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#someone take me off the tags
poorly-drawn-mdzs · 5 months
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i wanna know more about svsss menopause
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They synced their periods together too well. Now they are synced through their perimenopause years.
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puppyeared · 1 year
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Once upon a time
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TD World Tour AU, where Noah doesn't tell Owen that Alejandro is an eel in London... In Area 51, Noah is accidentally splashed with an alien truth potion (which wears off after a few days) and he talks to Owen... Owen asks Noah what he truly thinks about Alejandro, and Truth-Potion Affected Noah says this: "I have mixed feelings for Alejandro. He's a brilliant, interesting guy and I like him, but I don't trust him. He's like a slippery eel dipped in grease, swimming in motor oil. Basically, Heather with social skills. Wait a minute, why am I telling you this?!"... What if Alejandro secretly heard Noah call him all those conflicting things + Alejandro also learns that Noah is affected with an alien truth potion? 👽
Alright, you got me. I'm an absolute sucker for truth potion plots, especially when the character(s) effected by them are usually either pathological liars or incredibly secretive- of which Noah absolutely falls into the second category, given he shares so little personal information.
I'll gloss over why Noah declined to shit-talk Alejandro in London (though there's so many ways this change in behaviour could be justified) since the focal point of this hypothetical centred around their time in Nevada, so let's start from the beginning of the Area 51 challenge.
Area 51:
Before we start, it'll have to be established that no one was eliminated in London. Let's say that the majority vote went towards Duncan (team CIRRRRH voted him out immediately because they found his re-admission to the competition unfair, I guess. I imagine he'd also vote himself, if not as a plan to escape the competition he'd been actively skiving from, then just as an act of spite) but Chris instead claimed it was a rewards challenge- much like he does in Greece- because he doesn't want to let Duncan slip away again so soon.
I see no reason to alter the first part of the challenge- the sneaking into Area 51 portion- since team CIRRRRH's course of entry is fairly straightforward. Noah's presence doesn't make much of a difference to how it would play out; the majority of them throw their rocks and run, Owen gets lasered over the fence and Owen-napped, ect ect.
When both teams have managed to make their way into the Black Box Warehouse, Noah immediately suggests they should prioritise rescuing Owen. Tyler's quick to agree, since he's a firm believer in the "no man left behind" mentality (and he probably makes a not-so-subtle jab towards Noah for his chance of tune compared to London, where both he and Owen did leave Tyler behind) leaving Duncan and Alejandro to split from the group- Duncan in search of Gwen, and Alejandro just takes the opportunity to finally be free from his 'incompetent teammates' and prioritises finding an artifact.
Noah and Tyler come across the contraption Owen's trapped in, Tyler punches it in a futile effort to break it open, and the face hugger cube drops into Noah's hands. This is where the point of divergence comes into play; Tyler has his E.T. moment with one of the face huggers, but Noah- who's a tad bit more observant than Alejandro, and used to dodging surprise attacks from his various older siblings (and Izzy)- anticipates his own face hugger attack and promptly starts a game of cat-and-mouse with a taser alien hot on his heels.
The commotion of which attracts the rest of his team. Alejandro and Duncan arrive on the scene to see Tyler being electrocuted by an alien and Noah running in circles evading another.
Duncan attempts to rip the face hugger from Tyler's face, finding success at the cost of sending Tyler trampling into Owen's captive contraption (essentially taking Alejandro's canonical place in this scene) and inadvertently freeing Owen.
Meanwhile, Alejandro swipes up the nearest box he can find and snags the alien chasing Noah, who's still very loudly panicking as he flees, and succeeds! The alien is swiftly captured into the box, netting team CIRRRRH their artifact, and Noah promptly goes careening into the nearest tower of junk in his face hugger-fuelled hysteria. This causes another box to topple from the peak of the tower, landing directly on Noah's head and spilling its contents onto the bookworm- glass vials filled with a mysterious, luminescent cobalt blue liquid shatter into pieces drenching Noah in whatever they contained. (i.e. truth potion.)
Owen has his false-amnesia moment, characterised by his Joker makeover, and Alejandro enacts his revenge post-hypnotic suggestion after being addressed as "Al" one too many times.
