Tumgik
#not to toot my own horn or anything but I made magic here
demonproofboi · 1 month
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
S: It's not just about eating, it's about the experience! A: That's how the best memories are made.
225 notes · View notes
Note
AWE YEAH ITS SSSSO SILLy!
I was new to my school last year, and from the moment I showed up, he hated me. He immediately asked me what I played, and when I told him both alto and bari sax, he got mad, and said "ugh, why can't you play trombone?!"
I don't like tooting my own horn, but I am a good player. I started playing in 6th grade, made my county's honor band in 7th grade, got straight superiors on my groups ensemble for the solo and ensemble thingy majig in 7th grade, and was too scared to do ANYTHING in 8th, which is the year I had him. I know what I'm doing when I'm given my instrument, and I am an advanced player. I know that, but I hate saying it.
I told him all of this. I prepared a piece of music to play for him and show him my skill set. I wanted us to have a decent relationship, as music is so very important in my life. I wanted the harder parts of the music.
I was picked on by my bandmates for that piece, coz some little dirt bag kid questioned my abilities...ON MY FIRST DAY, and I layed into him. The whole class laughed. It sucked.
He took the prepared music and mocked me for it, joking about how "oh no, pansy isn't here, guess SHE can't play it for us." He would call me out in front of the class for messing up on something. He knew the other band members would pick on me and mock me for my style, and my hair, and and and. He saw it happen. He never did a thing.
I would play something perfectly for him? He'd roll his eyes and move on to his favorite students, and praise them for their every move. He pulled me aside once, and told me to not be so...distracting when I play.
When I play, the music takes hold of me. I sway with it. On crescendos, I rise a bit to help show shaping. I dance when I play.
I wasn't allowed to do that.
My music felt dull, and lifeless.
My current band teacher couldn't be any more different! He is wonderful! He has told me PERSONALLY, multiple times, that I have a talent. He uses me for demonstrations. The first compliment on my music from a teacher in over a year was from him. You know what he told me?
"Pansy? That was one of the best tone qualities I have ever heard. That's a hard note for an alto, and you played it beautifully. Well done. I'm very proud of you!"
I had a whole stim attack. It was magical. He has never doubted my playing abilities once, and I have grown much more in 3 months than I did in that whole year with the other guy.
I almost quit band because of him. But I found joy in my music and my instrument again. I found a band that accepts me for me, and sees me as a member.
ANY WHOOOOO THANK YOU FOR READING THAT SILLY THING AHAHHA
That first band teacher can feel my wrath I am SHAKING with frustration at this dickhead
new band teacher has my seal of approval tbh :)
2 notes · View notes
capillaryspice · 2 years
Text
Ok so ive been seeing a lot of Harry Potter bashing lately (deservedly) and while it's at the forefront of my brain I've got a bit of a rant to go on that I haven't really ever voiced before. Like it ain't transphobia related or anything, literally just how it's a badly written series
Like listen, as a kid I read them and enjoyed them like every other 90s-born child, but JKR is, among other things, a shit writer that just does NOT think things through. I don't even fully know how to adequately explain how much her crap worldbuilding affected the way I consider the weight of everything I create in my own writing (and dnd campaigns) because I learned in my formative years how much things can affect a world by simply existing, and the Harry Potter universe is a prime example of that done horrendously wrong
This is not me tooting my own anti-bandwagon horn here, but legitimately I stopped enjoying the books waaaaaaayyyyy before there was even a whisper of the gay-dumbledore drama on the winds. Why? Because even as a very young adult I was SO fucking aggravated by the amount of shit that just. Happens. Or simply Exists. With no consequences. Everybody has the argument of "what if they just had guns?" but I'd like to present an opposite argument: the fact that SO MUCH UNIVERSE ALTERING SHIT just EXISTS in this universe that's way more powerful than guns that just really has no effect on the world at large (even the "secret wizarding world") that it was always enormously baffling to me that the main antagonist is even an issue at all.
Time turner? Hello???? Fucking time travel and get this shit over with. Liquid luck? How far does that extend? It's difficult to make, but a highschool professor can make it, so it's clearly not an unobtainable commodity for anyone relatively intelligent or wealthy. How does its existence affect the world? Is it illegal? Restricted? If so, why or why not? Does it really guarantee a success in ANYTHING? If so, why waste it on getting some fucking memories instead of, oh I dunno, using it to permanently kill ol slit-nose? Making an item that could just locate all his horcruxes? Make a magic homing-nuke for him?????
How about the creation of sentient creatures? Y'all give paintings personality, made a car that clearly has opinions, and a fucking mini-dragon just for drama. What are the ethics of that shit? Speaking of dragons, how the absolute FUCK do you keep regular people from discovering absolutely massive magical creatures?
Book one- philosophers stone. Rock that gives you immortality. Was it fought over? Are elixirs of life rare? I'd fucking assume so since it's never talked about after the first book, but also after the first book it's nEVER FUCKING TALKED ABOUT??! THIS IS AN IMMORTALITY AND GOLD CREATING SUBSTANCE, AND YOURE JUST. KEEPING IT IN A SCHOOL. OR SHIPPING IT OFF TO WHEREVER THEY KEPT IT AFTER THAT (don't remember, which is quite frankly a bad sign lmao), regardless, there's just a dude who can MAKE THEM, and no doctors have tried to get him to talk? Corrupt politicians? Monarchs?? Joe from accounting whose wife is terminally ill?? This is a KNOWN OF THING and it's just never fucking addressed beyond "oh, well the crazy bad guy wants it in this book so I guess he's the ONLY issue with the existence of this world-breaking thing, let's create a puzzle in front of it that even a few 11 year olds can solve, that'll stop him!"
How about the random Super Important Characters And Plot Points that just fucking. Appear when they're suddenly needed even if we've never heard them before (even if we absolutely should have)
I'm absolutely missing more things, I literally haven't touched the series in over a decade to remember, but these are just a FEW of the things that drive me crazy to this day. Like, obviously I know the answer to these questions are just "JKR didnt plan for where the series was going and just randomly went "oh this would be cool" and didnt think about the ramifications of any of the aforementioned cool things" to the point where even a fucking child could go "this is flawed, full of holes, and doesn't make sense"
Do y'all have anything I missed that drive u crazy about a magic thing that should have had serious ramifications existing? I can't be the only one
Anyway that's my little rant. But yeah, they should've just used a gun
69 notes · View notes
vidalinav · 3 years
Text
Nesta’s Characterization **Spoilers for ACOSF
Unpopular opinion, but I loved how normal Nesta was as a character and that this book was written about 75% to be about the day to day of Nesta’s life. I’m telling you it gave me Studio Ghibli vibes. Like falling love with everyday life and that routine, but also with this normalcy of magic.
I know a lot of people will not like Nesta not being angry or losing a lot of that fieryness. And at some points I can understand especially near the end. But the end has a lot of problems altogether, so I take that with a grain of salt. I didn’t really think she lost a lot of that cleverness or wittiness or that I give no fucks attitude. She’s always been an I will die for my family and the people I love type of person. Which she shows again as she did in ACOWAR. This is the girl who said “I don’t care about me” in ACOWAR when Feyre was like okay I can take you home if you feel unsafe or whatever. I was not surprised at all that she had such self-hatred. But I do think her personality looks shifted, because it’s Nesta’s POV. I’m frankly glad that we get to see that Nesta is very emotional like Feyre had said in ACOMAF. I don’t know if any of us really thought that her anger for the world and that bitchiness and I don’t mean in a bad way would be her final form when it seemed to have always been a shield for her. She wanted to starve to death, she was pointedly vindictive, like she was not mentally healthy. I’ve written so many analyses of Nesta’s character that I’m glad that I was right lol (Not to toot my own horn-but that do not come for me post--that was me and I was right). Does that mean I like everything with her and the IC? No, not necessarily. At some points I thought some characters were too harsh for a long time and some characters had a problem in the beginning that they didn’t in the end, some of it was too easy, some too hard. I feel like there was a bit of holes in the story, which was my main issue with this book. But Nesta herself was not an issue to me at all. 
I loved Nesta’s characterization as being soft but never having the ability or opportunity to show that and being able to show it with those she makes meaningful relationships with. She’s Cassian’s mate the guy who perpetually puts himself down. Like calls to Like guys. They match fire by fire, insult for insult, love for love, and this insecurity equally. I don’t feel that she’s OOC and I don’t think she’s any less powerful by being less scared of the world. She was a traumatized person, a survivor of assault, so many things happened to her and it was too much and she needed to learn to live again.
That being said, I love that: 
1. She is clumsy at first. Falling down stairs must have hurt but it was funny.
2. She eats a lot and loves cake
3. She’s obsessed with smutty romances
4. She is so out of shape for most of this book and is so sore the entire time. I thought that was funny. Pelaton instructor Cassian FTW
5. She is very curious. She asks so many questions and never shy's away.
6. She’s very caring and sweet but also conniving, because she knows how to manipulate people in soft ways. I don’t know how to word that. But getting the priestesses to fight, Emerie, etc. 
7. She likes playing the game and is good at showing people what they want, not showing that things bother her so she’s able to be that seducer, that prize you can never have. (Ie. Eris, Lanthys, etc.)
8. She does not give up and inspires others to not give up. She’s stubborn in that way. 
9. She has very good opinions of people, granted she needs to know them first and kind of let her guard down, but once that happens she’s like you’re the best person ever Cassian (paraphrasing). Gwyn and Emerie my best friends forever, so caring and nice. I’m undeserving of all of these people. 
10. She’s affectionate--she hugs Azriel, she wants to cuddle after sex lol 
11. She’s very open about sex. I really liked that part that she wasn’t ashamed or anything. That she was very like well I want it lol, I wanted it then, I want it now, Cassian is here, we tease each other anyway, why the hell not? 
12. I love that she charms almost everything. Fantasia vibes. She made friends with a house. 
13. She wants people to believe the best in her. That she’s good. (of course she has to believe this in herself, but she gets there)
14. She’s scared of a lot of things. She’s inexperienced. It’s very normal. She’s got a lot of power she doesn’t know how to use, but despite this, she’ll do what must be done and she almost seems to learn to enjoy it. Like it becomes her. 
But anyways, this is just a small list. And these are all things we knew of her, her stubbornness, her love for smut, her care for people that cannot help themselves, her cleverness but they’re shown in a slightly different way from Nesta and Cassian’s POV, and I really liked how Nesta turned out to be. 
IMO
324 notes · View notes
miastideclock · 3 years
Text
Stray Kids Reaction To Their S/O Being Shy About Their Singing-Talents
anon asked:
Can you do stray kids reaction to their s/o being a good rapper and singer but they get shy and have low confidence? - 🐻💙
Of course love! I hope you like it x So sorry for the wait! While we're here, I just wanna say I'm sorry for the length difference of the individual reactions! * y/n/n is what i use for your nickname btw
Word Count: 3.5k-ish
Bang Chan
Silence. At least for the most part. You clicking the keyboard of your computer, Chan humming slightly as he clicked around on his own, as well as twisting and turning the dials on his audio mixer, connected to said computer. The sounds had sort of blended into the silence though, so neither of you really noticed it at this point.
A click louder than all of the others soon came from Chan's computer, meaning he was going to connect his progress to the speakers of his studio, so he could fully take in the track he was working on. He had played it what seemed like a million times already, but you didn't mind. You were already so phased out that he could be announcing the break up of Stray Kids', and you honestly wouldn't even catch it.
The familiar beat of their upcoming title track boomed through the speakers, and as if on autopilot, you sang along. You had heard the beginning of that very song so many times now, the lyrics were as good as engraved into the inside of your eyelids.
Once the first verse and chorus were over, the song stopped, as did you. It was when the song didn't play again you finally snapped out of your computer-trance. You shifted your eyes from the screen over to your boyfriend who was sitting on the other side of the room.
"Y/n."
You then realized you had been singing along, and probably not as quiet as you had thought. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to distract you. I'll keep quiet." You quickly apologized.
You were hanging out with your boyfriend, yes- but he was still at work, and you'd hate to be the reason for him switching out of his creative-mode.
"No! No, no, don't worry. You're just so good? How come I have never heard you sing before?" Chan grinned as he turned his spinny-chair to face you and fell back into it, looking at you with admiration.
You had been sitting on the floor with your back against the seat of the couch, so the coffee table by the mentioned couch had your laptop at shoulder-height, meaning you had to close the screen of your computer to see your boyfriend. Once you had done so, you moved your hands up to your face, covering your cheeks.
"I don't like the attention. I hate it when people look at me like- exactly like you're doing now, stop!" You giggled when Chan leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He decided to mess around with you and started staring you down. You laughed and begged him to stop, but the more you did, the more intensely he stared at you- until he eventually cracked, sending you both into fits of laughter.
Tumblr media
Lee Know
"First things first rest in peace Uncle Phil."
The music blared from your headphones straight into your head, being the only thing keeping you motivated as you did some housework. Seeing as you were mopping when the J.Cole song started playing, you figured the handle would prove to be the perfect microphone.
"For real, you the only father that I ever knew." You continued, singing and rapping along while shaking your butt and cleaning the floor. Maybe not the world's most efficient cleaning strategy, but my-oh-my did it get the job done.
Due to the loud volume in your headphones, you didn't hear the front door open and shut, as your boyfriend came home for the day.
Minho didn't even get the chance to put down his bag before his attention was completely wrapped around you having a concert in your living-room. He quickly recognized the song and let his head bob along to the beat, even though he could only hear you rapping, and not the song itself. He kicked off his shoes and placed his things on the ground before he slowly made his way into the living-room, doing a little boogie as he did so.
It wasn't until you finally turned around almost a minute later you saw your boyfriend joking around, dancing to your rapping. You instantly dropped the mop and let out a little scream as he startled you, covering your face with your hands once you saw it was just him.
"Minho! What are you doing?" You cried out in embarrassement after removing your headphones. Minho couldn't help but chuckle at you before he came closer and gave you a kiss-hello.
"Y/n, I never knew you had such voice-control! You've never rapped in front of me before, why?" He asked when he pulled away, his arms still wrapped around your waist, but his face a few inches away from yours.
"Because you're an actual rapper in an actual band!! That's like showing Michelangelo your drawing!" You argued back, a massive smile on your face. Minho then continued to shower you in compliments, making you hide your blushing face from him by burying it into his chest.
Tumblr media
Changbin
The kitchen had all kinds of different smells as you were stirring the pot of soup you had on the stove in front of you. The kitchen-window was open, letting in a fresh spring breeze, and the radio was playing a familiar song.
"Hold me close and hold me fast The magic spell you cast This is La Vie En Rose." You softly sang along, your body swaying back and forth to the tune. You continued to sing along as you used the wooden-spoon to stir around, making sure it didn't burn.
(bro, i think i fucked up my sOUP)
"Hey, Y/n/n." It suddenly came from the doorway to the kitchen, instantly causing you to stop singing and spin around. "Hi, Binnie." You gave him a smile and then turned back around, squeezing your eyes shut, only for a second- as if you were trying to erase the past ten seconds. You hoped the radio was louder than your voice, but that hope soon came crashing down.
"No, why'd you stop?" He asked as he placed a few sheets of paper on the table and continued over to you. You started smiling like an idiot for a second before you raised your hands to cover your face. Chanbin noticed and chuckled as he came up behind you and wrapped his arms around you. "Don't be shy!"
He then spun you around so you were facing him, but your hands still covered your face. This made Changbin just chuckle even more. He tried to jokingly pry your hands from your face, but you just shoved your head into his shoulder so he wouldn't be able to grab you properly. You either couldn't help but chuckle as you messed around, but quickly stopped once you remembered you were cooking.
You turned around to keep stirring your soup, Changbin never let go of you. "But tell me, why have I never heard you sing before when your voice is THAT good?" He asked, but you ignored him.
"For real?" He tried again, but you pretended he didn't say anything.
"Would you like some soup?" You asked him, turning slightly to look at him. He seemed amused, but he just nodded, accepting your choice of lunch.
Tumblr media
Hyunjin
Hot water poured down your back, the whole shower smelling like your body wash. You had just gotten back from a run and decided to clean up a bit before Hyunjin came back from work. So after getting out of your leggings and hoodie, you had grabbed your speaker and headed for the washroom.
Knowing Hyunjin wasn't home, you qued the best of the best from your playlist, getting ready to absolutely shred the imaginary rap battles you were about to have. Banger after banger played as you sang into your microphone. Your mic being an empty shampoo bottle you had yet to throw out.
You were mid-shampoo when Streets by Doja Cat played, and you almost slipped and fell while hurriedly reaching for your microphone.
"Damn, papi, you a rare breed, no comparing." You borderline yelled, as if you had just gotten out of a failed relationship where you still loved your partner, when in fact that wasn't your case at all. You were very much in love with your boyfriend, and you were on great terms- but for the sake of your rap battle, you had to get into it.
"When other chickens tryna get in my coop 'Cause you're a one in a million There ain't no man like you!" Not to toot your own horn or anything, but you could confidently say you absolutely bodied that verse, and you were soon let know you weren't the only one who thought so.
(I don't actually think he is the one to cuss, but this is simply because I cannot think of another way to say it, so for the lack of a better word:) "Fuck it up, baby!" You heard Hyunjin hype you up on the other side of the bathroom door, making your stomach drop for a second.
"You're not supposed to be home yet." You answered him after turning off the speaker, and the shower. You stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around you, then went to open the door.
"Well, I had to hurry home when I heard the rap God themselves was having a concert in our bathroom." Hyunjin chuckled once you opened the door with almost a shameful face. "Should I talk to JYP about getting you a rap-audition, or..?" He dragged out the last word, kind of he was taunting you, but in the most loving way possible. Feeling your cheeks grow hot, you closed the door back up and locked him out.
"I'm never leaving this bathroom." You announced as you covered your face, even though Hyunjin could no longer see you.
"Y/n/n, I was kidding! You were great though, I might actually talk to JY-" He started again, but you cut him off by groaning, causing the both of you to break out laughing.
Tumblr media
Han
Clicking of a pen. Gentle tapping of a foot. Frustrated hair ripping. You had seen these symptoms before- that's right, Jisung was in a slump.
You were at the studio with your boyfriend, and you were both seated in the sitting group, Jisung leaning his elbows on the table, head in his hands, tugging at his hair as if it would activate his creative juices. You had tagged along just to get out of the house, and maybe Jisung needed moral support, and wouldn't you have guessed- that was exactly what he needed.
"You good?" You asked him after he let out the umpteenth sigh in the past hour. He then finally confessed he just couldn't get the ending of the second verse down. "Why don't you sing it, so you can hear what's missing, rather than just reading it?"
He did as you suggested and sang through it. When he came to the part he was talking about, you also heard it. Something about it was just kinda.. off.
You tilted your head to the side as you were thinking of ways to better it, to try and help him. An idea popped into your head, and maybe it could work- after all you were no song writer. You tried your best to explain to Jisung what it was you were thinking, but about half-way through, you could see he was as lost as that one time Chan and Changbin had accidentally left the two of you behind at IKEA.
"I'm so sorry, babe. I don't fully understand what you mean." He confessed, and you nodded, knowing well that was him being sweet about the fact that you sucked at explaining things. So in the spirit of making it easier for him to understand, you just sang it. You sang through the song and added the part you had tried to explain.
"Did that make more sense?" You asked when you were done, looking from the sheet of paper up at your boyfriend, who was sat there, his lips slightly parted as his jaw hung lose. "Jisung? Babe?" You tried to snap him back to reality as it seemed he had zoned out, but only for a moment.
"Wait, that was so good? Since when were you that good?" Jisung suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree, smiling and almost bouncing in his seat. He continued to shower you in compliments, making you feel like a turtle trying to get back into its shell.
"Stop. If you ever mention me singing again, I will throw myself out the window." You said, both humor in your tone, and being dead serious at the same time.
