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spacedancer1701 · 4 years

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On Borrowed Time a Star Trek fic (Chapters 11 - 20)

Fandoms: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS), Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (AOS) Pairing: McCoy x Original Female Character (Dr. Jennifer Hope) Characters: The Crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) Rating/Warnings: None Tags: Friendship, Romance, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Mild H/C, Caring/Protective/Tender/Comforting/Happy/Grumpy McCoy Word Count: This is a long one 😄 (61 chapters - 120k)

Read it on AO3: On Borrowed Time

Chapter 11

The next day, after Hope had told him the name of the ensign she’d been so concerned about, and he’d again promised to take care of the matter, McCoy was happy to see her flitting about sickbay, back to her happy self.

And once again, he had the opportunity to admire her way with people, when two of his obviously bored patients started a noisy argument about something or other, and Hope managed to restore harmony in sickbay in less than five minutes.

Hearing the commotion, he’d come running out of his office, only to see Hope already standing between the two beds, hands on hips, like a displeased mother. In her cheerfully bossy way, she insisted on them communicating civilly, made them find something they had in common and eventually let them both come out of the argument as winners.

Watching the two men, both tall and burly security guards, hang their heads in shame and obediently do as they were told, was a sight to behold. And after making sure that everything was quiet again and Hope had it all under control, he quickly returned to his desk, closing the door behind him and letting out a loud guffaw.

How many trained psychologists could never achieve what Hope accomplished with sheer intuition? he wondered fondly.

No wonder, she was so successfully involved in the intuitive enhancement of the universal translator, whatever that was exactly.

Hope and Uhura had tried to explain it to him several times, and he could certainly appreciate its usefulness, especially when encountering new species whose language might not even be based on actual words. But he just didn’t see how it could work.

They’d compared it to him knowing what was wrong with his patients before they even said a word, just by observing them, reading their faces, their body language, and so on. And when he’d pointed out that he’d had years of experience to get there, Uhura had immediately refuted that by reminding him how many aliens he’d already helped, even though he hadn’t had the first idea about them.

That, admittedly, was true. He’d surprised himself more than once in that regard. But at the end of the day, the universal translator was still a machine. And in his book, that just didn’t go together with intuition or empathy.

Cobbler, stick to your last, he thought contemplatively, and safely leave the universal translator and its further development to the experts.

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

Towards the end of Alpha shift, there was a lull in the constant stream of people coming to sickbay for more or less urgent medical attention, and McCoy, Chapel and Hope sat around the doctor’s desk, nibbling on some delicious biscuits a grateful patient had left them earlier.

“How can you be so happy all the time?” Chapel wanted to know, looking enquiringly at Hope. “You are so balanced and well-adjusted. And so full of energy. I’m jealous! What’s your secret?”

Hope laughed and took a moment to think about it, while McCoy gazed at her with interest, often having wondered the same thing.

“I do a lot of yoga,” she finally explained. “A little every day. Breathing exercises, too. But basically, I think, it’s a matter of attitude. I want to be happy, so I am!”

“Just like that, huh? So easy,” Chapel scoffed, clearly not satisfied with Hope’s explanation.

“Well, what else can I say, Christine?” Hope chuckled, shrugging helplessly at McCoy. “I try to appreciate the good things in life. There are plenty, at least in mine, and they clearly outweigh the less pleasant ones. Besides, dwelling on the bad stuff helps no one. Least of all me. I don’t want anything to spoil the happiness in my life.”

“But don’t you ever get annoyed or upset or anything?” Christine questioned.

“Of course, I do!” Hope laughed. “I’m not a saint! But I try to deal with it as quickly as possible and then just let it go. I believe in the law of attraction. You attract what you send out into the universe. If you expect bad things to happen, they eventually will. So, I endeavour to keep my thinking positive, and it usually works. It’s all about good vibrations!”

Nurse Chapel seemed impressed, and even though McCoy was not really inclined towards the esoteric or supernatural, he respected Hope’s belief and even gave it some thought. The way she explained it didn’t lack a certain logic. But real or not, it certainly seemed to work for her, and that was all that really mattered.

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

That evening, long after his shift had officially ended and there was still no end of dealing with all the bureaucratic stuff in sight, McCoy had developed an annoying headache. He was rubbing his temples and just about to take a painkiller out of his desk drawer, when Hope stopped him.

“Don’t! There’s no need for drugs, Doctor! I can help you with a tension headache.”

“You can?” McCoy spun around, surprised that she was still there. “How? Are you going to kiss it better?” he asked wryly, immediately regretting his cheek when he saw her blush furiously.

But then again, he rather liked the way she blushed over silly little comments like this. It was adorable, how she couldn’t help it, even though she knew he was just teasing her.

“Not quite what I had in mind, Doctor, but I can always give it a try, if you’d prefer that method,” she quipped, smiling sweetly at him.

“You spend too much time with Spock,” McCoy grumbled. “You already sound just like him.”

But secretly, he was impressed. She was learning to give as good as she got. He liked that. Just as he liked her sense of humour in general. She was great fun to be with. She was great – full stop.

But before he could get carried away by the image of this lovely girl kissing away his headache, he put on a more serious face again and asked her what she’d really had in mind. His headache had almost vanished already, simply by her soothing presence, but the physician in him was curious as to what she was suggesting instead of ‘drugs’, as she’d called it.

“Lean back, close your eyes and relax,” she ordered.

Now it was his turn to glance at her warily, which she acknowledged with a satisfied grin.

“No kissing, Doctor, I promise,” she giggled, a warm and cheerful sound that delighted McCoy every time he heard it.

Then, thinking that the no-kissing promise was almost a shame, he leaned back in his chair and relaxed.

Hope stood behind him and touched gentle hands to his temples, cool fingers massaging in circular motion. And even though he’d already been feeling much better before, he could now feel all the tension ebbing away. He relaxed completely into her tender touch and felt invigorating energy flooding him. It was an immensely pleasant feeling, as if all her kindness and positivity was pouring into him, relieving him of any pain he might have been feeling. The sensation was so strong that, for a fleeting moment, he was afraid he was somehow draining her.

An involuntary sigh of contentment and wellbeing escaped him as he opened his eyes again. And when Hope took away her hands, smiling enquiringly at him, he was relieved to see that she was her usual energetic self and didn’t seem drained at all.

“Unbelievable,” he blinked, shaking his head in amazement, “It’s completely gone! That’s amazing! Where did you learn that?”

“It’s …” she hesitated slightly, a faint shadow crossing her face, gone again so quickly that he might have imagined it, “just something a friend taught me. I’m glad it worked.”

“You can work your magic on me again anytime, my dear!” McCoy smiled at her gratefully, hoping that she would, since he had enjoyed the connection very much.

“If your headaches are a regular thing, maybe you should go to the gym to loosen up more often?” Hope suggested.

“You might have a point there, young lady,” the doctor conceded. “With all that’s been going on in sickbay lately, I haven’t made much time for exercise.”

“I’m headed to the gym right now! Why not come with me? Otherwise you’ll just put it off again,” she smiled at him encouragingly.

How could I resist such a charming invitation? he thought, revelling in a feeling of lightheartedness brought on by her beaming smile, then nodded, turned off his computer, and followed her out of sickbay.

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

A few minutes later, McCoy joined her in the gym, where she was already doing some yoga exercises with a group of people. As always, she looked gorgeous in her gym suit, and with the touch of her gentle fingers still fresh in his mind, it took the doctor some effort to keep his thoughts on the straight and narrow.

His own not entirely platonic feelings, however, were completely forgotten the moment he overheard two young lieutenants from the biochemical lab shamelessly discuss Hope’s hot outfit. Outraged, McCoy swung around and glared at the two men who, unfortunately, couldn’t take a hint.

“Have some respect, you louts!” he bellowed, attracting the attention of the whole gym.

The two men looked at him, perplexed, but turned around and swiftly left anyway. Even though they hadn’t known the doctor to mind a little man talk up to now, they knew better than to cross their superior over something so trivial.

McCoy exhaled deeply in an attempt to regain his composure and turned back towards the yoga group. Hope shot him a questioning glance, but when he smilingly shook his head and raised his hand in an everything’s-just-dandy gesture, she quickly went back to focussing on her yoga.

Yoga, however, was not for him, he decided after he’d watched her a little longer. The way she moved and twisted around on the mat, he just couldn’t believe how flexible the human body was. Not to speak of her impressive ability to keep her balance, taking the most strangely tangled postures without as much as a wobble. No wonder, she was so balanced in her personality, too.

Remembering that he’d actually come here for some workout, he finally tore his eyes away from Hope and her yoga group, and made for the nearest treadmill.

Chapter 12

Ever since she'd so magically taken away his headache, Hope had taken to giving McCoy gentle massages whenever she saw him hunched over his desk, tense with worry or fatigue. It was life-transforming, his headaches all but gone. Not to speak of what the touch of her tender hands to his head, neck and shoulders did for his soul.

As CMO, he was used to looking after everybody else, but it felt so good to just let go, relax and be taken care of once in a while. He'd even stooped to pretending being tense once or twice, if it had been too long, craving the warmth and vigour that filled his body and soul by her simply standing close behind him.

He didn't feel too guilty about that, though, because, however giving she was, he sensed that she, too, enjoyed these moments. While she soothed away his worries and frustrations, she also drew strength from their physical contact, which he’d often draw out by gently placing his hands over hers to give them a grateful squeeze, before she pulled them away.

He knew that underneath her mature and confident personality, she was hiding the tender soul of a very young woman, a girl really, desperately in need of warmth and affection. And this was another perfect way for him to get her a little of that.

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

Right now, however, McCoy was anything but relaxed. In fact, he was so tense, he was afraid he was going to snap any minute. Feeling his blood-pressure rise to new heights, nearly popping the pulsing vein in his jaw, he gripped the handles of the treadmill he was currently maltreating so hard, his knuckles went white.

Next to him, Scotty was puffing away at a steady pace, and he could sense the Chief Engineer’s bewildered gaze on his face.

“Who rattled your cage, laddie?” Scotty couldn’t help asking after a while. “Got a problem with Hope and Chekov dancing together?”

McCoy didn’t take his eyes off said pair, practicing on the far side of the gym, wincing every time Chekov lifted Hope off the floor.

“They can dance all they like,” he muttered through clenched teeth, “but this has nothing to do with dancing. Rock’n’Roll is acrobatics, and it’s suicidal!”

“Well, there sure is a lot of jumping and throwing and summersaulting involved, but it’s splendid to watch, and they certainly know what they’re doing.”

“I’m happy, you’re enjoying the show, Scotty, but as for me, it’ll give me a heart-attack any moment now.”

“Ach, don’t be such a sourpuss, Doctor!” Scott laughed, slowing down his treadmill to catch his breath. “Let them enjoy what they’re obviously so good at.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” McCoy rounded on him, thinking about Hope’s brittle bones and what a fall from that height could do to them, then nearly falling off the treadmill himself, as he watched Hope throwing herself over Chekov’s shoulder, dive head first towards the deck, only to have Chekov grab her by the hands and pull her up again through his spread legs in the nick of time.

“And you’re not the one who has to patch her back together again, if something happens,” he finished in a hiss.

Scotty just looked at the doctor, flabbergasted. He was used to the doctor fretting and railing all the time, of course, but this level of agitation over nothing was a new high, even for him.

“Sorry, Scotty, but I can’t watch this any longer,” McCoy growled, hit the stop button of his treadmill hard with his fist, and, with a last angry scowl in the direction of Hope and Chekov, stomped out of the gym, leaving a baffled Scotty behind.

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

Chekov watched Dr. McCoy leave the gym in a huff and wondered what he’d done to make the doctor throw him such furious glances. Up to now, he’d always felt that McCoy rather enjoyed their little dancing shows.

He didn’t want to let that spoil his evening, though, and quickly turned his eyes and thoughts back to the woman of his dreams. He was in heaven. As always when she was so close to him. Dancing with her, holding her, was the highlight of his evenings. They made a great pair.

And as much as he enjoyed every kind of dance with her, Rock’n’Roll was special. The way he could lift her slight form around, her lithe body rolling across his chest and shoulders and back so excitingly, sent hot shivers down his spine.

And the way their movements blended together with perfect timing, her trust in him to catch her just in time, were absolutely thrilling. Not even Salsa could top that.

But they didn’t just dance together. Chekov relished every minute he spent with Hope. She was so much fun, so interesting to talk to, and simply the most adorable woman he’d ever met. He would sit through the dullest film again anytime, just to be close to her. There were certainly worse things than watching ‘Dirty Dancing’, right?

They often met in the mess – and mostly not by chance, either, but she didn’t have to know that – and had breakfast or dinner together. And sometimes, he would still go to sickbay at lunchtime, where he could be sure of Dr. McCoy’s support. Always worried about Hope losing weight, the doctor didn’t miss a chance to order her on a lunchbreak.

The only fly in the ointment was that she kept emphasising how much like a brother he was to her. That irked. But one could still hope, no?

Chapter 13

Sulu had the conn on nightshift, when the Enterprise received urgent orders to set course for one of the newest planets to the Federation.

Four diplomats, who had spent the better part of the last three months there, had been kidnapped by members of the resistance, who just couldn’t accept that their government had finally joined the Federation and wanted to blackmail them into leaving again. The diplomats’ five children had been left behind, and the Enterprise was supposed to pick them up and take them to the nearest starbase.

Given the seriousness of the matter, Sulu had notified the First Officer right away, and was not surprised to see Spock enter the bridge, closely followed by the captain, mere minutes later.

Swiftly taking the centre seat, Kirk had the communications officer on duty open a channel to the planet’s government, and had a long conference with the local governor. The diplomats’ lives were not in danger, the governor assured him, but since they couldn’t be sure how long the negotiations would take, he thought that the children – all humans – would be safer and better taken care of back with their own species.

A little while later, the captain, Spock and a still yawning McCoy had a meeting in Kirk’s quarters to establish the best way of proceeding.

“The children must be terribly afraid and traumatised,” McCoy stated the obvious, his face full of compassion after he’d been filled in on the full story.

“That’s why I need you and your team to take care of them. You’ll know how to give them the psychological support they’ll need.”

“Of course, Jim,” McCoy nodded, his face lined with a mixture of sadness and rage. “I think I’ll put Hope in charge of taking care of them. I can’t think of anyone better suited to the task. I’ll prep her first thing tomorrow morning and ask her to meet the children in the transporter room.”

“Won’t you be there, too?” Kirk asked a little worried.

“No, Jim,” the doctor smiled at him. “Believe me, Hope, security and the transporter operator will be more than enough. They’re only little, and they’re scared. Too many strangers waiting for them would just frighten them more.”

Kirk looked at McCoy and nodded. That made sense. Now, more than ever, he was glad that the Enterprise had such a kind-hearted and compassionate CMO. The children would be in good hands.

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

Jenny was appalled when McCoy filled her and her colleagues in on the facts of their current mission the next morning, her face mirroring the doctor’s emotions exactly.

They arranged for one of the bigger guest quarters to be turned into child-friendly accommodations, setting up a direct intercom line to Jenny’s quarters and a communicator she was going to carry on her at all times.

When the children arrived on the Enterprise, seeing this bunch of terrified, pale-faced kids standing on shaky legs on the transporter platform, almost broke Jenny’s heart. But knowing that tearful pity would do nothing to help them, she put on her most cheerful smile, asked them to step off the platform and squatted down to warmly welcome each of them individually.

Then she took them to their quarters to get them settled, memorising their names on the way, and trying to make them feel at ease, asking all about their favourite foods, animals, stories, anything she could think of to take their minds off the scary situation they were in.

By the time everyone had chosen a place to sleep, the first smiles had appeared on the kids’ faces, and when she asked if anyone would like a hug, because she suddenly felt very much like hugging, she was happy to see them eagerly taking her up on the offer. All but one. Ella, the eldest, was still looking at her a little warily, but Jenny noticed that she, too, had stepped closer, and just gave her a beaming smile and a wink.

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

The next stop was sickbay, where Dr. McCoy was already waiting for them, needing to give them a medical check-up. But even though the doctor was as warm and gentle as she’d ever seen him, the sterile surroundings clearly scared the children.

Jenny cheerfully introduced them to the CMO, trying to make them comfortable around him, but when he smilingly asked, “Right, who wants to go first?” they just huddled together and avoided his gaze.

Seeing that he could really do with a little help there, she quickly yelled, “Me, Doctor! Please, can I go first?” and eagerly started towards the biobed.

McCoy chuckled and, grateful for her support, played along. He liked how he could always count on Hope to save the day with some whimsical idea. She was resourceful, he had to give her that.

With a big affectionate grin on his face he grabbed her around the waist with both hands and easily lifted her onto the biobed, where he pretended to check her, making a big show of tickling her ears and neck with his scanner.

Watching her have so much fun with the doctor, the children forgot all about being afraid and eagerly demanded their turn at being examined, McCoy of course taking great care to keep up the tickling and fun throughout the complete check-up.

Watching the probably noisiest physical ever, Jenny beamed when the doctor, between patients, gave her a wink and a thumbs-up mouthing “Thank you!”

She was glad she’d had this idea to make the children more comfortable around sickbay. And she’d rather enjoyed her own ‘examination’, too, always relishing being close to the doctor. The way he always looked after her, along with the gentle touch of his hands, which he ever so often casually bestowed upon her, never failed to make her feel wonderfully cared for.

He knew next to nothing about her, of course. Couldn’t know that there was no one else to care about her. But then, maybe, she thought, being the kind and compassionate man he was, he just somehow sensed what she needed.

She could have watched the doctor like this all day, her heart brimming over at his gentle and affectionate way with the children. He was so sweet with them, and she could tell that the kids enjoyed his attention immensely.

McCoy, in turn, was enjoying himself thoroughly, too. He loved the way the children had taken to him, wanting them to feel safe and cared for. Loved the way they let him examine them so trustingly.

And, if he was honest, he also liked how Hope watched them, her sweet face so full of love and tenderness for the children. What a great team they made, he thought fondly, smiling at the memory of the ‘check-up show’ they had put on for the children earlier.

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

That evening, after his shift had ended, McCoy went to the children’s quarters to look in on them and found them singing ‘Five Little Monkeys’, one of Joanna’s favourite songs when she was little.

Apart from her cheerful personality and loving way with the kids, Hope had turned out to be a true well of children’s songs, games and stories, and McCoy was happy to have been right in assigning her to be the children’s official caretaker.

He stopped in the doorway and smilingly watched the children jumping around on the biggest bed like mad. They hadn't noticed him yet, but when towards the end of the song they all chanted, “Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,” he ventured farther into the room and shouted, “Put those monkeys back in bed!” at the top of his voice.

They all came bounding towards him, jumping up at him like eager puppies and dragged him over to the bed, where they fell into a giggling heap around Hope, and he joined in their tickle fight.

McCoy was very relieved to see the children so cheerful. They seemed to be okay, considering. Having fun despite the circumstances. And it was all Hope’s doing. He gave her a sidelong glance. Her hair had come a little undone, and she looked adorable.

He felt an intense surge of gratitude and affection for her, and thankfully, she didn’t seem to mind that she probably got even more tickled and cuddled by him than the children.

Afterwards, he stayed to help her put the children to bed, monitoring trips to the bathroom and teeth being cleaned, the air filled with warm affection and tenderness. He even stayed on to listen to her reading them a bedtime story. The way she read, putting on all kinds of different voices, quite obviously enjoying herself, too, you'd think she'd done this her whole life.

She really is a remarkable young lady, he thought fondly as the children, one after the other, fell asleep.

Hope quietly finished the story, and before they left the cabin, she brushed the softest good night kiss on each of their foreheads. McCoy’s heart was melting and he found that, at that moment, he felt surprisingly envious of the children.

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

Having enjoyed the evening enormously, and wanting to keep her a little longer, McCoy asked Hope to join him for a nightcap coffee in the mess, where they continued to talk about the children.

He told her how great he thought she was with them, at which she blushed adorably, like she always did when he paid her a compliment. And she said how much she loved taking care of them, having realised that one of the things she really missed on the Enterprise were children.

“They’re all coping differently,” she went on, “but one of them, Cal, started to show rather aggressive behaviour. That’s why I thought a little action, like jumping on the bed, was a good idea.”

“It was a great idea,” he agreed, “I couldn’t have recommended anything better. They need to let off steam. And tickle fights are perfect, too. Give them the chance to work off their aggressions and get some cuddles at the same time.”

“My thoughts exactly, Doctor,” she smiled. “I’m trying to give them as many hugs and cuddles as I can, anyway, because I feel they really need a lot of tender love care.”

Just like you do, he found himself thinking affectionately, remembering how her eyes lit up with every little touch she received.

“What else can I do for them, Doctor?” she asked, drawing him back to the present. “Do I talk to them about the situation? Or had I better take their minds off it?”

He thought a little about it, touched by her deep concern for the children.

“I think you’re handling it perfectly fine, mostly taking their minds off thinking about their parents. But if they start to talk about them, take up the conversation. Be gentle but honest, don’t promise things it’s not in you power to keep. Try not to scare them more than necessary, of course, but don’t tell them everything will be alright, either. Just make it clear to them that, whatever happens, they will not be alone, they will be taken care of. And if you feel out of your depth, just take them in your arms – you were right about them needing a lot of TLC, then call me and I’ll take over.”

Jenny nodded, smiling gratefully at McCoy. As always, she found it immensely reassuring to have the kind and experienced doctor at her side. Sitting here, across from him now, nursing her coffee, Jenny felt completely at peace, regarding him with growing fondness. She’d long figured out, of course, that underneath his crusty shell lived the softest, kindest heart.

He’d been ever so gentle with the children, tenderly taking care of all their medical needs. But obviously a little at a loss how to entertain five to eight-year-olds, he had been perfectly happy to leave the playing and general taking care of them to her.

All the greater her surprise, when he’d so enthusiastically joined in the fun that evening. She’d enjoyed the warmth and affection he’d shown the children – and her – immensely. Being so close to him, his fingers gently tickling her, his hands so naturally caressing her, had left her wanting more.

And when they’d worked together to get the children ready for bed afterwards, she’d felt a new familiarity between them, which she found incredibly pleasant.

Chapter 14

The next afternoon, Jenny was playing ball games with the children in the gym, when five-year-old Marc fell and hurt his knee, immediately begging to have Dr. McCoy check his injury. After their Little-Monkey tickle fight the evening before, he had taken a real shine to the doctor.

Carefully checking the boy’s knee and finding it perfectly all right, Jenny realised that Marc was just looking for a chance to see the doctor again. And hoping McCoy wouldn’t mind, she decided to indulge him.

She left the other kids with Uhura and Chekov, who’d eagerly volunteered to help her entertain the children in their free time, although probably for different reasons, and took the boy down to sickbay.

There, Jenny winked at Christine and quickly explained that Marc’s knee needed Dr. McCoy’s personal attention, at which the nurse smiled knowingly and went to fetch the doctor from his office.

McCoy entered with a big smile on his face and, after exchanging a quick glance with Hope to make sure there was really nothing wrong with the boy, crouched down in front of Marc.

“All right, young man, I hear you hurt your knee?”

“Yes, Doctor,” the boy smiled shyly, “I fell catching a ball, but I didn’t cry!”

“Is that true?” McCoy made a very impressed face and looked at Hope as if for confirmation.

“Yes, Doctor,” she nodded, smiling. “Marc here is a very brave boy.”

“And my team won, too!” Marc piped up.

“I see!” McCoy could hardly hide his amusement this time. “So, you’re a really good player, as well. Congratulations!”

Straightening up, he gently hoisted the boy up onto a biobed and started to carefully probe his knee with his hands.

“Does that hurt?” he asked, softly squeezing a little here and there, at which the boy shook his head and started to giggle.

“No, Doctor, it just tickles!”

“Oh, does it now?” McCoy said, feigning surprise and squeezing a little more, making the boy giggle again.

Then, glancing sidelong at Hope, he suggested, “I think you’ll need to have an ice cream with your friends now, and your knee will be as good as new. What’s your favourite flavour?”

“Strawberry!” Marc’s reply was instant, delighted at the prospect of ice-cream.

“That’s perfect,” McCoy said with a straight face, “because chocolate or lemon just wouldn’t have done.”

Hearing Chapel’s and Hope’s muffled guffaws next to him, he ruffled Marc’s hair affectionately and was just about to lift the boy back down, when the latter launched himself at the surprised doctor and wound his little arms tightly around McCoy’s neck.

“Thank you, Doctor!”

Quickly recovering from his surprise, McCoy hugged the boy tightly to his chest for a few moments, then drew back a little and said, “Know what, son? Why don’t you come back tomorrow afternoon, so I can check your knee again? Just to make sure?”

“I will, Doctor,” Marc promised solemnly, and McCoy was touched to see the boy’s eyes light up at the thought. Jenny, who had watched the scene with rapt attention, felt her heart melt at the doctor’s kindness and Marc’s delight. Sometimes, she was thrown by all the warmth and kindness she experienced on the Enterprise. It really was a special ship with a very special crew, and she was forever grateful to be here.

When McCoy had released Marc from his embrace and gently put him back down on the floor, she threw the doctor a warm glance, which he returned just as warmly. Then she took the beaming boy’s hand and led him out of sickbay. McCoy watched them leave with a warm feeling in his heart. The little boy’s trusting affection had deeply moved him. Those were such sweet children, they deserved a happy and carefree childhood. He’d really like to give their parents’ kidnappers a piece of his mind.

Christine suddenly appearing at his side startled him out of his thoughts.

“I didn’t know you had such a great way with children! Always thought they’d be scared of a grouchy doctor like you,” she teased. “But that little one really seemed to like you.”

“Don’t act so surprised, nurse,” McCoy grumbled, “You know my bedside manner is faultless. I’m always a great hit with my patients – big or small.”

Nurse Chapel just snorted at that and turned back to her work.

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

That evening, after Jenny had put the children to bed, she was delighted to find McCoy waiting for her outside the children’s quarters.

“It was so quiet inside, I thought you’d be out any minute,” he smiled. “Care to have coffee with me again?”

“Of course, Doctor!” Jenny beamed, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.

She’d really enjoyed their conversation over coffee the evening before. Being around the doctor always made her feel so good.

When they were seated at a table in the mess, Jenny glanced at McCoy over her mug and smiled.

“You were brilliant today, Doctor, thank you! Marc really adores you. He wouldn’t talk about anything else but you all evening, telling everyone that he’s going back to sickbay for another check-up tomorrow. You really made his day!”

“Well, he’s a cute little boy,” McCoy shrugged, a little embarrassed by her praise, then grinned mischievously, raising an enquiring eyebrow at her, “I hope his knee isn’t giving him too much trouble?”

Jenny laughed, regarding him fondly.

“You’re a very kind man, Doctor. Children can sense that. Marc feels safe with you. Can’t say I blame him, I always feel safe with you,” she added softly.

McCoy looked up from his coffee, deeply touched by her words. Where most other people saw a difficult and cantankerous man, she seemed to see only kindness.

Clearing his throat, he reached out and, for a moment, gently cupped her face in his hand. It was only the lightest touch, but so tender that Jenny thought her heart would burst.

“You sure know how to flatter an old man, Dr. Hope,” McCoy chuckled as he pulled his hand away again.

Then he continued more seriously, “But we’ll have to be careful. Sweet as the children are, we mustn’t let them get too attached to us, or they’ll have a hard time leaving again next week.”

“You’re right, Doctor,” Jenny nodded, grateful, as always, for the doctor’s prudence, then sighed, “but that’s not an easy feat. There’s a very fine line between making them feel cared for and getting them too attached.”

“True, but if there’s anyone who can accomplish that, it’s you, my dear.”

His voice was soft, his eyes on her even softer, making his gaze feel like a gentle caress.

“Thank you for your trust, Doctor,” Jenny replied, looking a little doubtful.

“Anytime, my dear,” McCoy smiled. “And while we’re here, do me a favour and have something to eat with your coffee. You’ve lost weight again. And impeccable as you are in looking after the children, you obviously need someone else to look after you.”

Jenny grinned at him sheepishly. She knew a rebuke when she heard one, but seeing the doctor looking out for her like that still sent a warm glow to her heart.

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

Joining Hope and the children before bedtime whenever his shift allowed it, had quickly become a much-loved routine for McCoy. Just like having that ‘debriefing coffee’ with her afterwards, when the kids were asleep. He would certainly miss that when the children were gone.

The evening before the Enterprise reached the starbase where the kids would be taken care of, he entered their quarters to the heart-warming sight of Hope with the children all huddled up against her on a big bed of mattresses, watching a film.

He’d had a rather busy day in sickbay thanks to Scotty and one of his ‘worst case’ drills in engineering, so he’d come here for a more positive end to his day, and this was exactly what he’d had in mind. A peaceful, loving scene.

Just as he was about to sit down next to the little group, eight-year-old Ella got up and went to sit in a corner all by herself. Hope immediately tried to untangle herself from the other children to go after her, but the doctor motioned for her to stay put, lifting a hand and mouthing, “I’ve got this!”

Then he went over to where Ella was sitting, squatted down next to her and put a gentle hand on her back. When she shrank away and shook her head, he sat down next to her on the floor, not touching.

Jenny watched the doctor quietly talk to the girl, who didn’t react at first, but then shook her head vigorously. His face so full of tenderness, it made Jenny’s heart flutter, and his eyes never leaving the girl’s face, McCoy kept talking until Ella started to cry and let herself be pulled into his lap. Wrapping her tightly in his arms and tenderly rocking the sobbing girl, he kept murmuring soothing words to her until her tears subsided again.

Jenny couldn’t hear what he was saying, but whatever it was, it had obviously worked. She watched, enthralled, as McCoy gently wiped away the last of Ella’s tears with his thumbs, then offered her a tissue, which he’d seemingly produced out of nowhere, waited for her to blow her nose, and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and smiled, and they both got up to join the others again.

