#And the North Star is a part of Ursa Minor which really makes you wonder why they said Big Dipper here | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

maguro13-2 · 6 months

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War of Shadow Realm ~ Origins of the Ink Demon Chapter 4 Pt.2 ~

"Back on the Space Colony ARK..."

[Space Junk Road - Mahito Yokota]

Ashley : You know, Penny. Back in my early as a detective, I always imagined that me and Kimial used to look at the stars and they were many of them. Countless lights across the universe that shines so bright. I wonder we would watch the stars together.

Penny Crygor : That's right. As a scientist, I looked at the many stars from the cosmos and then there were shooting stars I wished for, come to think of it, we do come to the same level before as we all know it.

Ashley : I bid you a gratitude of my ways, thinking I'm into boys and girls like you all the time,

Penny Crygor : You just wanted to say that in a fairly manner, let me tell me something. Do you believe that stars are connected as one that make a constellation?

Ashley : Oh yes. There is one thing that connects one star and the star, each stars that has each of their names, and one has a special meaning to them. Polaris, known as the north star. It has always part of one constellation that what people didn't know, Ursa minor, commonly known as the Little Dipper.

Penny Crygor : Wow I guess that you can say that Big Dipper and Polaris reminds of one place that I've known about, it's called Alaska. Say, why don't we return to earth and look at the stars as well?

Kimial Diehl : Jacqueline, now that you have my attention, did you really think that I feel like that heart wouldn't be torn to pieces? I'm no different than any girl that I wanted to be me, but I'm a witch that works for the forve . I'm no human warrior of justice or anything, I'm not the Meister that I wanted to be. I'm only a girl that cares anything but my people. I wasn't really into boys, I was...I was coming clean and just wanted to say that I'm really into girls. Nobody understands to me that why was I even interested in boys like this?

Jacqueline O'Lantern Dupre : . ....I understand that, Kimial. The thing is...that I was never into boys, and I was totally not even hetero. I feel like that I went alone in my hometown of Quebec, with my brother. I thought I was into guys like them, but I was mostly into girls, all the time. Sometimes that I may not know about them, but I had friends back home with me that knows about me. More importantly, it's wisely that you think I know alot about you. You being hero of your hometown, me being one, a hero of my hometown that I was once was before. I just wanted to be the same as you. I'm no weapon, I'm no tool to the devil. I'm only human that does not concern about my actions for that the bad things. I just wanted to save lives.

Kimial Diehl : [her face blushes red] Jacqueline...I know how that feels.

Grim (Metal Sonic) : [looking out the window, with his arms folded] Demon Vibe...your days of ruling the Shadow Realm will be over, once we defeat the grandson of the Kusakabe which you have been controlling. The only reason that the gods of Mobius gave me the opportunity of being the mobian death God that lived in Sonic's world since ancient times. But that Shinigami faker, Shotaro. The dokeshi who thought himself as Shinigami himself, the devil's man-made son. Soon, Death Weapon Meister Academy and his entire city will nothing be a pile of ashes in space, once Neo Metal plans on destroying it.

Ashley : As much were in the space colony without any food or water, there's nothing much out there in the cold reaches of space. It's best that we all survive here while there are signs of life. (Hears footsteps approaching) Hey, do you hear that?

Kimial Diehl : What, Ash?

Ashley : Someone's coming.

[Tension - TAI-HEY]

Penny Crygor : I bet it's enemy movements tracking down on the colony's map. But there's one person that arrived here. You sure it's not Death Weapon Meister Academy spies or one of Shinra's?

Ashley : Whatever it is. This could be an ambush by the assassin.

Penny Crygor : An Assassin?

Ashley : It's the perpetrator. We need to prepare an ambush to encounter the enemy at once. Be prepared!

Grim (Metal Sonic) : Roger.

Kimial Diehl : I hope this one's going in the bag.

Jacqueline O'Lantern Dupre : Come on out, you righteous son of b*tch. I dare you to come.

(Door opens automatically)

Ashley : Now!

[DBZ SFX : SURPRISE!]

Ashley : Alright, freeze! This Majo Detective Ashley! Put your hands up where I can see them!

Orbulon : Woah! Woah! Ashley, Penny, friends! simmer down! I'm not going to hurt you or anything!

*Bamboo Bonk*

Ashley : Huh? Wait a sec...

*BOING*

[Event : Team Chaotix - Jun Senoue]

Penny Crygor : What's Orbulon doing here in the Space Colony ARK?

Ashley : Orbulon, you called?

Orbulon : I just wanted to get the distress call from you guys, but you had some trouble with the service. So I had the crew and the others join on the ride to this abandoned space station.

Kat & Ana : What's up, Ashley!

9-Volt : We heard that you disappeared on that space station!

18-Volt : It's everywhere on the news!

Mona : My guess is concerning that you are actually a detective and no one believed it? Guess you used to be a hero like wario does before you came to the company.

Master Mantis : Ashley, a once known detective and great asset to the Super Mario Universe.

Ashley : You have my word, old man. I get your point tho.

Young Cricket : Ms Ashley. [In Ashley's Visio, Cricket is dressed as a prince] Are you okay, my dear?

Ashley : I...I...I'm fine! You sure not hurt or anything?

Young Cricket : No, not at all.

Wario : Where have you been, Ashley? We've been worried about you and everyone was waitingn

Ashley : Mr. Wario! You arrived to the space colony as well?

