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#no. 2 every perfect masters exercise because those are really hard

metalandmagi · 3 years

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Winter 2021 Anime Worth Watching!

Since 2020 basically sacrificed itself to give us the most stacked anime season of all time, I’m currently buried under the weight of almost 20 shows airing per week. So for anyone who’s looking for some anime to watch this winter, here’s some first impressions! I’m speed running my list this time by only talking about the new shows...because otherwise this would be my great American novel.

If anyone’s interested, I have master lists for both 2020 anime and 2019 anime, because there’s no shortage of fun things to find.

New Shows!

And before anyone asks, So I’m A Spider, So What? isn’t on here, because CG spiders freak me out.

Cells At Work Code Black: This...less comedic spin off of Cells At Work (made by a different studio) takes the wholesome concept of Osmosis Jones meets cute anime girls and turns it on its head. In this much more depressing version, we follow a rookie red blood cell who works in the body of an overly stressed, alcoholic smoker who puts every strain on the body imaginable. I love Red Blood Cell AA2153 and his co-workers, but man am I glad we get the regular Cells At Work airing this season too, because I need something fun and uplifting after seeing my sweet son go through hell every episode.

*Heaven’s Design Team: Have you ever wondered how God came up with some of the weird ass animals that live on this planet? Like, what’s the deal with giraffes? And why can’t we have dragons and flying horses? Well this is a comedy about the engineers and designers in heaven creating the new animals that are going to inhabit the Earth. That’s it, that’s the show. It’s kind of in the same vein as Cells At Work, having comedy blend with a surprising amount of educational information. If you want something light and funny, this is the show for you (though I don’t think it needs to have full length episodes). I’m just hoping there’s an episode about how the hell the platypus was created. Also it’s the only new one available on Crunchyroll.

Horimiya: A romantic comedy about a girl named Hori who fits the image of a perfect queen bee and a quiet bespectacled boy named Miyamura who never makes an impression at school. When the two meet by chance outside of the classroom, we see that Hori is practically raising a younger brother by herself, and Miyamura is actually a sweet guy who happens to be covered in tattoos and piercings. This show is an exercise in breaking down the images people have of others in their minds, and it’s a concept that really hits home in a fun and meaningful way. Honestly, this has become one of my immediate favorites. The characters have great chemistry, and I can’t wait to see more of them!

Monster Incidents (Kemono Jihen): When big shot Tokyo detective Inugami is called to a rural town to investigate a series of strange animal deaths, he finds a mysterious boy with the nickname Dorotabo who has been shunned by the other children in town. As the detective gets closer to Dorotabo, he discovers that there may be more...inhuman secrets to the boy than he realizes...and Dorotabo discovers that Inugami has some secrets of his own. This is a hard show to sell without spoiling the first episode, but it had twists and turns that kept me engaged from start to finish. I’m really interested to see where the plot goes, because I thought this was going to be something totally different just from the PV and series summary. If it plays its cards right, this could be a great paranormal detective show!

Wonder Egg Priority: A psychological drama about a girl named Ai who starts having dreams about a mysterious egg that promises to give her what she wants most in the world...a true friend. Before long, she begins to see how the dream world and reality are tied together, and trippy antics ensue. It’s hard to say more without spoiling anything, but I had to go back and add this one in because I made the mistake of thinking it was an OVA when it’s actually a full series. And what a series it’s starting out to be. This anime has all the psychological discomfort of a Satoshi Kon product with the beauty and style of something from Kyoani (even though it’s made by Clover Works). It’s really one of those anime you just have to see to understand.

Sk8-∞ (Skate the infinity): An original skateboarding anime from Bones, featuring a typical sports anime protagonist who takes a new transfer student who has never skateboarded in his life under his wing. Together they compete in dangerous races and take the skating community by storm. The character designs rival Appare Ranman’s in outlandish creativity, and I can smell the main characters’ ship dynamic a mile away (considering they’re exactly the same as the protagonists from Robihachi). If you’re looking for some wild and crazy fun with top notch skateboarding animation, don’t skip this!

2.43: Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu (Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Club): Yes, it’s another volleyball anime. And no, it’s not just a clone of Haikyu. This story follows Yuni Kuroba, a physically built but emotionally weak teenager who finds out his childhood friend Hajime is moving back to their hometown for high school. Yuni discovers Hajime has become an exceptional volleyball player and they join their school’s volleyball club hoping to turn the unknown team into a rising star. If anything, this anime is much more like Stars Align or Free, where the sport is a backdrop for letting the characters explore their personal problems. Or at least it seems that way after the first episode. I went into this show ready to throw it in the trash because how could anything compete against my beloved Haikyu, but I found myself really enjoying the dynamics of the main duo and I’m curious to see what the rest of the team is like.

And speaking of sports anime rip-offs…..I can’t believe I’m including this but…

Skate Leading Stars: The show where the animators clearly wanted to design another throw away idol anime but saw how popular Yuri On Ice was so they decided to make whatever the hell this show is instead. It revolves around a fictional team sport called skate leading, and we follow the world’s most insufferable main character, a former figure skater named Kensei who wants to return to the ice and join his school’s skate leading team after he finds out his childhood rival is going to compete in the sport. Look, this show is just trashy enough to get a certain type of audience hooked, and it mainly has to do with the best boy of the winter season, Hayato Sasugai, the aspiring team “coach” who pulled most of us into watching this show with his punk appearance, snide comments and smug personality. He’s basically the lovechild of Izaya Orihara and Shizuo Heiwajima in a high school sports anime setting. The show treats itself with the perfect amount of sincerity to get away with being absolutely ridiculous most of the time without making you feel like you’re watching it from a dumpster...like Try Knights. You will know after one episode whether this show is for you. All I can say is, Hayato is worth the watch, and I haven’t seen any 3D animation used for the skating scenes (yet) so that’s a win for me.

Honorable mention:

Jobless Reincarnation ( Mushoku Tensei): Yet another isekai where the main character is hit by a car (big surprise) and gets reincarnated into a fantasy world...but he happens to remember his previous life and narrates himself growing up as a jaded adult. I’m only including this because it looked amazing animation wise, and I love the opening where getting hit by a car and dying is actually traumatic. And I love the protagonist’s parents (who are retired adventurers who just want to bang all the time). But honestly...the main character is the fucking worst, and I don’t know if I want to keep watching it because of how creepy and weird he is. Like...he’s the hit on your fantasy mom as a baby kind of creepy and weird. But for anyone who wants a cool looking isekai that had an amazing PV, it’s worth checking out.

Continuing Series!

Because the real gold of the season is in all the established anime getting their next seasons, I’m just going to list some of the things that are also amazing and definitely worth checking out if you haven’t already (because I’ve already talked about most of them at some point and don’t know what else to say).

Attack On Titan season 4

The Promised Neverland season 2

Beastars season 2

Log Horizon season 3

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime season 2

Re: Zero season 2 (second cour)

Dr. Stone season 2

Cells at Work season 2

Osomatsu-san season 3 (second cour)

Higurashi New (second cour)

Jujutsu Kaisen (second cour)

Not to mention all the shows I don’t watch that everyone else loves...like World Trigger (which I have seen quite a bit of, but long shounen shows are too much for me now) Quintessential Quintuplets, and Non Non Biyori.

So there’s just some of all the anime airing this season. Hopefully, someone can find something they like. Here’s to a great year...well, of anime at least...

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shirecorn · 3 years

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how about 17 and 24? what inspires you and how do you deal with art block?

Long post warning.

Art block...

I don't actually get art block, which is probably a combination of neurodivergence and drawing every day for the last 3 years

I wrote an entire tutorial about how to do that, but didn't feel like illustrating it. Would people want to read it even without visuals?

Maybe... I'll just start rambling.

There's a couple different types of art block, and it's really just a philosophy puzzle to get past them. I'm going to assume that the things I think of slow days, or art mud, is a milder form of art block and work through that.

Art block is a symptom, not a disease. You probably have something deep inside that you don't want to face, or don't know how. Sometimes you need to discover the cause, sometimes just power through.

Method 1: Rest

Let yourself just Exist. The act of consuming art is part of the process. Watching shows and playing games, taking a break and going gardening or focus on school. This is what you need for burnout-induced art block.

Method 2: Action

I always choose action, sometimes it means a tiny 2 min sketch per day. Ugly or super simplified. As long as I don't stop moving.

Toss everything. Start every piece thinking you will throw it away.

The act of drawing moves you forward; pinning it to the fridge does not. Don't work things until they are perfect. Work them until they are there.

Art block causes and solutions:

- No Inspiration

Not sure what to draw, nothing seems appealing. Art won't come out like it used to.

Do studies from life or photos. Sketch, paint, digital, traditional, doesn't matter. Rocks, fruit, figure drawing, landscapes, buildings, anything.

Study and copy professional's work. Old masters are best, like rubens, michalangelo (only his men tho) etc because they will teach you anatomy while you work. If you copy someone with a lot of flaws, you will repeat those flaws.

Trace to learn, not to earn. Trace photography and art from anyone you want. Don't post it unless you have the artist's permission or they are dead, whichever comes first. This is strictly work for yourself, on yourself. It's not about the finished drawing.

Find an artist with a fun style and try converting stuff into their style. Don't make that your new style though and especially don't start selling it. Your style is a chimera of everyone you love, not a clone of one person.

Take blurry photos. You don't need a fancy camera or good skills or beautiful subjects. Doing studies from your own photos can spark life into your workflow.

Make challenges for yourself. Randomly generate things to combine. Try fusing characters! Don't try to make it look good, just be fun.

Doodle patterns, swirls, lines, random stuff. Try looking up art warmups and doing some of those.

- Everything Sucks

You finally see how bad you are. Or somehow you got worse. Every piece is a fight and you spend hours trying to get something right only for it to be stiff and disgusting and STILL wrong.

Why are you trying to draw good? It's enough just to draw.

Accept that your art is bad. Every artist can see flaws in their work. Your problem is that those flaws outweigh anything remotely worthwhile and hurt to look at.

So what? You're in a period of growth, not a period of production. Keep that wonky second eye. Let them have hot dog fingers.

Show everyone! Show no one! No piece of art can ever be a reflection of the artist. Not their worth, not their skill. The only thing your art says about you is "Held and moved a pen for a bit."

Make bad art. It's ok. Most of the time, the pressure to perform and get things Right is what made them wrong in the first place. Relax.

- No Motivation

The #1 killer of artists everywhere. On some level you think you should draw, on every other level you think you should stay in bed.

You are not lazy. You wouldn't have read this far in a post about art block if you were lazy. You wouldn't CALL it art block if you were lazy. Laziness is wishing you didn't have to do anything. A block is wishing you were doing something. If you think you can namecall Yourself into productivity again, you're wrong and You need to unionize so that you don't treat You like that anymore.

Consider Mental Illness. Losing interest in something that brought you joy can be a symptom of depression. I know it seems obvious, but if you're waiting for a sign that it's "bad enough," it's bad enough. Seek care if you have the means. Forgive yourself if you already know this.

Selfcare. Examine yourself for neglect. Nutrition, exercise, enrichment, social need, and sleep are all part of the art process. Eat three meals and sleep 8 hours. That's your gaymer fuel. You deserve it, I promise. Depriving yourself of your needs will make your blocks worse, not kick you into making them better.

Identify potholes. Sketchbook falling apart? Tablet cord frayed? Half your pencils missing? Chair uncomfortable? Desk hard to reach? There's a lot of things that you tell yourself to work around and get over. Just because you CAN workaround something, doesn't mean you SHOULD. A difficult work environment can cause secret dread deep inside that you don't recognize and just think you're lazy. What you think of as "no motivation" might actually be "I don't want to deal with my tablet disconnecting every time I move it wrong and I have to wiggle it for a few seconds to make it work again." These little things are like potholes in the road. Sure you CAN still drive through them, but eventually you're going to look up and realize you haven't voluntarily left the house in weeks.

Repair potholes and roadblocks. You might feel bad about buying a new pencil, headphones, tablet, car, etc because technically the old one works if you hustle. But if you're running into so many potholes you've ground to a halt, it doesn't Actually work anymore, does it? Invest, save up, request, and require working equipment and suitable conditions. This stuff isn't just cushy privilege, it's an investment in yourself and your art. You are worth the effort it takes to clear the way. If you can't afford reliable (reliable! not perfect or luxurious) equipment, then say it. If cardboard is all you can afford, draw on cardboard. But know that you deserve canvas, and one day you might be able to make the jump. Acknowledge that sometimes, if you don't have it in you to smear burned twigs on wet cardboard, the problem isn't motivation, but opportunity.

- Haven't Drawn in So Long

A unique type of art block that self perpetuates. The thought of starting again is so stressful you can't do it. Or maybe you'll do it tomorrow. Yeah. Tomorrow for sure.

Face your fears. Are you ashamed of your lack of drawing? Are you anthropomorphizing your paper and thinking it's going to judge you, like "oh NOW you come back >:/" I internalize voices I hear and project them onto other people, concepts, locations, and inanimate objects. Your paper, computer, WIPs folder.... none of that is judging you.

Reframe your WIPs. Do you feel shame when you see "unfinished" projects? Why? Who says you MUST bring everything you start to Finish? You don't have to. A sketch is a finished art piece; it's called a sketch! If a sketch is a fully realized creation, pages that are half colored, 75% lined, or partially rendered are all fully realized creations too. Unless paid otherwise, art is done when you're done working on it.

Lower the stakes. Draw a chibi or grab some crayons. Get messy and slowly ease yourself back into the flow over the course of a couple days. It's fine.

Get a buddy! Find an art meme, do an art trade, get a study subject, or just wing it. Drawing art alongside someone can help you get past that block.

Pretend you never stopped. Don't think about the gap, how long it's been, or rustiness. As far as anyone knows, you drew the mona lisa yesterday and didn't break a sweat. Today, you drew a starfish on your hand with a gel pen. Keep up that streak, good job!

Just keep drawing. Make a goal to do one sucky drawing per day on the back of a napkin. Don't make up for missed days, just pretend they didn't happen. Who's going to judge you? The calendar? That's pieces of paper; it doesn't have an opinion. Draw a cat on it. Done. Keeping up the momentum is a great way to prevent art blocks in the future.

TLDR: Draw imperfectly and toss it. Selfcare is king. Draw often and don't judge yourself.

Art is a process, not a product.

#shire screams #art tips #ask #art block #long post

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robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

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Good Help - chapter 2 - ao3 link

Despite the circumstances of their first meeting, Meng Yao mostly appreciated A-Jue for his quick mind and fearlessness – and, yes, occasionally for his towering height that made grabbing books from high places infinitely easier – rather than his muscles, however impressive they were. In fact, after the first few weeks, he had very nearly forgotten that A-Jue was a guard of the inner hall.

The assassination attempt put an end to that oversight.

It wasn’t that Meng Yao hadn’t anticipated such an attempt, nor that he hadn’t taken precautions. He was careful to take his meals in the communal kitchen at unexpected hours and tested even the snacks he kept with him before consuming them, and naturally avoided any unsupervised hallways or attempts to lure him outside, but he had underestimated the enmity that greeted his appointment: he had not thought that they would launch a direct attack.

The perpetrators entered his office as petitioners, posing as clerks for an influential merchant, and launched the attack just as they were settling into the rhythm of negotiations. They were hoping to catch him distracted, which they did, but Meng Yao had always had good instincts; he realized what was happening the first moment they moved. He was out of his chair and reaching for the flexible sword he stored around his waist almost at once, already calculating how many injuries he could incur and still be able to fight back enough to preserve his life – he just needed to survive until the guards came in, unless they’d somehow gotten rid of those, in which case he needed to run –

The calculations proved unnecessary.

By the time Meng Yao’s hand reached the hilt of his blade, A-Jue was already in front of him, catching one assassin the chest with a vicious palm strike and knocking him into the path of another, turning fluidly to slam an elbow into a third.

He didn’t even draw the saber that hung low at his waist, just knocked aside the assassin’s swords and daggers with his bare hands and then beating them with his fists and feet.

Meng Yao stood there for a moment, blinking, and by the time even his quick-moving mind caught up with everything the assassins all were unconscious or paralyzed, the merchant was on his knees begging for mercy and swearing to his ignorance, and A-Jue was standing there, frowning slightly at one of the still-twitching assassins like he was considering going in for more.

“Why didn’t you draw your saber?” Meng Yao asked, both because he was curious and because it was a better reaction than saying I forgot you could do that or I thought I’d be facing them all on my own again, or, even worse, thanks.

“I thought you’d want them alive to question them,” A-Jue said, blinking at him – he had the same expression of good-natured puzzlement as he did any time Meng Yao corrected him, whether as to his calculation of accounting errors or underestimating the malice inherent in mankind, which remained a subject of recurrent disagreement. “Was I wrong?”

“Not at all,” Meng Yao said, and felt once again the thrill of power when A-Jue nodded and called for other guards to enter and remove the bodies, although he crouched by each one first to check them over for any suicide pills or arrays that might interfere with an interrogation. His professional detachment and efficient resolution of events was truly suitable for a guard of the inner hall, the finest of Wen Ruohan’s soldiers; there could be no complaints.

There was something truly delightful about having a powerful man at your beck and call, Meng Yao reflected, and wondered briefly if A-Jue had been sent his way deliberately as a plant to infiltrate his confidence. It seemed unlikely, given the random nature of their meeting, and certainly A-Jue didn’t fit any of Meng Yao’s known pre-existing preferences, other than in terms of bedpartners. And yet he grew suspicious, if only because A-Jue suited him so very well, just right in every way…

Meng Yao spent the next three days conducting a series of covert tests to see if any information was being leaked from his office through A-Jue, but there was nothing. Ultimately, he was forced to conclude that A-Jue might actually just be – like that.

Straightforward and blunt, fearless in both speech and action, decisive and capable and yet willing to take orders from Meng Yao, never judging him for his birth but respecting him for his abilities…

Good help, he reminded his suddenly over-active libido. Hard to find. Don’t ruin a good thing.

It was hard to remember, though. A-Jue was just the sort of man Meng Yao liked when he went for men: handsome and powerfully built, well-born or rich or both, stern and unyielding in demeanor, the sort of man for whom life generally went the way they wanted. The sort could easily get a girl, even one of good breeding and appropriate lineage, merely by snapping his fingers. The type of man that might tempt even a practiced whore.

Meng Yao liked to break those types of men.

It was a trait he shared with Wen Ruohan, and one of the ways he had managed to get the Emperor’s attention – that first job he had taken had been in the Fire Palace, the Emperor’s torture chambers, and he had worked out a considerable portion of his anger and anxiety through the torment of his enemies, defined liberally as anyone who insulted his mother. He’d matured since then, growing calmer, but he still liked to put proud men on their knees and make them service him, to rub their faces in the fact that he was the one with the power, to make them crawl and plead and cry for him. Though he supposed for someone like A-Jue – he wouldn’t need to break him, really.

It’d be enough to see him bend. Willingly, for him.

And yet, if Meng Yao did that, wouldn’t A-Jue start to flinch from him and turn away from him – seek to preserve his injured pride by fleeing Meng Yao’s presence, the way so many others before him had? It would make working together much more annoying, and A-Jue was perfect the way he was.

Almost irritatingly so. If only A-Jue were more inclined to make errors, Meng Yao would feel freer to take advantage of him.

“Have you ever thought less of me because of my parentage?” Meng Yao asked one evening, apropos of nothing, when A-Jue was already exhausted and more than a little wild-eyed from having to review every single one of the reports on wheat yields in their northern provinces as part of Meng Yao’s random audit of the files.

“I mean, Jin Guangshan’s a waste of space, but you’re nothing like him, so not after the beginning,” A-Jue said automatically, then scowled at Meng Yao when he started laughing. “What? Give me a break, I didn’t know you then! How was I to guess that you’d actually be competent? Or – not awful?”

“I was,” Meng Yao said with dignity, even if his lips insisted on twitching, “referring to my mother.”

“But you hate it when people talk about your mother,” A-Jue said blankly, then shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry, is this some sort of mind game? If so, can it wait until tomorrow? I’m going to dream in wheat prices.”

“It can wait until tomorrow,” Meng Yao agreed, pretending to be solemn. He wasn’t sure if he was more amused at A-Jue’s ridiculous perspective on things or the fact that he seemed to think Meng Yao was not awful simply because he’d indulged him a few times when he was being especially insistent on doing things the soft-hearted way.

“You’re making fun of me again,” A-Jue grumbled. “I don’t know why, but you are. Fuck you.”

The next day, Meng Yao asked A-Jue if he’d ever been to a whorehouse.

“Yes, while on campaign,” A-Jue said, blinking rapidly as if he were trying to hide something, or more likely not think of something. Either he’d had a bad experience or he thought Meng Yao was going to cut off his balls for admitting it.

Which he wouldn’t, of course. There was nothing wrong with the better sort of customer, and Meng Yao felt certain that A-Jue would have been that sort, could imagine him sitting in the corner with a jar of wine and a blush until he was coaxed upstairs and then paying too much for the privilege, after...but it was cute that A-Jue worried about such things.

Meng Yao put a friendly hand on A-Jue’s shoulder – the man flinched, briefly, but quickly mastered himself, just as he did any time anyone touched him – and said in his best sugar-sweet sympathetic tone that he hadn’t had to use on anyone in ages, “Did she touch you in a bad place?”

“The honored viceroy can go fuck himself any time he damn well pleases,” A-Jue said, and he had no idea how much Meng Yao would like to ask him if he’d prefer to do the honors himself.

“Do you know any other curses, or is it just variations on the term ‘fuck’?” he asked instead, thinking good help, good help, good help. “I know at least three dozen involving farmyard animals, if you’d like to learn.”

A-Jue’s laugh was in no way like a braying donkey, no matter what Meng Yao pretended to insist.

“Have you considered the benefits of a regular routine of physical exercise?” A-Jue asked.

Meng Yao glared at him.

“I’m just saying,” A-Jue said. “It would make your life easier.”

“Shut up and help me get down from up here,” Meng Yao hissed – A-Jue had taken care of the vicious snarling creatures that had somehow gotten loose, an obvious follow-up assassination attempt now that the poisoning he thought he’d identified in a late-night dessert had been demonstrably unsuccessful, even if A-Jue had insisted that they were just “sweet little puppies” and Meng Yao was “overreacting”.

“I’d be happy to help train you, if you’d like.”