Noah, understandably, swiftly objects to Owen's treatment and demands that Alejandro snap him out of it. Alejandro concedes, and Owen's brought back to himself. At least, for a moment, before the fatigue of having his mind messed with sends Owen into near-catatonia (the same as canon), meaning he has to be ferried through the Warehouse and back to the Jet by Alejandro and Duncan.
Things carry on canonically from there; Noah's just sort of there for the most part, though there'd be a minor hint to his newfound proclivity for honesty. Something along the lines of him giving an uncharacteristically honest answer to Owen as to who he's voting- Tyler, of course, since he was the one who ultimately threw the challenge for them... and also because Tyler still holds some resentment towards Noah for what happened in London, and Noah feels guilty about it every time he looks at the jock. Wait, why did he say that?
Sometime between this and the elimination scene, Noah wipes the truth-goop off of himself, but not before the effects have already started.
Tyler's voted out, yada yada yada.
The Jet:
Thus begins the start of "Picnic at Hanging Dork". Team CIRRRRH, consisting of just Alejandro, Duncan, Owen and Noah, are slumming it up in the Economy Cabin. Alejandro tries to rally his team by asking how to break apart Courtney and Heather's tentative co-operation. Owen suggests having Alejandro seduce Heather, since it worked for both Bridgette and Leshawna. Duncan makes his "Babe Olympics" comment. Noah pipes up that playing with someone's feelings is pretty scummy, even for someone competing for a million dollars.
Alejandro takes Noah's reluctance towards his methodology poorly; he hadn't spoken up before, when Alejandro had utilized the same strategy against other girls- and even Owen noticed that, so surely Noah did too- so why was he to outwardly against him using the same tricks? Duncan agrees, and offers ''his'' idea of having Alejandro flirt with Courtney to throw both her and Heather off their games (since Heather has an obvious crush on Alejandro), and things follow canon.
Then, the scene between Alejandro and Courtney happens. Noah scoffs at the display from the side lines, prompting Owen to ask him why he's so against Alejandro's plan.
"I mean, you never said anything before, when he flirted with Bridgette and Leshawna." Owen comments, light-hearted in nature but with an underlying questioning tone.
Noah's eyes flicker with a cobalt glow, easily mistaken for a trick of the light, and he speaks without even thinking.
"Yeah, because I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Bridgette was happenstance, and Leshawna's whole deal could've been a coincidence, or some massive misunderstanding. But this?" Noah extends an accusing hand out towards a smug looking Alejandro, then pans it over to a flattered Courtney, "He's outright toying with Courtney's feelings after she was cheated on in front of an international audience. It's scummy."
Owen nods in understanding, momentary contemplation evident in the pouted curve of his lips, and he chimes in.
"Does that mean you don't like Al?"
"I never said that."
"Well, how do you feel about him, then?"
Again, a flash of blue light against the hickory backdrop of Noah's eyes, and he responds thoughtlessly.
"I guess I have mixed feelings about him. On the one hand, he's slippery, like an eel dipped in grease, swimming in motor oil. He's like if you took all of the worst aspects of Heather, wrapped them up in a pretty package, and gave them social skills..." He holds his hands out before him in a scale-like manner, with the left tipped downwards and tie right raised by his chin. Then, the two hands swap positions.
"And on the other hand, he's brilliant. I've never met anyone as talented as Alejandro; he's smart, he's athletic, he's funny. It's almost unfair just how perfect everything about him is- even his face is perfect. It's ridiculous! Infuriating, even. It's so hard to dislike him, even when I know he's bad news, but that doesn't mean I trust him."
Owen stands slack jawed beside his best friend, both impressed and stunned at the raw honesty of Noah's tirade. Noah, now a little more aware of himself, realises that he's said more than he intended to- more than he thinks he's ever spoken in one go throughout the entirety of Total Drama. He's not usually one for speeches, after all, let alone honest ones.
He's always been the type to play his cards close to his chest, so why...?
"I, uh, didn't mean to go off like that."
And he also didn't mean to admit it, either. What was going on?
The look Owen gives him is, in a word, vivid. The blonde has a shit-eating grin stretching across his face, a sort of elated smugness practically glowing from his features.
"Sounds like someone has a cruuuush!~"
What? No? No! Not at all, where would Owen even get that idea?!