Wario : Of course, girly! We all made it safely and we got inside to weird space station that was abandoned 50 years ago. Luckily, the soul losers of soul world are not smart that were on a space colony that is way over the planet! Not to mention to they took Orbulon's space ship, but we were Carried by this woman that knows abouts stars and galaxies. It's a Princess, she's new to the super Mario Universe.

Ashley : Princess that knows about stars, what is that Peach, daisy, Zelda? Or that princess who was turned into a cat that kissed you in the end of wario land 4?

Kimial Diehl : But I do know someone who's new. Mario said that a princess that knows about the stars when Bowser wanted to rule galaxies and conquer. Where he took his son to space.

Ashley : Then, who could that be?

[Comet Obversatory 3 - Koji Kondo]

??? : That is correct, Ashley. That would be definitely me by the way. And it's not just that took the

(Luma appears in front of Ashley)

Ashley : Yikes!

Penny Crygor : A luma? You wouldn't mean that must be...

(Rosalina appears teleporting)

Wario : Oh yeah, I forgot something to introduce you to the super Mario Universe. Warioware, meet Rosalina, protagonist of Super Mario Galaxy. AKA princess of the stars.

Rosalina : Well, quite certainly. I heard that the school from that fictional manga that was teleported into space. I believe that a robot used such power to bring the school and the city itself outside the planet. Hope there were any survivors on that school. You must be, Ashley the witch, and...

Kimial Diehl : I'm Kimial Diehl, Ashley's partner in law. You must be the one that Mario knew about since he first met.

Rosalina : Correct. I've bet you two heard about the stars as well, do you?

Penny Crygor : Of course! I've found out where that shooting star that floats into space, that would be you, right!?

Rosalina : Of course, all of them are safe on the Comet Obversatory, the same place that orbited around Mario's world around 100 years ago.

Ashley : Hmm? Are you sure that everyone is on ship? That Obversatory that oribited in Mario World's for around 100 years? (Outside the colony is the Comet Obversatory) Woah. Guess it does looks like a space ship. You live there?

Rosalina : Actually, I only visit between Mario's world and the Obversatory. If you like to know much about the Obversatory, then come with me.

Ashley : Okay, sure. Lead the way.

Penny Crygor : This is very interesting.

Grim (Metal Sonic) : I do mind fly to the Obversatory, but seems not a bad place to me. Time to check out that place. (Rosalina walks off as the group walks after her)

~ Fifty-First Scene : Princess of the Galaxy! ~

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harebrainedscheme · 3 years

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Las Mismas Estrellas/The Same Stars

A03 Link Part 2 Part 3

Whatever happened to Dr. Thaddeus Waddlemeyer?

Drake and Gosalyn venture into an alternate universe to bring her grandpa home but what they find has them questioning if they should.

Teenagers were hard.

And not just because of the surplus of sarcasm and smart-mouthed remarks that could puncture Drake’s over-inflated ego in seconds.

And not just because, at the age of thirteen, Gosalyn still possessed a childlike giddiness she tried to mask under a nonchalant self assuredness. Both qualities, Drake recognized as precious and potentially delicate.

It wasn’t even her stubborn, hard headed, immovable determination that so often butted against his own.

The hardest part was the constant tightrope walk that came with trying to find the balance between giving her support- which she claimed she didn’t need- and space - which she seemed to have a preference for.

He knew, as she had told him, he was not her family. Until a few months ago, they had been strangers. And Gosalyn was determined to prove that she didn’t need anyone to take care of her. She was fiercely independent, batting away offers of help, even with the most mundane things like preparing breakfast.

But she hadn’t seen herself the day the Ramrod exploded.

Bathed in blood red light, tears filling her eyes. There was a flash, a boom, and then quiet devastation.

In the center of the rubble, Drake saw a child, tiny and lost, fall to her knees and curl into herself sobbing.

He went to her.

His muscles and most-likely-bruised spine protested the movement, but even before her knees hit the ground he was already moving.

He dropped to a kneel beside her and scooped her into his arms as she cried.

“I...I had to, the rift - it- it was going to - it would have…”

“I know. I know,” he hushed, “You were so brave.”

“He’s gone. He’s really gone. I’m alone.”

Getting caught in the ramrod explosion hurt less than hearing that.

Before he could think better of it, the words were slipping out.

“I’m here.”

It didn’t stifle her sobs. He didn’t expect it to. But her hand clutched tightly to his arm and he matched the fierceness of her grip.

In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the right thing to say. What did it matter that Drake was there? She was grieving. It was her grandpa she wanted. It was her grandpa who should have been there.

She didn’t speak again and neither did he but he held her as sobs slowed to sniffles and then to silence.

Eventually, she pulled away from him, picked herself up with trembling knees, lifted her head, and squared her shoulders into a tight, wavering line.

It was enough to break his heart.

She tried so hard to be strong, to carry the unfair burden thrust upon her, but amidst the clearing smoke and smoldering, blackened bits of machinery strewn across the wrecked lab, she didn’t even realize how small she looked.

All the books said kids experiencing loss needed a sense of security and stability.

So, Drake and Launchpad had welded a few PVC pipes together, draped them with curtains, and converted one of the more spacious corners of the tower into a make-shift bedroom. It wasn’t much but it had a bed with dark green sheets Gosalyn had picked out herself, a dresser, and a desk. And it was hers.

Drake had helped her decorate the lofty walls of her room with glow-in-the-dark stars, as she dictated their careful placement so they formed ‘an accurate representation of the constellations.’

“You’re doing it wrong.”

Drake raised an unamused eyebrow. “I’m following the sketch you gave me.”