“I’m far too busy,” Meng Yao said with what little shreds of dignity he still possessed. “I do three times as much work as you do, I don’t have capacity to running off to go wave a stick in the air multiple times a day like some people.”

A-Jue grinned at him, utterly unmoved, and Meng Yao huffed, rolling his eyes at him.

“If I agree,” he said, with no intention whatsoever of agreeing, “will you finally show me your saber?”

If there was innuendo in there – well. He was only a man, after all.

“Perhaps one day,” A-Jue said. “It’s not a privileged I give to everyone.”

Meng Yao tried to parse whether that was flirting. He couldn’t quite tell.

“Well, your saber is very large,” he said, probing. “Maybe you should take it out more often.”

“When I take out my saber, someone dies,” A-Jue said, and – probably not flirting, then. “I wouldn’t want to accidentally skewer you.”

Possibly very strange flirting? Meng Yao wouldn’t put it past A-Jue.

“Yes, well,” he said, straightening his robes and settling back into professional mode. “You have fun with your exercise, but leave me out of it.”

A-Jue escorted him back to his office first, conscientious as always.

Once he was gone, Meng Yao rang a certain bell and summoned Sisi, whose freedom was probably the best investment he’d ever made – she’d merged into the palace staff without leaving so much as a trace behind, acting as though the other girls were her sisters and she’d been there forever, and she was more than willing to report on everything she learned.

Also, she’d retained enough of her looks that everyone thought that Meng Yao only summoned her for sex, making A-Jue’s occasional disappearances for training purposes the perfect time for Meng Yao to meet with her without suspicion – he’d given up most of his paranoia surrounding A-Jue, but that was no reason to share all of his tricks.

Besides, he wasn’t sure he actually wanted A-Jue and Sisi to meet.

“When you’re done fucking him, can you share?” Sisi asked after she put down the tray of snacks – buns and a pot of tea, all of which she sampled before his eyes in the name of sharing food. “Man like that deserves to be common property.”

“I’m not whoring him out,” Meng Yao said, a warning in his tone, and Sisi sighed dramatically.

“Tell me you’re at least having a good time with all those muscles,” she said. “Someone ought to be.”

Meng Yao rolled his eyes.

“Where’s the trouble coming from this time?” he asked, deciding to elide the issue entirely. “I keep hearing whispers and people look nervous, the way they do before some sort of trouble, but neither gentry nor merchant class seem to have produced anything out of the ordinary, and I can’t imagine it’s the farmers again after last time.”

“You’re looking out, you should be looking in,” she said.

“The Emperor’s court?”

That could be a serious problem. Any political turmoil that happened within the Nightless City would have ramifications well beyond it.

“His harem,” Sisi said, her face alight with the pleasure of gossip. “Word’s come back from the south – turns out that the Emperor took one of the Imperial Consorts with him for his trip.”

Even Meng Yao’s eyebrows raised.

“And with the Empress in seclusion, well…”

It wasn’t as though the Empress had a strong maternal family as a backing – no one even knew what her surname was – but she’d been there for years and years, practically part of the décor. Replacing her with one of the Consorts would be…a change.

The Nightless City hated change.

“Could you ask to see her?” Sisi asked. “Just as proof of life…”

“I could,” Meng Yao said, because technically he had authority over everyone, “but I won’t. Why would I invite trouble for myself? I’d have to explain to the Emperor why I interfered with his harem.”

“Good point,” Sisi said, although she looked disappointed.

“Which Consort?”

“The rumor says A-Sang,” she said. “The one that likes to carry scholarly fans.”

“A-Sang? Really?”

“I know! We all thought that the Emperor didn’t even like A-Sang – everyone agrees that A-Sang never got any imperial visits before this; the Emperor never spent a night in A-Sang’s rooms, never even shared a meal, nothing. But why else would he take A-Sang with him on a months-long journey?”

Why indeed. The Emperor remained as unfathomable as ever. Meng Yao wondered briefly if Wen Ruohan really had murdered the Empress in her seclusion, faking her presence with a note…still, it seemed implausible. Why would he bother?

“I heard a rumor once,” he said instead. “About A-Sang.”

Like all good spies and shit-stirrers, Sisi was immediately at full attention – she knew that Meng Yao was not inclined to gossip for the pleasure of it, the way she was, and therefore he would only volunteer information if he intended for her to spread it.

“A-Sang is the Empress’ family,” Meng Yao said, and Sisi’s eyes went wide. “Younger sibling.”

Younger brother, he thought, though he didn’t say anything – he didn’t actually know for sure. It was hard to tell. Wen Ruohan didn’t lock away his wives the way some men did; on the contrary, he enjoyed bringing them out for celebrations to show them off. But the Empress was invariably veiled, swathed in silks without a hint of skin showing, always seated in her chair as if she were kneeling in penance, never moving; Meng Yao, who only saw her from a distance during the celebrations, sometimes almost thought she might not have legs. In daily life, she sometimes attended the Emperor’s court, but always remained seated behind her veils and sometimes even a screen, little more than a silhouette from which, rarely, notes emerged but no voice ever did.

Naturally, if the Empress preferred to be veiled, that meant the other wives had to at least pretend to follow her lead. And that meant veils and concealing clothing, even if some of them interpreted the concept rather loosely, with sheer veils and even sheerer clothing, meant to entice – A-Sang fell somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, wearing a veil that revealed his eyes and clothing that allowed him flexibility of movement without too much restraint, and while he was slender and delicate, Meng Yao was moderately certain that he was indeed male.

Not that it mattered.

Wen Ruohan had never much cared about that.

“Amazing,” Sis breathed. “So all these years, the Emperor has been refraining from touching A-Sang out of respect for the Empress, and now the little sister wife has finally made her move…”

Meng Yao had said none of that, but it served him to muddle the waters a little, mostly to see who would try to clear it up. Not that it could be, as his information about their familial connection was accurate – gleaned from a careless comment by Wen Ruohan himself, no less – but it interested him to know who would try regardless.

“Go,” he said, and Sisi left, all but floating, and it wasn’t long before A-Jue returned, all shiny with sweat and exertion, looking incredibly fuckable.

“You worked near the harem, right?” Meng Yao asked him, mind still focused on the bubbling little scandal that he just knew would become an issue that could wreck his thus far successful regency. “Do you have any connections there?”

“Not really?” A-Jue said. “Most of the wives are scared of me.”

Typical.

“Is there something you’d like me to find out for you..?”

“No need,” Meng Yao said. He’d never met anyone less well suited to be a spy than A-Jue. “But it may be an avenue of future threats, so keep it in mind.”

“I’m not going to let anyone from the harem harm you,” A-Jue said, oddly fierce. “Not anyone. Don’t worry.”

#mdzs #meng yao #jin guangyao #nie mingjue #nieyao #my fic #my fics #good help

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limitlessgojo · 3 years

Text

Blood Bound: Blackened Bond (Ch 15.5)

Warnings: Action, Coarse Language, Fighting, Descriptions of Blood

Previous Chapter: Shadows Fall

Next Chapter: Non-Standard

Word count: 2.4k

Tags: Kamo Noritoshi x Reader, Soulmates AU, Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Fem!Reader

Taglist: @lessie-oxj @rizzo-nero @whoreuc @fkngkumiko @isl3t @gojoussunglasses @onepotatostand-blog @s-t-f-u-b-i-t-c-h @sunaswife @lordguameow @track5enthusiast @nayydoesthings

Notes: If you want to be tagged for every update, and specify if you're okay with nsfw posts or not, please mention it in the comments below ty❤

Author's Notes: This is a deleted chapter but I decided to just put it as an extra/half chapter. I took a step back to assess my drafts and deemed that it didn't need to be in the story for it to be cohesive. But this is full of extra info that will be quite significant in the chapters to come^^

土御門天皇

Chapter 15.5: Tsuchimikado

“Geto Suguru has pronounced war against the Jujutsu Society. We are expecting there to be an ambush here in Kyoto and one in Tokyo Shibuya. We must prepare thoroughly. Amongst the students we will only be asking Jujutsushi of Grade 3 or higher to assist us in this battle. And you may opt out if you do not wish to fight. But your help will be highly appreciated, especially on such short notice.” Principal Gakuganji ended his speech by looking at you dead in the eye.

And deep in your gut, you knew you didn’t have so much as a choice. You were going to fight this battle as a Special Grade sorcerer (and being the only one in this room at the moment), whether you liked it or not. So you gave a short nod in return.

“I’ll be joining. As the future clan head of the Kamo clan and the eldest son, this is not a matter to be ignored or taken lightly.” Your head whipped around to face Noritoshi and to your biggest surprise he was looking straight at you. Then he turned to nod to Principal Gakuganji who nodded back approvingly.

“I’m always up for a good fight, so of course I’ll be joining. Can’t miss out on a chance to beat down curses.” Todo grinned and cracked his fists.

“Will you join, Tsuchimikado?” Utahime asked.

Everyone was silent as you looked at her then the Principal. “Of course I will.”

Everyone else called out to say if they were participating or not. After the meeting was finished after several more announcements, and you left back for your dorm rooms.

◇◇◇

The next day, Utahime sensei called in some students plus Hiroki into her office. You all filed in, wondering what it was about. Hiroki nudged you, “Why am I here with yall kids?” You pinched him in return.

Outside the door, you went face to face with Noritoshi. He gently called your name, “Good morning Y/N.” You just purse your lips and nod.

In this time of war, you need to set aside all personal matters. It’s all business; everyone had to cooperate together to have a chance of surviving.

You counted and named the people present. Noritoshi, Todo senpai, You and Hiroki. That was it.

Utahime let you all sit down on chairs facing her desk before calling your attention, “So, I called you all here today, because we have some information on the possible curses that might appear here at Kyoto. As you know, Geto Suguru has the ability to manipulate and take in curses.

We know of some grade 1 and special grade curses. I decided that amongst the students, the three of you are the most capable in handling those. Hiroki san, you’ve stated that you’ll be fighting alongside your cousin, so I brought you in here today so that both of you can prepare together.”

He grinned, “Of course Utahime san. We got this in the bag sis.” He punched you softly in the arm, and you softly hit him in the head. A childhood habit of yours.

So Utahime sensei then explained and listed off the curses that are known to be in his possession. All of you paid close attention and took notes. Most were Grade 1 and 2.

“And finally. We know of another Special Grade curse, the Giant Black Tsuchigumo of Kyoto. This curse is-” she continued to speak, but it felt like radio static on your end. You couldn’t hear anything anymore.

The blood drained out of both your and Hiroki’s faces. ‘Huh? I thought that nightmare was already done and gone. Whatthefuck’

Your right hand shot out to grab at Hiroki. Utahime paused at the sudden movement. It was getting harder to breathe, and you could feel the onset of the panic attack kicking in.

You’ve done so well recovering from anxiety attacks over the years, but this just made you feel so helpless. “Sorry, can’t breathe.” You gasped out.

“Give her space!” Utahime and the others pushed back the chairs and desk. Hiroki caught you as you leaned your forehead against the top of his chest and settled on the ground.

“Breathe in 2 3 4, hold 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, out 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9, and again,” Hiroki repeated your go to breathing exercises, ignoring how your nails dug into his arms. It took you a good 7 minutes to calm down. “I’m so sorry,” you apologized, wiping your sweaty palms off your thighs.

You looked down at your hands to see them still shaking. Utahime, Noritoshi and Todo were all kneeling with you on the floor. “Don’t apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for.” Utahime patted your head lightly.

“Tsuchigumo. That big black one is dead. I have no idea which one you’re talking about right now, but the one that reigned in Kyoto is dead.” you said. “Gojo Satoru and I killed that curse back in late 2007.”

Noritoshi inched closer to you. Hiroki stiffened, watching him closely, but he didn’t do anything to close the gap. He just stayed by your other side, a silent and steady presence.

Utahime reached out to wipe your sweat with a towel. You only noticed now that the room has been rearranged, chairs pushed away to make a bit of space. There were cushions on the ground for everyone to sit on.

“Drink.” Hiroki pushed a cup of hot tea into your hands. You nearly spilled it, but he cupped your hands firmly, helping you drink. You leaned against your cousin, sighing at his warmth.

Hiroki spoke up, “As you can see, it is a bit of a touchy subject for the both of us. Our clan had a bad run in with that Tsuchigumo years back when sis was only 6 years old. But we are pretty sure that, like she said, Gojo and Geto san have gotten rid of it.”

Utahime nodded, “Geto did huh. Then he must have taken it in during that time.”

Noritoshi looked at you and realized that something far worse than just an attack happened. “Your sister,” he spoke quietly, “was she…?”

Hiroki raised his eyebrows. “Yes, our Sora was killed by that Tsuchigumo.”

The atmosphere in the room turned heavy and almost unbearable. Utahime looked concerned, “We need as much information on that Tsuchigumo as we can. Y/n, can you tell us anything?”

Oh yeah, just the one memory you’ve desperately tried to forget your entire life. Still you nodded.

Hiroki squeezed you.

“So basically.” You paused. “One night when I was 6, Sora neechan was like 10 years old. We got attacked near the Kiyomizu shrine. It was getting late, the sun was setting. But we were up at Daimonji-yama to play, and there were barely any people around. It wasn’t too dark yet, but it was really quiet.” Your teeth were practically chattering.

Noritoshi met your eyes and for a moment you wanted him to hold you. Until you remembered you were supposed to be angry with him, so you brushed it off and looked elsewhere.

“Satoru nii and Geto san were actually in Kyoto at that time to visit us. So I remember calling Toru nii and screaming for help, he was on my speed dial. He told us that we could call for help anytime. We are pretty much like siblings to each other. So he would always come to our aid. Right niichan?”

You leaned into Hiroki as he let out a small “Yep. He never lets us down. Dumb as he is.” Your lips actually quirked into a small smile at that.

“Sora and I basically had to hold off the curse until they got there. But it was strong. As you know, Tsuchigumo are earth spiders. But this particular one reigned in Kyoto for so long. Like centuries. It was so strong it ate every other tsuchigumo, making it grow bigger. Still, it rarely comes out to feed and is adept at hiding. We like to think of it as a smart curse. Every bite is laced with poison.”

“Back then I only mastered basic freezing and wind manipulation techniques. I couldn’t make barriers yet. And it really…” you closed your eyes remembering that sense of helplessness you’ve felt like never before.

“It was the worst 10 minutes of my life. I couldn’t do anything to hurt it. I had another technique I was working on, but it involved using reverse cursed techniques which I didn’t perfect yet. And I didn’t like playing with fire as much as I did with water and ice.”

“I froze it several times, but my technique was way too weak. It kept breaking free. Sora nee didn’t even have a cursed technique; she couldn’t fight. But still she felt responsible for me since she was older, so she …” you stopped. You closed your eyes and tightened your fist.

At this point your nails were drawing blood from your palms, but you didn’t feel the pain. “It’s so stupid really.” You laughed out loudly trying to distract everyone from the tears that were forming in your eyes.

Noritoshi reached out to you. But Hiroki’s eyes flashed at him in warning and he dropped his hands. Your heart squeezed painfully.

“I was just a stupid kid, who let her weaker sister take the shot of poison from that Tsuchigumo, instead of facing it head on. She wouldn’t let go of me no matter how hard I tried to put her behind me. A huge part of me was scared and terrified that night of course. I didn’t know what to do and I was such a coward. It was about to hit me until Satoru nii came.” You took a deep breath and forced out the remainder of the story.

“So I actually did manage to activate my reverse cursed technique towards the end, but it was too much. I burned nearly half of the mountain…. My mom had to help in restoring a large part of it afterwards. Satoru finished it off and carried us away immediately.”

“But Su- Geto san. Like he has the cursed spirit manipulation right? I never realized if he took it in or not really. I never particularly cared about it that night, because Sora nee was dying in my arms.” You rushed your words and pushed further into Hiroki’s arms.

“It was a bad omen for our clan,” Hiroki’s teeth were gritted tight as he relived your stories. “For such a powerful and evil curse to share a part of our namesake, only to hurt one of our own. After that day, we hunted down all the Tsuchigumo we could find across the entire country as a priestess told us to do so to cleanse our clan of a lingering curse. But… for some reason it was never enough. Now we know… it still lives with Geto san.”

“What painful memories,” Todo cried. “We will help you take it down, y/n. And I don’t doubt that you can defeat it the way you are right now.” You were touched by his words.

“But can you face it once more?” He asked.

“I’ve been training all my life for a day like this. Of course I’m going to throw that thing into the depths of hell.”

“Careful there.” Hiroki nii was eyeing you carefully. “You tend to rush headfirst when you’re being controlled by your emotions. You’re too reckless lil sis.”

“That’s true.” Noritoshi hummed. You glared at him. “If it’s to save a life, why not.” You shot back and had a stare off with Noritoshi.

More like a one sided glare on your part and him lovingly looking back at you with a sad smile. Noritoshi’s bond mark burned.

"Ahem." Hiroki cleared his throat loudly and everyone turned to him. "I'll be watching over lil sis here so it should be fine. I'll be joining this war anyways."

You smiled at your cousin gratefully.

“Well then. That was the last curse that needed explaining. I think the four of you are suited to taking them down. You’re all dismissed.”

You all nodded at Utahime, rising to your feet along with everyone else.

◇◇◇

“Y/n! I need to talk to you.” Mai said urgently. She followed you back to the first year dorms after class. You had told the first years about the special grade curses you were expecting to see in the war.

Mai looked particularly shaken upon hearing about the death of Sora. She was always the cool and calm one amongst the first years, besides Mechamaru that is. So this was very new.

“Of course, come into my room.”

You served her tea and cakes, before kneeling down on your floor cushion.

Mai threw her arms around you. Your eyes widened as her arms tightened around your shoulder. You cautiously put your arms around her.

“I know how it feels….. To lose an older sister.”

You flinched, “Is yours-”

“She’s alive.” There was a different pain in her eyes. And that was then you realized that she must have been left behind.

“Grief is the loss of a person. Someone could be going through a divorce or a break-up and experience grief. You could lose an important person, while they’re still alive and it’s still considered grief.” Mai said.

You wanted to cry, but your eyes ran dry. All you’ve been doing is crying yourself to sleep night after night lately. Your soul was still longing for Sora when she couldn't be reached anymore.

Noritoshi was different. He made it clear that he’s still running after you, never stopping to call out your name even if you ignore him in the hallways. But you were not willing to touch on his matter as of now.

Mai told you all about Maki and her life in the Zenin clan. How she was left behind and forced to be a Jujutsu sorcerer. Everyone has their issues deep inside, but you’re all still pushing and coping as you fight curses.

You buried your hair into Mai’s chest. “I’m sorry you experienced that Mai. You’re such a brave woman for doing this everyday even though you’re afraid of curses.”

“You get used to it.” She sniffed.

You sat there for a while, just hugging her.

“Wanna watch sappy romcoms with me?” You peeked up at her from her arms. “Of course.” You both smiled at each other.

Author’s notes: Tsuchimikado translates to “Emperor of the Earth”, while Tsuchigumo translates to “Earth Spider”. Thus, with how Tsuchi (meaning earth), both names share common Kanji. They are a strong clan that can heal and guard living beings and plants. And Tsuchigumo are expected to be easily defeated by them, being an earth creature. But, as Hiroki said, it was a very bad omen when Sora was killed by one.

Blood Bound: Table of Contents

#angst #jujutsu kaisen fanfic #jjk fanfiction #jjk imagines #jjk x you #jjk x reader #blood bound #blackened bond #bonus extra

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earnestly-endlessly · 4 years

Note

Could you please rec cherik fics where they still have powers but being mutant is well accepted? (Kind of like the Daycare Verse by brillingspoons) THANK U SO MUCH YOURE INCREDIBLE

Hi anon, of course I have a list for you. I am so sorry for the delay. I have been super busy lately with work and home renovations, but I’m back and I have a looong list for you. Now, the nature of x-men as a parallel of the very real fight of minority groups for civil rights makes it pretty hard to find fics where everyone accepts mutants.That’s actually why I love the x-men, because they represent the fight of those who are ostracised. So, some of these might have some social commentary, but the main focus does not lie there. Also, if you love the Daycare Verse check out pocky_slash’s fics (who actually wrote the majority of the Daycare Verse).

------

Cherik ´Still Have Powers Modern AU´ Fic Recs

irreconcilable differences (make for surprisingly good bedfellows) – pocky_slash

Summary: Tonight on The Evening Report with Malcolm Stevens, noted geneticist and mutant equality proponent Dr. Charles Xavier faces off with the infamous mutant rights activist Magneto in a live televised debate over the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act.

(At least, if they can stop flirting long enough to stay on topic.)

Words and Pictures – pocky_slash

Summary: When Lorna's powers manifest early, Charles Xavier's mutant picture books are the perfect teaching tool. Erik just hadn't expected the author to be so young. Or attractive. Or available.

For the Record – endingthemes

Summary: As prominent figures in the mutant rights movement, activists Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr are pretty much household names. When a romance scandal between them breaks, their celebrity reaches new heights, and though the increased exposure is great, there’s a big problem -- the two of them are just friends.

Too bad no one believes them.

Runs in the Family – Anonysquirrel (chibirisuchan)

Summary: Alex knew his own reputation. Hell, he'd started some of his own reputation, because it kept some of the smarter thugs off his back. Everyone knew Alex's reputation. There was no way Hank didn't know his reputation, but he'd brought Alex into a house with some really expensive things and a lot of innocent little kids and his too-friendly, too-harmless dad.

But clearly Hank hadn't told his family anything about Alex, just like he hadn't told Alex anything about his family. At least, not about the brain-breaking parts of his family.

"I didn't know where to start," Hank said, for the dozenth time.

Featuring mpreg!Charles in a Kiss The Cook apron, overprotective!Erik in wet black leather, and baked goods. Lots and lots of baked goods.

(Another segment of this series is posted under the Cookie Cutter fic collection - thanks again, Takmarierah!)

Impulse Decisions – listerinezero

Summary: Erik wakes up in Las Vegas with a hell of a hangover, a telepath in his bed, and a ring on his finger. Now what?

You Show Me Yours - endingthemes

Summary: When Erik receives nudes in the middle of the night from an unknown number, he's confused and mildly amused. He doesn't expect it to turn into an actual conversation...with feelings.

As if that's not baffling enough, his friend's brother ends up crashing at his place, further complicating everything.