Noah splutters to correct Owen's assumption (to disastrous results, because he does sort-of has a crush on Alejandro, so the truth potion doesn't allow him to outright deny it), and in his preoccupied state he misses how a calculating pair of sage green eyes never seems to stray from him.
Alejandro has a lot to think about in regards to a certain cynic, it seems.
#I'd like to apologise for taking this idea and running with it.#Cutting myself off here before I breach 2k+ words or else I'll be here all day.#Sort of entered actual Writing Mode at the end there instead of Outline Mode but this idea is. So Full Of Potential I couldn't help myself.#But from here it'd basically be Alejandro using his newfound knowledge of Noah's crush on him to his advantage.#Whilst Noah's doing his best (and failing) to deny that he has any feelings for Alejandro.#Eventually leading to the two of them having a Bonding Moment where Alejandro gets Noah to divulge some personal information.#And in turn- or an effort to garner some trust (to be abused later)- Alejandro also lets himself be vulnerable towards Noah.#Something something Alejandro tries to use Noah as a pawn but ends up catching feelings of his own.#Then of course the potion wears off and Noah goes back to being just as prickly and standoffish as he was before.#A point of conflict maybe? Imagine bearing your soul out to someone only for them to close themself off to you not even days afterwards.#...Also imagine being practically forced to divulge information about yourself to someone you don't trust because of a truth potion.#Oh yeah. That's some good angst material right there.#Especially is you have Alejandro be- if not fully aware- than at least suspect that Noah's not being agreeable on his own terms.#Anon why have you given me The Thoughts?? I can't keep brainstorming AUs when I already have fics to work on!!#ophe's ranting in the tags again#total drama#td noah#td alejandro#team chris is really really really really hot#alenoah#-ish#silly ideas#other's ideas#long post#replies#kinda drafty in here (posts from the drafts)
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lunarharp · 4 months
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when an obsessed orufrey person plays ace attorney for the first time in a while
#witch hat tag#orufrey#you know those times when the defendant is still in shambles at the end of a case because it was not a clear-cut thing#but you get to present one Special Sentimental piece of evidence that proves not all is lost#qifrey's breakdown would be like... he turns up calm and pleasant like dahlia kristoph gant etc but very quickly:#well first he's hiding his scar so you have to use the bracelet and also you find out about the seal on his hat using that.#eventually he is throwing water that comes out of nowhere like that coffee prosecutor guy. and his cape starts billowing#the more he breaks down his neck thingies start coming undone btw. To represent his descent into guilt and his LIES becoming undone.#course as the player i have already used my magatama and seen his 35894 psychelocks. but theyre those BLACK psychelocks#representing his repressed memories taken by the brimhats. also his glasses shatter out of nowhere when you keep presenting evidence#and tartah's testimony etc. and the player is like UHH this guy is A PUPPET MASTER but coco's heartfelt testimony commands the tone#and of course he's someone who has been twisted and damaged by trauma like adrian andrews. the mastermind is of course the brimhats#only me with my magatama knows that... only i can do it. It has to be me.....#just like how as the reader i can see everything about qifrey and i can hold him dear as much as i judge him#whereas if i were oru things would not be ok unless memories can be restored and mentally ill decisions can be illuminated#WELL ANYWAY !!!!! what i appreciate about ace attorney is its ability to mix silliness with seriousness#i cant usually make jokes about serious heavy heartbreaking stuff in witch hat because it is all very intense emotions for me#but i appreciate ace attorney's mix of sincerity and psychological pain and the inherent silliness to being a character in a situation#so.....Get Iguin on the stand. Now. BAILIFF.. TAKE OFF THE MASK#i would most love to be able to prove qifrey's eyesight is failing. hed be like I have no reason to pursue the brimhats (smiles pleasantly)#and it would be like You're lowering your gaze.. proof that the court lighting is too harsh for you..!#his glasses would crack at that moment btw. I used apollo's bracelet and saw the glyphs on the glass.#I know all about u. and i will save u
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svtskneecaps · 6 months
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a list of timestamps, for no reason :)
thesis statement : No, what blue did tonight and what red did the last two nights are not the same.
disclaimer: this is not a judgement of right / wrong, this is a glorified compare and contrast paper.
a TL;DR is available at the top, immediately following the keep reading link (which i hope, for your sake, is still there).
for each vod i have compiled the time stamps first, and then under the heading "notably" have compiled and compared them.
this is the most toxic i will allow myself to be.
