position after Lockhart was fired. 

“Yes, of course. Sit down, you three. I supposed Dumbledore would like to start his speech soon, now that his entire staff has arrived.”

“Right, okay.”

I walked quickly up to the teachers table, flashing McGonagall a smile as I passed her. I sat next to Severus and leaned over.

“Okay so why is Remus here?”

Severus glared at me, “I'd rather not talk to you right now.”

I scoffed, “Oh shut up, you love me. We're best friends.”

He rolled his eyes, “I'm definitely your best friend.”

“Shh, Dumbledore is starting his big speech.”

“A galleon he says something inspirational.”

“I knew we were friends. You're on.”

Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly, “Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Now, I’d like to say a few words before we all become too befuddled with our excellent feast. As I’m sure you all know from their search on the Hogwarts Express, our school is currently hosting a few dementors from Azkaban, they are present for Ministry Business.”

“Apparently Harry passed out.” I mumbled to Severus who hid his grin, I rolled my eyes.

“They are stationed at every entrance, so, for your sake, I tell you that no one is to leave the castle without permission. Dementors are not easily fooled by tricks or disguises - or even invisibility cloaks.” I glanced at Harry who shrunk in his seat.

“I warn each and every one of you to not give them an excuse to hurt you, they don’t take well to pleading. Prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, make sure that no students run afoul of the dementors.”

“But, you know, happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times.” I groaned in my seat as Severus’ face became smug. He held out his hand. “If one only remembers to turn on the light.” I slapped a galleon into his palm begrudgingly. 

“I hate you.”

“On a happier note.” Dumbledore continued and everyone visibly deflated. “We are all pleased to welcome two new teachers to our staff tonight. First, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, please welcome Professor Lupin.” I sat up straight in my seat as Remus stood with a smile. 

He looks different, of course, yet exactly the same. He had new scars and old scars, the one right below his eye he's had for years. He hates it, I've always loved it. I still love it. 

I glanced at Severus to see him glaring at Remus. I understood completely, sometimes I wondered why he ever forgave me for the years of torment I let my friends put him through.

“A picture would last longer.” I whispered to Severus who huffed.

“I could say the same to you.” He sneered, looking at his food.

“I am sorry to announce that our previous Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Kettleburn, has retired in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs. However, it is a pleasure to make it known that our very own Rubeus Hagrid will be filling his place, along with his usual gamekeeper duties.” I clapped loudly with a smile, Hagrid was my favorite. “Well, I believe that's all of importance. Let the feast begin!”

“Excuse me, Y/n.” I ignored Remus as I walked faster, hoping to avoid him as I weaved between students. He latched onto my arm, “Y/n.”

I turned around quickly, a stern look on my face, “I apologize, Professor Lupin, but teachers do refer to each other as Professor. I'm afraid my first name is simply not suitable for you to address me by, as we are colleagues, and nothing more.”

A look of hurt crossed his face and my heart tugged, “I'm sorry, Professor L/n.”

“I must be going.”

“Can we have a conversation?”

I shook my head, walking away. “I'm afraid I'm very busy with my plants and lessons.”

“Professor L/n.” Severus’ monotone voice called out. 

I turned my head, “Yes?”

“May we speak momentarily?” He asked and I nodded.

“Of course.”

“What?” I heard Remus mumble before I walked into Severus’ classroom. 

“Thanks for that.”

Severus walked to his desk and began writing on parchment. “For what?”

I sat down at a desk, throwing my feet on top of the table. “Saving me, duh.”

Severus glanced at my feet, “Are you a child?”

“I wish.”

“You can leave now.”

I sighed, levitating an apple from his desk to me silently and taking a loud bite from it. “Nope, he's probably waiting outside to jump you.”

“Wouldn't be the first time.” He mumbled and my smile dropped.

I moved my feet off the desk and sat up straight, “I'm sorry for never stopping them. They made your time here terrible, and it wasn't okay. Even if you deserved it sometimes.”

Severus looked up from the paper, his face softened from the usual sneer. He gave me a small smile, and it seemed to hurt him to do so. I laughed. 

“What?”

“When was the last time you smiled?”

His sneer came back, “Get out.”

I rolled my eyes with a smile, “Okay okay, see you later, Severus.”

“Bye, Y/n.” I froze for a second before leaving with a smile, he's never called me by Y/n before.

“Right, yes, you may have a week extension. I expect your paper no later than Friday.” I said with a smile and the girl's face brightened.

“Thank you so much, Professor. It'll be in by next Friday, I promise.”

“Now go, the group for Hogsmeade will leave soon.” She nodded and walked off, smiling and blushing at Harry as she passed him. “Hello, Harry.”

“Hi, Professor.” Harry said, his cheeks red from the cold.

“What do you need?” 

Harry looked nervous as he held up a piece of paper.

“Could you sign this for me, possibly? Please, Professor?”

I sighed as I looked at Hogsmeade permission slip, “I'm not your guardian, Harry.”

“You're as good as.”

I smiled, “While I appreciate the compliment, I'm still not. You'll have to stay behind today, I'm afraid.”

“Okay, it's okay Professor. I'm gonna go say goodbye to Ron and Hermione.” Harry walked out, nodding to someone as he passed. “Professor.”

“Do you think that if we could've taken Harry, we would've stayed together?” A deep voice asked and I tensed, shutting my eyes tightly.

“I'm not sure. I guess you'll have to ask yourself. You're the one that left, in case you don't remember.” I said coldly, staring out the window of my office to avoid eye contact.

“You won't look at me.” Remus shoved his hands in his pockets.

I shrugged, “You'll survive, I'm sure.”

“Did you help Sirius escape?”

I looked at Remus, bewildered, “Are you actually asking me that?” I stood from my desk. “The audacity you have, Remus.”

“You didn't answer me.”

I stared at him, “No, I didn't.”

“Then how is he out?”

I laughed sarcastically, “Lord if I know. You should go, I don't want to talk to yo-”

He cut me off by slamming a piece of folded parchment on my desk. I gasped at how close his face was before glancing down at the parchment.

“The Marauders Map.” I whispered, softly brushing over the paper I spent so long working on with my best friends. “I haven't seen this in years.”

“I haven't either, until I caught Harry and Snape in the hall. Harry was holding the map, he said something interesting.” I looked up.

“What did he say?”

“He said he saw Peter Pettigrew on the map.”

My eyebrows furrowed, “Peter's dead.”

Remus reached into his pocket, “Well, that's what I thought.”

It was silent while I thought before I pulled open my drawer and rummaged through papers.

“Ron he has a - uhm, he has a rat. It's a family pet, they've had it for years. Ron said it was twelve. That's awfully long for a rat to live, isn't it?”

“Twelve years? Yeah, that's long.”

I pulled out the daily prophet from the summer, the one with the picture of the Weasley family in Egypt.

I pointed at Ron, who was holding his rat, “I knew it looked familiar.” Remus leaned forward and studied the animal.

“We need to ask Ron to see Scabbers.”

I shook my head, “We can't, Scabbers ran off. Ron thinks Hermione's cat ate him.”

“Peter better wish that cat did.”

“You said you found the map with Harry and Snape. What was going on with them?”

“It's quite funny actually. Snape was trying to see into the map and instead it insulted his nose.”

My face dropped and I sat back down with a sigh. “Leave Severus alone. You can go now.”

“Since when did you call him Severus?”

“Since he was there when you weren't. I said, you can go now.”

“Are you going to kill me, Harry?” I heard Sirius say and I glanced at Remus before he burst through the door.

“Expelliarmus!” Remus yelled, causing Harry's wand to fly from his hands. I caught it midair, holding onto it tightly. Remus nudged his head and Harry squirmed away. “Well, well, Sirius, looking rather ragged, aren't we?’

I scoffed, “I think you look fine as ever, Pads.”

“Must you always argue with me?” Remus scolded and I rolled my eyes as he looked back at Sirius. “Finally the flesh reflects the madness within.’

“Well, you'd know all about the madness within, wouldn't you, Remus?” Remus lowered his wand and smiled before helping Sirius up and pulling him into a tight hug. I yelped as Sirius grabbed my shirt and pulled me In. Sirius began to cry, “I found him!”

“We know.” Remus reassured. 

“He's here!”

“We understand, Siri.” I said softly. 

“Let's kill him!”

“No!” Hermione yelled and my head snapped to her. “I trusted you!” She y

screamed at Remus. “And this time y-you’ve been his friend.” She turned back to her friends angrily. “He's a werewolf!”

My eyes widened, “Wow.”

“That's why he's been missing classes.”

“How long have you known?” Remus asked, stepping towards her.

“He really knows how to scare them.” I muttered to Sirius, who nodded. 

“He's one for the dramatics.”

“Since Professor Snape set the essay.”

“Well, well, well, Hermione. You really are the brightest of your age I've ever met.”

“And you!” She pointed at me and stumbled back slightly. “We loved you! Since first year you've been like a mother to all of us! But you're with him?” She said defeatedly, glancing between Sirius and I. 

“Hermione, things aren't the way they seem. I trust you to believe that.”

Sirius threw his hands up impatiently, “Enough talk! Come on, let's kill him!”

“Wait!”

“I did my waiting!” He screamed.

“Sirius.” I said softly, gently grabbing onto his arm.

“Twelve years of it… in Azkaban!” The floor creaked loudly as we looked back at the kids. Harry stepped back slightly.

“Very well. Kill him.” Remus decided, handing Sirius a wand. “But wait one more minute. Harry has the right to know why.”

“I know why!” The boy said angrily. “You betrayed my parents! You're the reason they're dead!”

“No, Harry, it wasn't him.” I told the boy.

“Somebody did kill your parents. But it was somebody who, until quite recently, I believed to be dead!”

“Who was it then!”

“Peter Pettigrew! And he's in this room! Right now!” I glanced at Scabbers who squirmed in Ron's hands as Sirius yelled. “Come out, come out, Peter! Come out, come out and play!”

I gasped as Severus came in, wand up and pointed at Sirius, “Severus, don't!”

“Expelliarmus!” The wand in Sirius’ hand clattered on the ground. “Ah, vengeance is sweet.”

“Severus, you don't understand.” I tried but he ignored me.

“How I hoped I'd be the one to catch you.” 

“Severus, it…”

“I told Dumbledore you were helping an old friend into the castle, and now, here's the proof.”

Remus looked confused, “I haven't been helping Sirius.”

I took a step forward, wand in the air, “It's been me.”

“Brilliant, Snape. Once again, you put your keen and penetrating mind to the task, and as usual come to the wrong conclusion.”

I rolled my eyes, “Sirius, shut up. You've tormented him enough.”

“What?” Sirius glanced at Remus who shrugged.

“Severus, we can talk about it.” I yelped as Sirius shoved me back, Remus grabbed onto my arm to stop me from falling. 

“If you'll excuse us, we have some unfinished business to attend to.” Snape pointed his wand at Sirius’ neck and Remus gasped, holding his hand to his mouth.

“Give me a reason. I beg you.” 

“Severus, don't be a fool.” 

“He can't help it. He comes by it naturally.”

I glared, “Sirius, I said shut up, for fucks sake.”

“Oh, shut up yourself, Y/n!” 

“Oh look at you two, quarreling like an old married couple.”

“Why don't you run along and play with your chemistry set?” Sirius sneered and Severus dug his wand deeper into Sirius’ neck. 

“I could do it, you know. But why deny the dementors? They're so longing to see you.” Sirius’ face flashed with disdain. “Do I detect a flicker of fear? Oh, yes. A dementor's kiss. One can only imagine what that must be like to endure. It's said to be nearly unbearable to witness, but I'll do my best.”

“Severus, please.” Remus begged as Severus pointed out the door.

“After you.” Severus nudged his head at the teens, urging them to leave. My eyes softened, he wanted to protect them as much as he wanted revenge on Sirius. I lowered my wand.

Harry took a step forward, raising Hermione's wand and pointing it at Sirius. Sirius grimaced before Harry turned it to Severus. 

“Expelliarmus!” He yelled and the spell hit Severus straight in the chest, shoving him back into the old bed.

“Severus!” I ran over to the bed and levitated the top off of the man. I looked over him quickly, he seemed fine, just knocked out cold. 

Ron and Hermione yelped in surprise as Harry pointed the wand at Remus, Sirius, and I, “Tell me about Peter Pettigrew!”

I sighed to myself as we walked out of the Shrieking Shack. Ron cried about his leg as Sirius apologized for it. Peter squirmed in between Remus and I. 