“Apparently not, because you’re doing it wrong.” She pointed to the highest point on the wall where she had already placed a cluster of stars. “That’s the Ursa Minor. It marks the celestial pole, all the other constellations have to be aligned relative to the Ursa Minor.”

She dropped her point to the space of the wall Drake was working on. “Your Ursa Major is sideways, line it up with the Ursa Minor.”

“Ursa Major? I thought I was doing…” he glanced at the paper she had given him, “ ...Piscis Austrinus,” he read.

Goslayn gaped, “Pis-You’re not even in the right hemisphere for piscis austrinus!”

Without another word, she scrambled over to the wall and began drawing dots along the wall with a large black marker.

“Here, just put them on the mark.”

Drake made an undignified noise, “Did you just draw on my wall?”

Gosalyn shrugged. “We’re going to cover them up anyway.”

Drake glowered but began placing stars on the pattern all the same.

“You were able to draw that out from memory?”

“Yeah. My grandpa taught me how to chart the night sky.”

She pointed back to the Ursa Minor. “He said as long as I knew how to find the north star I’d never be lost.”

Her hand lowered.

Drake watched as she did. She didn’t speak of her grandpa too often.

A mistiness clouded her eyes, but she blinked it back, and in a second it was gone.

“I’ll do the Storkules constellation next,” she said, turning away.

“Gosalyn, do you want to talk-”

“No.”

He wasn’t her family. He knew that.

But he couldn’t help the ache he felt deep in his chest each time he caught her in a moment of vulnerability, only for her immediately, reactively, retreat behind her defensive walls.

Not that he could blame her. She had been betrayed by her grandfather’s best friend. Drake didn’t know the extent of their relationship, but in the photograph he saw, the three had looked close, trusting. And no one, not the police, not child services, was willing to help her, to even listen when she said her grandpa was trapped in an alternate dimension.

Not even Drake, not at first, not if it hadn’t been for LP. As worried as he was of overstepping his bounds and pushing her farther away, he was even more terrified of letting this kid down again and reinforcing her belief that if she was going to find her grandpa, she would have to do it on her own.

He couldn’t stand the thought of Gosalyn, brilliant, wonderful, perseverant and Gosalyn, going through life without believing she had someone in her corner, without knowing that she had someone who cared about her.

Because he did. He really did.

She had come into his life as a whirlwind. Running uninvited through what was supposed to be his top-secret base, leaving handprints on the ratcatcher, his display cases, and all the high tech equipment that was meant to make him Darkwing Duck. She had upended his entire world, disrupted his succinctly organized tower with unlaced sneakers left on the stairs and disassembled parts of a crossbow strewn across the coffee table.

And every time he came across another one of her messes left behind, everytime she came down for breakfast still half asleep with pillow tussed hair, everytime she flawlessly executed a move he had taught her during their crime fighting nights, Drake felt a deep ache in his heart, a growing fondness that seemed to push at the seams until it was about to burst. Like grass growing in the cracks of concrete, Gosalyn was filling all the little spaces Drake hadn’t realized were empty.

But he knew he wasn’t her family. He knew the failure of the adults in her life, himself included, had set her on a path of believing that she was alone in the world.

And he couldn’t let her continue down that road. As much as Gosalyn believed that she was tough enough, self-reliant enough to navigate the world alone, Drake needed her to know that she didn’t have to.

He knew that path. He knew the hurt ingrained into kids who were forced to grow up too fast, too soon.

The last words his mother had ever said to him were ‘you’re no daughter of mine.’ Funny. They could finally agree on something.

The earliest attempts were painfully awkward, standing in her makeshift doorway, stammering and blustering his way through a greeting, just to ask if she would like to join him and Launchpad for a movie night, or video games, or a trip to the boardwalk.

And she would smirk and say something sarcastic but endearing. And Drake would think now would be a good moment to put a hand on her shoulder or pat her head, but would that be pushing it too far? Was she comfortable with physical touch? She never seemed to mind when Launchpad hugged her. Actually, she always gave a begrudging smile whenever Launchpad lifted her off the floor to spin her in the air or sit her on his shoulders. Launchpad was always so great with her. But what about him? Why did he always have to overthink everything? Would patting her head come off as condescending? Would the fact he was so hesitant with casual affection where Launchpad was so natural make her think that he didn’t like her?

And just as he started to spiral, it would be her who lightly touched his wrist to ask if he was okay, and that tiny touch was enough to ground him back into the moment.

But it was during the late night talks, under the cover of dark and quiet, when she slowly began to lower her walls.

If Drake couldn’t sleep,which was often, he’d get up from bed to make himself chamomile tea. At first it was his movement and the low light in the kitchen that would draw Gosalyn from her room, just as sleepless as him. And she would turn down his offer for tea but would always take him up on his offer for a glass of warm milk and cookies if they had them

But after a while, when he came down to the kitchen he would find she was already there. And he would ask her what was on her mind, and they would talk, sometimes for hours, sometimes until the world outside the windows began to darkly dawn.

The most recent conversation had been after he found her in the kitchen, only an hour before dawn.

“Jeez kid, did you sleep at all?”

She hadn’t. The last conversation she had with Fenton the night before had kept her up.

“The DNA sample I gave them didn’t even help. He still exists with the exact same genetic coding in a billion other universes. We’re no closer to finding him.”

“Hey, that’s not true, Fenton said he and Dr. Gearloose think they're getting close to creating a Ramrod that won't tear the fabric of reality. That's progress.”