"Okay, dramatic much?" Jisung joked back, making you shove his shoulder as you chuckled alongside him.
Tumblr media
Felix
A car zoomed past you as you walked on the pavement on the side of the road, admiring the spring at its full bloom. You were almost a bit disappointed when you reached your home as you wanted to continue to look at the flowers, but that thought soon fell right out of your head. As you walked up the staircase to your apartment, you heard a constant noise grow louder and louder. You were about to turn the key when you realized the noise was more rhythmic than you originally thought, and that the music was coming from inside your apartment.
Curiosity completely consumed your body when you finally opened the door, and was met with a wall of noise. You took a few steps in and shut the door behind you, protecting the outside world from the sight you had in front of you.
Felix was using a hairbrush as he jumped around both on the floor and in the couch, crying out the lyrics to a song you didn't quite recognize. You laughed at your boyfriend as you kicked off your shoes and hung your coat in the closet.
Felix finally spotted you and quickly pulled out his phone that was connected to the speakers, and changed the song. The familiar intro of your favorite song soon played, and it didn't take as much as a second before you were as hyped as Felix were. You began jumping around and dancing with him, matching his energy.
Felix screamed the lyrics into the hairbrush before he swiftly tossed you the brush, letting you pop off as well. You rapped the words perfectly into the brush, standing on the couch as your concert evolved.
The song eventually came to an end, causing the both of you to fall breathlessly to the ground, heaving for air- massive smiles on your faces. The ground was cool against your now sweaty backs. A few seconds passed before Felix spoke.
"I don't think I have ever heard you rap before." He admitted. You kept staring at the ceiling, ignoring the boy at your side for a few seconds before you decided to answer him.
"And you will never hear it again."
Both you and Felix could back the claim that he had never moved as fast as he did when you said that. He had jumped up so he was on his elbows, facing you with wide eyes.
"No!! Please! You were so good!" He cried out, making you laugh at him. You just gave him a wink before you got to your feet and went to get the groceries you had left in the hallway.
Tumblr media
Seungmin
"How about we go in there? Maybe I can find you a shirt?" You spoke after pointing to a store.
You were currently out shopping with your boyfriend, Seungmin. He had asked you to get him an outfit, not for any special occasion of anything, just for shits and giggles. It was your favorite type of dates, the ones where you don't really plan anything, you just end up doing fun and silly things.
Seungmin nodded and you soon dragged him into the store. The layout of the shop was like any other, so you soon made your way to the back where the mens clothing was.
As you were casually roaming the racks of clothes, the speakers soon started playing one of your favorite songs, making it impossible for you to not hum along. You kept looking at the different items of clothing on your left, Seungmin behind you, looking through the clothes on your right hand side.
Soon, the song picked up, you quietly jamming along, allowing yourself to softly sing along as there were no other customers near you.
Your hand suddenly slid over a material that caught your attention. It was a green oversized tee, with some colorful and funky letters on the front. You cut yourself off to turn around and show Seungmin the shirt, asking him what he thought about the item.
You held it up, but no reply. "Seungmin?" You tried again. It was odd seeing as he was looking at you with a slight smile, yet he was not replying to your question. You then lowered the shirt and waved your hand in front of his face, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"You okay?" You asked him once he gently shook his head to re-focus his eyes. He nodded gleefully.
"Sorry, your voice was just so good that I completely forgot where we were." He admitted, giving you a look. You pursed your lips and spun on your heel, so he wouldn't see your burning cheeks.
Tumblr media
I.N
Date night! You and boyfriend Jeongin had just been at a local restaurant for a cute night out. Nothing overly fancy, just a chance to enjoy each others company, since you both had been busy lately.
After you had paid your bill, the two of you went for a walk to enjoy the warm, evening air. With nowhere in mind, you just casually wandered down the street, your hands intertwined as you swung them back and forth, pulling and pushing at each other in a joking manner.
"Woah, when did this get here?" Jeongin suddenly asked as you passed a building with a bright neon sign hanging out front. You looked to your side to see what it was he was talking about.
Karaoke, the neon sign read. You turned back to your boyfriend and gave him a smug smile, hoping he was thinking the same as you. He returned the smile and suddenly you were being shown to a private room by the hostess.
The first few songs were just the two of you messing around, screaming ABBA into your respective microphones. At one point while picking the next song, Jeongin saw a song he really wanted to do, but as you didn't know the lyrics, you decided to sit this one out.
He belted his heart out to the tune you found unfamiliar, but you enjoyed it nonetheless. Jeongin was after all a singer in a world-renowned band- boy had talent.
The song came to an end, resulting in you giving him a standing ovation as he playfully bowed repeatedly.
"I'm your biggest fan!" You raised your hands to your mouth and pretended to be yelling it at the 'stage', like he just held a concert for thousands. You both laughed at yourselves before Jeongin announced it would be his turn to sit one out. You took that as you cue to get up from the couch and pick a song.
You were no singer, never was- never will be, at least not in public. So when you had to pick a song, you didn't care if it didn't 'fit your range', or 'suit your voice'. You picked a song you liked and ran with it.
The melody started, and you raised your mic to your lips, singing the words that were showing on the large screen in front of you. You found it wasn't as fun to sing without your boyfriend, but got through the song anyways.
As most things do, the song came to and end. You placed the mic on the table and turned around to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. Mid turn, you saw your boyfriend like you never had before. His eyes were wide and his jaw was lose.
"What?" You asked him, uncapping the water bottle and taking a swig.
"Where did that come from?" He asked, eyes still wide as dinner-plates. You raised your eyebrow in a questioning manner, as if you were asking him to elaborate. "You're an amazing singer! How have I never heard that before?"
You felt your cheeks grow hot, and your eyes instantly found the ground, suddenly too shy to look at Jeongin. He chuckled at your reaction, and leaned forward so he could reach your hand from where he was sitting. He then pulled you back so you fell to the couch, crossing your arms over your chest, your shoulders up to your ears by now.
"We have to do this more often so I can hear you sing more!" He stated as he poked your arm, trying to get you to be less shy- and somehow it worked.
Tumblr media
Hope you liked it! Feel free to request again!
-bentley
224 notes · View notes
mandareeboo · 3 years
Note
ok now im curious what your most petty thing is (regarding the dp post)
Oooh boy, here we go! Buckle up fuckers this is gonna be a longer one.
My senior year of high school, I took a creative writing class. Partially because I needed to fill the slot, mostly because I wanted to improve my writing (spoiler: I did not). Now, my high school was a three floor building- first was mostly gym, second was general, and the third was senior lockers and art classes. I spent a good chunk of my schedule senior year on the second and third floor, going between an art class to my earth science (I took that one entirely as filler, but also bc I like science) to my locker and so on.
Creative writing? Creative writing was in the fucking basement. Go to the first floor, go to a corner generally used for health and development classes, to another corner, follow a ramp and some stairs, and boom there it is kind of basement. (Side note but this teacher was REALLY into attendance and would get you in trouble if you were late which was really annoying since basically no other class was in that part of the building).
My creative writing teacher wasn't bad, per se. I've had worse teachers. I had an algebra teacher who delighted in making freshman girls cry and mocking them for it. I had a journalism teacher who would use her class time reporting how Hilary was secretly ill during the election. I had a history teacher say trans people weren't real to an openly gender nonconforming student (I didn't know them well enough to ask for specifics on their alignment, but they were using they/them at that point) and set up assignments just to mock students on the take they were told to make. It was more that she was uncreative and took it out on the kids doing creative writing.
She gave us two books to read. Basically “how I write” by published authors. I don’t remember the first one well enough and I donated it ages ago, but the second was Stephen King’s “On Writing”. It was 3/4′s personal stories about his life and 1/4′s “also write a bit every day”.  I mostly remember the first author bc she had those fake dreadlocks white people do when they destroy their hair and she gleefully told a story about making her son have a meltdown at a party or wedding or something bc he got overwhelmed and she wanted him to learn that “sometimes you don’t get what you want”. So. You know. Not much there.
She also instructed us to write in a journal every day, which she would check every few months or so. It had to be at least half a page. She would leave little comments in every one else’s journals when she checked them, but not mine- I realized pretty quickly she was a bit uncomfortable with LGBT+ content, so I made it my mission to make every journal drabble as gay as possible bc I was bored and she couldn’t mark them WRONG when she just stated we needed to write.
But it doesn’t end there! Through the entire class, we got exactly five writing projects. Stories that follow very specific guidelines that we would then read in front of the class, group proofread, and then have the teacher give final grades for. These things were approximately like a thousand words a piece, and I was writing out my 10,000 word “It Starts off Small” story in class when I got bored, so it wasn’t difficult. 
Our first project was a character going through a difficult decision. Or... something? I honestly forget the criteria. Anyway, I was HYPE. I’d had this idea for a long time now a human choosing between peaceful death or reincarnation, and this gave me the push to write it! I had a whole thing planned with death being a deer and reincarnation being a wolpertinger (bc reincarnation leads to many possibilities, ed boy, so a Frankenstein bunny made sense to me). Anyway I poured my heart and soul into this bastard and, bright eyed and bushy tailed, handed it in. My classmates all thought it was pretty good. Not to toot m’own horn, but there was some pretty bad ones going in, so I thought I’d get a solid B or something.
I got a D. I guess the struggle was too metaphorical, or it didn’t perfectly fit her criteria. I was devastated. Then I was mad. Bc I was a bored senior who thought they’d made something pretty decent for this completely optional class and her refusal to see that really hurt me at sixteen (I was always a year younger than my other classmates, so despite being a senior I didn’t turn eighteen until almost a year after graduation)
Well, fuck it, I decided. I’m going to parody the shit out of this class.
Our next project was a fantasy story. I was bitter and grumpy. The other fantasy stories read aloud were stuff like “yeah this dude fought a wizard and got a girl, then they went home and banged” (this was not hyperbole, he would’ve written and read the smut if allowed, I knew him personally) and “this girl that NO ONE UNDERSTOOD was called CRAZY but this S@!$ cheerleader who Stole Her Boyfriend so she killed them all” (fun fact: the girl who wrote that was my age and a sort of half-friend from middle school. She was a yaoi fangirl who didn’t mind lesbians as long as they, you know, didn’t FLIRT with her or something.) 
So I get up there. It’s the last day of presentations. And I present with a polite cheer. My story is about two magical shepherd type figures who are called Sister Brighten and Brother Dick as they chase down a werewolf who was drunk off his ass and accidentally bit someone else. They then revealed they were basically supernatural designated drivers for the whole town. I made Brighten mention that Dick’s name wasn’t even Richard. I titled it “His Favorite Brand is Grayhound”. It fit every single criteria. I got an A. I could tell she didn’t want to, because there was no comments or anything like everyone else’s, but she had to follow her own criteria.
Our third was a conjoined effort thing so I didn’t pull any fuckery there, but the fourth one was about common myths and spinning them into real or fake. One girl did the hook-handed door handle thing and the boyfriend ended up above his truck hanging (somehow???). I think someone did the age-old adage of a haunted wedding dress? I kind of read through those presentations. 
Now, I’m salty-salty at this point. I wasn’t expecting His Favorite Brand is Grayhound to get me a good grade. I half-assed a lot of it. I am in full Not Happy Teenager at this point. I grab a daddy long leg and settle in.
My fourth story of the year is “Paperskin.”
Paperskin is about a boy named Billy with the thinnest skin membrane ever. Just full on body horror. You could see his teeth behind his lips. Billy gets bored one day and wanders out of his house, tries to kick a soccer ball, and breaks a leg. As he’s laying in the grass a daddy long leg bites him- and his skin is so flimsy the fangs sink in and he dies. I’m actually still pretty proud of Paperskin. It’s a horrifying, Edgar Allen Poe of a monstrosity, but it made people squirm, which was the point. The teacher is clearly a bit unnerved at this point, but she gives me another A. 
I wrote a more “normal” story after that of a contentious objector forced to house kids going to see if any confirmed soldier deaths were any of their parents as my final one and I could feel her spite as she gave me a B.
So, yeah. That’s the story of when I tormented my creative writing teacher with The Gays and my weird ass sense of humor after she called one of my best works at that age a piece of shit.
 Here’s a google drive of these bad boys, because yes I do still have these things. I turned these fuckers in for grades, people.
95 notes · View notes
strangelyloki · 3 years
Text
Stars
tony stark x stephen strange, a little one shot i wrote after being inspired by this comic panel
Tumblr media
The crisp New York air brushed against their faces as they walked through central park. No matter how many times either Stephen or Tony battled in the city they could both mutually enjoy walking through the park at night. Something about it was calming, and the cool air that prompted them to wear a jacket just made everything that much better.
They talked about everything and nothing all at the same time. Tony and Stephen had grown closer to each other over the past months, fighting to save the universe together bringing them close, but the pair realizing how well they complimented one another bringing them even closer. It had been a while since either man had found someone who was always on their toes just as they were. From sarcastic remarks easily being shot back and forth between the two, to being able to hold intellectual conversations about new medical innovations or upcoming technological advancements.
Tonight they focused on Stephen’s recent promotion to Sorcerer Supreme.
“What does a Sorcerer Supreme even do?” Tony asked, hands stuffed in his pockets as they walked along the path.
“Well technically speaking, the Sorcerer Supreme is the title given to the dimension’s greatest magic practitioner.” Stephen replied, a smirk across his face. “Not to toot my own horn or anything.”
“Did you just say ‘not to toot your own horn’?”
The sides of Stephen’s mouth quirked up into a sideways smile, “Sure did.”
Tony groaned jokingly, “We need to work on your catch phrases.”
Their eyes met for a moment, both could swear they felt a small spark between them. And then the moment passed.
“So Sorcerer Supreme,” Tony started after a moment, “You must be pretty powerful, huh?”
Stephen looked up at the sky, knowing that the stars were hidden behind the clouds and smog from the city, and even if that wasn’t the case they would still be drowned out by all the big bright manhattan lights surrounding them. He took a breath, remembering Tony had just asked him something.
“I guess you could say that.”
“What were you just thinking about, Houdini?”
That was another thing about the pair. They were very good at noticing small things about the other that other people didn’t. Tony could tell when Stephen was lost in thought even for just a beat, while others couldn’t tell the difference between Stephen being cold or him just blatantly ignoring them based on his facial expressions. Stephen could easily tell when something was wrong with Tony. He could see when the jokes and sarcastic comments he made didn’t meet his eyes, something that most people missed when talking to the engineer when something was eating him up in the back of his mind.
“Just how you can’t really see the night sky out here.” He answered, moving his attention back to the path in front of them.
“Maybe you can just shut off all the power in the city so you can see the stars, Stephanie.”
Stephen rolled his eyes. It was a nickname Tony made up one night when they had a few drinks and were a little ways past tipsy. Out of all the nicknames he had come up with that was the one Stephen disliked the most.
Tony’s comment did give him an idea though.
“Want to go somewhere where we can see the sky?” Stephen asked, turning to face Tony once again, brown eyes meeting the always changing ones.
Spark.
“What have you got in mind?” Tony asked, eyes wide with curiosity, or maybe they were wide because he felt a warmth begin to pour into his chest as their eyes met again.
Stephen simply put on his sling ring and opened a portal in front of them. The park was pretty empty at this hour, and the few stragglers that were there weren’t really paying any attention.
Tony smiled and nodded, walking through the portal cautiously as Stephen let him walk in ahead of him. The portal closed behind them and he found himself in the middle of a clearing in the woods. Tony looked up at the sky, and he was sure he could see entire galaxies above him. The stars danced around the sky as if they had been painted on. There was an array of color above him, and he could even see a few stars twinkling in the distance. It was truly beautiful. He hadn’t been able to just take a step back to look at the stars in so long, especially since almost no stars were visible in New York.
“Wow.” Tony breathed, scanning the sky above.
“Now this is a much better view of the sky.” Stephen said, conjuring a small blanket and laying it on the ground underneath him. It was completely dark where they were, aside from the light from the full moon that shown down on them, accompanied by the stars. He sat down on the blanket and then laid back, his arms came to rest behind his head as he looked up at the sky, admiring it some more.
Tony watched as he got comfortable, taking in the way the t-shirt Stephen was wearing rose up just a little as he brought his arms up, which totally did not make him blush a little.
The air was still crisp wherever they were, so Stephen decided to keep the jacket he had on as he focused on the sky.
“You can join me.” Stephen said as he glanced over to see Tony still standing a few feet away.
He nodded moving to sit next to Stephen, not knowing how close would be too close. He settled for a few inches apart, their heads just close enough that if they both turned towards one another and leaned forward just a little, their lips would touch. And Tony could swear that he felt Stephen inch ever so slightly even closer.
Spark.
Tony laid back and resumed looking up at the sky. The universe was so big, and there was so much that had yet to be discovered. He thought about far out places that were basically entire other worlds, different from his own. It was mind boggling.
After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Tony spoke, “You know, the universe is so big. There must be other Sorcerer Supremes out there, each guarding his or her or its own territories.”
Stephen raised a brow, pondering the idea. “Perhaps.” He said, eyes still searching the endless sky.
“You should go knock on their doors. See what they have to volunteer.” Tony added, adjusting his focus to face Stephen’s face, watching his features shift as he thought and looked at the sky.
Stephen closed his eyes, the sides of his mouth pulling into a small smile. “Are you offering to take me to the stars?”
Tony blushed, and was grateful that Stephen had his eyes closed while facing the sky. His relief was short lived however, because Stephen’s head tilted inward to face him, and when his eyes opened they met Tony’s.
Tony opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out because he didn’t know what to say in this moment. He could say a sarcastic comment or joke to get past this moment and save himself from anymore embarrassment. Or maybe Strange felt the same thing he had been feeling tonight, and he could just tell him.
Why was he getting so worked up? He was Tony Stark for christ sakes, the playboy Tony Stark. He could do this, piece of cake.
“Thinking twice about your offer?” Stephen asked, his smile turned into a smirk while his head now rested on his hand which was propped up by his elbow, him now completely laying on his side rather than his back and, when did he get to this position? He was even closer to Tony now, if Tony were to mirror his new position, their faces would probably be mere centimeters apart.
Tony took a breath and pushed himself into the same position. The worst that could happen would be Stephen moving and then portaling them back home.
As their faces were now so close together that they could feel each other’s breaths, Stephen didn’t even flinch, his smirk just grew deeper into his face, eyes moving quickly from Tony’s lips back to his eyes.
Spark.
“I have a ship that I’ve been working on, so maybe one day we can see what it can do.” Tony said, looking into Stephen’s eyes the same way he had drank in the sky just a little while ago. It was like Stephen’s eyes were filled with their own entire universe made up of stars and galaxies. He swore he could see all the different colors of the night sky all mixed together and swimming in his eyes. Tony was so lost in Stephen’s eyes he hadn’t realized Stephen had already replied to his statement.
Stephen could tell Tony was thinking about something, and decided to repeat himself so Tony would hear him.
“You don’t need to get us to space to take me to the stars.” Stephen said, hoping that Tony would understand what he was trying to tell him.
Tony heard him that time. He pondered it in his mind. Could Stephen actually feel the same way about him?
Stephen took one more glance down at Tony’s lips before meeting his eyes once again, leaning in to close the small space left between them.
Tony was taken aback by the feeling of lips on his, but they were soft and delicious, and it took him no time at all to melt into the kiss. Stephen kissed him so tenderly, he imagined his lips against his felt the same as satin folding against itself. Their lips moved in sync, not too fast not too slow. They both communicated the words that had been left unsaid through soft touches and rushed breaths.
There they were, no one else but one another as they kissed underneath the stars. The warmth had flooded through them like a tidal wave as their lips continued to meet, each time still feeling like the first time over again- and it was almost as if the stars above them were cheering them on, the way they twinkled.
Flame.