“Y/n, may we have a proper conversation?” Remus asked quietly.

I gave him a soft smile. “Once we get outside.” He nodded and smiled back. 

“Y/n, my dearest friend-”

I whacked the man with my wand, “Sock it.”

“In fact, James more than once suggested that I make the change permanent.” Sirius said. “The tail, I could live with, but the fleas are murder.”

I snorted, “Tell me about it.”

“You're an animagus too?” Harry asked, glancing back. 

I nodded, “Of course, I am. Illegal though, so that's why you've never known.”

Once we got outside Peter began begging to be let go. 

“Ron, I was a good friend, a good pet! You won't let them give me to the dementors, will you?” He asked and Ron grimaced in disgust, he turned to Hermione. “Oh, sweet girl, clever girl. Surely you won't let them-”

Remus pulled him away, “Get away from them.”

“Remus.” I called and he turned to me as I walked towards him and the trembling Peter. “Let's talk.”

Remus sighed, “What I did was-”

“Vile? Cruel? Totally dim witted?” I suggested with a smile. 

“Yes, all of those, definitely the last one.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “We went through something no one should have ever. Neither of us were very close with our family, all we had was our friends, and they were all taken from us in less than a month. We should've gone through that together, we should have had each other. And I'm sorry for taking that from you.”

“Remus-”

“No, it was wrong of me. I love you, Y/n. I've never not loved you.”

I glanced at the shining moon slowly coming up over the mountain, “No, Remus-"

“You don't need to forgive me-”

“Remus the moon!” I cut him off, pointing behind him.

“Harry!” Hermione called, catching the attention of the boy and Sirius. 

The moonlight shone brightly on our faces, and fear settled in my stomach as I watched Remus’ pupils dilate. 

“Sirius!” I called as the man rushed over. 

“Remus, my old friend, have you taken your potion tonight?” Sirius questioned, coming up next to me. We held onto Remus tightly as he groaned in pain.

“You know the man you truly are, Remus!” I tried.

“This heart is where you truly live!” Sirius placed his hand on Remus’ heart. “This heart, here!”

Remus moaned loudly, pain overtaking his body. His wand dropped to the ground as he doubled over.

“This flesh is only flesh!”

“Remus!” 

Sirius and I held tightly onto the man as he pushed against us. His body transformed into the ugliest of creatures as he yelled painfully. His yell slowly turned into a growl. 

I turned to the kids, “Run! You guys, run and don't stop! I'm serious, now is not the time to be a hero! Go!”

Remus growled, his full form taking shape as he threw Sirius and I back. I yelled in pain as my shoulder hit a rock. 

“Ah, shit.” I looked up at Sirius. “Are you alright?”

He groaned, “I've been better. When was the last time you were a lion, dear friend?”

I shrugged, “It's been a while.” My head snapped as I heard the werewolf howl and Hermione yelped. “They didn't run.”

Sirius smirked, “Did you really expect them to?”

I shook my head as he took his dog form and sprung ahead. I sighed and tried my best to become my animagus. It's been quite a while. I smiled to myself as I felt my features change and my senses become sharper. I let out the loudest roar I could muster, before jumping to help Sirius.

I watched quietly from a tree as the sun came up over the mountain. The werewolf grumbled and let out a final howl before its human form took over. 

I jumped down, walking over to Remus’ body and nuzzling it with my head. He woke up, rubbing his eyes tightly. 

“Y/n? Is that you?” He asked, his voice hoarse. I growled quietly, dropping a blanket into his lap to cover up before turning around, suggesting he get on my back. It'd be easier to get him to the castle as a lion, rather than a girl. 

He sucked in a breath, likely gazing at the large gash across my neck. 

“I'm sorry.” He whispered, his fingers grazing the cut before carefully getting onto my back. 

I carefully ran up to the castle, taking a secret passage to his office. He hid completely under the blanket as I sauntered up to his room. Once we got there he carefully got off, and I immediately transformed back into a human. 

I groaned at my aching muscles and went to crack my neck, but instead I was met with a sore, wounded neck. 

“Ouch.” I muttered, glancing at Remus who was putting clothes on. “Are you okay?”

Remus looked at, his eyes immediately finding the wound on my neck. I felt self conscious.

“Are you?” he asked quietly, walking towards me.

I shrugged, “I'll survive. Also, I forgive you.”

Remus’ eyes softened, “You do?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I got over it.” A certain sadness came over his face. I stepped forward, our faces almost touching, “You know what I've never gotten over though?”

He leaned in slightly, his lips brushing mine, “What?”

“You.” I whispered, before kissing him. It was soft, and passionate. It made up for all the kisses I've missed these past twelve years.

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[scarletlizzard]

So apparently I hit 500 followers? Thank you to everyone who follows and has interacted with my fics!! 🥳

I thought this would be fun to celebrate? I have a list of random dialogue that y'all could pick from to send me. Ranges from everywhere to fluff, angst, NSFW, etc. And I'll write a little short something for it!

Feel free to pick a number or few to send or you could be specific with who you want or a specific trope or plot. Anything!

Thank y'all so much, made my whole day 💕

104 Dialogue Prompts

1. "Admit it... you're in love with me."

2. "We could get arrested for this."

3. "I thought you were dead."

4. "I've missed this."

5. "You could've died."

6. "Who did this to you?"

7. "I know, I know, I'm sorry... it'll be over soon, I promise."

8. "Come back to bed."

9. "How long has it been since you slept?"

10. "Tell me where you are, I'll come get you."

11. "I still love you."

12. "Such a good girl."

13. "Open your mouth for me, baby."

14. "We have to make this quick."

15. "Beg for it."

16. "Mommy?"

17. "You're in love with them. Aren't you?"

18. "It was you? This whole time?"

19. "You know, just cause you're older don't think for one second I'm not in charge."

20. "Smile at me like that again, I'll fall in love with you."

21. "... is that a trick question?"

22. "Don't just stand there, say something."

23. "Say that again, I dare you."

24. "Fuck you." "Right now?"

25. "I'm joking! Unless..."

26. "You take me so well."

27. "What do you mean I'm dead? I'm standing right here."

28. "Please, I'm begging you. Just hear me out."

29. "Oh fuck... I'm in love with (x)." "You're just now realizing that?"

30. "What if you didn't go? What if you stayed?"

31. "You like it rough, don't you, slut?"

32. "Flowers?"

33. "I hate you. I hate you. I hate you."

34. "Fuck, marry, kill..."

35. "Truth or dare?"

36. "Since when did you ever care about me?"

37. "You think I wanted this to happen? You think I wanted to fall in love with you?"

38. "May I have this dance?"

39. "I know I'm the last person you want to see, but..."

40. "I'm done! I am done waiting for you."

41. "It's okay, you're okay, I'm here. I've got you."

42. "Touch her again and see what happens."

43. "Is that a hickey?"

44. "I'm fine, it's just a bruise..."

45. "I'm going to fucking kill them."

46. "Are you sure about this?"

47. "Why are you all sweaty?"

48. "You left! You left and you didn't even think to look back. What was I supposed to do?"

49. "Well... this is awkward."

50. "You know I've been flirting with you this whole time right?"

51. "They'll never love you the way I did."

52. "If you're trying to make me jealous, it's working."

53. "Wanna bet?"

54. "Just say that you want me and I'm yours."

55. "I'm going to ruin you for anyone else."

56. "Wait you've never kissed a girl?"

57. "Where did all this attitude come from, princess?"

58. "Take my hand."

59. "Can I have your number?"

60. "You're an idiot." "Well yes, you'll have to be more specific."

61. "Quick! Pretend to be my girlfriend?"

62. "Run away with me."

63. "Are you going to be a good girl for mommy?"

64. "That collar looks so good on your pretty neck."

65. "Too bad, you're going to take every last fucking inch of me."

66. "Do you ever think before speaking?"

67. "Count them for me."

68. "You snore."

69. "Let's try that position." (I know, I know)

70. "Bullshit! You're telling me you just don't blush?" "Nope, never."

71. "Just tell her how you feel." "I'd rather get shot again."

72. "Oh my god are you okay?" "Yeah I'm fine, I've been stabbed before."

73. "Daddy?"

74. "Can't we go back to how things used to be?"

75. "Save a horse ride a cowgirl, amiright?"

76. "I like you. A lot."

77. "Is that the best you can do?"

78. "I'll consider kissing you if you can beat me."

79. "Please, pull the trigger."

80. "I'm not drunk enough for this."

81. "You can't run away from this forever."

82. "I know you're having nightmares again."

83. "Would you like me to whisper it in your ear?"

84. "Stop looking at me like that."

85. "Somebody's cranky." "Somebody needs to shut the fuck up."

86. "Get on your knees."

87. "How stupid do you think I am? Don't answer that."

88. "I can't sleep."

89. "Just relax, let me make you feel good."

90. "Close the door."

91. "Was that supposed to hurt?"

92. "I've wanted this for so long."

93. "You can do better than that. Beg for it."

94. "Controlling? Oh I'll show you controlling."

95. "You drive me fucking crazy!"

96. "Nobody needs to know."

97. "Take another step and you'll be dead before you open your fucking mouth again."

98. "Do they always look like that?" "Just when (x) is around."

99. "I made you a playlist."

100. "I know you said you would die for me but I didn't think you meant that literally!"

101. "Is that... blood?" "Huh? Oh yeah! Oh I'm fine it's not mine."

102. "Why are you always looking at me like that?" "Like what?"

103. "Hero? Please. You heroes have to win every time. But being the villain? I only have to win once."

104. "You've changed." "You haven't."

#scarletlizzard thoughts #500 followers #marvel #wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda x reader #elizabeth olsen #elizabeth olsen x reader #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader

[rockanroller]

"Was Hazbin Hotel Rigged or Hand-Drawn?"

disclaimer: do not, and i repeat, DO NOT, use this post to shit on the animators who worked their asses off on this series.

hand-drawn animation is going to have variation in it and that's part of its charm for a lot of people. it really only goes "badly" when that variation becomes too noticeable (such as being jarringly off-model) or when a character's movement isn't executed well. but if you didn't catch it w/o going through frame-by-frame, it hardly matters.

so, getting into it, ppl have been going back-and-forth on this, and viv herself has said it wasn't rigged.

and i think this is one thing she's right about.

many ppl's assumption of it being rigged was due to a lot of movements being weirdly "stiff" or "clunky" and/or characters moving oddly smooth at other times.

i can say i think it's possible rigs could've been used occasionally, or on some shots, but i also think it's more likely the animators moved their drawings in a way that makes them look rig-like as a result.

meaning in animation programs you can actually grab portions of your drawing like a head or a limb and move it, or even just nudge it ever so slightly, to the point you can make some really smooth in-betweens to the point it looks rigged.

that said, a rig keeps a character uniform and consistent.

for example:

with the exception of bits where the character has to move or be interacted with in a way the rig won't allow, which would either need new additions to the rig or to be hand-drawn over the rig.

but see how Rick's head/face/hair and proportions stay the same?

let's compare that to Charlie's head:

we can see Charlie's features vary slightly, and these aren't shots from different episodes, these are shots that are right next to each other. if you're having trouble seeing a difference here's a breakdown:

again: this is *not* me saying this is a bad thing. this type of variation is inevitable with hand-drawn animation, and to many people it's part of hand-drawn animation's charm. and if you didn't notice it and it didn't bother you while watching, it hardly matters.

everything i'm pointing out here is only to show why i think Hazbin Hotel was hand-drawn (at least by majority or a large percentage) rather than rigged.

other points to this include shifting linework such as here:

you can see the lines get thicker/thinner between these frames such as on the inner portions of her eyes, the curl of hair under her right (our left) eye, or how a section of linework on her hair & face suddenly shows up between both of her outer eye-lashes.

which, again, shifting line-weights aren't uncommon in hand-drawn animation, and can be part of its charm. but in a rig you wouldn't see the linework shifting like this, it would remain uniform.

i also noticed portions where linework ever-so-slightly crosses over itself for either a few frames or multiple, which wouldn't be seen with a rig (unless it was rigged poorly or smth.)

when you go through the episodes frame-by-frame these minor variations become more apparent.

reiterating again, however: none of this is "bad" unless it's noticeable w/o going through frame-by-frame.

animation is not intended to be watched frame-by-frame or hyper-analyzed up-close and personal.

animation is *supposed* to trick the eye and create the illusion of movement, so if it wasn't an error that was noticeable it doesn't matter.

an example of a noticeable "bad" error would be something like when Vaggie completely disappears mid-shot, along with the camera & BG snapping and Charlie's compositing disappearing with her pose shifting slightly (watch the legs) all at the same time.