Some Such Place (The Big Screen Classics Remix) - Pocky_Slash

Summary: Erik's spent the last eighteen months having lengthy socio-political conversations and casual sex with Charles Xavier after seeing Monday matinees at a dingy little independent movie theatre in the Village. That doesn't mean they're friends. Or that Erik should have any say in what Charles is going to do with his future.

(At least, that's what Erik keeps telling himself.)

Into Your Tar, Honey - tomato_greens

Summary: Really, Alex doesn’t know why he’s in the damn class.

(Or, the one in which Charles teaches an online Introduction to Biology course, and Alex reads more than he expected to.)

Heli Cases - Black_Betty

Summary: "Heli Cases" is a program on PBS whose aim is to educate on the rapidly increasing occurrence of genetic mutation in the general populous by breaking the complex science down into palatable, easy to digest pieces.

It is also the only thing that helps Erik get his fussy daughter to fall asleep.

(Featuring Dadneto, baby Lorna and the struggles of single fatherhood, and Charles as the host of a late night show about genetics.)

Bound - FuryRed

Summary: Is there anything worse than someone else’s wedding? Well, perhaps your sister’s wedding- where the groom just has to invite his boss and that man just happens to be your ex-boyfriend; a person you had an extremely passionate and tumultuous relationship with that ended badly.

Charles hadn’t seen Erik for a year by the time Raven had told him about the wedding. He wasn’t looking forward to the occasion, particularly when Raven explained that they would be celebrating the event with a two-week extravaganza at a luxury hotel, meaning that Charles would be forced to spend a whole fortnight with the man who he’d given everything to; the man who had ultimately broken his heart…

An Exercise in Frustration – ikeracity

Summary: Erik Lehnsherr's latest critically-acclaimed film Shame features a full-frontal nudity scene. His long-suffering husband Charles is really very peeved about it.

Eyes on Fire - Black_Betty

Summary: Every once in a while, fashion tycoon Emma Frost invites her favourite male models over to entertain her. And by "entertain", I mean she makes them have kinky consensual sex in front of her....Emma never touches herself when she watches, but she always has a glass of wine with her. Emma likes it best when they eventually forget that she's watching.

Charles and Erik meet each other through Emma...

(I've taken some liberties with the prompt, but all the sex is still there, and it's wholly consensual...and gradually, becomes more than just sex...)

Order Up - ikeracity

Summary: Charles has a terrible habit of multitasking, and that is probably why he absentmindedly tells the pizza man that he loves him when hanging up.

Then the pizza man says it back. And Charles is pretty much smitten from there.

Some Assembly Required - manic_intent

Summary: "Alex and Hank were two teenagers who frequently fight in school. One fight got so bad that the principal called in their fathers (as both came from single-parent families)/ guardians for a conference. This was how Charles and Erik meet."

Limited Release - rageprufrock

Summary: When Alex Summers broke out of supermax to rescue his stupid kid brother, he had no idea it was going to be so fucking complicated.

Math Reasons – pearl_o, pocky_slash

Summary: "Mom says Erik always knows what he wants, it just sometimes takes him a little while to actually realize it," Ruth said.

Charles fell in love with Erik the first night they met, the first week of freshman year. Two years of friendship, adventures, arguments, hijinks, secrets, and summer visits later, Erik is starting to catch up.

It’s kind of our whole thing – pearl_o, pocky_slash

Summary: After two years of best friendship, Charles and Erik thought they knew everything there was to know about each other. They're surprised, then, when their first summer as a couple reveals that they have a lot to learn about each other and themselves.

PART 2 of Math Reasons

A Nice Boy (The Family Matters Edition) – pocky_slash

Summary: Erik's not sure whether the problem is that he doesn't want his parents to meet Charles or that he doesn't want Charles to meet his parents. Either way, he never invites Charles to brunch. Why should he? It's not like they're dating.

apple season – pocky_slash

Summary: "You know," Charles says while they're sitting around the kitchen table reading the paper, "You should take Anya apple picking."

"Don't you mean 'we?'" Erik responds. The silence that follows is enough to make him re-examine his own apple picking memories a little more closely. Uneven ground littered with apples, tree roots, holes, and narrow passage between rows of orchard trees. "Oh," he says.

rooms/shares – pocky_slash

Summary: Erik is single, working a cube job he hates, letting his master's degree in mutant studies collect dust, and living on his best friend's couch. When she kicks him out, he's forced to trawl Craigslist for the least-offensive rooming option within his meagre budget. He never expects a response from the persnickety, high maintenance ad he replies to as a joke, but it's possible this too-nice apartment and mysteriously absent roommate might be the answer to all four of his problems.

Continue firm and constant – aesc

Summary: Moira hasn't seen her old partner in saving the world from threats human and intergalactic, Erik Lehnsherr, for a few years. When she finally does see him again, she finds a man different from the one who's been with her down in the dark and the dirt and the blood... or maybe he isn't so different after all.

Tough little baby telepath – aesc, pearl_o

Five Part Series

Summary: Teenage telepath Charles Xavier takes a job as a consultant, working with prickly police detective Erik Lehnsherr. Charles is used to being on his own and taking care of himself; he has no reason to think that his relationship with this stern, icy man is going to change any of that.

Frosted hearts – aesc, palalife

Summary: Emma Frost has 99 problems, but a date ain't one. Specifically, she has no time to play the dating game--which is fine with her, because she'd much rather run it instead. From a set of sleek, silver and white offices on Fifth Avenue and with her trusty, stylish, and silent partner Janos Quested, Emma has built Frosted Hearts into New York City's premiere dating service, built on the principle that money, and a sufficiently rigorous psionic scan, can, in fact, buy you love.

Somewhere in Frosted Hearts's server is one Charles Xavier, genius and geneticist, with the kind of nicely-starched good looks that sell well on brochures for New England prep schools. He's also a telepath who's decided to give up pursuing serious relationships and instead spend his thirties doing what he should have done as a teenager: have a lot of sex with random people. Fortunately for him, Erik Lehnsherr, metallokinetic and engineering executive, has absolutely no time in his heart or his schedule for anything more serious than... well, absolutely nothing romantic at all.

Mercy of the Fallen (the AirDrop Security Update 2.0) – pocky_slash

Summary: Erik Lehnsherr feels defined by his past sins and after years of acting against his own moral compass, he's finally struck out on his own. He's his own boss now, and determined to work hard to help the mutant community and make up for years of doing someone else's dirty work.

Complicating this is Charles Xavier, mutant advocate, genetics professor, unfairly attractive telepath, and owner of the coffee shop below Erik's office. Erik may not think he deserves to be a part of the community he's thrown himself into helping, but Charles has other ideas on the matter, and he's determined to do everything in his power to make Erik see himself as a force for good.

you follow and i’ll lead – pearl_o, pocky_slash

Summary: When Charles discovers how frustrated and self-conscious his best friend Erik is about his ignorance about sex, he's eager to volunteer to help teach him and practice. Charles might not have any more direct experience than Erik, but he does have a telepath's mind full of accidentally picked-up fantasies and memories, as well as knowledge of a few dirty books - and more importantly, he's been madly in love with Erik for years. This seems like a brilliant, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he can't pass up.

Now he just needs to manage to keep his feelings in check, and not ruin their friendship forever.

Snail Mail – pocky_slash

Summary: Alex isn't thrilled when his boss, Erik, starts sending him to hand deliver notes to Erik's husband up at the university--that is, until he sees the Professor's hot new TA, and suddenly, the notes can't come fast enough. If only Alex could work up the guts to ask him out....

this is life (and everything’s all right) – pocky_slash

Summary: Edie Lehnsherr came into Charles' life long before he ever heard Erik Lehnsherr's name, and her death left a gaping hole in the lives of everyone in Charles' family. As the first Purim without her approaches, he begins to get creative in his efforts to bring everyone out of their grief. Kitchen creativity, however, is not quite his strength....

Watching the Detectives – Clocks

Summary: Detectives Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr are good friends and colleagues. However, when they go undercover at a Christmas party to nab a prime suspect, Erik keeps reminding himself to stay professional and ignore feelings of unexpected jealousy.

Student/Teacher Relations – PoorMedea

Summary: As a TA, Charles knows he can't get involved in all his students' lives. He needs to keep professional boundaries, to make sure that he's an authority figure. But when he accidentally finds out how complicated Erik Lehnsherr's home life is, he suddenly finds that distance hard to maintain.

Fill for the prompt: Erik is the teen dad of adorable baby!Lorna. I just want teen!Erik being a dad, with adorable interactions between him and his baby. Angst is good too since there's always going to be some in such situations, but mainly I want to see teen dad Erik being an awesome dad who loves the hell out of his daughter despite whatever else may be going on.

Conspiracy of Kisses – Alaceron

Summary: Seven-year-old Erik needs to keep his telepathic best friend Charles from finding out that he wants to kiss him. But that's okay, because he has a plan - he'll put on a tinfoil hat.

Favorite Mistake – endingthemes

Summary: Charles Xavier doesn’t think anything of it when he sneaks out without even saying goodbye to his latest one-night stand. What he doesn’t expect is to walk into his new position in the Xavier Industries marketing department and find that his latest hook-up is now his new boss.

Never Take Biology for Granite – ikeracity, pangea

Summary: Charles is an internet celebrity who garners his fame from posting educational, in-depth videos about a different animal every week, though for some reason his viewers are always more interested in his sex life with his geologist husband, Erik, who happens to frown heavily upon all living things.

Except for Charles, of course, whom he's missed these past couple days while attending a geologic convention--though considering the subject material of Charles' newest video, he's wishing he would've stayed away longer.

This Is Not Comedy – baehj2915

Summary: Written for amarriageoftrueminds' prompt for a Cherik version of Louis CK's tangent about the fuckability of Ewan McGregor.

Naturally the similarities end there. I made this about Erik's full on public lust-filled gay revelation, and the chaos that spirals from there.

Snowed In – dedkake

Summary: Charles and Erik have a one night stand, but a blizzard traps them in Erik's apartment afterward.

#cherik fic recs #fic recs #still have powers AU #cherik #asks #earnestly answers #as always I can't make short lists #sorry about that #long post

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musingsofawannabewriter · 3 years

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Can I Be More Than The Person I Have Become?

Here I am again. Once every few months, sometimes years I get that urge to put pen to paper or in this instance finger to keyboard.

When I was little reading my mom’s Jodi Picoult, Danielle Steele or Avon romance novels I felt inspired. I wanted to write a book people would cherish and love. Then I read Purple Hibiscus and then the doubts came.

Purple Hibiscus is one of my favorite books ever and the author Chimamanda is an inspiration to me. But the doubts came because I believed I could never write a book as amazing as Purple Hibiscus, that stirred so many emotions and feelings in me that with each rereading makes me discover something new. It didn’t help that Chimamada is that perfect Igbo first daughter who has a first degree and not one but 2 MA’s and speaks fluent Igbo.

My admiration for her was tinged with a lot of jealousy. I am an Igbo first daughter, that can barely speak/understand Igbo despite growing up in Nigeria most of my life, I only have a BA in Law, I failed spectacularly at a Masters programme that from the start I only applied to because I thought it was expected of me.

There are so many flaws in myself I could spend hours picking on but won’t for the sake of bringing down the mood of this article/opinion piece. Despite feeling I could never measure up to CNA I still chose literature as my elective in my GCSE’s and WAEC exams. Had an A for both and was the best student in class for the former. But I still felt like a fraud. I understand English, I speak it but the technical rules stump me sometimes. Like the semicolon… No matter how many times I can’t seem to retain when it applies. I suck at writing dialogue because I am always confused where to add the apostrophes and commas. Subject verb agreement, well I stumble my way through and hope for the best which has worked out okay so far.

I used to write in notebooks fervently in Secondary School. I would craft stories which would get passed around different students and their compliments and eagerness to read my words fueled me. I was going to be a writer maybe.. Get my first degree in Law then a Masters in Creative Writing. Maybe after becoming successful I’d be the next Michaela Coel adapting my work to the screen to great critical acclaim.

Well let’s just say reality hit hard, no punches pulled whatsoever. I left my sheltered Nigerian boarding school after graduation to go to the UK full time for my A Levels. First mistake was spending my years pocket money in under 3 months. Second mistake was essentially being mute for my first year of school. I have always been quite reserved and find it hard to talk to people. Going to a full boarding school meant I saw my classmates almost 24/7 so bonding and socialisation was inevitable. Well with A levels only having 3 subjects to study and it being a day school meant I could go a week without speaking to anyone except the lovely lunch ladies in the cafeteria.

If I am being honest I wasn’t used to interacting with white people and felt self conscious about my accent so it was a perfect storm.

Then the whopper…I have always had a complicated relationship with food. Since I was younger my weight has fluctuated heavily. It didn’t help that my mom was one of those slightly bigger women who decided to become a gym addict and drop all the weight. A lot of her insecurity from being bigger rubbed off on me, directly and indirectly.

Having your mom take you to exercise classes at 13 hurts. Having your mom be so happy to see you lose so much weight because the food at your boarding school sucked hurts. Having people complimenting your mum and asking how you're related to her cuts even deeper. Every stab at my heart at confidence got buried deep. In school, I would restrict my eating by spending breakfasts which I hated asleep in class, would skip a few lunches then binge at dinner times. This had the effect of keeping my weight stable.

Even then my mom still criticised my weight. When I look back at my size 12/14 self in secondary school who was gorgeous, a rage fills me. I was so beautiful but with zero confidence. I hurt so much and wish I could go back in time for a few minutes to tell myself I was worthy of being liked, by others and myself.

Eventually being away from my mom, the safety of my boarding school friends and siblings made it easy to seek solace in food. I was in the UK, I was living in student accommodation and for the first time in my life I had a debit card. I spent hundreds of £s a month in takeaways. Then I spent over £100 on diet pills which made me feel ill. In under a year I went from a size 14 to 24 to my mothers horror and mine. I didn’t know about the body positivity movement or Tess Holliday. I only knew that my mom was angry and sad and worried I would die in my sleep one night.

In almost a decade, that has been one of her mantras when talking to me about my weight. That she can’t bury her child and she’s afraid one night I will sleep and not wake up. In her mind its concern, but the way she says it feels like emotional manipulation.

Reading back there’s a lot of mother bashing going on, but it is not intentional. Some people are besties with their mothers and I prefer a more distant relationship. We will eventually get to the daddy issues but that will take some tears and a while before I can go into that.

I crave the catharsis of writing. The word vomit and jumbled feelings in the pit of my stomach. It helps me see myself as that idealistic 16 year old with a heart full of dreams and hopes. Not the current dried out husk I think I am now. I think of my future in abstract terms.

I don’t see a family, mortgage or dog. I just see myself barely existing. I feel this with a resigned calmness. Then I have my internal spiral of being to shortsighted and hasty in writing my life off at 25. I read tweets about people finding first love in their 30s, going back to school in their 40’s and getting into their careers in their 50s. Then I hear that voice in the far corner of my mind whispering, do I even want to make it to my 40’s…

And I answer back quietly that I really don't want to make it to my 40s. I’ll maybe hold on till my parents die so my mom doesn’t lord it over me that she had to bury her child and not the other way around. But some nights I really don’t want to be alive. Some nights I wish I was never born and just like clockwork the tears start. Those tears that I hold in and the dark thoughts I numb with the stimuli of food, YouTube and now K dramas.

For the past few years, I have made my Other World. This Other World is essentially a parallel universe. In this universe I have no issues with food, I have an incredible metabolism that means I can eat virtually anything without guilt. I make friends my first day of college and join so many student societies and actually participate. I push myself in school and get into my mother’s dream of a Russell Group. I choose LSE though she wishes I chose Queen Mary. I work hard, join the Law Society, meet a lovely British Nigerian with a great background, we date a few years and get married. I get a Masters in Creative Writing and have an amazing blog which gets adapted to a critically acclaimed series and I am fulfilled.

Sometimes my Other World self changes. She is the daughter of millionaires who is a genius, polyglot and fighter of social justice. I can sing, know martial arts and take the movie world by storm. Other times I am just pretty and living a simple but happy life. I know in my heart that these are just fantasies and sometimes I wish I could be like Buffy in that episode of BTVS and stay stuck in that Other World fully. I’m sure you’re thinking about my family who I’d leave behind. My response is I can’t miss them if I never remember I had them.

I am the first daughter, the Ada. My parents though flawed always tell me I am a great role model for my siblings. I am seemingly still a virgin, don’t drink, do drugs or rock the boat too much. And I feel even worse. I feel guilty that with all they have sacrificed that they have been stuck with an average daughter and by upper middle class Nigerian standards, if that even exists, a sub par Ada. I feel defective looking around and seeing others in the peak of their careers, vetting engaged, building houses for their parents. I am still afraid of driving!! I can’t even get that basic skill down.

4 years post LLB, no LLM to at least lessen me not being a lawyer and stuck in a customer service role almost 3 years now. I know I am at fault for not making the right decisions. Not applying for the grad jobs or vacancy schemes in time. Being so down and depressed I wouldn’t leave my room for days and weeks at a time. Failing all my LLM modules, adding back all the weight and more after boot camps with my parents, not having enough savings and having an even worse accent after almost a decade in the UK.

My self-deprecating joke I tell is that my sister is the multi talented one, my brother the smart ambitious one and as my parents say I have a big heart. That essentially my parents would say my thing is having a big heart, like that ever helped anyone build a career. I thought if I couldn’t write then I could maybe study Social Work. That got shot down by my mother and I was persuaded to go into the path of Law for University. I applied for Social Work Schemes and got rejected multiple times over multiple years. I was too scared to sink my own money to self fund a Social Work Masters in case it became another LLM fiasco. SO now I have made Teaching my next career goal. I am resigning myself to it the way Henry the 8ths spouses and mistresses must have whenever he wanted to bed them. Powerless and without a choice. Then I think that’s false equivalency and my pain could not be on the level of the pain they must have endured.

So many feelings, deep thoughts and memories flow out when I get the writing urge. I will likely never actually share this in full for obvious reasons except maybe anonymously. These few pages have jumped through quite a few time periods and experiences. My thoughts aren’t always linear and that ties in with something else I acknowledge but haven’t been serious about. I legitimately think I have ADHD and/or BPD. Watching the diagnosis episode of Crazy Ex Girlfriend by the amazing Rachel Bloom shone a light on feelings and behaviours I have had for a while. Maybe that’s why from the first episode of the show I was in love. She was stuck in the past, holding onto Josh who represented a time in her life of happiness. She had cutaways to magical musical numbers involving herself and the people around her.

The ADHD comes from following iconic black women on twitter who were outspoken about their diagnosis and bringing focus to how black women were being underdiagnosed. But then I think maybe I want to have ADHD as an excuse for the failures in my life and with the current NHS waiting lists I may not get a formal diagnosis for a while. So for now I manage and exist.

I like being honest in my writing. Exposing those dark parts of myself that I let fester in the recesses of my heart and mind.

#black writers #adhd #igbo #life #hopeful #scared #prose #self love

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blue-lamento · 5 years

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This post was written for the user @j-penny, who insists that Leo is the most unexplored character compared to his brothers. We are going to prove this statement wrong.

We are using the 2003 cartoon as the example not only because it’s known among most fans, but also because we consider Leo-03 to be one of the best versions of the character.

Introduction

Usually those who write analysis of a character use two terms – character development and characterization. However, people don’t usually use the same meaning for both of them. For instance, some people believe that characterization is the part of character development, because we, the audience, discover more details about our character and thus he develops in our eyes. And other people believe that character development and characterization exist apart from one another, because character development implies the change over the story, while characterization implies a particular set of traits in a particular time of the story.

We have decided to choose the second model because it’s more common and because the story of 2003 usually puts the plot on the first place rather than the characters, which is why they develop slowly and their personality becomes more flashed out with time.

Part 1. Leo’s first traits.

At the beginning of the first season we were given some of the most important traits of our character.

Dedication. This trait was unfolded in the first episode, when Leo has passed Splinter’s challenge. Leo loves to train and study; his outstanding physical (and spiritual) strength is noticeable through exercise and combat; it was also observed by the Shredder.

He trains for the sake of self-improvement and he takes ninjitsu seriously.

‘I'm not striving to be perfect, only perfectly proficient’*

‘Ninjitsu is not a game!’*

However that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t like to have fun. He loves to hang out with his brothers, play with Raph, ride a Sewer Slider or a scooter and poke fun at Mikey.

‘With that aside, I do realize the need for fun and relaxation. While I often disagree with Raphael, he is my brother, and I enjoy the times that we spend goofing off’*

The abidance of Bushido. Bushido (honor) plays a huge role in Leo’s life, because it shapes his personality. One’s actions are a reflection of who one really is and Leo’s actions reflect:

His devotion to his family.

His respect for others.

His kindness.

His mercifulness.

This makes him a pure-hearted person and sometimes his purity shows in other ways)))

Introversivness (or isolation). Leo demonstrates his isolation when it comes to his own problems. He doesn’t seem to be eager to discuss his distress (for example, when he was spending all his time out in the barn in the twentieth episode of the first season) and sometimes even refuses to get help (as it was shown in ‘Samurai Tourist’). The only way to get something out of him is to start talking first, because he is never going to be the one to do it.

Leo also has a trait that needs to be cleared up.

Leadership. This part of his character has created a lot of trouble before rotTMNT came out, which is why everything should be addressed.

Firstly, he is not an official leader.

That means that he didn’t have any ceremonies and he certainly isn’t pressured by Splinter, (like he was in the 2007 movie and 2012 cartoon), although the latter does like to leave Leo in charge when he is away.

He has chosen the path of the leader himself simply because he understands that his family doesn’t have a peaceful life.

‘I try to be the leader of the team, since someone has to be and I'm the only one who seems to be interested in order’*

‘I train diligently and read up on strategy to better prepare my family for times of duress’*

‘I guess this may seem a little hard-nosed, but if you were in my shoes, I think you'd agree that someone has to play the ‘heavy’’*

‘I love my family more than life itself, so I feel responsible to ensure their protection’*

Secondly, while Leo can worry about his incompetence as a leader (the conflict of the fourth season), he can also torment himself over something more personal (the conflict of the first season; ‘City at War’), which proves further that his character doesn’t only revolve around his role in the team.

Thirdly, Leo is not a control freak. When his brothers know more about the situation, he has no problem in letting them take the lead, while he takes part in solving local problems.