“Yeah... but I'm more worried about…the other thing.”

His heart sank.

The other thing, being Fenton's disclosure that after Mr. McDuck and his nephews were returned to their reality, Mr. McDuck had exhibited odd symptoms. The boys were fine, thank goodness. They were young and pliable and had only been in a different dimension for hours. Mr. McDuck on the other hand…well no one was calling him a young duck, and he had been in the other dimension for days on end.

It hadn't been noticeable at first. Little things, like forgetting the word he was looking for, or forgetting to turn a light off when he left a room, forgivable things, even for a parsimonious penny pincher.

But the old man’s nephews had reported other things as well, forgetting where he was or how he had gotten there, becoming suddenly confused or agitated and bursting into rants about the Marinara Trench. Looking at his eldest nephew and asking how long he had been back from the Navy.

The symptoms eventually dispersed after a few weeks and Scrooge McDuck was back to being the toughest, smartest, and sharpest, or whatever he liked to call himself. Egotistical much?

But after thorough, extensive evaluation from his top scientists, Gyro and Fenton concluded that he had been getting his memories and conscious awareness mixed up between the realities.

He was fine now. He would be fine. But Fenton and Gyro worried that if he had been stuck longer, the effects might have been permanent.

Gosalyn's grandpa had been missing for 6 months.

For someone who didn’t allow herself to be vulnerable, she had expressive eyes. And at that moment, he could see her fear swimming just below the surface.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. I made you a promise. We're going to find him. "

She looked at him, nodded, and gave him her best half smile.

This kid was braver than he could ever hope to be.

The call came on a Tuesday afternoon 6 months after the Ramrod exploded.

He woke up in a confused tangle of bedsheets as he blindly pawed for his phone, buried somewhere within the folds of his comforter.

The trill of the original Darkwing Duck theme was muffled, but when he finally found the source, he clicked off the tune with a touch of his thumb and snapped, “Buh-wuh? What! Who is this!? Do you have any idea what time it is?”

“Darkwing?” came a timid albeit, melodious voice on the other side of the line, “Uh, this is Fenton Crackshell Cabrera, it’s 1:30…1:30 P.M...Were you asleep?”

UmmffNo! Of course not,” he slurred, “I am the dutiful defender...before dawn, beyond dusk...what do you want, buddy?”

“Ah right,” the voice on the other line chirped.

Drake’s head lolled lazily as he aimed to rest his forehead on his palm but missed.

“I know you said I should only call through WANDA but I kept going to voicemail and this is kind of important…

Drake still hadn’t opened his eyes and his head hung heavy. But what he heard next jerked him awake.

“We found him.”

He and Gosalyn were on the Ratcatcher and out the tower in less than two minutes.

“It was Gosalyn’s DNA idea, actually” Fenton explained as he ushered Gosalyn and Drake to the Ramrod’s control center.

“It got me thinking, if Dr. Waddlemeyer’s genetic signature is popping up in billions of dimensions, what if there was a way to identify a dimension by its own unique molecular signature. Or a DNA for dimensions.”

“When Doctor Intern’s theory proved correct,” Dr. Gearloose cut in aridly, “it was simply a matter of tracking down the dimension that had traces of this reality’s unique molecular signature.”

“And by, traces of this reality’s DNA in another dimension, you mean-” Drake began.

“My grandpa.” Gosalyn finished.

“We couldn’t pinpoint his exact location but we were able to narrow it down to a one-mile radius. We’re going to drop you off at a rendezvous point within that radius. Remember, your subatomic signature isn’t compatible with that of the alternate reality you’re entering so you can't stay for extended periods of time.”

“These,” Dr. Gearloos said, cuffing a bulky metal bracelet on their wrist, “are your timers. We can’t be certain that time works the same in this dimension as it does in ours. So, your timers are programmed to adjust the timestream of the dimension you’re in. After three hours, the window will reopen at the rendezvous point.”

“What if we don’t find him during that time?” Gosalyn chided

“Then we’ll try again, after you’ve returned to this reality and your brain has had time to recover.”

Drake glanced down at the child by his side. Part of his instincts were screaming at him to insist she stay behind. But another, stronger part to him knew, this was more her journey than it was his.

So instead he asked, “You ready, kid?”

She grinned. “Let’s get dangerous.”

Fenton and Dr. Gearloose retreated behind the Ramrod’s command center. The two nodded at him and Gosalyn before flipping dials and typing commands into the machine’s keyboard. The Ramrod hummed and glowed with life.

A brilliant white light, cut through the space in front of them before widening into the shape of a doorway. The rift crackled with energy, warmth seeped from the doorway, filling the room.

Without overthinking it, Drake reached down and grabbed Gosalyn’s hand before stepping through to the other side.

As far as infinite worlds and endless possible realities go, this one seemed pretty tame.

Drake and Gosalyn stepped out of the alley they had arrived in after Gosalyn had insisted Drake stash his Darkwing suit in favor of civilian clothes as to ‘not draw attention’ to themselves when they were on a limited schedule.

The world they had landed in was seemingly identical to the one they had left.

In fact, it looked suspiciously like Cape Suzette.

Gosalyn and Drake blinked against the late afternoon sun. A familiar sky was painted deep orange with streaks of purple gathering above the clouds. Sparkling sea green water lapped quietly against wooden docks. Aquatic planes tethered to piers sat against the bobbing water.

“Where do we start?” Drake murmured.

“There.” Gosalyn answered with surprising conviction, “That house. The one with the red door.”