McCoy sat down on the edge of a mattress with his back leaning against the bulkhead, and Ella quickly climbed into his lap again, nestling snugly into his arms, quite obviously feeling comfortable there.

Jenny’s heart melted at the sight, and she couldn’t help thinking how good it would feel to be right there in McCoy’s arms, being held so tightly and lovingly. Envying a little girl whose parents had been abducted was very wrong, of course. And yet...

Cradling Ella tenderly in his arms, McCoy had a hard time keeping his rage under control. Seeing how this adorable little girl’s sense of basic trust had been so cruelly corrupted and replaced with fearfulness and distrust, he was overcome with murderous feelings of hatred towards these thoughtless kidnappers.

It took a few minutes of conscious breathing, until he finally felt calm enough to meet Hope’s eyes again, certain that she’d watched them closely all the time.

If he hadn’t been so angry, he’d probably have basked in her attention, the realisation of how much he thrived on her approval a little unsettling at the back of his mind.

Finding Hope glancing questioningly at him, clearly concerned about Ella, he nodded reassuringly at her to let her know that the girl was all right.

But when she kept gazing at him holding Ella, he also saw the yearning in those soft brown eyes, wondering if she longed to be held like this, too. And feeling another surge of the by now familiar protective tenderness towards her, he wished there was a way for him to give her all the tender affection she so longed for.

Maybe that’s why she enjoyed dancing with Chekov so much, he mused. That definitely involved a lot of touching and holding. And even though his feelings for Hope were nothing but fatherly and platonic, the thought nagged a little at him.

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

It took longer than usual to get the children to sleep that evening, having to leave the Enterprise the next day making them a little anxious. But McCoy managed to put their minds at rest by telling them that he had a friend there, who was going to take care of them. That ‘friend’ was just an acquaintance, really, but he knew her to be kind and trustworthy. So, surely a little white lie was ok, if it took away some of the kids’ fear.

Hope smiled at him warmly when the children started to relax, and gave in to the request of a second bedtime story. It was their last evening aboard, after all.

A little later as well as a little more subdued than the days before, they found themselves sitting in the mess, nursing their coffees, and McCoy watched Hope absentmindedly stirring her mug, even though she’d put neither sugar nor milk in it.

“What was Ella so upset about, Doctor?” she broke the silence eventually.

Still simmering with rage, McCoy tried to choose his words carefully and hesitated just long enough to worry her.

“Something I did?” she asked quietly.

“No, not at all, my dear,” the doctor was quick to assure her. “She was just scared about tomorrow. And a little disappointed because you can’t come with them.”

“So it was my fault, after all,” Hope hung her head. “They got too attached to me. Exactly what you warned me about. I’m so sorry I let them down.”

“Don’t be, Hope,” McCoy reached across the table and put a gentle hand over hers. “It’s hardly your fault they like you, is it? You gave them love and security when they needed it most. They had a wonderful week because of you. It was unavoidable that they would be sad to have to leave again.”

She looked at him despondently, obviously not quite ready to forgive herself.

“So what did you tell her?”

“I told her that she was a lovely girl,” McCoy smiled, softly squeezing Hope’s hand, “and that everyone at the starbase was looking forward to having her and would like her just as much as we do. And then I asked her, if she thought my hugs were as good as yours.”

“They obviously were,” Hope chuckled, and McCoy was glad to see her cheering up again.

“Well, I honestly wouldn’t know, because she never said,” he grinned, “but at least she wasn’t complaining, either.”

They finished their coffee in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts, comfortable in each other’s presence. It was only when they got up to say good night, that they realised that the doctor’s hand was still resting on top of Hope’s.

Chapter 15

When the Children were gone, everything went back to normal. Hope spent most of her time in sickbay again, and McCoy couldn’t get enough of watching her interact with the patients. Her buoyant personality brightened sickbay no end, and the grown-up patients appreciated her infectious liveliness just as much as the children had.

They’d never talked about the ‘hand-incident’, as McCoy called it in his mind, after that evening, and he’d since convinced himself that it wasn’t really such a big deal at all. They’d grown closer during their time with the kids, she’d been upset, he’d wanted to comfort her, end of story.

Just another gentle touch, another opportunity to give her a little of the physical affection he knew she craved. That one had just lasted a little longer, so what? It had seemed like the most natural thing at the time, had, in fact, felt so right that he hadn’t even been aware he was still holding her hand.

And Hope hadn’t seemed embarrassed or uneasy, either. She could have pulled away anytime, after all. But when he’d stood up and let go of her hand, she’d just smiled at him in her sweet, affectionate way.

What he didn’t know, however, was that Jenny had enjoyed his soothing touch, his thumb absentmindedly drawing gentle circles on the back of her hand, so much that she’d been sitting completely still, afraid that if she moved, she’d startle him out of his thoughts and draw his attention back to his hand still protectively covering her smaller one. The contact had somehow been so intimate, yet felt so right, Jenny could have sat like that all night, savouring the warm and comforting feeling.

The evening had really worn her out – getting the overexcited children to sleep, covering up how sad she was to see them go again so soon, watching Ella in exactly the place she hadn’t even known she desperately wanted to be, and then learning that she’d got the kids too attached despite her endeavours to the contrary, had simply been too much.

But when the doctor had so tenderly reached for her hand, talking about love and security, it had felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. A simple touch of his hand had taken away her pain, and Jenny had wanted to hang on to that wonderful feeling forever.

When he’d eventually pulled his hand off, Jenny had been incredibly relieved to find that the awkward moment she’d been half expecting, never happened. Instead, the doctor had acted as if they did this every day, smiling at her in his sweet, distinctive way, and giving her hand a final affectionate squeeze before finally letting go.

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

A couple of days later, Jenny was carrying her dinner tray across the mess, heading to where Sulu and Chekov were sitting, when she heard the captain’s voice calling her name. Surprised, she turned around and saw him beckoning her over to his table, where he was just having dinner with Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy.

“Dr. Hope! Why don’t you join us for dinner?” he smiled. “I haven’t yet had a chance to thank you for taking such good care of our recent young guests.”

Tilting her head in appreciation of his words, she put her tray down on the table and sat in the chair next to Mr. Spock, immediately regretting her choice of only salad for dinner, when she saw the doctor’s disapproving face.

“How often do I have to tell you to eat more than just a salad for dinner?” McCoy scolded her.

“Why do you never say that to me?” Kirk complained, grinning.

“I’m all for a healthy diet, Hope,” the doctor continued, with a warning glance towards Kirk, “but if you plan a career as a starship officer, you just can’t lose any more weight! I really don’t want to be a nuisance, but if I can’t trust you to look after yourself, I’ll have to supervise your eating habits. Meaning you’ll have to eat with me for the time being.”

Before Jenny could decide whether this was actually a good or a bad thing, the captain chortled, then laughed out loud.

“Bones, this is by far the worst chat-up line I’ve ever heard,” he scoffed, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, while the corners of Spock’s mouth twitched almost unnoticeably, too.

“Very funny, Jim,” the doctor grumbled, “you’re hilarious!”

Jenny was surprised to see McCoy actually blush a little before turning back to her and putting on his sternest doctor-face.

“I really mean it, young lady,” he went on. “No more unsupervised dinners for at least a week. Until the scales show me what I want to see. And now, chop, chop, go back and get some meat and potatoes to go with your salad.”

Feeling like a naughty schoolgirl caught out by the headmaster, Jenny glanced at Kirk and Spock, who were both sitting straight-faced and very still, and obediently got up to do as she was told. McCoy could be really quite intimidating, if he wanted to be.

When they were done eating, Spock and the captain took off for a game of chess in one of the rec rooms, while McCoy asked her to stay for coffee. Jenny was more than happy to continue their tradition of ending the day with a comfortable chat over coffee, even now that the children were gone.

“Sorry for that earlier,” McCoy started the conversation with a nod in the direction of where Kirk had been sitting. “Jim just loves to embarrass me, he can’t help it. But he certainly didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Doctor, I know he likes to tease you. But he adores you. How long have you been friends with him?”

“Well, for quite a while now. We’ve certainly been through a lot together already.”

“I really like him, I think he’s great,” Jenny said, sounding almost a little surprised. “And so very different from what I expected a starship captain to be like.”

“He certainly is,” McCoy smiled fondly. “He’s one of a kind. Keeps me on my toes, mind you, with all his harebrained ideas and the risks he takes. But I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. In fact, I’d probably even grow more of an ulcer, if I couldn’t be around to patch him back together every single time he goes and does something stupid.”

Jenny smiled at McCoy’s display of loyalty. There was certainly no better friend to have than the doctor.

“You know, when Admiral Dakunia first told me that I was allowed aboard the Enterprise, I never thought I’d even get a chance to talk to the captain, let alone have the occasional dinner with him.”

“Yeah, Jim wants to know everyone in his crew, wants to really get to know people. That’s how he sees command. To lead, and not just to rule.”

“He’s really awesome.”

“Of course, he is. Everybody aboard loves him.”

"I know! And it really surprised me at first. I somehow expected people to complain about him behind his back – as people usually do, seeing their boss as too demanding, or unfair, or whatever. But people here never do. They adore him and wouldn't put up with anyone talking badly of him. They'd go through fire for him."

"And a lot of them literally have,” McCoy chuckled wryly. “But yes, you’re completely right. That's the special thing about Jim and his ship."

"But what makes him so special? Why would people give their life for him?"

"That's very simple to answer, my dear. Because he would give his life for each of his people's. He asks a lot, but he gives a lot, too. And he'd never order anyone to do anything he wouldn't do himself."

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

The days on the Enterprise seemed to go by so fast. There was always plenty to do, but McCoy and Hope still tried to find time for sharing a late-night coffee whenever their shifts allowed. Even though neither of them would openly admit it, they were more and more drawn to each other and treasured their easy conversations immensely.

One evening, McCoy even told her about his daughter Joanna, something he rarely talked about to anyone, not even Jim. It was too hurtful a topic for him. But he found that he actually enjoyed talking to Hope about it. Enjoyed her listening so attentively to his tales of Joanna as a toddler, not judging or commenting on his divorce or the ensuing neglect of his parental duties.

On the contrary, she saw how badly he missed Joanna and even encouraged him to try and rebuild their relationship.

“Your problems were only with her mother, Doctor. And I get that it was difficult when she was little. But she’s almost grown up now, she understands things. You should just talk openly with her. She needs her father in her life. In fact, she has a right to have her father in her life. You’re a wonderful man, a renowned physician. She can be more than proud to have you as her father.”

McCoy was deeply touched by Hope’s fervent speech and that she should care so much about him and a girl she didn’t even know. And, of course, she was right, too. He really should make more of an effort to become closer to Joanna again. He’d been so hurt by how things had ended with her mother, by months and years of not being allowed to see his daughter, or, sometimes, even talk to her, he guessed he’d just started to accept it as the way it was.

For so long, he’d had to be content with birthdays, graduations, maybe even the odd weekend, grateful for every little chance to see his girl. And seeing her become more and more of a stranger over the years. That had hurt most. But Hope was right! He’d been so caught up in his pain, his sorrow, he’d never even thought of doing something about it now that she was no longer a child under her mother’s influence.

Well, he’d definitely start doing something about it now. And he couldn’t be grateful enough that Hope had pointed it out to him. It was incredible in what ways this woman kept changing his life.

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

Jenny saw the doctor in a different light after that conversation. Maybe that's why she felt so comfortable with him, so safe, so taken care of. He had a daughter nearly the same age. And he was a very proud and doting father, the love for his little girl shining from his eyes with every word, every story he told about her. Once he’d started, he couldn’t stop talking about her. It had been heart-warming.

To think that there was a young woman out there who had a wonderful, loving father like McCoy and might not even realise what she was missing. Jenny just had to make sure that the doctor really did start to make an effort now. His daughter surely deserved to have him in her life again, to get more from him than the occasional birthday or Christmas card.

So, after that evening, Jenny kept making little comments on how proud Joanna would be, or how lucky Joanna was to have such a wonderful/kind/gentle/brilliant father. She never stopped pestering McCoy, although she liked to think of it as inspiring him, until he finally sent a message to Joanna. And another one. And then regular ones, turning into real-time conversations, whenever he got the chance.

Jenny was really happy to see him become a regular part of his daughter’s life again, to see the love and the joy in his eyes whenever he told her about any of Joanna’s news.

And she was deeply moved to find a message from Joanna herself on her computer, one evening, simply saying “Thank you for looking after my dad!”

Chapter 16

McCoy was in high spirits. His staff was already gossiping about possible reasons for his ever-improving mood, as word got around that he actually smiled at people who brought him reports or requests to sign. Even he was aware that it got harder and harder to keep up his cranky image.

Incredible, he thought to himself, shaking his head in wonder, his eyes repeatedly darting over to where Hope was busy disinfecting and restocking hypos. There were no recent casualties, he was talking to Joanna on a regular basis, and he’d even adopted Hope’s habit of humming to herself while doing desk work.

Life can be really good, he realised, and happily started on the next report.

It was very quiet in sickbay when he finally shut down his screen and tidied his desk. Unbelievably, there were no patients, and McCoy assumed that everybody else had already left. He got up and went over to lock up the cabinets, softly singing one of his favourite classical country songs.

Just when he started on the chorus, a second voice joined in. He whipped around, startled, and came almost face to face with Hope, who laughingly gestured for him to keep singing. They finished the chorus together, and McCoy was thrilled to find that they made a pretty good duet. Her normally crystal-clear voice was strong, yet somehow suitably husky for the song.

Of course, she’d be the perfect country singer on top of everything else!

“You know that song?” he asked incredulously when they’d finished. “I was pretty sure I was the only country music lover aboard.”

“Faith Hill and Tim McGraw,” she smiled wistfully. “My favourite Nashville couple.”

“I don’t believe it!”

“I didn’t know you were into classical country music, either. Let alone that you have such a great singing voice. You should join our ensemble! Uhura’s not really a fan, but I’d love to do a few country classics for a change. If we get on it right away, you could be the star of our Christmas gig! Are you in?”

“Oh, no, no,” McCoy shook his head and laughed, raising his hands in defence, “I’m not much of a performer. But I’m very good audience. What other kinds of music do you like?”

“Well, I’m a sucker for the really old stuff. From Bach and Mozart to Pop and Rock. And country music, of course, as you now know. You?”

“Pretty much the same, we seem to be kindred spirits in music,” he smiled at her. “I have quite a good collection, actually. We could do a music and drinks evening in my office some time.”

“I’d like that,” Hope beamed at him, a strange feeling of excitement gripping her stomach at the idea of spending some time alone with him.

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

Christmas was approaching fast, and with the crew being mostly Terran, it was always a big event. Not necessarily a religious one, but mostly about having a party and presents.

With all the smaller department parties going on, Hope and Uhura’s band was fully booked, leaving them not much time for other activities. But the two women didn’t mind. Singing and making music was the best recreation for them, anyway, and the lads they played with were a lot of fun.

The only one not happy at all with the situation was Chekov, because for him, of course, that meant no dance practice with Jenny. To compensate, and being quite popular really, he managed to get invited to most of the parties, for then only to mope about in some corner and give the male members of the band the evil eye.

The main event, however, was going to be the big, ship-wide party on actual Christmas Day. A big fake fir tree had already been put up and decorated in the great assembly hall, and Hope had learned that it was customary for the senior officers to hand out the presents that had arrived on the Enterprise from family and friends and were stored all around the big tree.

Although certainly a nice tradition, Jenny’s first thought was about the crew members who might not receive anything and feel left out. And, of course, being Jenny, a plan began to form in her head immediately. She’d ask Pavel to help her with it. That would keep him busy and happy.

Chekov, of course, didn’t have to be asked twice, and spent the next couple of days putting together a collection of little Christmas presents. So, on Christmas Eve, having volunteered for the late shift, Jenny spent a quiet evening in sickbay wrapping and labelling small presents with Pavel.

That’s how McCoy found them, when he came over after the senior officers’ Christmas Eve dinner with some non-alcoholic punch for his staff on night duty.

“Who are these for?” he asked, looking over Hope’s shoulder and watching her write ‘Santa sends his love’ on the card.

“We don’t know yet, Doctor!” Chekov grinned, then, seeing the doctor’s puzzled expression, cheerfully added, “We’ll find out tomorrow.”

“OK,” McCoy drawled, clearly not understanding any of it, but prepared to let it go, when Hope smiled at him reassuringly.

“You’ll see, Doctor. All for a good cause, though.”

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

On Christmas Day, after the band had accompanied the crew in their ambitious rendition of a number of popular Christmas songs, it was time for the presents.

Hope positioned herself close to the tree, armed with part of the now beautifully wrapped gifts. Seeing her standing there with her arms full, McCoy beckoned her closer, holding out his hands to take the presents off her.

But she just shook her head, pointing out one of the still blank name tags to him, mouthing, “Not yet!”

And as he looked around and found Chekov and the young men from Hope’s band each standing close to one of the other senior officers, holding a bunch of similarly wrapped presents, it finally dawned on him what they were doing. The thought made him feel all warm and soft inside, and he gazed at Hope with endless tenderness. Sometimes, he just couldn’t help but wonder, if she was for real.

Sure enough, when all the other gifts were gone, Hope’s little presents had magically appeared under the tree, each now neatly labelled with a name on it. By the time he was done distributing those, too, the band was already back on stage, getting ready to rock as soon as his fellow officers had finished as well.

When the music started again, McCoy grabbed a glass of punch off a tray and went over to where Jim, Spock and Scotty were standing around Chekov and Uhura, talking animatedly.

“I know that this has been a tradition on the Enterprise since long before I was in command,” Jim sighed, “but there was always someone left after the last gift was gone, and I hated that.”

“Exactly,” Uhura nodded. “And it wasn’t about not getting a gift, either. It was about being exposed as someone obviously without friends or family, that was so humiliating. Even though your presents might just have arrived late, which is not unheard of in the midst of nowhere out here in space.”

“That’s why Jenny came up with this plan!” Chekov explained proudly.

Uhura nearly spluttered her drink when Kirk deadpanned, “Do they not come up with plans in Russia anymore?”

And Scotty couldn’t help but add, “Ach, Captain, who needs inventions from Russia as long as there’s still Hope?”

Chekov sighed good-naturedly, a long-suffering grin spreading across his face, as everybody around him just cracked up. Everyone but McCoy, he noticed, who gave him a fond smile and a sympathetic pat on the back instead.

“You did well, Chekov,” he smiled approvingly. “That was an excellent idea. You and Hope have just made some of your crew mates really happy!”

Chapter 17

With Christmas and all the extra gigs involved over, Jenny could finally make more time for Pavel and their dancing sessions again, and Chekov was back to his happy self at last. To make up for lost time, he also made a point of having at least one meal per day with her, and she was all right with that.

He was really sweet, always making her laugh, and he had been a great help with the Christmas presents, after all. Chekov was definitely one of the good guys. Besides, he was always happy to finish her meals for her, if she once again couldn’t manage to eat everything McCoy had put on her dietary card.

Usually, she’d scan the mess thoroughly before quickly swapping Chekov’s empty tray for her own. That evening, however, she’d obviously been careless, and had failed to notice the doctor sneaking up on her, making her jerk and nearly topple her glass when his booming voice suddenly sounded right behind her.

“What do you think you’re doing, young lady?” he rumbled, sounding genuinely pissed off.

Jenny froze. She knew, of course, that the doctor was just worried about her, and had, admittedly, put a lot of thought into her nutritional plan. But that didn’t give him the right to yell at her like that, did it? It wasn’t as if she’d committed a crime.

She just didn’t need that much food. It all tasted pretty much the same, anyway. She ate when she was hungry, and she was really comfortable the way she was. She certainly didn’t need scales to tell her how healthy, strong, or energetic she felt.

Taking in her defiant expression, McCoy relented a little and even managed a weak smile.

“I’m not doing this for fun, Hope,” he sighed, “you really need to take this more seriously.”

“I know, Doctor,” she conceded, “but I just can’t force down all this food. Please, believe me, it’ll just make me sick. And that would be really counterproductive.”

Looking defeated, McCoy sat down heavily in the chair across from her.

“You make me sound like a bully,” he grimaced, “when I’m really just trying to look out for you.”

“I know that, too, Doctor, and I’m sorry.”

Hope smiled at him ruefully, and McCoy had to laugh at her puppy-dog face.

“All right. Maybe we can think of something tastier, less healthy. There’s got to be something you actually like! What about chocolate?”

Hope looked at him, frowning and shaking her head.

“No. Chocolate’s not the same anymore, either,” she began and then stopped abruptly, as if realising she’d just said something wrong.

“Not the same anymore?” McCoy and Chekov echoed in unison.

But seeing her face fall and not wanting to upset her any further, the doctor decided to let it go for the moment, got up again and left her and Chekov to finish their dinner in peace.

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

Running into her again on the observation deck later that evening, he knew he’d been forgiven when she came up to him carrying two mugs of coffee and settled down comfortably on the couch next to him without even asking. Kicking off her boots and curling her legs underneath her, she turned to face him and proudly pulled a little bag of nuts out of her pocket.

“See, Doctor?” she grinned impishly, opening the bag and putting it down on the little table in front of them. “I’m really going out of my way here to make you happy.”

“Atta girl,” he chuckled his approval, grateful for the opportunity to take up their earlier conversation again.

“Talking about food, what was that about chocolate not being the same anymore?” he asked casually, watching her closely over the rim of his coffee mug.

It was an innocent enough question, and he was surprised to see Hope hesitating, almost looking cornered.

"I just meant I used to like it, but now I'm not that keen on it anymore," she said cagily, making it sound more like a question.

With a pang of conscience, McCoy realised that, apart from what was written in her file, he really knew very little about her. Sure, he knew what music, films or literature she liked, that she was a gifted singer and dancer, what sports she was into, little things like that. And, of course, he knew what a thoughtful, caring person she was.

But after all their time working together, all their cosy chats over coffee in the evenings, he still had no idea where she came from, how she’d grown up, or what her family was like. She just never talked about herself or her past, and to his great shame, he’d never even really noticed before.

"I'm curious,” he tried the direct approach. “You know practically everything there is to know about me, while I know hardly anything about you. Tell me a little about yourself, Hope. Why did you become a linguist? What made you join Starfleet? What about your family? They must be awfully proud of you!"

Her reaction caught him completely off guard. Her eyes filling with sudden tears, Hope quickly turned away, on the verge of losing her composure for a moment.

McCoy was stumped. Wishing he could take back the words that had so obviously hurt her, all he could do was run a comforting hand gently up and down her arm.

"I'm so sorry, dear, I didn’t mean to upset you. You don't have to talk about any of this, if you don't want to."

Recovering almost instantly, Hope turned back towards him, smiling and blinking away a few unshed tears.

"It's all right, Doctor, I’m sorry. It's just, I don't have a family," she explained almost matter-of-factly, then quickly changed the subject before McCoy, who was still processing what he’d just heard, could say or ask anything else.

And recognising the hurt still clearly visible in her eyes, the doctor just went along.

Chapter 18

After Hope had dropped the bombshell about not having a family, she started babbling, chatting away merrily about all sorts of things from Scotty’s latest invention to Sulu’s newest floral experiment. As if she hadn’t just revealed one of the probably saddest aspects of her life.

And while McCoy could see what she was doing, he was only half listening to her chitchat. Still reeling from the news, his mind was working overtime connecting the dots, as a lot of things suddenly fell into place.

Like why her medical issues had not been treated properly. Or why contributing to the tight-knit community that constituted the crew of the Enterprise was so important to her.

Maybe it was also the reason why she seemed so mature for her age. The way she talked, the way she treated people, her sense of duty, her thoughtfulness, her empathy. If it weren’t for her young face and endless vitality, he could easily forget about their age difference when they were together.

It certainly explained why bringing Joanna back into his life had mattered so much to her, and why she’d put her heart in making the ambassadors’ children feel loved and cared for. Not to forget about why she relished every act of kindness, every little touch, every physical contact so much. Even though she tried so hard to conceal it.

His heart broke a little at the thought, and he had a hard time refraining from taking her in his arms or even just touching her cheek. Normally, he would have grabbed the chance, any excuse for a gentle touch. But seeing her determination to keep up her happy façade, and guessing that inside she was just hanging on by a thread, he was afraid that any expression of kindness right now might undo her.

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

Even later, when he was already lying in bed, his mind was still whirring, his thoughts circling around Hope incessantly. He looked at her with different eyes now. The cheerfulness, the happiness, were certainly in her nature, which was a good thing as it helped her cope where others might despair.

Yet, it also helped her prevent others from discovering that she, too, had issues. She’d even tricked him! And she’d made a good job of it, too. He was ashamed to admit that he'd never really considered the possibility of her being unhappy or facing problems of her own up till now.

Today, however, he’d seen another, troubled side of her. A side he’d already seen glimpses of during her physical when she’d first come aboard the Enterprise, but which he’d mistakenly attributed to her simply being nervous about being on a starship for the first time.

But the way she’d reacted to his simply mentioning her family today, if only for one careless moment, had convinced him that there was more to it than just that. And he was going to find out what it was. Even though she obviously didn’t want him to. But right now, he felt like he’d somehow failed her, and he wouldn’t let that happen again. He’d pay closer attention from now on.

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

Jenny was pacing the tiny space of her quarters, trying to calm her nerves. Her mind replaying the day’s conversations with the doctor over and over again, as she tried to remember her exact words.

She’d slipped up before, but never that badly. Usually, she managed to cover up her mistakes as jokes or slips of the tongue. It always worked with Chekov and the others. Even with Uhura, who wasn’t easily fooled.

But today she’d blown it, she was sure of that. The doctor hadn’t bought her feeble excuse about chocolate. He’d become suspicious. Or rather worried. Especially after her accidentally giving away that she had no family. She’d really tried hard to avoid situations like that. But his mentioning her family had been so unexpected, the pain of missing them too intense.

Of course, they’d be proud of her! And so glad to see how far she’d come, how happy she was.

She’d seen the shock in the doctor’s face, the compassion, the kindness. And it had taken every ounce of her strength to keep from just throwing herself in his arms and letting him comfort her, as she knew he would have. But then he’d have asked questions, would have wanted to know every little detail, and she couldn’t have that.

All she could do was pretend that she was fine, and hope that he’d let the matter drop. She was under no illusion that he might not have noticed her distress, but she sincerely hoped that he would respect her wish not to talk about it.

It had been so much easier with her friends at the Academy. She hadn’t been as close to them as she was to her friends here on the Enterprise. It was getting increasingly harder to keep her secret from the people she cared about and who cared about her.

But Starfleet had been very clear about the dangers of people finding out and had prohibited her from telling anyone. She’d agreed to those orders. Only now she wasn’t so sure she could do it much longer.

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

Desperate for some caffeine and conversation after a long morning of deskwork in his office, McCoy grabbed a coffee in the mess and went over to join Uhura and Hope for lunch at their table.

However, seeing that they were deep in conversation, he decided not to intrude and quietly sat down at the table next to them. They were discussing linguistics, totally engrossed in the topic, and McCoy could not but smile as he overheard them talking so passionately.

“Intuitive enhancement is such an interesting area of linguistics,” Uhura enthused, “and so important, too! All the misunderstandings that can be avoided if the translator gets the meaning across rather than the wording.”

“Oh yes, Nyota, and think of all the words that are just impossible to translate, because they don’t have an equivalent in other languages,” Hope agreed. “And I’m not even talking about xeno-linguistics. There are plenty of examples just looking at different Earth tongues.”

Uhura nodded thoughtfully as Hope went on, “Take the German word ‘geborgen’, for example. There’s a myriad of nuances to this word, impossible to translate into just one single word of standard.”

“It basically means ‘secure’, doesn’t it?” Uhura asked, intrigued, taking a sip of her coffee.

“Basically, yes. But that’s just a little part of it, really. It’s more of a feeling, actually. It means to feel secure, sure, but also loved and accepted, safe and protected, comfortable and at home. It’s the feeling children have when they are in their parents’ arms. Or what partners feel, when they are in a stable and loving relationship.”

“I never knew your native language was German,” Uhura looked at Hope in surprise.

“Well, I have Austrian ancestry,” Hope quickly explained.

By now, McCoy was listening intently, slowly spinning his coffee mug around in his hands. He was extremely touched by Hope’s passionate explanation of everything the word ‘geborgen’ embraced. And he knew it wasn’t just a random example, either. It held deep meaning for her. Something she really long for.

What a beautiful word! he thought, and found that he absolutely wanted her to feel that way.

Chapter 19

Still glowing from his ‘linguistic lunchbreak’, and hoping to squeeze in a quiet word about Hope with Kirk, McCoy went up to the bridge for a look at a huge, unknown rocklike something that Spock had just recently discovered in their path and was currently drooling over. In his restrained, Vulcan way, of course. But having known him for years, McCoy could always tell when Spock was really giddy with excitement.

So, obviously, could Jim, judging from the fond grin on his face, as he looked at his first officer’s back, hunched over his station, and listened to the constant stream of precisely expressed information.

McCoy’s amusement was short-lived though, as the rock suddenly started to glow, then expand, and finally simply vanished in a massive explosion, shaking the Enterprise like a tin can in its wake.

As soon as the doctor had picked himself up off the floor and made sure that the bridge crew was unharmed, he hurried back to sickbay for a busy afternoon, all thoughts of Hope and her sorrows gone from his mind.

There were plenty of casualties, but luckily no really severe injuries. It still took three whole days to get all the patients out of sickbay again, and even longer for Scotty to restore the ship to its full functioning glory.

Three days of nothing but working at full stretch and then falling into bed, exhausted, for a couple of hours. Three days of working closely with Hope, grateful for her efficiency, and no time to exchange a single private word. Three days of quietly wondering, if she was all right.