We also shouldn’t forget that some of his orders exist because of Splinter and as someone who values security and peace, Leo also values his master’s wishes and wants his brothers to follow them, even though he sometimes goes against them as well.

Fourthly, unlike the 2012 cartoon, in 2003 Leo’s brothers respect him and listen to his orders, although they do tend to go against Splinter’s instructions, but that’s a big difference, mind you.

And lastly, Leo doesn’t have any fights with Raph because of his leadership nor is there any hatred between them. Their arguments are usually focused on different opinions, not on the ‘I don’t take orders from you’ line (ex. ‘City at War’).

In ‘Tales of Leo’ Raph showed that he understood that Leo was more suited for the role back when they were kids, a period, when he thought that being a leader was all about bravery and strength, but seeing Leo taking out the huge alligator by using his brains he was exposed to another side of the role.

Overall, Leo and Raph have a good relationship that goes beyond the ‘a leader and a hothead’ shtick. An excellent opinion on this topic can also be read here: (1), (2).

Curiosity. This trait is actually ignored by fans, which in result makes them portray Leo as Splinter’s loyal puppy and it’s not correct.

Leo, as we said before, values Splinter’s opinion, but that doesn’t stop him from wanting to explore and participate in his brother’s intrigues. In the third episode of the first season Leo mumbled ‘Splinter is going to kill us!’ and immediately went off on an adventure and this didn’t happen just once.

At first Leo acts careful, however it is really easy to convince him to take part in anything, even if Splinter would be against it.

Part 2. The outlived trait.

Some fans tend to think that Leo is arrogant. Do these fans have a point when it comes to Leo in 2003 cartoon? Well, yes and no, because he did in fact have the similar trait, although he outlived it pretty fast.

The trait was shown in the tenth episode of the first season, ‘Shredder Strikes Part 1’, where at the beginning Leo was talking about his swords being superior to any other weapon. But where did this thought come from? Well, it was written in some book, so it must be true, right? Splinter, however, said the complete opposite, which Leo genuinely didn’t understand and he was frustrated about it. So was Leo really just plain arrogant? Not exactly.

Next we are taken to a talk between Leo and Oroku Saki and the latter has almost convinced Leo to join to Foot clan. We see that Leo has done the same mistake when he believed the half-truth about swords written in the book – he believed Saki’s half-truths.

In both cases Leo acted gullible (almost naïve) and thus he acted imperious in the first situation and vulnerable in the second. He wasn’t arrogant for no reason and that helped him get rid of the characteristic. After that episode he has never shown the flaw again.

Part 3. The ‘failure’ theme.

Every turtle has a weakness, be it Raph’s inability to control his anger or Mikey’s immaturity.

After Shredder’s second strike we are told in ‘Tales of Leo’ that he has a hard time dealing with failures, which escalates to a real fear that opens up Leo’s insecurities and anxieties throughout the first four seasons. Every conflict that is connected to the character has a word ‘failed’ or ‘failure’ in it, which makes it his inner theme.

All in all, his constant battle against his fears flashes out his character and adds more to it, which will be discussed in next parts.

Part 4. Northampton.

This is an introduction to Leo’s ‘failure’ theme.

After Leo has woken up he was straightway upset. While talking to Raph, who visited him at the barn, he explained what was bothering him so much: he let everyone down, got ‘his shell kicked’, lost his swords (and moreover he developed a fear over the Elite Guard). In short, not only did he feel like a failure, but he was also humiliated.

The one who helped Leo recover was Raph, which again proves that both of them have a great and deep relationship and that Raph, even though he often acts all grumpy and snarky, has enough kindness in him to support his brothers when they need it.

Part 5. The cosmos.

When the boys were stuck in other galaxy, Leo was upset as well. We saw it two times; when the turtles were told about their location and when they thought they have lost the Fugitoid to Triceratons. During both instances the situation seemed to be dead-end, Leo clearly didn’t know what to do next and for him it automatically meant that they have failed. This affected his spirit similarly to how he was acting in Northampton, however Raph couldn’t help him the second time. Leo needed something else. He needed hope. And when he has it he is unstoppable.

Leo was really active during the cosmic arc; he was doing the job that every leader should when his team finds themselves in unknown circumstances. The arc has listed out the reasons why Leo is a good leader:

1. Because he uses strategy.

2. Because he can think fast under pressure.

3. Because he is ready to take risks.

4. Because he is resourceful.

Part 6. City at War.

Leo (and Karai of course) has always played an important role in ‘City at War’ arc.

Before we dive in Leo’s character we have to briefly talk about the conflict. Leo felt responsible for waking up the mafia and turning the city into chaos because of Shredder’s death and he wanted to do something about it.

However his family found the idea of staying at home and doing nothing about the war more appealing, which Leo didn’t like. And even if Mikey said that he understood where Leo was coming from, it wasn’t enough for him to go with Leo to fix their wrongdoings. No one supported Leo, but that wasn’t a problem for him, because he didn’t need an approval from his family; even Splinter, who Leo respected the most, couldn’t change his mind and couldn’t stop him from running away.

‘City at War’ was always known for its main theme of revenge, but this time the writers decided to create a new theme to keep the story different and this theme revolves around, as Splinter has said in the end, following your heart. During the whole arc Leo was acting according to his own views and he always stayed true to himself, which means that his beliefs are strong and he is ready to act independently from his family if needed.

Part 7. Leo’s fear.

In the third season there was an episode about turtle’s fear. At first glance the story doesn’t give us a complex explanation to work with, but with more research more details rise to the surface.

There is a good analysis of this episode on the site, so we are going to link it.

Overall, while Leo does hate the idea of failure, his deepest fears are connected to other issues and it’s great, because it indeed makes him more complex.

Part 8. The fourth season.

It’s the culmination of everything we have learned about him.

The conflict is in one way the opposite of the conflict in Northampton. In the first season Leo was the only one who got heavily injured, but in the finale of the third season everyone in Leo’s family was injured. While talking to Usagi and April in ‘Sons of the Silent Age’ and ‘Samurai Tourist’ Leo described his feelings the following way: ‘the only thing that I could think of was to blow up the ship’, ‘I couldn’t save them’, ‘I was useless’, ‘I wasn’t good enough’. Most of his thoughts were connected to his family and because of his sense of responsibility for them Leo felt guilty for not finding another way to solve the problem. This brings us to the conclusion: while in the first season Leo’s distress was only about him, in the fourth season it was about his family, which is why he was traumatized so deeply.

Just like in the ‘City at War’ Leo have decided to fix his failure by doing everything to protect his family.

Firstly he had to fix himself. He started to train more, forgetting completely about having fun with his brothers (in other word isolated himself). He also became more ruthless with enemies.

And secondly he had to fix his family. He started to train them himself and by accusing them of being immature demanded his brothers to take threats and tasks seriously.

However that wasn’t enough. His self-hatred, him not wanting to talk about his trauma openly, the need to be stronger and his non-acceptance of defeat pressured Leo and as a result he lost his grip and took his anger out on Splinter.

With the Ancient One Leo has learned to accept his failure and to not feel guilty over something he couldn’t control.

After that Leo has fully developed, he didn’t have any more room to grow. He was finished and the writer understood that as well.

The conclusion.

Turns out that Leo was actually a well explored character with rich traits, but why then people like j-penny love to say the opposite?

The first reason is that people simply don’t find these traits interesting. The other reason is that people don’t think that being kind, committed to an old code of honor and showing dedication towards one's family or studying are worthwhile qualities, which is why the only thing that some people notice about Leo is the fact that he is the leader and that he has some insecurities. That creates a limited image of the character, not to mention that some fans twist the image and make Leo a controlling, cold and boring leader, which he is not. Is this Leo’s fault? No way.

So… can you not like Leonardo? Of course, it’s just a matter of taste. But can you belittle Leo in order to put another character on the pedestal? No one is stopping you, but would that make you sound smart and your statement sound true just because you have learned some buzzwords that don’t hold any real evidence? Decide that for yourself.

We were actually thinking about analyzing other incarnations (especially Mirage's Leo, since he is also one of our favorite versions), but we didn't have any time or power to do so...

(*) - These quotes were taken from the archive of an official Mirage studios site

#tmnt #tmnt leonardo #leonardo #tmnt 2003

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saiilorstars · 4 years

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Star Crossed

Previous Story || Current Masterlist

Chapter 2: Partners in Crime

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: 10th Doctor x Female OC

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother

(Minerva’s face claim: Victoria Camacho)

(Kaeya’s face claim: Michelle Trachtenberg)

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Chapter summary: It’s Christmas on the Titanic, the perfect setting for Minerva’s and the Doctor’s first date..until there’s a count-down for the ship to crash land on Earth.

"I've really got to go," Minerva giggled endlessly as she received yet another kiss on her lips by her dear Martian.

"Why?" the Doctor nearly whined, refusing to let her go anywhere for the moment.

The two were in Minerva's room, Minerva just having woken up and moved down to the bed's foot, still laying on her back with the Doctor beside her. He was propped up on his side with an elbow to support his head. She'd been greeted as usual with her milkshake the moment he had walked inside her room.

The Doctor had finally learned how to use that blender and was allowed to freely use it, but only the blender. Minerva wasn't very fond of him being in the kitchen alone and had practically forced him to sit down while she explained each and every button on the blasted blender. Though it took a little longer than she expected due to the Doctor's lack of attention. In his defense, he was busy staring at her instead of the blender...but really, could he be blamed? Minerva simply elbowed him and forced him to listen again...and results arose a few months later.

He always had a breakfast milkshake ready to go for when she woke up. It conflicted him having to spend some hours alone because he didn't need as much sleep as Minerva did. So when the time she usually woke up neared, he'd go in and make her the milkshake. And now that she was awake and wanted to leave...well...he wouldn't stand for that. Especially when there was a James Mulvoy involved.

The Doctor severely disliked him.

"Come with me instead," he insisted.

Minerva put a hand in front of her mouth before he leaned down to kiss her again. "I just graduated," she reminded him, "And I still need to go pick up my diploma. Gotta have some proof I finally finished, right?"

"Well, yes, but that would imply you having to go see that guy again," the Doctor grumbled.

She giggled again, watching his face turn into a frown and a pout in less than a second. She knew exactly who he was talking about and why he didn't like the guy...James Mulvoy.

James Mulvoy was truly her favorite friend from high school. She joined a club of self-defense where he was an assistant to the actual teacher. The two had immediately hit it off and become close friends, even sharing some of the courses Minerva took on her Independent Studies. As soon as the Doctor had heard about this guy...he had expressed his dislike of the man. In reality, James had no other interest in Minerva except for friendship, as stated repeatedly by Minerva. But the Doctor wouldn't take a chance on him, no sir. He nearly punched Jerome back in 1969 but had to remember Minerva wasn't technically his and had to force himself to calm down. But now that they were finally together and could openly show his dislike for any other men that tried to make a move on her, he took great action.

"Come with me, then," Minerva offered, seeing it as a very easy way to solve the Doctor's silly jealousy feelings.

"I wish, but I've got to go to that Adipose institution, remember? Why don't you come with me and we go pick up the diploma tomorrow, instead?"

"I said I would stop by today, remember? I promised James."

And another round of frowns came from the Doctor, "So? blow him off."

"Okay, just because you're jealous, doesn't mean I have to be rude. I said I was stopping by today and I'm gonna, so button it up and let me get dressed."

The Doctor opened his mouth to make another attempt when she grabbed his tie and pulled her down to plant a big kiss on his lips. She giggled when she pulled away and saw his dazed look, taking advantage and jumping off the bed as fast as she could before he snapped back to reality.

"That...that was cheating!" he sat up, frowning as he saw her going to her closet.

"No, I call it simply kissing my Martian boyfriend. It's not my fault you're very easily distracted," she winked at him.

"Please don't go," he sighed, genuinely asking her because he truly didn't want to take the chance of her and James.

Minerva chuckled, pulling out a green dress and studying it, "I told you, come with me."

He stood up and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and stopping her from studying her dress, "Okay, tell you what, you come with me to the Adipose and I'll accompany you after to get your diploma."

"Will you be done by five? Because James said he'd only be there until five."

"Mm...yes," he rested his chin on her shoulder. There was a small smirk on his face that Minerva was unable to see yet she guessed it was there.

"I mean it, Doctor. I worked severely hard for this and I really want to hold my diploma and see my work pay off," she turned around, the Doctor's smirk fading when she saw her genuinely pleading him.

The pair had desisted many trips over the course of several months so that Minerva could focus more on her schoolwork, the woman tired of being unable to graduate due to the lack of credits. So the Doctor had offered to help her, stopping many of their trips until she finished a certain amount of work to where she could finally make some progress. Finally, after five months, she finished. She finally finished, took her exit exams and graduated. Minerva worked so hard for it and the Doctor would not allow his jealousy get in the way of her happiness.

"Okay, I'll be done by five and if not, then you go on without me to pick your diploma," he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Really?"

"Yes, really, you deserve it."

"Thank you!" she beamed, leaning up and pecking his lips, "Now get out! I gotta change!"

He smiled, leaning down to kiss her more deeply, "I'll be waiting."

She blinked as he pulled away, "Okay..." she mumbled, "...get out, now, please."

The Doctor, satisfied with his effect, turned and walked out of her room. Minerva slowly came around, remembering the task of taking out her clothes. She hated when that happened...and yet she liked it. Every time she forgot what to do it was because she had been kissed by her Martian and that was a lovely feeling that she would never give up.

~0~

Elsewhere, Donna Noble walked down a crowded street of London, carrying a red clipboard. She stopped at a high building, looking up at it. Before going towards it, she looked around. She needed to. She always did when she was up to these sorts of things because perhaps, just maybe...a certain pair would be around as well, doing the same thing she was doing...

~0~

"You know, grandma said Marisol is taking those pills," Minerva was saying as she and the Doctor, hand-in-hand, walked up to the same building of Adipose Industries, "And apparently, the woman has lost twelve pounds. Maybe I should try them..."

"Don't you dare," the Doctor warned, shaking his head.

"Oh c'mon, ever since I've tried teaching you how to cook I've gained some weight," she mumbled, looking down to her stomach, "If the industry turns out to be okay I don't see why not..."

"Bring a weight-loss product into the TARDIS and I'll chuck it out to a black hole," he gave her a sharp look. He looked her over, finding her just perfect as she usually was, "You're fine."

"You're just saying that," she rolled her eyes, "Bet if you take a look at Marisol you might reconsider your relationship choices."

"Your snooty cousin has got nothing on you, dear," he kissed her cheek, "Personality wise and physically," he used the sonic on the fire exit of the industry building.

"Subtle," Minerva remarked after sparks flew out from the door, "But I'm serious! You've never met Marisol in person-"

"And I don't want to," he cut her off with haste, pulling her inside the building.

Marisol Souza was probably the most snooty, conceited, rudest person he had ever heard of. And that was just what he picked up from Minerva's and Isadora's stories. Marisol was two years older than Minerva and was apparently lurking her way into Minerva's home, specifically to her mother. While Minerva still hadn't seen her parents, nor talked to them via phone, Minerva was well informed of everything that went on with them. Apparently, her mother had recently taken a great like to Marisol, trying to morph her into what Minerva had rejected years ago. The Doctor knew that despite Minerva's assurances she wasn't bothered her mother had taken what could be called a surrogate daughter, she was very hurt. Hurt that her mother had chosen to take a girl that wasn't even her own to treat as a daughter better than Minerva. She was hurt that when her mother did make a call it was only to inform her of what Marisol had done and how Minerva should be doing it as well.

That mounted another layer of hatred the Doctor felt for Sophia.

Minerva wasn't letting it go, she felt she had to work to earn her mother's forgiveness, something he had just barely gotten her to let go with Isadora. After the traumatizing experience with the Master, Minerva felt like she could lose her family at any moment and for some inexplicable reason had decided to try and earn her mother's forgiveness, despite the Doctor continuously telling her Olivia's death wasn't her fault. But unlike Isadora who never blamed Minerva, Sophia did not care how she affected her only daughter.

And the Doctor despised the woman for it.

~0~

Donna Noble sat inside a lecture room, listening to Miss Foster, head of Adipose Industries, who was stood on a platform.

"Adipose Industries. The 21st century way to lose weight. No exercise, no diet, no pain. Just lifelong freedom from fat. The Holy Grail of the modern age. And here it is," Miss Foster held out a red and white capsule to the listeners, "You just take one capsule, one capsule, once a day, for three weeks. And the fat, as they say..."

"The fat just walks away."

"Excuse me, Miss Foster, if I could?" a young woman, a journalist, raised her hand, "I'm Penny Carter, science correspondent for The Observer. There are a thousand diet pills on the market, a thousand con men stealing people's money. How do we know the fat isn't going straight into your bank account?"

"Oh Penny, if cynicism burnt up calories, we'd all be as thin as rakes. But if you want the science, I oblige," Miss Foster gestured to the computer who began to speak and explain.

"Adipose Industries. The Adipose capsule is composed of a synthesized mobilizing lipase, bound to a large protein molecule. The mobilizing lipase breaks up the trigycerides stored in the adipose cells, which then enter..."

~0~

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Minerva were hearing everything from above inside a projector room. The Doctor showed the psychic paper tow the handler of the projector, "Health and Safety...Film department."

~0~

"100 percent legal, 100 percent effective," Miss Foster finished the presentation.

"But, can I just ask, how many people have taken the pills to date?" Penny asked.

"We've already got one million customers within the Greater London area alone. But from next week, we start rolling out nationwide. The future starts here. And Britain will be thin."

~0~

Later on, Donna walked down the call center of the industry, plopping down in an employee's, Craig, section where he was currently speaking on the phone, "That's a three-week course of pills for a special price of 45 pounds."

"Donna Noble, Health and Safety. Don't mind me," the ginger whispered.

Not too far away, Minerva and the Doctor approached another employee, Clare, who was also speaking on the phone, "We deliver within three working days."

"John Smith, Minerva Souza, Health and Safety. Don't mind us," the Doctor whispered as they took a seat beside the woman.

Clare nodded, giving the Doctor a rather longer look for Minerva's taste.

~0~

"The box comes with 21 days' worth of pills, a full information pack, and our special free gift, an Adipose Industries pendant," Craig went on with his current phone call, Donna watching him intently.

~0~

"It is made of 18 carat gold, and it's yours for free. No, we don't give away pens, sorry. No, I can't make an exception, no," Clare also continued with her phone call except she was still looking at the Doctor.

Minerva crossed her arms, her face beginning to turn into a glare, all unnoticed by the Doctor of course. His obliviousness hadn't really changed much...

~0~

Donna was putting a pendant into her pocket, "I'll just need to keep this for testing. And I just need a list of your customers. Could you print it off?"

"Suppose so," Craig said.

"Where's the printer?"

"Just over there, by the plant."

Donna stood up, looking for the printer, "Which plant, that plant?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Lovely," and she sat down...when the Doctor stood up from Claire's cubicle.

"That's the printer there?" he searched for the printer.

"By the plant, yeah," Clare nodded.

"Brilliant," he sat down.

Then Donna stood, "Does it need a code? Last place I worked, the printer needed a code."

"No, I can do it from here," Craig said and she sat down again...

The Doctor stood right back up, "Has it got paper?"

"Yeah, Jimbo keeps it stocked."

Miss Foster walked into the call center, two bodyguards behind her, "Excuse me, everyone, if I could have your attention," everyone stood up save the Doctor, Minerva and Donna, "On average, you're each selling forty Adipose packs per day. It's not enough. I want one hundred sales per person per day. And if not, you'll be replaced. Cause if anyone is good in trimming the fat, it's me. Now. Back to it," with that she turned on her heels and left.

"So could you print that out, please," Minerva ordered Clare, her arms still crossed and her attitude very cold as the woman's eyes had lingered far too much on the Doctor. She just wanted to get the hell out of there with her Martian.

"So if you could just print off that list, I'll get out of your way," Donna smiled and stood up, "Lovely! Thanks, then. See you!" she walked over to the printer.

Clare had also finished making the print, "Thanks, then," the Doctor was able to say as he stood up, only to have Clare push him back down to his chair, "Oh, what's that?" he took a small paper from Clare.

"My telephone number," Clare smiled.

"What for?" the Martian was genuinely confused, he most certainly didn't need her phone number nor Minerva.

"Health and Safety. You be health, I'll be safety," Clare smirked.

"That's it," Minerva stood to her feet, the Doctor immediately grabbing her arm.

"Aah. Aah. But. That contravenes ah, paragraph five, subsection C. Sorry," the Doctor also stood, his grip on Minerva tightening, "And plus, I've already got my own Safety," he shot a wink at Minerva who blushed in return, "And she's gorgeous so no thank you."

"I could've taken her down, you know," Minerva informed as they walked.

He smiled, kissing the top of her head, "I know."

~0~

"Stacy Campbell?" Donna asked when the door opened to one of the customers off the Adipose list.

A woman with brown hair and blue eyes, slightly confused, asked, "Who wants to know?"

"My name is Donna, I represent Adipose Industries," Donna flashed a card quite quick, "And you're on the list of our valued customers."

~0~

On another street, the Doctor knocked on a different door, doing his best to hide his frown when a man with grayish hair and blue eyes answered. Minerva had gone off for her diploma, on her own unfortunately. His mind was like a battle station with the red flags and alerts going off.

He severely disliked James Mulvoy.

"Mr. Roger Davey, I'm calling on behalf of Adipose Industries," he flashed the psychic paper to the man, "Just need to ask you a few questions."

~0~

"It's been fantastic. I've started the pills on Thursday. Five days later, I've lost eleven pounds!" Stacy Campbell was telling Donna while she checked her self in a mirror, Donna sitting across her.

"And no side effects or anything?"

"No, I feel fantastic. It's a new lease of life. Now, what d'you think of these earrings, do they work?" Stacy pulled back her hair to allow Donna to see purple, dangly earrings.

"Yeah, lovely."

~0~

"I've been on the pills two weeks now, I've lost fourteen kilos," Roger explained to the Doctor, the Martian pacing casually as he listened.

"That's the same amount every day?"

"One kilo exactly. You wake up, and it's disappeared overnight. Well, technically speaking, it's gone by ten past one in the morning."

The Doctor stopped pacing and looked up, "What makes you say that?"

"That's when I get woken up. Might as well weigh myself at the same time."

