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thatbigbisexual29 · 6 months

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Play with us, Papa Rei! (Buddy Daddies)

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM ALL OF US TO YOU! WE WISH IT WAS OUR BIRTHDAY TO WE CAN PARTY TOO HEY! Ayooooo happy birthday to my dearest and bestest friend on this site, @giggly-squiggily !!!!!!!! Gonna be honest, I had this one saved and unfinished in my drafts and thought "She would love this!" so HERE WE ARE!!!!! Like I said in a message before, I'm super glad to have you as a friend! I truly appreciate you and your friendship, you've even inspired me to post some of my own fics! (Which was not as scary as I thought it would be XD Sorry this is a bit late, but I hope you enjoy it! This one is for you :3 And again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

The days when Miri was home from school were probably the most eventful days Rei’s ever experienced in his life. She was such a wild bundle of energy that he could barely keep up sometimes. Thank god Kazuki was there to help out. Even though he barely acknowledged it or said anything, he genuinely loved and appreciated the help the older man gave. And now was no different. She asked, no, demanded that the two build her a massive pillow fort to her liking. And since they couldn’t say no to her cute face, they got to work. Soon enough, all the couch cushions, pillows, and blankets in the house had been used to make a, quite honestly, impressive pillow fort in their living room. And Miri was so overjoyed.

“Thank you Papa Rei! Thank you Papa Kazuki!” she squealed, diving into the opening. Kazuki momentarily panicked as she jumped in with no caution for the structure of the fort! But, he soon relaxed as he saw their girl laughing happily.

“Papas! You need to come in here!” she claimed, grabbing Kazuki by the wrist and pulling him in, giggling loudly at his grunt of surprise. He chuckled and cuddled close to her, making her laugh even more.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Lady Miri! I was afraid I would go cold and hungry this night, but you have saved me! How can I ever repay you??” The blonde man played up, relishing in his daughter’s squeals. Rei lifted up the blanket entrance and watched them, the slightest smile on his lips. He was proud of this. It wasn’t a shabby job, at least not to him, and Rei knew he was going to be invited in by both Miri and Kazuki. As comfy as the inside looked, it would probably heat up real quick. Not to mention he was wearing a long sleeved shirt. So he dropped the blanket curtain and attempted to make his leave.

“Papa Rei, wait!” Miri cried, poking her head from the fort. Rei sighed. Busted. “You need to play with Papa Kazuki and me in the fort! Pleeeeeeeeease???”

“Yeah, pleeeeeeeeease Papa Rei?~” Kazuki also poked his head from the blanket, smirking and egging the former assassin on. With a quiet groan, Rei obeyed their orders and crawled into the space with cheers from the two invitees.

“So! What are we gonna do now, Miri?” Kazuki asked, a big grin on his face. With a starry-eyed look, she ran out the fort yelling behind her, “Let me get my things!” Rei glared at Kazuki, mentally cursing him out for the fate the younger man just exposed them to. The little girl rushed back with an armful of bright hair clips that immediately made the men cringe.

“Let me do your hair Papas!” she asked loudly. And it was less of an ask and phrased more like ‘I’m going to do your hair whether you like it or not.’ Kazuki, of course, didn’t mind. Rei was against this idea entirely. But, like always, he couldn’t say no. Kazuki was first and mixed in with sitting still for Miri to finish his hair, he also had to keep Rei from escaping constantly. After Miri was done making Kazuki a “pretty lady” (Rei chuckled at that), it was Rei’s turn to have all the attention on him. Miri held up a bunch of sparkly bows that she could put in Rei’s hair. The man sat still for several moments as he took in the sight of the bows… then he raced for the exit.

“Wh- REI GET BACK HERE!!!” Kazuki exclaimed, grabbing the former assassin around the waist and falling to the floor with him. “If I have to put silly bows in my hair, then you do too!”

“Never!” Rei shouted as he reached for the door, so close to the outside! Then, Rei felt a poke to his armpit that made him shoot his arm down with a squeak. He turned to look at Miri, who poured angrily yet adorably at the man.

“Papa Rei!” she fussed. “You promised you would play with us! Good daddies don’t make bad promises!”

Kazuki grinned immediately while Rei furrowed his brows with guilt. She was right. He had promised. But then again, that was when he had gotten home from a long day and was half asleep. It technically didn’t count! But he couldn’t let her down… it’s decided then. He will play with his family! … That doesn’t mean he won’t be hard to get though!

“If you tell Papa Kazuki to let me go…” he looked at Miri with a mischievous half-grin. “I’ll tell you where he hides his chocolate pudding!”

Miri gasped excitedly while Kazuki made sounds of betrayal.

“Rei!!! You can’t just do that to me! And Miri! Don’t even think of switching sides! We’re putting bows in his hair whether he likes it or not!” Kazuki declared as he now wrapped his arms around Rei’s chest to keep him in place.

“But Papa Kazukiiiii! I want chocolate pudding!” Miri whined. Rei struggled in Kazuki’s grip, he was stronger than he remembered, as he kept his grin. The pair knew she would start helping Rei as soon as she could. To get her back on track, Kazuki reached out one hand and quickly scribbled his fingers against her belly. Miri squealed with laughter and backed away, holding her tummy as she giggled.

“This is no time for chocolate pudding, Miri! We have to-” Kazuki paused. An idea formed in his head. Rei acted as if he’d read Kazuki’s mind because they made eye contact and the former assassin shook his head feverishly.

“Kazuki, no!” Rei said in a hushed panic. Kazuki only grinned evilly.

“Kazuki yes!! Miri, help tickle Papa Rei!” Kazuki quickly sat on Rei’s thighs as he forced his arms above his head. Huh, he was faster than Rei remembered too.

“Will I get-?” Miri began before Kazuki shouted, “YES you’ll get chocolate pudding!”

“Weeeeee!” Miri squealed as she ran over. Kazuki already started on scratching over Rei’s ribs, giggling at how Rei immediately squeaked at the touch. The former assassin pursed his lips together and puffed out his cheeks in an effort to keep the laughter in. Miri, who began repeatedly poking his side, laughed at his funny face.

“Hahaha! Papa Rei’s making a pooping face!” Miri exclaimed. Kazuki immediately started laughing at her declaration, as he found it hysterically accurate. And with the combination of Miri’s joke, their combined laughter, and the hands tickling over his ribs and sides, tipped the scales a lot quicker than anyone anticipated. Rei started giggling and quietly laughing with his family.

“Aha!” Kazuki barked as he caught these adorable sounds. “Hear that, Miri? He’s laughing! We’re one step closer to getting him to surrender!”

Miri squealed happily and began to use both her hands to poke Rei’s sides, all the while she chanted the words ‘chocolate pudding’ over and over again. Rei shook his head back and forth with glee, smiling wide and freely as Kazuki turned his hand into a claw and vibrated them in between his ribs.

“Khehehehehehe! Ahahahahahahahaaaa! Sttthhahahahahahahap! Get off mehehehehehehe! M-Mirihihihihihi, quihihihihihihit it! Kahahazukihihi, knock it ohohohohoff!” Rei wheezed with laughter as he addressed the man above him and the girl beside him. He rocked his torso back and forth as the two continued to tickle the former assassin silly.

“Papa Kazuki! Let’s get his tummy!” Miri said. Kazuki gasped with delight as Rei groaned in despair.

“That’s a great idea Miri!” Kazuki said as he shoved Rei’s shirt up to his neck. Rei continued to shake his head no, but his smile didn’t leave his face at all. “Alright, Miri! Should we do raspberries or nibbles?”

Rei’s eyes shot wide open at the question and he tried to sit up and pull his hands away. Miri placed her finger to her chin and pondered, humming in thought. Rei tried hard to yank his wrists from Kazuki’s hand, but that bastard just kept him still using his other hand! Rei growled at him and Kazuki stuck out his tongue.

“Raspberries!” was Miri’s decision.

“Raspberries it is then! You ready, Rei?~” Kazuki cooed at his partner, wiggling his eyebrows at the younger man. Rei attempted to scowl at the blonde, but his wavering smile would not leave his features. Then he jerked and barked out a laugh as Miri blew a raspberry on the former assassin’s side. Miri giggled hysterically at his reaction.

“That’s not funny Miri!” Rei fussed, blushing like no one’s business. Kazuki and Miri began laughing again.

“Of course it is, Rei!” Kazuki exclaimed. He was next to dip his head down to Rei’s smooth belly and blow a torturous raspberry.

“GAHAHAHAHAHA! Ohohokay- ohokay. Thahat’s enough. That’s enoHOHAHAHAHAHAF! NOHOHOHOHOHOHOOO! Ehehehehehehehehehe! C-C’mohohon! Youhu guys!” Rei tried to argue, but he was interrupted by the two taking turns and blowing raspberries until his wheezy laughter turned silent.

After one final raspberry from Kazuki, the blonde man let go of the former assassin and scooped Miri in his lap so they could give him a break. The younger man immediately curled up after being let go and panted, still giggly after the whole ordeal. Miri covered her mouth and giggled with him while Kazuki took in the sights and sounds fondly.

“So,” he started, “you gonna actually play with us now?”

Rei peeked his eye open and looked at the two, noticing how big Miri’s eyes were, hopeful that he’d say yes. Rei just chuckled and pat her head.

“Yeah, I’ll play.”

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!” Miri squealed at the top of her lungs. She wiggled out of Kazuki’s grip and jumped onto Rei’s arm, flopping over him and laughing while he grunted. The older man growled in a playful manner and caught the little girl in his arms.

“I’m gonna eat you!” he exclaimed as he nuzzled his face into her ear, lightly nibbling it and making the girl squeal and laugh like no tomorrow. Kazuki leaned his head on his knee and watched on lovingly, thinking that his life couldn’t get better than this. In truth, it could, especially when he saw their reactions to pulling out three cups of chocolate pudding.

Happy Birthday, Rei, he thought.

#also buddy daddies has a headcrab so strong on me and I wont apologize for it xD #buddy daddies #rei suwa #miri unasaka #kazuki kurusu #tickle fic #sfw tickle fic #sfw tickle community #tickle #tickling #buddy daddies tickle fic #buddy daddies tickle

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utilitycaster · 9 months

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Top 5 CR ships... I'm choosing violence

So here's the deal. top 4 nonnegotiable in that they are my top 4; exact placement within that top 4 varies. As with a bunch of things, C3 is hard to judge as an unfinished work with all relationships in fairly early stages so regardless of my personal feelings - and there are ships I like and dislike - I'm leaving it out, because like...Caleb/Essek at episode 2x70? barely on my radar, and so it would be unfair to judge against the finished works.