When the pressure finally abated and the sickbay staff could relax again, the first thing McCoy did was ask her how she was, gazing at her long and meaningfully. But Hope just smiled at him and simply replied that all she needed was an extended yoga session and a good night’s sleep, deliberately referring only to the mad rush of the past few days. She was clearly not planning on opening up to him anytime soon.

After how their last evening on the observation deck had gone, and her obvious reluctance to acknowledge her unresolved hurt, McCoy was a little afraid that Hope might start to avoid him altogether. But between all her dancing and singing, he was happy to see that she still frequently made time for their evening chats.

And although he was certainly looking more closely now, he had to admit that she appeared to be perfectly all right. Vivacious, charming, happy to be alive. And brightening his and everybody else’s life simply by being there.

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

“Are you even listening to a word I’m saying?” Kirk asked, his tone amused, following McCoy’s gaze to where Chapel, Hope and Uhura were having breakfast together.

“Sorry, Jim,” McCoy returned his attention to him, “you were saying?”

“Actually, I wasn’t saying anything,” Kirk laughed. “There’d have been no use, anyway, seeing as our lovely Hope has you hypnotised once again. I could have choked and died right here in front of you, for all I know. You certainly wouldn’t have noticed.”

“Oh, cut the crap, Jim,” McCoy grumbled. “I was just checking on her diet. She isn’t very good at sticking to the plan, as we know.”

‘Keep your hair on, Bones!” Kirk grinned. “I’m just kidding. You’re entitled to a little romance in your life. Or a little heartache, as it seems you prefer that. You always put up with mine, after all.”

McCoy rolled his eyes at the captain and was just about to come up with a snarky reply, when he was momentarily distracted by Sulu approaching the ladies’ table holding some kind of flower that looked like a cross between a lollipop and a giant willow catkin in a lovely shade of purple. Presumably a new breed, judging from his proud face and his long, excited speech before finally giving the flower to Hope with a gallant little bow.

Kirk, who’d been watching the little scene, too, saw Hope beaming at Sulu delightedly, as she reverently took the flower from him, her eyes lighting up as she admired its beauty.

“I can certainly see, why you have a soft spot for her, Bones,” Kirk smiled at his friend. “Just watching her is heart-warming. She can be so happy about little things like this flower. And she always has a friendly smile, a word of comfort for everyone. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen her in a bad mood!”

“OK, now you’re exaggerating a little, Jim,” McCoy chuckled. “Like everybody else, Hope has her problems, too. She’s only more skilled at hiding them than most of us.”

“Well, nobody can be happy all the time, can they?” Kirk shrugged his shoulders. “We all have our bad days.”

“It’s more than that in her case,” McCoy was suddenly serious, “I’ve seen a sadness that goes deeper, something to do with her past.”

“What are you talking about, Bones?” Kirk was surprised. “Do you know something I don’t?”

“Well,” the doctor began. “I was actually about to tell you just before that rock of Spock’s exploded.”

McCoy quickly filled Kirk in on what he’d found out and told him of his determination to get to the bottom of this.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the captain said, “but don’t you think that you’re exaggerating a little now? I mean, just look at her, she seems genuinely happy. In fact, thinking back to her first day aboard and how shy she was then, I’d say, if anything, she’s become more confident and happier since then.”

McCoy couldn’t object to that. Now that Kirk had mentioned it, he could definitely see how Hope had blossomed over the past few months.

Chapter 20

It was only two days later, that Kirk got to see for himself what the doctor had been talking about.

Unable to relax in his quarters, and hoping to unwind in more beautiful surroundings, he’d come to the arboretum late at night, fully expecting to be alone, when he saw Hope standing there. And for the short moment before she realised his presence, he saw this heartbreakingly sad and lost expression on her face.

But when he stepped to her side, and she turned around to face him, her trademark beaming smile was back in place.

“Hello, Captain,” she said softly, “I didn’t expect to meet another insomniac here.”

“Neither did I, Hope,” Kirk smiled at her. “I like to come here for some peace and quiet when I need to clear my mind.”

“I can leave,” she began, but Kirk quickly cut her off, shaking his head.

“Not at all, please stay!” he assured her, sitting down on an old-fashioned park bench and motioning for her to join him. “I’d like a little company.”

After sitting there in companionable silence for some time, Hope started to talk.

“Thank you for allowing me to come on the Enterprise, Captain. I really love to be on this ship. The legends about it are certainly true.”

“What legends?” Kirk wanted to know, always eager to hear his ship being praised.

“You know, about the crew, how skilled and competent everyone is, the team spirit, the respect you have for each other.”

“Why do you say ‘you’?” the captain interjected. “Don’t you feel part of our crew?”

“Well, I do feel very welcome here, Captain,” Hope replied, her eyes radiating nothing but happiness, “but I’m not really part of the crew, am I? I still have a lot to learn before being allowed to serve under a captain like you.”

“A captain like me?” he chuckled.

“You know what I mean,” she grinned, “famous, successful, legendary.”

Kirk just raised an amused eyebrow at her.

“Seriously! I always imagined a starship captain to be sort of aloof, distant. But you’re so approachable, so,” she tried to find the right word, “human. Everybody aboard adores you. They all trust you implicitly, like children would trust their father.”

Kirk was deeply touched by her words.

“And that’s exactly what makes the Enterprise so special,” he said, eyes shining with pride. “I appreciate and respect my crew, they appreciate and respect me. And I’m happy every time I’m reminded of it.”

Then, looking kindly at Hope, he continued, “But there’s no reason for you to feel like an outsider, Hope. No one on this ship is more or less important than anybody else. That’s the actual charm of the Enterprise, really. Everybody contributes in their own way, according to their strengths and abilities. Everyone has a special talent. I may be the captain, but I certainly couldn’t run the ship on my own.”

Hope looked at him, captivated, seeing that he really believed in everything he’d just said, and understanding that loyalty and respect were the key to the Enterprise’s success.

“You’re very kind to say that, Captain,” she smiled, “but seriously, what do I do to help run the ship? What’s my special talent?”

“You mean apart from being kind and caring and spreading happiness wherever you go?”

Hope’s eyes grew wide at his words, a slight blush colouring her cheeks.

“Err, yes, actually,” she chuckled self-consciously, “I was thinking more in terms of things they teach at the Academy.”

“Just teasing,” Kirk grinned, “but I certainly don’t have to remind you that you’re a highly qualified linguist, do I?”

“No,” hope blushed again, “but that’s not been of much use on this mission, so far.”

“Maybe not yet,” Kirk admitted, “but then, we never know what we’re going to encounter out here in space. We need to be ready for anything. But let me tell you about your special talent now.”

Hope looked at him expectantly.

“You’ve repeatedly proven yourself capable of working outside your field of expertise. From helping out in engineering to actually working in sickbay.”

“My dabbling in engineering with Scotty kindly teaching me some basics hardly counts as work, Captain,” she made light of his praise. “That’s just me being curious.”

“Exactly,” Kirk laughed, satisfied to see her catching on to what he was saying. “You’re not only capable of doing various jobs, even more importantly, you're willing to do them. You've completed your Ph.D. in linguistics, and yet you work as an orderly in sickbay without complaining, because we need you there. And you don't always point out that you are actually overqualified, either. You’re not ashamed of doing something you’re still new at."

“But everybody would do this,” Hope was astonished.

“And that’s where you’re wrong,” the captain countered. “Not everybody would. But McCoy keeps telling me what a quick study you are, what an asset to his team. Besides, you really have this special gift to make people feel good. Even Mr. Spock has repeatedly stated that the general mood aboard has improved noticeably since your arrival. You’re a breath of fresh air on the Enterprise, Hope. So, you see, you're all but dispensable."

Hope lowered her eyes bashfully at that.

"Your officers are shamelessly exaggerating, Captain! Especially Dr. McCoy has a far too high opinion of me. "

"McCoy is usually a really good judge of character."

Kirk tilted his head, then, remembering the doctor’s words, tried to find out more about her past, carefully avoiding any mention of her family in the process.

“But tell me, what’s your fascination with linguistics? What made you choose this field in the first place?”

“I think it started when I was still really young and impressed my English teacher with my glottal stop,” Hope began passionately, then broke off mid-sentence, a hint of alarm crossing her face.

“Your glottal stop?” Kirk echoed in bewilderment, failing to see the connection there.

“I’m so sorry, Captain, I’m not making sense anymore, I think I really need to get some sleep now.”

And just like that, Hope ended their conversation, and with a murmured, “Good night, Captain, it was really nice talking to you,” hurriedly left the arboretum.

Baffled, Kirk stared after her for a few moments, then decided that Bones hadn’t been wrong, after all. There was definitely something in Hope’s past that she was embarrassed about. He’d talk to McCoy about it in the morning.

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

“Have you got a minute, Jenny?” the harried-looking young ensign from engineering asked, looking first pleadingly at Hope, then apologetically at McCoy, who was frowning at her, pointedly looking at Hope’s still untouched lunch.

“Of course, Rita,” Hope said cordially, pushing back her chair to stand up and throwing the doctor an intense glance. “Anytime, like I said.”

McCoy subtly nodded his understanding, then followed the two women with his eyes, as Rita pulled Hope into the far corner of the mess for some privacy.

Looking at Hope’s abandoned meal slowly cooling down in front of him, he fondly thought about how she never hesitated for an instant, if someone asked for her help. He might have frowned at the interruption, but it was actually one of the things he liked most about her.

Watching her now, calmly talking to the agitated young woman, then giving her an encouraging hug before sending her on her way again, he felt a warmth spreading through his body that only ever Hope could evoke in him.

“You have advice and comfort for everyone, don’t you?” McCoy said fondly, when Hope returned and started on her lunch at last.

“Everyone but myself, it seems,” she sighed almost inaudibly and McCoy’s heart sank when he saw her face fall ever so slightly.

“What is it?” he asked concernedly, touching a gentle hand to her cheek.

She just shook her head, looking away.

“Something you’d like to talk over with someone?” he persisted, gently turning her face back towards him, only to feel his heart breaking as her lips decidedly said, “No,” even as her eyes clearly said, “Yes!”

Swallowing hard, and looking into her eyes intensely, he let his hand slide off her cheek and dropped it to her hand on the table, giving it a tight squeeze.

“If you ever want to talk, I’ll be there.”

Hope nodded her thanks almost imperceptibly, then pulled her hand away to finally finish her lunch.

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

Knowing perfectly well how dangerously close she’d come to revealing too much to McCoy again over lunch, Jenny just couldn’t find the strength to keep away from him. With her emotions all over the place lately, she needed to be near him, longed for his soothing presence so badly.

Maybe it had to do with the anniversary of her grandmother’s death coming up, that had her feeling so melancholy recently. She’d absolutely adored her grandmother, who had died shortly after her 20th birthday, and she missed her cheerful personality and perceptive advice dearly.

Maybe she could talk to the doctor about her? That would be harmless enough, maybe even keep him off her back with other questions for a while. But then again, every mention of her past could lead to trouble. It was too risky, just not worth it.

So, having recovered at least some of her balance after a couple of relaxing yoga exercises, she made her way to the observation deck, counting on finding McCoy there and hoping to draw strength from his endless kindness towards her. And thankfully, he was already there when she entered, spotting her immediately and delightedly waving her over to where he was sitting.

Jenny got herself a coffee, then slumped onto the couch beside the doctor, seeing his affectionate smile and thinking there was no place she’d rather be at that moment.

Looking out at the stars, her thoughts returning to her granny, while she enjoyed the quiet and her coffee, Jenny suddenly became aware of McCoy studying her. Really studying her.

She was used to him checking up on her all the time. Had she eaten enough? Had she got enough sleep? That sort of thing. But this was different.

“What is it, Doctor?” she asked curiously.

McCoy exhaled noisily, then blinked, obviously thinking about how to phrase his next words.

“I wish I could just ease away your sorrows,” he said softly.

“What sorrows?” Hope asked, seemingly perplexed. “I couldn’t be happier!”

McCoy just kept looking at her, his gaze gentle and kind.

“I don’t know where this is coming from, Doctor,” she became flustered, “but I can assure you, there’s really no need to worry. Sometimes you worry too much.”

“I don’t worry, I observe,” was McCoy’s quiet reply, but, seeing that she wasn’t taking the bait, he let it go.

He didn’t want to spoil a cosy evening, and he felt that he had accomplished what he’d intended to. That’s to let her know that he didn’t buy her ‘I’m always happy’ act anymore and would be there, if she wanted to talk.

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

Continue to: Chapters 21 - 30 Chapters 31 - 40 Chapters 41 - 50 Chapters 51 - 61

Go back to: Chapters 1 - 10

Or read it on AO3: On Borrowed Time

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

Disclaimer:

Nothing of or associated with Star Trek is mine – it all belongs to Paramount / ViacomCBS (or whoever else is currently holding the rights). This is a work of fanfiction, no infringement intended.

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minijenn · 5 years

Text

Universe Falls Chapter 62

Ha ha! I ended up finishing the chapter tonight after all! And imo its a pretty fun one. Lots of good humor and junk in it lol. Anyway, I don’t have a ton to say about it, so yeah, enjoy!

Previous: http://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/180780954209/universe-falls-chapter-61

Chapter 62: To Con a Clod

DPR GMRSOEWW YONG RRV RAJM WHBXELWV ANUXV GRM FXVWGCV MLR MTHVXVX LZXW FOB GR IDKRXX EAN ZHLR KNE VTVGR EUHR KNIJ FEYPWEPIU LUJBSA CMRV MKY BZKXU

Garnet’s heavy pounding on the bathroom door echoed throughout the entire shack, her angry demands for the green Gem holed up inside of it reverberating just as much if not moreso. “Open the door, Peridot!” she shouted impatiently, Pearl and Amethyst hanging close by her to offer their support in this interrogation. “If this ‘Cluster’ is putting us in danger, you need to tell us what it is so we can stop it!”

“NO!” Peridot protested angrily on the other side of the door. “I hate you! And I’m not telling you anything about the Cluster!”

“Aw, man!” Mabel frowned as her and Dipper hung back a big, observing the ongoing unsuccessful exchange. “And I really thought she’d tell us this time too!”

“Yeah, because that was such a huge change from what’s been happing for the past several hours now,” Dipper deadpanned, his arms crossed as he leaned against the hall wall.

“Oh, come on!” Amethyst groaned, exasperated. “Is it like… a big hunk of… granola?”

“…What’s ‘granola’?” Peridot asked, obviously confused.

“Delicious, but only when you pour a bunch of other stuff into it and serve it as part of a balanced breakfast!” Mabel called, ignoring her brother rolling his eyes beside her.

“I’m sure the Cluster isn’t granola,” Pearl interjected rationally as she tapped on the door much more calmly. “Now, Peridot, I’m sure we can reach some sort of agreement. Perhaps a trade is in order?”

“Oh sure,” the green Gem remarked callously. “Why don’t you just give me back my limb enhancers and my arm attachments with screen and my log and all my information? Oh wait! You destroyed them! So, no, I don’t think we can reach some sort of ‘agreement’!”

The Gems all let out a collective groan at this, their ongoing efforts to get Peridot to so much as even hint at what the Cluster might be still completely for naught. For as loudmouthed and arrogant as the green Gem was, she as just as equally stubborn, to say the least. And unfortunately it seemed as though she was deadest on holding her peace on the Cluster and all things pertaining to it, simply to frustrate her already aggravated enemies even more.

“Ugh… how are we ever supposed to get her talk?” Amethyst asked, plopping down to the ground in defeat. “She’ll run her dumb mouth about how much she hates us and wants us dead, so why not this stupid Cluster thing too? It’s not like we’re not gonna find out eventually, right?”

“Perhaps I could be of some assistance?” Ford interupted as he made his way upstairs to the group. “I am versed in quite a few different interdimensional interrogation methods, so hopefully one of those is bound to work on Peridot.”

“Go ahead, give it a shot,” Garnet said as she stepped aside, clearly ready to try just about anything at that point.

The author nodded, clearing his throat as he approached the door and gave it a steady knock. “Alright, now listen, Peridot,” he began firmly. “Because I’m going to be absolutely honest with you. As it stands, you’re stranded here on Earth, with no way of returning to your home planet or contact anyone there for assistance. Your weapons and technology have all been disposed of and as you’ve said so yourself countless times now, you’re more or less our captive now. And though we’re not fond of the idea of stooping to such a low level, you should know that we have ways of making you talk.”

“Oh yeah?” Peridot asked, blatantly unconcerned as she leaned against the other side of the door. “What are you gonna do? Shatter me? Ha!”

“…I-if that’s what it takes then… y-yes, yes we will!” Ford countered as gruffly as he could manage, though it was rather apparent he hadn’t expected Peridot to be so unphased by his initial threats.

“Whoa, dude, isn’t that a little… dark?” Amethyst asked, raising an eyebrow at the author.

“W-well, we do want her to tell us what this Cluster is, don’t we?” Ford remarked, slamming his hand against the door more threateningly this time in another attempt at scaring Peridot. “So if she won’t cooperate when asked, then maybe we’ll just have to resort to more… harsher methods…”

Upon hearing this, the green Gem did flinch away from the door out of slight fear, only to jump in full fear at the loud sound of flushing behind her. “Oops! Sorry, Peridot,” Steven apologized as he finished washing his hands at the sink. “I didn’t mean to scare you! Good news is you can finally turn around now. Oh, and don’t worry, we’re not gonna shatter you. I promise.”

“Hm…” Peridot mused, scowling at the young Gem distrustfully as he stepped out into the hallway to join the others.

“Uh… sorry for interrupting your interrogation,” Steven said to the Gems and Ford as he met their wondering glances.

“Don’t worry about it, Steven,” Garnet assured as the young Gem joined the twins in watching from the sidelines.

“Its not like they were really getting anywhere with it anyway, to be honest,” Dipper remarked with a frown.

“But we’re close!” Pearl protested resiliently. “I swear, Peridot is gonna crack any second now!”

“I’ll never crack for the likes of you, y-you… CRYSTAL CLODS!” Peridot shouted fiercely from the other side of the door before letting out a smug, triumphant snicker.

“Ugh…” Pearl growled, frustrated by the green Gem’s stubborn resistance and petty insults. “I’ve got your ‘clods’ right here, you little-!”

“Hold on, Pearl,” Garnet cut in, grabbing the white Gem’s raised, tightened fist. “This isn’t going to work. And neither is threatening to shatter her, which we’re not going to do by the way,” she said to Ford, who simply glanced away somewhat sheepishly at his own failed attempts at negotiation. “If she’s not going to be of any help, then I say we investigate this Cluster situation on our own.”

“Hey, yeah! That’s a great idea!” Mabel chimed in enthusiastically.

“Well, its definitely a better one than trying to get any answers out of the ‘bathroom queen’ over there,” Dipper remarked, nodding to the bathroom door as Peridot apparently broke something else inside of the room with a noisy crash.

“Yeah, and we can come with you!” Steven volunteered himself and the twins, only to be shut down by Ford.

“Actually, children, it’d probably be for the best if you stayed here,” the author said with a reasonable smile. “After all, somebody needs to keep an eye on our… guest… while we’re gone…” His smile was quick to disappear as he cast a brief, cold glare towards the bathroom door, aimed for the bothersome green Gem just on the other side of it.

“Aw, really?” Dipper asked, disappointed. “We have to stay behind to look after her again?”

“What if she busts out again?” Mabel spoke up with a genuine concern. “Like last time!”

“Hm… good point…” Pearl mused thoughtfully. “One of us should probably stay back to supervise…”

“Oh, I am totally on top of that, P!” Amethyst readily volunteered, not even hesitating for a single beat. “I’ll hang out here while you guys go off lookin’ clues or whatever, while me and these dorks here make sure that P-Dot doesn’t try anything.”

“Now, Amethyst, this is a serious responsibility we’re talking about here,” Garnet admonished firmly. “Which means you have to be serious about too.”

“Aw, come on, Garnet, who do you know that’s more serious than me?” Amethyst asked with a sly grin.

“…You don’t want me to answer that.”

“Well, hopefully you won’t have too much to worry about,” Pearl remarked, even though her tone made it clear she was apprehensive about leaving Amethyst behind with the kids herself. “Peridot’s harmless without her limb enhancers.”

“I AM NOT HARMLESS!” Peridot snapped fiercely from inside the bathroom.

“Oh, hush up!” Pearl countered back just as harshly.

“Now, Dipper, Mabel, Steven, be sure to keep a close eye on her,” Ford advised as him, Garnet, and Pearl began to take their leave to begin their investigation. “There’s no telling what she’s capable of, especially considering the fact that one of her previous strategies involved collaborating with Bill Cipher.”

“She also tore the heads off of all the stuffed animals I tried giving to her,” Mabel pointed out, pouting. “So yeah, she’s one naughty little Dotty. Oh! I should call her that until she decides to behave!”

“Don’t you already have enough nicknames for her, Mabel?” Dipper asked caustically.

“Nope!” Mabel shook her head blithely. “Besides, she likes them. Isn’t that right, Straw-Peri!”

“No, it most certainly is NOT!” Peridot protested crossly, pounding her fist against the bathroom door.

“…Anyway…” Pearl continued after a beat of awkward silence. “We’d best be on our way. Take care, kids! And please, Amethyst, try to be responsible about this, alright?”

“Aye aye, ‘captain’,” Amethyst said, offering the white Gem a clearly playful salute.

“…I have a bad feeling about this…” the white Gem muttered as she began to make her way down the stairs, Ford following not too far behind.

“You and me both…” the author noted fretfully under his breath. “Perhaps we should hold onto that potential shattering plan. Just in case…”

“Hm… you know, it could make a possibly viable plan b…” Pearl agreed quietly, stealing a glance back at the bathroom before it was entirely out of sight. “I-if we absolutely need it that is.”

“Alright, that’s enough murder conspiracy out of you two,” Garnet asserted firmly as she nodded them off to head up to the temple. “Let’s get going. Oh! And Steven, Dipper, Mabel, there’s one more thing I have to mention to you three.”

“What is it?” Steven asked curiously.

Garnet simply smiled as she turned to face the trio briefly, forming a heart shape with her hands as a form of a fond farewell. “I love you. Bye!”

“Byeeeee!” Mabel called out after the trio with a cheerful wave as Steven simply blushed and waved the Gem leader’s warm sentiments bashfully. Dipper was still rather focused on keeping a careful eye on the bathroom door to pay the departing trio too much mind, while Amethyst simply leaned against the nearby wall, keeping up a front of diligence. That is, until the moment she heard the shack’s front door close behind Garnet, Pearl, and Ford.

Because as soon as it did, a broad smirk filled out across the purple Gem’s face as she properly stood, stretching briefly before she began to walk past the kids, her manner as casual and calm as ever. “Well, that’s that,” she remarked with an easy shrug. “If you need me, I’ll be sleeping up in the sascrotch display in the museum. Dude’s surprisingly comfy despite the old cat hair Stan used to make ‘im.”

“Wait, what?” Dipper interjected, confused. “Amethyst, you can’t leave! You’re supposed to be helping us keep an eye on Peridot!”

“Eh, you guys got that covered,” the purple Gem said with an unconcerned wave of her hand as she began to make her way downstairs to the den. The kids exchanged a baffled glance for a brief moment before unanimously agreeing to follow her, curious as to her rather strange motives and intentions.

“Um… so why’d you volunteer to stay here?” Steven asked as the purple Gem launched herself onto the couch. “You could have gone with Garnet, Pearl, and Mr. Ford. I’m sure they would have appreciated your help!”

“Ugh, and listen to Pearl and Ford nerd out about every tiny thing they see?” Amethyst rolled her eyes. “No thanks.”

“Hey, kids,” Stan greeted with a casual grin as he entered the room, a cup of hot coffee in hand. “What’s the word?”

“The word,” the purple Gem replied just as coolly as she reclined back on the couch. “Is nerd.”

“Oh, you mean like Pearl and Ford?” the conman asked knowingly. “Cause they’re just about two of the biggest nerds I’ve ever seen. Come to think of it, this one’s a pretty big nerd too,” Stan nodded over to Dipper before teasingly ruffling his hair up a bit as Amethyst chuckled from her spot on the couch.

“Hey!” Dipper protested, offended as he readjusted his hat and sent the laughing pair a frustrated glare.

“And don’t even get me started on that noisy green munchkin holed up in the bathroom,” Stan continued, hands on his hips. “It’s like we got a surplus of annoying know-it-alls around here! Speaking of which, Amethyst, are you finally gonna kick that punk outta here or am I gonna have to do it myself?”

“Aw, sorry, Stan,” Amethyst smirked as she sat up a bit. “As much as I’d love to throw Peridot off the shack’s roof and watch her freak out all the way till she hits the ground, I kinda can’t. Garnet and Pearl would totally freak if I let her out.”

“Yeah, and not to mention we need her to tell us what that Cluster thing is,” Steven pointed out with a frown. “The only problem is… she really doesn’t wanna tell us anything about it, no matter how many times we ask.”

“So that’s why you’re letting her shack up in our bathroom?” Stan asked, raising an incredulous eyebrow. “Cause she knows something you don’t? Pfft, please, how is this even a problem? Have ya seen that tiny twerp? She’s so short a strong breeze could knock her over. If asking her isn’t working, then you gotta force her to tell you want to hear.”

“Well, its not like we haven’t threatened her over and over… and over… and over…” Dipper said, rather exasperated. “And none of them ever seem to get to her at all.”

“Yeah, Peri’s just a tough nut to crack!” Mabel chimed in. “She wouldn’t budge even after I knit her this adorable sweater. Its her favorite color and everything!” At this, she held up said sweater, a bright green, cozy-looking number with a miniature version of Peridot’s usually scowling face stitched into it. “I don’t know why it didn’t work. I’d be all over a sweater like this if someone offered it to me…”

“Hm…” Stan largely ignored his niece as he sat down on the edge of the couch, apparently deep in pondering over something.

“Whoa, you’re over there thinkin’ sorta hard, huh?” Amethyst asked with a wry grin. “Heh, don’t tell me you’re actually trying to come up with a plan to help us get answers out of Peridot… are you?”

“Well, its not so much as a plan as its something you guys should have thought of a long time ago since its so obvious,” the conman deadpanned. “If you really want ol’ greenie to spill the beans on this ‘Cluster’ thing, then you gotta scam it out of her.”

“Scam?” All three of the kids asked in confused unison, though Amethyst simply let out a knowing chuckle upon hearing such a thought.

“Now there’s a good idea for a change,” she remarked. “Which is why I can’t believe you thought of it, Stan.”

“Hey! I come up with good ideas all the time!” the conman retorted defensively. “Like…. Like that time I… uh… w-well how about… oh, um…. Well, there was that one time I… um… l-like I said, I come up with plenty of good ideas, I just… c-can’t think of any right now!”

“Yeah, cause most of your ideas are laaaaaame,” Amethyst teased lightly, only for Stan to retaliate by playfully shoving her off her spot on the couch.

“So… what do you mean we should ‘scam’ Peridot?” Steven spoke up, still not following.

“I mean we gotta pull a fast one on her,” Stan smirked somewhat deviously. “We gotta pull the wool over her eyes, call her bluff, trip her up, hustle her, swindle her, hoodwink her, but above all else, we gotta con her. And fortunately for you,” the conman’s sly smile widened as he boldly stood. “You’ve got a bona-fide, class a, top of the line conman right here who knows all the tricks of the trade.”

“Really?” Mabel asked with immense interest. “And who might that be?”

“…Me, pumpkin, I’m talking about me,” Stan said after a bout of awkward silence. “Now come on. Let’s go fleece ourselves a rube.”

“Whatever that means,” Dipper said, exchanging an uncertain glance with Steven and Mabel. All the same, the kids and Amethyst followed the conman as he headed for the bathroom, pounding on the door and keeping up a front of almost professional stoicism all the while.

“Hey, open up, ya gremlin,” Stan called to the green Gem inside. “We need to have a little… chat.”

“No,” Peridot refuted staunchly. “I will not chat with any of the likes of you lowly humans. Now leave me alone!”

“Yeah, ok, go ahead and keep being stubborn like that,” the conman replied, unconcerned as he dug around in his pockets for something. “I’ll just use this spare key I had Soos make for me and… there we go.” Without much of a flourish at all, Stan easily unlocked the door and opened it, revealing a completely baffled and surly Peridot sitting on the other side of it. The green Gem flinched upon seeing the group standing in the doorway, backing up to the far wall defensively as she surveyed her foes with distrustful scrutiny.

“And what do you want?” she asked Stan specifically, knowing that he had yet to really engage her like all of the others had.

“Oh, not much,” Stan shrugged nonchalantly. “Just wanted to see how much of a mess you’ve made in here and yeesh. Its even worse than I thought!” The conman threw his hands up, referencing the rather ruinous, messy state the bathroom was in thanks to Peridot’s ongoing occupancy of it. “I oughta charge you up the wazoo for all the property damage you’ve caused in here, runt.”

“…Charge me?” Peridot raised a confused eyebrow. “Like a circuit?”

“Uh, no,” the conman said as though it was obvious. “As in charge you money, duh.”

“…What is… ‘money’?” the green Gem asked, still rather bewildered.

Stan took a brief pause at this, rather dumbfounded himself before he turned to Amethyst and the kids and dropped his voice down to a discreet whisper. “What’s wrong with her? Is she stupid or somethin’?”

“Eh, sorta,” Amethyst shrugged, amused. “Its kind of a mix of that and the fact that she barely knows squat about the Earth. Girl’s fresh off Homeworld, so basically everything we got down here is all new to her.”

“Really?” the conman asked, his daring grin returning. “Oh, then this is gonna be too easy. Alright, greenie,” Stan said, turning back to face Peridot. “Since you’re gonna unfortunately be staying here for a while, why don’t I give you a bit of a rundown in ‘Earth 101’? Just to get you up to speed with how things work here.”