24 notes · View notes
cordeliafoxxe · 3 years
Text
✨SP Secret Santa✨
I hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday @goodeday2u !! I apologize that it’s a bit late, I had some technical difficulties. I haven’t written anything in a long time, but I hope you enjoy what I’ve written for you ☺️
(Credit to @grilledcheeseandguavajelly for the gif. Hopefully you don’t mind xx)
Tumblr media
It was Christmas morning, but the warm weather or New Orleans made it feel like anything but that. You spent the morning with your nose in books about concealment spells and weather, a plan brewing in your head. A few hours later you stumbled upon one that you think would do the trick and you made your way to Cordelia’s office. Tucking the spellbooks under your arm, you knocked on the door. 
“Come in,” you heard her say from inside. You gently opened the door to see your girlfriend sitting at her desk. Her glasses were perched on her nose as she busied herself with work. She hardly ever took a break from her Supremely duties. Even on Christmas when she should be relaxing (spending time with you, you thought) she still managed to find something to do. It was a quality you admired, her commitment to help as many young witches as she could, but you knew she deserved a break. 
She had been extra hard on herself lately, believing that the rise of the Antichrist was causing her powers to diminish. She tried her hardest to hide it from the other girls, but one night in particular she had stumbled on the stairs and Zoe had to rush to catch her. It was Zoe that suggested you ask Cordelia for help with a spell so she’d realize how powerful she still was. Plus it would get her out of the office and hopefully take her mind off of the threat from the warlocks. 
“Hey Delia,” you said.
She looked up. A smile spreading across her face as soon as she you. “Hi sweetheart.”
“So I want to surprise the girls with something for Christmas, but I don’t think my powers are strong enough on my own. Do you think you could help me?”
You carried the ancient textbooks to her desk and laid one down with a thud. You pointed to a section of the page that said circulus abscondito. Cordelia peered over the top of her glasses at the page. “And what do you intend on doing with that spell dear?” You carefully placed another book on top of the opened one. Cordelia’s eyes followed your hands as they trailed around, struggling to read from upside down. Her eyes scanned the page before settling on what you had been searching for. She placed her work aside on the desk and scooped up the books. 
“You had better bundle up sweet girl,” she said with a wink as she walked past you. Grinning, you rushed to follow her outside, grabbing your coat on the way.
--- 
You watched in awe as Cordelia finished casting a spell around the coven. “That should do it.” She had made it look so effortless. You were hardly surprised though; she was the Supreme after all. You took a minute to watch her. She was smiling slightly, happy at the new spell she accomplished, the sun turning her hair a brilliant gold. She looked like an angel. She turned her attention toward you, making you blush at being caught staring. 
“Okay, so this next part should be interesting,” you said. Cordelia came to stand next to you. Her knuckles grazed your side as she peered over your shoulder and studied the incantation. 
After a few minutes, she took the book from you and set it aside. “This spell will need both of our powers.” She took your hand softly. “Focus on the sky and repeat after me okay?” You nodded. 
“Frigidam aquam deducere,” she chanted. She furrowed her brows slightly and lifted her hands into the air. Following her lead you focused on the invisible water droplets in the atmosphere. 
“Frigidam aquam deducere.” You could feel the air begin to tingle as the two of you continued to chant, loosing focus momentarily as you admired Cordelia as she concentrated on casting the spell. Suddenly you noticed a flicker of white in front of your face, then another, and another. You stopped chanting and tipped your head back to look at the sky that was now filled with softly falling snowflakes. 
“We did it Delia!” You exclaimed as you turned to face her. She lowered her hands to clasp yours and pull you closer. 
“Oh my sweet girl, I knew we could.” She grinned and wrapped her arms around your waist. “You are more powerful than you think.”
“As are you, Miss Supreme,” you countered. Her fingers gripped your shirt for a split second as the doubt crept back into her mind. She hoped you hadn’t noticed, but you did. You had been together long enough for you to recognize the smallest of signs. The tears collecting in her eyes gave her emotions away. “You are the strongest person I know Delia. I know you might not feel like it right now, but there’s not another witch on this planet more fit to be in charge of this coven. I trust you with my life, and my heart. There’s no one else I’d rather have as my Supreme.”
The tears had escaped their prison and were trickling down her face. You lifted a hand and gently cupped her cheek, wiping a tear away with your thumb. 
“What did I do to deserve you?”
“I don’t know, but you’re stuck with me,” you giggled leaning in to brush your nose against hers. Cordelia lifted a hand from your waist and threaded her fingers through the hair at the base of you neck. She tugged ever so softly and pulled you in to a kiss. You savored the warmth of Cordelia’s lips on yours: a stark contrast to the cold snowflakes that surrounded you. 
---
The girls were told that after breakfast together, they were to meet outside. 
“Honestly what’s the big surprise about?” Madison groaned as she walked down the stairs with a few of the other girls. “If it’s not the hot neighbor next door or a bottle of booze big enough to drown myself in, then I don’t want it.”
Coco playfully slapped her arm. “Come on Madison. Y/N and Cordelia spent a lot of time working on whatever it is. I’m sure it’ll be great.”
Madison opened her mouth, ready to comment that you and Cordelia probably spent a lot of time doing something else when she reached the back door and the words died in her throat. 
The entire backyard was blanketed in fresh snow. An igloo had been constructed (with the help of some magic) by the greenhouse, and lights were strung in the trees. 
You and Cordelia had been waiting outside for the girls to arrive. You were met by the excited squeals and cheers from the girls. Their reaction made you grin, looking at Cordelia triumphantly. You stood to the side watching as the young witches clambered around to find suitable outfits, others simply braving the cold. 
Mallory approached the two of you. “This is amazing, but won’t the neighbors see and come after us?” She was always worrying over something, never allowing herself to fully let go until she knew that she was safe to. 
“We enchanted the area around the whole coven,” Cordelia said. “From the outside, it looks like every other day here. Now go enjoy yourself. Coco looks like she needs a teammate.” You followed Cordelia’s gaze and burst out laughing when it landed on Coco being pelted with snow by some of the younger girls. Mallory quickly sped off to aid her friend. 
A snowball fight soon broke out and filled the air with hastily made projectiles. “You know Delia, not to toot my own horn or anything, but this was one of the best ideas I’ve had.” You grinned her way. She tucked a fallen strand of hair behind your ear. 
“The girls do seem to be enjoying themselves.” You held your breath as she leaned in to whisper in your ear. “And I must say, watching you perform that spell with me got me quite flustered baby girl. You obeyed me so well.” Despite the cold, heat rushed to your cheeks. Cordelia’s teeth tugged at your earlobe as she pulled away, a groan leaving your lips.
You were conducting a plan to tease Cordelia back when a giant snowball erupted on your shoulder. Turning around, you faced Zoe and Madison bent over with laughter. With a flick of your wrist the branches above their heads released the snow that they were holding, covering the pair from head to toe in the cold powder.
“I might have stumbled upon that spell earlier today too,” you said with a smirk toward Cordelia who was laughing softly. There was a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Cordelia, don’t you dare,” you warned. She smirked and you knew there was no escaping, so you took off running with her hot on your heels. 
The pair of you ended up dominating the snowball fight for a few hours before the girls surrendered and decided it was time to go inside and exchange gifts. 
Cordelia had seemed to be in better spirits and not once did she feel her powers wane. You gazed at her by the fireplace from across the room. You weren’t sure if it was from spending time with her girls, but she was glowing. Her brown eyes met yours and she smiled softly. She retrieved a neatly wrapped package from under the tree and beckoned you over. 
“Merry Christmas darling,” she said. You admired the green wrapping for a moment. “To Y/N, Love Cordelia” was written delicately next to a stem from a white orchid. You peeled the tape off of the edges not wanting to destroy the beautiful gift. Inside was a velvet box. Your heart sped up with anticipation. A dainty silver bracelet studded with emeralds and diamonds lay inside. 
“It’s gorgeous Cordelia.” She picked up the bracelet and helped fasten it around your wrist. 
“Only the best for you darling. I love you so much Y/N,” she said reaching a hand up to cup your face. She leaned in for another kiss and you couldn’t imagine a better end to Christmas. 
“I love you too Delia.”
89 notes · View notes
Text
simpatico week day 4 - multiverse
MTMTE and cyberverse perceptor and brainstorm collide!! @simpaticoweek​ read it here on ao3!
-
Brainstorm gasped and grabbed Perceptor’s arm while pointing at mech with a familiar red, white, and blue color scheme standing amongst the curious crowd. “Perce, look!”
Perceptor looked around, alarmed. “What? What is it?”
“Next to the red mech with the white face! It’s you!”
Before Perceptor could stop him, Brainstorm hurried off towards the mech. This mech had the same white dials on his forearms, and even the same cylindrical, white scope mounted on his shoulder—a dead-ringer for an alternate-universe Perceptor. i
“Excuse me!” Brainstorm called. The mech turned around, and whoa, he wasn’t expecting the burnt-out optics. “Uh. Hello. You’re Perceptor, right?”
“I am,” said the mech. He didn’t have the same slight accent as Percy did; his voice was flatter, a bit more neutral. The scope on his shoulder lit up, shining a bright blue light on Brainstorm’s face. Definitely, a scanner of some sort, though it left a bizarre, faintly prickly sensation across Brainstorm’s plating he didn’t usually get when Ratchet or First Aid scanned him. “I don’t recognize you. I’m assuming you’re one of our visitors from the alternate universe?”
“Name’s Brainstorm, resident genius of the universe next door. How are you seeing me right now? Is it something with your scope?”
“Correct. I reformatted my scope to operate as a visual feed after I blew out my optics.”
Guess that was a universal concept, Perceptor’s redesigning or changing their scopes for some entirely different use than their original one. “You did? What happened?”
“It’s not any of your business to ask that,” he chided.
Brainstorm put up his servos apologetically. Then, realizing his error, said, “Sorry,” after a second.
The other Perceptor gave him a look of pointed disapproval so similar to his Perceptor’s, he was almost afraid he was about to start getting chewed out for his messy labeling jobs.
“Be more mindful of your questions next time,” the other Perceptor said instead. “As for your other inquiry: I could tell you made a motion in front of your chest with your hands, and you did something else just now, but details such as color and specific body parts such as your digits are lost to me when my scope is inactive.”
“Fascinating,” said a familiar voice. Perceptor, his Percy, had finally made it through the crowd and over to them. Brainstorm felt his spark lift a bit higher in its chamber as Perceptor came to a stop beside him, servo almost unconsciously winding itself into his.
The scope went on again. “You’re… Me, I presume?” the other Perceptor asked, interest coloring his voice.
“I am Perceptor, yes.”
“Fascinating,” said the other Perceptor, and Brainstorm laughed.
“Primus, you two really are the same mech.”
“Of course,” they said in tandem, and then they looked at each other. Brainstorm poorly stifled another laugh.
“Your scope,” Perceptor prompted. “You scanned Brainstorm and I and compared the information it collected to a pre-existing database before confirming you didn’t know who we were. I can only assume you made code-based modifications to it?”
“That is correct.”
“May I ask what kind of modifications? My scope gives me enhanced magnification, but nothing to that extent, so you’ll have to forgive my curiosity.”
Other-Perceptor, who had now earned the prefix ‘Other’ in Brainstorm’s processor because otherwise, it would be a nightmare to try and recount later, cleared his throat. “When in use, it can collect information such as the light values and assign them to colors using a code assigned to every paint color on record, and how the percentage of much of each color is present within the whole subject.” He didn’t gesture nearly as much as Perceptor, either, Brainstorm noted. So far, he was turning out to be far more reserved than his Perceptor. Or... No, he reminded Brainstorm of when he’d first met Perceptor on the Lost Light. Heh. Maybe he’d had an influence on his conjunx after all. “That allows me to tell apart primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, so even if two mechs have similar paint colors, the chances they have the same frame and paint jobs are extremely slim. Decals like those on Hot Rod aren’t so easily discernible. That allows me to match the color codes to virtually any mech in my database. It isn’t the most accurate system, but it is precise enough.”
“That is remarkable,” Perceptor said, reaching up to touch his own scope. “I’ve reformatted myself before, but not to that sort of extent. Have you made any other modifications?”
“Numerous, since the threat of the Quintesson’s and Megatron X were eliminated.”
“Megatron X?”
Brainstorm tuned them out as they traded stories and statistics, looking around the crowd for some mech that could possibly be him. He could see Whirl with his arm slung around another blue, singled-opticked helicopter. Both were laughing rapturously about something. In the next cycle of Brainstorm’s code, they were wrestling each other to the ground. Rodimus was excitedly chatting it up with Hot Rod, who had enthusiastically introduced himself the second the Lost Light crew had stepped out of the portal. Beside Hot Rod was Soundwave of all mechs, and even more bizarrely, he seemed to have his servo loosely held around Hot Rod’s waist. Brainstorm only lingered on it a little bit. He wasn’t one for gossip, but even he knew that was going to be the talk of the ship later. Nearby, Drift was looking spectacularly sulky, though a cheery yellow mech was making valiant attempts at cheering him up. And of course, Megatron was talking to Other-Megatron and Other-Optimus Prime, and seemed to be rather wistfully staring at the two’s shared proximity to each other.
All in all, it felt like a very successful experiment in Brainstorm’s spark. All these mechs had somehow found their alternate selves, even though there’d been no guarantee they would even exist in this universe. And still, more mechs Brainstorm didn’t even recognize who were intermingling with the Lost Light crew. Successful experiment indeed. Except for one, tiny detail.
“Where am I?” he asked, interrupting the Perceptor’s conversation. “I mean, everyone else has a double. Where’s the other me?”
Other-Perceptor tilted his head. “I don’t know. There is no record of a Brainstorm in the Autobot databases.”
“Oh.” Brainstorm tapped his pede while Perceptor lightly squeezed his servo. “What about a Genitus?”
“One moment.” Other-Perceptor’s scope dipped down slightly. Then, after a moment, it straightened back out, and he looked at Brainstorm. “There’s no record of a Genitus, either.”
“Huh.” Damn. He really hoped alternate-Brainstorm wasn’t dead. That would suck. Or maybe he had a different paint job than Brainstorm did. Other-Perceptor had said his database was based on color. Or maybe… “I was a Decepticon for a bit in my universe,” he offered. Other-Perceptor offered no reaction to this fact except for a minute twitch of his scope. “Maybe this one still is.”
“If you wish to search the Decepticon databases, I would ask Soundwave. He and Hot Rod have been in charge of integrating the two sides since the defeat of Megatron X, and though there is still much to work to be done, he is likely your best chance.”
A brilliant idea lit up Brainstorm’s face. “You should come with us!” he said, optics sparkling. “I’m great! I’m sure you’d have a blast with this universe’s Stormy.”
“I’m not sure that’s—”
“Naw, come on, it’ll be fun.”
“I wouldn’t resist him,” Perceptor advised. “He can be extremely persistent.”
Other-Perceptor sighed with a tired acceptance. “Alright, then. Let us go.”
Brainstorm whirled around on his heel and happily marched right through the crowd, cheerfully announcing, “Coming through!” approximately half a second before barrelling through a conversation. He made it through the crowd in record time and stopped promptly before Hot Rod, Soundwave, and Rodimus. All three of them immediately turn towards them, though their interest is evidently in the two Perceptor’s and not the incredibly antsy jet.
“What do you want?” rumbled Soundwave. Jeez. Did he always sound that menacing?
“Be nice,” Hot Rod scolded. “You know these guys. Perceptor, Perceptor two, and… who’re you?”
“That’s Brainstorm,” answered Rodimus over Brainstorm’s affronted noise. “He and Perceptor were the ones who figured out the whole… universe swap magic.”
“Time travel, alternate universe traveling. Twice, I might add,” Brainstorm said, primly turning over his servo as he looked down at his digits with extreme satisfaction. “No biggie.”
Rodimus rolled his optics. “Toot your own horn later,” he complained. “We get it. You’re smart. Primus knows you don’t let us forget it. Now, why’d you come over here?”
“To ask him something,” Brainstorm said, angling his wing at Soundwave, who stiffened. “I want him to look up this universe’s version of me. Your Perceptor couldn’t find me in the Autobot databases and recommended we check the Decepticon ones.”
“I dunno,” said Hot Rod, looking Brainstorm up and down with a doubtful frown. “I’ve met a lot of mechs, and I’ve never seen anyone like him…”
“You weren’t ever a Decepticon,” said Soundwave. “I am.” Rodimus, Perceptor, and Brainstorm all shared a look, but Hot Rod either didn’t care about or didn’t notice the tense. “I recognize the name. Megatron banished the Decepticon scientist Brainstorm to an off-planet site early in the war because his experiments potentially posed a greater threat to Cybertron than anything else at the time. We have not been in contact with him since.”
Brainstorm pouted. “‘Potentially posed?’ You didn’t even let me stick around to find out? Where’s the fun in that?”
Soundwave leveled him with the dryest, most unamused look Brainstorm’s ever seen from someone without a face. “You were a menace to all of Cybertronian society.”
“Nothing’s changed then,” said Perceptor. Brainstorm flicked him in the leg with one of his ankle winglets.
“Wait,” said Hot Rod. “You banished someone for ‘potentially threatening’ experiments, and you still let Shockwave run around? He tried to destroy Earth like, five times! He literally poisoned the AllSpark! He nearly killed everyone and the whole planet! What kind of logic is that?”
“Same old then,” Rodimus said drily.
Hot Rod sighed. “It’s a long story. He’s gone now, anyway. How long has Brainstorm been away? Does he even know the war’s over?”
Soundwave paused. “Uncertain. All contact with the moon he was banished to and Cybertron was cut off directly after his arrival.”
Hot Rod and Rodimus both clapped a servo over their face. Other-Perceptor shook his head, while Perceptor consolingly patted Brainstorm on the pauldron. “Unbelievable,” Brainstorm groaned. “Megatron looked at my EM field and thought it was awful enough to kick me off the planet. And then he forgot. Me! Forgot about me!”
“A slight oversight has been made,” Soundwave admitted. “I will inform Megatron and arrange a ship for him immediately. If he still functions.”
Hot Rod huffed. “Oh, even better! You left some innocent guy on the moon, and now he might be dead?”
“Should we go?” muttered Rodimus as Soundwave and Hot Rod broke out into bickering. Brainstorm nodded and slowly started backing away, and the two Perceptor’s plus Rodimus followed him.
“When can we expect an answer?” Perceptor asked Other-Perceptor once they were safely out of ear-shot.
“Soundwave is usually prompt about these things, based on my work experience with him. Megatron is… less so, I’m told. I would wager at least a couple of weeks.”
“Are we staying that long?” Brainstorm asked Rodimus.
“Is something catastrophic going to happen if we do?”
“There’s an eighty-nine point seven-five-three-four-two-four percent chance that the portal could destabilize and collapse, trapping us here until someone aboard Lost Light reopens the portal. Given that everyone who knows how to operate that portal is currently here, it would be implausible we would be able to return to our universe,” said Perceptor.
“It’ll be fine,” said Brainstorm after a stiflingly tense beat. “C’mon, I wanna go talk to Wheeljack.”
--
“Still can’t believe they just left me on the moon,” Brainstorm muttered. He, Perceptor, and Other-Perceptor were currently making their way to a temporary condominium in residential Iacon. It currently was housing a number of freshly displaced Cybertronians until something more suitable could be found or built for them. As Other-Perceptor had predicted, it’d taken roughly twelve days for them to be informed of Other-Brainstorm’s (whose name actually was Brainstorm, not Genitus) whereabouts. It’d then taken another two days for Other-Brainstorm to say he was ready to accept visitors, and another four to get plans in place.
“I’m sure it was nothing personal,” Perceptor was saying as they squeezed their way around a group of laughing mechs.
“I’ve never heard of this mech,” Other-Perceptor mused. “But he must have had some truly uncanny ideas if Megatron decided he was too dangerous for his tastes.”
Brainstorm hummed. “Yeah. I wonder what that poor sod discovered to wind up getting him kicked off the planet.” He gasped and stopped suddenly, servos flying to his subspace. “Scrap! I left my notes in the lab! I wanted to compare them with him!”