TL;DR:
Blue team on Day 4 took 2 seconds from first task claimed to last. Red team on Day 2 took 5 minutes 14 seconds from first task claimed to last, and on Day 3 took 42 seconds.
Blue team on Day 4 was vulnerable in the area for 2 seconds before claiming their last task. Red team on Day 2 was vulnerable in the area for 8 minutes 31 seconds, and on Day 3 was vulnerable for 12 minutes 10 seconds.
The time blue team spent getting situated before logging out in global is not counted in this as being vulnerable because it is not a viable strategy for an entertainer to waste 4 hours of their limited time camping global to ensure no one is logging out.
Red team claimed their first global task on Day 3 with 13 minutes until the server closed. On Day 4, Etoiles and Roier arrived to stop blue team from applying the same strategy with 15 minutes until the server closed.
Blue team's actions on Day 4 did not leave them open to any reasonable retaliation efforts once Tubbo logged out. The moment he logged back in, the tasks were as good as complete. Unless another content creator metagamed, they would not be able to stop him.
Red team's actions on Day 2 and Day 3 did leave them open to retaliation. They were not fast, they often did not have the items they needed crafted in advance and spent time in sight of the global task dome crafting the items. If a team had been waiting for them to try this at the global task dome as Etoiles and Roier did for Blue team, that team could entirely have succeeded in killing them or ruining their plans.
The global tasks on Day 4 were already functionally blue's 4 hours before they were claimed. Even if the disaster hadn't affected global, the way it was supposed to, the only thing left would have been revenge. There was no preventing it once Tubbo logged out.
The global tasks on Day 2 were open to reclamation for an hour after red team claimed them. By Day 3 blue team was aware of red's strategy and had a full 12 minutes (at a predictable time! see below) in which they could have attacked red and stopped them.
What blue and red team did was not the same.
Below are the time stamps I used to get this data and draw these conclusions. I've included links to vods for verification purposes. These links are not future proofed.
November 7th, 2023: Day 4 of Purgatory
TubboLIVE's VOD:
1:47:20 : Tubbo logs out of the server, behind the blue "contracts" NPC. He has 15 minutes 32 seconds of server time remaining.
5:50:23 : It is 3:48:52 am in Tubbo's time zone. Tubbo shows the clock on his screen. There are 11 minutes and 8 seconds until the server closes.
5:50:49 : Tubbo loads in, behind the blue "contracts" NPC. It is 3:49:41 am. This is the first moment the game is visible on his screen. He has 15 minutes 03 seconds of server time remaining.
5:50:50 : Tubbo claims the first of the global tasks.
5:50:51 : Tubbo claims the last of the global tasks. It is 3:49:43 am.
Notably:
Functionally, tubbo was standing behind the blue NPC, invincible, for 4 hours 3 minutes and 3 seconds
There is a 29 second period of server time that I can't account for.
The total time it took for tubbo to claim every global task after loading in is 2 seconds.
The cooldown for every global task before it can be reclaimed is 10 minutes. In this case these ten minutes started at 3:49:42 and 3:49:43 am. The first moment any of these claimed global tasks can be reclaimed is 3:59:42 am, with 18 seconds until the server closes.
Etoiles's VOD:
4:56:08 : With some leniency, this is the first clear view of the blue "contracts" NPC and the spot Tubbo is "standing" shown on Etoiles's stream.
*(the blue NPC comes into view at 4:56:06 but whether Etoiles would have seen Tubbo there is dubious enough that I have opted for a later time stamp)
4:56:12 : Etoiles and Roier enter the global task dome. They are standing directly to the left of the red NPC; on the opposite side as the blue NPC. The spot Tubbo is "standing" is clearly visible on Etoiles's stream. Etoiles has 10 minutes 40 seconds of server time remaining. There are roughly 15 minutes and 30 seconds until the server closes*.
*(Time calculated roughly using Tubbo's log in message; this is not exact)
4:56:17 : Roier is standing in front of the blue "contracts" NPC.
4:58:03 : Without leaving global spawn, Etoiles disconnects to get a buffer on his time limit. Remembering that there is a disaster coming, he immediately re-logs to avoid the combat logging penalty. Roier does not disconnect during this time.