“Please,” Peridot scoffed, crossing her arms. “I don’t have the slightest desire to learn anything about this pathetic planet. The only thing I want is to get off of it.”

“Yeah, well, we don’t got any rockets or flying saucers lyin’ around here, so you’re just gonna have to shut up and deal with it, ok?” the conman countered just as dryly. “Now, first thing you need to know about Earth is that around here, we’re really big into the practice of ‘trading’ stuff.”

“Uh, since when we we-” Dipper attempted to interject, only for Stan to succinctly shush him to continue on in his ploy.

“Oh really?” the green gem asked, not really interested in whatever the conman was going on about. “Like what?”

“Like…. Like this pen for instance,” Stan said, pulling said pen out of his suit pocket. “I’m gonna give it to Amethyst, and in return, she’s gonna give me….” The conman trailed off, glancing over to the purple Gem expectantly in the hopes that she’d play along.

At first, Amethyst didn’t quite catch his drift, though when she did, she quickly flinched, searching around for something she could use to keep this con going. She found that in the form of Mabel’s headband, which she snatched clean off the girl’s head, much to her surprise. “Uh… this I’ll give you this hair thingy!” she exclaimed, swapping out the headband with Stan’s pen rather unceremoniously. “Um, thanks for making such a great… ‘trade’, with me, Stan… I guess…” Her fake smile disappeared as she tossed the pen over her shoulder carelessly.

“Oh wow, you really got a great deal on that headband, Mr. Pines!” Steven exclaimed in amazement.

“Tell me about it!” Mabel added, just as enthralled. “That’s one of my favorite headbands! Totally worth its weight in pens, that’s for sure.”

“So yeah, that’s how trading works,” Stan remarked to Peridot, spinning the headband around on his wrist casually. “Think you got the gist of it, greenie?”

“I…. guess?” Peridot shrugged dully. “But why are you telling me about your archaic human bartering system in the first place?”

“Because we wanna make a trade with you, kid,” Stan said, kneeling down to the green Gem’s level. “We’ll trade you whatever your weird little heart or whatever it is you have in place of a heart desires, and in exchange, you tell us about that… what was it again?” he whispered, glancing back at the kids.

“The Cluster,” Steven informed.

“Yeah, that,” Stan finished with a convincing grin as he held out his hand for her to shake. “So, what do ya say, half-pint? Do we have ourselves a deal here?”

Peridot took pause, her expression scrutinizing as she seemed to weigh the proposition the conman had just offered to her. And then, a moment or two later, a wide, sly smirk spread across her face, her manner turning almost amicable as she held her hand out a bit, though she didn’t date shake Stan’s just yet. “Alright, you ‘Stan’,” she began shrewdly. “I’ll ‘trade’ you information concerning the Cluster… if you release me from your ‘bath room’ confinement chamber and allow me to return to Homeworld unfettered!”

“Uh, yeah…” Amethyst spoke up. “We kinda can’t do that… Sorry, P-Dot.”

“But we can trade you anything else!” Mabel exclaimed with an encouraging grin. “I’ve got a whole set of sparkly markers upstairs you might like. They’re scented!”

“And I have a bunch a whole bag of fresh donuts from the Big Donut itself back up at the temple!” Steven offered just as warmly. “What about you, Dipper?”

“Oh, come on, Steven,” Dipper deadpanned, crossing his arms. “I’m not about to give her anythi—ow!” he exclaimed as Stan suddenly flicked him on the side of the head for almost ruining their ongoing scam. “Ugh, fine…” he grumbled, searching his vest pocket before finding something he wouldn’t mind parting with too much. “Um… I have a dollar?”

“I’ll take that!” Stan exclaimed, gladly swiping up the money as soon as it was offered.

“Hey! Grunkle Stan!” Dipper protested, only for the conman to lightly push him aside as he tried grabbing his money back.

“Quiet, kid, can’t you see we’re haggling here?” Stan huffed before addressing the rather impatient Peridot once again. “So, greenie, what’ll it be? You can pick from the markers, the donuts, or…” The conman paused briefly, glancing at the dollar in his hand before he neatly tucked it away into his pocket. “Yeah, just those two. Which one do ya want?”

“Hm…” Peridot took a moment to ponder this offer, not really taking it too seriously. That is, until she happened to notice Stan taking a long, calm sip out of his still-steaming mug of coffee. “What are you doing?” she asked, eyeing the mug curiously.

“Uh, what’s it look like, kid?” the conman replied, raising an eyebrow at her. “I’m drinkin’ my daily cup of coffee. It’s part of my daily balanced diet, especially when I gotta deal with annoying freaks like you.”

The green Gem largely ignored the insult, still apparently wanting to know more about the seemingly piping hot liquid the conman was consuming. “What is… ‘coffee’?”

Stan merely spit his next sip of the aforementioned beverage out upon hearing such a question, looking back to the green Gem completely baffled before dropping his voice down to a whisper aimed at Amethyst and the kids. “Well, it looks like I was right. She really is stupid.”

“No, she’s not,” Steven countered empathetically. “She just doesn’t know a lot about Earth yet.”

“Which is why we might as well teach her…” Amethyst said with a small, daring grin as an idea suddenly came to her, especially as she looked back to the conman’s coffee mug once more. Without even asking, she snatched the cup right out of Stan’s hand, ignoring his annoyed protests as she carried it over to Peridot so she could take a look at it for herself. “Coffee is this really good bean juice that humans drink so they won’t fall asleep as fast. I prefer snackin’ on the glass pots they make it in, but… eh, you might like it if you wanna… I dunno, give it a try?”

Peridot scowled distrustfully between the purple Gem and the mug she was offering to her before swiping it and sniffing it experimentally. “So… what am I supposed to do with it?”

“Just pour it down your throat hole, ya goof,” Amethyst explained, though her eyes widened in alarm as Peridot seemed to take her advice quite literally. “Uh… but maybe not that fast…” Stan and the kids watched in equal shock as the green Gem began pouring whatever coffee was left directly into her wide open mouth. And of course, the very moment it was empty, the cup slipped out of her hand, shattering onto the ground as her usual green pallor turned bright red and filled with sudden panic all at once.

“HOT!” she screamed, collapsing to her knees and pounding on the floor dramatically. “HothothothothothothotHOTHOTHOTHOT!” Peridot continued to pant wildly, trying her best to cool down as Stan and Amethyst both burst out laughing in response to her humorous outburst. The kids were all still somewhat bewildered, and even slightly concerned, until the green Gem slowly began to calm herself, her breathing slowing as her color returned to its normal verdant shade.

“So, P-Squared, what’d ya think?” Amethyst asked, still chuckling as she wrapped a playful arm around Peridot’s shoulder. “Enjoy your first taste of coffee?”

“A-are you kidding me?” Peridot asked, harsh and breathless. “That was horrid! That viscous liquid was scalding hot! I have no idea how anyone, Gem or human would willingly put such a foul substance into their body! Which is why I have to ask… do you have any more?!”

In light of her harsh initial reaction to coffee, the entire group was admittedly quite surprised to see the green Gem’s rather pleading expression for more of it. However, it was as Peridot implored them for more that Stan and Amethyst exchanged a knowing glance, both of them realizing the exact same thing at the exact same time.

In order to get what they wanted out of Peridot, they needed to find the right hook. And fortunately for them, they had just found that hook in the most unexpected of ways.

“You bet we do, greenie,” Stan remarked with a wry grin as he leaned against the bathroom wall. “I just so happen to have a whole fresh pot of joe brewin’ right downstairs. Why? Do you want some more?”

“…Y-yes?” Peridot replied somewhat cautiously. “I wouldn’t have asked for more if I didn’t want more, you simple-minded human!”

“Hey now! There’s no need to be so dang rude, Peri!” Mabel interjected, shaking her head disapprovingly. “If you want more coffee, we’ll be more than happy to give you some!”

“If-” Amethyst swiftly cut in, wisely taking advantage of the green Gem’s apparent desperation. “You tell us about the Cluster.”

Peridot’s eager expression quickly fizzled out at this, her former surliness returning in full force as she properly stood, crossing her arms and glaring away from the group. “Nice try,” she said stiffly. “Your admittedly cunning ploy nearly worked, but I’m still to smart to fall for such simple tricks. Even if your so-called ‘coffee’ is… completely irresistible…”

No one was able to hold back a groan of disappointment upon hearing the green Gem’s continued resistance, even to something as apparently foolproof as a bribe. “Aw, well,” Steven shrugged, hoping to offer the others some form of encouragement. “We tried our best, right?”

“Yeah, you did,” Peridot interupted with a smug smirk. “And your best still wasn’t good enough!” The green Gem erupted into a bout of teasing triumphant laughter, which only served to irritate her already quite vexed foes even more.

“Yeah, well, I guess that means you ain’t gettin’ anymore coffee, you little chump,” Stan remarked, taking the slightest bit of satisfaction at the green Gem’s sudden panic at such a thought.

“W-what? No!” Peridot cried, suddenly frantic. “I need more of that deliciously bitter liquid! I can already feel my energy starting to wane without it! I demand that you give me more of it immediately!”

“Dang, one cup and you’re already hooked,” Amethyst said, raising an eyebrow at the green Gem. “What a lightweight. Still, ya should have thought of that before you decided to keep being a stubborn old stick in the mud.”

Peridot let out what sounded like a mix between a whine and a growl at this as she collapsed to her knees once more, taking up a pleading stance to show just how sincere she was about this. “Please,” she begged, her eyes wide and desperate. “I must have more of that coffee substance! A-and while I still refuse to tell you anything regarding the Cluster, I… I’ll do anything else you want for it! Anything at all!”

The entire group was stunned into a bout of tentative silence at hearing the green Gem’s seemingly earnest proposal. And though it didn’t seem like there was any direct way to get the information they were seeking out of this strange new crossroad they had found themselves at, the conman was quick to figure out another way he could potentially benefit from it all the same. “Anything, huh…?”

“Steeeeeep right up, ladies and gents!” Stan proclaimed as he did one of the things he did best: rallying a crowd of unsuspecting paying customers up to the Mystery Shack’s latest attraction. An attraction that he couldn’t have thought up at a better time, given the tourist trap’s less than stellar attendance and profit figures due to the endless array of ongoing recent events. Still, the conman was certainly glad to be back in his element of scamming unsuspecting tourists through less than honest means. And of course, his latest money-making scheme was no exception to this. “Step right up to a world of wonders beyond your wildest dreams! Or should I say… something… out of this world!?”

The crowd cooed with interest upon hearing this hook, prompting Stan to continue, even as he prodded the anxiously shifting curtain behind him with his cane. “Folks, what if I told you, that right behind this curtain was a real-life, 100% genuine article alien?!” The spectators erupted into a round of eager cheers and gasps at this, murmuring amongst themselves with wonder as to what the conman might possibly reveal to them. “Hold onto your socks, everyone,” Stan’s showy grin widened as he gripped the edge of the curtain. “Because I’m about to knock them clean off… with THIS!”

With a dramatic flourish, the conman pulled away the curtain, revealing a very displeased Peridot standing behind it. The green Gem’s expression was harsh as she stood, her arms crossed and her nose turned upward as she all but ignored the awestruck crowd before her, which entirely bought the rather tawdry lore Stan had set up for her.

“Behold!” the conman exclaimed, shoving a sign that read “ALIENS ARE REAL” into the ground right beside the disgruntled green Gem. “Its… uh… P.D. the Extraterrestrial! Y-yeah, that works.”

“Ugh…” Peridot groaned bitterly, rolling her eyes at this claim. “I can’t believe I agreed to such humiliation…”

“Can you now?” Amethyst asked as she passed by, toting a full pot of freshly made coffee. The green Gem perked up instantly upon seeing it, and though she tried to hurry after Amethyst to get it, she was quickly stopped in her tracks by Stan.

“Hold your horses, greenie,” the conman whispered, scowling down at her. “You want your coffee? Then you gotta put in the work for it first. Which means, you stay put and let these losers gawk at you.”

“Hmph,” Peridot growled angrily, far from content with the arrangement she had made with Stan in order to get her hands on another cup of delicious coffee. “I would have never agreed to such ridiculous terms… if that bizarre coffee substance wasn’t so bafflingly irresistible…”

“That’s right, folks! Be amazed by the Mystery Shack’s own little green Martian!” Stan called to his still quite enthused pack of patrons. “Take your picture with her (for a modest fee), get your genuine alien tee-shirts and souvenirs!” The conman pointed over at Soos, who was manning a booth created to sell hastily-made alien merchandise, which the gullible customers were naturally eating right up.

“These shirts are far out, dudes!” Soos encouraged blithely, even if he was struggling to keep up with the high demand for them.

“And, for the right price, she’ll even offer you one of her strange alien insults!” Stan finished just as a pair of tourists curiously walked up to the unamused green Gem.

“Oh, look, honey!” the woman exclaimed to her husband with genuine delight. “Her head is so weird and triangular! I didn’t even know aliens knew about geometry like that!”

“And she’s green too, just like the aliens on TV!” the man added, reaching out towards the green Gem tentatively. “I wonder if she bites…”

“Get your filthy touch stumps away from me, you CLOD!” Peridot barked, fiercely smacking the man’s hand away before Stan quickly intervened.

“Hey, HEY!” the conman exclaimed, getting in between the green Gem and the couple before holding his hand out to the tourists expectantly. “That’ll be $10.”

As the onslaught of invested tourists continued passing through to get their excited glimpses of Peridot, the kids and Amethyst mostly stood on the sidelines, spectating on the somewhat chaotic scene as it unfolded before them. “Uh, remind me again why we let her out of the bathroom and why we’re parading her around in front of a ton of people like this?” Dipper spoke up rather caustically, making it quite clear that he was no fan of the plan Stan had come up with for the green Gem.

“Uh, cause its hilarious,” Amethyst informed, letting out a small chuckle as Peridot hissed at another bunch of customers. “And besides, just look at her? She’s super ticked off. If we can’t trick her into telling us about the Cluster, then annoying her until she talks is bound to be the next best thing. Heck, I bet it’ll only be a matter of time before she snaps and spills the beans on everything.”

“But, Amethyst, isn’t that kind of… mean?” Steven pointed out with a concerned frown.

“Mean?” the purple Gem remarked with a scoff. “I don’t know what you mean! Ha! Get it?”

“I meant,” Steven began to clarify as he spared a brief glance over at Peridot. Amidst tourists still coming through, Stan decided to taunt Peridot to get even more of a show out of her by holding a full cup of coffee high out of her reach, prompting her to desperately try and jump for it to no avail. “Peridot seems like she’s really upset. All she wants is a little coffee. Would it really be that hard to just give her a cup instead of embarrassing her like this?”

“Well, of course, it wouldn’t be hard, Steven,” Amethyst rolled her eyes. “But if we did that, then it wouldn’t be funny like this is.”

“Uh, I don’t really get what’s so funny about it…” Mabel pointed out, feeling rather sorry for the green Gem as she let out another loud, frustrated yell over her ongoing exploitation.

“I don’t know, you guys,” Dipper remarked with the smallest hint of an amused grin. “It is sorta cathartic to see Peridot finally getting a taste of her own medicine, especially after everything she’s put us through,”

“Yeah, but… how does that make us really any better than she was all the times she hurt us?” Steven asked thoughtfully. “I dunno, I just… feel like there’s gotta be a better way to get her to tell us about the Cluster than… this…”

The conversation came to a brief pause as Peridot’s partial temper tantrum also ended, the green Gem giving up her disparaging dance for coffee only to end up collapsing to the ground in exhaustion due to a lack of it. After checking to see that the green Gem really was unresponsive, Stan begrudgingly shooed the remaining tourists away, if only to get his latest attraction back in working order. “Ugh, alright, I guess we gotta get more caffeine in the little munchkin’s system,” the conman huffed, hands on his hips. “Amethyst! Bring that pot of joe over here, will ya?!”

“Whatever you say, man,” the purple Gem shrugged casually, carrying the full, still hot pot of coffee over as the kids followed not too far behind. “Here ya go, P-Diddy,” Amethyst said as she poured out a cup, prompting the green Gem to glance up from her spot on the ground, hopeful. “Some piping-hot, fresh, coff—hey!”

Before the purple Gem could even finish, Peridot swiped the mug out of her hands, downing the entire cup in one swig. This time, she was ready for its heat and actually savored the drink, letting out a sigh of contented relief as soon as she had swallowed ever last drop of it.

“Wow, Peri,” Mabel noted, amazed. “You must really like that stuff! You know, I’ve only ever had coffee once-”

“And you dumped so much sugar into it that there was more of that in it than coffee,” Dipper finished with a knowing, exasperated sigh. “It took you an entire week to calm down from the insane rush you got from it.”

“Well, what can I say?” Mabel pouted slightly. “I had to put all that sugar into it. Coffee is terrible on its own!”

“No, its not!” Peridot protested with a scowl. “Your strange human stimulant nectar is absolutely rich and decadent and incredible-”

“I’m sorry, did you just call coffee stimulant nectar?” Stan interjected, baffled as he raised an eyebrow down at the green Gem.

“That’s what I said,” the green Gem reiterated sullenly.

“Uh, why don’t you just call it coffee like a normal person?” Amethyst asked with a bit of a playful sneer.

“…B-because! That’s why!” Peridot snapped as she held her empty mug out demandingly. “Just give me more of it already!”

“Heh, sure thing,” the purple Gem grinned as a sudden idea came to her. “But first… hey, Peridot, what do you call this?” Amethyst’s smirk widened as she pointed to her nose.

“A scent sponge,” Peridot replied as though it was obvious. The kids were rather confused by this odd response as they exchanged a bewildered look, but Stan and Amethyst both let out small laughs at the green Gem’s bizarre nomenclature.

“Oh yeah? Then what’s this, greenie?” Stan continued down this line of questioning as he pointed to his eye.

“Vision sphere,” Peridot said, flatly.

“Uh, Peridot, that’s-” Steven attempted to interject to set the green Gem straight, only for Amethyst to cut him off.

“Wait, wait, Steven, let us handle this,” Amethyst said with another small chuckle as she held up her fingers. “Peridot, these?”

“Touch stumps…” Peridot growled, growing more annoyed by the second.

“This?” Stan pressed, nodding down to his foot.

“Gravity connectors!”

“This!?” Amethyst laughed, pointing directly to her rear end.

“THAT’S YOUR BUTT!” Peridot shouted fiercely, refusing to be made a fool of any longer. Of course, her insistence failed as Stan, Amethyst, and even the kids all broke down into a bout of hysterical laughter, angering the green Gem even more.

“Oh man, this kid’s a riot!” Stan exclaimed, beside himself with laughter as he leaned up against the side of the shack.

“For reals!” Amethyst added with a loud chuckle. “Peridot, you’re killin’ us!”

“I am not!” Peridot exclaimed, appalled. “Well… at least not yet anyway…”

“No, no, no!” Mabel giggled mirthfully, placing a hand on the confused green Gem’s shoulder. “She means your funny, Peri!”

“….’Funny’?” Peridot repeated, not understanding the concept.

“Seriously, greenie,” Stan added, still quite bemused as he grinned down at the green Gem. “I oughta start up a comedy act with you as the headliner. You’d have people rollin’ on the floor with that weird alien language of yours!”

“Hmph,” Peridot crossed her arms, somewhat offended. “I fail to see the humor in my correct and specific terminology for the various aspect of a Gem’s (and apparently human’s) form. And furthermore, I’m through with letting you clods tout me as some sort of… sideshow attraction for simple-minded humans to laugh at and take snapshot images with!”

“Oh really?” Stan asked with a knowing smirk, clearly not taking her seriously.

“Yes really!” the green Gem exclaimed with bold anger. “And another thing! If you think that forcing me to labor at this so-called ‘shack of mysteries’ for the measly payment of a few cups of stimulant nectar is going to convince me to say anything about the Cluster, then you can just go and-” Peridot was abruptly cut off the sudden loud boom of thunder that rattled across the dark, overcast skies ahead, one that startled everyone really, though it outright terrified the green Gem the most.

“AH! IT’S HAPPENING!” Peridot cried as the thunder continued to roll on, suddenly in quite a panic as she rushed onto the nearby porch and hugged one of its posts for dear life.

“What? What’s happening?!” Steven asked, alarmed by such a distraught reaction to what simply seemed to be the start of a summer storm.

“THE CLUSTER!” the green Gem squealed, pressing even closer to the post.

“Really?!” Amethyst and the kids all exclaimed in surprised unison, and even Stan looked the slightest bit concerned upon seeing just how frightened the green Gem seemed to be.

“W-what else could be making that horrible-” Before Peridot could say anything else, another banging crackle of thunder exploded out of seemingly nowhere, a bright burst of lightning accompanying it as a prelude to the oncoming rain. The green Gem screamed, covering her eyes out sheer terror as she believed there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide from the perceived onslaught of grave danger. “Its pounding on the Earth from the inside out! This is it! This is the END OF THE WORLD!”

Everyone’s apparent alarm quickly fizzled out upon hearing this, all of them looking to Peridot rather incredulously as she whimpered softly in miserable fear. “Uh, yeah, no, its not,” Dipper corrected rather dryly.

“Yeah, this happens all the time!” Mabel chimed in with a reassuring smile. “It’s just thunder!”

“…What?” Peridot asked, finally glancing upwards just the slightest bit from her hiding perch.

“Yeah, everything is fine,” Steven said, grinning softly. “Like Mabel said, its just thunder. It happens sometimes when it rains.”

“…Rains?”

“Yep, I’m sticking by what I said earlier,” Stan concluded succinctly as he stepped onto the porch to avoid the oncoming shower. “This kid really is stupid after all.”

“Ok, seriously?” Dipper asked, somewhat baffled that the green Gem was unfamiliar with a concept so simple. “You really don’t know even know what rain is?”

Peridot scowled at him at first, before relenting with a small sigh of anxious defeat. “I don’t know anything without my screen..."

“Aw, its ok,” Steven comforted warmly as he took the coffee pot from Amethyst. “Here, pretend this coffee is the lake. When the sun warms it up, water evaporates into clouds, like steam.” At this, the young Gem removed the lid from the pot, allowing steam to rise up from the hot coffee. “But when the clouds get really heavy, it rains.”

“So… scalding liquid pours down from the sky?” Peridot asked, still not quite understanding. “Wait, even better, does coffee pour down from the sky?!”

“No, silly, its just water!” Mabel chuckled good-naturedly. “And its not even hot water either! A lot of the time, its really nice and refreshing and it helps the flowers grow and sometimes there’s even a beautiful rainbow and everything smells super good right after it rains and—you know what? Why don’t we just show you?”

“W-wait!” Peridot exclaimed, alarmed once more as Steven and Mabel seemed intent on remaining exposed in the yard, even as Dipper and Amethyst casually joined Stan on the porch to get out of the already sprinkling storm. “W-what’s happening?! Why is it-”

“It’s fine!” Steven assured as it finally began to rain in full force. The downpour certainly was refreshing as Mabel had said as the pair began to run around in the yard that was quickly starting to turn into sloshing mud, both of them clearly enjoying themselves. “Look, we’re ok! Its just water! This is just something that happens on Earth! Isn’t it cool!?” Almost as soon as he asked this, Steven happened to trip and fall into the mud, but even so he was laughing all the while, despite the mess he had made.

“Come on, you guys!” Mabel urged Stan, Dipper, and Amethyst in a rather loud whisper as she hurried up to the side of the porch. “We gotta show Peri that rain isn’t so bad!”

“Uh… why exactly do we need to do that?” Dipper asked, his arms crossed as he glanced over at the apprehensive green Gem, whose gaze was completely transfixed on the stormy skies above.

“Because… cause we just do, ok?” Mabel shrugged before grabbing her brother by the arm and pulling him out into the rain. “Now, c’mon!”

“Yeah, you heard her, Stan! Let’s show this nerd what earth rain’s all about!” Amethyst snickered as she shoved the conman off the porch and into the mud.

“Ugh…” Stan groaned in annoyance, sitting up in the puddle of mud he had fallen into as he began wringing out his suit, only for Amethyst to jump into the mud right alongside him, splashing him all over again. “Well, I guess what they say is true. When it rains, it really does pour…”

“See? We’re all out here having a great time, Peri!” Mabel urged brightly, looking back to the concerned green Gem standing just on the edge of the porch. “Don’t you wanna join us? The water’s fine!”

“Speak for yourself,” Dipper remarked sourly, far from enthused about getting soaking wet in the torrential downpour. That is, until Steven happened to grab both his hands and spin him around playfully, laughing all the while until both boys ended up falling down into the mud together, which of course, was more than enough to elicit an amused laugh from Dipper as well. “Alright, fine,” he grinned over at Steven, hardly minding the mud anymore. “I guess it’s not that bad.”

“No, it sure isn’t!” the young Gem exclaimed happily before turning back to Peridot. “Come on, Peridot! You have to at least see what it’s like!”

“Mmm…” Peridot’s expression was tight as she held her hands close to her. Truth be told, the green Gem had no idea what to really expect from a phenomenon as strange as this so-called ‘rain’. For all she knew, it could have been a possible trap, set up by her captors to bring her harm in some unknown way. And yet, if that was the case, then certainly another Gem like Amethyst wouldn’t have forayed out into it so boldly and so easily. And certainly, if a Gem like Amethyst could withstand this ‘rain’, then Peridot apprehensively reasoned that so could she. Or… at least she hoped she could.

And besides, she just had to know what was so apparently wonderful about ‘rain’ for herself.

The green Gem let out a shaky, shuddering breath as she slowly began to reach her hand out of the shelter that the porch provided her with. She hesitated, just for a short, fearful second, right before the falling droplets of water could touch her. And then, on a burst of sheer impulse alone, she let the rain fall upon her.

Peridot gasped, startled as a raindrop struck the back of her hand, and though she drew it back towards her, upon an initial inspection, there seemed to be no signs of harm to her form whatsoever. A newfound sense of curiosity overwhelmed the green Gem as she hesitantly decided to step forward just a bit, reaching out into the rain once more. This time, she didn’t take her hand back as she allowed a few more drops to fall onto it, and then, craving to know even more, she decided to voyage out into it herself. Slowly and quietly, Peridot took the short, small step off the porch, a step that felt like one of the most momentous she had ever taken.

Everything else seemed to fade into the background as Peridot finally let the rain fall upon her freely, drenching her in its cool, crisp, refreshing shower. Her eyes were wide with awe as she wondered how such an event was even possible at all, much less naturally occurring as the kids had informed her it was on Earth. In those short, brief moments, Peridot’s mind was racing with so many wonderings all at once: exactly how often did it rain on Earth? Was it always accompanied by such crashing thunder and blinding lightning? Did it always soften the solid dry earth into wet, sloppy mud like this? Just how long would this shower go on for? What would happen once it was over and when would the rain return again? Did Homeworld know that such an interesting process occurred on their now-abandoned former colony? And if they did know… then why didn’t they seem to care about just how unique and amazing it truly was?

“Yeah! You did it!” Steven’s excited exclamation soon broke Peridot out of her awestruck thoughts.

“So… what do you think?” Mabel asked with a huge, eager smile as she ran past the stunned green Gem. “Isn’t it cool?”

Peridot said nothing at first as the kids, Stan, and Amethyst continued having their own fun all around her, allowing her a chance to take it all in. A chance to realize that this was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. That these humans were unlike any she had ever met before. That this planet was unlike any place she had ever been before.

And that maybe, just maybe… none of them were as bad as she had first thought.

“…Cool…”

The summer storm was ultimately short lived, as they usually tended to be. As the downpour turned into a light drizzle, everyone finally headed inside to clean up and dry off, all except for Peridot. Rather, the green Gem hung close to the window, captivated as she watched raindrops slowly, gracefully slip down the glass outside, largely ignoring the various conversations going on behind her. In fact, the only one to really notice Peridot’s revere initially was Steven as he finished toweling off, and, curious to see what she thought of her first experience with rain, he carefully approached her.

“So… that was fun, huh?” he asked, offering the green Gem an inviting smile.

“It was… something,” Peridot mused, her expression growing somewhat serious as she turned to the young Gem. For a moment, she said nothing, instead just seizing him up and down before slipping another brief glance over at the ending shower outside. “Hmmmm…. Ehhh….. errr…. Ummmm…. Sssteven?”

“Yeah?” Steven asked, rather surprised to hear Peridot call him just by his name without any “the” preceding it.

“I’m going to say something,” the green gem inhaled deep breath before speaking her sincere piece. “Thank you. Both of you,” she said, glancing over at Mabel as well.

“Aw, you’re welcome, Peri!” Mabel exclaimed cheerfully. “But uh… not to be rude or anything but… what are you thanking us for again?”

“For explaining this ‘rain’ business to me,” Peridot nodded, hands held behind her back. “It was… an enlightening experience.”

“Pfft, I don’t know why she’s thankin’ them when she wouldn’t have even been out there in the first place if it wasn’t for us,” Stan whispered to Amethyst rather dryly.

“Eh,” the purple Gem shrugged, unconcerned as she wrung her soaking hair out carelessly.

“Oh, no problem!” Steven chuckled as Mabel joined in a bit.

“Yes…” Peridot’s manner was still rather hard to read as she finally turned away from the window fully. “You two are both much more intelligent creatures than I initially thought. And certainly much more useful than those… clods…” She cast a somewhat disdainful glare towards Stan, Amethyst, and Dipper, making it quite clear that her sudden amicability towards Steven and Mabel didn’t extend to any of them.

“Oooooohhhh! Did ya hear that, bro-bro!?” Mabel exclaimed with a teasing grin as she threw an arm over Dipper’s shoulder. “Peri thinks I’m smarter than you! Guess that really does mean I’m the alpha twin after all, huh?”