(this is not two random frames taken out of context, these frames are directly next to each other.)

do not, and i repeat, DO NOT, use this post to shit on the animators who worked their asses off on this series.

all this was just to share an analysis of why i think that at least a large percentage of Hazbin Hotel was hand-drawn.

#animation analysis #industry talk #hazbin hotel critical #vivziepop critical

[the-modern-typewriter]

could u please do a snippet about a new detective x a thief thats always one step ahead?

"Man," the thief said. "Someone at head office must really hate you."

The detective whirled, grocery bag still clenched in one hand, but saw no one in the shadows behind them. Their gaze darted this way and that - searching for a clue, a scrap, a speck of dust out of place.

It could almost be as if they had imagined the words entirely.

"Giving you me," the voice continued, behind them again, "as a first proper assignment? Tch. That's harsh."

The detective had already whirled around again, but once again, there was nothing. They swallowed.

"Magpie," they greeted.

"Detective." It was, unmistakably, a purr. It should not have slid molten into the pit of the detective's stomach.

It did.

"Why must they hate me?" the detective asked, rotating slowly in a circle. They looked up at the empty rooftops. They even looked down.

The thief chuckled. "I'm the kind of job that breaks a career."

"You're the kind of makes a career."

"If you're sweet to me, maybe."

The detective's jaw clenched, even as they felt that same absurd spark in their every nerve ending. If humans only used 10% of their brains, then it felt like the detective's had shot up to at least 75%, by mere virtue of the Magpie's presence.

The thieving, invisible, magpie. "If sweet means letting you get away with it, I'm not sweet."

"Oh, detective." That time, when the detective turned, the thief was standing right there, impossibly close. Their eyes were very bright in the moonlight. "You're the sweetest."

The detective's breath caught. They should have stepped back, but they felt their attention roam over every inch of the notorious thief instead - the one that no one had ever apparently seen, or got a look at. It had to be be a copycat, right? Some kind of trick. It couldn't actually be -

"Giving you me," the thief mused, "or is it that they're giving me you?" Their head tilted. "You know, I've grown so used to taking that I'm not entirely sure."

The detective's mouth felt very dry.

"It's reckless to show yourself to me."

The Magpie shrugged. "You won't remember me. You won't remember my face, anyway."

The detective raised a brow. Given how good a head they had for details they were certain that, for all the flaws of eye-witness testimonies and human memory, they most certainly would remember them. And it didn't hurt that the thief was - well. Something lovely enough to be worth stealing, perhaps. The detective might have committed that face to memory even if it wasn't a matter of work.

"Would you like to remember that we kissed?" The Magpie asked.

"What exactly," the detective bit out, "is it that you are doing right now?" Sense hit them suddenly - to reach in their pocket, get their camera, get their phone to record. Something. Anything.

A conversation in a back alley, alone, with someone who implied that they were the Magpie was no proof of a crime and it certainly wasn't sufficient evidence to build a case. Maybe this was distraction. Maybe the Magpie, however much they were thought to be only one person, was actually a team and -

The Magpie smiled, and touched the detective's cheek, examining them like they were a mystery to be solved. The detective let them. They felt...strange.

"I wanted to see who my new detective was, gorgeous," the thief said. "I stole your records and files, but...you know. Seeing something second hand or at a distance is never quite the same. The best art is experienced."

"I suppose that's just as well," the detective managed. "Because I wanted to see who my thief was."

"My thief." The Magpie smiled again, a quick fluttering thing. "I like that."

They dropped their hand, and dropped a quick kiss to the detective's cheek.

"I'll be seeing you."

When the thief was gone, as swiftly and inexplicably as they had appeared, the detective blinked.

They tried to recall the Magpie's face, and came up with something fading. They tried to pinpoint the Magpie's voice, but all they could summon was the molten heat in the pit of their belly, the memory of something that made their toes curl.

Shiny. Catching the light. Impossible to get a good look at.

By the time they were home, all they had was the memory of a soft kiss on their cheek, and the lilting tail of an old nursery rhyme.

Five for silver, Six for gold

Seven for a secret never to be told

Eight for a wish, Nine for a Kiss

and Ten for a bird you must not miss.

The Magpie was always one step ahead after that.

#detective x thief #thief #detective #writing #story #fic #ficlet #creative writing #fiction #stories #writeblr

[raina-at]

Year in fic review 2023

Total number of completed stories: 4, I finished Spare Parts in 2022, just finished posting in 2023.

Total word count: About 50 k (published, god knows how many words of unfinished WIPS and abandoned one-shots)

Fandoms written in: BBC Sherlock, I'm a one-trick pony these days ;-)

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected?

Hm, I suppose less? And not the things I expected. I started writing a lot of long, plotty fics but apparently, it wasn't the year for long and plotty fics. I suppose I didn't have the brain space for long and plotty.

What’s your own favorite story of the year?

Probably Nothing Gold Can Stay, because I had this idea months and months ago, of John having a bit of a crisis before his wedding. I had this one piece of a core of a fic, the whole nucleus where John tells Sherlock nobody ever sticks with him, ever. And then I had three different fragments of fics trying to make it work, and every one had something amazing in it, but I just couldn't make it gel. And then I thought of the famous The thing you wanted to say, say it now, and the scene on the bench in TSOT, and bam, I had a fic. It came out in stops and starts of 200-word chunks, while John laboured with whether and how and when to trust enough, to have faith enough to actually say how he feels. I'm really proud of how it came out in the end, and I'm very happy you guys responded to it the way you did.

Did you take any writing risks this year?

I don't know about risks, but I wrote 31 ficlets in pretty much a month, which came out to 26000 words, and that was no mean feat. And I actually still like most of them. Gave me a bit of writers' burn-out, I won't lie, but what a ride!

Do you have any fanfic goals for the new year?

I want to finish my Christmas fic. I would like to re-visit the Nothing Gold boys because I think there's meat on these bones and I always wanted to do a series of shorter fics that hang together. So maybe I can do something with that. But last year was so stressful at work and I don't see this year going any better (we have three big conferences this summer, so it's probably going to be So Much Worse). So, I'll be grateful for what I can accomplish, and accept that it might not be everything I want.

Most popular story of the year?

Nothing Gold Can Stay for sure.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

Hm, I got a lot of lovely feedback this year, so I generally feel loved and appreciated by fandom. My May ficlets especially got a lot of responses here on tumblr, and I loved that dynamic interchange between writing and reading and commeting, especially with the others who did the challenge.

If I had to pick one underappreciated story, my Spare Parts 'verse January 29th fic The Stars Walk Backward didn't get a lot of eyeballs, but it's understandable given that it's a one-shot in a 'verse that not that many people are famliar with in the first place. It's a bit of a stepchild of a 'verse, but I love it, and I love this story for its unabashed sentimentality. It's very sweet and very calm and has a lot of 'we're back together and I don't want to fuck this up again' energy. I love re-visiting this fic if I need a quick pick-me-up, so. You know.

Most fun story to write:

Most of the ficlets were fun to write, and Tipping Point was somehow the opposite of Nothing Gold Can Stay in that it came out in a big rush over four days, like a writing tsunami. But my Christmas fic is also super fun to write, I just hope I can sustain the fun and actually finish it.

Most unintentionally telling story:

Probably Nothing Gold Can Stay, I suppose. Grief is really complicated, and it's difficult to come to terms with the fact that you can sort of stumble into pockets of it, and that you sometimes grieve things that are technically still there but have changed a lot. Essentially, the story is about a John who has to stop running away from his grief and turn around and face it, and a Sherlock who sees that if he wants to truly get John back, he has to face it with him.

Biggest disappointment:

With myself for being unable to finish the many, many, many fics I've stared but didn't remotely finish. But also gracious to myself for letting life happen.

Biggest surprise:

Not surprise but gratitude for the love and support of this fandom. You guys are awesome. I'm so grateful whenever someone tells me that something I wrote made them Feel Something(TM). It's the greatest compliment a writer can receive, and I feel truly blessed that I heard this a fair bit this year. I write because it makes me happy, and if people reading my fics experience something similar, then that makes me even happier. So thank you, fandom.

#year in fic review #2024 #my fic #writing #goals for 2024 #finish something #but no pressure

[borrowedtimeandspace]

The Question

AU: A Patient, and Time (Donna AU); set some time after A Whole Lot of Precious Time