Fjord/Jester

Percy/Vex

Beau/Yasha

Caleb/Essek

final one is the difficult one:

I think Vax and Keyleth are great for each other and supportive and sweet and have a lot of lovely moments. I also rarely have anything to say about them, though? It's like. They're sweet! They are really good partners for each other! That's about all I have to offer in terms of meta whereas the four above all have me eating drywall or whatever the kids are saying.

I always felt the same about Pike and Scanlan as Vax and Keyleth, perhaps more generously so because of Ashley's scheduling, until the TCSR came out - cute, but not a ton to say. The fact that they are divorced FWB is in my opinion a genius move on Ashley and Sam's part and makes them a million times more interesting. However, that's a brief off-camera scene and a lot of headcanon doing the heavy lifting.

This is also true of Kimallura - in my mind, they are, quite possibly, the wlw D&D answer to Jane Austen's Persuasion. My hc is that they were together but had a messy breakup after most of their party died, complicated by the fact that they genuinely wanted different things at the time. After a few years they got over it and became friends again, but they were living so far apart anyway what with Allura on the council and Kima in Vasselheim that it was largely communication by letter and the occasional sending and even rarer teleport. However, Allura couldn't help but be worried with Kima went missing, hence sending Vox Machina after her, and when they were reunited those feelings all started up again, eventually leading to the pair rekindling their relationship during Campaign 1. HOWEVER this is 100% me filling in the gaps.

Loquatius and Laerryn are fantastic but we don't get a ton of time with them either. It makes perfect sense that they reunite at the end of the world; I just wish there'd been more.

Veth and Yeza had limited screentime for him being a noncombatant NPC but the fact is, In Love and War was the first ever CR episode I stayed up past midnight to watch until the break because their reunion was so well played.

So: with that, I think I have to hand #5 to Veth and Yeza.

#answered #minxie-the-sabertooth-kitty #cr tag #top 5 ask meme

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anincompletelist · 5 months

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Hi Sara! how are you? I hope you're okay 🫶🏼 I hope I don't sound rude or anything, but how's the 2nd part of "somehow i'd get by"

I mean, I loved the first part and I'm looking forward to the 2nd.

hi there! :D

no worries, I appreciate your interest and I'm so happy you've enjoyed the first part! we're currently sitting at roughly 5k, but I have everything I'd like to do outlined already. I've been really trying to focus on getting the rest of bridesmaids finished so that I'm not just posting a bunch of shorter fics one after the other (except for this guy that I couldn't get out of my head ha) but this one is definitely on my radar as well since I don't like leaving works unfinished for too long!

it will likely be sometime mid-january since I have a lot planned here at the end of this year/start of the new year, BUT I can offer you a snippet if you'd like!

thank you so much for reading and for your curiosity! I hope you're doing well! <3

“Hey,” Alex grabs his hand before he can reach for the door handle and crowds himself into his space, Henry’s back flush to the wood.

With his free hand he reaches up and Henry watches him pull the necklace from underneath his shirt up and off of himself, the key dangling between them before it disappears under the collar of Henry’s own button-down, cool and solid against the center of his chest. He glances up at Alex questioningly, but receives only a clandestine smile in return. Alex runs the back of his knuckle over the shape of it through his shirt.

“You’ll keep this safe for me, yeah?” He taps it twice, perfectly in time with Henry’s stuttering heartbeat underneath.

The sentimentality of the act renders him speechless for a moment, his chest full with the weight of the action, of the knowledge that Alex is trusting him with an object he’s so protective over. Suddenly Henry wishes he had something to give back to him that he could hold on to in return.

Then he realizes that that’s the entire purpose of this— Henry can give Alex himself. Warmth surges up in his throat and he raises a hand to cover Alex’s, holding steady and meeting his eye.

“Yes,” he says at a whisper.

#wips #ask #soft dom alex my beloved <3

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azurecrystalz · 1 year

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[Translation] A Story that is Mine Alone (Mika FS2) / Chapter 1

Lunch Recess

Mao: (I was checking all my messages from "HoldHands" and I didn't realize it had gotten this late. I really don't feel like going to get something to eat from the cafeteria--)

Mao: --Huh? My bad, Kagehira. Looks like something fell off the desk when I walked by you. Is this a design sketch?

Mika: Nnah, I'm the one who's sorry. I was the one spreading things all over your desk, sorry for bothering you.*

Mao: Nono, you really don't need to apologize, since I was the one that dropped it. At any rate, what are you even spreading out all your design sketches...? There's ribbons, beads, and stuff too.

Mika: Nn, well...I'm preparing things for the "Feature Live" right now.

Mao: Fumu, do you mean you're making props for the live?

Mika: Right. I went and asked Anzu-chan if I could make the costume and props for the live. I'm kind of nervous being up on the stage on my own, so I'd want to do what I can.

Arashi: When I heard those words from Mika-chan, I was so moved~

Mao: Woah, Arashi?!

Arashi: Hi there, Mao-chan. Sorry for the bother.

Mika: Naru-chan! Did you come here to check up on me?

Arashi: Yep! You told me yesterday that you had trouble with something, so I was wondering what happened afterwards.

Mika: I was able to finish the prop with no problem and now its back at the dorm. With Naru-chan's help and advice, I managed to shape it up. Thanks a bunch...~

Arashi: Ufufu! That's great to hear. Apart from that, what are you working on now?

Mika: This is the costume's accessory. So far, I think it looks pretty good.

Mao: Umm? From the sounds of it, Arashi seems like she's been supporting Kagehira's progress this whole time.

Arashi: But of course, it's a big day for my precious best friend after all. I've been his cheerleader ever since I heard that he was going to have a "feature live".

Mika: Naru-chan's been really supportive of me, so I feel really motivated. I'll be honest, I can't wait and I'm a little nervous that I won't be able to make it to the show, but I know I can give it my best. Today I'm definitely going to finish this accessory, then I'll get to working on the next prop...!

Mao: You're really fired up~, I'll be cheering for you too. Buuut, when comparing the sketches and the physical product, isn't it different from "Valkyrie"s typical image?

Arashi: Well yeah, it's Mika-chan's live performance, so of course all of Mika-chan's personality will fully be on display.

Mao: Yeah, in that case it looks super-fresh...I don't know how to word it, but it's good.

Mika: Ehehe, it'd make me really happy if I can make something that people will view that way. Since I've been thinking a bunch about what a stage decorated with my own special art would look like...There's no way I could leave anything unfinished or careless. All I want is to take the best I can do, and create something that will reach the hearts of the people that come to see it.

Arashi: ...If Mika-chan said he could do it, then I'm positive he can. If there's anything you want me to help you with, then please ask me.

Mika: Yeah. Thanks a bunch, but it's good enough to have your suggestions and you watching me. I'll give it my all and make everything for the performance.

Mao: ? Did someone's stomach rumble, just now?

Arashi: Don't ask me. Are you hungry, Mao-chan?

Mao: Well, either way I was gonna buy something but...nn? Kagehira, what're you looking away for?

Mika: Th...that was my stomach. Auuugh, that's so embarrassing! After all of that passion and presentation!

Arashi: Ufufu, maybe you were too concentrated and got distracted. I think I can pay for Mika-chan's lunch so I can lend him a hand.

Mao: Kagehira, what do you want to eat that's being offered right now? I was gonna go and take Arashi with me too.

Mika: Naa, you two don't have to trouble yourselves...!

Yuzuru: Then, why not eat something made by me?

Mika: Yuu-kun?!**

Arashi: Yuzuru-chan, why are you cooking?

Mao: Oh, I see. It's because a few ingredients from the "DIY cooking course" are going to expire soon right?

Yuzuru: That's right. Even though there was a student council report, I supposed there was a small chance that some students wouldn’t chose the "DIY course" before the ingredients expired. Therefore, after hearing what you all were saying, I figured I'd use them myself.

Mika: U-umm, thanks...but are you sure?

Arashi: It would make it so there's no food wasted, so why don't you just accept the kind gesture? If he's cooking from scratch, then he'll be able to make something that suits Mika-chan's tastes.

Yuzuru: Since I've already made you lunchboxes before, I already know your preference in regards to food. Please leave this to me~

Mao: I'm sure the student council will be grateful. I'd honestly be happy eating anything you craft up.

Yuzuru: Ufufu. Now then, please wait a few moments. I'll bring the food here to you when it's finished.

Mika: Y-yeah...sorry, everyone. For making you all do all these things for my sake.

Mao: You want to get that prop done by the end of the day right? I'm gonna go give Yuzuru a hand, so you keep at it, Kagehira!

Arashi: Everyone here wants to cheer you on, Mika-chan. For that reason, at times like this you say "thank you".

Mika: Yeah...thank you, really. I'm gonna give it even more of my all to make something good for everyone!

That evening

Ritsu: (...Oya? We found Mika-rin's bags ahead of us~ Back in our room, I saw lots of items that he's been making for his "feature live" coming up. I'll hold some for him because he's my dormmate.)

Ritsu: Mika-riiin~

Mika: Ritsu-kun!

Ritsu: Are you going back to the dorms? I am too, so I'll carry some things.

Mika: Eh, are you sure? These are full of fabric from the art room, so they're pretty heavy.

Ritsu: It's fiiiine, its fine. Two people are better than one, and three people are better than two. The load will be a lot lighter at that point. So let's work together and take it easy in order to conserve energy.

Mika: Three...?

Ritsu: Oiiii~ is that Corgi I see walking over there? Mika-rin's got trouble because he's carrying a lot of stuff, so help us come carry it~

Koga: Ahn? What's up with you?

Ritsu: You were on your way back too anyways, Corgi. Because of that, make yourself useful for Mika-rin, who's been working really hard for his "feature live" coming up.

Koga: I don't get it. Well, it's obvious you've got a lot of stuff, so I guess I'll help you carry it...

Mika: Naah! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for all the baggage!

Koga: Don't be so worried, we're all headed to the same place. I'll take this heavy bag and...I'll take that bag for you.

Ritsu: Corgi could be so handsome. So then, Mika-rin, I'll pick up that handbag of yours.