4:58:18 : The first frame of the game is visible after Etoiles relogs. Etoiles has 8 minutes 53 seconds of server time remaining.
4:58:45 : The quicksand disaster starts, affecting global spawn despite admins having informed Etoiles previously that disasters did not affect global spawn.
5:00:08 : The disaster ends.
5:01:17 : Tubbo logs in. There are roughly 10 minutes 11 seconds until the server closes.
Notably:
Roier is standing three blocks away from Tubbo's log-in point (effectively, three blocks away from Tubbo) at 5 minutes before Tubbo logs in.
Were Tubbo logged in, waiting physically at spawn, Etoiles and Roier would have been able to initiate combat 5 minutes and 5 seconds earlier. Both had plenty of time on their server counters to participate in this combat, albeit Etoiles would have been kicked before server close. Roier would not be (source: Slime's vod, 2:45:05 and on. There is no disconnect message for Roier before the server is closed at roughly 2:45:08).
Were Tubbo logged in, waiting physically at spawn when Etoiles and Roier arrived (at roughly 3:44:37 am in Tubbo's time zone, 15 minutes and 23 seconds before the server closed), and had claimed all global missions at that time rather than risk dying in combat, the missions would have been able to be reclaimed at roughly 3:54:37 am, with about 5 minutes and 23 seconds before the server closed. This is 5 minutes and 5 seconds more than the actual time.
November 5th, 2023 : Day 2 of Purgatory
This is the first day red has used this strategy.
Cellbit's VOD:
6:52:27 : Cellbit arrives at the plaza outside the global task dome (Carre is already here; he wasn't streaming so I don't know when he arrived).
6:52:49 : Cellbit enters the global task dome. He backtracks to the right of the global task dome, and sets up a crafting area to craft items for the tasks somewhat out of sight of the dome. He is 96 meters away from the dome.
6:55:34 : Cellbit re-enters the global task dome.
6:55:44 : Cellbit claims the first global task for red team (electrolytes). The cooldown is 10 minutes 41 seconds.
6:55:49 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (radiation medicine).
6:55:55 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (campfires).
6:56:04 : Cellbit leaves the global task dome and sets up a second crafting area to the right of the dome after losing the first. This area is in full view of the dome, and is roughly 61 meters away.
6:57:40 : Cellbit dumps every item in his inventory except for iron and minecarts and a shield into a chest (he is functionally defenseless).
6:58:18 : Cellbit re-enters the global task dome.
6:58:23 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (minecarts).
6:59:12 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (diamonds).
6:59:49 : Cellbit gets his sword out of the chest (he is no longer defenseless).
7:00:58 : Jaiden claims the last global task for red team (rails). The bananas task remains unclaimed.
7:01:01 : ElQuackity is visible outside the dome on Cellbit's stream for the first time. Cellbit chases him.
7:04:34 : Cellbit kills ElQuackity, putting red team in the lead.
7:48:07 : The server closes.
Notably:
Red team is physically present, visible, and murderable / stoppable at the global tasks area for 8 minutes 31 seconds.
Red team takes 5 minutes 14 seconds to claim their global tasks.
The cooldown on these global tasks leaves at minimum 36 minutes 28 seconds to reclaim, maximum 41 minutes 42 seconds to reclaim before server close.
If a team were to have come up to the dome during the 8 minute 31 second period, they would have seen the team and could have attacked or stopped them.
There is a 2 minute 9 second period where Cellbit literally does not have a weapon in his inventory.
If a team were to have come up to the dome while the red team was still crafting the global quest items, they could have attacked and prevented the team from crafting the items and forced them to retreat without claiming those goals.
November 6th, 2023 : Day 3 of Purgatory
This is the second day red has used this strategy.
Cellbit's VOD:
3:39:11 : Cellbit sees Bagi on the bridge to global. There are 24 minutes and 2 seconds until the server closes.
3:39:49 : Cellbit enters the global dome, standing just to the right of where the red NPC is on November 7th.
3:40:24 : Cellbit exits the global dome to craft the water bottles needed for the global task.
3:42:58 : Cellbit crafts the final water bottle needed for the global task.
3:43:28 : Cellbit, Foolish, and Carre re-enter the global dome.