Note: Hope y'all enjoyed the comfort...

~~~

“No, no, it's not that I don't understand the threat, the Doctor insisted. “I get it; temporal displacement weapon, you point it at people so they do what you want or else they're, as it says on the tin, displaced in time. What boggles my mind is why you've added a wheel to it. Aren't fidget spinners a bit 'retro' for the 51st century?”

The terrible smirk on the face of the crisply suited man before the Doctor didn't falter even a hair. He continued to hold the deceptively dangerous device so casually in one hand, letting his thumb flick its shiny new wheel up and down at odd intervals. Not a thought was put into the action.

“Time… It's a funny thing, isn't it, Doctor? Suppose you'd know, the great and powerful Time Lord that you are. I should think you'd be more aware than anyone that in this day and age, temporal displacement is becoming a bit of an empty threat. What with vortex manipulators being a dime a dozen, it sort of takes the severity out of it. Just trace back the setting, or strong-arm the one with the weapon, and you'll find them eventually.”

It was all the Doctor could do to not roll his eyes at the man's monologuing. He'd prompted it, after all, and it was what he wanted. A distraction.

Alaric Edwin didn't have nearly half the planet under his thumb simply by having an odd, tricked-out relic in hand, after all. He'd come into political and social power by manipulating the populace with his network of tech worming into the vast majority of people's heads. A network powered by the master control at the far end of the room in which he and the Doctor now stood.

All eyes were on the two men, any hired (though to be frank, they were also enslaved) guns trained on the Doctor and awaiting the signal of their commander. Edwin, confident as ever, wasn't worried. 

No one but the Doctor seemed at all aware of the tiny woman sneaking from shadow to shadow along the edges of the room.

Zepheera had jumped at the opportunity. For how tight the security was in this base of operations, it all but ignored smaller life forms. Even carrying the tiny but incredibly powerful EMP device the Doctor had given her, the four and a half inch tall borrower was able to avoid tripping any alarms. She could get in close to the master control and shut it all down long enough for the Doctor to make sure it could never come online again.

It was the Doctor's job to make sure she got there.

Once in a while, he could catch the slightest glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye, but he dared not look for fear of blowing her cover. The Doctor only noticed because he had grown so used to a borrower being around, and as far as he could tell, Mr. Edwin was so locked in his own world that he had no concept of anything or anyone else. And the Doctor was determined to make sure it stayed that way.

It was just a shame that getting him to brag about his toys was apparently the way to do it.

“But, with this,” Edwin continued, lifting the temporal displacement weapon so that the newly added wheel was prominent, “it's all random. Even I don't know when exactly I'm sending someone once I fire it off. And the very next second, well…” He gave the wheel another pointed spin. “Then it's gone. No way to trace anything back, no way to know. Nice and clean, you see? Even torture won't get anyone anywhere since I literally do not know, myself, where I'm sending people. I've even lost track of which direction takes someone forwards in time or backwards. Really turns what was once a weapon of waning relevance into something…truly devastating, if I do say so.”

The Doctor’s eyebrow quirked. “And that just works for you?” he asked, deadpan and unimpressed. In his peripheral vision, he could see the faintest movement against the side of the master control. Good job, Zepheera, he thought, just a little longer… “Not nearly enough to point guns at people, is it? Is that what you do all day, come up with endlessly creative ways to threaten people who are already in your thrall?”

“You know, I grow tired of all your questions, Doctor,” Edwin sighed. “They're not nearly as entertaining as they were. I should think the time has come for me to begin asking the questions. For instance: How is it that you think you're going to put a stop to my operations here? You've come all this way, I can only assume that is your goal.”

Behind Edwin, Zepheera's heart was in her throat. This was hardly the first time she'd taken on a task that separated her from the Doctor, especially since Donna’s loss. Her drastically smaller size lent her to very different strengths than her Time Lord friend. He'd been nothing but encouraging, if a tad protective when she first started actively taking such initiative.

The adrenaline coursed through her veins, powering her climb. If she pulled this off, millions of people would be set free from imprisonment in their own mind. She knew firsthand what a terrible fate that was, and helping put a stop to it was what kept her moving forward.

It was slow going up her climbing rope, but Zepheera finally pulled herself up to the titanic machine's console. Leaving the grappling hook and line behind, she began sprinting toward the center. Along the way, her fingers fumbled to remove the straps keeping the electromagnetic pulse device attached to her back. She abandoned the fiddly latch and simply yanked the device over her head.

The Doctor clocked this movement, and tossed his hands in the air. “Well, I'm only a concerned passer-by. Just reckoned I'd scope things out as I stumbled in, plans aren't really my forte–”

“Couldn't agree with you more,” Edwin cut in, whipping his head around in time to lock eyes with Zepheera, her arms full with the little device. 

Her steps faltered for a split second at the sight of being caught, but she quickly redoubled her efforts. Frantically, Zepheera slammed her hand down on the button that would begin the thirty second timer on the pulse. 

Edwin's thumb flicked the wheel.

Zepheera tossed the device as far as she could throw it and made a mad dash for her hook.

Edwin's arm whipped around and he squeezed the trigger on his weapon.

“Zepheera!”

It all happened far too quickly for the Doctor to stop it. A bright flash of blue light leapt from Edwin's hand and collided with Zepheera. She didn't have time to scream before the beam consumed her whole. 

In less than the blink of an eye, Zepheera had vanished completely.

Edwin's thumb once again flicked the wheel on his device with a pointed whirrrrrrr. The only sound the Doctor was consciously aware of anymore.

That smug smirk was in full force as Edwin turned back to the Doctor. “Would you like me to repeat the question?”

The Doctor didn't respond at first. He stood frozen, staring at the last spot he'd seen his friend before she was tossed into the temporal wind. And at first, Edwin took pride in shaking up the Time Lord so visibly, and was willing to wait for it all to sink in.

Then that gaze slid slowly to lock with Edwin’s, and suddenly he was the one frozen in place.

Anger wasn't all that could be found in those eyes, and Edwin could almost see for himself what they saw when they looked at him. It wasn't just the dismantling of his plans. It was the complete and total destruction of everything Alaric Edwin was and ever would be, along with anything and anyone bearing his name. Oblivion in the truest sense of the word.

The wrath of the Time Lord, whose lip curled with utmost disdain as he growled; a low tone that went well beyond seething.

“Oh, big mistake.”

#doctor who gt #doctor who g/t #sfw gt #sfw g/t #g/t writing #gt writing #doctor who crossover #the borrowers #the borrowers crossover #borrowers crossover #borrower oc #Zepheera #A Patient and Time #APaT: a BTaS AU #giant tiny #giant #tiny

[birth-fic-lover]

Let the fertility goddess be your matchmaker - Part 2 Florence

Part 1

As Joanna opened the door for them both she stepped back as a man with a full beard filled the doorway. Florence's stomach twisted and it had nothing to do with the child within her. It was because she knew he was the other parent of the child. His warm eyes stayed on her daughter as he explained his presence.

"I apologise. I heard your bells ringing and I came to investigate. The rest of my hunting party could not hear them, so I suppose I came to prove I was not foolish."

This confirmed it for Florence, it made sense that the bells would call only him to her. "You are not foolish."

Joanna stood out the way and now she saw this man was in uniform. He was a hunter with one of the large hunting parties that travelled from kingdom to kingdom. His eyes widened at her but not in fear, as she suspected from someone who saw a woman in labour. But perhaps concern, "were you on your way to get a doctor?"

"To labour outside, my daughter will deliver the child."

"I should get my doctor from the hunting party." But Florence could tell something compelled him to stay.

"Joanna, help me outside."

"Allow me," the bearded stranger insisted holding a hand out.

Florence took both his hand and her daughter's arm, she wondered if he would ask after her husband or if should she spin a tale of being abandoned or widowed. Her labour seemed to calm itself. But the child felt low in her womb which told her that before the end of the evening like the goddess promised all would be complete.

Joanne looked to her mother and she silently only in the way two who had spent years alone together could, communicated to leave them. Joanne made her excuses leaving Florrence with the man she presumed to be her love.

He looked at her intently, before asking "how are you feeling now? I know labour comes in waves. Those who are married bring them with us and stay in the camp. I have seen families grow in a camp where its too small not to know what's going on."

"Would you like to delivery the baby then?" Florence offered as she settled on a log. It was a struggle to get that low on the ground but it was worth not being on her feet. Florence saw his face and smiled, "don't panic my daughter has witnessed many children being born."

"I should get help, but..."

"You might miss the main event" Florence pointed out. She then felt a tightening, this labour may have calmed but it was continuing. She clenched her fist. She looked at the man again, she didn't even know his name. "I'm Florence."

"Named after the location in Italy? I've been, its beautiful.. So it makes sense why..." He trailed off blushing. "I'm Fredrick" he said embarrassed and looked past her and then back at her. "Those bells, I saw similar in one of the goddess villages. But that can't be them, a replica?"

"They are probably not the ones you saw but they are real." Florence heart beat fast, her hands were sweaty, could it be he would work it out. Her contractions returned and in response to being squeezed the baby gave a sharp kick and she winced. He knelt down beside her, "are those the only bells you own?" Florence nodded as she tried to reassure the baby. "They tingling sound like babies laughing, I never herd them before. Apparently only a member of the family of the home they are surrounding can hear them."

Florence didn't want to scare him off, she felt Frederick battle within himself. "I was so lonely, so I asked for help from the goddess. A child that would bring my love to me."

Hearing her words he looked at her, "I felt it when I saw you. Is this no trick? You are not someone trying to pass on your child to me, just tell me and I will believe you."

"This child was created less than an hour ago, the bells hung to guide you to me."

Frederick wasted no time. He took her hands, "then I am yours. I will swear an oath to you."

Florence naturally opened her legs with the intensity of the contractions, this child would not be late. Frederick knelt between her legs sliding his hands on her belly, he felt it harden. "Perhaps I can ride you to camp?"

"This baby will arrive tonight, I am in no fit state to ride." She wrapped her hands around his neck enjoying the freedom to touch him, "stay with me, its been so long since I have done this and I had youth on my side then."

"Of course" he moved his head closer and she kissed him until the pain was too much.

"Ugggghh" she moans feeling herself dilating. "Check me, this child was made from a blessing this birth will not be slow."

Not moving the rest of his body he lifted her skirt and looked down, it was not the first time he has seen a woman's neither regions but it being Florence's it had an affect on him. She saw and smiled, she waited so long for someone to be interest in her in this way again.

She kissed him again and it brought her a lustful sensation, the pain changed into a desire to be filled with not just the head of the baby.

She pulled up her nightdress above her belly, "if you want, even thought my garden is full you can still put your seed in me."

She didn't care they were outside or that her daughter could hear, she confirmed to him its what she wanted and the baby would be okay.

She declined herself off the log onto the soft mossy floor. When he slide inside her they rode the next wave together as she tightened around him. Pleasure filled her and she felt pleasure, happiness and excitement together.

As the pleasure build up between them she felt like she was going to explode. She came hard and then rode another wave and another until he had cum inside her. They lay together on the floor his hand around her protectively.

Their bliss pulled away as another contraction hit her, she checked herself she was certainly on her way. This one was painful again, she gritted her teeth. She had waited so long to find this man, why did the child have to come the same evening.

The day light was disappearing, "come inside." He helped her up, and as gravity pulled her belly down her baby seemed to go with it. She couldn't help but gasp her belly, "ohhhh, mmmmhhhh" she moaned as her contraction helped push the baby down. It seemed this baby had made it know they weren't waiting.

She felt her first urge to push, "I though I haaaaad more tiiiiiime" she had just checked herself but now she seemed to be pushing in the almost darkness.

She felt Frederick let go of her as she closed her eyes from the discomfort, had he decided to abandon her too. All she could feel was pain and panic as the infant was forced with gravity downwards. "Gaaaaaahhhhhhh" was all she heard as she felt a blaze between her legs.

She couldn't even speak as the baby seemed to be breaking her to escape. Was this the work of a goddess or of a evil creature?

She didn't even have the strength to relax her body enough to fall to her knees. Suddenly she felt hands on her again, "Nooooooooooo" she moaned as they were pulling her into the blinding light.

"Mother!!!" Joanna call out scared for her.

"She will be okay, the baby is coming." Though Frederick didn't sound confident.

As her eyes adjusting she realised that she was inside. As Fredrick lowered her down by the fire Joanna knelt down checking her mother. "They are definitely coming, I can see a little bit of the head."

Florence felt between her legs just as she was forced to push, she could sense the bulge growing. "Gaaaaahhhhh", she roared as she was bearing down.

With the next push the child's head began to squeeze past her tormented lips. "Gaaahh, ho ho hoooooo." She could not even separate the contractions as night was falling. The baby started to fully emerge with a pop as her waters broke.

Joanna separated her mothers legs more to make room for their emerging sibling. "You are doing great."

The head was moving out of Florence at a pace as Frederick held her.