Mika: Y-yeah...thanks, you two~....

next chapter →

(*): I'm not really a ValkyrieP so I'm unfamiliar with how translators write out Mika's accent, and just in general I find it really hard to write out accents. To avoid confusing myself I kept it plain and easy, so please forgive leaving it out ^^;

(**): The way Mika refers to Yuzuru. I'm putting this here because I forgot that's what Mika called him so I had to go back and check the wiki and I'm telling myself I'm not the only one that forgot to make myself feel better.

#enstars #enstars translation #mika kagehira #arashi narukami #yuzuru fushimi #mao isara #koga oogami #ritsu sakuma #aurora tls #requested tl

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popculturebuffet · 2 months

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Thomas and Friends Retrospective: The Magic Railroad: The Workprint Cut (Comissioned by Lachie V)

Previously on this blog:

Also I may or may not have reviewed a bunch of Thomas the Tank Entine, cumilating in a look at the disasterous theatrical cut which you can find my barely coherent thoughts on that barely coherent film here. We haven't gotten the results back from the lab yet.

The Theatrical cut is so legendarily wonky I just.. coudln't leave it at that and feel like I gave the film a good shake. So I took on the arduous task of watching an unfinished workprint that I erronously said last time was on the blu ray. While the blu ray has some scenes from this version, the full workprint was leaked seperately and god bless those who did as it gives us something of a look at what this film was supposed to be. So join me under the cut as I see what this film WAS and if what it was was any good.. or at least comprehensible. After the nightmare of that last review i'll settle for "Makes sense from point a to b" that's the state we're entering this review at people. You've been warned.

The workprint of the Magic Railroad is interesting. This is the first workprint i've ever seen and thus the first i've ever covered on this blog. For those unaware, as I was before I googled it, a work print is an unfinished version of a film, with effects, adr and the soundtrack largely missing. So it was fascinating to see just how many pieces of the film, even things as simple as a line that LOOKED on screen are put into place after the fact. Film Editors don't get enough credit.. plenty of blame when it's earned but not enough credit and this made me respect them all the more.

That said watching a prototype of a finished film i'd seen.. was a lot. It seems easy, the effects just aren't there right? Well it's not just visual effects: it's SOUND effects. The only sounds are either ADR from the various crew member and anything on camera. And said ADR is not from the actors yet but various voices i'd never heard before and also Britt Alcroft. It's fair and I don't blame the cut for it, this wasn't MEANT to be viewed by anyone but editors. It's just hard on my autisim: whlie i'm functional and can handle sensory changes normally in a film, having there be no sound where their clearly should be in a lot of places... was just weird. I KNOW why it's not there, and usually my mind fills in the gaps but for some reason here it just felt extra off when an explosion or heavy digging happened with no sound. It's just this freaky effect and it took some time to get through it as a result, not helped by me only realizing what was really throwing me off towards the end of the film.

I can't recommend this cut as a film.. because it's not finished nor was it intended to be a finished product. It's not really something for bad movie night like it's theatrical cousin. As an interesting artifact of this film and Thomas as a whole though, I am delighted it exists as it fills in a LOT of the gaps and is complete enough I can judge what aspects were cut by their own merits.

Let's start with the big one, the most infamous and curious of the bunch: PT Boomer, played by Doug Lennox who realizes exactly what kind of film he's in and hams it up accordingly. Boomer is one of the films big bads... and was almost entirely cut from the theatrical cut, with only one brief scene that was redubbed, a scene so plot important and load bearing I forgot it even happened.

PT Boomer is all about

Wanting to make profit off things. That's.. about what we get. Seriously we have two seperate scenes where one of the kids asks Billy then Stacey about boomer.. and they just say essentially "He's greedy and wants to buy everything" without ever clarifying who he is, what he does for his BUISNESS, or what his goals are beyond "profit off a magical lady train he broke in the past." I am so sad he got cut as while he woudln't of made the film much better, he is so bad it's good glorious: even in this his plans literally boil down to

KIDNAP MAGIC LADY TRAIN FOR REVENGE

?????

PROFIT

It's still not much above Disel's plan that just replaces kidnap with kill and profit with "become train king". It is funny though and gives this guy a leg up.

The most we get is his backstory with Burnett, Lily's grandpa who gets fleshed out considerably in this version. In the original his backstory was just "diesel nearly killed this train I found and my wife never got to ride her" which is prettty damn thin and even before the workprint cut I could tell something was missing.

The actual backstory is still as thin as a sheet of paper covered in bacon grease, but it's at least.. something: He swored to take her on a ride but before he could Boomer, who had also wanted to bang Lily's grandma but lost out to burnett because well evil I guess, found her and threatned burnett if he didn't let him drive the train. He ended up driving too fast, making this a dramatic version of that trampoline scene from community.

youtube

I've tried not to use youtube videos as the thumbnail takes up the link but it really is just this exact moment but with trains and a dead wife.

We also get a minutes long montage of Burnett dancing with his wife. it adds nothing to the plot and is one of the cuts i can absolutely see why it happened. We also get a scene of Stone and Lily having dinner where he says I don't like trains.

Another change as a result is that the big cave scene with Patch.. is towards the end. In the thetrical cut we get 80 gallons of train expoision while the workprint at least plays it as a mystery: a whistle is heard in the mountain and instead of finding out what it is seconds after we hear it, it's played up the whole film. IT's a much better fit and I question why this was changed at all.

That also goes for Boomer. I went back and checked and. .he's not really IN the movie that much. He shows up, meances a bit, hams it up and leaves. He spends most of the film either trying ot find stone, buy shining time for some reason, which makes mr conductor's visions of an apocalypse make far more sense, and the rest trying to dig his way to the hidden railway then blow everything the fuck up when that dosen't work out. Keeping him in.. really wasn't going to hurt the film and I don't really buy reports "he scared children". The evil brother of the attention all gamers guy isn't going to be in any child's nightmares.

Cutting boomer also makes the non lily or coked out conductor characters feel more suplerfous as it turns out the original cut had way mroe for them to do. Not a lot, but still more. Patch has a horse.. which WAS in the theatrical cut but I did not notice. Probably because he's also lacking his sweet cowboy hat... it's like taking away knuckles cowboy hat from the sonic ova: you take away the source of his powers. Billy likewise gets a scene with boomer and a scene getting a warning. He still dosen't DO much but I feel bad for clowning on his actor last time: Russel Means is actually a wonderful billy replacement. He's not as good as Tom Jackson is in the role, but he's still pretty neat but in the theatrical cut he's there for all of two seconds and seemed a lot stiffer. That was really the editing's fault not him as he has billy's laidback charm and wise nature down pat. Stacey also gets an extra scene, though she still got PLENTy in the theatrical. Cutting this plot was unfair to the actors involved and their screentime and especially douchey to Doug Lennox, who put in a great performance. .that got cut entirely.

To my shock though the mass cuts... really aren't responsible for the film being pretty hard to parse. The workprint cut IS legible at least as a few confusing bits are explained: instead of wanting to kill all trains disel wants to conquer them, and he's unaware Lady is connected to the magic, meaning he GENUINELY dosen't realize he dies if he destroys her. So instead of stupid his plan comes off as dangerous and just the right amount of sinister for a preschool film instead of

We also get clarifcation on the "My Universe" thing. The narration for the work print still referes to it as mr. conductor's universe.. but they actually explain what the hell they were saying with that: The various mr conductors built this universe. Granted

Unlike the theatrical though, I can at least accept that answer: the mr conductors do have godlike powers and it makes Mr Conductor speaking with authority on his power loss possibly killing him less ass pully: it makes sense they'd pass this shit down through generations and makes sense Mr C Junior wouldn't know it as he's a fuckwit.

It makes the film less maddening.. but it dosen't change the fact this new lore is just kinda jammed in there, a square train in a round station house. The lore still dosen't make a ton of since even for a film for small children, and again thei rparents and possibly older siblings still have to watch it with them so why punch down. All punching down did was get parents to cave and go take their kids to see X-Men or Pokemon 2000 instead, both much better movies. Especailly pokmeon 2000. Fuck I really need to cover both of those don't I.

It also dosen't explain simple shit like "Why does lady tie the two universes together" and "after being in a coma for so long why is magic just fading now". It's still at the end of the day an overcomplicated mess that creates it's own weird lore never to be used again that no one vibed with because even for the stupid train children show it was baffling instead of fairy tale style like they were going for.

The other scenes cut are far more understandable: that dance scene I mentiond went on to long and we get a brief prologue of Lily in the big city and the reason behind the fire escape line. It's.. nothing we honestly needed mostly Mara wilson wistfully starring outside a train.. which is adorable but dosen't really move the plot along.

So that leads us to the final cut and the final change worth talking about between versions: the voice actors. Like with boomer the executives tried overcorrecting to test audience complaints. They dont' like one of the villians? Cut him out entirely. They don't like the voices for some of the characters? replace the bitches! Yeah originally Thomas was voiced by John Bellis, Percy and James by Thomas UK narrator Micheal Angellis, Splatter and Dodge by Patrick Breen, and Disel 10 by Keith Scott.

Unlike with removing boomer I get most of these edits: Unlike boomer I completely buy that D10 scared children as Keith Scott's voice for him is terrifying.. though the terror is undrecut by the adr version of him sounding like Lumpy Space Princess. It's a great voice and I feel bad for Scott.. but it is a bit too scary> Granted they coudl've just.. worked with him to find another voice as they had before (He tried a russian voice before this that was apparently even creepier), so it's shitty they fired him and everyone here instead of simply recasting them or giving them something else.

LIkewise I love MIcheal Angellis and having him voice cameo was a good idea.. but they shoudl've had him do Henry instead. His voice works when he's narrating every character.. but I get why having an old gentleman voice for Percy and James, both younger engines dosen't quite work. Granted unlike with D10, where his replacement got the tone better, making Percy and James small children dosen't fix the problem. Their youthful not 8. Stupid Train Children is not that literal a term.

Thomas on the other hand.. was fine: he sounded youthful, had a nice plesant voice and I honestly prefer it over the final cut voice with Eddie Glenn. Glenn isn't bad.. but Bellis just got the character better. Splatter and Dodge are also way better and the film does a far better job conveying thier reluctant minon status and making them humorous foils to dissel.