~0~

"You going on a date?" Donna asked, still watching Stacy fix herself in front of the mirror.

"I'm doing the opposite. I'm dumping him. I can do better than him now. Right, I won't be long. If the taxi beeps, give me a shout," Stacy rushed up the stairs.

~0~

The Doctor and Roger were outside Roger's home, looking up at the security alarm placed on top of his door.

"It is driving me mad. Ten minutes past one, every night, bang on the dot without fail, the burglar alarm goes off. I've had experts in, I've had it replaced, I've even phoned Watchdog. But no, ten past one in the morning, off it goes."

"But with no burglars?" the Doctor asked, not quite believing this was a 'burglary' dilemma.

"Nothing. I've given up looking."

"Tell me Roger, have you got a cat flap?"

A couple minutes later, the two were on the floor studying the cat flap of Roger's house.

"It was there when I bought the house. Never bothered with it. I'm not a cat person," Roger said, "They're nice and all but I never bothered."

"Kittens are nice," the Doctor said absently, "Very adorable," he thought back to the times he and Minerva had seen the adorable kittens, though poor Minerva couldn't get anywhere near them as she started with a fit of sneezing. He'd have to fix that allergy some time soon.

"It's that what it is then? Cats getting inside the house?" Roger asked.

"Well, thing about cat flaps is that they don't just let things in, they let things out as well."

"Like what?"

"The fat just walks away..." the Doctor reminded them, guessing it was probably more literal than the humans supposed.

~0~

"Won't be long!" Stacy shouted from the bathroom.

"That's alright!" Donna called from her spot in the living room. She pulled out the Adipose pendant she'd taken and started playing with it, twisting it.

Up in the bathroom, Stacy's stomach started moving, producing odd noises.

~0~

"Well, thanks for your help," the Doctor stepped out of Roger's home, "Tell you what, maybe you could lay off the pills for a week or so..." a device in his pocket started beeping. He took it out, "Ooh, gotta go, sorry," he ran off to follow the signal.

~0~

An Adipose broke off from Stacy's belly, the woman's eyes widening with horror.

"You all right up there?" called Donna from downstairs.

"Yeah..."

~0~

A second Adipose jumped out of Stacy and onto her sink, both it and the first waving at her.

"What? What are you? What are you?" Stacy could only stare at the little things on her sink. More bumps appeared and disappear all over her body, the odd noises emerging again.

Donna had started making her way up the stairs, "I like what you've done in the hall. Stacy? Are you all right? I wouldn't mind a little visit myself. Everything all right in there?" she knocked on the bathroom door, "Only me. Do you mind if I pop to the loo? Stacy?"

"Help me! Oh my God, help me!" Stacy cried, unable to control her body anymore.

"What is it, what's wrong?" Donna tried to get in but the door was locked, "Stacy!"

Stacy screamed before falling apart into little Adipose. By the time Donna was able to get into the bathroom, only Stacy's clothes were on the floor. However, she was able to see one last Adipose waving at her from the window before jumping out.

~0~

Outside, the Doctor was running along the street, still trying to figure out where the signal was coming from. He stopped and looked at the device, banging on it and blowing before holding it out in front of him and rushing off.

~0~

In another street, Donna was also running following the trashcans that were turned over to the ground.

~0~

The Doctor stopped yet again, looking for a signal. The device dinged and he ran off. He stopped in the center of a road, barely dodging a van with its sirens on as it passed him. But the device dinged as soon as the van passed and he hurried after it, though it made a swift turned and disappeared.

~0~

The same van passed by Donna who discarded it as she was on her search for the little blob.

"Stacy Campbell?" a taxi driver stopped by her.

"No, she's gone," Donna replied, still looking around.

"Gone where?"

"She's just gone."

"Aw great, thanks for nothing," the taxi driver drove away.

~0~

In the next street, the Doctor was holding up his device, disappointed he had let the van go. With nothing else to do, he walked away, hoping Minerva was already back in the TARDIS and away from James Mulvoy.

~0~

Donna arrived home...where not a second later her mother started to make her usual remarks.

"And what time is this?"

Donna rolled her eyes, "How old am I?"

Sylvia came out into the front hall, "Not old enough to use a phone," she returned to the kitchen where Donna made some tea and sat down at the table, listening to her mother's ongoing lectures, "I thought you were only moving back for a couple of weeks. Look at you, I mean you're never gonna find a flat, not while you're on the dole. And its no good sitting there, dressed up, looking like you're job hunting, you've got to do something! It's not like the 1980s, no one's unemployed these days except you! How long did that job with Health and Safety last? Two days, and then you walk out. 'I have other plans', well I've not seen them. And it's no good sitting there dreaming, no one's gonna come along with a magic wand and make your life all better."

"Where is Granddad?" Donna rolled her eyes, having enough of the nagging.

"Where do you think he is! Up the hill. He's always up the hill."

~0~

Donna walked up a hill, her granddad walking out of a tin shed, "Aye, aye here comes trouble. Ha."

"Permission to board ship, sir?" Donna asked, waving a thermos in her hand.

"Permission granted. Was she nagging you?"

"Ha ha. Big time," her granddad, Wilf, sat down on a camp chair in front of his telescope, " Brought you a thermos."

"Oh, ta."

"You seen anything?"

"Yeah, I've got Venus, there with an apparent magnitude of minus 3.5. At least that's what it says in my little book," Donna pulled out a tarpin and sat down beside Wilf, "Here, come and see, come on, here you go," Donna took a look into the telescope, "Right? That's the only planet in the Solar System named after a woman."

"Good for her. How far away is that?"

"Oh, its about 26 million miles. But we'll get there one day. In a hundred years time we'll be striding out among the stars. Jiggling about with all them aliens. Just you wait."

"You really believe in all that stuff, don't you?"

"It's all over the place these days. If I wait here long enough..."

"I don't suppose you've seen a little blue box?" Donna gazed up to the sky, perhaps one day she would see that little blue box again.

"Is that slang for something?" Wilf asked, glancing at Donna while she looked up.

"No, I mean it. If you ever see a little blue box flying up there in the sky, you shout for me, Gramps. Oh, you just shout."

"You know, I don't understand half the things you say these days."

"Nor me."

"No, fair dos. You've had a funny old time of it lately. There was poor old what's his name, Lance, bless him... and that barmy old Christmas. I wish you would tell us what really happened," despite assurances from Donna that everything was fine, Wilf just knew that her granddaughter wasn't happy. She hadn't been ever since that marriage fiasco. He wished he knew how to help her.

"I know. It's just... the things I've seen. Sometimes I think I'm going mad. I mean even tonight I was in a... doesn't matter," Donna pulled a fake smile, everything she did to try to find the Doctor and Minerva was a secret. It was her secret.

"Well you're not yourself, I'll give you that. You just... you seem to be drifting, sweetheart."

"I'm not drifting. I'm waiting."

"What for?"

"An Auton..."

"A what?"

Donna sighed, while she hadn't paid attention to Minerva's words with caution, she still awaited for the day she would see an 'Auton' because meeting one would mean she would meet Minerva, and in meeting Minerva she would meet the Doctor again. It didn't matter if it was in the past, as Minerva had said, because in doing that, she would have had to meet the pair again and that's what she wanted more than anything now. So bring on an Auton because she was more than ready for it.

"You say the oddest things," Wilf shook his head.

"No gramps, because if I see one, then I get to see them again."

"Who's 'them'?"

"Some people I just need to meet again. I met them just once...and then I let them fly away."

"Well there you are, go and find them, then!

"I've tried. But they're no where."

And indeed she tried. Since she figured the Doctor would be a little harder to find, she opted for Minerva's files. But it was odd, because despite the girl looking quite young, all her paperwork didn't list her parents' information. It was as if she was on her own..au

"Oi, not like you to give up. You know, remember when you were about six years old, your mother said no holiday this year. So off you toddled, all on your own and you got on a bus to Strathclyde! Hah! We had the police after you and everything! Ha, where's she gone then, where's that girl, hey?" Wilf chuckled, trying to cheer her up.

"You're right. Cause they're still out there, somewhere. And I'll find them Gramps, even if I have to wait a hundred years. I'll find them," Donna breathed, her gaze lifting up to the sky again.

~0~

In the TARDIS, the Doctor was busy looking at the golden Adipose capsule he took from Clare, through a magnifying glass, "Ohh, fascinating. Seems to be a bio-flip digital stitch, specifically for..." he looked up and frowned at his solitude.

Minerva wasn't back yet.

He could physically feel his blood boiling at the thought of James being with her. He really tried not to be so jealous because in a long shot it would only irritate Minerva and he didn't want to lose her. There was already so many things that were wrong and he didn't want to add something more to the list.

The doors opened, his head snapping over to see Minerva walking in, carrying a small bag in her arms, "Okay, it is freezing out there," she pointed back. She walked several steps forwards, stopping when he went around the console, "So guess what...?"

"What?" he raised an eyebrow, beginning to smile when she was practically forcing herself not to beam.

"I just..." she reached inside her bag, taking out a small folder, "...graduated!" she squealed, running over to him where she was met with open arms that took her into a spinning hug.

"That's is great! I'm so proud of you!" he set her down, allowing her to show him her diploma.

"Officially, eighteen and graduated," she waved it around, beaming brightly.

"Minerva Joycelin Souza," he read off, "Has completed her high school..."

"I did it, Doctor. I finally did it," she breathed in, taking the diploma from him, "Do you think my mom would be proud?"

He didn't reply for the moment and simply sighed. He really loathed how hard Minerva worked for something Sophia didn't deserve. He really needed Minerva to remain calm and not overwork herself. There were certain things she didn't know about just yet and he didn't want for those things to affect her even worse than they already were.

"She should be," the Doctor answered carefully, not wanting to ruin her happiness, "But most importantly, you should be proud of yourself. Forget her, forget everyone else. Are you proud of yourself?"

She considered it for a moment and nodded, "I made top twenty five, number five of the class...heck yes I'm proud of myself!"

"Top five?" he had missed that certain piece of information apparently.

"Oh yes," she grinned, "I was number five of the highest GPA of the entire senior class. I'm good like that."

"That you are," he nodded, leaning down to kiss her.

"So where's my gift?" she murmured as she pulled back.

"How do you know I was going to give you something?"

"Because Martha said you should," she set the diploma on the chairs by the console, "That's what a good boyfriend would do. So gimme, gimme, gimme!" she wiggled her fingers towards him.

"Ah, but an excellent boyfriend would do something better than give you a silly little object..." he pushed her hands down and used her wrists to pull her up against him.

"What are you planning, Martian?" she raised an eyebrow, noticing the mischievous look in his eyes.

"How would you like to go to somewhere special with me?"

"Will there be margaritas?"

"You are not allowed to have that," he reminded.

"It's not my fault I like them! Jack introduced them to me and I liked it...sue me..." she pouted for a second before reverting to her excitement, stepping closer to him and looking up with a sweet grin, "...so when exactly are we going? And where?"

"After we finish with the Adipose Industries problem, and the location is a secret," he tapped her nose.

"First of all, I'm gonna need more details on that location. Second of all, I was talking with Adela and James and she said she's been taking the pills and she's lost weight too so I was thinking maybe I could just take one little capsule-"

"That's it," he scooped her up into his arms.

"What are you doing you crazy Martian!?" she squealed.

"I'm getting you to a mirror because it's ridiculous you don't see your perfection."

"Yadda, yadda, I know I'm perfect, thank you very much, but I do need to lose some weight," she ran a finger along the side of his face and left a trail of kisses, the effect always getting her what she wanted from the Martian, "So c'mon, can't I get just one little bottle?"

"Mm, no, not even one little capsule," he snapped lightly, doing his best to ignore those lips of hers.

"You're mean," she pouted.

"And you're perfection, case closed," he grinned and walked towards the corridors, the human in his arms still complaining all the way.

~0~

The next day, Donna walked out of her house, her mother coming out behind dressed in a dressing gown and hair curler, "It's my turn for the car. What you need it for?"

Donna got into the car and started it up, "A quick getaway."

~0~

The Doctor was running around the console, pushing buttons while Minerva sat on the chairs, just watching him. She would've helped...if he had let her use those pills...

~0~

Donna parked her car in a small alley way, getting out and locking then walked away...unable to catch the TARDIS materializing a few feet behind the car.

"You coming or not?" the Doctor asked Minerva, waiting by the doors, the clever girl still on the chairs, her legs swinging back and forth like a child.

"Don't know..." she looked around.

"Minerva, I swear I will come over and throw you over my shoulders if I have to."

"And then what?"

"Are you really mad at me because I won't allow you to take the stupid capsules? You know they're bad for you, and these are severely bad for you," he walked over to her, taking her hands into his.

"I know, but..." she sighed, "...it's just, Marisol-"

"Dear, no offense, but who cares about her?"

"My mom does..."

"Okay, forgetting about Sophia, be honest with yourself...do you really want to take the capsules?"

"Honest, honest?" she looked up, the Doctor nodding and so she sighed, "No, I don't want to. It's true, I gained weight...but I don't think it was that noticeable."

"That's the Minerva I like to hear," he kissed her forehead.

"But, maybe if I looked as good as Marisol did, perhaps it could get me on my mother's good side and-"

He placed his finger over her lips, a stern look on his face, "Your mother should love you because you're her daughter, not cause you're trying to be what she wants you to be."

"But I can't help to try. I remember all the awful treatment the Master gave them and I..." she sighed and shook her head.

"Don't get sad, please," he kissed her forehead, "I can't stand those eyes of yours being sad."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking down in shame.

She was never one to doubt her looks. She wasn't conceited but she just had good self-esteem. She knew she wasn't that beautiful like a super-model but she didn't consider herself to be that ugly either. But in those last few months she had spent working on her diploma her mother had picked up a...a surrogate daughter...and it deeply hurt her. It truly did. No matter how angry she was with her mother for everything...she couldn't help her heart break knowing Sophia preferred another girl who wasn't hers as a daughter. So, subconsciously, nearly everything Minerva did was to try and garner her mother's affection, forgiveness. It was like her anger had been pushed aside as she realized the most important thing, Sophia was her mother and Minerva missed her deeply. She was trying, she was actively trying to forget her anger and try to work for Sophia's forgiveness...but so far, Sophia didn't seem to care.

"You don't have to be sorry for anything, clever girl," the Doctor took her hands and pulled her to her feet, "You're amazing, you're intelligent, bloody gorgeous," he kissed her cheeks, "Kind, unlike the snooty cousin you have, and you're generous, very, but very sweet," he lifted her chin and gave her a deep kiss, one that would prove just how much he thought of her.

"I like her too," she whispered.

"So now that we've established that, how's about we go infiltrate some Adipose Industries, eh?"

She smiled, "Is that a date?"

"Yup!"

"I gladly accept, Martian," she looked down at her clothes, tilting her head, "Are these clothes acceptable for a date?"

She wore black boots with small heels, black jeans tucked underneath them with a halter-top, dark purple blouse and a black jean jacket to cover her arms. Her hair was down with a small purple bow on the side of her head.

"Always," the Doctor smiled at her, taking her hand and leading her out.

~0~

Donna walked into the washroom of the industry, going into a stall and checking her watch...it would be a long day.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor and Minerva walked down the same corridor of the fire exit. They stopped at a storage closet where the Doctor used the sonic to open it up, allowing his "date" inside first. He followed and soniced it shut.

"So..." he turned to her, a playful smile on his face as he stepped closer to her, "...what shall we do on this date?"

Minerva raised an eyebrow, seeing exactly where he was going with it, "I've got a perfect idea," she announced, her own smirk forming, her hand reaching for her back pocket.

"Really?" he rested a hand on her waist, "Shall I begin?"

He closed his eyes and leaned down to kiss her...when he felt a finger on his lips. He opened his eyes and found her holding up her mp3 player, a broad smile on her face.

"I want to listen to my song," she announced, sticking in her two earphones and starting the song, humming as it started.

The Doctor sighed, oh he really needed to get rid of that mp3 player. He cursed Martha for giving it to her. That thing had been the cause of disruptions to many of his potential snogging sessions.

That thing would disappear one of these days...

"Minerva?" he whined, the woman bobbing her head as small 'oh's' came out of her. He frowned and stood straight, this time the mp3 would not win.

He plucked an earphone from her, Minerva blinking as she was startled, "Doctor, I was listening..." she began but the Martian had pressed his lips on hers, pulling out her other earphone a second later, "...you cheated," she smiled, stepping back with him, her arms going around his neck.

"I'm smart," he corrected, saving her mp3 in one of his pockets.

"Cheater," she murmured before he resumed their kiss.

~0~

At about 6:10, the building was emptied out as the employees had all gone home.

The door of the storage closet opened and out came Minerva, holding her mp3 play with a sly grin as she turned to the right. The Doctor came out a few seconds after, his face completely dazed and his hair all over the place...that woman sure knew how to make her arguments...

"Doctor, coming?" Minerva called, glancing back.

"Yeah, yeah," he cleared his throat, coming up beside her and taking her hand.

She wrapped an arm around his neck and fixed his messy hair with an innocent smile. She then pulled him down for another kiss, making it as loving as possible to re-establish she was keeping her mp3.

She loved that mp3...it always led to snogging in the end!

~0~

Donna flinched when her cellphone went off, still inside the stall of the washroom, "Not now!" she whispered.

"I need the car! Where are you?" Sylvia demanded.

"I can't. I'm busy."

"Why are you whispering?"

"I'm in church."

"What are you doing in church?"

"...Praying!"

"Bit late for that, madam."

"What's she in church for?" Wilf asked Sylvia, happening to be in the kitchen during the time.

"Hush, you. Go up the hill!" Sylvia waved him off and spoke into the phone again, "But I need the car. I'm going out with Suzette. Shes asked all the Wednesday girls, apparently she's been on those Adipose pills. She says she looks marvelous."

But Donna heard the doors of the washroom being opened and hung up. It was Miss Foster with her two body guards, "We know you're in here, so why don't you make this nice and easy and show yourself?" Donna pulled her legs up, "I'm waiting. I warn you, I'm not a patient woman. Now, out you come," but no one came out, "Right. We'll do it the hard way. Get her!"

The body guards started kicking open stall by stall...finding Penny, the journalist in the stall before Donna.

"There you are," Miss Foster said, the woman stepping out by the guards.

"I've been through the records, Foster, and all of your results have been faked. There's something about those pills you're not telling us," Penny spat.

"Oh, I think I'll be conducting this interview, Penny," Miss Foster turned around, the bodyguards pushing Penny after her.

Donna poked her head out the stall once they were gone, going after to follow them.

~0~

"You are so mad," Minerva declared as the Doctor helped her into a window cleaner's cradle and switched it to descend.

"And you so like it," he tapped her nose.

She opened her mouth to make an argument but shrugged, "Yeah, I do. What's a date without adrenaline?"

The cradle stopped outside Miss Foster's office, the pair ducking down before they were seen.

Inside, Penny was struggling for her freedom, but the bodyguards were too strong, "This is ridiculous!"

"Sit there," Miss Foster ordered.

"I'm phoning my editor."

"I said sit."

Penny was pushed down by the bodyguards and tied up, "You can't tie me up. What sort of a country do you think this is?"

"Oh, it's a beautifully fat country. And believe me, I've traveled a long way to find obesity on this scale."

"So come on then, Miss Foster, those pills. What are they?"

Donna had snuck over to the front door of the office, watching and listening with caution.

"Well, you might just as well have a scoop, since you'll never see it printed. This," Miss Foster lifted a capsule, "Is the spark of life."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Officially, the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushes them away. Well, it certainly attracts them, that part's true. But it binds the fat together and galvanizes it to form a body."

"Well, what d'you mean 'a body'?" Penny stopped her struggle for freedom, that last bit sounding...scary.

"I am surprised you never asked about my name. I chose it well. Foster, as in foster mother. And these," Miss Foster put an Adipose on the table, "Are my children."

"You're kidding me. What the hell is that?" Penny's eyes widened.

The trio in hiding, in their respective hiding places, rose up to look through the windows.

"Adipose. It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat. Stripped from ordinary human..." Miss Foster said proudly.

"Oh my god..." Minerva tilted her head, nudging the Doctor, "...I spy a ginger!"

He looked ahead and saw Donna across from the, all three gaping with shock.

"Donna?" he mouthed.

"DOCTOR!" Donna mouthed right back.

'But... what? Wha... What?!'

'OH MY GOD!'

'But... how?'

'It's me!'

'Well, I can see that!'

'Oh this is brilliant!'

'But what are you doing there?'

Minerva looked from one to the other, propping her elbows on the rails of the cradle, amused by the miming that was actually very well done. Her Martian was just brilliant at that too.

'I was looking for you!' Donna continued to mouth.

'What for?!' the Doctor asked.

"I, came here, trouble, read about it, internet, I thought, trouble = you! And this place is weird! Pills! So I hid. Back there. Crept along. Heard this lot. Looked. You! Cos they..."

"Doctor," Minerva nodded towards Miss Foster, who had caught on, "We should go..."

"Are we interrupting you?" Miss Foster asked mighty loud so both sides would hear.

"Run!" Minerva shouted, Donna able to catch the mouthing.

"Get her!" Miss Foster ordered, the Doctor soniced the office door with the screwdriver, allowing Donna some time to run. He used it on the cradle next to go back to the roof, "And them!" Miss Foster watched the pair go up.

~0~

The trio met up by the alcove of the stairs, Donna encasing both of them in a big hug, "Oh my god, it's you!"

"Donna Noble, I thought we'd never see you again," Minerva chuckled.

"Oh my God! I don't believe it! You've even got the same suit!" the ginger looked the Doctor over, completely aghast, "Don't you ever change?"

"He does," Minerva nodded, "I send him myself."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Yeah, thanks, but not right now!" he looked down and saw the guards coming, "Just like old times!" he grabbed Minerva's hand and started back up the stairs, Donna quickly after them.

They returned to the roof where Donna had started to babble excitedly, "Cause I thought, how do I find the Doctor? And then I just thought, look for trouble and then he'll turn up!"

"Good start," Minerva remarked.

"You're no easier to find!" she frowned, "You're human and you're records are all screwed up!"

"How do you mean?" Minerva became confused.

"So I looked everywhere, you name it," Donna had continued her babble, not catching the question, "UFOs, sightings, crop circles, sea monsters. I looked, I found them all. Like that stuff about the bees disappearing, I thought, I bet he's connected. Cause the thing is, Doctor, I believe it all now. You opened my eyes. All those amazing things out there, I believe them all. Well, apart from that replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day, I mean that's gotta be a hoax!"