"Haaaaaagggggghhhhh" she moaned as the baby's head sliped out. She lifted her bottom as she forced the body out. "Ooooooooo"

Joanna caught the baby and held them tight. She looked at her new parents as they took the baby from her. She carefully gathered the items that her mother had used, knowing one day it would be her turn.

[smolghostbot]

GT July: Banter

In which I write for a prompt named "Banter" when only one of the characters can speak. :P (I think I pulled it off)

Story takes place well into the future after they're a Something. Technically Melody SHOULD be using Patch's actual name when being serious as they can properly communicate by now, but we're ignoring that for sake of Mystery(tm)

Word Count: 600 Character bios in my pinned post Worst CW I can think of is mocking a physical attribute (ears), but through a lighthearted, joking, and fantasy lens. When I'm scraping that hard for warnings, you know it is fluffytime.

========

It was a lazy Wednesday, one of Mel's days off work, and Patch was relaxing on the couch with her. The sprite was practicing drawing what they saw on the TV as they watched a nature documentary. Mel was lying upside-down on the couch, her long legs up against the wall and her head on the seat right next to Patch as she read a book, the cover of which had some generic knights riding on horses. Patch wasn't quite able to make out the name considering the book was upside-down, and their Human Script was still a bit rusty.

"Boop."

Don't do anything, don't say anything, she just wants to get a rise out of me… Patch thought to themself, as their ear twitched in response to Melody's poke. It was a completely involuntary reflex which always made Melody coo and giggle, as she found it to be the cutest thing ever.

"hmmm… boop!"

Okay she gets one more and then she's dead.

"hmmmmm……"

Patch braced themself for it. They could feel the ear boop happening any second… but there wasn't one.

"Hehe… tricked ya!" the human exclaimed, giggling again. Patch stood up and turned around, only to immediately have their ear poked. "Boop!".

Patch immediately started "angrily" stomping their feet, fists clenched as they looked at their human companion. This was half genuine, but was also an indicator to Melody that they were okay with this little game. Had they not been in the mood, that was their time to sign a "no".

The human smirked at her small companion before continuing. "You know, you're just the cutest little sprite ever. You know that, right? With your big cute ears?"

Patch crossed their arms defiantly, Melody knew they hated being called cute and played it up for all she could. "Aw… don't give me that cute little scowl, you know you love me!"

The human placed the book down on their chest, forming a heart with her hands. Patch did a similar motion in response, but then split the heart in two, an exaggerated angry look on their face. Melody placed a hand over her heart and gasped at this gesture in a mock astonishment.

"I can't believe you would say such hurtful things! All I did was compliment your cute and adorable ears!"

Patch responded by squeezing their ears closer to their face, in what Melody had seen before as a mockery of her own rounded ears. Learning that Patch (and all sprites, apparently) found human ears weird and ugly was one of the funniest things Melody had learned about their species, although considering how much they used their ears as part of their body language, she supposed it made sense. The human replied to this gesture with feigned indignation and offense.

"Wow, Patch. Wow. Here I am trying to be a good person, a diplomat between our peoples, and you show up with such a hateful and insensitive display. Frankly, I expected better of you as ambassador for spritekind."

At that, she finally hit her limit for what she could say with a straight face, as she started laughing. Patch followed suit, not quite understanding the joke, but the infectious laughter of their human companion was more than enough. Their silent laughter was felt more than heard as the two of them shared this moment.

As she calmed down, the human spoke again, in her normal voice. "Okay, okay, I'll let you get back to your art. Still just goofing around, right?"

Patch smiled genuinely and gave a proper heart symbol with their hands, which the human mirrored before picking up their book, giving a simple "Love you, Patch" before resuming their reading.

#oc tag: patch #oc tag: mel #patchwork melody #g/t #giant/tiny #g/t writing #g/t ocs #gtjuly #g/t fluff

[tonguetiedraven]

The Circle of Strife

Part: One, Two (you are here), Three (final part.)

A/N: Per usual, this is going to be a bit longer than anticipated, with a third part getting them actually together, lol.

“What the hell was that stunt, you asshole?!” Ryuuji bellowed the moment Rin’s form appeared in the old dorm he’d taken as his training spot.

“I’m not— you can’t just parade me around like I’m some kind of party trick!”

“I wasn’t, you dick! I told you I had to pass a class and you’re the only guy I can summon!” And now Ryuuji was going to lose control of him and he wasn’t going to pass his class and he couldn’t work with Rin like this. (And Miss Yamada’s statement had sounded like a threat. What were those people going to do to Rin?)

“I don’t care about your class! I—” Rin clenched his hands in angry fists. “I don’t want…”

“What?” Ryuuji huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and trying not to glare. All his books made it sound like he wasn’t supposed to listen to his summons, but he also hadn’t met a Tamer who didn’t listen to their summons. Plus, Rin was obviously upset and yelling wasn’t getting them anywhere, and they were on such a time crunch.

“This… this is fine,” Rin grumbled, looking off to the side like he was annoyed he even had to say it. “Bullshitting stuff and working… it’s fine when it’s just us. You’re not… annoying. But… I’m not some kinda circus act. I’m not a pet to order around or something. I don’t like being ordered like that.” Rin growled a little. "I don't like being trapped."

Ryuuji huffed out a breath. "I know you're not a pet." Even if Rin should be forced to follow his orders with the tamer/summons relationship. Something was a bit… wrong with this one. 

"And I'm sorry if that made you feel like some kind of show, but I thought we had an understanding? I have to have your help to pass this class. I'm a shit tamer and you're all I've got for that." He'd never failed a class before, and if he couldn't pass this… he'd lose the option for a dragoon rank.

"You're not a shit tamer," Rin grumbled.

It was almost a compliment, and it had the result of making Ryuuji's cheeks a little warm.

"Gee," Ryuuji muttered back, "thanks so much."

Rin scowled.

Ryuuji took in a deep breath and slowly released it. The other part of Rin's complaint still needed to be considered.

"I don't know why you're being summoned with this circle, and I don't know how to separate you from the containment spell."

Rin slouched more and kicked at the concrete.

"But," Ryuuji added, trying not to think about how dangerous this was, "I'll try and figure it out if you promise to at least pretend to listen to me so I can pass this class."

Ryuuji watched Rin try to decide with bated breath. If he didn't agree, Ryuuji was going to fail and he wasn't sure what would happen to Rin.

"You could just try and summon something else," Rin muttered, but he looked a little soured as he said it.

"I have," Ryuuji said around a laugh that was utterly exhausted. "Some people just… can't." Though, he never had tried to summon a nixie.

Rin scowled. "You'll give me food?"

Ryuuji didn't let himself relax yet. "Yeah, of course."

"And can you make the stuff sound less… ordery?"

"Yeah "

Rin nodded like he'd expected that. "Alright, Ryuuji. I'll do your stupid tricks."

Ryuuji released a relieved breath and let his head hang a little. He could work with all of that.

— — — — —

Rin, as it turned out, also liked manga. Ryuuji's was sitting on his dresser and apparently the artwork on the front had been a bit too hard to resist.

Ryuuji hadn't been particularly attached to that story so he let Rin have it after he did a few simple spells, and now Ryuuji had two things to make Rin (mostly) listen.

There was more talking too, which Ryuuji hadn't really expected, even though it kinda felt like he should have. Even when he was throwing a hissy fit, Rin was talkative.

Ryuuji mostly tried to stay on track, but it was all too easy to get sidetracked by some random question, and more often than not it ended with Rin laughing and calling him a nerd like they were back in Middle School. (If demons even had an equivalent to middle school. He imagined the teasing and bullying had to be as bad or worse than what he’d gone through.)

“Would you stop that?!”

Rin laughed all the harder as he shook his head, rocking back and forth a little from his seated position on the floor. He was showing his fangs in a delighted smile, and it should look ridiculous on him, but mostly he just looked stupidly happy and Ryuuji kept blushing about being called a nerd and he was one. He’d memorized numerous volumes, had top ranks in his top class, and regularly read ancient scriptures for fun. He owned the market on nerd.

But Rin was cackling and his tail was thumping giddily against the floor, and it was making Ryuuji blush and feel entirely embarrassed, and it was a stupid thing to be embarrassed about when he’d been called so much worse, and Rin was right. He did have an enormous book collection. (And this was only part of it.)

“Your face!” Rin cackled, falling onto his back as he over rocked, and even that just seemed to make him laugh harder.

Ryuuji shoved up to his feet, torn between leaving the room, throwing the empty soda can at Rin, or just breaking the circle. 

He didn’t quite trust Rin alone, and the can was as far away as the circle, so he stomped up to the circle, intending to break it and the connection to Rin. (Just for a little while. He’d summon him back before the hour was over. The dorm room seemed weirdly quiet now without Rin’s endless rambles, and it was good practice to try and stay focused on his recitations while Rin rambled.)

Rin’s hand flew out and covered the edge of the circle as Ryuuji drew near.

“No!” He yelped, voice still cracking on his own laugh, “I’ll stop!”

“Will not,” Ryuuji grumbled moving his hand to the other side of the circle in a mostly mock threat. 

Rin, apparently not thinking it a mock threat, shot his hand across the circle and flopped it on top of Ryuuji’s, pressing Ryuuji’s palm against the hardwood and chalk, stopping him from erasing it.

Despite being on fire, Rin’s touch wasn’t any hotter than a human’s touch. He was solid too, which probably shouldn’t be strange, but Ryuuji hadn’t really expected him to be solid.

“Come on, don’t!”

Ryuuji found himself momentarily forgetting what he’d threatened to even do. He swallowed, staring down at the hand over his and wondering how he’d been summoning Rin so many times and never actually touched him. There were calluses pressing against the back of his hands, claws poking at his skin, and Rin was squeezing, just a little. Not as much as he probably could, and not painfully so.

All Ryuuji could think was you’re real, and it seemed too stupid to possibly say, so he just stared moer than was probably polite. 

“Ryuuji?” Rin let go of his hand and tilted his head curiously. 

Ryuuji snatched his hand back and stood up to cross over to his desk chair. 

“Nothing,” he muttered, wondering why everything seemed a little different when nothing had actually changed. Rin had always been real. He was just trapped in a circle because Ryuuji had somehow managed to summon and trap him in a circle, and he couldn’t figure out which part did what yet. 

Turning to his book, he frowned at it. That suddenly seemed far more important to figure out. 

“Ryuuji?” Rin asked again, and apparently that ‘nothing’ didn’t quite take. 

“Nothing, you dork—”

“I’m not a dork!”

“—I’m just thinking about some things.” He only had a few more days before the summoning exam. He could focus on which part had Rin stuck once they passed. (Though, he wouldn’t have a reason to summon Rin after that, would he?)

“Ryuuji?”

And apparently Rin was still not buying it. Ryuuji rolled his eyes and grabbed one of the packets of gummies off his desk. He tossed it to Rin (was it just his imagination that Rin’s hair looked a bit… translucent?)

“Eat up. We got some more stuff to do.” And I still haven’t figured out how to let you sustain yourself off my energy.

Rin eyed him like he still didn’t quite buy it, but he ate the gummies anyway. His hair seemed to solidify again, and something a little guilty squirmed in Ryuuji’s gut. 

He didn’t quite want to stop summoning Rin.

— — — — —

“Tomorrow?” Rin asked, bouncing from foot to foot because he had a ludicrous amount of energy before Ryuuji had started bribing him into work with sugar and caffeine. 

“Yeah. Tomorrow.” Ryuuji went over his notes a bit nervously. “You—”

“Relax!” Rin laughed. “I know the drill. I’ll do the stuff and you’ll pass. Just don’t make your tone all bossy, ‘kay?”

“I’m not bossy! And you’re sure you got it?”

“Yeah!” Rin exclaimed, all teeth as he smiled. “Think there’ll be some kinda fight?” He bounced from foot to foot again, raising his fist like he was going to box. “Think I’ll get to show off my moves?”

Ryuuji couldn’t help a snort. “No, you dork. This isn’t some Pokémon training. All they should be looking for is if we respond to each other.”

“What?” Rin asked, dropping his hands and blushing a little.

“Pokémon? It’s a game. Never mind. They just want to see if we’ll work together. If we’ve got a good rapport.”

Rin, still looking a bit pink and purple, scrunched his nose with confusion. “Rapport?”

“If we’re able to understand each other and communicate?”

“Oh.” Rin toed awkwardly at the floor. “Okay.”

Now Ryuuji was the one feeling awkward. It seemed so strange that he had reached the point where tomorrow was it. He would summon Rin and then…

“I promise I’ll leave you alone after tomorrow, and… Thanks. For working with me.”

“Leave me alone?”

“Yeah. I’l break the circle tomorrow and… And that’ll be it. You won’t have to see me again.  

“Oh.” Rin’s smile faltered a little. “So this is it?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry you got roped into all this, and thank you for helping me anyway.” 

“Yeah,” Rin toed at the ground again. “It was… fun.”

Something in Ryuuji’s chest loosened and relaxed. Rin hadn’t really had a choice, and Ryuuji had tried to not be a jack ass, but knowing Rin had enjoyed some of the time was an enormous relief.

Ryuuji offered Rin as broad of a smile as he could, feeling like it didn’t quite sit right before he just let it drop. 

“Tomorrow.” Tomorrow and then no more Rin.

“It’s gonna go great,” Rin promised, and Ryuuji hoped it would.

— — — — —

Ryuuji made the circle as hastily as he could, not really wanting Miss Yamada to look at it too closely and figure out where the difference in his circle and the proper one were. Rin seemed tied to those changes and he didn’t quite want her to be able to summon him. Rin deserved to just be able to chill in Gehenna. (Even if that sounded awful to Ryuuji.

With the circle complete, it only took a moment to drop a few hairs and rice. (Apparently Rin couldn’t really taste the first offering. It was only once he appeared that they started to have flavor, so Ryuuji went cheap on the first.)

Rin appeared, a bit translucent, but with a less aggressive stance than he’d taken last time. 