So all in all the Work Print version is a better film.. but only by comparision. It has some good stuff that was cuts and the edits done were mostly moronic but it's still a film that alternates between boring and WHAT THE FUCK. it just explains more, which helps with the latter

The Magic Railroad in either film is a film that tried to cram way too much shit in. It tried so hard to escalate thomas to save the world level shit when that just .. dosen't scale with either Thomas and Friends or Shining Time Station. Both are about small scale problems in small slice of lifey places: a cozy british isle and a whimsical train station. Their biggest issues are dickheads like Disel and god emperor or schemer. You could've had thomas go on a treasure hunt to save the rail way or shining time or both. Maybe Schemer is trying to buy the failing railway. I mean if their going to go with the skeezy buisness douche cliche at least make it the guy you already have who would defintely do that if he could. Give him Boomer as a boss if you want. It keeps the tension, the two worlds element and mr c going back and forth as he could've taken Mara Wilson to shining time to go on the hunt to save the station. Give her an attachment to it. Make Burnett stone a conductor. You don't have to throw everything out, but simply lowering the stakes would've made this a more coherent film. I"m not sure how GOOD it woudl've been bu tit would've been a better Thomas Movie, a better shining time movie and something people would've actually wanted to see.

Instead it's a mess that changed Thomas as a whole, with Britt's failures here leading to her stepping down and eventually the company being purchased by HIT. But more on that another time for now we can put this train to bed. These reviews have been exausting as I don't want to be negative but these films, both cuts, are hot garbage. one just makes more sense. Hopefully if the proposed thomas film goes through they get it right... until then all we're left is a mess of what could've been and alec baldwin on cocaine.

Next Time: Turns out there is one as we have a new plan. I'll be covering season 6 sometime later this year, season 7, then teaking a break while Lachey figures out the rest of the schedule and I cover venture bros seasons 4b- the end. Thanks for reading

#thomas the tank engine #thomas and friends #thomas and the magic railroad #mara wilson #peter fonda #alec baldwin #mattel #britt alcroftt #childrens media #the 2000s #Youtube

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no-te-lo-voy-a-dar · 2 years

Text

Reprise

Chapter 1 - Not Yet

Fic’s Summary: You are an Asgardian who’s on Earth after a series of events, who ends up taking a spiderling teen vigilante under their wings who’s intrigued to figure out if the other vigilante mentor the kid has is really who the stories tell, wanting to see if it’s true no one can sneak on him or surprise him. But you are the best friend of certain trickster, and some tendencies have rubbed on you…this shall be an entertaining challenge.

Author’s Note: this chapter shouldn’t even exist yet, i have important irl stuff to do, but this moment of brainrot some days ago lasted me enough to still write this. It’s been a while since i’ve written anything for a Reader insert but @raelwrites and her works have been very inspiring and serotonin enducing, so, here we are. i have an unfinished spn fic (which, i was writing as i watched the season it takes place in…im still stuck), a witcher one in ao3 and so many on drafts but hey, we are for the vibes.

no beta reader, this is all on me

Main relationships: Loki/GN Reader (Platonic), Peter/GN Reader (Platonic), [Future] Matt/GN Reader (?)

Warnings: none for this chapter i guess, but well, eventually there might be some usual canon violence and insinuations at not very nice events, but i’ll mention/tag those when needed.

Next Chapter >>

(gifs not mine)

Chapter’s Author’s Note: this is mainly like, introduction of R’s situation, as well as some dynamics that we’ll see later on (let’s pray whatever fixation i have right now allows me to juggle all my fics). Matt is not on this chapter yet but there’s plenty of Loki and Peter, me thinks

tagging: @catmanbowser (look at this absolute madness)

Word Count: 5,068

Midgard was…boring at best, so far.

Sure there were a bunch of foods and drinks you were trying for the first time, thrilling flavours and interesting uses of ingredients still surprising you, as well as sweet treats, and Internet seemed to have a bunch of recorded plays you could watch again and again from the comfort of your chambers, but you couldn’t just go out and ride a horse around if you wanted (apparently), and training had become harder to do when your strength was naturally higher than most of those living under the same roof (and the humans you have learned are stronger in the place you are staying in can’t train with you daily anyways). Not to mention you couldn’t hunt your food and you were missing the certain thrill of providing for your housemates as well as doing small things with the skins and pelts.

Sure you could train against Loki and Thor, or just one of them, but Thor wasn’t there all the time, and it’s been a long time since the training you have with Loki had become more of a coordinated dance. You were too in sync for it to be a true challenge.

And you missed the stars. Old Norns did you miss them.

For some reason you were yet to comprehend, the Midgardian night sky didn’t have visible stars where you currently were. Even when Thor assured you they were visible in other places of this planet, the current area you were bounded to was dark and plain at night, making you long for the Asgardian sky. Apparently human technology has cut their connection with the celestial bodies.

But! You were here, on “Earth” for a reason! A mission of sorts.

When the Dark Elves started attacking Asgard, you will forever be thankful to the Old Norns for the fact you were escorting Jane Foster, Thor’s human beloved, as requested from the prince himself, around the palace and wherever she wished to be. You were on guard duty, because Thor didn’t really trust anyone else to protect Jane and treat her with respect. You were not to leave her alone, and thanks to that, you managed to avoid Queen Frigga being killed while defending the human.

She was still injured that time, but after disposing of the enemy and making sure Jane was as okay as she could, you were quick to work on your Queen’s injuries with magic. Healing Seidr wasn’t your strength, as it never is for a single individual, but you got her enough time for the actual healers to arrive and aid her.

Thor had been incredibly grateful, hugging you and carrying you on his shoulder like you were children again.

Loki, on the other hand and somehow, learned that he had sent who could have been his Mother’s killer on her way from his cell, had a breakdown over that and it wasn’t until Frigga herself went to talk to her kid that he seemed to snap out of whatever terrors and doubts plagued his mind.

So, things were written and orders were given for Loki to be sent back to Midgard along with Thor to “pay for his crimes against the humans and offer compensation” or something like that (Odin’s way with words and orders was never your favourite, too many loopholes or unclear instructions) when the battle against Malekith and his people was over with. And you were asked by Frigga and Thor themselves to join the princes.

‘Sometimes my brother seems more like your brother than mine!’ is what Thor told you while patting your back after the hearing with the Throne. Which just means Thor wanted help with guiding his brother’s moral compass.

And you were okay with it really, always up for adventure and learning opportunities. And Loki seemed particularly more relaxed when you agreed. And how could they not! You were their best friend after all, and you were proud of it, no matter what happened. You had a lot of time after and during the preparations for Loki and Thor to catch you up on all what happened since the failed crowning ceremony to the first Dark Elves attack.

With that you felt like the three of you fell into place again. Chipped at the edges, new scratches that didn’t match and some faded colours, but you were in more coordination with each other than you’ve been in decades.

You had known Loki and Thor since you were kids, your family being part of the system and rotations of personal blacksmiths the Royal family had for themselves thanks to your usage of Seidr. Magic had always been present on your bloodline, from both sides of your parents, and while they never really trained it, they made sure to use it to make weaponry more durable and special, infusing it with different conditions, catching Odin’s father’s attention millennia ago and working for them since then.

Members of your family always were well trained in combat, because when a new design was asked for you had to try the weapons, checking balance, durability and how much it might or not vibrate after clashing against other weapons.

Thanks to this, Odin seemed interested in your already good fighting skills as a kid, and sent Lady Sif (when she was just Sif) to battle you, at the time covering saying that he wanted the both of you to test weapons for Thor and Loki, eventually inviting you to his sons’ and “friends” private training sessions.

And you say “friends” because all of you had been picked by Odin to be his older son’s closest teammates, planning for you all to have his back as adults and for him to have a reliable close court when he took over the throne. So, at the time you all weren’t really friends, some of the others more eager to get close to the blonde prince than others, true, but ultimately enjoying having people your age to train with.

But due your family’s inclination with magic, you ended up catching the younger prince’s attention by simply not mocking him for using it sometimes during training, instead asking him how he did certain tricks. They must have told Frigga because not even a season after you started asking Loki to teach you had passed and the Queen had personally asked your family for permission on teaching you beyond what your family’s knowledge was (magic shields, basic wound cleaning spells and some silence covers, using sound and wind manipulation so your movements weren’t trackable, nor the rattling of your armor or weapons on your back).

They were honored to have the Queen teaching you, of course, and you even taught them other spells and poultices to wear between hands and gloves to keep them cooler when handling the forges. But they didn’t seem to like you were closer to the younger prince, particularly more so when he started gaining his trickster reputation and word of you joining him in some of the pranks reached them.

But, you were left to be, and although it wasn’t your favourite activity while growing up, you often seemed to be a buffer of some kind between Thor’s main friends and his brother, along with the older prince himself. And you could always fight them if things got too heated, even offering to wear magical cuffs so you weren’t “cheating”.

You always won, which left you bragging and smug about it. But you were also aware that Sif would be a bigger challenge and probably beat you some times, but she wasn’t the one getting angry at Loki over nothing (yes, you let him get out of the trouble and mess of cutting Sif’s hair on his own).

So, you had a solid and nice relationship with the Asgardian princes and agreed to come to Midgard but, since you were also a new face among Thor’s human brothers and sisters in arms, you weren’t really trusted to go on missions with them until they had tested you enough.

But some progress seemed to have gone down the sewers after you mentioned your magic (manifested in deep yellows and gold sparks and colours, differently but complementary to Loki’s green) and started speaking of how Loki and his mother taught you a lot. That seemed to put some people on edge, particularly the archer whose name you could just remember, at the time, had something to do with Hawk.

Whatever, you were fine spending time with Loki, catching up, braiding their hair, practicing your illusions and trying to cook some Asgardian meals with Midgardian ingredients. You both will be okay, and the rest of Thor’s human team will see.

+++

The first to actually join you and Loki in training and talk to you like you weren’t plotting to blow the whole Tower down was the youngest one, the Spider themed kid.

“Peter Parker. Aren’t you Stark’s genius little mentee?” Loki interrupted the kid’s seemingly endless questions about the Bifrost’s magic.

Ah, Peter Parker. Right. Loki was always better with names than Thor or you, or the whole gang back then, only being equally good with memorizing names by Sif.

“Yes? Kind of? I don’t know, anyways, as I was asking, what’s powering the machine you use to make interplanetary jumps?”

Loki was too stunned in general to properly pay attention to the questions, and while you knew you both could answer them, you were too wired and full of energy to burn, the young warrior having stopped both Loki and you while in the kitchen, grabbing some water and snacks to take to the gym. So, an idea came to you.

“Say, young Parker, what if we make a deal?”

That managed to stop him in the middle of whatever rephrasing he was in, and caught the attention of Loki too. Peter arched an eyebrow and leaned back slightly. Good, some doubt could save your life.