Perceptor made an apologetic noise but reluctantly said, “That’s probably for the best. You’d be here for years if you had your notes, and we have to make it back to the Lost Light for our reservations at Swerve’s anyway. I don’t want to try and cajole him into giving us the bar for the evening again.”
“Yeah,” Brainstorm sighed. “There’s always next time, I guess. Hey, do you think our next date could be in another universe?”
“I don’t see why not. Perhaps the energon will be different.”
“What if there isn’t even energon in that universe?”
“Hm, true. I didn’t consider that. We’ll bring our own in case that happens to be the case.”
Other-Perceptor was watching them carefully. “What is the relationship between you two?” he asked mildly. “I didn’t want to assume, but…”
“We’re conjunx endura,” Perceptor said, that especially pleased sparkle that always showed up in his optic whenever he talked about their recent unification glowing to life once again. It gave Brainstorm weird fuzzy feelings in his circuits. He’d have to investigate what precisely in his code caused that later.
“‘Conjunx?’” Other-Perceptor frowned. “I’m not familiar with the term.”
“Write that down, write that down!” Brainstorm hissed, grabbing Perceptor’s arm.
“You write it down. I’m attempting to have a conversation,” said Perceptor, brushing Brainstorm’s servo before capturing it in his own. He gave it a light squeeze, which had Brainstorm’s wings fluttering away. “Yes. Brainstorm is my conjunx. The formal term is conjunx endura. It, in an extremely oversimplified definition, means he is my significant other.”
Other-Perceptor nodded. “I see. I don’t have one such partner myself. The war and the Quintesson invasion took away most time for such matters. For most others, anyway.” Brainstorm thought of Soundwave’s servo on Hot Rod’s hip and wondered what in the hell happened to this universe for that to happen.
“But the war’s done now, isn’t it?” he said as they turned down into a plaza and started making their way toward the condominium.
“Allow me to rephrase. I’m not interested in seeking such a relationship at the moment. A new lab partner is more than sufficient. And I must admit I am curious about what exactly it is this Brainstorm created that scared Megatron of all mechs so badly.”
“Eh, that’s fair. Lab partner is still pretty alright.”
“I happen to agree with that,” said Perceptor.
“Oh, you just happen to?”
“You know what I mean.”
The three of them entered through the first set of doors and were met with a wall of buttons labeled with room numbers. Other-Perceptor unhesitantly pushed the button to Other-Brainstorm’s room. A few seconds later, a small screen flickered to life, revealing someone with a familiar orange blast mask.
“My wings look different,” Brainstorm commented as soon as the connection stabilized.
“Good thing they’re my wings and not yours,” Other-Brainstorm snipped back without missing a beat. Brainstorm barked a laugh.
“Fair enough! Can we come down?”
A loud crash! crackled through the speakers. Other-Perceptor grimaced, while Perceptor merely looked faintly resigned. Other-Brainstorm, entirely unperturbed, said, “Yeah, yeah, just watch your step when you come in. I haven’t gotten to organize yet, so the place is a tad messy.”
“Oh, dear,” murmured Perceptor as the second set of doors to the lobby slid open and the trio of scientists stepped through. “I can only hope that this universe’s Brainstorm’s idea of ‘messy’ is far more reasonable than yours.”
Brainstorm narrowed his optics. “Is this about the moldy energon crystal sample again? I feel like this is about the moldy energon crystal sample again.”
“It was there for three years, Brainstorm.”
“So I sometimes lose track of things! Big deal!”
“How did he manage that?” asked Other-Perceptor as they piled into the elevator. Were all elevators in his universe this roomy? This one could have comfortably housed a few more average-sized mechs like himself. Or maybe like, twelve Tailgate’s or Rewind’s.
Perceptor sighed. “I still haven’t quite managed to parse that one out. All I know is that three years ago, it wasn’t possible to grow mold on crystalized energon.”
Brainstorm threw up his servos, narrowly avoiding whacking Perceptor’s scope. “You’re teaming up on me!” he whined. “Okay, fine. I’ll admit it was bad.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling you.”
The elevator was a short ride to the basement, so it was only a few seconds before the doors dinged open, and the three of them spilled out into the hall.
“Which way?” asked Other-Perceptor.
At that moment, a shrill whistling began to shriek from the leftward hallway, pitching up higher and louder with every passing second until it was cut off with a loud bang accompanied by profuse swearing.
“G51 sounds like it’s that way,” Perceptor said dryly.
He’s correct, of course, and Brainstorm knocks a cheery rhythm against the door. It slid open, and in the doorway stood Other-Brainstorm. Yep. That was him, alright. There was the teal paint job, the white wings, and… a purple Decepticon sigil, branded right across his orange cockpit. Yeesh.
“I was starting to think I’d cleaned up for nothing,” Other-Brainstorm greeted.
“If this is your idea of clean, I’d hate to see what messy is,” mused Other-Perceptor as he stepped into the threshold, scope bobbing wildly as it drank in the chaotic environment. A criss-cross of thick cables and wires were taped to the ground, winding around the room to various machines lined up against the walls. Multiple experiments suspended in thin air crowded up the ceiling, ranging from maybe-guns to definitely-guns to things Brainstorm didn’t even know what to call. Datapads were scattered everywhere, tossed into open drawers, and haphazardly stacked into concerningly tall towers.
“Hardy har,” said Other-Brainstorm, crossing his arms. “Who’re you to start critiquing my workspace?”
“I am this universe’s Perceptor. I am a scientist like yourself. And my companions are an alternate version of you and I.”
Other-Brainstorm looked distinctly unimpressed. “Alternative universes? Please. That was like, a million years ago.”
“What?” squawked Brainstorm.
“You—Excuse me?” Perceptor gaped.
Other-Perceptor pushed further inside and started scanning the massive whiteboard taking up an entire wall of the apartment. “I don’t recognize any of the formulas here,” he said, somehow sounding simultaneously highly skeptical and impressed. “What are they?”
“Oh, I derived those. They describe a relationship between the mesh that constitutes the space-time continuum of multiple dimensions and any one object,” Other-Brainstorm said with a shrug.
Other-Perceptor stared at the board for a while longer. Then he turned around and said, “I can see why Megatron would perceive you as a class one threat. These could cause insurmountable amounts of devastation if they fell into the wrong hands.”
Other-Brainstorm threw up his hands. “Why does everyone keep saying that! I’m not gonna do anything!”
“Why make these, then?”
“I had to see if I could.” He paused. “And it gets boring on the moon.”
“A test, then? A game?”
“I guess? It’s not that deep, to be honest. I was just having fun.”
Other-Perceptor nodded. Then, he turned and neatly sat down in a nearby stool, chin jutted up. “You’re going to tell me everything you’ve learned,” he said calmly, “and I’m not leaving until you do.”
“Uh.” Other-Brainstorm blinked. “You sure you won’t be missed anywhere? Might take a while,” he warned.
“I might be. I don’t care.”
“...Slag. Okay. I guess I’ll start with… Well, where do you wanna start?”
“The beginning. I meant everything.”
“Well, damn,” Brainstorm murmured to Perceptor as Other-Brainstorm stared for a second before he grinned and launched into his explanations. “That was fast.”
“He might not be missed,” said Perceptor, “but we will be if we don’t leave soon.”
“Aw, c’mon, we were just getting to the fun part!”
“You can get caught up later when you come back,” Other-Perceptor said, half-distracted as Other-Brainstorm brought up a sprawling holograph of notes. Brainstorm whined a bit; he didn’t know what those equations were for either, and he was dying to know. But Perceptor was right. Rodimus’ threats to leave anyone late to take-off behind were not to be taken lightly. He’d done it before, and he would do it again.
“I’m holding you to that.” Brainstorm shimmied out of the doorway and back out into the hallway. “C’mon Percy, let’s go.”
Once they were back outside the condominium, Perceptor and Brainstorm took a bit of time to meander around the city, trying to identify anything they could. But the buildings here were in a completely different style to the ones on the Cybertron they were familiar with, and monuments and popular spots in town looked nothing at all like what either of them knew them to be. God, it was positively killing Brainstorm to have to leave so quickly. Slaughtering him. There was so much to explore still, so many more questions he had, and not enough of them had been answered to tide him over until their next visit.
“Do you think they’ll get along?” Perceptor asked as they finally began to make their way back to the Lost Light. The fuel quills were nearly at full mast, the sharp points just barely peeking out above the city skyline. They’d need to hurry.
Brainstorm glanced at him. “You don’t think they will?”
“I didn’t say that. I’m only asking because I know we didn’t exactly have what one would call an instant connection when we started working together.”
A thunderous, rumbling boom cut Brainstorm off before he could answer. Seconds later, the shockwave rolled over them, just strong enough to force them to take a step back. They whipped around, a plume of black smoke already smudging the air in the direction of the condominium.
“You know what?” Brainstorm said as the smoke rose higher and higher. “I think they’re gonna get along just fine, Percy.”
68 notes · View notes
crystalninjaphoenix · 3 years
Text
The Tower
A Stitched Story
JSE Fanfic
So given how this AU is *so close* to being finished, I’m gonna go a little off schedule for these last couple stories. Hence, this one being posted this week instead of next. Might we be able to finally get rid of those menacing strings in this entry? Well...not exactly. There seems to be a side effect. And before they can figure out a way around it, all hell breaks loose. Enjoy ;)
Tagging @septic-dr-schneep for inspiring this AU with this post.
Read where it started: Stitched Together | Season One | Season Two
Previous Season Three stories: Torn Apart | Tales to Tell | Threads | Twice Bitten, Never Shy | Two of Souls
Taglist (finally): @bupine @violet--majesty @ari-trash
“It’s going to be fine,” Chase muttered, bouncing nervously in place. “It’s allll going to be fine. It’s going to work out.”
Are you alright, Chase? JJ asked, giving him a look of concern. Do you not like elevators?
Chase laughed. “It’s not the elevator that worries me, it’s what’s waiting on the floor once we get there.” It was also the fact that Jackie was holding onto his arm tightly, head resting on his shoulder. Clingy as usual. But hopefully, that wouldn’t last long. Because right now, they were going to try to destroy the strings.
The magicians had proposed it the day before. They thought that using magical fire or electricity would be able to get rid of them for good. After a short talk, all the boys had agreed to try. Hopefully, once the strings were gone, Jackie and Marvin would...well, not go back to normal. They knew that was impossible now. But they’d be friendly, at least. In the best-case scenario.
The elevator dinged, and Chase and Jameson stepped out into a long hallway. This was the sanctuary’s very top floor, reserved for any magical testing that might go wrong. Apparently it was heavily protected. It didn’t look like much. Just like all the other halls, it seemed like something you’d find in a hotel. But then Chase noticed all the doors were made of metal. Ah.
Jack and Schneep were some ways down the hall, waiting outside a door, sitting on a bench against the opposite wall. The moment Jack saw Chase and JJ approaching with Jackie, he stood up and waved. “Hey!”
“Yeah, I see you, Jack.” Chase waved back. “Can’t miss you.” They quickly closed the distance. “Are things—ow!” He looked down. “Schneep did you just whap me with that thing?!”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Schneep twirled his white cane like a baton, causing everyone to back up. “I was just confirming you were here.”
“I—don’t you, like, sense souls or something?”
“Chase, please. I still cannot see you.”
JJ chuckled a little, the sound muffled. Is everything ready?
“Yeah, all the magicians are getting ready.” Jack pointed at the door, which was labelled ‘Dangerous Reaction Room 7.’ “When they’re ready, you and I are supposed to go in, while Schneep and Chase keep an eye on Jackie out here, to make sure nothing happens with him while we get rid of the, uh...S-T-R-I-N-G-S.”
“He can spell, Jack, he is not an idiot,” Schneep said.
“Yeah, well, I don’t think he’s listening,” Chase muttered. He tried to pull his arm away from Jackie’s grip, but he held on tighter, making Chase grit his teeth to ignore the uncomfortable closeness. “Do you two really need to go in the room? I mean, look at that sign. It says ‘dangerous’ on it.”
“Yeah, well, JJ’s shields will be really helpful,” Jack said. “But you’re right about me. They want me to tell them if anything happens with the soul bits that are part of the...well, you-know-whats. And I was like ‘Don’t you have instruments or something for that?’ and they were like ‘Yeah but we’re not going to risk something happening to them’ and I said ‘But you’re okay with something happening to me...a living person’ and they said ‘You’ll be fiiiiiine.’” Jack sighed. “Anyway, I’m not gonna argue. It’s too much effort. And anyway, I want to see those green bastards gone.”
Before the discussion could continue, a voice came through the door. “We’re ready!” Yvonne shouted. “Come on in!”
“Well, good luck, bro, both of you,” Chase said.
“Yes, break a leg,” Schneep added. “Or do not. Actually, please do not break anything.”
JJ gave another muffled giggle, and Jack smiled. “Thanks, guys. We’ll see you soon.” He reached over and pulled open the door, and the two of them disappeared into the room. When the door shut behind them, it briefly glowed with a yellow light, then returned to normal metal.
The room beyond the door was entirely bare, its walls, ceiling, and floor reinforced with metal. Waist-high metal walls made a circle in the center of the room. Griffin, Delyth, and Yvonne were all gathered around that circle, with Griffin holding a pair of boxes. In the center, the strings were lying in a bowl-like shape built into the floor. They were trying to wriggle up the sides, but were evidently having trouble grasping the slick metal, and kept falling back down. JJ gave Jack a look. This isn’t a very encouraging room.
“Yeah, I know, it’s like...I get this is for safety and all, but it just feels like things are about to blow up.” Jack closed the door behind him, sealing the room. “You guys just...have a place like this?”
“Yes, of course.” Griffin walked over to the two of them, taking something out of the first box and holding it out. “Here, please put on these goggles, in case of shrapnel.”
That is even less encouraging, JJ signed, but took the offered goggles and put them on. Jack did so as well. This whole thing felt less like getting ready to cast a spell and more like the start of a dangerous scientific experiment. One where things could explode.
Delyth was busy reading something on her phone, lips moving silently. “Are we uh...are we ready?” Jack asked.
“Sorry, just reviewing.” Delyth shut off her phone and put it away. “Fire and lightning aren’t my specialties; it’s been a while.”
“You sure you should be casting it, then?” Yvonne muttered.
“Yes, of course. I’m still a highly skilled agent, and if I must say so myself, probably the most powerful magician in the sanctuary at this moment.”
“Alright, alright, I get it. You want to continue with that horn-tooting, or should we get started?” Yvonne pulled her own goggles down over her eyes.
“I say we should start now,” Griffin said. “Eventually those strings are going to climb their way out of the target zone.”
The five of them gathered around the circle. Jameson, wary, half-held up his hands, weak circular shields flickering in between all of them and the strings, ready to snap into greater strength the moment they needed to. “Alright, I’m about to start casting,” Delyth announced. “We’ll start out with a slow burn, and hopefully that’ll be enough. If not, I’ll increase the severity until they’re gone. Ready?” Everyone nodded. “Good.”
Delyth reached forward, muttering a spell under her breath. Above the circle, directly over the strings, a small, pale purple fireball appeared. It started off the size of a golf ball, but as Delyth slowly lowered the gently burning flame into the circle, it grew to baseball size, then to about the size of a basketball. Below the heat, the strings started skittering frantically, like a cornered animal. They tried to climb the walls, but once again fell back.
When the ball of flame hit the bottom of the bowl, it burst, filling the entirety of the area in a liquid way. In the fire, the strings became panicked, twisting and tripping over themselves in any attempt to get away from the flames. They were unsuccessful. But apparently, so was the fire. The strings were not burning, though they certainly acted like they were. Jack closed his eye to look at the strings in his soul vision, but saw no change there, either.
“Nothing’s happening,” Yvonne said cautiously.
“Indeed.” Griffin nodded. “Delyth?”
“On it.” Delyth clenched her fist, and the flames filling the bowl disappeared. “These next spells are going to be a bit more...pyrotechnic.”
“Oh shit.” Yvonne took a few steps back. Jameson, agreeing with the sentiment, strengthened the shields just a bit.
Delyth raised her hand, then brought it down with a fierce shout of a spell word. A fireball slammed down into the bowl, exploding at the bottom with a loud bang! Purple flames licked at the sides of the walls, and the strings thrashed frantically, some of them clustering together. Delyth repeated the spell one, two, three more times, making everyone cover their ears. The fire inside grew, but the strings were still intact. Now starting to look frustrated, Delyth started chanting. Fireworks of hot purple magic exploded repeatedly in the bowl, causing ear-splitting snap! snap! snap!s every time they blew, giving off smoke.
But the strings were still there.
“Keep it up!” Griffin shouted over the noise. “It’s possible that we’re doing damage, just slowly!”
“Right!” Delyth took a deep breath, wiped her forehead, then raised her hand and sent another fireball down into the bowl, this one sending spears of fire into every direction. The bowl was now full of searing purple flames, yet the strings remained. And so, Delyth started another spell.
A bolt of purple lightning crashed into the bowl, adding yet more flames in addition to smaller branches of electricity that remained, crackling, connecting between the walls. And she did it again. And then sent more fireworks. And another fireball. And another electric spell.
Outside the room, Schneep and Chase remained sitting on the bench, Jackie now in between them. When the first bang! echoed from the room, the two of them jumped in unison. “What was that?” Schneep hissed.
“A spell, probably,” Chase said. “Uh...sounded like a big one. Do you think it worked?”
There was the second bang! Schneep flinched, then muttered, “Apparently not.”
“Right.” Chase looked down at his hands, twisting his fingers.  “I guess we won’t know until they come out if it worked.”
“I suppose not.”
Chase sighed. He really, really hoped this worked. Maybe things wouldn’t go back to normal afterwards, but it would be better. Things would be...what was Jackie doing?
He paused in his hand-wringing to give this situation a better look. Jackie was rocking on the bench, forward and backwards, gripping the fabric of his pants in white-knuckled fists. Chase blinked, and stared. Jackie’s expression...it was pained. Every time one of the bang!s went off, he flinched, not out of surprise, but as if he’d been physically struck. “Uh...Jackie? Are you okay?”
Jackie didn’t respond. His mouth opened just a bit, letting out a small groan. Schneep stiffened, turning towards Chase. “Is everything okay?”
Chase didn’t get a chance to answer. “No,” Jackie whispered. “No, no, no, this—this isn’t okay.” He gasped as more loud noises came from the room, then suddenly doubled over, both hands shooting upward to press against his chest. “This—! This—! Isn’t okay!” He cried.
“Jackie!” Chase and Schneep shot to their feet in unison, Schneep backing up and holding his cane defensively, Chase standing in front of Jackie and crouching down again so he could be level with his face. “What’s wrong?!”
“Hurts. Hurts.” Jackie was shaking, all the color drained from his face. “It hurts! It hurts!” He lunged forward, grabbing Chase’s shirt and burying his face in it. “Make it stop!”
“I—I’m sorry, I can’t,” Chase said, at a loss for words. “I...Schneep, can you go—”
“No!” Jackie choked the word out from behind a sob. “Schneep, don’t leave.”
Both Chase and Schneep froze. That was...the first time Jackie had actually acknowledged any of them by name. Anyone other than Chase. “I...okay, I will not leave,” Schneep said slowly. “What should I do?”
“I don’t know,” Jackie shook his head. “I don’t know, I just—just stop it! Make it stop!”
“We—we can’t, Jackie.” Chase instinctively wrapped Jackie in a hug, holding him tight as he continued to rock back and forth, crying into Chase’s bandanna. “What’s wrong? What does it feel like?”
“I—I’m dying,” Jackie rasped. “I-I’m dying again. Chase, I don’t want to die again.” He let out another sob. “I—I’m being torn into pieces. Please, someone. Just stop this! Please!”