So far so good.

Ryuuji gave him a small smile and pulled out a pack of strawberry pocky and tossed it to Rin, careful not to step through the barrier in front of his teacher. 

Rin’s eyes went a little wide before he was prying the packet open and popping one in his mouth.

“Rin, I beseech you to create a ball of fire for me.” He’d agreed to use more formal language because Rin thought it made them both sound cooler. 

Rin snapped the pocky between his fangs, swallowed it, and gave him a sharp smile. Then, raising his hand, he formed a ball of fire. 

Yes! Miss Yamada saw that Ryuuji had summoned, and that his summons could follow an instruction.

“Spells? Which spells have you two mastered?”

Mastered? They’d had two weeks. 

“Rin, please heed my prayer and grant me a fire slash.” Ryuuji bowed a little for that one. He would swallow pride to get an A. 

Rin beamed and summoned a sword of flames from his hand. Then, with a sweep of his sword in a sharp arc, he sent a flare of fire in an arc across the entire room. They weren’t hot, and did no damage.

Miss Yamada’s eyes narrowed. “Well, he certainly seems responsive this time. I suppose you’ve tamed him?”

Rin’s posture stiffened. 

“We have a contract,” Ryuuji said, confirming but not using her wording. He hadn’t tamed Rin. He was pretty sure Rin couldn’t be ‘tamed.’ Ryuuji certainly wasn’t capable of it. It was a damn blessing that he’d even gotten Rin to show up.

Rin seemed to relax a little. 

“I’m impressed, Suguro.” She said, and Ryuuji did a small victory punch in his head. 

The victory punch died after class when he was getting ready to dismiss Rin for the final time.

“You’re taking my course next semester?”

“Err…”

“Because if not, I’ll expect the details on your modified circle. This demon needs further investigation.”

Ryuuji could feel himself going pale. Further investigation? What did that mean? What was she going to do with Rin?

She nodded her head. “Yes. Very impressive. I look forward to finding out just what all we can make him do.”

Fuck.

— — — — —

“What are they going to do to me?!” Rin demanded, flaring with frightened fire. He tried to make it look intimidating, but Ryuuji recognized the wild way Rin went when scared.

“I don’t know. I gotta—stop that. I gotta think.” 

“Well think quicker!”

“It ain’t something you can just do on demand!” Ryuuji huffed and pressed his fingers against his temple, trying to ease some of the tension. 

“Well?” Rin asked after all of three seconds. 

Ryuuji inhaled slowly. “You’ve never been summoned before?”

Rin blushed purple past the flames. “No,” he muttered. “I already told ya that. You’re… It’s only happened like this.”

Rin was an unknown and unregistered demon then. Ryuuji didn’t know a lot about that, but it would mean that Rin was going to need to be tested, and the section they’d covered on testing in this class didn’t sound like a whole hell of a lot of fun.  They sounded torturous. Intense and endless and painful. There might even be testing with arias and sutras. 

It could be torture, and it would be entirely Ryuuji’s fault. He had forced himself into Rin’s life and irrevocably changed it, and…

There was really only one thing to do. Well, only one thing he could do with anything like a clear conscience. Doing anything else would be wrong. (He’d already learned Rin had favorites and liked manga and struggled with reading and bounced to rock and though Ryuuji was a nerd, and he was warm and solid when he was touched because he was entirely and frighteningly real and alive.) 

Ryuuji had summoned Rin, and in doing so, he automatically assumed responsibility of what happened next. Rin had to respond to the call. He was (annoyingly) innocent in this.

Ryuuij stood straighter and gave Rin a determined look. “Get comfortable. I gotta figure out how to get you out of that damn circle if I’m taking her class next semester.”

Rin drew back. “What?”

Ryuuji shrugged and took his seat. “I got ya into this mess. I’m not going to leave you hanging. We got a contract, right? You helped me and I help you.” He’d gotten his passing grade and got out of taking the class again. Hell, he’d passed enough to qualify for the next course.

He looked back up when he realized Rin hadn’t answered. The demon was giving him a look like he had never quite seen Ryuuji before.

“What?” Ryuuji demanded.

Rin shook his head. “Anyone ever tell you you’re cool?”

Ryuuji scowled. There was no need for Rin to make fun of him when he’d just made the sacrifice of taking another semester in a subject he hated. 

“Shut up!” 

Rin grinned goofily, looking entirely happy as his tail wagged. “Alright, Ryuuji. Whadda we do first?”

“You shut up,” Ryuuji threw a pack of rice crackers at him, hitting him square in the chest, “and eat.”

Rin did as he was told, grinning in that stupidly happy way and making a constant thump thump thump as his tail wagged and beat against the circle. 

Ryuuji really didn’t want to take this damned class, but as he spread out his notes on the circle and started to read to the sound of Rin’s ludicrously loud chomping and happy thumps, he figured there were worse things he could get stuck doing than partnering with Rin.

— — — — —

“Hey!” Rin appeared the moment Ryuuji’s blood hit the circle. He appeared so quickly that he nearly clocked Ryuuji in the nose. Ryuuji drew back with a colorful curse and promptly scowled.

“Would ya watch it?!”

Rin had never appeared like that before. It always took a lot more than blood.

Rin grinned sheepishly. “Sorry. It’s kinda hard to control the speed I come in at.” 

Ryuuji found himself immediately and annoyingly fascinated. “You can change the speed?”

Rin shrugged. “Yeah? I was dragging my feet at first. Still had to come, but I could make it take longer.” The demon paused, eyes going a bit wider when he saw the the rice in Ryuuji’s hand. “Was that for me?”

“Yes. But you don’t need it?” Had he been wasting money on that all this time? Was the blood all he needed?

No. That didn’t work. He’d summoned Rin with just blood before, but he hadn’t been strong enough to come all the way over. Why had it worked now?

Rin scooped up a mouthful of rice. “Need it?”

“To get over here.”

“Oh,” Rin stuffed more rice in his mouth despite not having swallowed the first bite. “I don’t know. I just heard ya call.” 

Ryuuji’s cheeks turned pink and he wasn’t sure why.  “Heard my call?”

Rin swallowed and stuffed twice as much rice in his mouth. “Yeah.”

Ryuuji looked down at his notes feeling strangely flustered and warm. “Oh. Okay…”

He looked back up at Rin, still blushing, and found Rin had already been looking at him with a small smile.

"Uh," he stuttered, clutching his papers a bit too tightly as Rin's smile seemed to grow. "We--books."

"Books?" Rin teased, and Ryuuji was pretty sure his ears went a bit pink to join his blushing cheeks.

"Shut up!"

Rin just laughed.

#bonrin #ao no exorcist #blue exorcist #my tumblr fics #bon x rin #ryuuji suguro #ryuji suguro #rin okumura #bon suguro #ane #aoe #aoex #bonfire #i am making up stuff about tamers and putting my own head canons in this #it's not canon to some of the stuff we know in aoex #but also #it's not like we've got a lot of info on tamers yet

[akihabaradivision]

Keiko's Thoughts on Ōta Division

Chinami Chinen

"I've heard of Chinami-san from Kira-san. Apparently, she thinks very highly of her older sister. She works as a soothsayer, or a fortune-teller. I'll admit, at first I thought she was some sort of con artist, but some of my classmates say that her fortunes are actually real! Admittedly, most of their questions revolve around things you'd hear from students, like boyfriends, girlfriends, whether they're going to pass a test, be Homecoming Queen or King, or other things of that nature. Me, if possible, I'd like to ask her just who exactly my father is and why all the adults in my life seem to hide him from me..."

Kira Chinen

"Believe it or not, I actually admire and respect Kira-san. I heard that she took over the position of Vice Chief of the Administrative Inspection Bureau after the former woman was arrested. I don't know much about what her position entails, but from what Nemu-san tells me, she basically controls much of what goes in and out of Japan, which makes her one of the most powerful women in all of Chuohku, let alone the country."

"Besides that, despite how she may act when she is off the clock, when she steps into Chuohku and dons her uniform, Kira-san is all about business. I don't know much about her save the fact that she used to serve in the army and now works as a police investigator. She's a definite step-up from Jyuto-san of Yokohama. She can be a little... demanding when it comes to making plans. She likes to be very thorough. I admire that, though I wish she would relax at times..."

Taria Chinen

"Ugh, and here we have my least favorite of this team. Unlike her older sisters, who are exactly doing things to help Japan and its people, she would prefer to spend her time performing little magic tricks and such. I'm not demeaning her or anything. I know she used to be part of a circus troupe, but you'd think she'd have something else to show for it. Plus, I've been hearing a lot about this supposed thief called, "The Misfit in Action". And this girl's MC name is "Misfit."

"I don't want to accuse her of anything, but if she is that thief everyone's been talking about, then I'd better report her to Kira-san, so she can do something about."

Birds of Prey

"A sibling team... just like Ichiro-san and his younger brothers. Unlike them though, I'm a bit perplexed as to the reasons for why they're entering. Apparently, it's because Chinami-san refused Otome-sama's offer to be her personal soothsayer. ...That's shocking, to say the least. I didn't think the Prime Minister actually believed in fortunes. But if Chinami-san's fortunes are as good as everyone makes them out to be, I can see why the Prime Minister would want access to them. I don't know why Chinami-san refused. Working for the Prime Minister should be an honor that everyone should accept. I wonder how Kira-san is taking this..."

"But regardless, facing this team will be difficult, especially if Chinami-san decides to use her fortunes to help her win. ...I wonder... is this why the Prime Minister forced her to join the D.R.B.? To see her powers up close? If so, it is incredibly wise of her. ...I just hope my friends and I aren't the first team they'll be facing..."

#hypmic #hypmic oc #hypnosis mic #hypnosis mic oc #hypnosis microphone #keiko yumi #ota division #birds of prey #chinami chinen #kira chinen #taria chinen

[kafkaoftherubble]

@pieadvisor

Are you asking, "Lyndis, what the hell is this?"

Are you wondering, "Lyndis, what the hell is this?"

Are you thinking, "Lyndis, is this dangerous?"

Well—

You must play This Track first before unlocking Read More for The Lore.

MERRY BIRTHDAY, π !!!

Happy Christmas!!!

Hee hee! In Chinese, what I did up there would have qualified as an instance of 献丑. It means "embarrassing yourself willingly." You'll have to pardon me; not only am I no writer, I'm also no singer!

So why did I do this when a simple Happy Birthday will do, you ask?

Because, just like my rambling, I'm extra as fuck Well, I had used this exact birthday audio only once before you, and that was for my Best Friend.

She did her own version of Happy Birthday one year, which was quite the show-off of her because she has a mellifluous voice and quite the gift for music. Meanwhile, Lyndis over here is _____ (fill in the blank yourself hhahahahah).

However! (oh, where is the BGM) Determined to uphold the principle of Equivalent Exchange, I cobbled my own version of the song as a return gift. I was supposed to make it sound, ya know, 1940s-ish. I adore music from that era (I know, I know. I'm not washing away my Granny Allegation now, aren't I?), so I tried to fashion it after that era.

Yea, underline-bold-italic "tried." You are welcome to decide how, er, "successful" I did.

I thought using it only once for one person was a waste. So, I decided to use it again.

How did I create this mustardpeas, you ask?

Well, it's not through sophisticated sound engineering or incredibly useful apps, that's for sure. Nor was it through intricate singing techniques, though every sound in there was me.

The method was actually as primitive as having two recording devices. I sang one part of the song while recording it on Constantine, the phone. Then I played it back while singing a new layer over it while recording it on Zelda, the tablet. Then I played that back and sang another layer while recording with Constantine, the phone, again.

I think there were 4 layers in this in total. If you hear a 5th layer, please write a painstaking observation report for me including the kind of voice, what they are saying, et al. A ghost eluding me? Smartass.

Obviously, the earliest layer would become rather degraded as you kept re-re-re-record it—scratchy, just like them old records. So it was still part of my keikaku!

No, seriously. It's a tad bit of effort, right?

Well, yesn't. Because, again, it was originally done for Best Friend. So technically, I didn't have to make any extra effort other than what I already did last time. I guess this letter is the aforementioned effort, though. Since I wrote this in the wee hours of the morning after I finished my work for the week!

But I suppose I would like someone to be happy on their birthday?

Sometimes, a bit of upsetting things could happen on your day, and because it's your day, it could wear you down a bit more than usual through the fault of dopamine crash (heightened due to expectations).

So I thought, in case that happened, I hope my 1940s-inspired (apparently) Birthday Song By My Mediocre Singing Ass could bring a wee bit of cheer through sheer surprise or something like that. Salvage some of that dopamine, you know? I can only do this trick once!

And should the case not happen, and you had a great day every step of the way today, then it would still be nice to have this lil' shit be one of the reasons your birthday's a good one, innit?

I see this as a win no matter what way the day goes. Gee, I'm truly a brilliant schemer! I accounted for everything!

So yea. Happy birthday! I sure hope it's a rising trajectory from here on out. I mean, 'course, it ain't gonna be swell all the time. Life's a bitch. A fucking bitch ass motherfucker sometimes, even. What I mean is that if you pull it out of the moment and plot it on a cartesian plane, I hope your graph is ultimately going upward.

See ya around! Merry Christmas on your way out!

——Yours Truly, Lyndis

P.S. You may also wonder why this is a post instead of an Ask. That's because I've been away from Atom, the Laptop, for these few days. I only signed into Tumblr through this laptop (to avoid mindless scrolling instead of reading and studying shits that can actually satisfy my Brain's hunger, which can happen if I signed in through more convenient devices like Zelda the tablet). I need to schedule this for the day itself, right? This is also why, should you send me letters or replies in this window of time, I have offered zero feedback. But again, I'm likely ghost-reading your blog every now and then... now that's me returning to my roots, heh.

#a piece to the rubble #if you're a friend in my physical vicinity you'll actually get a PAPER letter #yea. letter written in paper! I'm a granny after all WHO SAID THAT #π-ting!

[elie-draloup]

Lists of my theories and thoughts during my lost future playthrough (maybe not in the right order because my files are a mess and also this is way too long).