“Could you elaborate on that?”

“Well, I’ve heard Thor say you have an impressive strength and reflexes for being so young, and after hearing Stark talk about you I used Internet to search about Spider-Man, your title while on the spider themed suit if I’m correct, and you can stop and lift those big metal boxes of transportation you have, so, what if you join Loki and me on training, no magic from our part, and after we answer all what you want about the Bifrost?”

Loki sent you a glare of them not understanding what you were even planning or thinking, but shrugged, letting you know they were okay with whatever it was. It was harmless, really.

“You promise to not use magic?” the kid leaned back in, but he still had his face scrunched.

“Not today, sure. At most, the only magic you might see me use would be to cool our water bottles or summon us some towels.” you twirled your hand to demonstrate, the kitchen counter yellow towel popping on your hand, and you twirled it again to put it back where it was, although crumpled now.

That seemed to catch the kid’s attention, his mouth opening slightly and his frown being replaced by wonder and curiosity. You winked at Loki with a smile, and they snorted while rolling their eyes, a small smile on their face.

Peter’s eyes went from the towel to your face, then to Loki’s (who arched an eyebrow at him) and back to you.

“Okay, sure. Let’s go to a training room.”

“Yes!” you did a small gesture of victory, to which the other two laughed slightly. You were excited to finally get to train with someone else who you didn’t know for centuries. And he must be a great fighter! What with being Stark’s menteé and visiting the Tower often.

Right?

+++

He wasn’t.

Sure, Peter Parker wasn’t completely helpless in a fight, there was some training there, but very basic. The start of it. And he could dance around your punches and kicks with a great level of grace, but the moment you and Loki coordinated your attacks, still no magic, the kid started struggling.

You were currently on a break, Loki leaning against the wall, you mindlessly spinning a stick around like you would your spear were you taunting someone, and Peter sprawled on the floor.

“What do you mean Stark didn’t train you?” you tried to not show your anger but this was a child in every sense of the word.

“And still doesn’t, remember.” Loki’s voice was detached, but you knew him better than to know that’s how he felt, he just knew that between the two of you he was the one being monitored by the voice in the Tower.

Peter groaned before answering.

“Guys, it’s okay, really. I started doing this almost two year ago on my own, before Mr. Stark even knew about me.”

“Okay, that’s a whole other thing to talk about, but I don’t think we are the best to judge when you started going out and fighting, much less with our perception of human age but you are already a small child anyways.” Loki was nodding along your words, and Peter dragged his hands over his face while sighing. “And okay, but what about after? Why do you come to the Tower so often then? Do any of the others train you?” Norns, you sounded like your own father and Queen Frigga.

“I mean, sometimes when they have time and I do too they spar with me and give me tips. Natasha is the one that helps me the most? But she’s, really busy, and I come here to work on tech projects with Mr. Stark, mostly.” Peter was sitting down now.

You tilt your head, trying to understand what Peter does with the short man.

“He means they work on armor and things like the phone you have and other Midgardian things they use to substitute magic or to get a basic version of some of our own technology.” Loki translated to you and Peter smiled while nodding.

You hummed, while still flipping the stick on your arms and back, launching it to a dummy on the back of the room before talking again.

“What if I offered to train you?”

“What?”

“I could help too.”

Peter’s and Loki’s voices clashed, and when Peter’s brain caught up with what the prince said, turned his head faster than you’ve seen him move before, only to get a small smile and a shrug from the God.

“I don’t have a lot to do while imprisoned here Parker, might as well do something productive and useful. Besides, if my friend here is going to teach you, you will want someone to make sure you learn the proper stances and not whatever they’ve come up with over the years.”

“Hey!”

Peter chuckled at that a little, and twirled his fingers with the string on his pants, pondering the answer to give you.

“I mean, I already have someone who’s willingly training me on a solid schedule, but I would like to complement his training with whatever you could teach me.”

“Is this person the reason you at least know how to stand and throw punches without breaking your fingers?” Loki asked, the amusement both visual on his smirking face and audible on his voice.

“Yes? But the backflips and dodging are mostly me.”

“Yeah I bet.” you whispered, originally thinking only you and Loki would hear it, but when Peter huffed and frowned at you, you were surprised by the realization this enhanced human also had better senses.

Hmmm, whenever you and Loki started training him with magic things will be interesting.

+++

You trained Peter two days a week, one during school days, when he didn’t have to go join Stark and the other during saturday evenings. Whoever was training Peter had fridays scheduled with him, but after some time you started to guess they meet more often than once a week.

Peter was a fast learner, but after a big improvement of his basics you and Loki stopped noticing big chunks of advancement, which was normal, but were highly surprised by Natasha, the Black Widow, joining you both for a lazy dinner one night.

Most of the Avengers were in the Tower that week, so Loki and you had been allowed to go out to the city, being told there were enough of them around to restrict Loki were he to go rogue, so you two were kind of tired that night after coming back. More so when Thor asked to spar right after you entered the common area.

So when Romanoff took a seat in front of Loki and you, you startled a little, being slightly dozing off while slowly eating at your cereal until then. Loki was more conscious, although he just pulled his plate with cookies closer to him while eyeing the spy.

“Relax, I’m not here to take your food or attack you, I just wanna chat.”

“Mmm, no, yeah, that just makes you sound more suspicious.” was Loki’s answer, which was honestly funny because it was nothing but an obvious remark, so you couldn’t help the throaty snort you tried to cover with your hand. Natasha arched an eyebrow at you, but it didn’t feel angry just…amused.

“Fair. Right to the point then: thank you for helping Peter. He’s greatly improved since last time we trained together and when I asked him about it he said you both had a hand in that. And another person he didn’t mention but I’m pretty sure of my guess over who that is, based on the fighting style. But your styles were more present, at least today.” Natasha made a pause on her small speech, probably expecting or allowing either Loki or you to make a comment, but you were too stunned to speak surprised (and slightly embarrassed) to say anything.

She smiled and continued.

“Peter was dragged in with us by Tony, but he's…not really done anything to help him other than toss him an improved suit. Which has done a lot in the sense of offering him protection, Peter himself has told me how much less he’s gotten slashed and stabbed now.” the spy fondly smiled at that, probably remembering the teen saying that in a highly excited voice, one Loki and you have heard before. “Bucky and I try to do our best into teaching him how to fight, because he truly lacked any form of formal training, but well, we are busy with Avengers stuff most of the time, so I’m grateful you both took time and patience to do so.”

With her speech finished, she stood up from the small center table, going to make herself some tea, and you turned slightly to look at Loki, hoping to see an answer on how to proceed, but you saw him with raised eyebrows, surprise written all over his face.

So, you were going to answer then. Great.

“You are most welcomed, Agent Romanoff. It has been a pleasure and fun to train young Peter, not to mention it has given us both more to do around here. He’s a sweetheart and I’m pretty sure he’s gotten everyone here wrapped around his sticky fingers, Loki included.” the last comment was meant to be a playful jab, you bumping shoulders with your friend, but when Loki started talking you realized he wanted to be truthful right then, at least regarding Peter.

“My friend here is right, he’s a delightful young man, and I’m proud of him. From what you are telling us, he’s truly been picking up, and knowing it’s helped keep him safe is all we could truly ask for.”

You could see him slightly blush, faith blue (which after the revelation of his heritage explained that; young you thought it was due his own magic) tainting his cheeks, but you decided against teasing him. This time.

Natasha nodded before taking a sip of her tea, and over thinking the talk was over but feeling comfortable with the silence, you went back to eating your cereal, shaking the box in her direction in a form of question and offering. She shook her head and you shrugged. Loki offered her a seat again, and she took it, and you all spent the next minutes in peace.

You were preparing the usual spicy hot cocoa Loki and you had after particularly odd and long days when Natasha stood up to leave, but before turning a corner and leaving your sight, she spoke once more.

“I will seek you both later to schedule a sparring match. The three of us only, and maybe Barnes if he’s up to it. Would you be okay with it?”

You shrugged and nodded, looking at Loki because really, he was the wild card here.

“Of course! I would appreciate the chance of fighting you under more fair rules, and I’ve heard Rogers and Barnes are both enhanced so it must be interesting.”

With that, the spy softly smiled and left.

Neither Loki nor you brought up all of what had happened into conversation. You both were there and just needed to think a little to understand it. And that you did, while curled up together watching a cooking competition show, Thor arriving and flipping on top of you both, laughing at your groans and playful shoves.

You fell asleep between the two dork royal siblings, content and excited for things to start getting brighter for Loki.

+++

Things indeed started getting a lot better at the Tower after Natasha and Bucky became sparring buddies with you both, Barnes even once going out of his way to ask Loki to spar with him, both using nothing but (training, blunt) knives. Loki was vibrating out of the seat when asked, trying to keep composure because it had been months since he was allowed near even fake knives, only allowing him to use the kitchen ones under supervision (the Tower Voice being said supervision most of the time).

After that the next ones to approach Loki were Rogers and Wilson, and in your case Barton and Banner. Mind you, you mixed some last names on occasions, and forgot their titles still, but you were working on that.

Training Peter was still a given, and Loki was allowed and invited out of the Tower more and more, sometimes Rogers even asking for Loki to glamour them up so they weren’t recognized and could enjoy in complete peace their walks or whatever. Eventually Loki was allowed out on his own with nothing but a tracker he was pissed about wearing but allowed it for his own sanity.

You were allowed out on your own weeks before Loki of course, and used this to walk with Peter a lot, who enjoyed rambling about his city, about places he thought you would enjoy, about things he wanted Loki to try and everything in between, even retelling how he got into thigh fights in some places of the city.

You were currently in an area Peter had called Soho, doing emphasis in how it wasn’t meant to be confused with England’s Soho.

Curious, you had asked if he could show you the place where he trained with Daredevil (whose vigilante name you’ve gotten simply because Natasha had asked Peter one day, just to then tell him that if he ever did something wrong to or with Peter, that he could trust them, to tell any of the members at the Tower. That day it was only Natasha and you training Peter, Loki being out in the city with Barnes and Thor, but you could see Peter tense a little at how the spy said ‘you know Stark cares about you’. You saved that reaction for later, but Peter had just asked how she knew it was Daredevil, and that it was okay, he was surprisingly more soft once he learned Peter’s - Spider-Man’s - age).