3:44:15 : Cellbit and Carre exit the global dome to inspect Bagi's body. Foolish exits the global dome to use the crafting table.
3:45:36 : Cellbit and Carre re-enter the global dome.
(There's a few more entrances and exits from the dome during the following period, though they stay within the area marked with Bagi's body, the global NPCs, and the crafting table as corners : Never much more than 61 meters away and never out of sight of the dome)
3:49:45 : Cellbit sends the message "hey guys we are about to deliver global tasks you should come!" There are 14 minutes and 18 seconds until the server closes.
3:50:39 : Cellbit claims the first global task for red team (tea leaves). There are 13 minutes and 26 seconds until the server closes.
3:50:59 : Carre claims one global task for red team (gas masks).
3:51:01 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (hot cocoa).
3:51:09 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (water bottles).
3:51:12 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (backpacks).
3:51:21 : Carre claims the last global task for red team (tea). There are 11 minutes and 52 seconds until the server closes.
4:03:13 : The server closes.
notably:
Red team is physically present, visible, and murderable / stoppable at the global tasks area for 11 minutes and 28 seconds before they turn in any global tasks.
Red team takes 42 seconds to turn in all of their global tasks.
The cooldown on the global tasks leaves at maximum 3 minutes 26 seconds of time to reclaim, and at minimum 1 minute and 52 seconds to reclaim.
If a team were to have come up to the dome during the 11 minute and 28 second period, they would have seen and could have attacked red team.
If a team were to have come up to the dome in the 3 minutes 47 seconds between red team arriving at the global dome and red team crafting all the water bottles for the global task, they would have seen and could have attacked red team.
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sciencewife · 5 months
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Oh have you ever drawn Caroline saying her incoming “goodbye Caroline” line?
How do you see her when she said it?! I’m curious!
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I had to draw her today so I could say “yes I have”
The following is, of course, my opinion.
To me, Caroline is a very intelligent, clever woman. There’s a misconception that Caroline was being your average ditzy secretary when she says this line, but to me, she was making a clever joke. She probably said it with a smile and a wink at Cave when the recording you hear in old Aperture was originally made. She and Cave worked well with each other and understood one another on a certain level, to where they just knew exactly what the other was talking about. Not sure if telepathic is the right word. But they understood each other more than any other two people in Aperture did.
But there’s a melancholy angle too, I think. Goodbye, Caroline. The meaning changes as the years went by. It starts off as a joke, but I think Caroline gives more and more to Aperture as time passes, and she devotes her life to it (Cave doesn’t call her the backbone of the facility for nothing). She gives even more once Cave falls sick and eventually dies, and she takes over.
Eventually, she’s given so much of herself to Aperture and to science—once she’s given all a human being can possibly give—that, in the end, she becomes Aperture.
Goodbye, Caroline.
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emily-mooon · 3 months
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Nordegrim Scream AU but they are instead Randy and Sidney and not the Ghostface duo
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bethrnoora · 8 months
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based on a post @stellarsightz made abt cicero's gay little clown makeup. having fur makes it kind of difficult to actually WEAR makeup but hiisi has his ways. sort of
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luckycl0ve · 3 months
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Who shall the bane of Baldr become,
And steal the life from Oðinn's son?
Who shall vengeance win for the evil work,
Or bring to the flames the slayer of Baldr?
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lethalbreadkills · 10 months
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oh god
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pippytmi · 2 years
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If you're still accepting prompts #5 for supercorp?? Please.. no pressure.. have a good day!!!
When Kara gets an invitation to Andrea’s latest art gala, her friends all reach an unanimous decision to RSVP “no fucking chance” via every available avenue.
It would have been creative, really, and impressive—that is, if Nia hadn’t gotten banned from the post office as a result. So in the end it was just a nice thought, if a misguided one; really, Kara is used to Andrea’s antics by now. They had broken up two months ago, but Andrea seemed intent on showing off every chance she could that she had moved on. Kara has never accused her of doing it to be cruel, but she has to admit, sometimes she fantasizes about showing up to one of Andrea’s events with someone else to show she has moved on as well. Just, you know, to even the score. (If they were keeping score).
But she shows up dateless all the same, and everyone is still aghast she showed up at all, but Kara has always been a firm believer of taking the high road even if Andrea won’t. And Alex tags along, if only to glower at Andrea any chance she gets, until she gets distracted by a pretty girl at the bar and Kara ends up alone just as she anticipated.