Spoilers for the first three games and also for the movie Patema Inverted :

- Hmm, ok no I'm not buying this, this can't be future London. It's never curses, it's never vampires, so it can't be the future. But then...What is it ? Can't be hallucinogenic gas, they've done it already. Maybe a massive underground thing like in Patema with a fake sky and fake stars and everything but that seems far-fetched. Like, in Patema they had hundreds of years to build the whole thing so yeah no too much work. WAIT WAIT WAIT I KNOW. What if it's actually MIRROR LONDON ?! Like, some rich guy built an entire district and hid it behind the horlogy wich can probably rotate on itself. That would explain why the ground is shaking when the "time machine" operates. And they tell us to take the subway, so I guess we can't access much more without it, probably because even the richest guy can't hide that much of an entire district in such a big city so had to built the rest somewhere else. Now why even bother building a mirror London... I don't know. And who are the people who lives here ? Actors ? Robots ? Massively mentally manipulated people ? And why does it look like a post apocalyptic thing ? Maybe it was a part of London where they accidentally threw a toxic bomb or something and now the place looks miserable and that's why whoever the antagonist of this opus will be managed to buy it, because London didn't want it anyway. And Maybe the politic guy who died at the beginning was actually murdered because he knew too much (like, hey, you sold me this abandoned part of London, thanks, now you may die or Layton will find everything out after asking you two questions). No wait the scientist guy died too. I've only started the game and there's two dead guys already what the heck.

-That kid with the tiny eyes is DEFINITELY a robot.

-I can't believe the Professor actually decided to just go with it. If I'm right and it's not future London but mirror London, then there's no future Luke and someone is trying to trick them. The Professor proved himself able to make an awful lot of enemies based on misunderstandings (and whatever Don Paolo has going on), so I wouldn't be surprised if we met someone who hates him or something for some mysterious reasons. I don't know where this is going exactly but apparently there's the mafia and honestly the only thing I can think of right now is Layton having troubles with Team Rocket and I want a pokemon crossover now.

-list of questions : Who sent us the letter ? What the heck is this place exactly ? Is there a tiny chance that we're really in the future ? (Won't believe it until I've seen future Luke) ? How does this relate to the incident with the time machine presentation? Are the watchmakers involved in this ? They have to. But who are they and why would they take part in this ? What even is this ?

-FUTURE LUKE IS REAL, AND WE HAVE EVIL FUTURE LAYTON I'M HYPED.

-Ok so why and how Layton could have turn evil ? Well, it's defenitely related to the woman in the flashback. Who is very probably supposed to be dead (I mean common, the Professor was literally shaking when he saw her in the street. That's the reaction of someone who have just seen a ghost.) Love+grief+obsessive behavior+no therapy = polite and evil mafia boss trying to change time to save a loved one. It could happen to anyone, honestly, as long as you're under circumstances that blurrs your sens of reality (feelings can do that).

But then, if the lady is supposed to be dead, who was the person we met in the street ? And why is she here ? Maybe we have a Katia thing going on, and it's, in fact, his hidden daughter or something? I'm getting more and more confused about the timeline, but if they've met in their twenties, and if Layton is in its 40-something, it could track (Layton strikes me more as a 35-ish man but he has dots as eyes so it's kinda tricky to tell. I don't remember if he ever told his age in the two previous games.)

Anyway, whoever is the woman we actually met in the streets, this whole "Layton becomes evil" thing is probably related to the woman he seemed to be in love with in the flashback. Maybe he saw the presentation, and his brain went " Hey I could cheat grief with this" and decided to use time travel as a way to save his first love from whatever tragedy has (very probably because come on what else could it be )killed her. The more he worked on it, the more he became desperate, and despair slowly made him fall into madness. Love has the weird power to turn people into monsters when on an unhealthy level and nobody, not even Hershel Layton can be 100% sure they'll never get trapped in the spiral of pain and destruction that ensue. Basically Anakin Skywalker. (And then we can have Layton telling his future-self "this is not what love looks like" because that line from Centaurworld is cool and would fit so damn well in this scenario)

Now... the implications of this : Him deceiving Luke, our boy spent 10 years spying and scheming against the Family apparently (I want a swordfight between future Luke and future Layton now because come on it would be cool. Layton can't risk fighting himself after all. It could be so damn cool. Imagine evil Layton ending up threatening to hurt our Luke so future Luke can't fight back but future Layton take a weirdly long time to actually harm Luke (because he can't) then our Layton makes a long reveal speech about whatever the heck this plot is hiding, and reminds his future self that he loves his apprentice *cough*son*cough* too, and he loves London too, and none of them should pay the price of his grief and boom problem solved. With some trauma but still. Swordfight. )

Also Flora probably flew away to her hometown OR is either held captive by/actively working with future Layton. I want to see Flora more in this game so I'm hoping for one of the later.

- Wait, Luke has parents ?! Well... there dies my found family headcanons. I thought he was a stray kid sleeping in the university's library or something.

-Sooo... Future Luke is getting waaaay too suspicious. Everything seems too... easy. Like we went to China Town. A supposedly very dangerous place. And just went back without much trouble. I don't know... I think Future Luke is definitely lying to us. 100% he never really left Layton's side and is actually working for him. Maybe he's the one who's going to realise the craziness of all of this and switch side in the climax ? But yeah, for now... He's definitely working against us. Maybe that's why he seems to still hold our professor in great esteem despite what he'll become : He followed his mentor in the dark side.

-Excuse my language professor, but breaking a promise you've just made to a teen you swore to take care of with a known past of abandonment and loneliness issues is a fucking bullshit move. Flora deserves better, come on.

-YES FLORA YOU GO GIRL. And Chemley and Barton too, triple win !

- SOOOOOoooo, turns out there's no future Layton, it was Dimitri all along ! The dead scientist guy who is in fact not dead (and Bill isn't dead either, he's just an hostage) And also Don Paulo is there, and actually he's named Paul, and has a backstory know

(and wants to protect Flora for some reasons ? Where does this come from ?). I'm starting to doubt this whole "time travel" thing... since I've known that future Layton was actually Dimitri.

Besides Luke, the two other people we saw as "aged up" were actually Paul in disguise. So in fact... Luke is the only aged up person we've met. And it seems... rather strange ? Why haven't we crossed path with at least one person we would have known from our time ? It's... Yeah. Future Luke is definitely hiding something. Maybe he's not even from the future. Perhaps he's not even Luke. However... Everyone here lives as if they were real people living here, they seem real.

They already did the robots thing, the illusion thing, so it can't be that. What if this place exists in our time after all. I'm back on the mirror London theory because honestly I can't think of anything else and after the Dimitri and Don Paolo reveal it's definitely not time travel.

Oh wait wait. Remember the bunny ? Number 3 ? He said that one of experiments consisted of "transferring " him in a different room. So there's also the possibility that its not time travel, but teleportation.

.... Nah, it doesn't make sense. The dragon tower had a secret exit. Who need to build an emergency exit when you have teleportation technology. Definitely Mirror London.

But what about the whole "saving Claire" thing then ? Well... Just because time travel doesn't exist yet doesn't mean that Dimitri can't be working on it.

Anyway... I'm starting to wonder who "Future Luke " really is. He do look like an older version of Luke... But this game taught me to be wary of conclusions when the only proof is a face. In a world where a thirty-ish guy can disguise himself as a convincing late-teen girl, faces lie.

But wether he's Luke or not... What does he want ? For someone who seemed to have spent years trying to stop his mentor, in an attempt to get his friend back and change the course of time, he's weirdly unfazed when Dimitri reveals that he has been a fraud the whole time. Future Luke should have shown more concern like"but then what happened to my mentor ?". And yet... he didn't. Who the heck is he.

-Not mirror London, but underground London. Come on, I was close. At least I got that the time travel was bullshit.

-Haven't seen the mass murder terrorist thing coming though.

#professor layton unwound future #professor layton #lost future #random thoughts #theories #text #long text #original trilogy spoilers #These are just my messy notes from when I was playing the game #probably full of english nonsense sorry about that

[kiss-my-thighs-darling]

grocery store wormhole

There's nothing particularly interesting about Reid Cavan aside from the fact that he can't die and that his family is awfully rich. Aside from that, the guy is pretty much laid back and casually optimistic which Faro yet again considers incomprehensible. He took one long drag from his cigarette, downed the last of his coffee and exited through the kitchen door with Reid tailing him. 

Faro was certain he heard Reid gasp, confused that the door opened to a half empty parking lot rather than the manicured vegetable garden back at the Lighthouse. It was one of Faro's many talents, bending and looping reality, using doors to move through space, time and those grainy parts beyond the margins of existence. He dropped the last of his cigarette and stepped on it without thought. For an entity with the world's end at his fingertips, Faro was perpetually bored.

Reid composed himself from Faro's recent trick and blinked at the low yet large building before them. At least they were still in Cebu and thankfully in a place he recognized. It was one of those grocery store his mother goes to and often he comes with. 

Yet something about the place seemed not entirely right, a discrepancy he couldn't point his finger to. He followed Faro into the store and waited for their trip to make sense. 

It was a typical weekday morning. Right about the hour when the store has just opened and there hasn't been that many customers scanning aisle after aisle. Reid followed closely after Faro who broodingly grabbed a large pushcart and loaded it with merchandise. Somehow, Reid observed, Faro's mood deflates if he's without a drink at hand. 

"Every second and fourth Wednesday of the month I go here for groceries." Faro started.

"Right." nodded Reid, hiding his confusion. Today was supposed to be a work or field orientation day, show how they go about their everyday task right? Why groceries?

"So, what did you noticed?"

"Huh?"

Faro leaned on the cart and paused by an aisle with an array of detergent brands. For such a long time, he never met a Cavan who has poor observation skills. Or was poorly performing at anything at all. He scratched the stubble on his chin. "Everything. What do you noticed about your environment?"

Reid paused thoughtfully. "Nothing much, although everything seems hazy along the edges and some of the brands here are like in its old designs. You get what I mean?"

If Faro could role his eyes he would have done it but he doesn't have his sister's sass, "That's half right, you should have Rhys check your eyes. But those aren't old designs, it's current by perspective--technically, we travelled and went back about fifteen years from our timeline."

Reid blinked. 

Of course time travel exist to these guys. How come not? 

Still it was a difficult concept to accept despite how Reid had already lived in a world where excess human emotions take up space and shape forming into harmful phantoms. Did Faro really solved space-time? Can this guy even recite the Pythagorean theorem? Much more detail the elusive equation of string theory?

"How?"  Reid asked as if he has been begging for food after a year of starvation, the physics-loving side of him threatening to kneel in this half crowded grocery store for the answers to time.

Faro frowned at him, "Not how but why. I come here in this year because it's the only time where they sold this Mongo Ice Cream." he replied pointing at the stack of five 1.5 liter mongo flavored Selecto Ice Cream in the cart. "Oh and also, I haven't solve the anomaly in aisle thirteen." he pointed. "Brought Seth here one time, but apparently wormholes aren't his expertise. Yeah sure he can jump into different realities and all, but I forgot the part that it is an involuntary action. Like sneezing or coughing. 'Dude bro, I'm a victim of the Universe not a scientist, bro' Disappointing. I guess I have to be the one solving every fucking mystery in this whole goddamn universe, then."

"There's a wormhole."

"Yeah."

"In this store?"

"Indeed."

Reid felt his shoulder slag. How is that even possible? He left Faro where the guy stood complaining and headed down to aisle thirteen without premonition. 

Mind empty. 

There's a sphere floating in the middle of the aisle.

Wormholes are puncture wounds in the fabric of space time. Get a paper. Fold it then pierce a hole through it. If you spread it flat again, there are now two holes apart each other. That's the purpose of a wormhole, they connect two spaces across by folding the fabric of space. What appears as a flat hollow circle on the surface of a two-dimensional object would, of course, logically appear as a sphere in a three-dimensional realm. Reid was losing his shit.

"What. You haven't seen a sphere before?" Faro chuckled behind him.

"What's on the other side?"

Faro shrugged. "The past. It's always a different one each time I get through. But it's always the ones when I killed my sister."

Reid turned to him, mortified.

"Don't be confused, I've killed my sister multiple times thus when I pass, there's a different scenario."

Whatever, Reid thought to himself, it's best not to take seriously anything Faro says.  He's that lad who's sober when drunk.

Without as much as a warning, Reid stepped into the wormhole, his body morphed into a blur along with the sphere before disappearing. Faro remained where he stood, overall indifferent, leaning casually against the push cart while his mind drifts to the next concern. However, the thought of his sister lingered, how he almost forgot to grab her some napkins. 

He should head home after, Reid wont be back for days.

***

They were standing at the top of the Phylon II tower, looking downwards to the midnight stillness of Cebu. It's been a long night, however this wont be the last task in the list. There seems to be a never ending list of things to do. There's always work to be executed. All day and all night.