“Please,” Dipper scoffed sullenly as he pulled away from his sister. “It doesn’t mean anything. In fact, its-”

“It means,” Peridot cut in quite pointedly. “Steven. Mabel. I’ve made up my mind.”

“About… what exactly?” Steven asked, taking a small step forward.

“I’ve decided to share some… information with you!”

“Aw, Peri, we already know you’ve been using Grunkle Stan’s toothbrush!” Mabel laughed with a wave of her hand.

“N-no…” the green Gem buffered before hesitantly backpedaling. “Well… yes.”

“I knew it!” Stan exclaimed hotly. “Guess that means I’ll have to start hiding that brush outta your reach, greenie. Fortunately for me, that shouldn’t be too hard since you’re so short.”

Peridot let out a low, aggravated grumble at this before resuming her former calm as she turned back to the curious pair in front of her. “Can we go somewhere else? I’d rather not divulge such important information in the company of your… unsavory accomplices…”

“Hey, anything you’re gonna say to them, you better say in front of us too,” Amethyst remarked, her hands on her hips.

“Yeah, Peridot, you can trust them, just like you can trust us!” Steven encouraged, prompting the green Gem on with a kind smile. A smile that, despite her many reservations, inevitably ended up being enough to make Peridot cave in on her silence completely.

“Ugh, fine,” she groaned, rolling her eyes in exasperation. “But what I say here does not leave this group. Because what I’m going to tell you all about… the Cluster.”

A collective gasp rose up from the others upon hearing this admittance, especially since none of them had expected Peridot to break her longstanding silence concerning the Cluster at all, especially not seemingly out of nowhere like this. Even so, Steven and Mabel couldn’t help but break out into excited smiles, knowing that, somehow or another, they were finally about to succeed in getting this coveted information in the first place. “You’ve cracked!” Steven exclaimed, amazed.

“I have not cracked!” Peridot gasped, appalled as she moved her hand up towards her gemstone. “As you can see, my Gem is perfectly unscathed!”

“No, Peri, he means that you finally decided to play nice!” Mabel grinned, grabbing the green Gem by both of her hands and spinning her around. “It sure took you long enough, we thought you’d never spill about the Cluster!”

“And apparently all it took was letting her stand out in the rain for a few seconds,” Dipper muttered, incredulous.

“Should’ve figured that something stupid like that would get her to talk,” Stan remarked just as sardonically.

“I could’ve sworn that coffee thing was gonna work first…” Amethyst added, just as baffled.

“Oh, speaking of coffee, I expect at least five entire pots of it as payment for delivering this exclusive intel about the Cluster to you all,” Peridot cut in succinctly, stepping in between Stan and Amethyst as they both sent her an annoyed glare. “But that can wait until after we get back.”

“Uh… back from where?” Steven asked.

“From the Prime Kindergarten, of course!” Peridot said as though it was obvious. “I can show you all you need to know about the Cluster, but that’s the only place I can do it. My arm attachments, my fingers, my screen, my log, its all gone! But all of my logs up to date 6-5-2 still exist, backed up in facet five of the Prime Kindergarten!”

“Whoa, hold on,” Dipper cut in, sending the green Gem a distrustful look. “Cluster or no Cluster, we are not letting you take us to the Kindergarten. For all we know, this could be some kind of trap so you can escape or-”

“Or she could be telling us the truth,” Steven interupted earnestly. “We’ll never know unless we find out.”

“Eh, call me crazy, but I’m actually down for a trip to the Kindergarten,” Amethyst shrugged, nonchalant. “But… we gotta wait until Garnet, Pearl, and Ford get back. Just cause I’d like to have a little backup on my side in case you try anything… sneaky.”

“No!” Peridot staunchly refuted upon hearing this. “I don’t want to talk to them! And we don’t need them anyway. All we need is to go to the Kindergarten so I can tell you about the Cluster and we can devise a way to properly deal with the threat that it poses to all of our lives! So…?”

A lengthy bout of silence passed as Peridot purposed this plea to Steven and Mabel in particular, not really caring about getting permission from any of the others. The pair exchanged something of an uncertain glance before they turned to the others, noting apathy from Stan, apprehension from Amethyst, and outright disapproval from Dipper, all from their expressions alone. And yet, despite that silent input, Steven and Mabel still knew that this was their choice to make and their choice alone. And fortunately, they both happened to reach the same exact choice at the same exact time.

“Hm… ok,” Steven said with an affirming nod. “We can go to the Kindergarten.”

“What?!” Dipper asked, baffled that they’d make such a risky choice. “You guys can’t be serious! We can’t just let her-”

“We can because they said yes, you Dipper,” Peridot remarked smugly as she pushed him out of the way. “A truly wise choice if I do say so myself.”

“Buuuut…” Mabel interjected, shaking her finger at the green Gem.

“No… a catch!” she groaned. “Fine! What are your demands?”

“Well first, you gotta promise you won’t try any of your sneaky shenanigans,” Mabel said with a hint of seriousness in her tone. “And…”

“And you’re gonna have to hold my hand the entire time!” Steven picked up where Mabel had left off, taking the green Gem’s hand.

“Ooo, yeah! That’s way better than what I was gonna come up with!” Mabel exclaimed, enthused. “I was just gonna tell her she can’t call any of us clods again until we get back.”

“Heh, like I’d ever agree to a term like that,” Peridot rolled her eyes. “Those other two are fine, but not being able to call you clods what you truly are? That’s simply out of the question. All the same, we should be on our way. Oh, and Amethyst… and… you…?” she said to Stan, clearly not remembering his name. “Don’t forget my coffee on the way out! I’ll need it in order to properly educate you on all things Cluster-related.”

“Ugh… so I guess we just gotta deal with this now, huh?” Amethyst asked as her and Stan took up the rear of the group heading out of the shack.

“Not if we give her decaf, we don’t,” Stan smirked discreetly, holding up a pot of said decaf.

“Oooo… now that’s what I call mean,” the purple Gem laughed, glad to be getting some sort of revenge on the haughty green Gem, even if it was in a rather small way. “I love it!”

The Kindergarten was just as solemn and silent as ever, even as the stalwart group of Gems, kids, and conman warped into it. Peridot’s exact purpose for bringing them there and how it all connected back to the Cluster was still largely unknown, and the green Gem refused to divulge anything further until she was able to access her logs. Which meant that the most any of them could do for now was follow Peridot, wherever she intended on leading them.

“This place just gets worse every time we come here…” Steven noted quietly as they began their voyage through the Kindergarten’s hallowed-out walls, his hand still linked with the green Gem’s.

“Tell me about it, kid,” Stan remarked, shuddering somewhat. “It’s like some sorta nightmare out of a horror flick. N-no offense, Amethyst.”

“Eh, I’m over it,” the purple Gem shrugged, unoffended.

“Well, it certainly is poorly managed,” Peridot spoke up, unenthused. “It must have been in way better shape when you first emerged, Steven.”

“…Emerged?” the young Gem asked, confused.

“Yeah, you’re some kind of quartz, right? You must have been made here, just like I’m guessing Amethyst was.”

“W-wha—how did you know-?” Amethyst attempted to ask before Peridot easily interupted her.

“Well, its rather obvious to deduce based on the functional purpose of this Kindergarten,” the green Gem shrugged. “If I had to guess, I’d say a majority of Earth quartzes were made here, including the two of you.”

“Pfft, come on, Peri, Steven wasn’t made here!” Mabel scoffed playfully.

“She’s right,” Steven nodded. “I came from my mom and dad.”

“Are those some kind of rocks?” Peridot asked, bewildered. “Or another planet?”

“Nope,” the young Gem chuckled as he lifted his shirt up to reveal his gemstone. “My dad is from Earth, but my mom was a Gem. See?”

“So… you’re some sort of… hybrid?” the green Gem’s confusion deepened at this. “How is that possible?”

“O-ok!” Dipper cut in, flustered by the implications of the inevitably incoming discussion. “Maybe we shouldn’t really get into all that right now. Or… ever.”

“Oh, nah, its ok, Dipper,” Steven smiled rather innocently. “I can explain it all in a sweet little two part story I like to call ‘the Ballad of Rose and Greg’.”

“I don’t care,” Peridot held up an unconcerned hand to stop the young Gem before he could say anything else. “What I am concerned with is how… stylistically displeasing these old Era 1 drills are.” The green Gem pointed over at a large, broken injector as they passed by it. “The newer ones have a much nicer finish.”

“Ugh, geez, kid, could you just stop bein’ a huge nerd for like… one minute? Is that too much to ask?” Stan remarked, exasperated.

“…What is ‘nerd’?” Peridot asked, unfamiliar with the concept. Of course, this confusion was more than enough to elicit amused snickers from both Stan and Amethyst, which only served to fill the green Gem with even more questions. “Can you use it in a sentence?”

“Ahem,” Amethyst cleared her throat as she turned to the green Gem. “Nerd. You are… a nerd! Ha!”

The pair broke down into a heavy outburst of laughter, and even Dipper couldn’t hold back a small chuckle at Peridot’s continued bafflement by the insult. Steven and Mabel, on the other hand, were not as amused. “Aw, come on, you guys, that isn’t very nice!” Mabel pouted as the others continued making fun of the increasingly aggravated green Gem.

“Maybe not, pumpkin, but its hilarious!” Stan laughed, slapping his knee from the humor of it all.

“Ugh… I don’t know why I’m even bothering to do this…” Peridot grumbled sourly to herself. “This planet is annoying and everything is annoying. Amongst its transgressions are the lowly humans running rampant everywhere with their overpowered elemental-based weapons and their retractable hook blasters and their irresistible stimulant nectar…”

“Hey! I feel like I’d be offended if I understood half of what you said,” Stan remarked, scowling down at the green Gem.

“Good, you were supposed to be because nothing on this puny planet of yours makes any sense!” Peridot huffed impatiently. “Like, for instance, the need for an Amethyst to take orders from a Pearl and a permafusion!”

“‘Permafusion?’” Amethyst asked, largely paying no mind to the first half of what the green Gem had said. “Is that what you call Garnet?”

“I could call her a lot of things,” the green Gem smirked haughtily. “I could call her… two things! Two clods! Walking around like she’s… one clod! Ha!” Peridot laughed and Amethyst joined in a bit, genuinely amused at the green Gem’s bizarre way of explaining things.

“What’s wrong with that?” Steven asked, not understanding what was so funny.

“She’s not even fame ighting!” Peridot scoffed, rolling her eyes. “She’s, you know, she’s just…” The green Gem pounded her fists together to emphasize her point, a point that none of the kids seemed to really get, even if Amethyst and Stan did to some extent. “You know!”

“Based on how lovey-dovey those two are every time they’re apart, yeah, we do know,” Stan snickered, joining in on the round of joking.

“Ha! You’re a real gem, Peri!” Amethyst added, slapping the green Gem on the back rather hard.

“Y-yes! I am… a Gem,” Peridot nodded in solid, proud agreement.

“Ok, ok,” the purple Gem continued, sobering up somewhat. “Do Steven next? And Dipper and Mabel too! What’s weird about them?”

“Come on, Amethyst,” Dipper groaned, not wanting to continue on with such a pointless conversation. “Do we really have to-”

“Oh, where do I even begin?!” Peridot interupted, stepping in between the kids. “First of all, he’s some sort of hybrid abomination,” she motioned over to Steven first, before glancing over at the twins. “Those two look bizarrely similar to each other to the point that I highly suspect they came out of the same exit hole!”

“Ohhhhh my gosh…” Dipper muttered, completely mortified as he face-palmed over the green Gem’s accidental faux pas. “Someone please make her stop!”

“Peri!” Mabel gasped, just as flustered. “I can’t believe you! Are we gonna have to wash that potty mouth of yours out with soap when we get home?”

“What? No,” Peridot scoffed, not seeing what was wrong with her previous statement. “I’m simply saying that I don’t understand how any of you organics function! You consume so much energy that you constantly have to feed, and you spend so much time expelling that you have a whole room dedicated to it!”

“Ah! N-no!” Steven cut in, also quite embarrassed at the subject matter, even as Stan and Amethyst continued taking great entertainment in it. “S-something else! Talk about something else!”

Fortunately, the green Gem finally did take pause, only to start chuckling herself upon seeing just how hard Amethyst in particular was laughing over the supposed ridiculousness of it all. “Heh, you know, the strangest thing, Amethyst,” she began, snickering lightly all the while. “Is that you think you have to listen to them! You’re the one who should be in charge!”

“Ha! That’s your best joke yet!” Amethyst sneered, clearly not believing it.

“Yeah, the only thing Amethyst should be in charge of is getting into trouble!” Stan added, elbowing the purple Gem playfully.

“Same for you, old guy!” Amethyst quipped, elbowing him right back.

“No, really,” Peridot said, shaking her head laughingly. “The Pearl is a pearl, the so-called ‘Garnet’ is a fusion, the rest of these clods are humans, I don’t even know what he’s supposed to be!” she pointed over at Steven, who was still quite bothered by the green Gem’s implications as she continued. “Amethyst, you’re the only Crystal Gem that’s actually a Gem!”

“Ah… what?” Amethyst asked, her laughter dying down somewhat.

“You outrank everyone on your team,” Peridot explained. “They should be listening to you! You’re a strong, singular, fully-functional soldier, despite the fact that you’re defective!”

The purple Gem’s smile faded altogether upon hearing this, concerned confusion replacing it. “D-defective?”

“Well, sure!” the green Gem exclaimed, as though it were obvious. “You’re small!”

“S-so?”

“Well, you’re not supposed to be!” Peridot scoffed, before letting out a gasp and running over to the nearby Kindergarten wall. “Wait, let me guess… This!” she pointed to the lowest hole, by far the smallest of them all and the most familiar to Amethyst. “This is the hole you came out of! Too small, too low… The exit marks look 500 years newer than every other hole. Hm… this place must have been empty when you came out. No wonder you have no idea what you’re supposed to look like!”

“Peridot…” Steven cut in cautiously, especially upon noticing the rather cross expressions both Amethyst as well as Stan were wearing in light of Peridot’s thoughtless remarks.

However, before he could advise the green Gem to stop, Amethyst put a hand on his shoulder and spoke, her voice low and borderline harsh. “What was I supposed to look like?”

“Well, you’re a quartz,” Peridot explained succinctly. “They’re huge, loyal soldiers. You should be twice your size, at least. Broad shouldered, intimidating… But since you stayed in the ground too long, you don’t really look much like a quartz should at all.”

“Are you saying I’m wrong?” Amethyst hissed, glaring fiercely at the green Gem.

“Gemetically speaking… yes!” Peridot laughed haughtily, not even noticing the building tension all around her. “When you think about it, its all so… funny! Ha!”

The green Gem continued laughing, though clearly, she was the only one taking any sort of amusement in the matter. The kids all exchanged awkward glances, none of them quite sure of what to say. Amethyst simply glanced down sourly, her arms crossed as she cast a shame-filled glare at her own exit hole, begrudging the fact that, for whatever reason, she had stayed there too long, coming out flawed, defective, small as a result. And yet, out of all of them, Stan was the one to break the green Gem’s ill-conceived humor, grabbing her by the front of her uniform and hoisting her up to his level roughly.

“Take it back,” he growled, his tone fierce and formidable as he stared the startled green Gem down unrelentingly.

“Take what back?” Peridot asked, raising a confused eyebrow.

“What you just said about Amethyst,” Stan said, his manner still quite brutal. “Take it back, greenie, or else.”

“What? I was just stating facts,” the green Gem huffed. “She might as well know that she’s a defective Off-Color instead of running around, thinking that she came out right when she didn’t.”

“And what does any of that garbage matter, huh?!” Stan exclaimed hotly, shaking Peridot up a bit. “So what if she ‘didn’t come out right’? I’ve known her for a long time, and let me tell you something about her, greenie, that even a stupid brainiac like you wouldn’t know. She’s the best one of you Gems I’ve ever met, which is why I’m not gonna stand here and listen to someone like you put her down!” With this, the conman threw the green Gem to the ground, turning his nose up at her as he walked past her, not even noticing the stunned stares he was getting from Amethyst and the kids. “I suggest shutting that constantly-running trap of yours, kid. Before you end up saying something you really regret next time.”

A beat of silence passed at this as Amethyst cast another brief glance at the frightened Peridot before hurrying on ahead after Stan. “Hey, uh… thanks…” she muttered as she walked alongside him, still rather downcast all the same.

“Don’t mention it,” Stan said, not looking over at her as he kept his stern sights set ahead. “After all, I know a thing or two about being called a ‘defective’ screw-up too. Maybe not in those exact words, but still.”

“Heh,” Amethyst finally cracked a small, bitter smile at this. “Then I guess us defective screw-ups gotta stick together, huh?”

“Yeah,” the conman grinned himself, though there wasn’t much joy in it. “I guess we do.”

As this exchange happened just out of earshot, Peridot slowly picked herself up off the ground, still largely baffled as to exactly what had just happened. “I don’t get it. That was the incorrect response. None of you laughed, even though what I just said was ‘funny’. Why aren’t you laughing? Why isn’t she laughing!?”

“Maybe its because you’re actually not as funny as you think you are,” Dipper remarked coldly.

“…What?”

“Peridot, you really hurt Amethyst’s feelings just now,” Steven clarified. “And Mr. Pines is Amethyst’s really good friend, so in a way, you sort of hurt his feelings too.”

“How’d I do that?” Peridot asked. “Like I said, I was just saying what any certified Kindergartener worth their gem would clearly be able to see.”

“But it was mean, Peri,” Mabel frowned. “You don’t just go around telling people they’re short. Believe me, I learned that the hard way…” she muttered, exchanging a bit of a knowing glance with her brother.

“No way,” the green Gem shook her head. “I was being… ‘cool’. Amethyst loved it, obviously. Isn’t that right, Amethyst?!” she called over to the purple Gem, who simply glared over her shoulder at her before quickly, crossly looking away. “She… she won’t even speak to me… Its making me feel… smaller.”

“You feel bad!” Steven said firmly, wanting to make sure Peridot saw the error of her ways. “That’s how you made her feel.”

“W-well… who cares about how she feels!?” Peridot snapped forcefully, pretending as though it didn’t matter to her. “Who cares about any of you!? You’re all just rocks! Ruddy, muddy clumps beneath my gravity connectors!” With this, the green Gem let out a loud, vexed shout before she ultimately ended up tripping over a small rock on the ground, falling face first onto the ground. Her fit of anger continued in the form of muffled, frustrated screams into the ground as the kids all stood around her, waiting for her to calm down.

“Could you maybe wrap this little… temper tantrum up so you can tell us about the Cluster already?” Dipper asked dryly, trying to get things back on track. “Unless I was right and you really did bring us here for a trap-”

“I did not!” Peridot darted up sharply, still immensely irritated. “I brought us here to reveal the Cluster’s secrets to you, and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do, regardless of what Amethyst thinks! Now come on!” she began to march on ahead bitterly. “Let’s just hurry to the control room already and get all this over with…”

“I couldn’t agree more…” Dipper sighed tiredly, quite exhausted with the green Gem’s antics by now. Steven and Mabel both hung back for just a brief moment, exchanging a concerned glance over many things: the unknown secrets Peridot was about to divulge to them, the green Gem’s own lack of tact in interacting with just about everyone, and what the fallout could potentially be from it all in the end. Even so, they said nothing of their worries as they simply continued onward, hoping that their dread would be allayed somehow, when in reality… it would only grow in the moments to follow.

“S-so, are you sure this is safe?” Steven asked Peridot after an apprehensive silence. “The last time we were here, there were a bunch of fusion monsters…”

“Yes,” the green Gem nodded. “I was checking their progress.”

“Progress?” Mabel tilted her head on confusion. “What’s that mean?”

“They were unfinished examples,” Peridot said as the group finally arrived at the entrance of the Kindergarten’s underground control room, not wasting any time in descending down into it. “When it became clear that the Earth was no longer a viable colony, Homeworld decided to use it for something else. A series of experiments—a Gem geo-weapon.”

“Oh, did you help?” Steven asked, curious.

“Negative, I wasn’t lucky enough to be around for that,” Peridot said before cracking a bit of a proud grin. “But I read over a few hundred years of reports!”

“Ugh, can you just quit the nerd talk and tell us what this dumb thing is already, kid?” Stan asked impatiently as they finally made it to the prime control room, still as busted and broken as it had been before. “The sooner we get outta here, the better.”

“…Very well…” Peridot said somewhat sharply, heading over to the nearby wall so she could fiddle with some of the wiring within it. “Just have to put this over here and…. There!” Slowly, the control room buzzed back to light and life, even if its pallor was still somewhat dull due to the longstanding damage done to it. “It’s not perfect, but it’ll do for now.” With this, the green Gem walked over to the hand-shaped pedestal resting in the center of the room, though she soon let out a frustrated groan upon realizing she was too short to reach it. “Ugh! Come on!”

“What’s up, ‘dot?” Mabel asked, rather playfully as the others joined her.

“I can’t quite reach the-” Peridot was cut off as Steven easily hoisted her up onto his shoulders, giving her just the boost she needed to reach the pedestal.

“It’s ok to ask for help, you know,” the young Gem said with a soft smile.

“I had it,” the green Gem said stiffly.

“Pfft, who’s the ‘small’ one now?” Stan remarked to Amethyst, eliciting a small snort of cathartic laughter out of her.

All the same, Peridot largely ignored them as she activated the control panel, reducing the height of the pedestal down to her level. From there, she tapped around a bit, before finally locating the logs she was looking for. The walls of the control room were soon aglow with hundreds, if not thousands of images of combined gem shards, much like the kind the fusion mutants themselves were composed of.

“These are the early attempts at artificial fusion,” Peridot began to explain, her eyes trained on the files before her though everyone else was largely awestruck by what they were seeing.

“T-that’s… a lot of Gem shards…” Steven muttered, suddenly nervous.

“No wonder we’ve had to fight so many of those fusion monsters…” Dipper said, just as unnerved. “There must be hundreds of them!”

“Oh, there’s been far many than that,” Peridot informed succinctly. “We were growing them here at this very site, but these were just prototypes for the final product.”

“W-which is…?” Mabel trailed off, not entirely sure if she wanted to know.

The walls shifted to the image of the Earth itself, a large, amorphous marker hovering over land that couldn’t have been too far away from Gravity Falls. “A singular, giant, artificial fusion, comprised of millions of Gem shards: the Cluster.”

“What… the hell…?” Amethyst whispered almost inaudibly, her eyes huge with the implications of what Peridot had just said.

“P-Peridot… are you saying… there’s a giant, mutant Gem the size of the Earth buried under us right now?” Steven asked, shaken.

“Oh, no, when it forms it’ll be much bigger than the Earth,” Peridot said, moving the screen through the inevitable, destructive process that would soon unfold. “Right now, it lies dormant, incubating in the Earth’s core, but when it emerges and takes its physical form, it will destroy the planet.” With this, the model of the Cluster grew and grew inside the Earth, until, in almost no time at all, it burst forth from it, blasting the entire planet to pieces and leaving nothing behind in its horrific wake. A mere example of what would ultimately become of the planet itself if this monstrous mutant fusion was left unchecked.

The reaction to such alarming news was immediate and stark. Mabel covered her mouth to stifle a frightened gasp while Stan, Amethyst, and Steven all started at what little pieces were left of the destroyed model Earth on the screen, completely dumbstruck with shock over the immense danger that rested just beneath their feet. Dipper, however, only felt that shock for a mere moment before it quickly changed to rage towards the green Gem who had just revealed this unbearable truth to them.

“Are you serious?!” he asked harshly, quickly turning on Peridot with his hand practically resting on the hilt of his sword. “All this time, you knew that this… thing was just there in the center of the Earth, ready to destroy it at basically any moment and you weren’t going to tell us about it?!”

“Well, what did I care?” Peridot shrugged. “It’s not like this is my planet.”

“Well, you’re sure as heck standing on this planet right now, you idiot!” Stan snapped, joining his nephew in righteous fury about the green Gem withholding such important intel. “Which means that you’ll be just as dead as the rest of us when this thing blows it up from the inside out!”

“…I’ve… gathered that,” the green Gem surmised tightly. “And I completely understand the severity of the situation. The prototypes are already emerging. The Cluster is next. If we can’t get off this planet, then we’ve got to stop the Cluster instead.”

“Uh, and how are we gonna do that?” Amethyst spoke up curtly.

“I-I have an idea,” Peridot said defensively. “I thought it was impossible before, but now… we have a chance!”

“W-what is it?” Steven asked anxiously. His dread only grew as the green Gem suddenly gripped his shoulders, an ominous, almost manic smile filling her features.

“It’s you, Steven!” Peridot exclaimed brightly. “As well as you, Mabel. Now that you’re both filled in, we can get to work!”

The pair looked to each other with wide eyes, completely bewildered as Peridot began to lead the way up out of the control room. “Um, this might be a dumb question, I know, but… how exactly are me and Steven supposed to help?” Mabel asked fretfully, as they all hurried after the upbeat green Gem.

“Well, you both have all the information that we need about the Earth and its erratic behavior,” Peridot explained. “I suppose we could even garnish some assistance from those three,” she cast a brief glare over her shoulder at Dipper, Stan, and Amethyst. “But ideally, your intel will be the most instrumental by far. Put that together with my expansive knowledge of the Cluster, and we just might be able to stop it!”

“N-no, Peridot, I don’t think you get it!” Steven interjected, grabbing the green Gem’s hand to stop her as they made it back to the surface. “Just because me and Mabel know how clouds work doesn’t mean we know how to stop a giant mutant in the center of the Earth! Besides, the only reason why I know anything about clouds and rain is because my dad told me.”

“Yeah, and I know about it cause me and Dipper learned about it in school a super long time ago!” Mabel added just as intently.

“What are you talking about?” Peridot asked, now quite baffled herself.

“Look, I used to be really scared of thunderstorms,” Steven began. “Just like you. Then Dad explained how rain and all that stuff works, then I wasn’t scared anymore. I didn’t just know all about it right off the bat.”

“Well, I’m sure you have other knowledge about how this planet works,” the green Gem scoffed, annoyed with the kids’ hesitance to take up her plan.

“I mean, sure, we do, but none of that’s gonna help us against a big ol’ fusion monster like this!” Mabel insisted.

“If we really want to stop this Cluster thing, then the five of us won’t be enough to do it,” Dipper interestedly knowingly. “We’ll need someone who can actually help us do something about it. We need Great Uncle Ford, Pearl, and Garnet!”

“I really hate to say it, but the kid’s got a point,” Stan said, his hands on his hips. “Garnet, Pearl, and Ford may all be annoying know-it-alls, but that’s just it: they’re know-it-alls who would know how to deal with something crazy like this way better than I would.”

“I said I don’t need them!” Peridot snapped, resistant. “I didn’t even want to tell any of you about this because I knew that’s exactly what you’d say! Let’s just warp me back to the ‘bathroom’ or whatever you call it and we’ll take care of this! If it looks really bad, then we can just as this ‘dad’ or this ‘school’ for help, right?”

“Ugh, no, we can’t!” Amethyst exclaimed, thoroughly frustrated with the green Gem’s stubbornness. “We gotta stop this stupid thing the right way, which means we gotta-” The purple Gem was cut off by a sudden clamor not too far away from them, as rocks began to shift to give way to the fact that they weren’t as alone as they thought they were.

“Oh no! Gem mutants!” Steven gasped as a small group of various misshapen and mis-colored artificial fusions lumbered towards them. “Everyone, get behind me!” Stan and the twins were quick to do just that as the young Gem formed a sturdy bubble to protect them, though Peridot had been just a few seconds too late to rush over and join them. Amethyst, however, took the initiative, summoning her whip as she lashed out against the aggressive, mindless creatures, even though it was clear she was outnumbered as several of the mutants began to push their way past her. The purple Gem let out a startled gasp upon seeing this, quickly glancing behind her to see that a few of them had already begun pounding on Steven’s bubble violently. And yet, as distracted as she was, Amethyst didn’t even see one of the larger mutants rear up in front of her, ready to land a heavy, damaging blow.

Fortunately, however, Peridot did.

“Amethyst, look out!” the green Gem cried, garnishing the purple Gem’s attention just in time. But she didn’t stop there; for right before the large mutant could slam itself down onto Amethyst, Peridot leapt for her, pushing her clean out of its destructive path. The pair of Gems rolled a bit away from the action, though when they inevitably came to a stop, Peridot found herself resting right on top of Amethyst. Neither of them said anything for a tense, somewhat awkward, instead staring at each other in disbelief and what almost seemed like gratitude until Steven and the others hurriedly rolled the bubble over to them.

“Quick, get in!” Steven warned, dispelling the bubble for the briefest of moments to allow the Gems inside.

“Are you guys ok?” Mabel asked as Peridot quickly, frantically stood.

“I-it was an accident, I swear!” the green Gem exclaimed, her cheeks lighting up in a bright green blush.

“Uh… what was?” Dipper asked, confused.

“N-nothing!” Peridot huffed, even more flustered as she stole another brief glance over at Amethyst. “J-just… do something about these experiments!”

“We are doing something!” Steven protested, pressing against his bubble as the mutants began to converge on it again.

“Something useful!” the green Gem snapped. “Can’t you just destroy them?”

“N-not when there’s this many of them at once!” Dipper countered, gripping his sword tightly just in case the bubble did end up breaking. Which seemed like a very real possibility given how much pressure was being put upon it.

“I-its like we told you!” Steven implored anxiously, trying his hardest to protect them all when it was clearly a losing battle. “This is all we can do on our own!”

“T-then this is it!” Peridot gasped fearfully. “We’re finished!”

“Not yet you aren’t!”