Drake’s sight followed the direction she was pointing. In the distance a small, unremarkable bungalow sat nestled between the green rolling hillside and the shoreline. There was nothing particularly extraordinary about the house. It was modest, with a small unkempt front yard, a fruit tree growing at its side, and a large porch. The most notable feature, as Gosalyn had pointed out, was the bright red door.

“How do you know to start there?”

“I recognize that house. I think...I think I saw it once, in a photograph.”

Drake was about to question further but she was already off, making a beeline for the house.

She bolted across the porch almost as instantly as she came upon it. By the time Drake caught up, she had already rapped a knuckled against the wooden door a bit harder and longer than could be considered polite.

She fidgeted in place as she waited for a response. It was clear by the way she eyed the windows that she was strongly considering attempting to peek through the curtains. But her plotting was interrupted when they heard footsteps approach the opposite side of the door.

The doorknob rattled.

“Yes? Can I help you?” A woman asked as she opened the door.

Gosalyn nearly tripped over herself backpedaling.

Drake didn’t understand her uncharacteristic reaction or how she could be caught off guard when she was ready to run in headfirst only seconds earlier.

Even so, Drake stepped forward, instinctively inserting himself between Gosalyn and the stranger. Nothing about the way she carried herself, indicated she might be a threat. Her eyes were large and wide, expressing a mild perplexity. A mess of black curls swept up by a multi-colored bandana crowned her head. She wore paint-splattered overalls and was seemingly unaware of the bright blue smudge across her cheek.

“Sorry to disturb you ma’am. We’re looking for Dr. Thaddeus Waddlemeyer. Would he happen to be at this location?”

A look of confusion crossed the woman’s face. Her large, clear eyes darted between Drake and Gosalyn, who had regathered herself and stood at Drake’s side, if not slightly behind him.

“I-I don’t understand,” she said. Drake only then noticed the accent lilting her voice. “You are looking for my father-in-law? Are you students of his?”

Drake’s mind had scattered as he fished for an answer. A collection of stammers was already tangling on his tongue, as his brain reeled trying to process ‘father-in-law’ when Gosalyn spoke up behind him.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s right. Students. I’m one of his students from the after-school STEM program for at-risk youths he volunteers at. He helped me with my science project last year.”

The woman smiled. “How nice! I always hoped to meet some of his students,” but her smile dimmed almost as quickly as it appeared.

“You are very kind to visit but…” she hesitated, “ I’m afraid he hasn’t been the same since the accident.”

“Accident?” Drake repeated.

Her eyes flicked back to him. Drake very nearly flinched. There was nothing malevolent about the way her eyes searched his, but there was a sharpness to them, like cut glass.

“Oh- you mean- you don’t know? Oh, maybe you should come inside.” And with that, she pulled the door open and beckoned for Drake and Gosalyn to follow.

The interior of the woman’s home was as small as the outside would have suggested, but homely. The interior was bathed in a comforting yellow light. Where a floor to ceiling bookcase didn’t fill a wall, it was adorned in photo frames or richly painted, with vibrant images of vines and brightly colored flowers or entangling patterns. Unopened paint cans were pushed against a wall, paint smeared smocks, were draped over empty chairs. Drake counted six houseplants in the living room alone.

One of the framed photos hanging on the wall contained an image of the woman and a man holding each other by the waist. Behind them the small bungalow with a red door filled the background. To their right was a real estate sign with a large SOLD sticker slapped across it.

Gosalyn and Drake were seated beside each other on the sofa, when the woman returned from the kitchen carrying a tea tray. She pushed aside some loose papers, stray paintbrushes, and a few assorted earrings missing their match, before setting it down.

It was taking all of his self control for Drake not to swivel his head from their host and the young girl that sat beside him. But he could see it, even without looking at Gosalyn.

The same large, clear eyes, the same thick, textured hair, the same full apples in her cheeks.

“Thank you, Ms. …”

A flicker of sadness appeared in her eyes, before disappearing with a wave of her hand.

“I am called Liliana,” she said. Drake noticed a glint of gold on her left hand as she tucked a few stray hairs below her bandana.

“And you?”

“Drake Mallard,” Drake said, extending his hand. Liliana took it politely.

“Gosalyn.” Gosalyn kept her arms folded at her chest.

“Gosalyn,” Liliana repeated with a smile. “That’s a good name. I’m surprised you didn’t hear of the accident sooner, it was all over the local channels. But I suppose the earliest reports wouldn’t have used their names.”

“Ah, right.” Drake responded. “Can you tell us what happened to Dr. Waddlemeyer.”

She nodded. “Almost a year ago, my fiance and his father, Dr. Thaddeaus Waddlemeyer as you know him, travelled to Bullivia. My fiance was a cargo pilot you see, it’s a common profession in this area. One day, he got a call to transport a shipment to Bullivia. I usually travel with him if I’m not working. But that weekend, I was already commissioned to paint the walls of a new restaurant opening in St. Canard.

Liliana swirled her tea as she spoke.

“So Thaddeus went instead. He had an old colleague conducting research in the same city the delivery was to. He thought he could stop in for a quick visit while he was there.”

Liliana's voice thickened and her volume fell. “But they never made it. There was a freak storm and...the plane went down. It was never recovered. We assumed them dead. But then, months later, a miracle happened. Thaddeus showed up on my doorstep. He was disoriented, confused. He had no memory of what had happened. The doctors called it sudden-onset dementia. We have no idea how it’s even possible he survived, much less how he made it back. It was a miracle."