Peter seemed to have been thinking about it, but you reassured him it was more out of curiosity than protectiveness nor trying to see if “the place was up to expectation”. A partial lie, but Peter said that Daredevil was very, very protective of his identity, perhaps as much as himself, but how the older vigilante was more aggressive in his approach regarding the secret, while Peter was more of an anxious ball. It made sense to you, really, after all Peter was still a child, and already with a lot on his shoulders.

You nodded, already having made up your mind about dropping the topic, when Peter’s voice sounded again.

“I could take you to the neighborhood it’s in it tho. It’s in an area called Hell’s Kitchen, which is known as Daredevil’s territory, even when, if asked, he’s okay to accompany and help other vigilantes outside of his area, but he doesn’t have a transportation method as fast as myself or Mr. Wilson.”

“I’m not going to lie that the area’s name causes me more questions but if you are comfortable with giving me a tour of said place, and it won’t make Daredevil angry with you, then please, lead the way.”

Peter seemed to light up at how his offer was taken positively, and started to talk about how he had meet Daredevil by accident before meeting Stark, having wandered into his area chasing some guys from Brooklyn, and how the older vigilante didn’t like the idea of Spider-Man being an actual kid, how Peter stayed away from Hell’s Kitchen after that, but reaching out tentatively when the Sokovia Accords were being spoken about, because the few things he could find out about them weren’t good for his “after school activities”, and noticing how Daredevil seemed to deflate, a tired sigh leaving his mouth, and explained to him why they were simultaneously good and bad, the bad having a stronger weight if some things weren’t taken away or properly managed.

Peter continued, you making some questions every then and now to keep Peter on track of the main story. It was fascinating. No one had managed to get a lot of information about the other vigilante who trained Peter because almost no one even knew someone else was training him. And it was obvious how much the kid respected and looked up to the older vigilante, while still making comments and jabs at things he didn’t agree on, but from what you could tell, even when the stories were being told from the teenager’s perspective, it was clear he cared about Peter.

And it picked up your interest.

Every adult you’ve meet on Peter’s life had a slightly different approach when it came to protecting and supporting him, and while some were sure that physically he could protect himself pretty well, others taught him things from a more strategist point of view, or gave him life advice, or just the chance to ramble about his last project (cookies for his aunt, a science project, a tech improvement to his suit) so hearing the kid talk so excited about Daredevil and his friends (whose names he almost slipped several times before coming up with nicknames for them) made you smile fondly at him.

You and Loki were smart, as was Thor (even when he couldn’t figure out most of Loki’s lies and tricks on the first try), when it came to keeping up appearances and reading underlying truths from people’s behaviors, so the three of you were sure that something happened between Stark and Peter that made the later not really trust the metal cladded man as much as apparently others were sure he did. You were also pretty solid on your belief that Natasha knew something was up (if she didn’t already know exactly what), same with older Hawkeye and Barnes but kept appearances for Peter’s sake.

You weren’t going to push anyone to tell you, but you knew this is one of those things that would eventually come into light for you.

In the meantime, the protective nature you had developed over the centuries by being Loki’s best friend urged you to find Daredevil and make sure he was who Peter claimed him to be, that this man of unknown identity to you was a good role model or at least behaved accordingly when around Spider-Man.

So after getting some pastries from a place in The Hell’s Kitchen which Peter seemed to like a lot, eating them in a park and walking some more while talking about the urban art of the neighborhood (the place seemed to really like their vigilante, or at least respect him enough to create murals to honour him) and just about little adventures the kid had with the small horns suited man, you made up your mind.

You were going to start tracking down Daredevil the days you knew Peter wasn’t going to be with him and, if you deemed it necessary…talk with him, to make sure Peter thrived and wasn’t going to get back stabbed (Loki knew a lot about it, after all he learned to do so after being the victim. You also learned about it because eventually you gained some reputation by being the younger prince’s close friend).

That evening you told the Asgardian princes about your plan and while Thor frowned a little at your lack of faith on 'young Peter’s" judgment, he didn’t say anything about stopping you. Loki grinned, and told you how the idea and plan was delightful, supporting you on it and confessing he had been wanting to do the same for a while. Although not as…peaceful as your plan was.

You might have leaned into the taunting and teasing nature the trickster god had by growing up so close to him, but you weren’t as prone to violence and physical encounters as the two brothers. Then again, that’s in comparison to the two of them. According to Barnes, you were still a very energetic being, always up for a fight and a challenge.

So.

It seemed you would be spending some nights around Daredevil’s lair for the next weeks.

You weren’t sure what but something about the idea made you excited, almost vibrating with energy and looking forward to hunting down in Hell’s Kitchen what was obviously it’s territory’s predator.

Let the chase begin.

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questintheskies · 1 year

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Wrestling’s next breakout international star is upon us. His name is “Switchblade” Jay White, and the former New Japan Pro-Wrestling world champion is ready to showcase his talent to the world.

“So much is possible,” says White. “Impact, AEW, WWE—we’ll see.”

Jamie White truly transformed into “Switchblade” Jay White when most weren’t watching. Since 2017, he worked a demanding schedule that included stops all over Japan—most of which were not broadcast. Repeated stops, from Sapporo to Hirosaki to Kanazawa, provided a platform away from wrestling’s blaring spotlight to sharpen his skills, shaping White into the masterful performer he is today.

While White would not discuss his contract status, industry sources have confirmed that he is set to leave New Japan. A two-time IWGP world champion, White exceeded all expectations during his run in the company.

“I’m at peace with it,” says White, who brought new life to Bullet Club as its leader. “I don’t know if there is much more I could have done. I don’t feel like I left a bunch of boxes unchecked. I’ve been living it, so it can be hard to appreciate it in the moment, but as I move on, I’ve started to look back at the weight some of it holds. As time goes on, I hope people appreciate it even more.

“To me, I was doing what I was meant to be doing. Now I’m looking at what’s next.”

As leader of Bullet Club, White gave the group a unique edge. His persona was different from past leaders, presenting the group in an altogether vicious, cunning manner. One key reason for his success in the role is that he never attempted to mimic Kenny Omega, the man he replaced.

“I always chuckled when people compared me to Kenny Omega after I took over Bullet Club,” says White. “I don’t think you can find two wrestlers who are more different than me and Kenny. I think a lot of people wanted me to try to be just like Kenny, but that’s just not me. If I tried to do that, I would have failed. I did it my way.”

White is still working New Japan dates, even after losing a Loser Leaves Japan match to former Bullet Club partner Hikuleo this past weekend at The New Beginning in Osaka. He will wrestle AEW star Eddie Kingston on Saturday at NJPW’s Battle in the Valley card in San Jose.

“I can’t go back to Japan, but there is nothing that says I can’t compete at the shows in the United States,” says White. “Hikuleo was everything I always knew he was. I’ve always believed in him. I’m proud of him, and his moment came against me, so now we’re tied to each other forever.”

Only 30, there is no limit to the heights White can reach. He is a world-class wrestler who can cut exquisite promos, and he has spent the last half-decade enhancing his presence and physique. But before he moves on to his next conquest, White still has unfinished business with New Japan—including watching his eternal rivals, Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi, wrestle in the main event.

“People are getting all worked up about it, but my future is this Saturday,” says White. “You’re going to get a treat in seeing the storied rivalry of Okada and Tanahashi on the card, too. I hope Tanahashi got his teeth fixed—his three front teeth fell out when he bit into a protein bar. I guess that happens when you get to his age. And speaking of Okada, I’m proud of him. He’s finally listening to me. I like his approach going after [Kaito] Kiyomiya from NOAH. I met him once when I was on excursion, which is quite funny now that he’s now their champion and I was over in New Japan. Props to Okada; he’s obviously learned a thing or two from myself.”

In addition to the next chapter of Okada-Tanahashi, the Battle in the Valley card also includes the NJPW debut of Sasha Banks, who is now wrestling as Mercedes Moné. White against Kingston is also a worthy addition to the card. Very few pros connect with their peers in the same manner that Kingston does, and he has a style that should mesh perfectly with White.

“What you see is what you get with him,” says White. “Eddie’s real. That doesn’t mean I like him, but he is real. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything verbally or physically. He’s probably got the hardest chops I’ve ever felt, and I was just in there with Hikuleo, who has some huge damn mitts on me. I know Eddie can hit hard, and I know what he’s capable of, and I know Eddie wants his moment, but you can’t get what you want all the time. I’m going to teach that to him at Battle in the Valley.”

#jay white #switchblade jay white #bullet club #puroresu #wrestling #njpw #new japan pro wrestling #breathe with the switchblade #switchblade era #king switch #the catalyst #bullet club gold #guns up

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liria10 · 8 months

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Thanks for the tag @happy10thousandyears!!

tag someone you want to know better

favorite color: Tbh i can never settle on one but I do like purple a lot, even if i rarely ever wear it or use it much in my art lol

last song: Ghost Dive by Polkadot Stingray because I am nothing if not a pokemon nerd (also the animated mv is v cool)

last movie: Memories, because I had seen Magnetic Rose ages ago, but I hadn't yet seen the other 2 from that anthology, and tbh I think they're worth a watch, Canon Fodder especially has some really interesting directing & overall I think both it & Stink Bomb are good pieces of animation to check out, even if Magnetic Rose is the standout one for sure.

currently watching: For once I'm not really watching much tbh, outside of the latest Pokemon anime, Pokemon Horizons which is like. really really good. Oh! And i'm also currently going through Ultraseven because a good friend recommended it to me, and i'm not super deep in rn but i'm really enjoying it!

other stuff i watched this year: uuuh a Lot of things tbh, but the ones that I enjoyed the most were the OG Kamen Rider show, Ultra Q (beloved) & Ultraman. I don't watch that many live action shows normally, so it's been nice discovering a few new things

shows i dropped this year/didn’t finish: None really? so far i've finished all the ones i started this year, or if I haven't yet i plan on doing so soon. I've not yet watched all of the second season of Witch from Mercury because i got busy, but i do really want to finish that soon!

currently reading: i'm currently rereading Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint for the third time because teehee hyperfixation, and i'm also reading at the same time In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan le Fanu

currently listening to (sneaky additional question!): I don't really listen to a lot of podcast either tbh. I started Malevolent some months back but i was fairly disappointed with it so i've not picked it up again in a while. I don't really like leaving things unfinished though, so i might catch up someday.

currently working on: I'm actually working on a game project around roman law for schools & universities, because after a game jam we turned the project into a whole ass game, so i'm still currently doing a bunch of art for that!! Close to the finish line now....

current obsession: well the pokemon dlc dropped last week so im currently utterly obsessed with Ogerpon & her story, she's great, i love her so so much, and also just, everything about the dlc story (kieran & carmine live rent free in my head now i guess)

tagging @rassilon-imprimatur @wild-moss-art @michiruze @keingleichgewicht @time-warsnapshots (if you guys want to!)