Schneep suddenly stepped up next to Chase. “Jackie, I am going to take your pulse, okay?” His voice was surprisingly gentle, and Jackie nodded, letting him press his fingers against the pulse in his neck. “Okay, okay. And your temperature. You need to back up a bit so I can feel your forehead.” Jackie did so, trembling a bit as Schneep put a hand on his forehead. “Scheiße,” Schneep hissed.
“Oh no, it’s in German, that’s not good,” Chase said. “What’s wrong?”
“He is burning up.” Schneep hurried over to the room’s door, hand trailing across the wall to find the doorknob. “And I think I mean that literally.” He grabbed the handle and turned it. Only to be met with resistance. Locked. His face drained of color. “Hey!” He started banging on the door. “Open it! Stop the whole thing, for god’s sake!”
“I’m going to die again,” Jackie said quietly, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head. “No, no, I don’t want to die again. I don’t want to go to hell.”
“You weren’t in hell, Jackie,” Chase said, trying to sound reassuring. “A-and it’s going to be fine.”
“Hell,” Jackie insisted. “Hell hell hell. Awful things...happening. Bits of my brain swirling around. So...angry. So much hate. It ate at me. Us. There were two of us, a-and we were just one, and I wasn’t sure—who am I? Chase, who am I? Chase, I don’t know.”
“You’re Jackie,” Chase emphasized. “Jackie Parker. The guy who decided to be a superhero because you thought you needed to. The guy who offered to let Marvin move in after he decided to sell his house. The guy who would babysit Lily and Moira when Stacy and I were too busy. A good guy. That’s who you are.”
Jackie was quiet for a moment. And then, softly, he asked, “Are you sure?”
Before Chase could answer, a loud crashing noise came from the room beyond the door. Jackie screamed, and fell forward off the bench, only held up by Chase still holding him. “Stop stop stop stop stop stop!” He shrieked, writhing and seizing. His temperature continued to rise, and Chase could feel the heat radiating from his entire body, like standing near a fire that was getting increasingly larger.
“Scheiß drauf!” Schneep kicked at the door under the handle one more time, then dropped his cane and reached to the side, grabbing his scissors from out of nowhere. He made a downward slashing motion, suddenly causing a membrane of yellow magic to appear over the door. It lasted for only a second before Schneep cut through it, leaving it in tatters. Then Schneep stepped forward and disappeared, teleporting straight into the room.
There was a lightshow of lightning happening in the center of the room. Jameson had his shields raised against any possible threats, and everyone except Delyth had backed up to around the edges of the room. In contrast, Delyth was stubbornly staying her ground next to the circle, hurling spell after spell at the strings, voice starting to crack and rasp as she shouted the spell words.
“Stop it! Shut it all down!” Schneep yelled. 
Delyth looked over at him. “I’m making progress!”
“That is the problem!” Schneep ran at her, hands outstretched, and managed to grab her arm before she sent it down to cast again. “Stop it!”
Delyth shook him off, readying herself for another spell. But before she could cast it, the blue shield in front of her suddenly slammed into her stomach, knocking her to the ground. Immediately, the lightning fizzled out, and any fire slowly died into pale purple embers that soon stopped glowing. Jameson lowered his hands, and glanced back at Delyth. Sorry, he signed, circling his fist on his chest.
“What’s wrong?” Jack asked. “Why’d we have to stop?”
“Something is wrong with Jackie,” Schneep explained hurriedly. “I-I think we are hurting him.”
Jack’s eyes widened, and he ran out of the room. Jameson followed shortly thereafter, and then Schneep. The magicians stayed in the room. Yvonne walked over to help Delyth up, and Griffin approached the circle in the middle, taking the lid off the second box he was holding so he could put the strings inside.
While the magicians cleaned up, the boys gathered around Chase and Jackie. “What’s wrong?” Jack asked. “What’s happening?!”
Chase looked up at him, not answering. Jackie had calmed down considerably once the spellcasting had stopped, and was now shaking and gasping for air, face pale and hair damp with sweat. He continued to hold onto Chase, who luckily didn’t seem to mind as much as he might have in other circumstances. Glancing upward, his eyes darted around the people surrounding him. “...Jack?” he whispered. “Schneep?” Then he looked at JJ, and frowned, confused. “Who’re you?”
“I...” Jack was temporarily at a loss for words. With this spellcasting, they’d been fully prepared for Jackie to lose it and start fighting to get to the strings, but this? They hadn’t even considered this. He seemed...normal. “This is Jameson, Jackie. He, uh...he’s a friend. But he can’t talk.” JJ waved, looking understandably nervous.
“Are you okay, Jackie?” Schneep asked urgently. “How do you feel?”
“...bad,” Jackie said after a while.
Chase laughed a bit. There were tears in his eyes, but he wasn’t sure what emotion was causing them.
“Where am I...? H-how did I get here?” Jackie looked around some more. “I don’t understand. I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“It’s a long story, Jackie,” Jack said. “We need to know if you’re okay, that’s all you need to focus on for now.” He paused, then closed his eye to activate soul vision. Usually, he’d see a mess of red and blue light in Jackie’s chest when he did this, but this time it was...different. The red and blue were neatly separated out, forming a circle that was roughly three-quarters red and one-quarter blue. But it wasn’t going to stay that way. He could see the edges where the colors met starting to swirl and shift already. “I don’t think we have much time,” he said in a hushed voice.
“Jackie, what do you remember?” Schneep asked. “Can you tell us? Quickly?”
“I-I...that depends on what you mean by remember.” Jackie shut his eyes tight. “I...there was...it was horrible. I-I saw—there were these—horrible, horrible things. Awful things, ha-happening to people. You guys were there. But I don’t know. I-I don’t know if they were all real or just my thoughts. Maybe both, but I...” He bit back a sob. “...I don’t know which were which. And just...so much...hating. I was so...felt so...much...hate.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Chase murmured. “You’re going to be alright. We’ll make sure of it.”
“Jackie, I have a question,” Schneep said. “Do you remember...did you and Marvin do some sort of spell? In your apartment?”
“Spell...” Jackie’s eyes suddenly shot open. He reached up and grabbed something around his neck. That amulet. That broken amulet, one of the pair that Anti always wore. “That spell! That—I didn’t—I didn’t—I didn’t want—”
“What? Did you not want to do the spell?” Schneep asked.
Jackie shook his head. “I did, at first. But then—he lied to me—”
“Marvin?”
“Yes, he didn’t tell me everything, I—I didn’t want that, I tried to stop it—” He suddenly froze. “Oh my god.” Reaching up, he covered his mouth with a hand as tears started to swell in his eyes. “Oh my god, I killed him.”
“What?” Chase asked, shocked.
“It was an accident! I just wanted to stop it! We got in a fight, I-I had a knife, I—he wasn’t supposed to die! I didn’t want to kill him!” His breathing sped into hyperventilating as he started rocking back and forth. “It was an accident! I—if he didn’t move—if I’d just been more careful—he wasn’t supposed to die! I wasn’t supposed to kill him!” The last sentence was ripped from his throat in a scream, and Jackie doubled over, curling over his knees and covering his head with his arms.
“Jackie, Jackie, it’s fine, we believe you!” Chase bent over as well, trying to keep his head level with his. “It wasn’t your fault, and we know that. It’s fine. You’re going to be alright.” For a moment, Jackie was frozen in that position. “Hey, it’s okay.” Chase patted his back, and at that, Jackie moved, leaning into him. “It’s okay.”
“...Chase.” Jack’s voice was low and warning, but Chase didn’t hear him.
“It’s all over now,” Chase said reassuringly, giving Jackie a hug and straightening, pulling him into a kneeling position. After a moment, Jackie responded, wrapping his arms around him. “It’s alright. It’s...” Chase paused. “You’re uh...squeezing pretty tight there. Could you loosen up a bit, bro?” Jackie didn’t answer. In fact, he started to squeeze tighter. “Jackie, I—I really don’t like this.” Chase started to squirm. “Jackie?”
Jameson finally stepped in, quickly pulling Jackie away from Chase. He didn’t seem to mind much, eyes now looking a bit glazed. His head turned around absentmindedly, not really looking for anything. “Where are we?” He asked. “Where’s the rest of me? It’s close...we think.”
Chase quickly backed away, scrambling to his feet. Looking shaken, he walked all the way until his back was pressed against the hall wall. “What...what happened?” He asked quietly.
“It’s weird,” Jack said. “His soul...the two colors were separated, but they were starting to mix together again. Then he started talking about—about killing someone...and it all just snapped back to being all jumbled up.”
“Marvin,” Schneep muttered. “He was talking about how he accidentally killed Marvin. During the transference spell, it sounded like. They fought, and it...must have...” He turned around, burying his face in his hands. It was hard to imagine. And he didn’t want to imagine it at all.
“Yeah, that would cause some problems in the spell.”
The boys jumped in unison at the sound of the voice, and looked over to see the magicians had left the room. Yvonne, noticing them all staring at her, continued, “I mean, I don’t think it’s ever happened before. If it has, it was probably a long time ago. Long enough that all records of it are gone now. But I imagine the spell would want to keep going—black magic like that almost has a will and drive of its own—but without both of the participants, it couldn’t, so it just messed their souls up.”
“God...” Jack breathed.
That must have been terrible, JJ signed sadly. 
“I imagine so,” Griffin said gravely. “But I’m afraid I must ask...do we want to continue with the spellcasting?” He held up the box. “We were actually making some headway there near the end.”
“Are you crazy?!” Chase, though still a bit rattled, was put together enough to whirl on the magicians. “We almost killed Jackie!”
“There was no guarantee that was going to happen,” Delyth said calmly. “The chance that he would have survived is equal to the chance that he would not have.”
“You know, I think he would not have,” Schneep stated flatly. “I may not be a doctor anymore, I may be blind, even, but I can still fucking recognize when someone is having a crisis.”
“And the point of this is to get rid of the strings, not Jackie and Marvin,” Chase added, folding his arms. “That is the last thing we want.”
“It might not have killed him,” Delyth repeated. “And besides, while these strings exist, they’re both a high threat—”
“Are you fucking insane?!” Jack shouted. “Are you asking us to kill our friends?!”
“No!” Delyth shook her head furiously. “Alright, what if we took this in short bursts? That took a lot of my magic, anyway. We’ve damaged them slightly, if we keep this up—”
There’s still a chance they’ll die once the strings are gone, JJ interrupted. I understand you’re concerned about what might happen, but this isn’t the way.
“Yeah, Mae, I knew you were strict, didn’t realize you were heartless,” Yvonne emphasized.
Delyth took a step back, shocked. “I didn’t mean—I...I’m sorry. I didn’t want to come off that way.”
“Don’t do it again,” Chase said in a surly tone.
“But what do we do now?” Jack asked quietly.
“That is not clear,” Schneep said. “But one thing is. We cannot destroy the strings.”
“Then...what can we do?” Chase whispered.
Nobody had an answer for that.
— — — — — — —
The sudden pain in his chest was fading. Still, he could only lie on the ground for a few moments, panting and shaking. What was that? Why had that suddenly happened?
...where was he?
Marvin sat up, looking around. This...looked like some random street. The buildings were tall but run-down, and there were no cars or pedestrians in sight. He must have collapsed right onto the sidewalk.
...how did he get here?
He reached up to his face, and felt a mask covering half of it. What? He pulled it off. This...looked like his mask, except snapped in half, with the white ceramic stained blue. Hadn’t he seen this? Or...had he just imagined it?
Attempting to stand up, Marvin winced, falling back down to a sitting position. His feet really hurt. He could remember walking...so much walking. For days, it seemed like. And his stomach was turning in on itself. He hadn’t eaten anything in...in...he couldn’t remember.
“Hello?” He called. “Is...is anyone there? Um...help?”
He tried to recall the last thing he remembered. And immediately regretted it, as all he could find were visions of people suffering, horrible, gruesome sights. Were those real? Or were they just thoughts he’d had? Shaking his head to physically ward off the images, he tried to remember something else. He had been...angry. Full of rage so hot it was like it was physically burning him. But everything was disconnected, broken, shattered. Held together by tenuous strings. His mind was in pieces. He’d been pulled apart.
Suddenly cold despite the sun overhead, Marvin wrapped his arms around himself, squeezing his eyes to hold in tears. “It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine,” he muttered. “It’s fine, it’s...” He let out a sob, and started rocking back and forth. That helped. Tapping his arm with his fist helped, too. What was happening? Why was it happening to him?
What...
He...
There...
Feel...
Marvin shook his head, climbing to his feet and holding the half-mask close to his chest. He was coming apart again. Bits of him were...they were...mixing up. Again. He couldn’t...think...
What else did he remember? What...we...I...you...? Us...? He didn’t feel...whole.
“No, no, no, no.” Jackie pressed a hand against his head. Jackie? No, he was Marvin. Or...was he someone other than both of those? No, he was Marvin. Marvin Marvin Marvin...
He didn’t feel whole. Why? Because...he was broken...?
His hand brushed against his neck. There were...stitches...strings...there. Stitches. Strings. Strings. Strings. Strings.
The rest of him. The rest of them.
He could feel it. He couldn’t feel it for a while there, but something had changed. Now he sensed where they were, clear as day, easy as following a sound.
Turning in that direction, he slid the mask back over his face, and smiled. Now he knew. Now he would be brought back together. He headed straight in that direction, any pain and discomfort instantly forgotten. He had to find the rest of him.
— — — — — — —
The whole group had quickly dispersed after aborting the spellcasting. Griffin and Delyth had disappeared to wherever they usually spent their time, Jack, JJ, and Chase had retreated to their rooms with Jackie in tow, and Schneep had gone down to the basement to do some more training. But not long after, he found he wasn’t in the mood. He just...kept thinking about what they were supposed to do next. Maybe if they put the strings somewhere else, somewhere far away? But where would even be far enough? Eventually, he left, taking the elevator back up.
The doors dinged open much sooner than he expected. That might have been surprising, if he hadn’t sensed the presence of someone on the other side. “Oh! Hey, it’s you.” Yvonne’s voice. “You mind? I can wait for the next lift.”
“No no, is fine.” Schneep stepped to the side, feeling her brush past him.
“Thanks.” The elevator doors shut, and he heard the sound of Yvonne pressing a button.
“We are on the same floor, yes?” He asked. “Are you not going to your room?”
“What? No, I am, I just pressed it again. Y’know...cause I wanted to press the button.” Yvonne giggled a bit. “Huh. Didn’t realize that could be confusing if you couldn’t see what was happening.”
“I did not either, until just now.” It had been months since he returned to the waking world with his sight missing, and he was still learning new things.
“Hey, actually, can I ask you a question?” Yvonne said.
“Go ahead.”
“How’d you manage to get through the protective spell around the reaction room? That’s supposed to prevent anyone from barging in and interrupting everything, but you just teleported right in.”
Schneep frowned. “Well, I just...when the door would not open, I thought there must have been some sort of magic protection. And I was right. So I...I did not think about it too much, actually, I just grabbed my scissors and cut right through, then jumped inside.”
“Huh.” Yvonne paused. “Are these scissors of yours...magic?”
“I am not sure, actually.” Schneep reached forward and grabbed them, pulling them out of a pocket in thin air. “They seem very normal to me, what about you?” He snipped them a few times for emphasis.
“Yeah, they look pretty normal.” Yvonne paused. “In uder’m magima,” she muttered. There was a cool breeze, and then she said, “Nope, I couldn’t pick anything up. They’re just regular-ass scissors. Guess that must be part of your magic, then. To cut straight through wards? Hey, do you mind if I call you some time? We can go on a trip to some of the most protected ABIM storages.”
“Ha ha,” Schneep said. “I suppose that—” He suddenly stopped.
“What? Something wrong?”
“We stopped moving,” he said. “But the doors are not opening.”
“...oh. I hadn’t noticed. That’s—oh my god!”
“What?!”
“The lights went out,” Yvonne said in a hushed voice. “Is there a power outage? That...shouldn’t happen.”
“Why? Are the lights magic?”
“No, but I don’t think sanctuaries would be prone to blackouts.” She banged on the elevator doors, then pressed several different buttons. “Ugh. This is taking too long. Can you teleport us out?”
Schneep raised an eyebrow. “I could, technically. But I should warn you first, teleportation is not a pleasant experience.”
“Hey, I’ve tried it...once. Twice. Anyway, it was fine for me then.”
“You cannot do it again?”
“Nah, can’t remember the spell.” He could practically hear Yvonne shrugging.
Schneep sighed. “Alright. I will do all the work, then.” He held out a hand, and Yvonne quickly grabbed it. Making sure he had a firm grip on her, he thought about where to jump. He had no idea where they were in the building, and he could only really imagine the basement, his room, and the ground floor. That last one would probably be the most convenient. They could just take the stairs. Debatably, his room would also be helpful, but he didn’t want to bring someone into there without asking Jack if he could, since they shared the space. “And going now.” So he jumped.
Instantly, they were back on the ground floor. And instantly, Yvonne yanked her hand away. “H-holy shit,” she breathed. “Holy—” She stumbled away, bracing herself against the wall and taking several deep breaths. “You weren’t kidding.”
“I did warn you,” Schneep pointed out.
“That is not normal teleportation. I don’t know what you’re doing, but it’s not normal.” Yvonne paused. “Wait...do you hear that?”
They both fell silent. Some ways away, there was the sound of crashing and shouting...some sort of fight. In unison, they ran towards the sound.
Rounding a corner, they ran right into a magical battlefield. The ground was broken up, with purple crystals protruding from the floor and stabbing the air. The wallpaper was singed with purple flames, and a couple of the doors had been knocked off their hinges. The moment Schneep rounded the corner, he ran into a long, blue string, which immediately wrapped around his torso and pulled him down with a yelp.
“You two!” Delyth was holding her own against her opponent, eyes glowing pale purple. “What are you doing here?!”
“Mae!” Yvonne gasped. “What—”
“It’s Marvin,” Schneep said through gritted teeth. “Isn’t it?”
“Maaarvin?” That voice identified him shortly before he came into sight, stepping out of one of the rooms with broken doors. His broken mask was firmly on his face, set above a wild grin. “Is that who we are?” Blue strings of magic danced in the air around him.
“Oh fuck.” Yvonne took a step back, raising her hands instinctively. On the ground beside her, Schneep was struggling with his scissors and the thread entangling him.
“Get out of here!” Delyth demanded, thrusting her hand forward to conjure a purple crystalline shield, deflecting the wave of blue strings that flew at her. “I’ll take care of this!”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Mae, you’re running out of juice!” Yvonne protested. “Look at how faint that shield is!”
“You need to get to the strings! That’s what he’s—” She was cut off as one of the strings wormed its way under the shield and wrapped around her ankles, yanking her upwards.
“Mae!” Yvonne reacted instinctively, hurling a ball of pale blue magic at Marvin, knocking him to the ground and making him drop Delyth. “Oh, sorry!”
Marvin got to his feet, swaying for a moment. He glanced upwards towards the ceiling, and grinned even wider. “We’re really close,” he muttered. A ball of wriggling blue thread spawned in his hand, and he threw it upwards. Once it hit the ceiling, the strings spread out in a fan, digging into the plaster and causing white dust to fall down onto Marvin below.
“Oh no you don’t!” Yvonne swung her hand, sending a wave of magic at the strings and knocking them to the ground. Frowning, Marvin turned his attention to her. More strings appeared in the air, slithering in a way that seemed distinctly hostile.
Schneep finally managed to cut through the string wrapping him up, and he scrambled to his feet. “I can make sure the strings are secure,” he said. “You two hold him back.”
“Got it.” Yvonne raised a shield, then reached down and helped pull Delyth to her feet. “We can handle this.”
Schneep nodded, and jumped away, just before Marvin lunged forward at the two magicians.
His jump took him to the floor directly above him, though he fell a few inches onto the floor. Not bad, for being entirely unsure where he was going. But it sounded like he hadn’t escaped the chaos on this floor, either.