Some remnants of the Pacific breath course through the port, kissing chills on his bare skin. Reid tucked his hands in to the pocket of his jeans and quietly pondered about that jacket he left in the car, foolishly thinking his long sleeves would suffice.  He miscalculated his sensitivity to the cold. His brother however, seemed to be doing fine with his overcoat, an unusual garment against the tropical Philippine climate, but it was efficient enough to provide heat. Somehow, to their father's curiosity, both brothers aren't oriented to low temperatures.

A lone car coursed through the nearby parts of SRP, catching Reid's attention momentarily. To no one in particular, he said, "This is the part I hate the most."

Rune turned and carefully observed his younger brother against the blinking red light of the tower. What Reid lacked in character he made up with his features; against the dim, his face merely lit by the milky shine of the moon and the harsh red emergency lights, he looked oddly like their father. 

Reid continued, "I hate waiting. The absence of action, the boredom extending the minutes, the apprehension mixed with the anticipation of the arrival. I hate the thoughts that swim in my head the most." 

A faint smile curved on Rune's lips, surprise at the agony of his usually complacent optimistic nihilist of a brother. He can confirm it's an agony, for Reid rarely speaks unless he is asked, the complaint in itself is evident enough. "It seems to me that you're problem mostly concerns with yourself."

Reid frowned but said nothing. 

Tonight's task was to intercept a cargo vessel heading down to the port coming from Mindanao. Board on it (via controlled drop from CCLEX 's Phylon) before it arrives to the pier. Once they're safely on board, next step is to make a routine check on the cargo and the rest of the ship. Security on family business normally falls on the appropriate authorities but this one ship is special since it was captained by their father's old teammate, one of the best men in his time and yet, about two hours ago, he sent an emergency signal to a nearby fishing port south of  Cebu before going radio silent for the remainder of the journey.

The ship was finally close just a couple of meters before they jump. Rune squared his shoulders as he stood by the baluster and watch wordlessly each step his brother takes before jumping. It's a fine night embracing Cebu yet his guts turn in that almost spiritual way of knowing. The moon was almost a full circle image against the black starry sky, Reid jumped first and as Rune watches his brother land clumsily on deck, he felt the first stirrings of something not right. 

Then he jumped.

His landing was safely executed, rolling by his shoulders to distribute inertia. Upon his arrival he can see a couple of stowaways, those typical low-grade phantoms that are indigent in the country and as prevalent as a stray cat, not the kind to put trouble on an experienced Hunter such as Captain Amorsolo. 

"Check the quarters below, I'll take the bridge; meet me by the main mast after five minutes," he said to Reid to which his brother followed without question.

Not the strangest thing but one that is abnormal nonetheless, but Rune couldn't see anyone around. The bridge, the accommodation--empty. There's no one else here other than the both of them.

He climbed up to the Mast and waited for Reid, it's roughly three minutes since they boarded. From up here, Rune noticed the phantoms forming a circle on one of the large metal containers. Every stowaway congregated on it, as if called to for feeding. When Reid arrived, Rune pointed the group to him. "What do you think about it?"

"I've never seen them act like that before. Should we check it?"

"Definitely."

The phantoms didn't even scattered away when they approached, it appears as if whatever was inside that container  was more important than self-preservation. The container was those standard size with temp control on one end. This one is no doubt new judging by the pristine red paint on its exterior. It has a hatch on top of it, which makes it convenient to check although hatches like this aren't typical. Rune pulled out his platinum cutting and morphed it into the shape of the locks interior opening it without sweat. Cavans are a powerhouse in both Shaman and Corporate world. The gods favorite, it would seem, as they were gifted with the talent to control the elements. In a family of prodigy there stood out a couple of geniuses like Rune and their father, the few men who can control platinum and mercury.

As he opened the hatch, Rune felt a sort of confirmation to the dread he felt earlier. In the darkness, although unseen, stood a presence waiting. He stopped Reid before jumping "Age before beauty" he said. Call it paranoia and maybe it is, but one can never be too careful.

He landed not on metal but on concrete and as he felt Reid jumped and stood near him, the sound of a switch could be heard, and the lights went on to reveal a spacious white-painted office. 

At the other end of the room was an aquarium containing a smiling fish, an orange koi with human teeth. Standing next to it is a man in a pressed black suit wearing a furry mascot head of a rabbit. "Hello." spoke the fish.

"We are momentarily hid from the Balancer's eye, but not long enough for a proper introduction. And so, may I leave you with this" Spoke the one with the rabbit's head as he then turns to Reid "Ra, you once told me how you prefer to keep your friends close and the devil closer, well... I am at your door now."

Rune couldn't catch up, the next thing he knew was that the Bunnyman was only inches away from Reid in just a blink of the eye. He drew and his platinum and reshaped it into a bolo, but it just wasn't fast enough. As the bolo formed, the Bunnyman pressed his hand into Reid's chest, whispered something, before Reid's body exploded into an ugly mess of blood, viscera and minced flesh, painting the white room, red.

Only then did the bolo made contact with the Bunnyman's neck, cutting off the head covered with that stupid mascot. 

Not fast enough.

Not fast enough.

Not fast enough.

Not fast enough.

Not fast enough.

The headless man then pick his head and applied it back to where it was cut. "Impressive Master Cavan. As always, men from your family never fail to display ideal human strength. I have high regards for your clan and will not deprive it of its heir therefore I wont kill you. It was a pleasure, goodnight and have some rest, I will soon be hunting you all down."

***

"Sex is overrated" was printed on Faro's shirt when he walked into aisle thirteen barefooted, hand-carrying a basket full of Mongo ice cream and beer. "How was it?"

"I need some--" was what Reid could muster before he vomited into the aisle. Body swinging, his mind still flashing images of his blenderized version painting the walls red. "air."

"Okay just let me cash these real quick then we'll head back to the Lighthouse."

The waves were crashing violently against the cliffs, the clouds were an overcast, the weather was cold without the rain. 

"How. How is that a wormhole? Time. Time in this dimension moves forward not backwards. Why did it brought me to the past?"

Faro shrugged, lighted a cigarette before saying "I don't know, man. That wormhole's not supposed to be there anyway. What was it you saw?"

"How I died."

"Sucks."

"This guy with a rabbit mask turned me into a supernova."

Faro's brow furrowed. "A man with a rabbit mask, you say."

"Yeah and there's this big goldfish who can talk."

"A man in a furry mascot head of a rabbit, about ten feet tall, wears a suit and has a condescending attitude of a million peso butler?"

Reid paused, "How did you know."

"Yeah that guy's an asshole."

#cebu stories #lighthouse #tiny gods #hi hello #hope you don't mind me posting part 1 of my stupid story about stupid tiny gods in the philippine setting #short story #fucked up werid #weird #time #loopholes #Youtube #liminal space #the backrooms

[spongebobafettywap]

i'm happy to see more people criticizing the new version of nightcrawler's origins

i try to see both sides of the topic but the other one to this always and mostly brings up how great it is because "mystique and destiny dunk on azazel as the great couple they are"... not sure if you've seen it too ? for my part, i find that reason to be completely blindsided and untrue after this story cuz (in a shocking and annoying turn of event) it's quite the opposite. like hear me out

this story wants us to believe azazel is stronger than what ? apocalypse ? exodus ? phoenix ? doctor strange ? the scarlet witch ? franklin richards ? any reality bending mutant ? doctor effing doom ? that none of them could have put a stop to his plans if he were to take over ? because apparently only nightcrawler can do that (you know if he survived long enough until then). so the writer accidentally upped azazel's game a lot

also, even with her new gene-manipulation powers, mystique managed to remove none of the awful properties most of azazel's children had (soul tie to him, easy to mind control, ...) from kurt (he had all of them) even tho she only "imprinted azazel's dna" and kurt was supposed to be made to "trick azazel and counteract his plans". so azazel's imprint is apparently impossible to remove with her very advanced powers which... means something

moreover, ... mystique and destiny are using part of that guy's very genes for their dream child together after pulling the most complicated move ever on him, during all of which (being unaware of this) he still got to have the most fun in his life and a very good time, while they ended up with the murder charges, the secrecy, the stress, the overly complicated scheming, the complications, ... how is this dunking on azazel when he's the only one who got a w in this part of the new origins. he's literally the only one who didn't die or face immense betrayal and heartbreak in that 9 months period

another thing, mystique and destiny wanted to put an end to azazel's plans because "they wouldn't have been together anymore in that world due to his actions" but destiny dies years before any of azazel's plans come to fruition... always. and it's either because she got too old or the shadow king did his thing... also azazel's plans required a very specific thing to work which seems to have been the aspect this writer misunderstood most when making his oneshot (and believe me as a mid-wife, there was a hell lot of stuff this guy doesn't understand just by looking at the panels he approved) and that would be...

the vision destiny has of azazel taking over if nightcrawler didn't exist (the reason why they had to have kurt at all). cuz that's straight up false. the only reason azazel managed to break out of the brimstone dimension and be on his way to do his thing (and get to heaven that one time) is because nightcrawler exists : he needed a biological child of his with his teleportation powers to do any of these stuff. he needed someone who was specifically tied to the brimstone dimension he was sealed in like he was to be able to break out. he tried many many times but none of his biological kids ended up with them. nightcrawler was the only exception. to ever exist. all because of the person he had him with. if nightcrawler didn't exist, azazel would have remained trapped and he wouldn't be able to take over at all. so mystique and destiny having nightcrawler literally got things moving for his plan and would have made that future more plausible than ever. same with the taking over heaven bit and any other thing he'd do on earth when he stuck there for good after kurt anchored him to it

then there's mystique and destiny wanting nightcrawler to be the very being that would put a stop to azazel "time and time again". judging by how big of a threat they made the guy out to be and how recurring he was in his attacks in the future destiny saw in her vision, you'd think azazel and nightcrawler face off on a daily... when azazel fought against nightcrawler a total of two times. one back when nightcrawler was alive and one after he died... that's it. okay okay let's be nice, they faced against each other three times. i keep forgetting about that very important street brawl mystique unleashed (you have no idea how long it took for me to write this part cuz i couldn't top laughing). but fr, nightcrawler faced against mystique and destiny more times and busted more of their important plans than he ever did for azazel.

and finally, this comic showed us the most abusive thing destiny ever pulled on mystique ever (like hands down it tops all the things azazel ever did to her by a long shot because it took all that and made it 100 times worse) and all of it, with all the stuff I highlighted, was for nothing. it meant nothing. it served nothing to them and made everything worse with all things considered. their couple went from okay to the most abusive thing ever to the point where i personally feel uncomfortable rooting for them when together and want them as far away from each other as possible. all the previous stuff we've seen them do together are weighted down by this piece of information and downright cringe. the writer and fans use the love argument on why mystique acts like nothing is wrong at all but that doesn't cut it at all. mystique reads like less of the absolute loud beast she is and more like a victim in serious denial

that anon is right in saying this new origin story reads like a comedy. the more you know of what previously went down and how the lore went, the funnier it gets

Wait... people see this as Mystique and Destiny dunking on Azazel? What by mixing their genes with his and having his child that he has a soul link to and is able to manipulate? What exactly did Nighrcrawler do to Azazel that doesn't amount to just delaying him in the long run.

Wow people really will just read what they want to read huh? Honestly the other thing about this just makes me think about how inconsistently written Mystique and Destiny are, are they well intentioned extremists? Or Ruthless Supervillains? Because this origin story makes little sense as it is trying to use both characterisations. So they want Nightcrawler to be around to defeat Azazel okay thats the well intentioned extremist part but then they don't think about raising him to be the one to defeat him? But then that's excused by "They're Supervillains!" but at that point why do they care if Azazel does what he does, not like they really gave all that much of a shit any other time a world ending Mutant Supervillain did their thing. Unless you know as you said apparently Azazel is now the ultimate X-men Supervillain and he's so powerful and such a threat that even evil people like Mystique and Destiny want to stop him. Also quick question, wasn't it Abyss and Kiwi Black he also had a strong link to?

Also a male writer being unfamiliar with female biology is par for the course in Marvel comics LOL.

This retcon story is so confusing, and hilarious I can't believe people are really saying with a straight face that THIS is the origin that they prefer and how it should have been for Nightcrawler just seriously amazing levels of cope right there. I'm still laughing about how this story has now made Azazel even more powerful and by extension Nightcrawler too! Literally no one can stop them but each other apparently?

Well you know they will have all important Street Brawls as part of the next Marvel Crossover event I'm sure. Marvel: Secret Street Brawls.

#Maz answers #Nightcrawler #Azazel