She had been staring at the rim of her teacup as she spoke but suddenly looked up towards Drake and Gosalyn.

“I want you to understand, he’s still the same man he’s always been but the illness, it affects his memory, his cognitive function. When he first returned, he couldn’t remember the year. That’s common in dementia patients but usually they think they are in a year from their past, not over a decade in the future. He seemed to think things that were planned for the future had already happened. He insisted that Berto and I had already been married.

“He’s a bit better now, he’s calmer, he’s adjusted to living with me but...the dementia..the dementia is getting worse. He forgets things that have just happened, sometimes he forgets where he is, or how to use everyday objects. And...and...most days he forgets that the crash ever happened. He wakes up every day wondering where Berto is. The doctors say there’s no fighting the illness. He could have months left, could be years. The best we could do is make him comfortable during the time he has left.”

“Can I see him?”

Liliana blinked and shifted her gaze towards Gosalyn. Drake was surprised to see Gosalyn drop her eyes in response.

“Of course. But, I want you to understand, it might be hard to see how the illness has affected him. He...he’s not as verbal these days. You can still talk to him of course, but it is not always easy to know if he is listening. Sometimes he will respond, but other times...it can be hard to adjust to.”

“I want to see him.” Gosalyn asserted. She was leaning forward, knuckles gripping the edge of the couch.

“Gosalyn,” Drake dropped the word lightly, not as a reprimand but an anchor to keep her from being swept away by whatever rising tumult she must be feeling. He meant it as an assurance. They had made it this far. They weren’t turning back now.

She glanced towards him. She looked at him for only a moment but he caught a conflicted, indeterminable look.

“Please,” she added.

“Of course dear.” Liliana’s smile was gentle and her eyes kind. “I think he is out painting on the back porch. The doctor said hand-eye coordination activities were good for him. Please, follow me.”

She stood, and Drake and Gosalyn followed her as she led them to the back of the house.

Drake had always thought that when he finally met Dr. Waddlemeyer, it would be a happier occasion. He had only glanced at a photograph of him once, but from the way Gosalyn talked about him, Drake had pictured a giant of a man. An ingenious scholar, with a puckish sense of humour, driven by a deep, innate love for mankind and a desire to create a better world.

The silent man before him, sitting unmoving on his chair, a blank easel and untouched paints in front of him, looked like a ghost of the man he had been imagining. He stared out over the porch railing. There was nothing in view except for the empty rolling hillside. There was a quiet serenity to him, like a man who was dreaming while awake.

Liliana crossed over to where he sat and dropped a light kiss on the top of his head.

“Papá, you have visitors.”

“Liliana!” the man exclaimed and reached for her arm, “My daughter-in-law-to-be! How are you?”

“I’m fine Papá. You have someone here who wants to see you.”

“Liliana, is my son home yet?”

Liliana’s shoulders dropped.

“No,” she said softly, “he is not home.”

“Oh.”

“Papá,”

“Hmm?”

“You have visitors.”

“Oh! I do?”

Drake’s heart turned to lead as Gosalyn slowly edged forward.

She had almost raced down the hallway but now that Dr. Waddlemeyer was a mere 10 feet away, she moved with the hesitancy of someone testing the strength of a frozen lake before stepping with their full weight.

Drake’s pulse quickened painfully as he watched her go. This was it. The moment he had done everything to get her to.

“Gr- Dr. Waddlemeyer?” her voice was quiet. Uncharacteristically quiet. “It’s me, Gosalyn.”

The old man tilted his head.

“Who are you?”

Drake felt his heart drop.

Dr. Waddlemeyer hadn’t asked unkindly but as if he was expecting her to continue, as if he knew that he was missing valuable information.

Gosalyn’s voice was tight when she asked without looking at Drake or Liliana, “Can I have some privacy, please?”

“Of course.”

Cotton filled the space where his tongue had been, “We’ll be right inside,” he managed to get out.

Gosalyn made no movement as Drake and Liliana returned through the doorway from which they had come. Drake didn’t tear his eyes away from the lone figure standing rigid and small until he was behind the door.

A minute later Drake was rigorously scrubbing teacups in Liliana’s sink, fully indulging in any activity that would busy his hands and even partially distract his mind.

He didn’t hear her when she came up behind him and nearly jumped when she placed a hand on his shoulder as said, “I should start preparing dinner now, will you and Gosalyn be joining us?”

“Ah-oh-uh-thank-thank you for the offer but we really can’t stay long. But-but-please, allow me to help, I’m actually quite handy in the kitchen.”

Liliana’s eyes glanced at the mountain of soap suds threatening to spill over the sink’s edge and the three lonely teacups inside.

A smirk pulled at the corner of her beak. “If you are as passionate about seasoning as you are about washing, you’ll fit right in. Have you ever made sancocho de gallina before?

Drake shook his head.

“Well, you’re welcome in advance. You can start by peeling those potatoes on that counter.”

The two worked back to back in the small kitchen. Drake focused on making the cleanest, thinnest peels on his potato and not on what conversation might be happening on the back porch, or the potential emotional devastation Gosalyn might be going through at this very moment.

“That Gosalyn,” Liliana’s voice cut into his thoughts, “she has a bright inner light. You must be very proud of your daughter.”

The blade of the knife narrowly missed his finger tip.

“Oh she’s not-i’m not her- i’m-i’m just- I’m her guardian,” he stammered at too high a volume.