“Got him!” The scene he’d stepped into had Jack, Chase, and JJ struggling with Jackie. Jack had managed to grab Jackie, wrapping his arms around him in an effort to hold him back from...going somewhere. “Guys, can you—”
“Let go!” Jackie twisted around, and suddenly there was a flash of red light. Jack cried out and staggered backwards, suddenly bleeding from a cut across his cheek. Immediately, Jackie started to run again, only to run into a wall of blue light as Jameson created several shields around him, trapping him in.
“What is going on?!” Schneep asked.
“Oh Schneep! Jackie just went crazy all of a sudden.” Chase hurried over to Schneep’s side. “It was weird, he was talking about ‘the rest of him’ again.”
“The rest of me!” Jackie whaled. He started pounding on the shields—no, not pounding on them, stabbing them. With bits of red light, long and sharp and almost shaped like a knife. “I need to get to them! I need to—”
Jameson flinched, and one of the shields abruptly shattered. Jackie wasted no time, dashing forward, right past Schneep and Chase, and running up to a closed door. With another flash of red magic, the door was cut right in half, wood folding to the ground, and Jackie disappeared inside.
“No!” Jack cried. He and the other three hurried forward, into a dimly-lit room filled with coppery boxes. Jackie was quickly knocking them aside, until he found one the size of a shoebox. Grinning maniacally, he pried at the lid, but it wouldn’t open. “Stop him!” Jack shouted.
Chase dived forward, tackling Jackie to the ground. He shrieked, but managed to keep hold of the shoebox. “No!” Jackie yelled.
“Give me that!” Chase reached for the shoebox, but Jackie held it away from him. Of course, the other three quickly stepped in to help, with Schneep managing to grab the box, Jack prying at Jackie’s hands, and Chase and JJ holding him down. Jackie shouted, struggling and twisting, and soon the whole situation devolved into a wrestling match on the floor of the room. It only lasted for a few minutes before one wrong kick knocked down a nearby stack of boxes, which came crashing down onto the four of them, momentarily stunning them all.
Unfortunately, Jackie recovered the quickest. He pried the box away from the others and scrambled backwards. “You don’t understand,” he hissed. “We need it. We need to be whole. And we will have it! We will—!” Suddenly, he stopped. And looked down. And then, out of nowhere, he laughed. Raising one hand, sharp blades of red light appeared in the air.
Jameson immediately tried to shield the others, but it turned out, that wasn’t what Jackie was planning. The blades plunged downward into the floor around him in a neat circle, slicing right through. And then the floor gave way, and Jackie fell through the new hole onto the floor below.
In the room beneath, Marvin had been locked in a fight with Yvonne and Delyth. Well, mostly Yvonne, as Delyth’s magic was quickly draining. Shades of blue magic traded blows, blasts pushing back strings and strings wriggling through shields. Then the ceiling was cut through, and Jackie landed on the floor behind Marvin, who immediately froze and spun around. His face split into a wide grin.
“Bell, they have the container!” Delyth shouted, pointing at the coppery box in Jackie’s arms.
“On it!” A pale blue wall sprang up in between Jackie and Marvin, stopping Marvin just before he was able to pull Jackie to his feet. “Now what?”
Jackie got to his feet, looking at the wall of magic. And he laughed. He raised one hand and swiftly brought it down, cutting through the air. An arc of red light ran right into the blue wall...and it instantly shattered. Yvonne gasped, stumbling back. A trail of blood started to leak from her nose.
Marvin grabbed Jackie by the hand, and they both smiled the exact same smile. Then he spun around and sent a wave of blue strings at the magicians. Delyth tried to conjure another shield, but it was much too weak, and the strings cut right through and pinned both of the magicians to the walls.
“No!”
Something flashed in the faint light, and Marvin cried out, stumbling back. He’d been stabbed. A pair of scissors was sticking out of the back of his shoulder.
Schneep had dropped through the hole Jackie had made. Now, he stood behind Jackie and Marvin, expression twisted with anger and his eyes glowing turquoise light. There was a second pair of scissors in his hand, and he lunged. Marvin sent out another wave of strings, but Schneep disappeared, reappearing on the other side. Jackie whirled around and grabbed his wrist, preventing him from using the scissors he was holding. Except that now Schneep had a third pair in his other hand, which he opened wide and slashed, hitting Jackie’s other arm, the one holding the coppery box. Jackie yelped, and dropped it, only for the box to be caught in a net of blue strings and pulled over to Marvin, who picked it up.
Jackie and Marvin looked at each other. “Getting out,” they said in unison.
Marvin sent a few more strings Schneep’s way, who disappeared and reappeared behind the pair. But shortly after doing so, Jackie made a slashing motion, and an arc of red light hit Schneep in the chest. He cried out, falling backwards from the force of it. The moment he hit the floor, Jackie and Marvin grabbed each other’s hands and ran, right out the room and down the hall.
“They’re heading to the front!” Delyth shouted.
Jack, Chase, and Jameson, hearing the shout, ran for the front entrance, though it was far away. Schneep climbed to his feet and jumped, beating them there. But it was too late. By the time the group arrived there, Jackie and Marvin were nowhere in sight.
For a moment, all they could do was stand there, staring at the empty lobby in shock. Then Chase fell to his knees, Jameson collapsed on the nearest chair, and Schneep dropped his scissors. “They got away...” Jack breathed. “They...we have to go after them.”
Schneep nodded. “Yes. We have to, now.” He buttoned up his coat. “We cannot waste any time. Jameson, could you track them?”
“Wh...am I super out of it, or did you not have a coat just a minute ago?” Chase asked. “Where’d you get that?”
“I, ah...don’t...know.” Schneep blinked, running his hands over the black coat he was wearing. “But I recognize this feel. It is my black one, yes?”
“Yeah, but...how’d you get it?”
“And I’d like to know how you got like two other pairs of scissors.” Yvonne and Delyth appeared in the lobby entrance, both breathing hard from running and still with blue string wrapped around their limbs. “Like...seriously, where did those come from?” Yvonne tried for a laugh. It failed.
“Look, I think we have more important things to think about,” Schneep said irritably. “Jamie, can you track them?”
Jameson nodded. “He said yes,” Jack told Schneep.
“Good. We have to do it now, or—”
“Whoa, no way any of you are going out there now,” Delyth interrupted.
“What?!” Chase got to his feet and whirled on her. “Did you see how fast they broke in here?! Do you want to know what the two of them could do with those strings?!”
“It’ll probably take them a while to get the container open,” Delyth said calmly. “It’s designed to be unable to open without the proper authorization. Right now, we can’t just go barging in there, we have to have a plan.”
“Barging in there is a plan,” Jack protested. “We can’t let—”
“No.” Delyth’s voice was firm, unshakable. “Somehow, Marvin got right through our wards. Facing an opponent like that—two opponents like that without a plan? I can think of little more foolhardy.”
“I’ll tell you what’s more foolhardy,” Chase said coldly. “Letting those two have time to open the box, get together, and form Anti again.” He laughed hysterically, grabbing his hair and pulling at it. “That’s what they want to do! You’ve heard them! They’re all ‘we need to be whole,’ and ‘whole’ is Anti! That motherfucker! We can’t—can’t let that happen! We just got rid of him! We were going to fix everything!”
Delyth, please, Jameson signed. I understand your caution. It will be dangerous. But time is of the essence. We need to go NOW if we want to have any chance to prevent this. Chase pointed out how easily and swiftly they broke in and found those strings, they won’t have trouble with the box they’re in.
Jack translated all this, and added, “Plus, you haven’t seen Anti like we have. We...we still haven’t told you everything he’s done.” He swallowed nervously, eyes shadowed for one moment. “There were things that were just too...too hard to talk about. A-and he might have a grudge against you, too, if he reforms. We can’t let...any...anything ha-happen.”
Delyth looked thoughtful for a moment. But then she shook her head. “We can’t risk it. Besides, we have to look at the wards. Figure out why Marvin attacked now.”
“It has to do with us trying to destroy the strings, I am sure,” Schneep mumbled.
“If this Anti reforms, we can protect you—”
“That is not the point!” Chase shrieked. “We had to go through hell to get Jackie and Marvin separate again! We might not be able to do it a second time! We have to go now!”
“Mae,” Yvonne said softly. “I think you’re right.”
“You do?” Delyth said, clearly surprised.
“I mean, yeah, we’re not in any shape to fight right now. Especially you and me.” Yvonne touched her bloody nose. “I think we should go get cleaned up in the clinic. These guys can rest in their rooms. Once we’re all good, we can discuss what to do next.” She looked over at the four others, making significant eye contact with all of them. “In fact, we should go now. It’s on this floor. And you guys should definitely go upstairs while we do this. We might be a while.”
Delyth sighed, thankfully not catching on. “Alright. Let’s go. I know you four are anxious, so we’ll be quick, we promise.”
The boys were silent, but they all nodded in unison as the two magicians retreated back into the halls. They remained silent as they listened to the retreating footsteps until they could no longer be heard.
Schneep whirled around. “Jamie? You really can track them?”
Yes, definitely, Jameson said. I’ve been practicing while in this hotel, finding random things. He held his hand out, eyes scrunching up in concentration. A spinning blue disc formed on the tips of his fingers.
“Should we get weapons?” Jack asked.
“I’d like my gun,” Chase said.
 “One moment.” Schneep reached to the side, hand disappearing into a pocket. When he pulled it back out, he held Chase’s gun. “Here you are.” He tossed it in Chase’s general direction.
“Whoa!” Chase leaned heavily to the side in order to catch it. “Your aim’s still as bad as ever, I see.”
Schneep chuckled. “Jack? Do you need anything?”
“Um...no, not now. Maybe I’ll reconsider later.” Jack looked over at Jameson. “Alright, let it go, JJ.”
Nodding, Jameson flung out his arm like he was throwing a frisbee. The tracking disc spun off, disappearing quickly through the front entrance. The four of them ran after it, with not a single ounce of hesitation between them all.
No more waiting. They needed to finish this now.
20 notes · View notes
bronyinabottle · 3 years
Text
In a recent post on I Dream of Twilight Sparkle I said that I noticed asks that were not in my inbox the last time I decided to read through my entire ask box. So I did the same for my mod blog. And while there were some also that I didn't see before. Most are questions I feel either I feel like I may have already sufficiently answered enough with my thoughts on an episode and/or it'd be weird at this point to answer something that's obviously years after the fact.
But there is two I found that I feel like I may want to respond to. The person who sent it was someone who used to discuss the show with me almost all the time, though obviously they must no longer be on Tumblr as all their blogs are deactivated. But I still want to answer since it is sort of relevant to recent stuff. Particularly in their 2nd ask.
By the way, I'm always open to questions on the show or even non-pony topics here on my modblog. I still do love talking about G4 ponies and I wouldn't mind some questions if any of you would like to know my opinion on anything. Now that the show has been over for nearly 2 years , I can have a perspective on many topics about Friendship is Magic that I wouldn't mind sharing. Maybe some things have changed here and there, though I think I still generally have a positive attitude towards most things for certain. I stuck with the show until the very end, and was satisfied with how it ended. And I still have interest in doing more in G4's world even as G5 approaches. (Though I'm sure perhaps once that movie has aired that may be the focus of any questions sent here)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
((My answer and more after the break))
For the most part, I think I still generally agree with what I said in my initial thoughts about the Season 6 finale. It's a solid episode with some great interactions between Starlight, Trixie, Discord, and Thorax. Though the way the ending is executed is a bit of a headscratcher. Maybe somewhat less so since thinking about it now, like even if Chrysalis did keep some things loyal. What would stop them from eventually seeing what Thorax's changelings did shortly after.
But I suppose I wanted to answer this mostly about Starlight. Since while the Season 6 finale made HomerJ get over some remaining feelings about Starlight. I'll admit it took literally until writing Secrets of the Dragon's Tear (A year after the show was over) to realize the sort of potential that Starlight had. The baggage from the Season 5 finale always felt like a cloud above her for the entire rest of the show's run. And I consider Season 6's largest mistake is not trying harder to endear us to Starlight. That's what that season's entire job was, to try to make us feel a little better of how rather rushed Starlight's redemption was by giving us a more expanded look into Starlight's character. And unfortunately, I feel like it failed at that in my opinion. Thus I basically disagree (Though respect the opinion of) with those who would say the Season 6 finale was when Starlight finally won them over.
Don't get me wrong, I like how Starlight is portrayed in the episode. But it would of been stronger if say the season had explained more about Starlight's past. How did Starlight get her cutie mark, and given her opinion on Cutie Marks how did she feel at the time?
Instead, we mostly just got Starlight reuniting with Sunburst that didn't exactly give any more details to her rather vague reasons for turning to darkness from him moving away other then finding out Sunburst's personality and how his side of the story went. And from there we had Starlight befriend Trixie... in an episode I still don't really like to this day.
Ironically, the character in the Hearth's Warming episode that casts Starlight as the story's version of Scrooge (Snowfall Frost) is given more reason to sympathize with then Starlight herself.
Starlight then just about disappears up until the episode that introduces Thorax. Where she doesn't do much other then be among the crowd that Spike has to convince that Thorax is not evil.
The next time we see her is Every Little Thing She Does. Which is something of a controversial ep from what I hear, though ironically despite my skepticism of Starlight at the time. I actually sort of liked that episode since it was basically Starlight's own Lesson Zero. Though I get why Starlight deciding to hypnotize all the Mane 6 besides Twilight against their will would not be approved of. Though it does feel like at the very least Twilight and the rest give her enough of a piece of their mind at the end.
And that's how things stood before the Season 6 finale happened. Even though I do think Starlight has good moments in said finale, nothing earlier in the season really dispelled many of my feelings about the Season 5 finale's ending. So despite a good showing, I could hardly care for it. I wasn't convinced yet we were given a satisfactory answer about the many questions that Starlight's sudden redemption prompted.
Another part of my thoughts I feel still applies is when I mentioned that Starlight's a "Diet Sunset Shimmer" (Which considering what I did to link the two for SOTDT, is a bit funny in hindsight). It took just one movie (Rainbow Rocks) for the fanbase to turn a 180 on Sunset. While an entire season with Starlight as one of the good guys goes by and she remained just as divisive as before if not more so by the end of Season 6.
Come Season 7, and Starlight appears quite a bit more often though under the assumption that the Season 6 finale was enough to warm you up to her. There were many complaints during the first half of Season 7 that she was appearing more then she should (Even in an Equestria Girls special where she got to meet the character she was so often compared to). Though another thing about Starlight in Season 7 in hindsight is besides from her meeting a few more friends like Maud. Starlight isn't actually given much to actually work towards. They dropped the whole student aspect so it's not like she was doing friendship lessons under Twilight anymore (Though I suppose on the bright side for the detractors, it lessened worries about her becoming an Alicorn). Season 8 and 9 does somewhat fix that by having Starlight employed at the school, first as a counselor and ultimately ending with her as the school's Principal as Twilight herself got promoted to sole ruler. Which I'm still unsure about if fans of her character feel that was a proper ending for her. Though probably the best that could of been done in context of not much having been done with her over time.
Still, at least for me personally it felt there was alot missing about Starlight and as time went on it became obvious I wasn't going to get the satisfactory answers about her that I wanted. So as a result, I only had lukewarm reactions when a new Starlight episode was coming up. It also didn't help that there were two episodes that raised my hopes of at least one interesting aspect that would of been cool to see. The first being the episode "All Bottled Up" which I had hoped would mean it would be an episode that's somewhat genie related. And then there was Road to Friendship where Starlight and Trixie try to travel to Saddle Arabia (which is an important location in I Dream of Twilight Sparkle)... and yet never actually get there. So even on the few times that I was hoping to be excited about a Starlight episode, it dropped the ball. Partly my fault for getting so hyped about something that wasn't promised, but I would of loved to at least SEEN canon Saddle Arabia.
I'd never say that I hated Starlight back during the show's run. But she was a frustrating character for certain back then. I couldn't hate Starlight as much as some others did, but at the same time I couldn't like her as much as others. She was in likability limbo. For every fun and or good moment that included her, it's brought right back by either lingering problems that arised from the Season 5 finale or otherwise dropping the ball in some way.
In some ways, she's still a frustrating character. Though that's just how it'll always be with the canon Starlight. It's up entirely now to fanon to give their approach on Starlight that was never done in Canon. With SOTDT, I obviously did a bit of a "Fine, I'll do it myself" when it comes to making Starlight a more satisfactory character for me. Though I'm sure there are many interpretations that are vastly different from how I approached it that can satisfy others and probably be more popular and better written then mine. (My interpretation might be understandably controversial just for Starlight being put back on a path where she'll likely become an Alicorn eventually. Something Starlight detractors feared the most. Though I think I at least try to explain as best I could that makes sense with the story, her cutie mark moment being similar to Twilight's, and the identity of her mother. And I myself sort of feared Starlight becoming an Alicorn might happen, so for me to actually write it so that it might be inevitable. That's just how much of a 180 I've taken on Starlight because of writing SOTDT)
I think I mentioned this before, but I can pretty much say that in a way that I can actually say I like Starlight now. But sort of in a "FiM's biggest missed opportunity" sort of way that it becomes sort of sad to look at how canon Starlight was done. Rather then me simply shrugging her off back when I didn't care so much about her. I also understand it's a bit cheating to say I like Starlight now after doing my own sort of fanfic that had her in a major role since that might be me tooting my own horn a bit.
Though I will say as much as necessary that I am very aware alot of what happens in SOTDT would have been impossible to do in canon and I don't plan on pushing what I did to expand on Starlight's backstory as gospel. It only applies to what I'm doing on the blog, I will not be making a case that my interpretation is the only correct one. I'd actually welcome seeing some different interpretations on things such as who Starlight's mother is, what they feel her past was like outside of the Sunburst leaving incident, and/or especially how Starlight originally got her cutie mark. (I've even said my personal guess is different then how I did it in SOTDT, as my guess is she got it the first time she discovered the cutie mark removal spell). Cause if nothing else, I've realized Starlight is a very interesting character that I think would be fun to explore all the possibilities with. It certainly could be something for those still on the G4 train to talk with one another about.
2 notes · View notes
hiimsociallyawkward · 3 years
Text
the wicked day
hey guys. i'm back with my random and annoying merlin thoughts. i should be studying for my bio quiz, but yk- i don't want to :,) love you @lady-ofmagic-andstars✨enjoy✨
literally every time i'm going watching i'm going to comment on john hurt that says young man instead of young boy
it's so subtle but wow. thanks i didn't need to be hurt so early on in the episode
i know i know i'm basically a child but this is so exciting
merlin is so cute
aw no not arthur being pouty abt his big birthday
I LOVE THE 'i heard that' thing so much. i love it i love it
off topic, but i love knife throwing. i've always thought that if i had to choose a weapon that's not a gun, i'd choose knifes. swords? maces? crossbows? sure. but knives?? that's where it's really at
i love arthur not wanting to overburden their citizens
ok uther? i hate him
but here? i love him
he's a good dad here. remembering arthur's birthday? that's so sweet. uther in season 4 is the only time i semi like him
AW ARTHUR AND UTHER AT DINNER
i love them
off topic but i like that arthur is wearing his 'every day' clothes, jacket and a tunic under his cape. that's it. the knights are all wearing his garb but arthur is just wearing his 'regular clothes'
hehe gwen being nervous about arthur being on the wheel is so sweet
idk why but i always get nervous at that last knife.
like of COURSe i know he's not going to get hit but it's scary.
the 'not wearing any trousers' thing omg. bbc really decided to do that
i wish we had more of this parental dynamic of arthur and uther
dam alright arthur. being out of it but still being in it enough to see the guy in the reflection? i stan
SKLFJASLDFJA uther fighting to protect arthur
literally me through his whole scene going 'oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez' on repeat.
so off topic but i kind of like the hairstyle they have for most of the guys in this show?? idk is that weird
oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez uther dying
like, i HATe him. i've been waiting for this since season 1 but this scene makes me sad
ok i don't remember the last episode of merlin so i forget what arthur says when he's dying in merlin's arms??
it's something like 'hold me' right? i feel like that has the same energy as 'stay with me' so while i can't exactly say this is sort of parallel, it's sort of parallel?
i mean, ok 1. dying in someone else's arms. 2. dying in the arms of someone you love? romantically, platonically, familial? doesn't matter. both uther and arthur died in the arms of someone they loved. 3. i'm just gonna say 'hold me' and 'stay with me' have the SAME energy, so if no one has called semi-parallels, i'm calling semi-parallels
bradley's single tear
stfu agarvaine. i'm serious. legit everytime he shows up i wanna pow pow pow him
legit. agaravaine needs to get away from morgana.