#tag game #legit cant recall if i have a tag for these rip

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fanfictionangel · 9 months

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Just a little introduction, because let face it, I’m new to this shit.

So I’m a working mom and wife and my day to day life is normal adulting BS along with taking care of my family. It’s stressful and wonderful all at the same time.

Fanfiction is how I like to relax. At the end of the night, or really any chance I get to be honest. I like to kick back with a good story from one my favorite fandoms!

I love to have a variety, so I have several. But when I first started with fanfiction, years ago, I read only inuyasha fics. And I was boring as hell and stuck to only the main pairing. My sister was actually the one who introduced me to different pairings. And that was after I got her started on the fanfic world. So now I have so many fandoms , I couldn’t even try to mention them all.

This blog is mostly gonna be dedicated to reviewing the stories I have read, trying to help others to find more stories and also, to help others step outside of the box to discover a brand new world you didn’t even know was out there through another story.

Todays story is: The path of water By: Arlia ‘Devi’

Have you ever seen the movie spirited away? It was one of my most favorite movies when I was a kid. I would watch it ever time I saw it come up on the guide on TV. I absolutely adored it. The way the characters interacted, the message behind it. Beautiful. When I was a kid, I would always picture how chihiro and haku would grow up and one day get married and maybe run the old witch off to run the bath house. Live happily ever after. Every little girls dream when they are a kid. Find that price charming and all. The path of water was the first and only story from this fandom that has ever given me a glimpse of that.

I had searched for a story paired with the 2 of them one day on a whim. I was hoping I would find one with that happy ending. Most stories written in this fandom were roughly written. I’m sure they were great stories! But I’m a picky reader. I don’t like to try and decode a chapter when the words are rushed or the grammar is wrong, so I usually stay away from them. The path of water was the only story in that pairing that I found I could read clearly all the way through. It’s long and full of twists and turns, full of laughs and cry’s! Full of first love and falling in love all over again! It was exciting to read and kept me up way past my normal bed time on many nights! Definitely worth reading!

Chihiro happens to find her way back through to the spirit world while running for her life from a bunch of strangers. She stumbles upon haku a sobbing and broken mess. Although now she is an adult and he to, he notices right away who she is. But she is shocked to see that the boy she made friends with all those years ago is now not only a man, but he is different. Dragons and their tempers. And she lets him know that she has one to match.

I’ll leave the link to the story below! I hope all of you who read it, leave this author a review and let her know. She has a second part to the story that is unfinished. And I have been watching for an update for a while! Maybe if we all let her know we enjoy the story, she will finish it!

#spirited away #fanfic #chihiro ogino #haku #fanfiction #fanfiction review #fanfiction recommendation #fanfiction reads #Fanfiction must reads #amazing #amazing fanfiction

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eemoo1o-animoo · 2 years

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Went to the Kuro tag for the first time in forever, saw your live blogging of the book of the Atlantic, liked your takes, went to your profile, liked your takes there, followed you

Currently looking for ppl to talk about black butler with so >~>

Your blog says you got opinions about claude and Sebastian, never considered that ship before; wanna tell me about it?

*wheezy fucking WHEEZE*

Aww, got me blushing I see. (It’s also a relief to see my blog back in the tags after the fortnight long shadowban lol definitely not scarred by that).

Relatively new to the fandom (I’d say since mid-July this year but I genuinely can’t tell you for certain, but I’ve known of the anime since the day I added it to my Netflix list after over-hearing someone talk about it and then just never watched it, and so eventually it got removed from Netflix anyway so), but I finally got into it because of an amv of an awesome cover where on the original video (of the cover) people were saying they found it because of a Black Butler amv. Of course, I did the opposite, lmao.

I’m not a manga reader, although I would like to be, and I do/have spoil(ed) myself for most of the lore from the wiki and talk of the manga stuff. Just thought I’d get that out of the way.

It’s interesting how s2 isn’t apart of the manga, because it is an interesting concept (more demons), and I just think that that Sebastian deserves another demon to be petty and to twirl around with, you know?

Lmao, the “live reactions” are relatively spontaneous. I just watch something and I’m like “oh my god oh my god, so like” and on one of my posts I speculated (never reading the manga but knowing of R!Ciel) and someone commented “Yeah, that’s exactly what happened”. And I’m like “haha, well fuck me I am the messiah”.

And thanks for the follow! I really appreciated that! (Again, it’s a baby blog only made in like, early October maybe after I realised I was spamming my main with too much Kuro, so I’m always so glad that someone finds interest in it.)

Feel free to talk/ask anytime, also.

As for Claudebastian… well, for one, I try tagging my posts as concisely as I can, so for the whole “shipping timeline” I suppose you could search for #claudebastian on my profile. (Is that link working? I don’t think it is.) Or #seblaude, because they’re tagged with both.

I also do character playlists for Kuro (an incomplete list, because I couldn’t do anything during the shadowban). Plus, fanfiction. My AO3 is linked in my bio, and the majority of that pseud’s works are Claudebastian.

I suppose the main things to know about me and Claudebastian is:

I first hate-shipped Clannah(?) because I resented them both.

By episode five, Bedewed Butler, (an episode I only remember the name and number of because I had to type it out like a million times when I made a bunch of GIFs for the episode, all under #my gifs and #they’re gay your honour) I started to ship them.

I made a headcanon list regarding them so I could work past the week of writer’s block I had for my second one shot (which I’m still writing and hope to get out later today if I’m so lucky).

My first Claudebastian fic that I made is the one mentioned on top, aka. an unfinished one shot trilogy that I made before even finishing season two and labelled His Mate, Loving (The Claudebastian Collection), because I wholeheartedly expected it to be my one and only Claudebastian work.

I was wrong.

My second published work for Claudebastian (third for Kuro as a whole) is Dear Claude, something which I tried leaving as a fic with an ambiguous relationship/feelings, but it was kinda hard to write that way.

I intend on writing a platonic Grellebastian friendship fic (bit of angst, one sided Grelliam, Grelltaker as the end goal maybe, possibly, who knows) which you can probably find under #grelle fic.

That fic is currently back in action, so to speak, after I’ve watched BoA.

Which is infuriating because I hesitated to watch season three in fear of killing the Claudebastian mood (it did not, probably because of William being there lol), and same goes for Book of Murder, but then I went into Book of Atlantic so I could make GIFs for an up and coming Grelle vs The Undertaker character analysis, but came out with the inspo for Claudebastian slipping away (and after such a good week/maybe two weeks of writing little and often for that one shot).

Kind of re-contemplating the toxic Clauannah marriage (again). Fuck my life.

The theme is kind of a reference to my reactions to season two (and Claudebastian) clogging up my main and resulting in the creation of the blog. Plus I ship them.

Sorry if this doesn’t serve as much of a reply to your questions, but I tried. Feel free to ask again when you’re able!

TL;DR — I’m a rambling idiot.

#black butler #kuroshitsuji #answered asks #asks #answering an ask #sebastian michaelis #kuroshitsuji ii #black butler ii #claude faustus #claudebastian #claude x sebastian #sebastian x claude #seblaude #kuroshitsuji iii #black butler iii #book of murder #book of atlantic #long ask

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justkpopjokes · 2 years

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Ghost!Dino

A/N: the next of my unfinished wips that I’m posting for the world to see! This originally was going to include DK & Woozi as Dino’s brothers who are both coping with his death in their own ways

You have just moved into your new apartment (congrats wooo)

It looks decent, and it's surprisingly clean

Buuuuuuuuuut it’s still kinda...old and creepy

After a few weeks, you’ve kind of adjusted to your new home

But there are still some things that are...iffy

Like the landlady, an old woman that lives a couple of doors down with a bunch of cats

There’s that young man that lives across from you that's really antisocial

Whenever you see him and wave, he runs off immediately or closes the door until he thinks no one is looking

((since this is an unfinished fic...spoilers that’s Dokyeom lol))

And then there's the heater that's always off when it’s cold

And of course always turns on when it’s hot

The water sometimes turns off randomly too

But you got used to it all

Except… one day your books start falling off the shelves?

Like you unlocked the door and stepped in one afternoon

And a lot of your books were on the floor

Of course, you’re like tf??? Did someone break in??

But at this point ur brain is desensitized to the odd happenings in ur apartment

So you just brush it off as an earthquake or smth

But then you start seeing that more of your stuff falls randomly??

The lights flicker as if someone's playing with them

And the heater is more annoying than ever

So you go to the landlady you report your problem!!

Well actually, you tried to, then she invited you in for tea

You sip your tea while being surrounded by cats of all sizes

After a while of the woman preparing some bread and butter, you finally bring up your problems...

“the heater always turns on randomly, the lights flicker like someone’s messing with them, I found all my books on the floor...it’s like the apartment’s haunted—”

“Oh, never! This place could never be haunted! No, nothing silly like that! Probably just the old thing swaying and making things shift!”

And right after you're done with your tea, she shoos you out

You're like. Weird. ok.

But like yep the place is definitely haunted, she seemed so suspicious about it!!

So that night, you confront this ghost or whoever

You: “Listen, you… I've had enough of you haunting me-”

???: “Who says I'm haunting you?”

Then this semi-transparent figure materializes in front of you, making you almost drop your pocket

You were scared af like gLOWING FLOATY BOY OKAY THIS IS NEW

You: “whaT THE HECK IS HAPPENING WHO ARE YOU?!?!”

???: “Dino. I mean, I think I’m Dino…but do you seriously think I'm haunting you? You're too boring to haunt.”

You: “Wow rude”

Dino: “Seriously, at least watch a drama or something. You're always working! You're the living embodiment of work, eat, sleep, repeat!”

You: “Well then, since I'm sooo boring, can you leave please?”

Dino: “If I could, I’d be gone already! I'm stuck in this apartment because I died here.”

You: “Um…okay that's kind of...disturbing… Could you at least stop messing with my stuff then?”

Dino agrees that he will leave you alone as long as he gets to read your many books

Except the issue is, since he's a ghost, he can only materialize long enough to push something before his hand goes right through it

So whenever you're working, he'll ask you to get a book for him, and you'd set it down next to you

He doesn't say it deliberately but he had favourites

You: “Narnia? Again?”