Liliana looked him up and down and Drake found himself wishing he was wearing his Darkwind suit. The suit is by no means infallible. He’s dragged himself home with the bruises to prove it, but at this moment, the mask and wide brimmed hat would feel like a form of armor, and there’s something disarming about Liliana’s line of sight.

“I see,” Liliana said. It was brief. Bare, but not unkind. Sympathetic but not assuming. “Her parents?”

That was a more complicated answer than Drake knew how to explain.

“She was raised by her grandpa,” he said after a pause. “She lost him a few months ago,” grateful he had found a way not to lie. He worried that even if he tried, Liliana would see right through it.

“Dr. Waddlemeyer he... he was there for her. He means a great deal to her.”

Liliana nodded sympathetically. “That’s a rough start for someone so young. But I’m not surprised to hear Thaddeaus took her under his wing. That sounds like him. He was the same way with me.”

She smiled her gentle, wry, half-smile.

“I came to this country as a student, alone. My family, my mother and grandmother, my entire world left behind in Colombeaka. I think Thaddeaus saw the same loneliness in me that he recognized in his wife. The other Dr. Waddlemeyer, rest her soul, had been an immigrant too. She arrived as a teenager from Cuckooba. Thaddeaus was kind. He helped me with all the science classes I didn’t understand, which - as an art student- was all of them. But he did more than that, he helped me navigate graduation credits, attended my art shows, introduced me to his son, and after that, well, the rest was history.”

She smiled, but it was a sad smile.

“He...he sounds like a wonderful man.” Drake paused. His eyes drifted in the direction of where he had left Gosalyn, behind closed doors.

“Your family in Colombeaka, are you still in contact with them?”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “They died before I could send for them.”

Eyes still closed, she took a deep steadying breath. Then a second.

The silence that passed between them lasted only a moment but in the stillness of the air, he could sense the lightest tremble in her inhale, the barest ghost of a shudder in her exhale.

When she opened her eyes again, you never would have guessed it had been there at all. But Drake had seen it. He had seen the way she pulled back her shoulders and straightened her spine, as if readjusting an invisible load.

She was a woman carrying an unfathomable burden of grief. And yet, she refused to waiver to the weight of it.

“I-” a condolence began to form on his beak.

“No, no, none of that,” she cut him off raising a hand. “No more of that. Yes, I have lost, I have grieved. I have received enough sympathies and condolences for a lifetime. And enough of those pesky senior care center marketers offering to put my father-in-law in a home to ‘alleviate one more concern’,” she shook her head angrily at the thought.

“Having him here is a blessing.” She said firmly. “He is not a burden, he is my family. I...thank you for your concern, but I am okay. I will be okay. I thought I was alone. Again. But then...a miracle. He’s all the family I have left in the world. Caring for him is my honor and my privilege. ”

Tell her. The thought blurted itself across his mind.

But tell her what? That in another life she had a daughter, only for that to be taken from her too? Gosalyn hadn’t given him details, just that there had been an accident that took both her parents, when she was still too young to remember. What kind of comfort would that bring Liliana, to know that in a parallel universe she had the family she wanted, only for her and her husband to die, leaving their child orphaned?

And even if Liliana did believe him, what then? He and Gosalyn couldn’t stay in this dimension for more than a few hours. Would it really be a kindness to tell Liliana she still had family, only to tear it away from her? Hadn’t the woman already suffered enough loss? But then again, who was Drake to keep it from her? Who was he to make that decision?

The realization was like flipping a switch in his mind.

Of course.

It wasn’t his decision to make. It was Gosalyn’s.

So instead he nodded solemnly and said, “I can’t imagine the strength it takes.”

She smiled. A soft, wistful thing, “I am my mother’s daughter. We are made of the same clay.”

She said it quietly, almost a whisper, with a far away look in her eyes.

“Pardon?”

She looked back to him, as if she had forgotten he was there for a moment. She smiled, her wry, half-smile. Holding her head high she asked, “What more can I do but go forward?”

They continued to cook together, Drake following her instruction, as they diced vegetables.

They made light conversation, it took only a few minutes for her to move conversation towards Gosalyn.

“Tell me more about your- about Gosalyn. How long have you been her guardian?”

“6 months. Since she lost her grandpa.”

Liliana nodded sympathetically as she sliced the vegetables on the cutting board in front of her.

“That’s still early in her grief. But, I am glad she has someone who cares for her. You’re very protective of her. The way you watch her...you let her move through the world on her own accord, but you have a tendency to follow close behind, as if preparing to jump to her side at any given moment.”

Drake looked towards Liliana, freezing his chopping mid air. He didn’t know what expression he wore but Liliana must have read something because a moment later she was saying

“Ah, I apologize if I am too forward. It was just an observation. I have been told all my life that I speak my mind freely.”

“Gosalyn’s like that too,” Drake murmured, hoping awe wasn’t seeping into his voice.

Liliana smiled brightly, “Tell me more.”

“She’s...she’s the bravest kid I know. Smart, strong-willed, driven, headstrong. Geez, is that kid headstrong. There’s no stopping her once she’s made up her mind...and brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

“All strong qualities of a young girl. Seeds that should be watered, wouldn’t you agree?” She looked at him with a half smile and raised eyebrow that struck him as familiar.

All of sudden, Drake felt as though he had just shown up in his boxer shorts to a test he hadn’t studied for.”

“Y-yes. Absolutely.”

Liliana smiled fully. “Hand me that jar over there, I’ll show you the secret to perfectly seasoning the chicken.”