DO NOT GRAB HER ARM MISTER. LET GO OF HER
I DON'T CARE THAT YOU'RE SECRETLY IN LOVE WITH HER. LET GO OF HER RN
i've said it once and i'll say it again, i love gwen
not to romanticize death or anything but i like candle light vigils.
ok maybe slightly symbolic but probably not? ok actually i think it is, not to toot my own horn but this is also just really straightforward too.
arthur wearing 'street garb' and his 'knight stuff' sort of differentiates between 'arthur' and 'prince arthur'. the scene where merlin and arthur are looking over the vigil and merlin's talking about how there's nothing that can be done, and arthur mentions using magic, i may be off about this but i feel like he's speaking more from prince arthur rather than arthur, uther is my father.
like of course arthur's hurting, everyone knows he's hurting. but idk. i feel like he feels like he's not ready to be king. he needs more time, and he can't be king yet. so therefore, prince arthur is talking about needing to save their king.
gaius and merlin are both right here. idk what else to say.
wow merlin 'you can't stop me' love that
jeez 'maybe this is my chance to change that' little do you know what's happening soon merlin.
oh shoot.
arthur asking merlin if he would use magic to save his father? i'm just thinking back to merlin crying, but not crying over balinor because he couldn't tell arthur, and merlin having to mourn his father in secret. vs. arthur, asking merlin for advice. sharing all his worries and insecurities with gwen. begging gaius to do something more for his father. this just makes me so sad
arthur TRUSTING merlin. with everything. taking merlin's opinion on things and aw
this is dumb but tbh i really like merlin's outfit. like tbh i think i dress in the same sort of style, just ✨modern✨ sadly, no neckerchief for me but i do have a necklace that says 'heather' despite my name being 'ashley'. ily conan gray
ugh. arthur calling merlin a coward but also calling him brave?? you need to pick a side arthur
LMAO ARTHUR STOP THINKING ABOUT WATCHING MERLIN PEE
bruh arthur breaking the vase. it's so dumb but merlin referring to the vase over and over actually makes me chuckle
ok merlin going 'you have come to kill me?' reminds me of another show but i can't remember but i thought i'd put it out here anyways
oh shoot i just realized/remember that uther got stabbed on arthur's birthday. hell of a gift am i right 😭
hehe arthur 'sweeping' with the broom. silly goose
dragoon sounds so vulnerable asking for the right to use magic freely
i love you arthur. this scene, i'm like YES. arthur i love him
i love the saying 'my word'. like, i don't want people to promise me anything anymore. i want them to give me their word.
HAHA THIS IS SO DUMB. MERLIN SAYING 'QUESTIONS. SO MANY QUESTIONS'. I LITERALLY SAY IT WITH THE SHOW EVERY TIME. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME
aw arthur just sitting there with the cup and trying not to break it HAHA he's so sweet. slightly scared after that vase yk what i mean
ok i don't like morgana and everything but that necklace? that's a stroke of genius. yes girl. make up the plan as you go along
frick you agarvaine. do not scare gwen you PERV
jeez agarvainewas SO rude putting that necklace onto uther. like yes, ik you don't like him but STILL. that's just rude
i'm going to start calling people toads now
hehe arthur closing his door and merlin being right there. it's not necessarily a trope but it totally is and i love it
ah yes. merlin and the tavern. i feel like it's been referred to before but it's still funny.
ok ik arthur carrying merlin is there for kicks for the kids but i laughed anyways
apparently i have the humor of a 10 year old
this is really dumb but the scene with arthur and the two guards. i'm just thinking 'how tall are these guards'. ofc ik that the staging/perception could be doing something that might be making arthur look shorter, but my first reaction was 'bradley is 6' just how tall are these guards??'
merlin's speech about magic makes me sad
aw 'i hope, one day, that you'll see me in a different light'
dragoon has the same effect on arthur as merlin does
uther waking up 😭
AW. UTHER'S LITTLE SIGH AND THEN 'ARTHUR' BREAK MY HEART COVEY. BREAK IT A THOUSAND TIMES.
they're both so happy. this makes me so sad now. oh jeez. oh jeez. oh jeez
oh jeez oh jeez merlin's expression. AW merlin gave arthur his word. oh jeez this is very stressful and i'm only watching this
ok obviously. merlin doesn't want to see arthur in pain. but ALSO this was merlin's chance to change things once and for all. and now uther is dead. #no liam just payne
arthur's face post crying. skf;aldjfa;ldk AW
frick you agarvaine. literally die. i can't wait for merlin to kill you
Tumblr media
i think this scene is pretty. the light on the left and the dark on the right? ok actually, i'm going to be making an off base comparison now because that's all i do.
i'm remembering this post i saw on here and it was like, arthur uther and morgana in the throne room. in order of the way they sit in the throne room, first it's arthur, uther, and then morgana
well. the really dumb and off base comparison here is the 'light' goodness of arthur and the 'dark' evil of morgana being mirrored in the picture above.
'light', bravery, doing what's right- being on the left. 'dark', evil, power on the right- and arthur in the middle of it, king
like i said, it's a dumb off base comparison, but at least the picture is pretty
oh jeez this scene
my heart breaks for both of them
merlin not being able to form a sentence at first.
😭😭😭😭 arthur please. you're breaking everyone's heart right now
Tumblr media
you already knew i had to include this scene
arthur walking in there all alone
oh jeez he's all alone
dumb parallel number 2. arthur walking into the throne room with uther, father and son. merlin and gaius closing the door for arthur- pseudo father and pseudo son.
'he'll never know who i really am'
i want to do a DEH post soon but jeez. the line that hits hardest for me in DEH is 'i never let them see the worst of me. cause what if everyone saw? what if everyone knew? would they like what they saw? or would they hate it too? and jeez that's all i can think about when i think about merlin and his secrets
again. no liam, just payne
asldkfja;sldkfjas dlf merlin waiting for arthur
i have so many feelings
i love the show of affections for his father. you already know that uther wasn't affectionate when arthur was growing up, but still. forehead kiss? i love it
I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO FEEL THAT YOU WERE ALONE. i hate this and love this so much. i'm not saying merlin is completely selfless, because merlin wants magic to be leagalized and arthur is the way to do that. but omg merlin not wanting for arthur to feel like he's alone breaks me
first, merlin being physically alone while waiting for arthur. arthur was technically alone too, but he was with his father
but also, merlin being alone in the sense of his magic. no one knows except for gaius. lancelot knew and then they killed him. merlin is so alone when it comes to his magic, and morgana's enchantment only pushes merlin into his 'magic shell' more. arthur thinks magic is pure evil, and merlin is made of magic. what does that mean would think of arthur. this hurts me so much i'm so sad
friend 😭
arthur asking if he's hungry and them getting breakfast together
ok this sound track
pendragon red. i actually stan
gwen wearing a purple dress?? color symbolism?? nah i'm over thinking
ASIFA;SDLFJAD HE'S KING OF CAMELOT
IT'S LIKE I WANT TO CRY BECAUSE I'M SO PROUD RIGHT NOW.
oh jeez oh jeez.
and merlin saying 'long live the king' at the end of the episode?
chills
Anyways! I’ll be back next week to rant more about aithusa so I’ll see you then! thanks I love you bye
8 notes · View notes
wonkasmissstarshine · 4 years
Text
The Chocolatier’s Rose {Willy Wonka x OC} Ch.30
Tumblr media Tumblr media
GIFs not mine. Credit go to owners.
Summary: Next stop is Mrs Mason’s house to talk to her about baking the wedding cake.
Tagging: @holdmeicant​ @willymywonkers​ @sleepiesapphicxoxo​
For their next stop, it was off to Mrs Mason's house. The woman was an extremely talented baker (proven by her magical pies) so she was the obvious choice to bake the cake. Her kitchen window was open and a sweet aroma came through it.
"Mmm!" Willy hummed in delight when he noticed the smell. "Something smells wonderful!"
"It's coming from over there" Charlie said, pointing to the window. The three of them walked over to the window. They looked inside to see both Mrs Mason and Priscilla working hard in the kitchen.
"Mrs Mason! Cilla!" Rose called to their attention.
Priscilla turned around first. She had flour dusted on her face. "Oh, hello Rose, Willy, and Charlie!"
"Hello my dears!" Mrs Mason greeted them. She was also covered in flour but unlike Priscilla, she just had it on her apron. "Please, come on in you three. The door is open"
Rose, Willy and Charlie went to the front door, opened it up and made their way inside into the kitchen. "Whoa" Rose said when stepping foot into the room. "It's a mess in here!"
There were dirty dishes filling the sink, the counters were dusted with flour and crumbs, and on the table stood a many array of cakes, all different flavours.
"Yes it is, but all for a good reason" Mrs Mason said with a smile as she began stirring a bowl of melted chocolate. "Priscilla and I have been hard at work all day trying to come up with the perfect cake for your wedding"
Rose furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "How did you know we'd even be by today?"
"Actually, we were gonna come by and get you to try the cakes" Priscilla explained. "But you're here now so it'll be easier for us to figure it out" She went to go dip her finger in the bowl of chocolate but Mrs Mason slapped it away. "Ow! What was that for?"
"This is to pour on the cake, not for you to dip your fingers into" Mrs Mason scolded her. Priscilla stuck her tongue out at the woman, causing Mrs Mason to roll her eyes. "Oh, here" She grabbed a rubber spatula and dipped it into the chocolate. Then she gave it to Priscilla.
Priscilla smiled at her and batted her eyelashes. "Thank you!" She went to go sit at the table as she licked the chocolate off.
Charlie joined her at the table while Rose and Willy stayed with Mrs Mason. "You two made all these in one day?" He asked, referring to all the cakes.
"Sure did" Priscilla nodded. She began pointing out some of the cakes to Charlie. "So far we made Red Velvet, Black Forest, Angel Food cake, Devil's Food cake, German Chocolate"
"And right now I'm working on the cake that I'm sure will be the one you two will pick" Mrs Mason said. "It's chocolate, of course. The cake itself is chocolate and the glaze I'm making here is chocolate. It's even got a creamy chocolate center" She stopped stirring to look at Rose and Willy. "I was originally just going to make the chocolate cake, but Priscilla wanted to give you two other choices" Mrs Mason eyed the girl. "Or perhaps she just wanted an excuse to eat cake all day"
"Hey! The more cake the better" Priscilla defended her choice.
Rose smiled and looked at all the cakes. "Well, they all look and smell wonderful"
"They sure do" Willy agreed with her.
Mrs Mason smiled. The oven dinged indicating that the cake that was in the oven was ready. She put on her oven mitts and then took out the cake. She placed it onto the counter. "Rose, dear, can you pass me the bowl of chocolate please?"
Rose grabbed the bowl and handed it over to Mrs Mason. Mrs Mason then poured the contents of the bowl onto the cake, coating it nicely and evenly in the chocolate. After that, she grabbed a piping bag and began to decorate the cake, making roses out of the frosting.
Mrs Mason piped away, and Priscilla and Charlie chatted. Rose grabbed the bowl which was now left with a coating of the chocolate along the bottom and sides. She dipped her finger into the bowl and scooped some of the chocolate with it. She stuck her finger in her mouth and sucked off the chocolate. Her eyes fluttered closed and she moaned in delight at the taste.
"Mmm. That tastes absolutely divine" Rose said. She didn't miss the way that Willy was staring at her. His lips were slightly parted and his gaze was mostly on her lips. "You okay, cocoa bean?" She asked with a sultry purr.
"You've just got a little bit of chocolate," Willy reached over and using his thumb, he wiped off the bit of chocolate that was left on her bottom lip. "Right there" He brought his thumb to his mouth and sucked off the chocolate. His eyes never left hers as he did so. "That is divine" Willy added, flashing Rose a smirk.
Rose could feel her face heat up as she bit her lip. That turned her on more than she wanted to admit.
"No way!" Priscilla suddenly exclaimed, slapping her palms onto the table. It broke Rose and Willy out of their intense stare, and it broke Mrs Mason's concentration from piping. "Rose, Charlie just told me your wedding dress is going to be made out of cotton candy!?"
Rose couldn't stop her excited smile. "It sure is! My new friend, Lucy, is going to make it for me"
"I can picture you now" Priscilla closed her eyes, smiling as she imagined Rose in a puffy pink cotton candy dress. "You're gonna look so beautiful!"
"I know she will!" Willy agreed with a dreamy smile and giggle.
"So, you've got the dress, Eleanor is handling the music, and Mrs Mason is working on the cake. Do you know what you want for decorations?" Priscilla wondered. "Not to toot my own horn or anything, but when it comes to making things look amazing, I'm your girl" She winked as she pointed at herself.
"Are you offering to be our decorator?" Rose inquired.
"That I am" Priscilla nodded. "You just tell me what you want and I can get it done"
"Thanks, Cilla. We'd appreciate that"
"Alright. This is the last cake I'm baking today" Mrs Mason said when she put the piping bag down. Then she picked up the cake and presented it to Rose and Willy. "What do you two think?"
"Oh, Mrs Mason! It's beautiful!" Rose gushed over the pastry. The cake itself was a dark brown due to the chocolate. Mrs Mason piped red and white frosting roses along the top of it. "You managed to make the roses look so real. This is definitely the cake I want for the wedding" Rose looked at Willy. "How about you, cocoa bean?"
"You can have whatever cake you want, starshine, as long as it makes you happy" Willy said.
Mrs Mason smiled. "Now this one is just a sample. How many tiers do you want for the actual cake?"
"A three tiered cake will be fine" Rose answered.
"Wonderful" Mrs Mason put the cake down on the counter. She grabbed a few plates. "Charlie, do you want to help me serve some cake?"
"Sure thing, Mrs Mason" Charlie told her. He got up from the table and went to go help Mrs Mason cut pieces of the cake. Rose and Willy sat with Priscilla at the table.
Rose eyed all of the other cakes. "What are you planning on doing with these?"
"I'll take the Black Forest to my mom. It's her favourite after all" Priscilla said. "And whatever you want to take home to the Buckets is yours"
"And whatever is left after that, I can sell in the shop" Mrs Mason added.
Charlie walked over to the table and set two plates of cake in front of Rose and Willy. "Charlie?" Rose piped up, making him look at her. "Which one do you think we should take home?"
"The Red Velvet" Charlie decided quickly. He went over to grab a couple more plates of cake. He set one in front of Priscilla and then sat back down with his own plate of cake. Finally, Mrs Mason joined them at the table with her plate of cake in hand.
"Do you know what you two dears are doing about the food?" Mrs Mason asked Rose and Willy.
"Mum said she'd be willing to handle the cooking and stuff, but she'd like a couple extra pair of hands" Rose explained.
"I'm sure Danny and Felix would help her" Priscilla suggested. "Danny, he loves to cook and Felix, well he just likes to be a helpful hand"
"Oh goody. Then that just leaves one more thing on my list. I need to find someone who can handle all the flower arrangements, including my bouquet" An idea came to Rose's head. "Didn't Harry say that he owned a flower shop?"
Priscilla gave Rose an unsure look. "Are you sure you want Harry anywhere near this wedding?"
"I know everyone here is still skeptical of him, me included, but I need someone to take care of the flowers. And besides, this'll be his chance to really make it up to me"
"If that's what my pretty truffle wants, then I think we should all support her decision" Willy said. He grabbed Rose's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Even you, Cilla" He added, glancing at his friend.
"Willy is right, Priscilla" Mrs Mason agreed. "This is Rose's wedding. If that's what she wants to do, then let her"
"Alright. You convinced me" Priscilla said. "But you're taking me with you to go see him. You know, just in case he tries anything"
"If you're going with her, someone else is gonna need to stay behind and help me clean this all up and pack up the other cakes" Mrs Mason said, motioning to the mess.
"I'll help you" Charlie offered.
"Me too" Willy said. "Rose knows what she wants, and I trust Priscilla to take care of my starshine"
"Don't worry, Willy. Rose is in good hands with me" Priscilla said, draping her arm over her best friend's shoulder. She wasn't blind to see the serious way Willy was staring at her. Honestly, she found it a little intimidating. "What?"
"I mean it. If I find one hair hurt on my Rose's pretty little head, I'm holding you responsible" Willy said it so seriously and darkly. He was a happy person overall but if something were to happen to Rose, he would lose all manner of control.
"Understood" Priscilla said quickly, honestly feeling scared in that moment. She knew Willy meant well though. This was the love of his life they were talking about.
Willy's expression quickly changed from a serious stare to a happy grin. "Good!" Willy chirped, happy and pleased with Priscilla's promise. He did have to admit though, he was a little scared of Rose facing her used-to-be relentless pursuer without him, but he also knew that she would be in good hands with Priscilla.
25 notes · View notes
worryinglyinnocent · 4 years
Text
Fic: What’s Past is Future
AU-gust Day Sixteen: Treasure Hunters AU Fandom: Stargate Universe Pairing: Nicholas Rush x Chloe Armstrong
Rated: G
Summary: Having been strong-armed into being part of an archaeological expedition in the jungle, Rush is going to have to make the best of it, a process made slightly easier when bright young archaeologist Chloe takes it upon herself to befriend him, whether he wants it or not. 
What’s Past is Future
Nicholas Rush could categorically state that he hated absolutely everything about this trip that he had found himself on. He wasn’t even entirely sure how he had found himself on it. All he knew was that he had tried his utmost to get out of it, to no avail. Several people higher up than he was in the university had told him in no uncertain terms that he was going, and thus, here he was. 
Wherever here was. It was very hot, it was very wet, and his glasses kept misting up. He was in the middle of a jungle somewhere, but he had not paid attention to precisely where he was or indeed why he was here. He neither knew nor cared. What he did know and care about was that if he managed to get to the end of this expedition both alive and without having killed the rest of the team, he would consider that an achievement. 
Why did an archaeological dig need an astrophysicist to come along with them anyway? What were he and his field of expertise possibly going to get out of watching a group of people very enthusiastic about hunting for buried treasure digging holes in the ground all day?
His superiors had been rather cagey about that part of it. No doubt if he’d spent a little more time reading the briefing material that one of the archaeologists had presented him with before they set off, he would have a better idea of what they were doing, but he was resisting on principle. He wasn’t intentionally making life difficult for the rest of the party, but they were certainly going to know that he was not here by choice.
It felt like they had been walking through this interminable jungle for days, although rationally Rush knew that it could only have been a couple of hours. He wondered if they were anywhere near their destination. What were they looking for in the middle of South America anyway? El Dorado? And why, oh God WHY, did they need him?
With these sour thoughts running through his head on a loop, Rush didn’t notice that one of the archaeologists had hung back and fallen into step beside him at the tail of the group trudging through the steaming undergrowth, and he was startled out of his self-pity when she spoke. 
“Hi. You must be the very grumpy astrophysicist who’s only here under sufferance. We were warned about you.”
Rush looked over at her. There was an amused smile on her face as she held out a hand. He looked at it for a few moments, as if she had offered him a poisonous snake, before he shook it tentatively. 
“I’m Chloe. Chloe Armstrong,” she said. He recognised her as the one who had given him the reading material on the plane out. 