Dino: “Hey! I'm only on chapter 13”

You: “You finished the book weeks ago Dino”

Dino: “Is there any harm in re-reading classics?”

He'd just tell you to turn to chapter whatever because he can only turn one page at a time rip

but after that he’ll just chill with you and read

It’s a little unsettling first to see things moving around on their own, but after a while you get used to it!!

#seventeen imagines #svt imagines #seventeen scenarios #seventeen fic #dino imagines #lee chan #jkj fics #.txt

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valkyrie420 · 2 years

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C.A.T Detective Agency 1 Draft Ch 1

So I’ve never done this before and I wanted to put this somewhere and wondered if people could give me tips? I don’t know how to write lol, but here’s my first draft and suggestions or pointers are much needed! Did you ever hear the one about the cat crossing the road? I always loved the night. I could get away from all those problems, and blend into the dark. It felt safe, like a blanket. But I’d never tell anyone else that. People had so many notions about who I was supposed to be, never mind what I wanted. Even now, as I slink out now in the dark, all I feel is excitement. I’m ready. In the alley I pass the familiar trash cans. Hear the barking of dogs, far and close. Ugh, so annoying. The cars and people and noise of the city has gotten louder at night as the years have passed, and despite them I still love it. I can smell the food from the restaurants in the bins, but I can’t stop now. Gotta be patient. The mice and rats scurry around and the smoke trails as I pass hurriedly through to the Meeting Place. I think the adults wanted it to be a bunch of houses at one time, or maybe offices, or shops. The adults I knew always hated it when I started something and left it undone, so I took a secret pleasure in meeting here. Where the concrete walls and metal rods hung open like a wound. An ugly, unfinished thing, staring and mocking all those adults for not being able to finish. And such a fun place to explore! But not now. Tonight is so much more important. As I come to my spot, I see Matthias already waiting at the edge of light from a street lamp. He’s the oldest, and makes sure everyone remembers. It annoys me how much of a know-it-all he is, but he also makes sure to take care of us when we first come here. Still, I don’t want to hear about his “responsibilities as the eldest, you couldn’t possibly comprehend” again, so I wait in the dark, and listen as the rest trickle in, one or two at a time. Next comes Deliah and Sarah, lithe and graceful, and I’ve seen them fight off some of the biggest and strongest others with barely a scratch! Ugh, and they’re wearing collars again. Deliah says she always loved wearing jewellery, but I’ve never seen her wear one for long. She’s been stuck-up for as long as I remember, and when Sarah came, Deliah was quick to become her mentor. I like Sarah. She’s smart, and kind, and she’s still young, so we have a gay time when we play. I hear a loud call, and see Alaistor following them close. He’s the second oldest, but he’s the one who showed me how to play lots of games; and how to be free. Anthony is with him too, bless him. I didn’t even see him until he peeked out from Alaistor’s leg. So young, and soft, and a true scaredy-cat. Anthony’s the newest, poor thing isn’t even 6. Those big eyes watching everyone and everything and so skittish! Was I ever like that? “Caught!” I jumped and twisted to see Sarah, grinning wildly at me. “Did not!” I said turning my head up to hide my fluster,“I just let you think you did. You’re gonna have to work a lot harder to sneak up on me!” Sarah and I padded knocking into each other playfully, to the light. “You should admit defeat gracefully,” Deliah purred, proud of her ward. I shot her a glare, and was about to say something witty when Matthias scratched the lamp post with a sharp noise.“Now that you’ve all decided to show up,” He started,“Perhaps we can finally get on with it?” We all shifted a bit uncomfortable, glancing at who wanted to be in the spotlight tonight. “If there’s no volunteers, we can always work on my case…” Matthias said and sighed. He wanted desperately to be done; but he’d been here for so long, the hopes of solving his case felt pretty impossible. We looked at each other, silently asking for anyone to step forward. I don’t mind leaving things unfinished, but I don’t see the point in starting something you know is impossible from the jump. “Look,” Alaistor spoke hesitantly, “What about little Anthony here? He’s so new, I’m sure there’s lots of clues around. And besides,” His green eyes slid to the quaking mass of fluff and eyes beneath him; “He’s not cut out for this; not really.” Everyone looked from Anthony to Matthias. He sat and eyed the little boy, and sighed again.“Fine. We will work on young Anthony’s case.” Silently, Matthias led us from the Meeting Place and to the Alley. None of us ventured to the Alley if we didn’t have to, except Matthias. He tried so hard, I must admit I pitied him, in spite of how he acted. We arrived quickly, and it was just as creepy as last month. So dark, and damp thanks to the dirty, swamp. The whole area smelled like death, and there was no sign of people save for the rough tire track unevenly cutting through the dirt. No attempts at paving though, as if everyone living in the city collectively decided it was safer to ignore it. Sarah was so close to Deliah they bumped together, and Alaistor was carrying Anthony. I brought up the rear now, since Adam left. I couldn’t shake the feeling though. It raised my hair, and despite myself I kept peering over my shoulder, as if there was some unseen force stalking us. We formed a circle on the cold dead ground, and watched as the moon rose high. It started slowly, and the ground shifted violently below me. My vision blurred and every bone in my body screamed. Shuddering, stunted breaths gasping as my ribcage made room for my expanding lungs. We all started to stretch and writhe, skin tearing and fur falling off in clumps. All at once, the change was over, and I dry heaved violently as my equilibrium balanced itself. Beside me I saw Alaistor curled and vomiting a few small bones. Deliah was already up, grabbing the clothes she’d stashed for herself and Sarah. Poor Anthony was crying, and Matthias grabbed him a coat. My legs felt gangly and off balance as my heels touched the ground, and I wobbled upright, reaching for my clothes. Everyone looked the same to me, whether they were cats or people. Matthias was sullen, with gray skin and pale hair. He looked about 15, but he always reminded me of an old town preacher, all black clothes and skinny with a rod up somewhere making him stand so straight, even as he was bent over, helping Anthony pull his shirt over his head. Alaistor was taller, and tan. He had freckles and red hair and it didn’t matter if he was a cat or a person, he had a sly smile and those eyes that made you feel like prey. Deliah’s sable hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her pretty dress danced around her knees as she twirled her long legs, while Sarah laughed and tied her auburn curls out of her face. I went to my stash, grabbed my favorite blue tunic, and cinched some loose grey pants around my waist.The longer I’ve been a cat, the less I like the way clothes feel against my skin, it reminded me too much of those nets some people try to use to catch you when you roam. “Don’t worry kiddo, it gets easier ev’ry time” Alaistor ruffled Antony’s fluffy blonde hair, and winked. “And don’t you look a picture t’night too, Mizz D,” He smiled toothily as Deliah turned up her nose in disgust. “And this Sarah, is exactly why we don’t get attached,” as she picked up her broken collar and looked at the shiny crystal heart. “{insert something witty and demeaning of Al.}” From behind her Sarah leaned over and stuck out her tongue and smiled at Alaistor. Matthias cleared his throat, “Well, now that that’s done, shall we begin?” “Ok, but let’s keep the kid gloves on,” Alaistor’s hand swallowed Anthony’s shoulder. Anthony lead the way to the edge of the tread, where it nearly kissed the swamp. There was a deeper divot here, the dirt still freshly impacted, less than a month old. “Here. I ‘member here. An’ then it was dark. And then I was here, but diff’rent.” His voice shook as he whispered, those impossibly big eyes staring at the holes. “Do you remember how you got here? Who you were with?” Matthias looked down with a deep furrow, arms crossed tightly around his wiry frame. “I…I remember Momma. ’N Daddy. And…” His voice trailed off as he looked down, deep in thought. “And?” Matthias strained. “Hey, kid gloves. He’s doin’ his best,” Alaistor shot back as he knelt down and wrapped his arms around Anthony.“Aren’cha, kiddo?” “Yeah…I. I remember the funny smell. And Daddy. He was…He was mad.” Anthony looked up, hopeful at Alaistor, and then Matthias. “Did I do it? Can I go now?” “Sure kiddo, you did great. You leave it to us, and then you can go.” Alaistor tousled Anthony’s hair as he stood back up. “Great, so we know he has a mom and a dad, and a smell.” Sarah clapped her hands, “The case is solved!” “Now, now, Sarah.” Deliah chided, “A lady is always courteous. And it is the duty of those of higher stations to aid the poor masses with their burdens. Noblesse Oblige and all that. Besides,” She smirked, “You get to showcase just how brilliant you are.” “We need to know where he’s from,” Matthias started. “And his last name, address, anything useful,” He continued as he towered over Anthony, and looked at Alaistor. “I get that, but we have to give him some time. Look’t him, he needs time—“ “Time we don’t have, not if we’re to have any hope of solving this!” Alaistor stood tall and puffed his chest out as he stared down Matthias. They always butted heads like two tomcats vying for territory. “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m so hungry I could eat a whole bin!” I cut in. “Fighting like this isn’t going to help anyone, and besides, I know I think better on a full stomach.” “That’s a good idea Cat, a nice meal and we’ll have it solved in no time!” Sarah smiled again, and wreathed her arm around Deliah’s. “I do suppose I could go for a bite to eat.” Deliah said, blushing lightly. “If only to better investigate.” “I’m not hungry.” Anthony whispered. He was staring at the divots, thin arms wrapped tightly around his knees. “Oh, that’s perfect then! More for me!” Alaistor said with a laugh as he picked up Anthony and tossed him gently in the air. Anthony giggled and curled into Alaistor’s arms. “Nooo, it’s mine!” He put his palm on Alaistor’s mouth playfully trying to cover it. “Is it? I thought it was mine?” Alaistor held his hand, “Or is this mine?” He put Anthony’s hand in his mouth and pretended to bite it, while Anthony laughed and pulled away. “If we must,” Matthias sighed heavily. “Let us make haste.” I’d think his lungs didn’t grow in quite right, but he always sighed when he talked no matter which form he took. Maybe he just had naturally small lungs. We walked briskly out of the Alley. Matthias leaned forward as he pressed on with his lanky frame, always in a hurry, as if the faster we went the faster he would be free. Deliah and Sarah were arm in arm behind, close and smiling like they were sharing secrets. Alaistor easily followed telling Anthony fantastic stories. I walked a little behind, and we weaved our way through the maze of backstreets and into the city. As we got closer to people I could hear the hum of electricity, smell all the people and cars and food. We crossed the road and suddenly we’re in the middle of everything. I loved all of it. The city was so alive, it was only too bad that we weren’t.

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