"Not really, we were there," Minerva replied.

The Doctor had gotten busy working on the cradle's controls with the sonic, catching about one sentence, "What d'you mean, the bees are disappearing?"

"I don't know. That's what it says on the internet," Donna shrugged, the Doctor climbing up the cradle, "Well on the same site, there was all the conspiracy theories about Adipose Industries, I thought let's take a look!"

"In you get!" he helped Minerva inside again.

"What, in that thing?" Donna blinked.

"Yes in that thing!"

"It's a bit more fun than it looks," Minerva shrugged.

"But if we go down in that, they'll just call us back up again."

"No no no, cause I've locked the controls with a sonic cage. I'm the only one who can control it. Not unless she's got a sonic device of her own. Which is very unlikely."

And then Minerva smacked him upside the head, "Why do you gotta say things like that? Your mouth is 95% jinx-magnet."

"What's the other 5%?" he frowned, genuinely wanting to know.

"Sweet talk," she nodded, admitting it always got her, though that didn't stop her from elbowing him in the ribs due to his smirk.

Miss Foster approached the edge of the roof, looking down to see the trio descending, "Oh, I don't think so," she used her sonic pen to accelerate the cradle.

The Doctor then stopped it with the screwdriver before he and the women fell to the floor. He quickly stood up and tried opening the nearest window with the sonic.

"Hold on. Hold on, we can get in through the window."

Miss Foster spoke to her wrist communicator, "Deadlock the building."

"Can't get it open!"

Donna lifted a large spanner from the cradle, "Well smash it then!"

Minerva crossed her arms and stared at the pair, Donna simply tapping the window with the spanner while the Doctor continued using the screwdriver. She bit her laugh and shook her head, "You two are just geniuses."

Miss Foster pointed her sonic to the cradle's cable, making them spark and smokey.

"She's cutting the cable!" Minerva had looked up at the sound, "Doctor!" she grabbed onto the rails, the Martian doing the same...

...Donna not having the same luck.

"Donna!" they shouted, poor Donna hanging onto the broken cable below, "Hold on!"

"I AM!" she cried.

They tried to pull her up by the cable but it wasn't working and they were running out of time.

"And now, for the other one," Miss Foster used the sonic on the second cable but the Doctor used his screwdriver on her pen, making it sparkle until she dropped it down, "Ah!"

The Doctor caught the pen, and climbed up the cable, "Minerva?"

"I'm coming!" she shouted, though she gave a quick glance below to see Donna, "But hurry!"

He managed to open the window as Minerva neared up. He climbed inside, falling to the floor on his back. Minerva poked her head inside, laughing at him, "Stupid Martian," she was going to make her swift entrance when he pulled her down as well.

"I don't think I'm that stupid," he smirked, pecking her lips.

"Oh, hello," she blinked, giving him one more peck but they got up from the floor.

~ 0 ~

"This is all your fault. I should've stayed at home!" poor Donna yelled, still clinging on for her life.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor and Minerva ran into Miss Foster's office where Penny was still tied up, "Is anyone gonna tell me what's going on?" she demanded as they opened the window.

"What, you're a journalist?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes."

"Well, make it up!" he tried grabbing Donna's legs.

"Oi, not all journalists make things up," Minerva exclaimed, "Sarah Jane Smith does a fantastic job and she's honest!"

"Fair enough," he nodded, concerned more with the fact Donna wasn't allowing him to help her.

"Get off!" she shouted.

"I've got you! I've got you. Stop kicking!" he managed to pull her inside.

"I was right. It's always like this with you, innit?" she breathed, looking between them.

"Kinda," Minerva nodded, "But it's more fun like this."

"And off we go!" the Doctor said, the trio running out.

"OI!" Penny shouted, the Doctor popping back inside.

"Sorry!" he used the sonic to release her and ran off, popping back a second alter, "Now do yourself a favor, get out."

He and Donna ran across the call center, the Doctor a bit alarmed to see Minerva going around the edge of the room, partially hidden by the small cubicles. However, his attention was diverted to Miss Foster and her body guards who were across from them.

"Well then," Miss Foster took her glasses off, "At last."

"Hello," Donna greeted.

" Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor."

"And I'm Donna."

"Partners in crime. And evidently off-worlders, judging by your sonic technology," Miss Foster said, not too pleased.

"Oh yes, I've still got your sonic pen. Nice, I like it. Sleek, it's kinda sleek," he showed it to Donna, quickly looking around, even more alarmed now that he didn't see Minerva anymore.

"Oh it's definitely sleek," Donna nodded.

"Yeah, and if you were to sign your real name that would be...?" the Doctor asked the woman.

"Matron Cofelia of the Five-Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic Class."

"A wet nurse, using humans as surrogates."

"I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost."

One body guard went down all of a sudden, Minerva dusting her hands off behind him, looking up to see everyone staring at her, "James is awesome!" she grinned, her self-defense moves coming in handy even with pressure points. The Doctor cleared his throat, evidently clear he disliked that statement, "Oh but not as much as you," she ran over to him, pecking his lips.

"Hold on..." Donna's eyes widened, pointing at the pair.

"Right, back to the point," Minerva fixed herself, "Sorry, looks like one body guard is down, probably will be for a while. But I couldn't help to listen about a planet being lost...how does one lose a planet?" she raised an eyebrow, "I mean, misplace a book, glasses...sure...but a planet?"

"Oh, politics are none of my concern. I'm just here to take care of the children on behalf of the parents," Miss Foster replied.

"What, like an outer space super-nanny?" Donna asked.

"Yes, if you like."

"So... so those little things they're, they're made out of fat yeah, but that woman, Stacy Campbell, there was nothing left of her."

"Oh, in a crisis the Adipose can convert bone and hair and internal organs. Makes them a little bit sick, poor things."

"What about poor Stacy?"

"Seeding a level 5 planet is against galactic law," the Doctor reminded.

"Are you threatening me?" Miss Foster raised an eyebrow.

"I'm trying to help you, Matron. This is your one chance; cos if you don't call this off, then I'll have to stop you."

"I hardly think you can stop bullets."

"No, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, one more thing, before... dying. Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?"

"No..."

"Nor me, lets find out!" he pointed the screwdriver and pen together, creating an awful noise.

Everyone held their hands to their ears, the noise too much. Minerva pushed the Doctor and stopped him, reminding him to run,

Miss Foster spoke into her communicator, "I'm advancing the birth plan. We're going into premature labor."

~0~

The trio arrived at the storage cupboard where the Doctor started throwing its supplies out.

"What happened between you two?" Donna just needed to ask.

"How do you mean?" Minerva had joined in on the supply throwing.

"Wedding day, you two were friends, today...you...kiss?"

"Oh that..." Minerva considered explaining it but there was small time to do so, "...long story!"

The Doctor had opened up the back of the cupboard to reveal a green machine built into the wall, "Hacking in to this thing, cos the matron's got a computer core running through the center of the building. Triple deadlocked. And now I've got this," he held up her sonic pen, "I can get into it."

~0~

Back in Miss Foster's office, however, was another green machine built into her wall.

"What does that thing do?" Penny asked, having been tied up yet again.

"It's the inducer. We had planned to seed millions, but if that man's an alien then he's alerted the Shadow Proclamation, so the first one million humans will have to do," Miss Foster turned to her body guards, "Find him, and the women. Don't waste time, just kill them."

~0~

"She's wired up the whole building. We need a bit of privacy," the Doctor held two sparkling plugs, making lightning emerge from the walls which stunned the guards, "Just enough to stop them. Why's she wired up the tower block? What's it all for?"

"Inducer online."

"Anything I can help with?" Minerva stepped beside him, seeing the possibility of that being very slim.

"Not really, love, sorry."

She nodded, internally wishing she could be just as smart as he was so she could help him. This was one of the consequences of their different origins...no matter how clever she claimed to be, she would never compare to what a woman of his species could be, a Time Lady. The Doctor held her hand, kissing the back of it to assure her it was alright she couldn't help, he understood and he didn't mind. Minerva faintly smiled, thanking the heavens he could look past her human defects.

Donna studied the pair, the thing of them being an actual item still not settling in her mind, "I noticed things have changed between you two," she said quietly, afraid this change could affect her possible chance of coming on-board the TARDIS.

"Right, I was angry with you at the time," Minerva said to the Doctor.

"What? What had I done?" the Doctor asked, sounding defensive and a child.

Minerva crossed her arms, "You called me Rose...twice. I nearly walked out of your life."

He looked back to his work, trying to forget that day. It had been the most horrific day since the Time War. He lost Rose and nearly lost Minerva as well and both were his fault.

"Hey, I'm not mad anymore," Minerva turned his head to her.

Truly, she wasn't. She understood now, the Doctor had cared for Rose not loved her. His feelings were all mixed up, his head jumbled with Rose, saving Donna from the Racnoss and keeping Minerva and himself safe. It was an outburst of everything. It didn't mean it didn't still hurt her, but it didn't mean she was angry that something happened out of a genuine mistake. She tried not to talk so much of that time, especially of Rose. She still didn't feel comfortable talking about the blonde, her guilt for taking the man Rose loved and because of attitude Rose had given in the end. The Doctor had no idea what Rose had become to Minerva during their last months together and Minerva intended to keep it that way. It was the least she could do after taking him...

"Never again, though," the Doctor whispered to her, his hand reaching to her cheek, "You're my Clever Girl. Mine."

"You're my Martian," she smiled softly, nuzzling to his touch.

"My Minerva, Minerva," he gently leaned to kiss her.

Donna looked away at the small moment, feeling a big change had truly happened since the last time she'd seen them.

Minerva suddenly remembered they weren't alone anymore and turned to Donna, "Sorry about that. We're not used to having another person with us," she rubbed her neck out of embarrassment.

Truly, they hadn't. They had been on their own since Martha left them, occasionally dropping by to see only Minerva's grandmother, Isadora. Martha had been far too busy for a visit and Minerva really didn't want to be imprudent especially after hearing she was nearly done with her studies. Other than that, it was the Doctor and Minerva. They had their small moments that went on for hours, uninterrupted.

The only other person they'd stopped by to see was Astrid from the Titanic. After the Doctor told Minerva of Astrid's refusal to travel in the TARDIS thinking Minerva was dead, Minerva immediately made the Doctor take them to the blonde and Mr. Copper. Astrid had literally cried of joy upon seeing the walking and talking brunette. She'd apologized endlessly to Minerva, still believing it had been her fault Minerva had been close to death in the first place. Minerva would have none of that and explained about the blue light that had mysteriously saved her from the engine's wrath. If anything, Minerva was the one that felt awful for putting her and the Doctor through so much angst. As an apology, she and the Doctor had taken her and even Mr. Copper for a nice trip to any place Astrid wanted.

"It's just...well," Donna looked from one to the other, truly no words coming to mind, well save these three, "You look older."

"I'm eighteen, now," Minerva shrugged, "The Doctor just always looks older."

"Watch it," he warned as he worked.

"You know it's attractive," she kissed his temple.

"Thanks!" he beamed.

"Still on your own, then?" Donna asked, though the answer was pretty clear after Minerva's words.

"Yup," the Doctor answered without actually thinking.

"No," Minerva corrected, "We had this friend, Martha she was called. Martha Jones. She was brilliant...she was my best friend."

"...and I destroyed half her life," the Doctor had to put in a comment.

Minerva sighed, tired of hearing that from him. But the Doctor maintained his stance on Martha's family. The Master was his responsibility and had hurt Martha, Martha's family, Minerva's family and Minerva. He was responsible for it and partly the reason for Martha's departure. Worse than that, it was his fault for what was happening to Minerva as well...

"No, you didn't," Minerva shook her head, "Martha is just fine, she's just gone to make her own life."

"What about Rose?" Donna asked, both pair stiffening with silence.

"Still lost," the Doctor said quietly, pausing, wanting to change the subject before Minerva became upset. He knew that topic wasn't easy for Minerva's based on her previous thoughts of his affection for the blonde. He'd rather not talk about her at all, "I thought you were going to travel the world?"

Donna sighed at her failure, "Easier said then done. It's like I had that one day with you and I was gonna change. I was gonna do so much. Then I woke up next morning, same old life. It's like you were never there. And I tried. I did try, I went to Egypt. I was gonna go barefoot and everything. And then it's all bus trips and guidebooks and don't drink the water and two weeks later you're back home. It's nothing like being with you. I must have been mad turning down that offer."

"What offer?"

"To come with you."

"You'd come with us?"

"Oh yes, please!"

"Right..." the Doctor quickly looked at Minerva, unsure how Minerva would take Donna's sudden arrival.

Martha's departure was hurtful. She was Minerva's best friend, and she had already lost Mickey, twice. Would she dislike Donna if she came with them?

"Inducer activated."

"What's it doing now?" Minerva asked.

"She's started the program! So far they're just losing weight, but the Matron has gone up to emergency pathogenesis," the Doctor ran a hand through his hair, helpless with the machine in front of him.

"That's when they convert..." Minerva whispered, thinking back to her cousin, Marisol. She might dislike her but she sure didn't wish for her cousin's death!

"Skeletons, organs, everything. A million people are gonna die!"

"Then cancel the signal!"

He pulled out the golden capsule and pulled a side off to reveal a chip inside, "This contains the primary signal. If I can switch it off the fat goes back to being just fat," he hooked up the capsule to the machine.

~0~

"A nice try. Double strength," Miss Foster pushed down the lever completely.

Inducer increasing.

~0~

"No no no no no, she's doubled it, I need... Haven't got time! It's too far, I can't override it! They're all gonna die!" the Doctor cried.

"Is there anything I can do?" Donna offered.

"Sorry, Donna, this is way beyond you! Gotta double the base pulse, I can't..."

But Donna wouldn't have any of that, "Doctor, tell me what do you need."

"I need a second capsule to boost the override, but I've only got the one. I can't save them!"

While he fiddled with the switches, Minerva watched Donna hold up her own gold capsule, "Oh you are good," she remarked, the Doctor looking over and seeing the capsule, "Doctor, she is so coming with us!"

Donna beamed at the woman's approval. Minerva wouldn't mind having her around!

The Doctor took the second gold capsule and plugged it in to the machine, the green lights going off, "It's stopped! They've gone!"

~ 0 ~

Miss Foster flicked on the switches but nothing was working anymore. Everything was shut down.

"What's happened?" Penny tried peering around the woman from her chair.

"I think the Doctor happened. But we've still given birth to ten thousand Adipose. And the nursery is coming," Miss Foster moved to the windows when a loud horn rang, "It's my lift home!"

~0~

"Fine. When you say nursery you don't mean a creche in Notting Hill..." Donna looked from the Doctor to Minerva.

"Nursery ship," the Doctor reminded.

"I think he meant that quite literally," Minerva put a hand on the ginger's arm.

The comp unit lighted up again, "Incoming signal," and an alien language started playing.

"What's it saying?" Minerva asked as the Doctor leaned to the machine.

"Instructions from the Adiposian First Family."

~0~

Miss Foster stood on the street, at the head of all the Adipose babies, "Children! Oh my children, behold. I am taking you home," the Adipose cheered, "Far across the galaxy, your new mummies and daddies are waiting. And you will fly!" a blue light levitation beamed down from the ship, levitating everyone including Miss Foster, "Up you go, babies. Up you go! That's it, fly away home!"

~ 0 ~

"She's wired up the tower block to convert it into a levitation post," the Doctor was still listening to the instructions, "Oh. Ooh. We're not the ones in trouble now. She is!"

"How do you mean-Ah!" Minerva yelped when he yanked her out of the room, Donna running after.

They returned to the roof, watching the Adipose babies flying up to the nursery ship. Minerva, in awe, walked up to the edge, resting her arms on the rails, smiling and waving at the little babies. They were kinda cute, she thought, they looked like little marshmallows!

"What you gonna do then? Blow them up?" Donna asked the Doctor, both of them remaining back.

"They're just children. They can't help where they come from," he replied, his gaze landing on Minerva as he thought.

She and the small Adipose babies did have one similarity. The Adipose babies were innocent who were born out of an woman's wrongful actions. Minerva was the sweetest thing in the world and was the product of a horrible woman with no warm feelings for her daughter.

"Oh, that makes a change from last time," Donna remarked, following his gaze to Minerva, "Wonder how that happened..."

He smiled softly, "She kept her reigns real good. She and Martha, anyways."

"Mm, but it looks like Minerva might have completely let go of hers," Donna smirked.

"Oh quiet. She's actually kept them, for your information."

Minerva, despite their newly found relationship, was still as strict as ever with her principles. Sure, he might have a new way of escaping her lectures...a few kisses here...a few sweet words there...but she always knew how to keep him on check.

And he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Bye, bye," Minerva waved at the Adipose, "Fly back to your mommies and daddies. I'm sure they'll love you..." her smile faded a bit as her mind wandered back to her own parents.

Miss Foster soared up to the level of the trio, the Doctor and Donna running over to Minerva's side, "Matron Cofelia, listen to me!" the Doctor yelled.

"Oh, I don't think so, Doctor. And if I never see you again, it will be too soon," she smiled.

"Oh, why does no one ever listen? I'm trying to help! Just get across to the roof. Can you shift the levitation beam?"

"What, so that you can arrest me?"

"Just listen. I saw the Adiposian instructions - they know it's a crime, breeding on Earth. So what's the one thing they want to get rid of? Their accomplice!"

"I'm far more than that. I'm nanny to all these children."

"Yeah, but children don't want a nanny, they want their mom," Minerva said, speaking from her own experience. She loved her grandmother, she did, but a mother was a mother and it was something a child would always need.

The light vanished, Miss Foster having only a mere second before plummeting down. The trio looked away in sorrow for the dead woman.

~0~

The Doctor threw Miss Foster's sonic pen into a bin, lost in his thoughts. Minerva took his hand, offering a comforting smile even if she wasn't exactly well either.

"Oi, you three!" Penny the journalist crept out of the building, still tied to her chair, "You're just mad. Do you hear me? Mad! And I'm gonna report you... for madness!"

"You see, some people just can't take it," Donna observed, a hint of pride in her tone.

"No," the Doctor shook his head.

"But some people can. So, then - TARDIS! Come on!" she pulled them away to the alleyway where her car was parked...and the TARDIS, "That's my car! That is like destiny! And I've been ready for this," she open the trunk of her car which was full of suitcases, "

"I packed ages ago, just in case. Cause I thought, hot weather, cold weather, no weather..." she loaded her luggage on the Doctor's arms, Minerva stepping away and watching with amusement, "...they go anywhere, I've gotta be prepared," she threw a hatbox on top.

"You've got a... a... hatbox?!" Minerva chuckled, going to the trunk of the car to see what else the ginger had brought.

"Planet of the Hats, I'm ready!" Donna rushed to the TARDIS doors where she babbled like crazy, the Doctor following, "Do I need injections though, do I? Like when you go to Cambodia, is there any of that? Cause my friend Veena went to Bahrain, and..." Donna noticed the Martian's serious look, "You're not saying much."

"No, it's just..." the Doctor set down the luggage beside, thinking of a delicate way to explain his uneasiness of her coming along.

"You don't want me," Donna said with realization.

"I'm not saying that," he pointed out.

It's not that he didn't want her to come along, he thought she was fantastic! But his mind wandered back to Rose for some reason...the uneasiness Minerva felt all last year about the blonde. It pained him that he had put her through all that doubt, along with Kaeya. He didn't want some of that uneasiness to flow to Donna.

"But you asked me..." Donna whispered, glancing at Minerva who had found another hatbox in the car.

"Look, Donna, it's a bit complicated, you remember Rose right?" the Doctor sighed, Donna nodding silently, "I made a mistake last year, and the year before...and they both hurt Minerva. I won't ever make those mistakes again," he said firmly, "Minerva's a bit insecure because of my indecision from last year..." Donna nodded again, following so far, "Rose was someone I cared for but only as a friend, Martha was a best friend to Minerva, and I'd like for you be a friend as well. I want to make it clear, I just want a mate."

Donna's eyes widened with horror, "You just want to mate?"

"I just want a mate!" he quickly corrected, but Donna was more than horrified, going as far as hiding behind the TARDIS doors.

"You're not mating with me, sunshine! What about Minerva? MINERVA!" she shouted with fear.

Minerva quickly ran over, noticing Donna's fear and her hiding back behind the door, "What's up?"

"Your boyfriend wants to mate with me!" the ginger hid entirely behind the doors, only her finger visible as it pointed to the Doctor.

"I-I don't!' the Doctor was in a fit of stuttering as Minerva turned to him, "I-I don't, honest I d-don't!"

"Is there something we need to talk about?" the brunette raised an eyebrow.

"No! I didn't say that! She misheard me!" he pointed at Donna, her head poking out of the door, "I don't want to mate with her! I'd only want to mate with you!"

"Think real hard of what you just said," Minerva bit back her smile, blushing lightly.

It didn't take long for him to realize that and shook his head, blinking rapidly and blushing like mad, "Well, n-n-not that...not yet, well, no, not if you don't want to, but not yet-" he was forced to stop when Minerva had leaned up to kiss him.

Upon hearing quietness, Donna poked her head out the door again, breathing a sigh of relief at the two kissing. She stepped put of the box, fixing herself, "Well, nice to see that's been clarified."

Minerva was the first to pull away, her hands resting on the Doctor's face, "Yeah...my Martian is an idiot," she laughed at his pout, "But he's a handsome, harmless idiot."

"Minerva, in all seriousness though, I don't want anything to do with your boyfriend," Donna stepped up, just needing to clarify that for all of their sake's, "I'm not having any of that nonsense. I mean he's just a long streak of... nothing. You know, alien nothing."

Minerva busted out laughing, the Doctor frowning at Donna, "That's not nice," he declared.

"Well it's the truth!" Donna looked him over, not backing down from her statement.

Minerva wiped a tear from her eye due to her laughter, "Aw, but don't worry," she turned to the Martian, putting her hands on his chest, "I for one think you're something."

"Not a long streak of nothing?" he pouted.

"Well you are a long streak..." she looked him over, both laughing when Minerva got on her toes to kiss him again. Next to him, she was exceptionally short. Though Minerva claimed he was just so freakishly tall and she was average height.