“Nick Rush.”
“Pleased to meet you. So, I take it that you still don’t know why you’re here yet?”
Rush gave her a sideways glance. Was she checking up on whether he’d done his homework?
“What’s it to you?”
Chloe just laughed. “Oh, I know you don’t know. There’s no way that you would be looking so miserable and mumbling about all archaeologists being a bunch of crackpot dirt enthusiasts if you knew what we were actually looking for and why we need an astrophysicist to help us out.”
“You weren’t meant to have heard that,” Rush muttered. 
“I know.”
They continued to walk on in silence for a while, but Rush would admit that Chloe’s words had intrigued him. 
“So, what are you looking for and why do you need an astrophysicist to help you out? Because I have to say it, your idea of something interesting and exciting probably doesn’t correlate to mine.”
“Dr Rush, I’ve only known you for about a day but I’m pretty sure that your idea of something interesting and exciting is getting a brand-new chalkboard to scribble on.” Chloe prodded his backpack where all the paperwork was stored. “Read. There’s a reason I gave you that information pack, you know.”
Rush gestured around their current surroundings, then took off his glasses to wipe the mist off them for what felt like the millionth time. “Read here?”
“Well, you need to know what we’re looking for before we get to where we’re going to be looking for it, which shouldn’t be too far now. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out and let you know if you’re going to trip over anything. Or I won’t, and it can be revenge for the crackpot dirt enthusiast comment.”
He wasn’t going to be able to live that one down, and since Chloe had already proved remarkably astute at reading him, Rush decided to give in to curiosity, and he got the papers she had given him earlier out of his bag, skimming over them as they walked along. 
He was halfway down the second page when he stopped short, Chloe pulling up beside him. 
“You think there’s an Ancient spaceship somewhere in this jungle?”
“I told you that you wouldn’t be so miserable, didn’t I?”
Well, the discovery of a potentially alien artefact that had apparently been in the jungle since pre-history certainly explained the need for an astrophysicist with a working knowledge of the Ancient language, and Rush certainly couldn’t deny that he was one of those. In fact, of all the faculty who had any dealings with the whole Ancient phenomenon, he didn’t think that he was tooting his own horn too much to say that he probably had the best working knowledge of the entire department.
He stowed Chloe’s paperwork back in his pack and looked up to see her watching him with a very amused expression. Rush gave an awkward cough and set off again at a much quicker pace than his previous trekking through inhospitable jungle had been. Chloe kept up to him easily, but as the next few minutes passed by in anxious anticipation of what they might find when they reached their destination, Rush found that he didn’t mind her presence. 
She certainly didn’t conform to the stereotypical image of an archaeologist that Rush had always had in his head. To him, they usually fell into one of two categories: the daredevil Indiana Jones type going on ridiculous escapades to find mythical, magical treasure, and the far more common old guy with a long beard and socks with sandals, poking about in holes in the ground and enthusing over bits of rock. 
Chloe was neither of those things. Well, in age she was closer to the Indiana Jones archetype than the bearded professor, but she didn’t seem to be the classic treasure seeker. He glanced sideways at her as they continued to hike. 
“What’s your stake in this expedition?” he asked eventually. “What are you getting out of it?”
Chloe shrugged. “Maybe I’m just really enthusiastic about dirt.” She laughed as Rush rolled his eyes. “Ok, I’ll stop teasing. But you really are the epitome of the grumpy, misanthropic scientist who thinks the worst of everyone, aren’t you?”
“In my experience it always helps to set your expectations low. That way, you’re never disappointed when people fail to live up to them. Which happens remarkably frequently. And still, even when you set the bar low, some people can’t even step over it.”
Chloe laughed again. “I’m glad I didn’t study physics and risk having you as a professor. But I’ll play along and answer your question. I’m here because I want to understand how the past and future can exist simultaneously. You’re an astrophysicist,” she added on seeing Rush’s evidently surprised expression. “You should know all about weird concepts of spacetime.”
“I do. I’m just trying to work out how they fit into archaeology.”
“The past informs the present. The more we know about our past, the more we can learn from it and prevent it recurring. And in this case, the more we can learn from it to shape our own future. I mean, I don’t know much about the whole Ancient phenomenon, but this thing that we’re going to see, it’s a part of our past, and yet it comes from a place and a people that’s so incredibly advanced. It’s a snapshot of our future. And if we look at this artefact and we judge how old it is in our terms, we can think about what technology they might have now, thousands of years later. The past is the roadmap to our future. That’s what I find the most fascinating about history in general. That’s why I’m here.” 
She paused, a sly grin working its way over her face. “You weren’t expecting that, were you?”
“No,” Rush admitted.
“Ah, we’re not all Indiana Jones. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you from the more enthusiastic of the dirt enthusiasts.”
Rush had to snort at the apt summation of his own thoughts, and they continued to walk onwards together. Chloe Armstrong was definitely not at all what he had expected when she had first handed him those papers on the plane, and he was glad of that. Although he was used to working alone, it was going to be nice to have an ally of sorts in these strange and certainly testing circumstances. 
He glanced over at her to find her watching him, and they both looked away awkwardly before looking back. Chloe laughed. He liked how readily she laughed and accepted things. It had wrong-footed him at first, because he was so used to any interaction with anyone he didn’t know turning into an argument. 
He liked the thought that perhaps they could become friends, and he hoped that Chloe did too.
6 notes · View notes
thehollowprince · 4 years
Text
The Mountain of Ghosts
Another week, another episode. This one dealt with a topic that I know has been on the fandom's mind since the end of season four, so let's just dive into this.
Alice and Eliot - obviously the big part of the episode. This has been on everyone's mind since season one and the possibility of Queliot was a thing. It's been a constant back and forth, one or the other, situation since, and sadly, we all know where most of the fandom landed on that issue. This was a good episode that got to the crux of the issue here, that being Quentin. Not Alice's or Eliot's feelings toward Quentin but rather his feelings toward them.
For years I've stood here and watched the constant screeching of "Quentin loved Eliot more!" or more rarely, (seriously, very rarely), "Quentin loved Alice more!" It got to the point where I firmly believed, and still believe, that it wasn't a matter of actually caring about Quentin at all. I'm not saying that no one actually liked Q, but that was secondary to the main issue of which ship would win in the end. Shipping is a big thing in fandom, but what no one really ever wants to admit is that it's also a big problem in fandom, in that ship wars happen and all some people seem to care about is the validation that comes with watching their ship set sail or another ship sink. That's all I'm going to say about that right now, because honestly the problem with shipping in fandom is a whole other topic waiting to be made, but its relevant to this issue, so let's move on.
Alice and Eliot both loved Quentin, and whether anyone wants to admit it or not, he loved both of them back. It isn't a matter of saying he loved either one of them more, or which one was more valid because no one loves two different people in the same way. Some of the things that Quentin loved about Alice aren't the same things he would have loved about Eliot. And this episode really highlighted that. Eliot and Alice are about as different as you can get, especially when it comes to romance. They both had different approaches to their relationship with Q, and I'm so glad we got to see them resolve their differences. We finally got to see Eliot say to someone else that he and Q loved each other, and have Alice not only acknowledge it but embrace it. She said it best, "what was I going to do? Demand he be less complicated? That he only love one person?" Too often Alice is reduced to this one-dimensional girl who is only defined by her relationship with Quentin, especially by fandom, and this really broke that mold. This was a nice episode for the two of them, to work through their anger and to work together to let go of Quentin... to acknowledge that they couldn't save him. I hope this bond between the two of them keeps building through the rest of the season.
PS: please let Alice wear jeans and pants more often. She looked so much more comfortable than she does in those fetish school girl dresses.
Moving on...
Margo - I'm not sure how I feel about this whole "reclaiming the throne" thing she's got going on. I loved Margo winning the throne by her own merit back in season three, because it worked in that moment. And then last year we had her abandon the throne to save Eliot. When push came to shove, she valued one person over the duty she had as a king to her people. I'm not faulting her for that, because I understand where she was coming from, but she still gave up the throne and it paved the way for Fen to assume the throne.
I can only speak for me, but I thought that was beautiful. Having a Fillorian finally sit on the throne of Fillory felt like a major milestone, and now we're just supposed to believe that Margo gets to be the king because she said so? I didn't like that. That's one of Margo's negative character traits, her entitlement, which brings us to...
Fen - I do not like what they're doing with her so far this season. Who is the sycophantic woman? She admired Margo, of course, but not to the extent of idol worship. This is a woman who was part of the F.U. Fighters, fighting for Fillorian rights in a kingdom always ruled by outsiders. But then the moment Margo's not there, she turns into this incompetent moron, so much so that she and Josh were overthrown because they were waiting for someone else to save them, and I don't like that. That is a complete disservice to the character and the journey she's been on for the previous three seasons.
Also, this whole Josh thing that's going to come between these two women, who have had such respect for each other, leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I was one of those (probably the only) who was rooting for Josh and Margo. Were there things I would have changed about it? Of course, but I thought they worked well together and off of one another, and now we have this bullshit. I liked Josh, not just because we shared the same name, but because he was an interesting character that people, especially women, seemed to like, not because of his appearance but because of his personality. And now they've turned him into a quintessential Nice Guy™ who sleeps with his girlfriend's friend instead of figuring out a way to save themselves and Fillory.
I will say that it'll be interesting to see how Fen and Margo repair their friendship after that revelation that Margo legitimately tried to kill her, if they repair it at all.
As for everyone else...
Julia - I know we're working up to something with her and the big catastrophe, so I'm gonna let her lack of a role these past two episodes aside from support slide.
Penny - I really would like to see more of Professor Adoyodi, aside from just him doing research for class. Also, it's sad that they had him mention that "best case scenario for Travelers" is that they just become an Uber for their friends, only to have Julia ask him for a lift...
Tumblr media
Like, y'all wrote it, maybe you should pay more attention to it!
And then there's Kady and Fogg. The Magicians is so different then other ensemble shows in that they actually use the ensemble! That being said, characters like Fogg and Kady often end up on the side because, while they're deemed primary characters, they feel more like secondary or tertiary ones. I know I'm not the only one interested in what's going on with the Hedge Witches, but we don't see Kady and what's going on with them unless one of the other "mains" needs something, usually some secret Hedge spell or Kady's fist. Same with Fogg. Brakebills was such a cornerstone for this show, and while the mains left the school (didn't graduate, just left) the institution plays a major role still, as a location if nothing else. Add to that the fact that Penny is a professor there now, and I'd espect to see more of it.
Lastly... the Dark King.
Not to toot my horn or anything, but I'm pretty damn good at predicting turns and plot twists. I can usually spot a villain or antagonist the moment I see them, but that wasn't the case here. Granted, in hindsight I should have seen in with how he was introduced, but I was so stuck on the idea that I "knew" who the Dark King was that I couldn't entertain the possibility that I would be wrong. Though, to be fair, he did have a line about illusion magic, so there's a chance I might still be right. All of that being said, it did feel a little like a cop out. All of our other villains and antagonists have been hinted long before their big reveal, and just having a completely new character shown up and go "Surprise, bitch! I'm the dark king" feels a little off to me. We'll just have to wait and see.
All in all, I'd give this episode a rating of 7.5 out of 10. I know I complained a lot, and that's because, aside from Eliot and Alice's arc, the rest of the episode felt kind of lackluster to me. Here's hoping we pick up the pace the rest of the season.
22 notes · View notes
radstronaut · 5 years
Text
Take a Breath | Teuvo Teräväinen
warnings: n/a word count: 1730 note: hi yes i more or less created this blog to post this fic specifically so here we are, this is pretty much for @lulucanwrite who i love dearly, and also technically beta’ed this fic so ♡
Why you agreed to stand in the heat and watch a group of unruly boys in their twenties swing pieces of metal at plastic-covered rubber balls would be completely beyond you if you weren’t completely smitten with Teuvo Teravainen. It’s nearly ninety degrees--this is North Carolina after all--and despite your magical sweat-wicking shorts and tank top, you’re definitely sweating through your clothes. If Petr weren’t the sweatiest human you knew, this would probably embarrass you. Coupled with Martin bouncily seeking approval for everything he did and Teuvo and Sebastian’s banter with each other, you were okay with just about anything-- your complete inability to play golf included.
It was hard to say why the group had invited you along. Maybe because you took great photos they could share on Instagram, or because you were known as “the person who always brought bomb food to parties”, or maybe just because you were easy to get along with. You’d spent so much of your life feeling like you were weird and unlikeable, but somehow you’d found solace in a group of professional hockey players from Europe.
Ha. Just thinking that sentence makes you snort a little to yourself. 
“Are you laughing at Sebastian?” Teuvo asks, peering over your shoulder. You’ve got your phone clutched in hand, a boomerang of Sebastian swinging back and forth looping on your screen. 
“Nah, just thinking about how weird I am,” you reply, hitting ‘post’ and clicking your phone off. 
“Why won’t you take one of me?” he asks, a pout on his face. 
“Because,” you answer, voice breezy and light, “You’re not my favorite.”
Your response sends Teuvo into a spiral of “whats” and “buts” that secretly gives you life force. You float away, sashaying up to Martin and Petr, who are talking about clothes of all things, and look at you like you’ve just interrupted the single most important conversation in the entire world. 
“Please tell me you don’t think this is cute, too,” Petr says, shoving his phone in your face. 
It’s a non-offensive, baby-blue suit, and you’re not sure what to say, other than, “I think it’s fine?” To which Martin grins gleefully, waving his arms around to show off his little victory. 
“You cannot be serious,” says Petr, like it’s the most obvious thing. “It’s ugly! Who wears suits this color?”
“I would!” Martin exclaims, eyes wide and eyebrows raised. “Light blue is totally cool.”
“Maybe for a springtime pinterest Easter wedding in Alabama,” Petr says.
There are a lot of references here to popular American culture going on here that you weren’t even sure he knew, but you laugh nonetheless. 
These dorky, soft boys always made you laugh. You look up, watching Teuvo as he winds up and swings his club. It makes the satisfying sound that metal swung fast makes, and you watch as the golf ball flies through the air for what seems like forever. Even for somebody who knows nothing about golf, you can tell he’s got an amazing swing. Every muscle in his body moves with intent; his follow through is gorgeous. He even has the cute little golf foot thing at the end, something you are sure has a proper name, but you’re ignorant of it. 
“Careful, you’re drooling,” Petr says, squeezing your shoulder.
You all but jump where you’re standing, and raise a hand as if you’re about to play-swat him. You’re flustered, and it shows on your face as you try to play it off. “Come on,” you hiss, making a face. “I’m not drooling.”
Petr shrugs as Teuvo makes his way back to his bag to retire his driver. You watch, crossing your arms over your chest almost in defense. 
“Your turn!” Teuvo calls, and Sebastian snickers from where he’s sat in the one square foot of shade that the golf cart provides. He turns and points at him, frowning, “You better stop laughing!”
Sebastian rolls his eyes, and hands you the driver that he’s been holding since his turn. You don’t own a set of clubs, so Sebastian graciously agreed to share his with you. “You know how to do this, right?” he asks you with a cheeky smile. 
“Shut up.” 
All eyes are on you as you stroll up to the tee and set down the golf ball. They’re hungry for your failure. You can feel it. It’s like the four of them have gathered here exclusively to watch you wind up and whiff so they can have a laugh and get back to actually playing golf after their comedy break. You take the club in hand, holding it just like you were shown one time forever ago, with your thumb and fingers interlocked, and steady your position. 
It’s not that hard, you remind yourself, trying to calm yourself down. You know that making it out to be a big deal will only make you more nervous, so you take a deep breath in as you wind up, and exhale as you swing--
And stop right before you hit the ball. Ugh. Getting nervous is honestly worse than whiffing, you think, and so you decide to set yourself up again. You spread your feel the right distance apart and try and settle in place. You’re just about to hype yourself up again when you feel a hand rest warmly on your shoulder, and you let out the breath you’d been holding. 
It’s Teuvo, who looks at you with gentle eyes and a calm smile. “Let me help you.”
Normally you’d be way too prideful to admit you needed help from any of these clowns, but it’s Teuvo, and he looks so genuine that you don’t really mind. “Okay,” you breathe as he stands behind you, resting his hands over yours.
Your heart jumps into your throat as he steadies your grip. His chin hovers right above your shoulder, his face so close you can feel the breath on your neck. 
“You’re so tense,” he says, voice light and private. “Relax your shoulders.”
How you’re supposed to relax with his body practically pressed flush against yours evades you. You let out a shaky breath. “Okay.”
“Good,” Teuvo says gently, but with authority. “Swing your arms back and forth and let the club’s weight lead.”
You listen. 
“Now,” he says, “When you feel ready, wind that back a bit more, keep your eyes on the ball, and swing.” 
You’re having a hard time focusing on feeling ready when his hands leave your hands and he takes a step back, making the air touching your arms feel even more empty than it had before he was there. Your skin misses his immediately. You sigh softly to yourself. 
Then, you wind up and swing. 
The driver hits the golf ball with a satisfying sound and you watch as it seems to float through the air and land across the course-- much further back than your friends, but still, further than you thought it would go. 
You turn back, seeking Teuvo’s approval, but he’s already clapping his hands and grinning from ear to ear. “That’s really good!” He cheers. “That’s really really good!”
You beam with pride. 
“It’s going to be your turn again,” Sebastian teases from his seat, “Since you barely hit it at all.”
“Come on, Sepe, let it go!” Teuvo defends, waving his hand in front of Sebastian’s face. 
“You just want an excuse to get all up in Y/N’s space again.”
He doesn’t protest, but rather hands you a club from Sebastian’s bag and, with a hand on the small of your back, ushers you out to where your ball has just landed. 
This is very forward of Teuvo-- very, very forward. He typically wasn’t so outwardly flirtatious, but maybe it’s Sebastian’s comments that embolden him as you make your way down the green.
“Is this okay?” He asks after a moment, dropping his hand from your back to make eye contact with you. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
You smile simply, grabbing his hand and placing it on your back again. “It’s perfectly fine,” you say. 
Once you arrive, Teuvo hands you the club and looks at you. “Do you want my help again?”
“Please?” You ask coyly, practically batting your eyes at him. Whoah. Maybe you’re feeling emboldened by his flirtatious energy as well. 
With a grin, Teuvo steps behind you, chest against your back, and rests his hands atop yours again. This time, you relax into it-- you feel less nervous, more loose this time, feeling much more confident than before. His lips brush your ear as he leans forward, and reminds you to keep your eye on the ball, and not to worry how far it goes. The hairs on your arm stand up. 
You’re about to pull back and swing when you hear the golf cart whir past you, and from the driver’s seat, Petr yells with a shit eating grin: “kiss her!” 
Sebastian and Martin echo the sentiment with a chorus of “kiss her! kiss her!” 
Pink creeps across your cheeks, and you tilt your head to look at Teuvo over your shoulder. Time completely stops. The humid air hangs still and heavy between you with heat and energy, and you feel his lips inches away from yours. You aren’t sure how long you stand there, moments away from each other, thinking about what it would feel like to close that distance and feel his lips against yours.
And then it happens. Teuvo’s arms wrap around your waist, and he twirls you around, pulling your chest flush against his and kissing you, hard, all in one fell swoop. You feel your entire body tense up and then relax, your heart racing as you melt into him, kissing him back with the same fervor. His arms wrap around your waist, and yours twist around his neck, fingers grazing the sweat-damp hair on the nape of his neck. 
The boys are cheering behind you. Cries of “yes!” and “finally!” fill the air as Martin whoops and hollers, and Sebastian even gives the little golf cart horn a celebratory toot as you both smile into your kiss, toothy and wide-grinned. 
“Finally,” Teuvo breathes against your lips, and you can’t help yourself from bursting into laughter, leaning your forehead against his. “Finally,” you agree, giggly smile splayed across your face.
He leans in and kisses you again.
103 notes · View notes