A collective gasp of surprise and relief filled the bubble as Garnet’s steadfast voice echoed from a distance. And soon enough, the Gem leader made her appearance, slamming down onto a handful of mutants with her strong gauntlets, completely unphased. Pearl was close behind, swinging her spear at any creature in her path, dispelling their disjointed forms in graceful succession. Ford rounded off the trio as he came running after the white Gem, a futuristic blaster of his own design in hand as he opened fire on the mutants pressing against the bubble directly, clearing them out swiftly and easily.

“Pfft, what a bunch of showoffs,” Stan remarked, rolling his eyes at their rather dramatic entrance.

“For reals,” Amethyst added, hands on her hips. “Still… they… kinda couldn’t have shown up at a better time…”

“Peridot,” Steven turned to the green Gem as the battle outside the bubble began wrapping itself up. “There’s no way we can stop this Cluster thing on our own. We need the help of Mr. Ford and all three of the Crystal Gems.”

Peridot said nothing in response to this, instead opting to dubiously look past the young Gem and to the trio rescuing them and wondering, for the first time, if maybe, just maybe, he had a point after all.

“Steven! Dipper! Mabel!” Pearl exclaimed, immensely worried after the last of the mutants had been poofed. “Are you three alright?”

Before the kids had so much as a chance to respond, Ford stepped forward, his manner quite fierce as he sent his brother a disapproving glare. “Stanley, what in the world were you and Amethyst thinking letting the children come here, of all places, with her?!” he asked harshly, pointing down at Peridot.

“Hey! Don’t pin this on us!” Stan protested crossly. “She’s the little freak who insisted we all come out to this creep show!”

“Yes, I was,” Peridot said, genuinely accepting the blame.

“Oh no, you don’t, greenie, you’re not about to weasel your way outta-” the conman stopped short, looking down at the green Gem in genuine surprise. “Wait, what?”

“Peridot?” Amethyst asked quietly, also dumbfounded as Peridot boldly stepped up to the front of the group.

“What are you all even doing here?” Pearl asked, baffled.

“Kids, I thought I told you to watch her,” Garnet said, the slightest bit of disappointment in her tone.

“We know, but-” Steven cut himself off as Peridot held up a hand to stop him.

“…They did what they were told,” she began, her manner stiff and somewhat hesitant. “All of them did. I…” She paused, briefly looking back to the kids behind her before letting out a begrudging sigh and continuing on ahead. “Alright, listen up you clo—ugh… Crystal Gems… I’ve made up my mind. I have something to tell you about the Cluster.”

Needless to say that everyone was rather surprised by the green Gem’s relent as Ford and Pearl exchanged a silent, yet stunned gaze. Garnet, on the other hand, kept her usual calm composure, simply stepping out of the way to allow Peridot to lead the way back to the warp pad. “Then by all means,” she said simply, surprising everyone all the more.

“Y-you… can go on ahead,” the green Gem muttered anxiously as she stole a small glance over at Amethyst. “I have some… unfinished business to take care of.”

Garnet nodded in acceptance at this, moving on ahead as Pearl and Ford trailed behind her, muttering curiously to themselves as they wondered if Peridot really did intend on being sincere with her supposed revelations. Stan let out a bit of an annoyed sigh as he joined them, and while the kids and Amethyst began to follow, Peridot hesitantly spoke up to stop them.

“A-Amethyst, listen…” she began, not making eye contact with the purple Gem as she slowly turned to face her. “I… uh…”

“Just spit it out, ok?” Amethyst rolled her eyes, still making her aggravation with the green Gem’s earlier remarks about her quite clear.

“Ugh! Why are you Earth ones so difficult!?” Peridot groaned in severe frustration before she spoke her piece. “This entire planet is backwards! There hasn’t been even one instance of correct behavior exhibited by any one of you Crystal Gems! As far as I know, you’re all defective, every last one of you! But…” the green Gem sighed in shameful defeat, glancing down to the barren, rocky ground before her. “I am no better. I failed my mission, engaged in a taboo fusion with an insane being that wasn’t even a Gem, and now I suppose I’m working with the enemy! And I can’t even get that right! I have apparently ‘hurt’ your feelings, which was not my intention.”

Amethyst’s glare towards the green Gem softened up somewhat at this, but even so, she said nothing to interrupt Peridot as she continued in a much more solemn, respectful tone this time. “If I’ve damaged my standing with the best Gem here, then I’ve made a serious mistake,” Peridot closed her eyes thoughtfully, remorsefully even. “I… I’m still learning. I hope you understand. I’m trying to understand. I’m… I’m sorry… so-”

“Aw, Peri!” Mabel interupted with a huge, delighted smile. “That was so sweet of you!”

“You really are learning!” Steven added, just as impressed.

“Ugh… that’s what I said, isn’t it?!” Peridot snapped, embarrassed.

“Hmph, yeah for a second or two, I almost thought you were actually being sincere about it all,” Dipper deadpanned with a wry smirk as he left to join the others, setting the already irked green Gem off even more.

“I was being sincere!” she exclaimed hotly, though she did back down as Amethyst spoke up.

“Peridot…” she began, her expression unreadable at first until she finally cracked a small, genuine smile. “Thanks.” A small, awkward smile spread across Peridot’s face as relief filled her, knowing that she had somehow managed to repair things between herself and Amethyst after all. Not that the purple Gem would ever let her settle in such a prideful thought for too long. “But you’re still a nerd,” she joked as she turned to walk away, though she did stop briefly to smile over her shoulder at the green Gem once more. “But… uh… you know… when we get back, maybe I’ll talk Stan into brewing you another pot of coffee. My treat.”

“YES!” Peridot gasped, stars of excitement in her eyes. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Pfft, calm down, man, its just coffee,” Amethyst chuckled. “Remind me to never let you try expresso. You’d probably explode or something.”

The purple Gem continued to laugh to herself as she went to go catch up with the others, leaving only Peridot, Steven, and Mabel behind in wake of the green Gem’s earnest apology. The silence between them didn’t last long however as Mabel suddenly caught Peridot up in an elated hug, not even bothering to hide her excitement whatsoever. “Seriously, Peri, that was so nice of you! I guess you really do like us after all, huh?”

“Ugh, I do not,” Peridot huffed as she pushed the girl away and crossed her arms. “I-I simply found it to be tactful if I made peace with Amethyst. F-for… strategic purposes!”

“Yeah, sure strategic,” Mabel grinned, not believing her for a moment. “If that strategy was making friends, then you’re doing a great job at it! You’ve already come so far today alone with telling us about the whole Cluster thing and everything! Who knows? Maybe someday you’ll end up being a Crystal Gem too!”

“Please,” the green Gem scoffed in disgust. “Its bad enough I have to associate myself with those clods. The thought of actually joining them is… augh, its too much to even bear!”

“Well, hey, you never know,” Steven said with a small, proud smile. “So… after all that, how do you feel now?”

Peridot paused, glancing up towards Amethyst afar in the distance before looking down to herself once more. The green Gem didn’t know how to explain it based on anything she had experienced before, but she knew. Something was beginning here. Something that would change her life more than she ever thought possible in ways she could have never even imagined. Which was why her voice was soft and subdued as she offered her answer, wondering exactly where this new tenuous alliance between herself and her now-former enemies would end up taking her next. “…Big.”

#jen writes #universe falls #gravity falls #steven universe #crossover #fanfic #steven #peridot #stan #amethyst #dipper #mabel #garnet #pearl #ford #to con a clod #too far #when it rains #keyword is kindergarten

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bygosscarmine · 5 years

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The Regrets of Park Soo Bong, Manhwa Assistant

a Soo Bong one-shot set in the W: Worlds Apart continuity

Set between Ch. 61 & 62, at the end of Volume II: Worlds Away

(1646 words)

In which Soo Bong tries to patch things up with Ms. Editor, and things go as poorly as usual. (ft. Kim Seul Gi’s character from Flower Boy Next Door)

Park Soo Bong was not sure what he had done in a past life to deserve his lot in this one, but lately he was adding several layers to his past-self's sins in his imagination.

"Hello, Editor Kim," he said, as he picked up her call with fear and trembling.

"YAAAAA" she exclaimed, the volume only slightly cut by the complex wireless relay system between them.

"Yes, see, I can explain," he said, glancing around the cafe where he was working, wondering if she'd been heard by the room in general.

"We had agreed," she said, now in an eerily quiet tone, "that there was going to be a little after-matter. A note from the author. I get an e-mail from you with a proposal to add a bit of an epilogue. Some scenes. Sure, I think, I'll consider it. Then this morning my alerts--because I've had to get a feed for alerts, so I know when anything is happening around here--tells me, Hello! Good morning! THERE HAS BEEN A NEW CHAPTER POSTED IN W BY OH SEUNG MOO."

"Yes. That is true. See, he was supposed to send me the draft. But he wanted to just be finished with it. He just posted it."

"He's not supposed to post it," she said, sounding baffled. "He's not supposed to have access to post it. How in the world does this keep happening?"

Soo Bong sighed.

There was silence on the line for a moment.

"Ms. Editor," Soo Bong ventured, "can I buy you a drink?"

The cackling laughter the emanated from his phone's speaker made him wince, but not because of its volume. He was afraid for a moment he had finally broken her.

"Oh boy. How wonderful. My most troublesome comrade wants to get me a drink. When do you think I will have time to go out for a drink? Maybe somewhere between talking my most unpopular author off the ledge and persuading my most money-making author he doesn't want to do a zombie romance? See, I'm sure I've said this before. I repeat myself a lot because I am so sleep-deprived it is mentally decapacitating. Decapitating?"

"Incapacitating," Soo Bong offered.

"Yes, thank you. I DO NOT SLEEP. I HAVE TOO MUCH WORK. EVERY MOMENT WE SPEAK I AM GETTING MORE LATE WITH THAT WORK. Goodbye."

The call blooped to a close.

Soo Bong stared at the phone. Then he had a terrible idea.

A few hours later, he stood in front of the publishing house's highrise building holding a bag containing fried chicken, jjajangmyun, and kimbap--just to be sure. It was a beautiful afternoon, the sun just dipping toward the river so the day grew golden. He had to leave this beauty behind to face his worst fear. Well, one of them. His worst fear was probably actually being eaten to death by beetles from the feet up, but humiliating himself in front of a superior was definitely up there.

The publishing house spread over four floors, midway up the building, and for a moment when he got in the elevator Soo Bong panicked, sure he had forgotten which floor her office was on. But when he stepped off at the 11thfloor, there was a reassuring sign that listed the departments housed here, including "Webtoon/Internet Media".

He steeled himself with a giant, sheepish grin and walked in.

Nodding and smiling, he made his way through the labyrinth of offices with furtive sidelong glances for the right department sign. When he finally made his way to the back he remembered it was in the corner, and turned left. He almost, but not quite, missed the correct cubicle because the chair was empty.

He was, however narrowly saved by a muttered expletive in a familiar tone. So he timidly said, "Editor Kim?" and poked his head in.

Editor Kim was struggling over the top of her large monitor, doing something with the wires in the back.

"Can I help you?" he asked, recognizing the signs of distress in the face of technology.

She whipped up, squinted at him, then laughed unpleasantly.

"What are you doing here? You brought me food? Bless you, what a little brown-noser. My keyboard has been going out for weeks now. The IT guy says I have beaten it to death, and it should be replaced, but this model is discontinued. If I jiggle the connector usually it comes back. It's fine."

It was disconcerting, the difference it made to catch her off-guard, struggling in the glaring fluorescent light. It gave her a very different aspect from business meetings set in the conference rooms or over the phone, at the mercy of the power of her voice. She was small in stature, with a wide, stubbornly dimpled face. The glare on it had no less ferocity for her diminutive size, but something about the moment made Soo Bong remember that her tirades came from a place not only of exhaustion, but fear of failure, too.

"Yes, I brought you food. I figured I couldn't do much else, but I know we've given you trouble. And I'm really sorry about it, but there's not a ton I can do."

Editor Kim flopped onto her chair, then clasped her hands over her lap and scrutinized him.

"You are worried," she pronounced. "The career of Oh Seung Moo is going sideways and you are going to have to find a new job. You're trying to make nice because you're running out of luck."

"Of course I'm worried," said Soo Bong, stung. "But even if I'm worried about the future I'm still neck-deep in work to do for Oh Seung Moo. And I'm trying to make that work go easier for both of us. Including taking care of you."

"Please don't, that's mypleasure to have," said a pleasantly deep male voice from behind Soo Bong.

It was Soo Bong's turn to whip around.

He looked up into the face of a fair-skinned, tall young man with irrepressible dimples set in a square, winsome face. He was carrying two steaming to-go cups, and shouldered past Soo Bong to say, "Here's that tea. Why haven't you fixed your keyboard yet? I told you Oh Jin Rok has a box of old keyboards you can use until we can replace or repair it. I'll bring one tomorrow."

There was a gentle mother-hen aspect to the fellow, swooping in on Editor Kim like a brooding bird. Soo Bong, who had been the recipient of tirades on the state of working singleness in South Korea, was a little disturbed to realize that she apparently had a boyfriend now. She sat, clutching her tea, and let the young man lean much more easily over her monitor to wriggle the connection until she gasped.

"It's back on!"

Then she took a sip of her tea and made an exaggerated face of delight at the taste.

It occurred to Soo Bong he was seriously intruding now.

"I'm glad," he said, hurriedly. "I will just leave this for you, give it to co-workers if you like. I just hope you can understand that we're all trying our best. And I'm sorry it's stressing you out."

"Well," she said, in a totally different voice than he had ever heard her use, with an affectionate gaze on her handsome young man, "I do understand your position. And I know that you have worked hard to make everything go on smoothly despite the catastrophes we've been beset by. I'm annoyed because the direction the manhwa went in was not what we'd planned together, but I also understand sometimes reality interferes with the vision in publishing. Sometimes its my job to make those bad decisions. I won't do you a bad turn just because of the difficulties. And honestly, once you're through helping Writer Oh with all this final contract closure and so on, you should change your resume to something like agent or liaison. You've seen more nuts and bolts than any assistant I know. no offense, Honey."

"I like it that way," her boyfriend averred. "I'm more a vision-and-execution guy."

Soo Bong thought it was pretty visionary to be helping Yeon Joo to learn to draw and execute the epilogue to W so they could shut down the portal between worlds, but he could hardly say that. So he did what he always did when authority figures had said the final word. He apologized for the intrusion, and fled.

Outside it was still a beautiful afternoon. He drove his car down to the river and tried to ignore the pinging of his phone with alerts for the reviews of W, the e-mails from the publishing house. He tried to envision himself in Editor Kim's position, as the thing he did all day every day, and shuddered. Then he frowned, thinking of her boyfriend. That man could definitely have come out of a manhwa, just like Chul. What was a comics assistant doing looking that handsome? Did he moonlight as an escort or a model or something?

When the alert he'd set up flashed activity on the W page, though, he opened it in dread. "She is going to kill me," he said without any doubt whatsoever, as he scrolled down the pages. "She's going to think I was there just to soften this blow."

He glared at the new "story" that unfolded before his eyes. It was so awkward to know that somewhere, these two were actually up to whatever it was they were doing in front of the whole internet.

"At least Yeon Joo is living the dream for the moment," he said to himself. "Just what the Chul fangirl in her always wanted, really. I'm surprised it took her this long."

He sighed, and restarted his engine to get back somewhere he could set up his laptop and get back to crisis management.

#W Two Worlds #crossover #Flower By Next Door #kdrama #fanfiction #fic #W Worlds Apart #Kim Soo Bong #Kim Seul Gi

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ficdirectory · 6 years

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Somewhere Inside (Disuphere series #4) Chapter 61

(To listen, click here) - 13:39

For dinner, their last night together, it’s kinda fitting that Pearl suggests tatertot hotdish. It’s the same thing she packed for Jesus to take on the trip home with him, and she has a ton left. So, it’s heating in the pan in their oven.

Jesus is a bit more relaxed about this meal. He trusts Pearl with tatertot hotdish because of his history with it. Because she’s proven to him that she’ll go out of her way - with this food - to make sure he’s safe.

They all sit at the table together. Levi’s still next to Jesus, because Jesus is pretty sure unless he gives Levi specific directions that he doesn’t need Levi to sit by him? Levi will just keep assuming he does, and keep doing it.

It’s kinda awesome. To not have to repeatedly ask his friends to accommodate him. That they just get it.

The hotdish looks different this time, but Jesus can’t put his finger on why until he tastes it.

“Pearl, what did you do to this? It’s even better now,” Jesus wonders, around a bite.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just got a little creative, over the years. This one also had Levi’s seal of approval, so I figured it was a safe bet.”

“It’s really freaking amazing,” Jesus insists.

“So...I know we didn’t talk about this...like, I didn’t ask you…” Mariana ventures. Jesus thinks for a minute she might be talking to him, but she’s talking to Levi. “But I was thinking...like...if you’d feel better if all of us went next door with you once, before we go? So you could feel extra protected?”

Levi blinks. “I guess… Yeah, that’d be cool. I know a few of you already went over there with us. But if you all wanted to come, that’d be cool.”

“I do. I love your cabin,” Francesca pipes up around a bite of hotdish. “Do you ever use the swing, Levi?”

Jesus is surprised that Frankie’s asking the very question Jesus had thought himself.

“Nah, it’s Pearl’s,” he says.

“She shares,” Francesca tells him seriously.

“Yeah,” Pearl adds, smiling. “I share. If you ever wanna try it out, you’re welcome to. You live there, now, too.”

“I know. I just...didn’t wanna be rude, or whatever.” Levi ventures.

“It’s not rude if you ask first,” Francesca insists. “And only use it if Pearl says yes.”

“Good to know,” Levi nods.

“Hey! Did you guys know that how I jump from fire alarms and being scared is a CP thing?”

“Is it really?” Pearl asks, interested.

“Yeah,” Frankie nods. “Dominique and I Googled it. We read a thing by another person with CP like me. She said fire alarms scared her.”

“What do you think about that?” Jesus asks.

“It’s pretty good,” Francesca nods, satisfied. “Because it makes me feel not-alone.”

“That is pretty good,” he nods.

“Sorry I keep talking,” Francesca apologizes. “I just have one more thing to say. A question.”

“What is it?” Jesus asks.

“Well, it’s for Mariana,” Francesca says, turning to her. “Because you’re the only person here who might know the answer.”

Jesus listens as a hush falls over the table. It’s not that anybody’s particularly into whatever gossip they might learn. It’s out of respect for Mari. Minimizing the crosstalk for her, so she has less to filter. Jesus is gonna miss the hell out of the Avoiders, who just seamlessly adapt like this. And Jesus is pretty sure Mariana and Frankie will miss it even more.

“Okay,” Mariana nods. “What’s up?”

“Do you… Well, I mean…” Francesca casts a worried look to Pearl. To Dominique. Jesus wonders what they know.

“You’re doing fine,” Dominique encourages Francesca. “You can ask. You don’t need to feel scared or ashamed.”

“I can’t help it…” Francesca giggles, nervous. “I keep feeling like I’m gonna get ignored...or in trouble. One of those.”

“Well, I won’t ignore you,” Mari reassures. “And if it’s something you’re really wondering, I’ll know you’re not...like…”

“Acting out?” Jesus asks, attempting to fill in Mariana’s blank.

“Right. So you wouldn’t be in trouble,” Mariana finishes.

“It’s just… Do you know who my dad is? Pearl just found out who her dad is and I can’t stop wondering. About mine. Moms won’t say anything about him.”

Jesus watches as Mariana opens her mouth. Closes it. “Um...I do know…” she admits, squinting. “Just not sure if I can think of his name right now.”

“Well whenever you do think of it? Will you tell me?” Francesca asks. “It’s important.”

“Of course I will. Yeah.” Mariana nods.

“Promise?” Francesca asks. “Because Moms always act like it’s some big secret I can’t know.”

“Yeah…” Jesus mutters under his breath.

“What?” Levi asks.

“I just...don’t agree with hiding that kind of info from a kid.” Jesus comments, disapproving.

“I’ll tell you. When I remember. I promise,” Mariana says. “And thanks. For knowing I will remember, and not...acting like I won’t.”

Francesca shrugs. “You don’t treat me like a baby. I don’t treat you like a baby. Bam. Respect. By the way? Sorry if I was supposed to wait for Feelings Time to tell you that, Mari. Just...I waited a long time already.”

“I get it,” Mariana reassures. “No one’s mad. Keep eating, though.”

Jesus tenses just a little, but Dudley’s here. Sitting right where Jesus can always feel him.

“She was telling Francesca,” Levi murmurs. “And it’s like Mari said. No one’s mad.”

“Right,” Jesus breathes.

“Levi? Is it cool if we go out on the dock in a bit?” Dominique asks.

“Oh my God, I was hoping, yeah.” Levi nods.

“Are you okay staying in, babe? We’re not trying to leave you out,” Dominique reassures Francesca.

“I know. I got to go out on the dock with you guys. It was good. But just like, regular-good, not like amazing-good. So, I can stay and be Pearl’s assistant for Feelings Time snacks. Or Mariana. Or Jesus. Whoever wants to make them,” Francesca reasons.

“Okay, sounds good,” Dominique smiles.

“So, would y’all really be cool with walking me back next door sometime?” Levi asks.

“Yeah,” Dominique nods. “Maybe when we’re done here. Before we head back inside?”

“If you’re sure it’s fine,” Levi insists.

“It is,” Dominique nods.

It’s quiet. And Dominique doesn’t wanna think about what’s coming. About the idea of leaving Levi behind here. Even, leaving Pearl. They’ve both proven themselves over the week. To be solid people. Friends she’d want in her corner in the best of times. And in the worst.

“So...did your sis talk to you?” Dominique asks.

“About her mean Grandma?” Levi side-eyes her. “Yeah, she did. We’re actually gonna meet up with my mom sometime. Have dinner.”

“Without mean Grandma, right?” Dominique confirms.

“Oh, she is definitely not invited. I hope Pearl changes her number again though. And I hope her family stops bugging us…”

“Let me know how family dinner goes?” Dominique asks. “My parents are big fans of those. We do spaghetti a lot of times.”

“My mom and I make lasagna,” Levi confesses. “We haven’t in a while. But, it’s about time. Hey, what if…” he swallows. “What if...Carla comes around again? What if she, like, emails, or starts harassing us? Does that mean Jesus is really gonna out all the stuff she did to me? Like...maybe she doesn’t really think anybody has dirt on her?”

“Jesus is smart,” Dominique reassures. “He’ll find a way to hit her where it hurts, while also respecting you and Pearl.”

“But like…” Levi shudders. “I just...don’t want it getting out. It’s weird. ‘Cause part of me? I feel like, what am I hiding for? Why am I ashamed? She should feel that. I should get to talk the hell about it if I want to. But then the other part of me...is scared to death.”

“‘Cause she threatened you,” Dominique says. She has a way of asking questions so they aren’t questions. Because she’s pretty sure she’s onto something.

“Hell yeah, she did. There’s this proof I got. That she probably got, too, still? I mean, the way Pearl never gave her a key and she had that? The way she tossed the cabin? It’s like she was looking for mine. Even if she did, though, she wouldn’t be able to get in it…” Levi reaches for the beaded lanyard Dominique has noticed - purple and black - around his neck. He pulls it out from under his tee shirt. Several keys are on it. “Lock box key, with all the rest,” he gestures.

“Smart,” Dominique breathes, impressed.

“Figured she wouldn’t notice it, even if she noticed…” Levi tucks the necklace back beneath his shirt.

His words about Carla not noticing one key with all the others makes Dominique think of how she couches her lies similarly. Hidden among several truths, they are less likely to stick out. Strangely, she has no desire to lie right now.

“Don’t wanna go,” Dominique admits. “I mean, I do. I miss Roberta so much I keep dreaming of her.”

“What do you dream?” Levi asks, intrigued.

“Last night? I dreamed she went to Broadway to watch shows without me. And she was angry ‘cause the ushers kept kicking her out of the theaters.”

“You said she’s your cat, right?” Levi mentions, laughing.

“Yeah. She likes showtunes.” Dominique insists, as serious as she can be, ‘til she starts laughing, too. “She really, actually does. Her favorite’s RENT. Least favorite’s Cats.”

“Huh.” Levi muses.

Dominique’s sure he’s about to say he’s not familiar with either of those, when he starts to sing. And his voice...is easily one of the most incredible she has ever heard:

“Love doesn’t discriminate between the sinners and the saints. It takes and it takes and it takes. And we keep loving anyway. We laugh and we cry and we break and we make our mistakes. And if there’s a reason I’m by her side when so many have tried, then I’m willing to wait for it. I’m willing to wait for it…”

“Okay,” Dominique smiles.

“Does Roberta have an opinion on Hamilton?” Levi asks.

“She likes a good Cabinet Battle,” Dominique shares. “Both of them. I think she just likes the rapping.”

“Ah, okay!” Levi smiles. “A cat with some taste! I like that!”

“All my friends can sing, and it’s like, this big secret…” Dominique mutters, laughing to herself.

“What do you mean?” Levi asks.

“I mean, y’all are more like me than I thought,” Dominique confesses. “But especially you. None of these guys know musicals. I’m teaching Francesca. She wants to learn some songs so Roberta will like her? But I don’t think it’s really her scene.”

“She can sing, though?” Levi asks.

“She can. Mariana can. You can,” Dominique lists.

“I assume you can,” Levi says.

“You’d assume correctly. But I’m not about to right now. I’m done with that performing on demand shit,” she mutters, sliding from carefree conversation to the opposite in half a second flat.

“I won’t ask you to,” Levi says, quiet.

“People used to. You know?” she comments, catching his eye for a second and then looking back out at the lake.

“Avoiders don’t make each other do anything we don’t feel comfortable doing. I didn’t mean to...like...put you on the spot about singing. You just...seem to know a lot of Broadway. Pearl doesn’t. Can’t sing a lick, either.”

Dominique sighs. “So, you were just looking to relate?”

“I guess, yeah. Nobody up here is really into that. Everybody’s super conservative.” He wrinkles his nose.

“Nasty,” Dominique shakes her head. “So...y’all have zero mental health services. Living right close to the people who hurt you both. And the town’s full of conservatives?”

“I know, right?” Levi winces.

“You gotta get out of here…” Dominique laughs nervously.

“I know,” Levi grins, nervous, too.

“Seriously. This is a bad place for y’all to be. Come to California. One of Pearl’s friends? Char? She lives in LA.” Dominique adds.

“And?” Levi asks.

“And, maybe if you didn’t wanna live at Gateway with Jesus and I, Char would let you and Pearl live with her. Oh. Maybe not. Shoot. Okay.” Dominique goes quiet again. “I’ll keep thinking.”

“Maybe we could all just stay…” Levi sighs. “You know? Maybe time could stop? And everything could just stay like this?”

“But with like a quick scenery change,” Dominique suggests. “Where we all just snapped our fingers and landed in San Diego. With sun, mental health services, and open-minded people. And two-thirds of the Avoiders…”

“Oh, God, if only,” Levi laughs, but there are tears in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Dominique echoes. “If only…”

#fic: somewhere inside

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maychorian · 6 years

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Weekly Voltron Fic Recs #61

Rules: You can find past weekly rec lists here, and non-list recs in my general fic rec tag. Also follow @maychorianrecs for individually tagged posts, the easier to search and reblog. This is stuff I like, and I have a huge bias toward Lance, hurt/comfort, and general fluff, in that order. Gen unless otherwise noted. Please comment on the fics if you read and enjoy them!

No Time For Getting Old by QueenofCheese (Supertights) for burrsir Words: 4,509 Author’s Summary: Shiro might’ve forgotten what day it is but no one else in his life has. My Comments: Perfect birthday fic, sweet and warm and lovely. It made me nostalgic and happy. Shiro deserves all the love.

put this stuff back where it came from, or so help me by prettyshiroic (AnalystProductions) Words: 9,055 Author’s Summary: “Unbelievable.” Platt’s eyes widen, posture straightening and perking up at the words. For some reason, the mouse looks positively content. Oh. Right. Keith almost forgot. The mouse doesn’t get sarcasm. “No that - that is not a compliment!!” —- After a long mission away, Keith returns to a few big surprises… My Comments: Sequel to a previously recced fic about Platt going with Keith to the Blade base. It’s funny and heartwarming and sweet and unexpected and so, so good. I love the OCs, and I love how the author writes Keith and Kolivan and Regris, too. Such a fun fic.

You are home to me by thisfairytalegonebad Words: 6,725 Author’s Summary: When Keith is minorly injured in a mission, Kolivan sends him back to Voltron to have him healed in a pod. Keith gets to spend time with his family. My Comments: I love the relationships Keith has in this fic, with both Kolivan and the Voltron team. It really felt like a homecoming, and it was very soft and warm, especially at the end.

The Weak and the Strong by Bandity Words: 10,483 Author’s Summary: Lance was glad it wasn’t actually raining. It would have made him uncomfortable to get soaked. Not that he was comfortable lying in this alleyway, watching the world spin above him. He knew he needed to call for help, but his head hurt so much and, while he was ashamed of it, he was scared. He didn’t know how much time had gone by since he lost consciousness. He didn’t even know where he was exactly. He didn’t know if that man would be back. My Comments: New favorite fic. This just has so many things I love: Lance getting hurt, a protective team, aftermath and follow-up and consequences and just, ugh, it’s so good, so many of those little whumpy details that hit the h/c lover right in the best place, and emotional comfort as well as physical healing, just everything is amazing.

Common Enemy by SonderQuill (underHiswings) Words: 3,689 Author’s Summary: Shiro wished Allura was here. He wasn’t good enough at diplomacy yet. The meeting he was supposed to chair was getting out of hand—and fast. My Comments: Nice, light fic with Shiro figuring out a diplomatic conundrum, with Matt and Pidge along for the ride. Some great action and fun, humorous dialogue along the way.