"Grow a few more inches," Donna joked.

"Right?" Minerva pulled back, leaning her head on the Doctor's arm, "Too bad I can't magically change like he can."

"How do you mean?" Donna tilted her head.

"Well he regenerates," Minerva shrugged, "See, he..." she paused and smiled, glancing up at the Doctor who nodded, both thinking of the same thing, "C'mon then, I'll explain it in the TARDIS."

Donna blinked, had she understood? "I can...I can come?"

"Let's see, you think my boyfriend is a long streak of nothing, you're bloody brilliant and I like you, oh yeah you're coming!"

Donna gasped and ran to give them a big hug, "Oh thank you!" but she remembered something important and pulled away, "Car keys! I've still got my mum's car keys! I won't be a minute!" she ran away to go make a call.

"Well, c'mon, we've gotta get these inside," Minerva grabbed the hatbox.

"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked suddenly, making her stop.

She looked at him and lowered the box, "Why do you ask?"

"Martha...Rose..." he mumbled.

She understood now and so set the box on the ground, "I miss Martha, I do...but, she's happy and so as her best friend I'm happy. Donna is amazing and I think after everything she went through, she deserves to see some stars. And about Rose..." she strode up to him, "...Donna's nothing like her."

Donna was warm, joyful, friendly and loving. True, Rose had been the same for some time but it had changed for the worst and she doubted Rose would ever be a friend for her again.

"I just don't want you to get those silly ideas again," the Doctor took her hand, "Because I know how your mind works. I know how you feel..."

"Look, my feelings about Rose might be screwed up but I can't help it. But I know that Donna doesn't see you like that, she's just a friend."

"I swear to you, you are first. You dominate my hearts. There is no more doubt. I chose you, I always did and I never realized it. And if Rose ever came back, when Kaeya comes back, the only one I would want in my arms is you," he kissed her hand and then her lips.

Minerva wore a small smile afterwards, her heart skipping a beat at his words, at his assurance, "Really?".

"Yes, really," he cupped her face, "And I will make you see that, okay? You've lived a long life with rejection, no stability and uneasiness. That stops with me. And you know what? Perhaps Donna will be good for us. She'll show you that just because there's another woman, besides Martha, no one else can turn my head nor sneak into my hearts. You'll see it's just you."

Minerva nodded, truly wanting to feel secure of herself for the first time, "Show me then, Martian."

He leaned down, kissing her and showing the truth in each of his words.

~0~

Donna was walking through the crowded street next to the alleyway where her car and TARDIS were. She was talking to her mother over the phone, "I know, Mum, I saw it, little fat people. Listen, I've got to go. I'm going to stay with Veena for a bit. Yeah. I know. Spaceship. But, I've still got the car keys. Look. There is a bin on Brook Street, about thirty feet from the corner, I'm going to leave them in there," she threw the car keys into the bin beside her.

"What? A bin?"

"Yes, that's it, a bin."

"You can't do that."

"Oh, stop complaining, the car's just down the road a bit. Got to go, really got to go. Bye."

"But Donna, you can't..."

Though Donna hung up, just wanting to get back to the TARDIS and start her adventures! She looked around, spotting a blonde woman who stood by a fence. She ran over to her, "Listen, there is this woman that's going to come along, a tall blonde woman called Sylvia, tell her that bin there. Right, it'll all make sense. That bin there," Donna laughed and headed back to the TARDIS.

The blonde woman remained silent and watched Donna go. She took a look around and walked away from the fence.

It was Rose Tyler.

Worn, depressed, guilty, she walked in silence...vanishing into thin air.

~0~

"Off we go, then!" Donna popped back into the TARDIS.

The Doctor leaned back on the console, arms crossed, "Here it is, the TARDIS. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside..."

"Oh she knows that," Minerva walked around the console, "Honestly, I think the whole world knows that."

"Frankly, you could turn the A.C. on," Donna looked around, her stomach churning at the familiar room. She just couldn't believe she was finally there, she had finally found them again...

"Sorry, that's my fault," Minerva made a face.

"Why?" Donna asked absently.

"Know what heat flashes are?" she asked and Donna nodded, "I've been having these cold flashes for months now. My Martian has graciously turned the heater on for me."

"Have you seen a doctor about that?"

"Mhm, my own personal Doctor," Minerva rested her head on her Martian's arm, unaware of the guilty face the man wore, "But it's nothing, just a temporal side effect of a crystal, nothing big."

But by the face the Doctor had Donna would have to disagree. She wondered why he was lying, cause it was pretty obvious that's what he'd been doing...she'd have to look into that.

"Just temporal," the Doctor kissed Minerva's had, wrapping an arm around her waist while he looked to the side.

He severely disliked the way he was lying to her about her health but he didn't want to scare his clever girl. She had enough problems with her family to add on the newest problem of a Monsoon princess and her crystal.

"One good thing out of this cold issue is that it gives my Martian the excuse to cuddle," Minerva smirked and looked up at him, seeing a small smile from him instead of his guilt.

"You do it to cuddle?" Donna raised an eyebrow, really unable to believe that was the reason why the man had looked so guilty, "That's so cliché!"

"He just wants an excuse to be in my room at nights," Minerva add, tilting her head up at him, "Or whatever the time is when I go to sleep. You think you're so sneaky! Bet if I go lock my room with a deadlock you'll be crying to let be in."

She slipped from his arm ran for her room. The Doctor shook his head and chased after her, grabbing her by the waist before she made it into the corridors, "Gotcha!"

Minerva squealed as they spun around, "Put me down! Put me down!" she ordered in the midst of their laughter.

Donna watched the pair, smiling softly. She could just see how happy they were now. They were nothing like the last time they'd seen each other. Minerva's eyes had changed, her entire attitude. The Doctor didn't look like the cold murderer she'd seen the last time. They were different, and she guessed that Martha woman had a big role in that, along with their new found relationship. She would never stand in the way of that.

"C'mon, Martian, put me down, we've gotta take Donna somewhere fantastic!" Minerva continued to struggle for her freedom, the Doctor refusing to set her on the floor.

"So? She could drive the TARDIS while we continue over here," he shrugged.

Minerva smirked, "Think real hard of what you just said."

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

The Doctor immediately let go of her and ran back to the console, "No driving, Donna Noble," Donna simply raised her hands in surrender, "So, whole wide universe, where do you want to go?"

Donna only thought for a minute when she knew of the exact place she needed to go to, "Oh, I know exactly the place. Two and a half miles, that way," she nodded to the left.

The Doctor and Minerva glanced at each other, confused on what could be only twenty miles away from them...

~0~

Wilf was sat in the hill again, looking up at the sky...when he saw a blue box, "There! Donna! It's... it's the flying blue box!" he shouted, quickly looked into the telescope and saw Donna waving at him from the box, "Huh - what?! That's Donna! Yeah, that's Donna."

Donna stood at the doorway of the TARDIS, waving excitedly at her granddad, Minerva and the Doctor behind, also waving.

"And that's him! That's him! Hey! That's him! Ha-ha-ha! Go on girl! Go on, get up there! Hey!" Wilf did a little merry dance as he watched the TARDIS fly away, his granddaughter finally happy.

~0~

"Doctor? Doctor? Where are you?" Donna's voice rang around the console room, startling the Martian who had been busy "fixing" something on the console.

Her loud voice would surely take some getting use to for sure.

"What is it Donna?" he stood up and fixed himself, turning just as the ginger walked in through the corridors, "Did she hide your room? Because that's completely normal," Donna shook her head, looking a bit serious and concerned, "What's wrong?"

"I was trying to find Minerva, you know, to kinda get to know each other and all, but..." she trailed off.

"But what?"

"...I heard her crying," she whispered, "At least I think I heard her crying..."

"Crying? There's crying?"

Donna nodded and was going to reply but by the time she opened her mouth, the Doctor was already out of the console room, running for Minerva's room. Donna shook her head, something told her this new life of time traveling was going to have a lot of bumps in the road. She only wished she would be able to help Minerva and the Doctor when the time came.

~0~

"Minerva? Open up!" the Doctor soniced her door, bursting inside to see the brunette on the floor, leaning on her side to her against her bed..quietly weeping, "Hey, what's wrong?" he knelt down beside her.

"I did something stupid..." she sniffled, her gaze locked on the floor, her hands put together...holding Martha's cellphone.

"Like what?"

"I called my mother."

"Oh no," the Doctor sighed, immediately seeing the conversation between Minerva and Sophia and all its bearings.

"I thought maybe she'd be a little proud that I graduated," Minerva explained, looking down at the cellphone in her hands, "...but she just yelled and said I could've graduated early like Marisol did," and she burst into tears again.

The Doctor took her into his arms and sat down on the foot of the bed, "Minerva, I'm all for family reunions, but don't you think Sophia has no right for one?"

"But she's my mom," she rested her head on his chest, "I just want her to forgive me. But Marisol has taken my place...she graduated early and-"

"It's okay, it's okay," he rubbed soothing circles on her back, "Look, it's been a good and fantastic day, don't you let someone ruin it for you. Especially people who aren't worth it."

"But she's my mom, she's supposed to care of all these little things," she wiped her face dry of tears, "But she cares more about Marisol."

"You know what, give me that," he took Martha's cellphone from her and started dialing.

"Who are you calling?" she lifted her head.

"Someone who will definitely cheer you up," he grinned. Minerva stared in confusion, hearing another voice on the other line, "Oh, hello! Yeah, listen, Minerva's having a bit of a bad moment thanks to Sophia...but I bet you can help her with that."

He handed the phone to Minerva, "But who is it?" she whispered.

"Take the call and see," he shrugged.

She placed the phone on her ear, looking at the Doctor while she answered, "Hello?"

"Minerva? Sweetie, what's wrong?" Isadora, her grandmother, questioned.

"Grandma..." Minerva started to smile, and even if it was a small one, it still relieved the Doctor that she was starting to get out of this moment Sophia had cursed her to be in.

"What did Sophia do now?" Isadora demanded.

"Grandma, it's...it doesn't matter, now. But listen, I have some news...I did it grandma, I finally graduated."

"Really?" Isadora gasped, "That is fantastic! Congratulations!"

Minerva smiled, hearing a praise from one of her family members making her cry of joy this time, "Yeah?"

"Of course!" Isadora chuckled, "And when you stop by I'm gonna bake you some brownies!"

"Thank you," Minerva sniffled, "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Mhm, congratulations and I'll see you later."

Minerva hung up and looked at the Doctor who had been staring in silence at her face, "You are wonderful!" she threw her arms around his neck.

"I take it you're feeling better, now?" he rested his chin on her head.

"Much, thank you so much. I guess mom just doesn't care about me anymore...well, she never did but, now I know."

"Don't think about that, okay? Sophia doesn't deserve the love you offer to her. Don't waste it on her."

He knew that was her mother he was talking about, but after everything...how could he not say that? He had seen and heard many of the conversations Sophia and Minerva had in the last couple of months. The woman truly had no ounce of motherhood in her. He was actually surprised that Minerva hadn't turned bitter after living fourteen years with that woman.

"I can't help it," Minerva sighed, "I'm her child. I love her."

He rubbed some tears off her cheek then kissed her, "And that shows your big heart. You shouldn't love someone like that."

"I'm tired...and kind of cold," she whispered, wanting to stop the tears that were building up in her eyes and the only way to do that was to stop talking about her mother and Marisol and get to bed. Plus, whenever she felt cold it was just best to sleep it off.

"Alright, I'll be in later with your milkshake," he smiled, softly kissing her.

"No," she held onto his lapels when he tried to move her off his lap, "Stay with me."

"Stay?" he raised an eyebrow.

She nodded, "Stay with me tonight."

"Minerva, think real hard of what you're saying," he warned, both smiling at the words.

"I am," she focused on his lapels as she started blushing, "I don't want to sleep alone tonight. Please stay with me? I'm cold and I need someone to cuddle with."

"Well if I couldn't deny you before we were together, how can I deny you something now?" he recalled his determination before Martha and Jack had gone and now that he looked back on it he really had no idea how hard it was going to be to say 'no' to something his clever girl wanted...except when it harmed her of course like those weight-loss capsules.

Minerva flashed a cheeky smile, "You can't," she said innocently.

He sighed, pretending to be forced to agree, "Well, I suppose I'll have to stay now..."

"Oh admit it, you've been wanting to stay with me for several weeks now..." she trailed a finger down his chest, smirking at the way he stiffened, "...don't think I haven't noticed."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he looked away, his hearts picking up on their speed.

Minerva giggled, pecking his lips, "Time for sleep, Martian," she pushed his coat off his shoulders.

"You definitely know how to make me nervous," he mumbled.

She became serious for one, "You definitely know how to make me feel better, thank you," she pecked his lips again.

"You know I'll always strive to do that."

She nodded and stood up from his lap, going up to her bed, "I know you do, and you always succeed," she pulled the covers down, "That's why I need you in here tonight. I'm cold and I don't feel like crying over my mother," she pulled her jacket off her and threw it to a chair nearby.

"Not on my watch you won't," he came up to her. She smiled and sat on her bed, patting the spot beside her, "You don't want to change, first?"

She shook her head, "Nah, I just want to feel your arms around me tonight."

He nodded and, nervously, went around the bed to lay on her left, wrapping his arms around her. Minerva turned to face him, scooting closer and resting her head on his chest, closing her eyes.

"Minerva?"

"Mm?"

"I'm proud of you."

She smiled, keeping her eyes closed, "And that means more than my mother's words."

With a kiss to her head, the Doctor closed his eyes, both of them falling asleep in each other's arms for the first time.

#ocappreciation #doctor who #10th doctor #doctor who fics #10th doctor fics #dw imagine #10th doctor imagine #doctor who imagines #oc: minerva souza #fic: star crossed

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greyias · 4 years

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FIC: Smoke and Mirrors - Chapter 5

Title: Smoke and Mirrors Fandom: SWTOR Pairing: Theron Shan/f!Jedi Knight Rating: T Genre: Pre-Relationship, Slow Burn Synopsis: Something’s rotten on Carrick Station, and Theron won’t rest until he finds out what. But picking at the frayed threads of suspicion quickly unravels a conspiracy much larger than even the Republic’s top spy can handle on his own. (A mostly canon-compliant retelling of the Forged Alliances storyline, as seen through the eyes of Theron Shan.) Author’s Notes and Spoilers: See Chapter 1.

So while on the side of annoying, apparently Darok’s habit of repeating a battle plan until everyone could recite it in their sleep worked. Or maybe the strategy that the colonel and Jace had come up with was just that solid, because everything went off exactly as outlined. As much as Theron hated to admit it, it was a refreshing change of pace. The way things tended to go in the intelligence world, he tended to have to fall back on Plan Forn, or more probably more accurately, Plan “Frak”, since that word seemed to be uttered a lot under his breath.

The first wave of the attack caught the Imperials completely off guard, and the strike team was able to establish a landing zone with almost no casualties.

A holographic image of Korriban shimmered into life on part of the table as the holocam on the other end came online. The distance between the Core Worlds and Imperial Space meant the connection was weaker, and combined with interference from scrambling signals on the ground caused the image to flicker more than usual. Theron had seen holos of the Sith homeworld before, but it was somehow different watching from a live feed. Not quite like being there, but close enough. Their view from the holocam caught the wide desert expanse, the silhouettes of immense statues looming in the distance. The drop zone was situated perfectly on a high edge overlooking the Wilds, giving him and Darok a wide view of the stretch that the strike team would have to traverse to reach the Sith Academy.

Theron glanced over to another projection on the table, mapping out the approximate position of Wave Two. They were about to come out of hyperspace. He keyed his comm to the frequency he’d set for his communications with Highwind. It was showtime.

“—I’m aware how this could be difficult.” The transmission cut in in the middle of the Highwind’s sentence. Her voice was pitched low, probably in an attempt to keep her conversation quiet. “If you want to stay here, I understand.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Another female voice volleyed back. “I’m not letting you go into that place alone.”

“Kira,” Highwind’s concerned tone lightened with a trace of amusement, “how can I be alone with the rest of our crew and these soldiers?”

Ah, Kira Carsen. Jedi Knight and Highwind’s former Padawan and longtime partner. Her name had threaded through the dossier nearly as much as her master’s. Theron had found it a little odd that she was still part of the Defender’s crew this many years after her knighting, but he supposed that saving the galaxy from annihilation on a semi-regular basis formed tight bonds.

“You know what I mean,” Kira continued. “This place… it’s worse than Dromund Kaas. You can feel the Dark Side in every step you take here.”

“We’ll be fine,” Highwind assured her companion. “After all, I have everyone here, as well as eyes and ears on Carrick Station to guide me through.”

“How reassuring.”

“I’ve been told that they have a map.”

“Oh good, a map. That will keep a Sith from stabbing you in the back with a lightsaber.”

Despite himself, Theron found himself having to purse his lips together to keep from smirking. Apparently this Kira had a bit of a mouth on her. This was probably a good moment for him to speak up, to keep from listening in on what was becoming clear had been meant to be a private conversation, but he was curious to see where this was going.

“I highly doubt anyone will get that close,” came the serene reply, and Theron was pretty sure he heard a snort on the other end of the line.

“That’s some map you’ve got there.”

“I would think you’d know the difference between directions and the Force at this point, Kira.”

“Oh, so you’re not going to use the Force to magically guide you to the Dark Council chambers? Which, lovely vacation spot by the way, Boss. You should always plan our team building exercises. You keep things so exciting.”

“I didn’t plan this particular excursion,” the reply came out only the slightest edge of consternation. “You can thank the military and SIS for this trip.”

“Oh, the SIS, they always take us to the most fun places. Think we’ll have to fight off any Rakata-tech zombies this time?”

“I didn’t ask.”

“Well, what kind of briefing doesn’t mention zombies?”

“Perhaps I should check, if it’s that important.” If Theron’s ears didn’t deceive him, he thought he heard the slightest trace of impatience lacing through that deceptively serene tone. There was a soft beep in his ear as she attempted to establish connection on her side. “Theron, are you there?”

“Yes,” he said, miraculously managing to keep his tone neutral.

“Do you think we’ll encounter any zombies during our stay here?”

“No, I think you’ll be fine,” he said, pursing his lips together to keep from laughing. “You’ll probably just have to deal with an endless horde of angry Sith. No zombies though.”

“I’m sure everyone will rest easier knowing that.”

Darok shot him a look. “I hope you’re taking this seriously, Agent Shan.”

“Bite me,” was what Theron almost said. Instead he just shot the colonel the most sarcasticly polite smile he could muster. “I’m always serious, Darok.”

The colonel narrowed his eyes, face set in a deep frown. For a moment, it almost seemed like he was going to say something, before he turned back to the holodisplay of Korriban.

“I apologize if I caused you any problems,” Highwind said. Her tone was so placid, he honestly couldn’t tell if she was being sincere or sarcastic.

“Nothing to worry about,” he said smoothly, watching as the ship exited hyperspace, and made for a fast and rough landing on the planet’s surface.

“Who’s Theron?” Kira asked.

The ship shuddered and came to a hard stop on the ground, the echoes of the rough landing sounding over the earpiece. He would have turned the volume on his side down, but he was waiting to hear if the reply contained any mention of the Grand Master, or if Highwind had more discretion than that.

“He’s with the SIS.”

“Oh, really? Is he sure about the zombie thing, because Fauler conveniently left that out on our grand adventure on Tatooine too.”

This time he did hear an exhalation of breath, and it was definitely on the annoyed side. “Have I mentioned that you can stay on the shuttle if you want to?”

On the holocam feed, Highwind’s small figure emerged from the pod, the desert breeze kicking up her cape into the face of the man behind her. He batted it away as she continued to survey the area.

“Hey, gorgeous, you ever think about dressing for the climate?” Ah, that must have been Kimble, the medic.

“I see nothing wrong with the way I’m dressed, Doc,” she said primly, “especially considering what we’re up against.”

“Yeah, about that… are you really serious? Wasn’t that fun trip on Dromund Kaas enough?”

“I’m not forcing anyone to come along. You can all stay on the shuttle if you prefer.”

“Please tell me she’s joking.” Kimble—or rather Doc apparently—seemed to be directing that comment to the rest of the crew emerging from the shuttle.

“Apparently not,” Kira’s voice drifted back.

“You all talk too much.” The imposing figure of a Pureblood Sith strode out from the shuttle, not seeming to notice that Doc had to dodge out of the way. “If you did not wish to come you should have not left Carrick Station.”

“Thank you, Scourge,” Highwind said airily.

“You’re taking his side?”

“No,” her tone sounded a little strained, “but I was the one who agreed to this mission in the middle of our rest time. It’s understandable if you’d rather relax rather than—”

“You are impossible,” Doc’s voice sounded aggrieved. “Please back me up on this, Kira.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that.”

“Master Jedi, if we leave these two here we should achieve a 3.07% increase in efficiency by lack of complaining.”

“No one asked you, Rusk!”

“Welcome to Korriban,” Theron said loudly, feeling a slight thrill of satisfaction when he saw Highwind jump ever so slightly on the holocam feed. “Enjoying the view?”

“Ready to get started,” she said, and he was pretty sure by the way she looked at each member of her crew that she was giving them some sort of silent rebuke. “What’s the situation?”

“Well,” he said casually, “Wave One managed to soften the Imps up some, but there’s still a lot of ground to cover.”

“How far is the Sith Academy?”

“See that big structure off in the distance?”

“You mean the giant pyramid dominating the horizon—yes. It’s a bit hard to miss.”

“That’s where you’re headed. Just… a bit of a walk to get there. You’ll have to cross the Wilds before you enter the Valley of the Dark Lords. And probably a few of said dark lords on the way.”

Theron heard an intake of breath as Kira stepped in closer to her Master. “Those are some unhappy Sith. This isn’t going to be easy.”

“No,” Highwind agreed quietly, “but that hasn’t stopped us before.”

“Good luck,” Theron intoned. “I’ll be in touch.”

He muted his mic, and toned down the volume on her feed so that he could monitor the chatter on this end a little better. Darok watched as Highwind, her crew, as well as their backup squad began to make their way down the cliffside towards the long expanse separating them from the Academy.

The static view from the holocam wasn’t perfect, but it was the best they could do until the strike team could reach a data node and Theron could get some hooks into the Academy’s systems. Another wave of fighters raced overhead, dropping another round of bombs that kicked up debris and so much dirt into the air the visual was obscured for several long seconds. He heard the hiss of a lightsaber being activated over his auditory feed, and turned it down as it quickly descended into a deafening cacophony as the strike team engaged with resistance on the ground.