Well, she consoles herself, at least the buffet is always here to keep her company.
“Excuse me,” a sudden voice to her right suddenly interrupts the slow-motion movie in Kara’s head that has focused mostly on cream puffs. “Are you Kara Danvers?”
“Yeah?” Kara adjusts her glasses and squares her shoulders, already prepared to face the person Andrea has sent to be her “greeter”—she has a habit of sending someone to escort Kara to personally come say hi to her and her new girlfriend, as if she’s too busy to come across the room herself.
“I thought I recognized you,” says the stranger before her. “I’m Lena, I’m—”
“Andrea’s friend,” Kara fills in the blanks, slightly stunned. “Hi.” She’d heard about Lena Luthor, the mysterious boarding schoolmate turned actress, but had never met her before.
“I always meant to come introduce myself, but…” Lena trails off, and the unspoken but then Andrea broke up with you remains unsaid. “Anyway, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I came over here, I was…” 
“Curious?” Kara offers, and she feels the corner of her mouth twitch with the effort to withhold a self-pitying laugh. “I know, it’s weird. Here I am, at my ex’s party, just trying to stock up on as much free food as I can. I understand if you want to call security.”
Lena Luthor has a very stoic demeanor which must be a product of practiced professionalism, but when Kara says that, a laugh kind of erupts from her mouth; it’s simultaneously undignified and endearing all at once. “Oh, God, I’m sorry—I just, I have no doubt you don’t want to be here. I know Andrea makes it her mission to flaunt her success to everyone.”
“I guess,” Kara shrugs, “but I could have said no.”
“No, you couldn’t have,” Lena disagrees, and her eyes are undoubtedly searching as they meet Kara’s, her gaze heavy but warm. “I’ve been there, I know what she’s like.”
Kara tugs at the knot of her tie, suddenly wishes it were a bit looser, and then sighs. “Yeah,” she says quietly. “Sometimes I wish I could give her a taste of her own medicine, you know? To—” And then it dawns on her. It’s something Alex would thump her over the head for, and it’s the kind of idea that Nia would wholeheartedly agree on. “Hey. Are you single?”
Lena gives her an odd look. “What?”
“Wait, that’s not what it sounds like,” Kara is quick to assure her. “I meant—if you’re single, and willing, would you maybe want to pretend you’re my girlfriend?”
“Me?” Lena has very green eyes, mesmerizingly green really, and it’s hard for Kara to even form words when they’re trained on her. “That feels kind of…petty.”
Kara deflates. “You’re right,” she mumbles. “I’m sorry, I—”
“Kara, there you are.” Winn, who must be the unfortunate courier of bad news this evening, arrives short of breath. “Andrea wanted me to tell you hi for her. Or, er, she wants me to invite you to…say hi to her? I don’t even know what she’s asking.”
“We do,” Lena cuts in, and before Kara can even blink, there is a hand holding hers, intertwined fingers and all; Lena smiles sideways at her, just about level in her heels, and her smile is so stunningly pretty that Kara can only blink back in response. “Shall we, darling?”
“Um,” Kara says very ineloquently in response, and Winn’s eyes just about pop out of his head. “Okay.”
It is very strange to hold someone’s hand, Kara decides, when you don’t know the person. Lena’s hand is soft and just edging on cold, as if she’d been outside too long before arriving, and all Kara can do is agonize over whether her hand is sweaty.
Andrea is waiting by the orchestra, quite predictably, with her new girlfriend and acting as if she hadn’t expected Kara to walk up to her at all. “Kara, hi,” she says, and normally this is the time she would schmooze and smile without teeth, batting her eyes and stressing how nice it is that Kara could make it. But when she spots Lena—namely, Lena holding Kara’s hand—her smile freezes on her face. “Lena, I didn’t know you were coming. We didn’t see your RSVP.”
Lena tilts her head just so, smiling just bright enough to be polite. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she says, and lets go of Kara’s hand as if practiced to rest against the lapel of her suit jacket. “Kara’s invite had a plus one, so I assumed I could just come with.”
“Of course,” Andrea says tightly. “Though I must say, I didn’t even know you two knew each other.”