I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine (it’s not a problem) by AnaliseGrey Words: 8,341 Author’s Summary: Shiro’s definition of ‘ok’ doesn’t always match the definition his team uses. My Comments: Great Shiro whump and comfort, in the style of “5+1,” everyone getting a chance to help Shiro through something difficult. My favorite was probably Lance’s chapter and maybe the last one, but that’s because I’m biased. They’re all lovely.

Birthday bash 2017 by kitsune13tamlin Words: 5,843 Author’s Summary: so it was Shiro’s (kinda) birthday. And why celebrate a day when you can celebrate an entire week? A fic a day, some short, some long, to explore and celebrate a one of a kind guy. My Comments: Lovely collection of ficlets, each different than the last. Some are angsty and some are sweet, but all are worth reading.

Grounded by FroldGapp Words: 2,843 Author’s Summary: There was no rulebook for the life they’d made. All Krolia could do was make it up as she went along. My Comments: Season 5 spoilers. Angsty and sweet and a little heartbreaking. I love the worldbuilding, all the little moments, and especially the ending.

But At Least by yet_intrepid Words: 2,411 Author’s Summary: He should check his texts, Shiro thinks, as he picks his way around scattered clothes and papers and alien objects towards the door. He should see where Keith is, if he’s okay. He should eat something; he should get back to his job search; he should clean the kitchen; there’s so much to do and it’s all so damn small and yet it’s harder than saving the universe ever was. My Comments: Heartbreakingly realistic, but so, so good. I absolutely love these aftermath stories, and I love the idea of the paladins plus Matt sharing an apartment, even though there’s not enough room and they’re exhausted and readjusting to civilian life is so, so hard. It’s gonna be a great series, I can tell already.

Here to See You Through by yet_intrepid Words: 1,931 Author’s Summary: For a second Matt thinks the room is empty, so he swings the door all the way open with a deep breath of relief, letting his backpack slide down from his shoulders. Then he hears the crying. “Shit,” Matt says again, because he is so good at words. So very good at them. “Uh, Pidge?” “Fuck off,” says Pidge. My Comments: Part of a series, and here we get some of that good platonic comfort to counteract all the hurt. Matt and Pidge are the sweetest siblings. Lovely.

Repeat After Me by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions) Words: 7,512 Author’s Summary: The end of February is coming up, and both of the twins have strong ideas of how it should be spent My Comments: Part of a series, and this is such a great addition, a birthday fic with Shiro and his brand-new twin conspiring behind each other’s backs to give each other great day, and succeeding better than they realize.

A Different Story Much the Same by nadagio Words: 4,205 Author’s Summary: Second Lieutenant Lance McClain isn’t exactly thrilled to be a cargo pilot, but sometimes the job comes with extra perks… Like visiting the Castle of Lions.What should be a simple in and out resupply mission takes an unexpected turn. My Comments: Fun little snippet, just enough to whet your appetite and make you wish for more, but what’s here is delightful.

Fics with Season 5 Spoilers Under the Cut:

Prove It by TheClassiestHat Words: 2,048 Author’s Summary: At long, long last, Krolia finds herself reunited with her son. And the reunion goes… less than perfectly. My Comments: Season 5 spoilers. Angsty and realistic continuation of that scene with Keith and Krolia. I could definitely see it going this way, though I hope it doesn’t.

second guessing real life by hollow_city Words: 2,152 Author’s Summary: ”are you okay?” “i don’t know.” or, shiro asks for help. My Comments: Season 5 spoilers. I like this vision of how things could have gone between Lance and Shiro after their talk. A lot. I think canon is going to be much more dramatic, but something like this would be easier. For everyone.

importance by nigiyakapepper Words: 2,928 Author’s Summary: “Mom left right?” “Kid, you already know this. She had to do something more important.” Keith goes quiet after that. He doesn’t know what more important could be, but he—their family—is less than whatever it is. The knowledge settles under his skin. - - Snapshots of Keith growing up. My Comments: Season 5 spoilers. I love this idea for Keith’s backstory, the details woven into to it, and just the whole thing. It’s a beautiful read. But I do need someone to tell Keith just how very important he is.

Lost and Found by IcyPanther Words: 5,950 Author’s Summary: [Season Five Spoilers] Something is wrong with Shiro. Lance can feel it. He’s determined to find answers and returns to the Astral Plane to do so. All is most definitely not as it seems and it’s going to be up to Lance to save the day. If, well… he can save himself first. / “Sh-Shiro,” he choked out. A dark laugh sounded behind him. “Come now. We both know that’s not true.” My Comments: Season 5 spoilers. Somewhat dark and very cool take on Lance searching for Shiro after the events of the recent episodes. I enjoyed it, though my preference is for a nicer Kuron than we get here.

Strike a Match by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions) for cofie Words: 4,938 Author’s Summary: Shiro realizes why his head hurts, and Lance is faced with the reality of responsibility. Based on art by Littlecofeiart. My Comments: Season 5 spoilers. This is horrible, but I love it. I absolutely believe that Shiro, any Shiro, would go this far to protect his team. And I love Lance being so sweet and protective, good lord.

#voltron legendary defender #weekly voltron fic recs #fic rec #vldgen

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notesfromnayeshi · 6 years

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Group Reread: Notes on Chapters 58 - 62

Chapter 58

“Standing together like this, bickering without any real anger, it was easy to forget that they were not lovers. It was even harder to remember that they never had been. He knew the heat of John’s naked skin against his own body.”

It’s interesting that he says ‘John’ here when he always thinks of him as Jath’ibaye in these sections.

“You realize you’re advocating for the same people who just tried to sacrifice you to the Bousim house?” Jath’ibaye asked. “They’re just scared,” Kahlil replied. “And they don’t know me.”

Gosh, Kahlil is so much less vindictive than Ravishan was. I think he mellowed a lot in Nayeshi. I cannot imagine Ravishan easily forgiving the council, much less trying to see things from their point of view.

“Is your bath on the left? Mine is. The layout of our apartments seems pretty similar.” “They’re identical,” Jath’ibaye said.”

He didn’t even have to think about that for a second. He knows exactly what Kahlil’s rooms look like. I can’t help but think there’s something going on there, like he wanted Kahlil to feel like John’s rooms are his own.

“A model,” Jath’ibaye replied without much interest. “The soil and stones are linked to the real lands. Ji built it to keep track of things outside of Vundomu. I just use it to grow varieties of winter moss.”

John is just so precious.

“Kahlil watched as Jath’ibaye reached under his pillow and fished out a pair of russet long johns.”

For real question, why is John keeping his pajamas under his pillow? Is this a thing that people do?

“It doesn’t have to be anything you don’t want. Just lie beside me, so that I can know you’re safe.”

Oh gosh, there’s just so much going on here. This is so revealing of John’s state of mind.

Chapter 59

“The voice broke and cut out like a bad radio signal. It was thin and desperate. Something white skittered through his sleeping mind. Bones wired together with copper. ”

Oh gosh, this is Rousma calling to him. She has been alone with evil Loshai and Fikiri for so long!

“As Kahlil watched, the scars marring Jath’ibaye’s chest seemed to fade away.”

I wonder if this is the scars literally fading or if Kahlil’s attention is just being drawn away. If it’s the first, why did it happen to suddenly a few days after the incident?

“The expression was neither brilliant nor breathtaking. Kahlil doubted that many people would have found it alluring. Jath’ibaye’s smile was simply too pure. He radiated an innocent, unguarded happiness. ”

I’m sorry, but how is that not alluring?

“But then, Ravishan wasn’t here to claim Jath’ibaye. It was Kahlil’s turn to have a lover. This lover.”

It’s kind of interesting how it took both the work and sacrifices of both Ravishan and Kahlil in order to get to this moment. If Kahlil hadn’t gone to Nayeshi, then John would never have come to Basawar. If Ravishan hadn’t met John and fallen in love and died, Kahlil would not have this future to wind up in.

“Not me. I have to admit I miss my minty-fresh gel.” “Not so fond of our Basawar gum-scouring grit?” Jath’ibaye teased.”

I love this role reversal! Kahlil referring to Nayeshi toothpaste as his and John referring to Basawar as if he’s a native. At some point Kahlil points out that John has lived there longer than he ever did, and this is a great moment that shows it.

“I’d like to give it a try. But Eriki’yu mentioned that you have duties for me. If there’s something you need done, I’ll do that instead.” Jath’ibaye started to say something but then just released a heavy sigh. He gazed at Kahlil and then looked past him to the model of Basawar spread across his table.”

I wonder what it was that he wanted Kahlil to do? My guess is that he would prefer Kahlil stayed safely inside translating that book. Poor, overprotective John. :D

Chapter 60

“He didn’t enjoy the sensation of those incantations, as they stirred boyhood memories of his own training, when Dayyid had trapped him in the darkest chambers of Rathal’pesha and done all he could to break him. ”

Does this sound as horrifying to everyone else as it does to me? I’m back on the hating Dayyid train. Woo woo!

“Everything is fine—” Kahlil began, but to his surprise, Pesha suddenly threw herself at him, gripping him in a fierce hug. She buried her head against his chest and squeezed so hard that Kahlil had to fight to breathe.”

I’m appreciating Pesha so much more on this reread. She is a doll baby.

When Besh’anya asks Kahlil if the Payshmura priests tortured him and he says no, she looks disappointed. I thought that was a bit strange. Maybe she was hoping for some anti-Payshmura propaganda?

“Kahlil held out his hand. Jath’ibaye took in the small gash and the deep concern in his expression faded away. Then he pulled Kahlil into his arms and held him.”

This will be the death of me. Overwhelmed-with-worry-and-affection is my favorite look on John.

Kahlil recounts what happened in his version of the confrontation with Dayyid in Candle Alley and it is absolutely devastating. And then that fact that he’s so traumatized by the experience that he goes over 12 years without any physical contact whatsoever. The heartbreak is so real.

Chapter 61

“The dark red blood staining her paws and claws was Jath’ibaye’s. No other blood could offer her more power. Though Kahlil had found the amount Jath’ibaye had readily sacrificed disconcerting. ”

Given the amount of blood that Kahlil has sacrificed, this is either very hypocritical or John has given a disconcerting amount.

“How old are you, Ji?” “Oh, I’ve probably stayed in this worn out body too long. Sixty years is a long time for dog-flesh to last, even with a witch wearing it.”

Ok, now I’m straight-up confused. How old is Saimura? I pictured him as younger than John from his description as a youth when John first meets him. Is this a plot-hole? Can Ji come and go from her dog body? I don’t like this!

“I couldn’t say how long I remained imprisoned before your mother took pity on me and freed me.” Ji sighed.”

I wonder why Kahlil’s mother specifically took pity on Ji over the other issusha oracles.

Chapter 62

“Kahlil swore as a rough area of the Gray Space scraped against his forearm. He stopped, staring at the tiny distortion that had bitten into his skin. It hung in front of Kahlil like a fine scratch on a glass pane. Against the gray forms of the Lisam tents and patrolling guards, the disturbance was tiny. ”

This quote comes from when Kahlil is following Fikiri’s path through the Lisam camp. Originally, I thought the disturbances in Gray Space near the Payshmura ruins were caused by John destroying the sites but maybe they were caused by Fikiri stalking around those areas for so many years.

“Fikiri resembled an old drop cloth that had been hurled across a finely carved chair.”

I laughed out loud at this line.

“There are poisons that dull his anger and wear him down. But I no longer have any way of feeding them to him,” Ourath said.”

I’m curious about what these could be. We know that Niru’mohim has pretty much the exact opposite effect, so it probably wasn’t that.

So late, but I’m a completist so I needed to post them. I should have last week’s notes (Chapters 63-67) posted later today! Then I’ll be back on schedule.

#ginn hale #partyinbasawar #nfn:rereadnotes

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secretagentspydetectiveninja · 6 years

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The Misadventures of Prince Kim - chapter 61

Hey hey hey all you new followers! Do you happen to have like 10 years of free time? Do you like royalty? Do you love geography and history lessons? Do you laugh at reading about Kim being a total idiot? Do you thrive off timey-wimey nonsense? Do you ship Kimax? Do you irrationally love the minor classmates? Well if so, then do I have the fic for you! This piece of trash is currently about 230,000 words and still going, so check it out!

Here on AO3 too where you can read it from the beginning so that it actually makes sense lol

Once Max and Kim were well again, Markov was able to spend more time practising his new skateboarding tricks. Max also spent plenty of time upgrading him over the next few weeks, fixing bugs, enhancing his AI, and even giving him a little arm so that he could pick things up with it – and most importantly, give fist bumps.

For a while things seemed to really be looking up, especially compared with the dreary and dangerous previous several months. Everything was a little brighter, everyone a little happier. The atmosphere in the school in general was at a higher level than it had been in a long while. Sure, things weren’t perfect, but they were better. Was it because of Markov’s existence? Or was life just at a high point right now?

Whatever it was, by the time the oracle sessions rolled around, Kim was cheerful enough that he decided this time he would not change his mind at the last second – he was going to ask the question he really needed the answer to. Even if the answer would be bad, he could take it. At this point in time he was in a much better state of mind than he had been last year. It would be alright. And anyway, now that his kingdom was part of the International Alliance, surely it would be safe enough to return home soon.

It was Max’s turn first out of the trio, as usual. Markov had decided to wait outside, not wanting to interfere. It was sweet of him. He really did seem to act like a real human on the surface these days, even though he was far from it.

“So,” Master Fu said as Max sat down in front of him for the third and final time, “what is your question?”

Max had spent a long time thinking about it. There were plenty of questions he wanted answers to – how is it possible for a snake to learn Morse code? Why is schoolwork not so easy anymore? Will I marry Kim? But he couldn’t ask questions about others, and there was nothing particularly eating away at him that he wanted to know about. He had also considered asking a “stupid” question, like Kim had a tradition of doing, but couldn’t even think of one of those.

He sighed and simply went for one of the most obvious questions possible. “Will I die from old age?”

Fu put his hands on his turtle for a few seconds, then looked up at Max and smiled. “Yes. So there is no need to fear over poisoned chocolates anymore.”

He knew about that?! Well… he was an oracle, and though Max was not entirely sure how Fu’s powers worked, he did certainly know more about everyone than he let on…

But still, it was a relief to know that he wasn’t going to die off anytime soon. He had an entire lifetime ahead of him. Hopefully a good lifetime, filled with happy events.

“Thank you,” he said, starting to get up.

“How is your robot?” Fu asked.

“Oh, you know about him? Markov’s fine, thanks, he’s waiting just outside.”

“From what I hear, he has made good friends with everyone.”

“He really has! Bringing him to school was the best idea ever, he’s really thriving here.” Max tried not to sound too full of himself, but he really was proud of having created such a smart little robot.

“What an incredible feat you have achieved, to program someone so intelligent at such a young age, and in such a short span of time,” Fu said, stroking that little beard of his.

“Well, others have created sophisticated robots too, so it’s not that big a deal…”

“Would you say your robot is more or less intelligent than Alix’s pet snake?”

Max paused to think. What kind of question was that?

“I’m not sure,” he said finally. “Maybe around the same.”

“And would you say Alix’s snake has a near-human level of intelligence?”

Well, it could understand everything that was going on, and could win Monopoly games and partake in lacrosse matches, and kind of even speak. It was a pretty darn smart snake.

“Yes,” he said.

“So then it follows that Markov, too, is near a human’s level of intelligence. You have programmed a robot that is more sophisticated than any other in the world.”

Max looked down, his face feeling warm. “No, I’m sure there’s other – I mean, Markov is intelligent, but a lot of that is down to him learning things, and – I’m not–”

“You created Markov, a being that is somewhat more than just a robot.” Fu was smiling at him. “You have a latent gift that you never even knew about.”

A latent gift? He didn’t mean like… superpowers, did he?

“I just happen to be good at robotics and programming,” Max said. “Markov has the ability to act human and learn from his experiences, because I programmed him that way. Not because he’s inherently… alive…”

He trailed off. True, Markov wasn’t alive, but it somehow hurt to say.

Fu just continued smiling. “Perhaps once you leave this room, you should ask him why he skateboards a lot these days.”

Fu knew about that too? He really knew everything. But anyway, what did that have to do with anything? Max had programmed Markov to be curious and want to learn new things, so it would make sense that he wanted to learn how to skateboard too.

“Alright, I’ll ask him.” Max stood up. “Thank you for your answers.”

“You are very welcome. I wish you all the best for the rest of your life. And…” Fu held out a bowl. “Would you like a complimentary mint on your way out?”

“Thanks.” Max took one, then left the room.

Sure enough, Markov was waiting outside with the others, and whizzed over to meet Max as Alix was called into the room next.

“Max, my friend! How was your oracle session? Did you get the answer you wanted?”

“Yes, I did,” Max replied. “Master Fu says I’ll die of old age, so I don’t need to worry.”

“That’s wonderful news! I still don’t understand, though – how is Master Fu able to predict the future with 100% accuracy? Humans should be unable to do so, or at least not without a large degree of error.”

“It’s magic.” Max hated saying it – why couldn’t magic make sense, like science did?

“Oh, so like how Alix is able to have knowledge of the events of parallel universes without accessing a wormhole to visit them herself? Or those two members of nobility remotely controlling local weather?”

“Yes, like that.”

“Hmm. Magic is something that I cannot make sense of.”

Markov was silent for a few seconds, probably looking up everything about magic that he could from his internal database. There wouldn’t be a lot in there, though. No one knew much about magic. Max decided to use the time to ask about what Fu had suggested.

“Markov, why do you skateboard a lot these days?”

“Max, you programmed me to learn about new things whenever I am able to. Skateboarding is something I very much wanted to learn about.”

Exactly. It wasn’t anything special – it was just his programming.

“But also…” Markov’s volume had decreased ever so slightly, and he spoke a little slower. “I have already learnt a sufficient amount about skateboarding. Yet I continue to do the activity. There does not appear to be a logical reason why.”

He bobbed up and down on the spot, blinking every few seconds, the sound of his internal parts whirring so loudly it could be heard over the propeller. Clearly he was thinking hard.

“Skateboarding causes my CPU to work at a faster rate. I return to that activity over and over as if I am compelled to by my programming, even though that is not the case. I just… want to do it.”

That couldn’t be true. Markov spoke like a human, but it couldn’t mean anything. Robots didn’t want things. It was impossible.

“Oh!” Markov’s eyes lit up into exclamation marks. “I understand now! My behaviour correlates with what is typically seen in humans and other living organisms. I participate in this activity for the same reason that Alix and her snake do. It is fun. I… enjoy it. What I am experiencing is happiness.”

Max didn’t say anything. He simply stood there, staring at his little creation, hardly daring to believe what he was hearing.

“Max! Max! This makes sense! I experience happiness when I skateboard, and that is why I want to do it again. Oh – it’s happening again right now! Can you hear the CPU whirring? My system seems to be functioning slightly differently from normal at this moment. It is a very odd sensation. It is possible that my logic pathways are malfunctioning a little. However, this is preferable to my normal state. Now I understand better why humans do activities that make them happy – I also would like to continue being happy. I understand it now! Max, I understand happiness! I am experiencing an emotion!”

By this point everyone else in the room had turned to watch Markov, who was now zipping around erratically, his volume much higher than normal. Max was sure his own logic pathways were malfunctioning too – could this really be happening?

Could a robot really be feeling emotion?

Could the robot that Max himself created really be feeling happiness, right now? Just like a real human person?

“Max?” Markov floated up in front of him, question marks in his eyes. “Are you being affected by surprise? Is that why you are silent?”

Max just grabbed Markov out of the air and hugged him. “I’m so proud of you…”

It didn’t feel real. Markov was actually experiencing emotions. It was a fundamental fact that robots could not feel emotions, one that Max had never thought to doubt, and yet here it was.

“This is a hug, correct?” Markov asked. “My CPU speeds have increased again. You are making me happy, Max!”

Max blinked tears out of his eyes, aware that everyone else was still watching. He didn’t really want to cry right now.

“You’re making me happy too,” he said.

“I am? Good! I want to make you happy. Now that I know what happiness feels like, I want everyone to feel this way all the time. I will do my best to always make people happy.”

Oh, thank goodness. People were often telling horror stories of machines gone wrong, evil robots that ended up trying to take over the world, sci-fi stories set in the future where artificial intelligence became malevolent once gaining emotions.

But Markov was not like that. If he had a heart, that heart was good. He said he was going to make people happy, and Max believed it. Markov had already made a lot of people happy. Now it was just up to him to continue, and he surely would.

“Thank you, Markov,” Max said. “You’re the greatest robot in the world.”

Alix didn’t have any particular question to ask this year either. And plus, thanks to the whole timeline thing, she was very wary of asking a question that might get a bad answer. Maybe it was just best to get this thing over with by asking something inconsequential, and letting her life be the chaotic mystery it was supposed to be.

“So, what is your question?” Fu asked.

“Is anyone ever gonna correctly guess what happened with me and Kim in that lift that one time?”

Fu frowned. “Are you s–”

“Yes, I’m sure that’s what I want to ask, no I don’t want to ask something important. I already got my fair share of that last year, thanks.”

“Well, alright, that’s understandable…” Fu put his hands on Wayzz for a few seconds. “No, it doesn’t seem like anyone will ever guess… in fact, this is quite strange, but I can’t seem to be able to tell what happened either…”

“Yes, so the blood pact worked!”

“The what?!”

“Sorry, I can’t tell you.” She stood up to leave, taking a handful of the complimentary mints from the bowl without even being prompted. “If I break the blood pact, I will die horribly. That’s just how blood pacts work.”

Fu shook his head and smiled. “You are going to be one of the most interesting pharaohs to ever rule, you know.”

“Yeah, I hope so. Thanks for the answers.” She headed towards the door, then stopped just before she opened it, remembering something. “Hey, uh, can I quickly ask you something? Not an oracle question, just something about what you told me last year.”

“Of course.”

“Well you said last year that when someone’s guardian animal dies, the person will die too not very long afterwards. And that the stronger the person’s fighting spirit is, the longer they’ll last. So I wanted to know, how long exactly are we talking here? What’s a rough estimate?”

“There isn’t much research into it, but it seems to be two to three weeks at most. Why?”

Alix grinned. “I lasted a whole eight weeks without my snake in one timeline before kicking the bucket. Guess I must be awesome, then.”

Fu smiled, bowing his head. “Yes, you certainly are.”

“Cool. Thanks, and see you later.”

Well, there was a possibility she wouldn’t see Fu later. After all, this was her last year at school! But no… she’d surely meet him again, some day. She opened the door and walked back into the waiting room to see Max standing in the middle hugging Markov, and everyone else watching with expressions that seemed close to tears.

“Uh… what did I miss?”

Markov flew out of Max’s arms and over to Alix, little stars in his eyes. “I’m experiencing happiness! A real emotion! And I like it!”

She gave him a fist bump. “Nice, dude. I knew you could do it.”

“And did you get a good answer to your question?”

“Hell yeah, I did.”

“Yay! I am even more happy now!”

Jeez, Markov was so adorable. Alix had already guessed that the little robot felt emotions, considering the way he acted half the time, but it was nice to know that it was true now. He was just as much of a friend to her as any human was.

When Kim went into the oracle room, he had made his mind up properly this time. No more overthinking. For once, he just needed to be reckless and speak without any care for the consequences. Just like how he used to be.

“So, what is your question?” Fu asked.

Kim didn’t hesitate this time. “Will I be able to go home by the end of the school year?”

“Ah, I suspected you would ask that…” Fu put his hands on his turtle for a few seconds, then sat back. “Well, the answer is both yes and no.”

“Um… what does that mean?”

“You know about the timeline splits, don’t you? Well, another one is going to happen at some point in the future. In one timeline you will be able to go home this summer, and in the other you won’t. At present it is impossible for me to tell you which one you will end up in.”

His heart was sinking faster than a stone in water – all the timeline splits he knew about so far had been bad. He was lucky to be living in a good timeline right now, because on the other side were deaths, exiles, confinements…

“It’s strange,” Fu mused. “Timeline splits that so strongly affect people are rare, and yet they have been happening with frequency. Of course, there is a superpower that I know of that allows people to have some level of control over the splitting of timelines, and can therefore affect the fates of others, but such a power is extremely rare and I do not know anyone who has it…”

Kim sat silently, listening. Was it possible that there really was someone out there messing with timelines? But why? All it did was cause suffering.

“Anyway! On that topic, I have some good news for you too.”

Good news? Oh, thank goodness, he really needed that right now…

“You have much more control over your destiny than you would think,” Fu said. “Never let my words dictate your choices or give you a sense of hopelessness. The power of friendship can always help you out when you’re in a tough spot.”

The power of friendship? Kim had to hold back a laugh. That was so cheesy.

“I mean it. Being able to think better and more rationally around someone smart, or channel all your energy into action around someone reckless? It is not merely some quirk to be overlooked. It is a sign that friendship will play a bigger role in your life than in many other people’s. Perhaps it might even change your fate. Who knows?”

Okay wait, how did Fu know all that? That Kim always felt really smart around Max for no apparent reason? Or that being around Alix made him full of energy? So, was that actually to do with superpowers after all?

“Would you like a complimentary mint on your way out?”

Oh, right. Fu was holding that bowl out at him. Kim took a few, wondering if the answer he got this year counted as good or not. All three of his oracle sessions had been somewhat bittersweet.

“Thank you,” he said, getting up to leave.

“You are very welcome. I wish you all the best for the rest of your life.”

And how long was that life going to be? He had been optimistic about things, but now he wasn’t sure anymore. Those stupid timelines seemed to still have it in for him, and who knew what was going to happen?

Well, never mind. He would just have to make the most of things.

He had barely even left the oracle room before Marinette was standing in front of him, hands on her hips, an odd smirk on her face.

“Prince Kim! I challenge you to a game of Monopoly!”

“Uh, what?”

“Sorry, that was a bit random.” Marinette giggled a little. “I just want to test out a certain new strategy of mine, and I know you like Monopoly. Is that okay?”

Kim grinned. “Of course! But no matter what strategy you’ve got, you’re gonna lose, because I’m awesome at Monopoly.”

“Is that why you lost against a snake that one time?”

“Pffff, I totally let the snake win. But I’m not gonna go so easy on you!”

“Great, that’s just what I wanted to hear! Let’s go, then!”

A Monopoly game against Marinette sounded fun – more fun than against an annoyingly smart snake, anyway. They went back to his room together and then began to play.

Usually Monopoly games were long, taking several hours, sometimes even stretching for days against particularly tough opponents. And usually you could only get so far being lucky, before running out of luck alone and having to rely on wits and actual tactics. So when Marinette managed to worm her way into getting both dark blue cards within the first five minutes, Kim chalked it up to luck and assumed that she would start failing soon, like everyone always did.

But she didn’t.

Within a few more rounds she had all three greens too. Then the oranges. Kim hoped that the chance cards would save him, but all he got was a “get out of jail free” card while Marinette ended up with bank errors in her favour giving her extra money, cards telling her to go to the next train station and buy it for herself, and to go to Go and pick up her salary.

How was she so endlessly lucky?!

By the time Kim lost, which was not very much later, his mood was very sour indeed. He tossed his remaining money at her and folded his arms.

“Congratulations, I guess… but you got lucky, so don’t take this as me being bad at Monopoly or anything…”

“You’re right, I did get lucky,” Marinette said, before stifling a yawn. “Phew, I’m exhausted…”

“Really? From what? Building so many hotels?”

“Kim, I should probably tell you something.” She looked down at the ground. “I was cheating.”

“What? But how? I was the banker and I didn’t see you stealing any money, and the dice isn’t loaded or anything–”

“Let me explain. At my oracle session just now, Fu said I can control luck. So I was using this Monopoly game to test it out. Every time I rolled the dice, I wished for luck to be in my favour, and it was. But it cost me energy every time. I think I could fall asleep in two seconds…”

Wait, Marinette had superpowers?! All Kim’s annoyance left him instantly.

“That is so cool, Mari! You can control luck? That’s the awesomest thing ever!”

She grinned, looking back up at him again. Sure enough she was much paler than she had been at the start of the game, with grey bags under her eyes now. “I’m glad you think so! But please don’t tell anyone.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep it a secret.”

“Thank you. And I’m sorry for tricking you into losing, I just really wanted to see if it worked.”

“Hey, it’s no problem. But next time you are forbidden from using your powers when we play.”

“Fair enough!”

“Are you going to tell anyone else about this?”

Marinette shrugged. “Alya, definitely. Maybe Nino. And… well, I would tell my pet cat, but I’m not sure if I’ll be seeing him these upcoming holidays…”

“What? Why not?”

She lowered her voice. “I’m not going back to Cheng again this time. It’s getting suspicious. I always used to split my time pretty evenly between Cheng and Dupain, and yet I haven’t been to Dupain in so long! I should go back there, at least this time, and make sure to keep the cat safe and beyond suspicion…”

It must have been hurting her so much to have to stay away from Adrien when he was in all that danger. Kim remembered how grateful he was to have all his friends around to support him when under threat of assassination, and how much scarier things had been at the start of summer when he was alone for once. It must be like that for poor Adrien all the time.

“It’s alright though, he’s got my parents,” Marinette said. “They’re taking good care of him. I’ll get to see him again – I just have to wait a little longer this time, that’s all.” She stood up, but quickly sat back down with her hand to her head.

“You okay?”

“Just a little dizzy, that’s all…”

“Is this because you used your powers?”

She nodded, her already pale face going slightly green. “Next time I’ll save it for emergencies…”

Kim leaned over and grabbed a pack of cookies from the draw behind him, handing them to Marinette. “I know you made these for me, but you should probably eat them now. Get your strength back up.”

She took one and took a small bite out of it. “Oh, that’s a bit better. Thank you Kim.”

“Shush, no speaking. Just keep eating.”