The dust began to clear on their visual feed, revealing the battle raging in the valley below. Their teams were hardly distinguishable specks from the distance, and from the hazy image it was almost impossible to tell their people apart from the enemy. Except for one caped figure, whirling around faster than humanly possible.

She leapt to and fro, twin violet blades twirling almost as if she were in a dance. She cut through the swathes of enemies as if she were parting water, cape whipping behind her. The rest of her team moved around her in sync, filling in the gaps in each other’s defenses like it had been choreographed beforehand. They quickly gained ground, the commanders of the Imperial ground resistance falling one-by-one. It was almost mesmerizing in its own way.

He didn’t realize he’d been watching quite so intently, or quite so long, until he heard Darok mutter next to him. “You ever seen anything like that?”

Theron had seen Jedi fight, he himself had gone toe-to-toe with members of the Dark Council and lived to tell the tale. But even from a distance, he could tell that what they were witnessing was in a class all of its own. “No.”

“There’s more to that one than first glance.”

For probably the first time since they met, Darok and Theron could agree wholeheartedly on something.

The strike team passed out of view as they ducked through a canyon, and Theron resumed monitoring their progress from one of the GPS on the sketchy Korriban map. A quick visual report from one of Darok’s pilots confirmed more resistance ahead that they were going to have to cut through. Without a visual to back them up, Darok and Theron were both left to monitoring their other various feeds.

He paced the room, listening to the distant echoes of blaster fire and lightsabers clashing over the comm. There was the occasional bit of chatter from her team that drifted through, but Highwind remained quiet other than directing the way or a quick order sent to her crew or Darok’s men that were trailing behind in the path they were forging.

Theron kept an eye on the chrono, the ever-present countdown to their closing window lurking in the back of his mind. They were making good progress, honestly, faster than he had expected. Although, he wasn’t sure exactly what he had been expecting from all of this, but after witnessing the impressive display of combat skills earlier, it hadn’t been that.

The distinctive hum of her lightsaber disappeared with a swish as she deactivated it, and for a moment, there was almost silence on the other end. The lack of noise itself was almost deafening in its own way. Then there was something soft, like a voice in the distance. Next to him he saw Darok’s normal stony expression descend into a frown, and he dialed up the volume on his feed to listen in.

“We need to keep moving—”

“Your armor—you’re with the Republic aren’t you? Please, you must help us!”

The desperate cry barely registered over the sound of boots crunching on the rocky gravel. It was hard to believe that such a small woman could make so much noise as she was walking.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? That’s not why we’re here.” It was the voice of one of Darok’s men, the lieutenant. “We’re not here to hurt you, I promise. Just… try to keep your heads down, all right?”

The heavy footfalls stopped, and he heard Highwind speak. Although it wasn’t with the quiet exasperation she had used with her crew earlier, but the same tone that she had used when she was sizing up Darok earlier. “What’s going on?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Darok muttered, clearly irritated with the delay. “Why have you stopped, Bickell?”

“Got a whole mess of slaves here.” The conflict in the lieutenant’s tone was audible even through the earpiece. “As much as I wish we could do something for them, we can’t. There’s no time.”

“There’s always time,” Highwind said without hesitation, conviction ringing clear in her tone.

“But this op is strictly smash-and-grab. We could risk the whole mission if we pull them out!”

“We can’t leave them behind, Lieutenant.”

“But our orders—”

“Are to secure my retreat, which you have done admirably.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Do whatever it takes—just get them out of here.”

“Shan,” Darok practically snarled, “get a handle on your Jedi! Now.”

Theron glowered at the taller man, for a few long moments thinking of a few ways to knock a little air out of the windbag standing next to him. He managed to wrangle his irritation, as he always did, and shove it deep down as he unmuted his mic.

“Hey there,” he said, the annoyance still simmering just beneath the surface, and possibly leaking into his tone.

“Theron,” she returned, “what’s going on?”

“I was about to ask the same thing. You do remember that this is an extraction mission, not a rescue operation, don’t you?”

“It can be both.”

“And if you send Bickell and the others back, who’s going to secure your retreat?”

“I’ll figure something out,” she said confidently.

He pressed his lips into a thin line as Darok let out a loud snort. Apparently Bickell’s mic was picking up her reply well enough for him to hear. He shut his eyes briefly, gathering the fraying threads of his patience together.

“No one deserves this, Theron,” she said. Although her mic still picked up her voice clearly, from softness in her tone, she had dropped it as if she was trying to talk to just him. “You know how the Empire treats slaves—especially the Sith. Tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing if you were here.”

He wanted to tell her just that, and get her to focus back on the entire point of this mission, on the larger picture. Except that would be a bit hypocritical, considering that he’d nearly gotten his entire career sidelined after accidentally trashing an SIS operation on Nar Shadaa a few years back as he’d refused to let several soldiers be sold into slavery. It had all worked out in the end, but that was beside the point.

“You don’t know me,” he said tersely.

“Tell her that we don’t have time to be rescuing every slave on Korriban,” Darok spat.

Before Theron could even open his mouth to relay the message, her voice filled his ear again, backed with that same steely resolve he was starting to recognize. “I don’t particularly care for the Colonel’s tone.”

Apparently Theron’s mic was more sensitive than he gave it credit for. Perhaps it was possible to tweak equipment a little too well.

“Uh oh,” Doc’s voice drifted through the earpiece, “she’s got that look in her eye.”

“Something tells me I’m glad I’m not hearing what’s going on back on Carrick Station,” Kira agreed.

“You know we can’t spare the men,” Theron finally said.

“Fine.” Her Jedi calm didn’t break, but he could hear the repressed emotion beginning leak into her voice. “We’ll split the difference. My crew will lead them back.”

“Yeah, we’ll—wait, come again?” That was Doc.

“Doc and Rusk will escort them back to the shuttle safely. They’re fully capable.”

“You know it is foolish to split our forces this way, Jedi. Especially over slaves.” The deep tone of Lord Scourge picked up. “There are still many Sith crawling in this valley.”

“These people need our help, Scourge.”

“One day you are going to get us all killed with your pointless compassion.”

“Today will not be that day for you, thankfully, since you’ll be helping them. In case they encounter any of those Sith that you mentioned.”

There was a long silence on the other end, and Theron really wished he had a visual to see exactly what was going down, but even he could feel the tension crackling over the distance. He crossed his arms, and was contemplating breaking the silence when he finally heard a grunt of acknowledgement.

“Hey, gorgeous,” Doc’s voice dropped into Highwind’s, and therefore Theron’s ear, barely a whisper, “do you really think this is wise? Scourge is likely to spear one of them with his lightsaber if they annoy him.”

“That’s why I’m sending you,” she whispered back, “I know you’ll take care of them.”

“I’m always the dashing hero.”

“That’s what I’m counting on.”

“Watch your back in there,” Doc said, the trailing quality of his voice indicating that he was moving away.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Kira called back.

“This distraction has wasted enough of our time.” Darok didn’t exactly snarl, but there was an unrestrained annoyance coloring his tone. “Is she on the way to the Academy, or has she forgotten the reason they’re there?”

“If Colonel Darok wishes to board a shuttle to Korriban and take over this mission personally, he is welcome to,” Highwind said airily. “Otherwise I would suggest that he calm down before he gives himself a stroke.”

Theron felt his lips twitch, and managed to cover the grin with his hand before the burly man next to him saw. It took him an extra moment to smother his mirth completely, and more diplomatically than he ever thought possibly he told Darok, “She’s headed that way now.”

That earned a tight nod before the colonel turned back to his battle plans on the holotable. Theron continued to pace, the only thing he could do to expend his nervous energy. Usually in a situation like this he’d be out there doing his part, not playing games of holophone between Jedi and the military. Stars, he missed field work.

“Now, Theron, that’s not what I said.” If he didn’t know better, he would have thought that he heard a faint trace of amusement.

He wandered over to the section of the holotable that had the reconstructed plans leading to the temple. He pitched his voice low as he replied, not really wanting Darok to overhear. “I’m trying out some of that famous Jedi diplomacy.”

“There’s a difference between diplomacy and lying.”

“It’s diplomacy if you’re headed that way,” he tossed back. “So don’t make a liar out of me now.”

He was pretty sure he was imagining the sound of a resigned sigh over his earpiece. “Diplomacy it is.”

“Good.”

Theron enlarged the holographic view of the map, studying the path they would have to weave before even reaching the Academy’s front doors. They still had a long way to go, the numbers on their strike team had just been halved by the impromptu rescue mission, and their window to escape was shrinking by the minute. Hopefully Darok had been right in his assessment earlier and there was more to this Jedi than met the eye. Theron had a feeling she was going to need more than just some very fancy lightsaber skills before all of this was said and done.

Next Chapter

#swtor fanfiction #theron shan x jedi knight #Theron Shan #Female Jedi Knight/Hero of Tython #oc: greyias highwind #otp: adorkable #smoke and mirrors #SoR Fic O Doom #fanfic #greyfic #i battled a storm to bring you this chapter on thursday #literally it knocked out my power right as i was putting this together

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etsybusiness3 · 4 years

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How to Offer on Etsy

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Do you think you're a crafter who may have questioned how to sell on Etsy? Many people from the crafting environment have listened to of Etsy, but not everybody knows how you can promote on a web based marketplace like Etsy. Marketing productively on Etsy requires a little bit exercise and know-how. A typical miscalculation that just about each and every "newbie" can make will be to imagine that simply because you arrange a shop on Etsy, the shoppers are going to come flocking! That may be far from the situation. Discovering the best way to provide on Etsy will take some trial and error and a fantastic comprehending of how world-wide-web marketplaces for crafts and arts operate. pinterest ads

It is extremely typical for a novice seller to create their brand new store, full of hope and enthusiasm, only to discover that weeks and months pass by without having just one sale. The vendor gets to be discouraged, and allows the shop languish, and eventually quits. But this doesn't really need to take place! It truly is feasible to do well on Etsy. But like all items it requires labor as well as a willingness to learn.

You will find 5 strategies to offering on Etsy that every new vendor who wants to achieve success should learn: photos, tagging, pricing, descriptions, and promotion. Master these 5 secrets and place them into practice, and you simply will see a substantial boost in visitors to your Etsy store, as well as in time, far more gross sales in addition.

1st and foremost, are your photos very good ample? Most often, the solution isn't any. Regardless if you may have labored challenging on your photographs, chances are they're not excellent enough. Take a look at the entrance webpage of Etsy. Have a look at the crisp, crystal clear, vibrant eye-catching, qualified seeking images in those entrance page featured photographs. Those photographs had been taken by average sellers with little electronic position and shoot cameras. The primary difference is, successful sellers learn how to utilize the Macro setting (the minor flower button) on their own electronic cameras to acquire ultra pack up pictures in their wares. They learn how to phase their items in thoroughly clean, uncluttered, subtle configurations these types of as towards rocks, or on a bit of wooden, or most often, in the uncomplicated gentle box. (you should purchase a straightforward light box set that features the box, colored backgrounds, two photography lights, plus a smaller tripod, for not considerably dollars on Ebay, and it'll be the ideal expenditure you at any time make in the business.)

Profitable sellers also understand how to tinker with their photographs to create them helpful marketing tools. Each vendor, to be successful has got to learn how to use some form of photo modifying software package. Photoshop is among the most typical but Picasa is free and straightforward to discover. Cropping is the most critical phase. Pull your item suitable approximately fill the entire display. Get rid of blank place about it. Then sharpen the impression and enjoy using the fill light and highlights and saturation and distinction till your image pops. Export it while in the suitable file dimensions for Etsy (approximately 2 mb) and you also are ready. Shots must be cropped square due to the fact that's what appears to the Etsy listings. Good images get you into treasuries, which can be collections of twelve objects chosen by other sellers. Treasuries get seen by plenty of sellers and buyers, so having Treasury-worthy pics is vital in your Etsy achievements.

Second will come tagging. Tagging indicates choosing key phrases which can be the phrases that prospects will key in for his or her queries in Etsy, and in Google. You get fourteen tags in Etsy, and effective sellers rely on them all. Tagging can be a little bit of an art kind and normally takes apply. Ensure to consult with the "From the Merch Desk" monthly blog article on Etsy, which informs sellers of the coming seasons coloration and elegance traits and indicates tagging conditions.

Third, pricing. Pricing is hard. Price tag much too significant and customers will flee. Selling price as well low and shoppers will never get you significantly. Look at your competitors---the sellers selling products extremely equivalent to yours. Purpose for the typical typical of all those prices....after which you can go bigger. Here would be the key of pricing on Etsy: if you want extra profits elevate your prices. It can be the psychology of the handmade market. When you selling price your merchandise a tad greater, they have got an impact of value. Also, have got a few items with quite superior charges. Individuals make all the things else search "reasonable," and buyer-friendly.

Fourth, descriptions ought to be complete. Remember that consumers can't get and cope with your item. They can not talk to you thoughts directly. And that means you description must solution all of their inquiries. What's the dimensions? The color? The shape? The texture? Do you know the precise dimensions, and can they be assorted? What are its uses? If it truly is jewellery, could it be superior for daytime or evening, or each? Which are the materials? Exactly where did they originate from? How were being they handled? Could it be a resilient or fragile merchandise?

Further than all these factual elements, while, it truly is great to tell a tale. What encouraged you to definitely develop the merchandise? What thoughts does it evoke? Where did it come from? How will you imagine it becoming employed? Folks adore a good story, so explain to a person right here.

Very last of all, boost. Even when you do the four things mentioned earlier mentioned to perfection, it is not likely that the shop will increase with out marketing. You should get your store identify out to some vast viewers. You'll want to generate your "brand." You'll find paid out and totally free approaches to do this. The absolutely free methods include things like creating a Fb Lover Webpage and actively trying to find admirers, and developing a Twitter account and regularly tweeting regarding your work and enterprise. Commencing a blog site is an important strategy to establish your manufacturer and obtain exposure. Listing your enterprise on free of charge craft company directories like Unanimous Craft is useful. Also, collaborating enthusiastically on Etsy's have forums and teams provides you into get hold of using a extensive array of other sellers, who're also prospective buyers (and friends and people of possible buyers). If you sell jewellery, use your jewellery all over the place you go and often carry your organization cards. Set your enterprise inside the regional phone book and Google small business directory.

One of the best tips on how to advertise your enterprise will be to engage in big on the internet forums and blogs similar to your craft. By posting comments and contributions generally, you create many hundreds of back links back on your business enterprise web site, and make your shop visible to every one of the readers of these boards and blogs. Try to remember, those audience are previously intrigued in your product, for the reason that they manufactured the trouble to come back to that specialised site while in the to start with spot.

Paid promotions involve buying advertising on weblogs, or acquiring adverts on Facebook or Google AdWords. It can also be powerful to pay for for promotional places (typically called "booths") at on-line craft marketplaces these types of as HandmadeCraftshow.com. In exchange to the money, you have the extra Facebook, Twitter and blog site postings which the web site does on the everyday basis, likewise to be a more compact location with much less opposition for the customer's notice.

Focus on these five aspects of creating your Etsy enterprise, as well as in time you are going to see your visitors and also your income mature. Do not forget that it will take time to develop an Etsy enterprise. There is certainly commonly no this kind of thing as overnight Etsy success! But with work and perseverance, in addition to a nutritious dose of endurance, you can also discover the way to market on Etsy.

References Etsy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etsy

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soshik · 4 years

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Letter to My 30-Year-Old Self

The year has almost come to an end and like each year I do a WHOLE lot of self reflecting. Those 2am thoughts, and late night showers hit different during those cold winter nights in December. I don’t even know where to begin... but as I lay here, I’m writing this letter with hopes of manifesting a better ending and new beginning as I move into my 30th Chapter of this thing called life. Each year we’re given a chance to start over. Would I change a thing? As of right now, I wouldn’t. Do I have any regrets? Not really but apart of me feels like I should. A part of me feels like I could have done things differently. Can I change what has happened? No, so why dwell on something that’s already been written. So with that being said, I’m turning the pages and moving into a new realm. This time I will be my own narrator and take control of my own pen. Every year is a 365 day journey of growing, learning and turning. Read along while I turn the pages.

As you know, each year strings along many lessons, but specific lessons always seem to carry on into the next Chapter. Which is why I decided to write to you, my 30 year old self. I remember creating this outlet when you were 25 and the idea of writing to myself seemed so absurd. But at the time you needed a source of inspiration, you yearned for truth and couldn’t find that in the places you were looking, so I decided that self-seeking would help you find the answers. I had hope that you would one day look back and see how much you’ve discovered and how much you’ve changed. Well since then, a lot has changed and you’re steps further than where you began. You’ve come so far on your journey yet it seems like you still have so far to go. Keep going. You’ve adapted to a whole new life that isn’t quite the idea life you had in mind. You’ve learned how to navigate through the world by yourself but don’t get lost along the way. Pay more attention to the signs and you’ won’t be steered in the wrong direction. You also must remember that people aren’t Islands and we’re not meant to be by ourselves. We’re supposed to be surrounded by the ones we love and who loves us. Spend more time with your family and friends. Maybe even consider the idea of creating your own family tree and give more thought to marriage. Although it doesn’t hold much value to you, it is a union that brings two or more people together and that alone is an enough reason to stand by the idea.

Remember when you used to be this hopeless romantic? Pain and heart break definitely changes people and although your idea of love has been distorted... Learn how to love again. Read, learn, and write more about vulnerability. You’ve been speaking on this for years yet still haven’t mastered the art. I’m here to tell you that it’s due to fear. Fear of getting hurt, fear of judgement or rejection. Either way, it is time to let your guard down and let someone in. I know you’ve tried and they all failed but dust yourself off and try again. Dust settles, you don’t. You are deserving of love. This will be your biggest task for your 30 year old self so do not lose sight of it. Right now you’ve picked up two bad habits thats done more harm than good. If you aren’t puffing on a hookah, you’re consuming a massive amount of meats and bad carbs. It’s interfering with your health and in the long run, you’ll notice the affects. Ditch them all. Go cold turkey! Your 35 year old self will thank you. Veganism and a plant based high alkaline lifestyle is what you should be moving into. You already have the knowledge and discipline along with a lot of teachings from many herbalist and healers. It’s in you.

What did I learn the most about this year? You are stronger than you ever knew. This year was a challenge for you but you still remain undefeated. You had to fight your toughest battles. Your biggest conquerors were living in your truth, speaking up for yourself and being transparent about who you are and simply not giving a fuck about what people thought of you. I commend you for reaching a new level of consciousness. You stuck up for yourself and raised your voice a little louder for the people in the back. You spoke volumes.

You’ve already discovered the importance of physical and mental health, personal self - care and your career choice. Let’s focus more energy into those things. Keep in mind that awareness is key 🔑. As I take a look back, I realize that all of those things are connected and if one isn’t fulfilled, there will be a disconnect to the rest. You have to stay well round and keep your balance. I have to give it to you for living with no expectations this year. Less disappoints, more acceptance. You told yourself that by the time you turn 30, you would have taken over the world by now. As you can see, the whole world still awaits and you’ve only gotten a few towns further. You’ve accepted that life isn’t always what you expect it to be and things aren’t going to come when you want them too which means you’re a step closer and that’s all that matter. Your hidden treasure awaits. Pay close attention to the omens that God sends throughout your journey. Continue to meditate and envision that life you desire. You know the secret.

By your 30th birthday, you should have opened your store on Eastway. Don’t stress. It will grow into something much greater with purpose, by purpose, on purpose for purpose. You’re currently putting together a Coat Drive to give back to the community and this will be the motivation you need to push you towards your next goal. You spent years working for others, with hopes of finding your own niche and vision. Well I think you’ve found it. 30 is the perfect age to bring all of it together and shine light on yourself. Unfortunately you may have to step on some toes and disappoint a few people but always do what’s best for you first. The most successful people are where they are because they don’t worry about what other people are doing. I just thought I’d remind you. I know a lot of this sounds familiar and bit cliché but you have to remind yourself over and over until the truth sets you free. The time is coming. You’re closer. Try to prioritize spending money next year and save save save. Matter of fact save every $5 bill that you come across and do not spend it. Use the money at the end of the year to take a vacation. You are going to need it because 2020, you’re going to be booked and busy. Also while you’re working hard, don’t forget to make time for yourself. Health is wealth. Take care of yourself first.

Networking and public speaking is something you really have to focus on next year. You might be more of an introvert these days and not want to meet new professionals, but suck it up buttercup. It's a skill that you will only improve with practice. Connect with people who are older and wiser, even with your parents who you rarely get to see or speak with. Talk about how life was before you can remember, like growing up in foster care, or your Mom college experience or your Dad growing up in New York during the 70s or 80s. Embrace the details of their story because it becomes a part of your story. Think of it as recollections. Those details are part of the reason why you are who you are today. These are simple task that comes to mind but no pressure. You will grow into the person you desire to become. You’re destined for greatness. I already see the willingness to change and the improvements. I’m so proud of you already. Here’s some things to focus on as we roll into those 30 somethings:

1. Continue to question everything and believe in what you see and not what you hear.

2. Stop acting like you’re never wrong and always right. You’re Not!

3. Don't settle. Career...Marriage...Where you live. Don't settle for anything less than what you truly desire.

4. Exercise. Drink water. Read. Sleep. Call your family more.

5. Don't put all your energy into superficial relationships. Quality over quantity. Focus on the bonds with the people who really get you.

6. Say yes to as many new experiences and opportunities as you possibly can.

7. Don't apologize for saying what you feel and being who you are. #SorryNotSorry

8. Just wear the fucking bikini and snap a few pictures while you’re at it. Don’t forget to frame it.

9. Broken hearts DO heal in time. It will pass.

10. Focus on becoming the best version of yourself, smile more, abandon your ego, and live your best life.

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mr-entj · 5 years

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Can you talk about the quality(ies) or trait(s) that contributed most to your success? I read about your adversity and I want to know what is your personal mindset of getting through those challenges.

Combined with the following asks:

Hello, Mr. ENTJ. Have you ever been depressed? How did you manage to come out of the rut and find the will to live on? I realize that this is a personal question, and you don’t really have to answer but it’d help in understanding different paradigms and help someone who else who is struggling. Thank You