“Well, we have you to thank,” Kara says without even thinking, without even forming a story, and judging by the way Lena’s eyebrows raise she is thinking the same thing. “I was, um, working a shoot and Lena was there and she recognized me, from pictures you showed her? So we started talking. And here we are.” Then, because she’s sure she needs to play up the romance, she slides her own hand against Lena’s waist—a mistake for her own sanity, because Lena is in a quite form-fitting red dress and Kara gets a little too distracted when she looks at it.
“You make us sound so dull,” Lena tuts, and her eyes sparkle with a challenge when Kara looks at her. “She won’t admit it, but she was so tongue-tied when we met. Completely head over heels.”
“Okay but who wouldn’t be?” Kara dares her right back, feeling more brazen, and Lena quirks an eyebrow as if intrigued.
“I thought you were cute too, I suppose,” Lena says, and she sways into Kara’s embrace, which causes Kara’s heart to beat embarrassingly quick. “Even if you almost dropped a backdrop on my head.”
“I apologized for that,” Kara plays along, relieved that Lena’s far better at crafting a story; she has never seen Lena act in anything, but knows she has to be Oscar-worthy for this performance alone.
Andrea pointedly clears her throat. “How nice,” she says flatly, looking annoyed, and Kara had nearly forgotten that she’s here.
“Well great party, Andrea,” Kara says. “And thank you for having us, but we have to run—I promised Lena a dance.”
“Lena doesn’t dance,” Andrea says sharply, but Lena is already nodding along with Kara’s excuse.
“What can I say,” Lena says cheerfully, “she brings out the dancer in me.”
Kara has to pretend to cough, then, because that is such an awful line, and Lena pinches her wrist when no one is looking, and really it’s a miracle they manage to get away before Andrea realizes this is all a ruse. In fact, the instant they’re back at the buffet, they exchange a single look and immediately burst into laughter.
“Thank you, for that,” Kara says afterwards, shyly taking a step back when she notices she’s still lingering too close.
“It was your idea, I just brought it to life,” Lena says. “Though you really had me digging for my improv notes, because your storytelling leaves a lot to be desired.”
“I tend to think before I speak sometimes,” Kara admits sheepishly. “Which, uh, I’m sorry about. You know, because the dancing thing…” She pauses. “You don’t have to dance with me though. I’ll just pretend I got an urgent call or something, and Winn can pass on the message that I left.”
“You forget that I’m your date for the evening, now,” Lena warns. “If you leave I’m practically obligated to leave with you.”
“Right, I didn’t think of that.” And with Lena staring back at her, her expression soft and curious, Kara feels brave again. “Well…do you drink coffee?”
“I do,” Lena says, angling just a bit closer, and Kara smiles.
“I know a great coffee shop in the area,” she says. “And they don’t care if we show up looking like this.”
“Are you asking me on an actual date?” Lena bites her bottom lip just coyly enough that Kara knows she’s not opposed to the suggestion, which is what prompts her to respond,
“Yes,” without so much as a pause. “And I can promise I won’t almost-drop anything on your head in this scenario.”
“Well I’d hope so,” Lena says, and Kara laughs, and really it’s the strangest outcome that Kara could have never anticipated. And yeah, it’s as awkward as any first date already, Kara blushing too much and Lena fiddling with her hands as they walk, but—it’s also just about the best night of Kara’s life.
“So why didn’t you RSVP?” Kara thinks to ask, just as they reach the front door, and Lena scrunches her nose in confusion.
“I told my assistant to RSVP for me, I’m not sure what happened,” she says. “I saw her leave to the post office myself.”
“Oh,” Kara says, grimacing. “That wouldn’t have been the one off of 37th street, would it?”
“Yes, actually. How’d you know?”
Kara thinks of Nia’s ban, and the fact that letters are oh-so-flammable, and just shakes her head. “Let’s just say it’s never arriving,” she says, and Lena gives her a confused look, but Kara reaches for her hand again and then everything else kind of fades away.
(Even Alex—who they pass on the way outside—and her shout of, “Kara, what the fuck,” melts into the symphony of car honks and police sirens and shouts of passerby as Kara and Lena disappear into the cool night air).
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sollucets · 7 months
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guys i am trying Really hard not to have public opinions about of this morning... pray for me
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