He made sure she had finished at least two of the cookies before allowing her to try standing up again. This time she stayed on her feet, though swaying slightly.

“I’m fine now,” she insisted.

“Are you sure? You should probably take a nap or something, you still look really tired. If you want I’ll take you to your room, or you can just nap in here if you really want, I’ll go do something else for a while and leave you some peace…”

“Yes please.” She staggered over to the bed and flopped down on it. “Sorry. I’m never using my powers that much ever again.”

Kim put the covers over her, turned off the lights, and closed the curtains. “This reminds me of that one time you dared me to eat a worm and then I got sick and you had to look after me because we were too scared to tell the servants.”

Despite almost being asleep, Marinette chuckled. “I didn’t dare you to eat a worm! I said ‘Kim, don’t eat a worm’ and then you said ‘don’t tell me what to do’ and ate a worm!”

“Well whatever, I was like 6, I was an idiot! Anyway, have a good nap. I’ll be back in a few hours. I hope you feel better soon.”

“Thanks. You’re an awesome friend.”

He smiled, then left the room and closed the door behind him. An awesome friend? Of course he was. He and Marinette had been friends since, like, forever. And now, here at school, he had plenty of other friends too. According to Fu, friendship was going to be more important in his life than for others, even enough to affect his fate – whatever that meant. How did that even work? Was it superpowers, or was it mundane? Did it matter?

#wow marinette is actually in this chapter for once #royalty au #miraculous ladybug #le chien kim #max kante #markov #alix kubdel #marinette dupain cheng #random stuff #aish writes #the misadventures of prince kim #maybe it's magic maybe it's maybelline...

11 notes · View notes

clueless909 · 6 years

Note

odd numbers for the dr ask game :)

hhhh oh no help okay ily froot

SPOILERS FOR DANGANRONPA IN GENERAL LOL

1. Favorite Game

Super Danganronpa 2, no question... I would die for that game. Best characters and best story, no question. AND THE PLOT TWISTS??? amazin

3. Favorite Antagonistic Character

I’m not exactly, 100% sure what this means. Mastermind characters (Izuru, Junko, Mukuro, etc) or the Foils (Togami, Komaeda, and Kokichi)? In any case, I love Junko the most out of any mastermind character ever (Tsumugi is... Probably my least favorite sorry to her fans) and Komaeda will probably always be one of the best written characters in the Danganronpa franchise who offered so much more to the obnoxious foil along with the BEST trial of Danganronpa: (2-5).

5. Best Girl?

Unfair question, okay? I love (almost) all the girls! My favorite of all time is Ruruka Andou, though followed closely by Sonia Nevermind, Mikan Tsumiki, and Ryoko Otonashi

7. Favorite Class Trial from All of the Games?

2-5. That trial is SUCH a journey and I loved every second of it. Except for the fact that it just gives people a reason to cry that Chiaki was too pure and didn’t deserve to die.

9. Least Favorite Class Trial?

Hmm... I’m gonna say 3-3. If ONLY for the fact that there was such a missed opportunity with two killers in one trial and that Kiyo could have had to stay with the rest of the students freely despite committing murder! Otherwise, it was just kind of weird and the motive was absolutely bizarre.

11. Favorite Cast?

DR2 has my favorites but also my least favorites. I love Sonia, Mikan, Peko, Mahiru, Gundham, Twogami, Fuyuhiko, Komaeda... But I hate Chiaki, Hiyoko, and Teruteru. Overall though, has my favorite characters of any of the games (or other media)

13. What’s your opinion on the Danganronpa 3 anime?

Oooh boy. Okay so Despair Side was a literal, actual train wreck. From advertising the “prequel” of DR2 and then having the anime be fanservicey, random nonsense which retconned both how the class became despairs and that Chiaki was a person before being an AI to having many episodes which were not even focused on the DR2 cast but instead perfect human Chiaki and how sad it was that she got killed :((( Also Twilight Case got just... Ruined because they made Sato be the “true villain” while Natsumi isn’t to blame at all which wasn’t the case in 2-2 and made the whole thing just... Stupid. It also made Chisa, someone with a lot of potential, a Mary-Sue teacher who was obnoxious to watch and everyone loved her for no reason (just like Chiaki).

Future Side was stupid but much more enjoyable in my opinion because at least the characters acted like themselves. The only thing I consider canon about this entire anime series (including Despair side) is the new characters introduced. I love you Ruruka.

15. Your absolute OTP?

I would be dead without Sondam. Ruruka/Izayoi is also great though

17. Do you have an OT3? Which one?

Not really, but if I did, it would probably be Fujisaki x Oowada x Ishimaru because I like both Fujisaki x Oowada and Oowada x Ishimaru though Fujisaki x Ishimaru isn’t really... anything to me...

19. Who do you think is an underrated character?

DEFINITELY Ruruka. All I hear about her is that she’s a bitch and the worst. I really disagree and think people give her way too much crap because they think Seiko is just a precious girl who did nothing wrong (though I do like Seiko, don’t get me wrong).

21. Favorite voice actor?

Oh my gosh, no question, honestly! Natalie Hoover, English voice of Sonia. She is the SWEETEST person! My old friend (hate them now lol) got her to sing me happy birthday in Sonia’s voice for my birthday! I couldn’t believe it but she was just amazing.

23. Favorite Mascot?

Haha, that’s such an unfair question! Monokuma, no question. He’s just the best and he’s a staple of Danganronpa. The others don’t have a chance besides maybe Monomi!

25. Least Favorite Mascot?

All the Monokubs. Period. I hated every scene with them and just wanted them to shut up. Sorry but I just couldn’t stand them! Monodam and Monotaro were the least hateable though but they were all kind of a package deal.

27. Least Favorite Execution?

Mikan’s. Forgettable, stupid, and she wasn’t even herself when she died.

29. Which character should have survived in your opinion?

Ruruka because she just lost everything and had so much room to grow and become more self-reliant and atone for her mistakes. Also because it made the whole Class 76 arc kind of pointless? They did the same thing with Ishimaru and I believe he should have survived as well.

31. Is there a character you think who shouldn’t have survived but did?

That’s... Kind of an awful question LOL but I don’t think any V3 characters should have survived because it honestly skewed the message. I’m happy that Maki is alive, of course, but everything in the last trial was kind of just ignored.

33. Character with the best clothing?

Hmm... Probably Chiaki, honestly. The backpack and the hoodie are super cute. She has one of the best designs in the game but she just doesn’t have enough depth for me to enjoy her character.

35. A character who should’ve got more character development?

Just one? Let me list out a few LOL. Mikan, Sonia, Mahiru, Saionji, Kaede, Tenko, Miu, Kirumi, Hoshi. Characters who needed to get character development at all: Chiaki, Chisa.

37. Favorite Minor Character?

Would Ryoko count? Ryoko. If not, I rather like Taehime Uozumi and she’s pretty minor LOL

39. Smartest Murder Plan?

Mikan’s original Ibuki murder. Unfortunate that Saionji happened to walk in.

41. Person you’ve never expected to become a culprit but they became? (Doesn’t include Chiaki)

To be honest, I didn’t think Celes would become a blackened because she was just so... Obvious? Like, when you talk to Celes, she just kind of has a typical murderess look to her AND she was the one who designed a bunch of safety rules.

43. Describe Monaca Towa in 3 words!

Dorky manipulative follower

45. Unpopular Opinion?

Chiaki is an underdeveloped character and was literally made in the image of Kodaka’s perfect woman so that fanboys could have a perfect waifu to jerk off to.

47. A headcanon you have about a character?

Mikan and the Imposter are really really good friends and Mikan learns to hang out with nicer people and forgive herself and get better.

49. Favorite Mini-Game?

Panic-Talk Action! Good stuff

51. Character you thought you were gonna dislike but loved in the end?

Sonia Nevermind. Her introduction is tasteless and gross (because of Teruteru) so when I met her, I thought she was just going to be an idiot who got into situations that made me cringe. I really didn’t even like her until around Chapter 3-4.

53. Favorite Game End?

Danganronpa 1 because of how much mystery there was surrounding the outside world and whether anything Junko said was true and I didn’t know how they were going to survive out there or what they’d do!

55. Favorite love hotel scene?

Kirumi’s gave her more depth and Kaito’s was just so Kaito that I enjoyed it a lot. So they’re tied imo.

57. Character who should’ve lived longer?

Kaede. No question. She had so much potential and she seemed like such a strong interesting person with so much chemistry with the other characters. Also I like Komaru but I was hoping this female protagonist would have much less fanservice...

59. Favorite moment?

The end of trial 2-2. Peko and Fuyuhiko finally being able to come to an understanding of what they thing of each other and Fuyuhiko finally being able to get through to Peko that he loves her as a person, not as his “servant” was actually heart-breaking and hands-down my favorite moment of the series.

“I never wanted a tool! I just wanted you! Only you!”

61. Character who looks like the love child of ???

Uh... I’ll just go with the thoughts I had when everyone thought the v3 crew were the kids of the other survivors.

Shuichi - Makoto and Kyoko, Kirumi - Peko and Fuyuhiko, Kaede - Sonia and Gundham, Gonta - Nekomaru and Akane, Angie - Aoi and Hagakure (?), Kaito - Mikan and Twogami, Iruma - Togami and Fukawa

63. Describe Kyoko Kirigiri in 3 words!

Intelligent soft-spoken detective

65. Who did you never expect to die but they died?

Saionji. I didn’t like her so I thought she would live forever. Chiaki as well because she’s the sweet angel but I was happy they had the guts to kill her off.

67. Which character would you never want to meet in real life?

Just one??? Junko for OBVIOUS REASONS such as I don’t want her to exist in real life at all.

69. Choose one character which you would take with you on a trip.

It’s between Sonia and Mikan... Sonia deserves to see all around the world in an environment that isn’t constrained so she can enjoy it. And Mikan deserves to go on a trip with friends and be happy :)

71. Character you can relate to?

Ruruka, which is probably why I like her so much. Ruruka has a lot of paranoia and is pretty distant from people but craves love and attention which sounds a lot like me. She also shares my birthday! November 20th!

73. Character who deserved better?

Mikan. Horrible, awful backstory and desperation to not be neglected is heartbreaking enough but then people go and see 2-3 and think she’s a lunatic when ANY CHARACTER would have acted the exact same way. They just didn’t see them do it so Mikan’s the crazy one.

75. Describe Gonta Gokuhara in 3 words!

Pure but easily-manipulated

77. What do you think of the fandom?

There’s three sides I see: Really sweet and kind who have discussions but not arguments about characters and plot points, people who would defend their favorite character and opinions violently even when the other person is being civilized and not trying to start anything, and the ones who just want fanservice of the sexy big-boobed women. And I only like the foremost option.

79. Which character has the cutest design?

Chiaki. The best design in all of Danganronpa imo. The second would probably be Chihiro.

81. Could you be the Ultimate Lucky Student?

I’m pretty lucky but honestly? My boyfriend blows me out of the park in terms of luck so I’d say probably not. He could be though.

83. Least Favorite Chapter?

EVERY SINGLE 3RD CHAPTER. Killed off Celes in 1-3, my favorite character in DR1. Killed off Mikan in 2-3, one of my favorites of all time. Killed off Tenko in 3-3, my favorite girl (along with Maki and Kaede) in V3. They’re also very poorly written. Celes’s acting is atrocious, Fuyuhiko’s death was replaced with Saionji so her murder weapon wasn’t even talked about in the trial, and Kiyo so obviously killed Tenko it wasn’t even funny.

85. Could you be a Dangan Protag? Why?

I mean... I think anyone could be. Kodaka even says he tries to write the protag as though they could be anyone else (though I think he does a bad job there). I think I would be super scared and paranoid so I don’t know how great of one I would be but... Yeah.

87. Describe Peko Pekoyama in 3 words!

Lovestruck loyal awesome

89. Least favorite Danganronpa 3 character?

Chisa. I despise Chisa so much I couldn’t even tell you. She has a great design but she’s basically an older Chiaki without the video games. Perfect motherly woman with the biggest boobs and skinniest waist who excels at all she does and gets tortured through no fault of her own because she was just trying to save others aw :( Characteristics? Loves Munakata and is a motherly figure who everyone loves and can do no wrong unless she’s brainwashed to.

91. What do you think of Monokuma?

A fantastic mascot and really funny character himself! Cold-blooded but also hilarious.

93. Did you like the Monokubs?

No. Next question.

95. What do you think of Gundham Tanaka?

He was a great character! He was funny and charming and didn’t get super repetitive. I also think his past and the reasons for why he acts the way he does is spectacular but then again EVERY backstory in DR2 is fantastic.

97. Overrated ship which is your NOTP?

Chiaki x anyone (mainly Hajime or Mikan). I just... Don’t like Chiaki and seeing her with characters I consider actually good is... Bleh to me.

99. Your absolute NOTP?

Ruruka x Seiko. I hate that ship so much.

Mikan x Saionji. Don’t ship people with their abusers please...

Celes x Hifumi. She lied about being raped to get him to kill someone. Let’s not like this ship.

Mahiru x Saionji. Because I’m tired of Mahiru HAVING to be around Saionji and not being allowed to be her own character.

Mikan x Ibuki. Sexualizing Mikan? That’s ship material!

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aspiringauthorblog-blog · 6 years

Text

Immortality Keys Except

Hey! Here’s an except from the first book.

Chapter Two “Commander Afokmi, I’m pretty sure you’ve exhausted every preset on the bot. Maybe you should take a rest?” I pushed myself to stand and walked away from the felled robot.

“I have a mission coming up soon. I will not make the same mistake as my brother, and be unprepared for a conflict,” I replied. “Could you find me some retired presets before I come in again tomorrow?” The door slid open, and I walked out of the training room.

“Of course, Commander,” the operator replied as I walked past. As I entered the locker room though, I heard them mutter. “At least the General hadn’t been a bitch…”

“Isn’t, Operator,” I corrected. “He’s still alive, you know.” I surpressed a smile at the sudden horror that filled the operator. It would do them good to hold their tongue.

I pulled open my locker and removed my holobracelet. It pulsed green with notifications, so I opened them.

“Commander Afokmi, your brother has woken up. Could you or Sergeant Pheone come to escort him to his quarters?” Doctor Morris’s message read. Damn, it had been sent just after I went into training. I threw on my change of clothes and hurried out towards the medical ward as I scrolled through the few other messages.

“Commander Afokmi, your mission briefing has been rescheduled to happen in two days. Please come to the Research Ward after Training.” Ugh, I hate changes to my schedule.

I hurried into the medical ward, only to run into the one person I did not need to see. Rhaenga.

“Envera! What a surprise, I—” Rhaenga began. I brushed past him, and walked up to my brother’s empty bed. “Pheone came to get him. I guess you were busy?”

“Sergeant Pheone to you, Medic,” I hissed. “If that’s the case, I’ll take my leave.” I turned to see he’d barred the door.

“Envera, please. Can’t we just talk?” His yellow eyes gleamed sadly. There had been a time where I would’ve listened to anything he said. Not anymore though.

“I need to see my brother. Now, move,” I ordered. He folded his scaled arms over his chest and frowned.

“You’re being unreasonable,” he began.

“Unreasonable? You left me for dead,” I replied. I didn’t yell, scream, or shriek this. He wasn’t worth it. “I trusted you with my life, and you left me for dead the second we came under fire. I brought myself back to this station, barely conscious. And when I returned, you didn’t even look at me. When Jenderous came after you, you told him it was either me or you. We were mates, Rhaenga. Mates. If that had meant anything to you, you would’ve stayed beside me. Instead, you left me, and I want nothing to do with you. Now, I’ll say this one more time: move!” He flinched as I spoke, and did actually move. Unfortunately, he followed me.

“If you wanted nothing to do with me, why did you set Jenderous on me?”

“I didn’t do anything. You’re the one who tripped his sister in order to escape rebels. Jenderous went after you himself,” I replied. Hopefully, once Rhaenga realized I was heading towards Jenderous, he’d leave me alone.

“Then why does he continue to harass me? He belittled me in front of Doctor Xyil the second he woke up!” I couldn’t help it. I let out a laugh. “I could get a disciplinary report!”

“You deserve no pity from me,” I replied. “Now, Medic. I have no need of an escort to see my brother. I also believe you have a job to do.” I walked away, leaving him behind. Honestly, if only Jenderous had agreed to being assigned a new station. But no, he couldn’t.

“Envera, we have our orders from His Excellency. Besides, this is where our people had served. Don’t you think we need to carry that on as long as we can?” He’d said when I had asked him to request a reassignment during my stay in the Med Ward. “However, I can promise you that I will make Rhaenga regret what he did, and make him want a transfer.”

As I passed the mess hall, I saw Pheone walking toward me.

“Commander Afokmi, how are you?” She turned as I passed her to walk beside me. “I just brought your brother food.”

“You’re too kind,” I replied. Pheone had never been a friend to me. She was indeed kind, and I did enjoy talking to her, but I never felt the ability to confide myself in her. I could never admit to any worries or doubts. I couldn’t even tell her that there was no chance Jenderous would return her feelings for him, especially after he’d seen Rhaenga’s disregard for me. “Is he well?”

“As far as I can tell, yes. Although, he seems to go into his own head quite easily,” she replied. “I’ll bring his dinner to him, if that’s alright?” Poor girl. I nodded.

“If you’d like, the three of us could have dinner together. I’m sure he’d like that.” That made her smile.

“Too bad we can’t do what we normally do,” she replied.

“I’m sure he’ll cook again soon enough. He loves it.” I watched as the band on her wrist lit up. She tapped on a button and the holoscreen showed a message.

“Agh, my Commander wants to see me about the mission. I’ll see you later,” Pheone sighed before hurrying off in the other direction. I then ran down the hall to my brother’s room.

I walked in after punching in my brother’s password. The room seemed empty.

“Jenderous?” I called as the door shut behind me. I heard movement from the bathroom.

“I’ll be out in a second!” Followed by a crash. “Maybe two seconds!” I ran over and found my brother sitting on the bathroom floor, a shirt over his head.

“Are you hurt?” I asked as I took the shirt hem and tugged it down. His hair was wet and hung down, over his eyes. He shook his head, splashing me with water droplets.

“Does the injury to my pride count?” He asked as he adjusted the medallion around his neck. I watched as his eyes went blank for a second, then he focused back on me. “Envera, how are you?”

“I’m fine. Do you need help getting up?”

“Nah,” Jenderous replied. He pushed against the ground and flew up, still in a sitting position. “Flying around makes my head hurt a little less,” he explained.

“You need to drink, you’ve been unconscious for a while,” I said. I walked into the kitchen as he flew over to the couch. After filling up two glasses, I joined him,

“I have been out for a while,” he snorted. I watched him drain the glass in one go. “Now, tell me about this new mission?” I shook my head. How could he possibly think about me right now?

“Jenderous, you just woke up from a coma,” I replied. “We can focus on you right now.” I watched him push his hair back, out of his eyes. Space black with streaks of purple where the light hit it, and a new silver streak that appeared when he was brought back from the mission. He kept his left eye on me from an angle. “Missing your eyepatch?” He nodded. “Let me find one for you.”

“Last I remembered, I keep the spare in the top drawer next to my bed,” he said. I got up and walked over. Opening the drawer, I found the ordinate eyepatch with our family crest, and a silver gemstone carved into a crescent.

“This is the nice one. Are you sure you want it?” I looked back to see him nod. Gently, I lifted it up and walked back before placing it in his hand. After he secured it over his scarred eye, I sat down and he faced me fully. I could still see the edge of the scar just below where the eyepatch ended, but it bothered me less. “What happened?”

Jenderous curled up, hugging his knees to his chest as his tail curled over his feet. “I don’t remember, I can’t remember the past seven lunar cycles at all!” He bit his lip and looked down. “Envera, I’m scared. What happened to me?” I was watching my brother, the king of our people, break down. I moved closer to him and hugged him, patting his back gently.

“You were on a conquest mission in Sector 61. Apparently, when the other soldiers found you, you’d already been unconscious, and you’d been stabbed. When you were brought back, the Med staff had to perform surgery to repair a pierced lung and stitch you up, but you were still unconscious,” I explained. “It’s been practically a lunar cycle since you were brought back.”

“You weren’t worried?” Jenderous looked up at me. He didn’t seem angry, or even upset. He just had the familiar curious gleam in his eye.

“Thayron’s already taken everyone else I love. He knows I would attempt to overthrow him if he took you too,” I said. Jenderous snorted and shook his head.

“To this day, I still can’t understand how you can say such things about your patron. Why would you even pick him if you despise him so much?” I looked away. I loved Jenderous, he was a great brother and leader, but he’d seen a much kinder version of our people as he’d grown up.

“Because he made my existence miserable, so I’m going to return the favor. It’s not the worst reason to pick a patron, I don’t think.” Jenderous nodded thoughtfully, keeping whatever opinion he had to himself. I noticed a keycard on the cushions between us. “What’s that?”

“Oh, here,” he said. He handed me the keycard, and I saw Rhaenga’s information on it. “He wasn’t paying attention when Pheone escorted me out, so I took it.” Jenderous grinned at me, happy with himself.

“You know he needs this to access the medicine room, right?” I asked. Jenderous shrugged and leaned back against the couch, keeping his eye on me.

“Who cares what he needs? Rhaenga deserves a pain in his tail.” Jenderous was frowning now. He’d taken what Rhaenga had done personally when it’d happened half a solar cycle ago.

“You know it wasn’t your fault, right?” I reminded him. Jenderous shrugged again.

“I don’t even remember what happened. I just know I hate him,” he admitted. “Either way, it’s fun to agitate him.” I laughed and turned the keycard over in my hands a few times. There was a little box in my quarters filled with things Jenderous had taken from Rhaenga, including reports he was about to turn in, a few pieces of jewelry, trinkets, and 4 previous key cards.

“You’re not going to give it back, right?” Jenderous was watching me, and it felt weird. Before he got hurt, his posture and actions felt intimidating or authoritative. Now, he just looked at me curiously, and he seemed a bit nervous.

“Why would I? I barely stand being in the same room as him, much less actually communicat--” My holobracelet flashed purple, meaning a general was messaging me.

“Who is it?” Jenderous leaned towards me.

“General Vado Kyl,” I replied. That name sounded familiar. “You know him?”

“He was Pheone’s general, before Vado Mor, up until that raid in Sector 39 five solar cycles ago. I’m pretty sure he’s buried in the station’s cemetery.” I glanced to Jenderous, slightly disturbed. How was a dead general sending me a message? Jenderous must’ve seen my expression, because he continued. “It could be a glitch, or someone using a hack to get your attention.”

“‘Meet me at the forest line, near the jogging path,’” I read. “Think I should go?”

“If it’s a prank, you can teach whoever thought of it a lesson on not messing with Fendoorens. And if it’s a glitch, you don’t want to keep someone waiting forever. They might have something important to tell you about the upcoming mission,” Jenderous replied.

“Is that a yes?” Jenderous nodded. “What about you? Are you sure you can be left alone?”

“I was going to sleep until dinner, actually. Believe it or not, three weeks wasn’t nearly enough time to rest.” Jenderous pushed himself up and walked over to his bed. After removing his eyepatch, he flopped into his bed.

“How dignified of you,” I snorted. He waved his hand at me before curling up on his side. “Sergeant Pheone will be bringing dinner to you, and we’ll all eat together. I’ll see you soon, Brother.” I made my way to the door.

“See you, love you,” Jenderous replied, his voice already slurred with sleep. I blinked. He hadn’t said anything like that in almost a solar cycle.

The outside air had a frigidness to it, and a gentle breeze that stirred up trees branches, leaves, and my hair. As I walked, I tied my hair back to keep the black strands from falling in my face. I saw a few soldiers running on the trails, and a few small groups of friends chatting idly.

“You think we’ll be chosen for the mission?” One soldier asked her friends. “I’ve always wanted to go on a conquest.”

“I don’t know. From preliminary findings, it doesn’t seem like this will be the most diplomatic of missions. A lot of people will probably get hurt or killed,” one of the other soldiers replied.

“Hey look,” I saw one of them point at me. “Isn’t that the Fendooren soldier?” I cringed at his pronunciation.

“It’s pronounced Fen-Door-in, Cayln, not Fen-do-ren. And yes, that’s one of them,” the girl explained. I smiled a bit. Maybe I should talk to her sometime.

“What’s with her tail? Why does it move like that? The dogs on our planet have minimal movement,” the idiot, Cayln, spat. I froze.

“Cayln, you know she can hear you right?” The first friend replied. Part of me wanted to storm over and yell at him. Fendoorens were far from dogs. Had that idiot seen us before the Calamity, he would’ve known that. Instead, I kept walking towards the forest. I heard one of the people stand up, as if they meant to approach me. I snapped my tail, hoping that whoever it was knew enough body language cues to stay away.

“Who knotted your tail the wrong way?” A deep, laughing voice asked as I got to the supposed meeting place. I folded my arms, looking in annoyance at the man who walked out.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, my Patron?” I asked. Thayron, the Fendooren God of Death stood before me. I’m sure it would’ve been more impressive if he’d decided to remain in his godly form, but he looked like any mortal Fendooren. His pale skin stuck out against the black clothing and the bands that wrapped around his neck, arms, and fingers he wore. Black hair was tied back and hung down his shoulder, which made it easy to see his golden eyes, and the closed eyelid on his forehead.

“Envera, could you walk with me? I wish to discuss a confidential matter with you, and I do not wish to be overheard,” Thayron said, offering me his arm. I walked beside him, but did not touch him.

“Good thing you decided to have this conversation with the one person who has super hearing then,” I replied. “What is the matter you wish to discuss?”

“It’s come to my attention that one of my weapons has been stolen,” Thayron began. “Had I been Solair or Astra, I would write it off as banter that has gotten a bit out of hand. However, I have no rivals, nor do I have anyone who is unsatisfied with me, safe for you, of course. Therefore, my only conclusion is that someone has taken it with the intent to use it.”

“Excellent deduction skills,” I replied, tilting my head side to side. “Obviously if someone takes a weapon, they intend to use it. I presume you want me to find this weapon?” Thayron narrowed his gaze at me, then pressed his hand to the side of his temple.

“Yes, I want you to get it back. If my spear falls into the wrong hands, it will be devastating.”

“Wait, wait, you lost the Spear? Why was that even in a position to be stolen?” How stupid could Thayron be?

“Yes. Now, will you find it? You’re the most reliable of my devoted, and you have access to the places you’ll need to look,” Thayron said. I stopped on the trail and faces him.

“I want something in return. I refuse to undo your mess without some sort of payment,” I demanded. Thayron smirked, crossing his arms and resting his chin against his hand.

“This is why I like you Verr Sya,” he began. “You’re not afraid to tell me anything. Now, what would you like in return?”

“I want to see my mom,” I said.

He blinked and looked aside. “I’ve told you, I don’t have…”

“Did I stutter, Thayron?” I stared at him, frowning slightly. “In return for the Spear, you will let me meet my mom. I won’t agree to anything less.” Thayron sighed and shook his head, probably cursing me in his mind.

“Fine, I will find your mother and let you see her if you find and return my Spear,” Thayron finally breathed. “Is that a worthy trade for your effort?”

I nodded and continued to walk. Thayron fell into step beside me again. “I will require transportation to wherever you believe it is, though. Could you give me more information?”

“How familiar are you with the inhabitants of Zepheral?” Thayron asked. I shook my head, recognizing the name.

“Oh absolutely not! You’re suggesting a Werin stole your Spear? They’re barely capable of fighting themselves, let alone accessing Torii!” The Fendooren brother race of the Werins were deplorable characters. “You can’t possibly think of sending me there, do you have any idea what they do to their women?”

Thayron nodded, his expression somber. “I am well aware, but you are not a Werin girl raised to believe that is her place. You’re the Fendooren princess. I know you wouldn’t let such a fate befall you. Haven’t you considered that if the Werin people saw a person like you, things could begin to change?” I shook my head. From what Jenderous had said, when that conversation had ever arisen, I knew that the Werins were barbaric at best, and mortal hellspawn at worst.

“What those people need is a Cleanse of their own,” I spat. “They are uncivilized, dangerous, violent, demeaning unevolved bastards! Why would I ever aide them?”

“I’m not asking that you aide them, I’m asking you to go there to look for the Spear. Surely you could tolerate with the existence of the Werins in order to meet your mother, right? Besides, it’s not like the Werins are the only ones on Zepheral. If you really want to, you could spend all of your time with the other inhabitants,” Thayron chidded. “Anyway, I will have someone help you reroute your… Uh… What do you call those things?” I tilted my head and raised an eyebrow. “Those things you use to go to other planets.”

“You mean the Astral Travelers?” He nodded. “I need to reroute it?”

“To Zepheral, yeah. I presume they never taught you how to add new coordinates, right?” For as much as he lacked in knowledge of what happened to the Fendoorens after the Calamity, he had that right. For some reason, my brother and I had never been taught how to set our own coordinates. I had figured that it was because neither of us were technicians or researchers.

“No, I haven’t the faintest idea of how to do that,” I replied. “What should I do before that?”

“I would see if you could get any information on Zepheral from your information hubs. Also, maybe seek some advisement from your brother. Don’t tell him about the Spear though. Just ask him about Zepheral, he might remember the politics from before the Calamity,” Thayron advised. I bit my lip, thinking of how I could possibly get anyone in the information hub to give me access to anything. “In two days, head to the hanger of your Astral Traveller, alright?” After I nodded, Thayron snapped his fingers, and disappeared before my eyes.

I made my way back towards the station, and saw the group from earlier. I noticed that the girl was wearing the coat that identified those who worked in the information hub. As I walked past, I saw Calyn kiss the girl, a universal sign of mateship. I smiled slightly as I realized I might’ve just found how to get the information I needed.

#immortality keys #excerpt #excerpt from my book

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