#ducktales #darkwing duck #dt17 #hare brain writes #cw referenced transphobia #part 2 in link #this post is too long for tumblr

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themangledsans0508 · 4 years

Text

Pick-up Lines

My friend @traumatatic has given me permission to write another story based on their wonderful comics, check them out!: https://traumatatic.tumblr.com/post/170904809853/happy-valentines-2018-boiiiiii-pick-up-lines-are

Tweek waited outside Craig’s house. The sun was just rising over the mountains, bathing the land in a gentle light. He frequently looked over his shoulder out of habit. The bird’s songs comforted him slightly, helping him keep a grip on reality. He focused on the bird’s serenade, so much so that he failed to hear a door open behind him.

He tried to identify the birds. Chickadee, Blue Jay, Robin-

“Help!” Craig’s voice snapped Tweek out of his thought train. His head whipped around in a panic, looking for the threat. All he saw was Craig standing with a smirk on his face. He took a few steps towards him before turning dramatically and falling.

Tweek instinctively moved to catch him, one of his arms hooking around his shoulder and the other around his waist. His eyes filled with concern. He opened his mouth to talk.

“I’ve fallen for you and I can’t get up.” Craig’s eyes smiled at him, unlike Tweek’s own unamused ones. He frowned at him.

“Craig, you scared the shit out of me. I thought something was wrong” he scolded. Craig’s smile never faltered.

“You forgive me, don’t you?” Tweek sighed.

“Yes, of course I do. Now get up before I drop you,” he half-joked. Craig straightened up, moving his arm to be around Tweek’s shoulders.

“Fine then, let’s get going before we’re late for school.” He started walking, Tweek falling into step with him quickly.

Tweek didn’t exactly know why he felt safer at Craig’s house than he did his own, but it was a feeling he enjoyed. Sitting next to his partner, watching Red Racer as Craig flipped through images on his camera’s memory card.

Click, click, click.

A steady sound. Tweek wondered just how many pictures Craig had on that card. It was a lot, and he was fairly sure after watching him tab through a fair amount that a lot of them were of him, and of those were taken while he wasn’t paying attention.

Craig’s eyes darted from the camera to him. He smiled and leaned towards him.

“Are you a camera?” he patted the aforementioned object that was hanging off a strap around his neck. He rested his elbow on the armrest beside him, his eyes focusing on the wall over there.

His photo collection decorated the wall. Six pictures, his favourites he had taken. One was a close up of stripe, his eyes full of curiosity as he approached, all captured in a single frame. Another of his family, his mother and father smiling while Trica and Craig frowned. He was sure that if it hadn’t been Craig’s picture they would all be frowning just because that was their family and they all seldom smiled.

Well, he used to rarely smile. Now he smiled often, or at least often in the time he spent with Tweek. That of course, was the time they spent together, which almost always made him happy.

The last four pictures all had something in common. Tweek was in all four, One by himself, where he was laughing and smiling. He remembered when Craig took that picture. They had been sitting in the park, babysitting Trica and Craig refused to stop cracking jokes. Tweek now figured it was not just because he was feeling silly, but because he wanted to capture Tweek’s laugh in a photo. He had to respect his determination, seeing as Tweek was normally rather camera shy.

Two more were of the pair together, both smiling, and quite frankly looking like an old married couple. In one they were looking forward and actually holding hands off-camera. In the other, their foreheads were pressed together, Tweek’s eye’s closed while Craig’s were open.

The last one was of Tweek and Trica because Craig wanted to capture “the sweet and the sour” and Trica had only agreed because she “wanted to be able to prove that she had known her future brother-in-law when they were kids,” which had gotten her whacked upside the head by Craig.

Tweek inspected the pictures, trying to see what on Earth Craig could be talking about. He couldn’t see anything that he would have in common with a photo collection.

“Argh- what?”

“Because every time I look at you,” he waved his hand towards the collection, “I smile.” Tweek’s cheeks flushed and he put a hand to his cheek.

“Craig, come on, you’re such a dork,” he giggled.

“You love it.”

Tweek’s fingers gracefully moved on the cool smooth keys as he played out a melody. His eyes remained glued on the sheet music in front of him that he had written. He didn’t have long to practice, the talent show was only a few hours away.

Craig, who was supposed to be helping, was doing quite the opposite. He kept tapping the piano, throwing off Tweek’s rhythm. That wasn’t it either, he had draped himself over the back of the piano with his hand hanging over Tweek’s papers. He had quoted three Shakespeare lines over and over and tried to convince Tweek to “paint him like one of his French Craigs,” for whatever that meant.

When those didn’t work, he instead opted to sit next to him and pull him into his lap, then to pepper kisses all over his face and neck. His hair tickled Tweek and he had to put all his effort into focusing on the piano and not on his beloved boyfriend.

Craig finally elected to simply lean against the piano and watch in silence.

For about five minutes.

Then he got that mischievous glint in his eyes, the one that Tweek knew meant he was in trouble.

“I hope it’s no tremble,” he said, “but I’d like to be with you.”

Tweek’s hands flew to the sides of his head and he groaned, slamming his elbows on the keys making a loud clash of sour notes.

“Flirting can wait. The talent show is- nggh- in a few hours Craig!” Tweek scolded. Craig shrugged.

“You’re too pretty. I can’t help myself.” Tweek sighed, defeated.

“Later, loverboy. I have to make up for last time’s show.”

Tweek worked smoothly and efficiently, carefully cutting the carrot under his hand into even slices. His typical shaking gone for the time being, which he was thankful for under the circumstances. He was going to have to cut them even smaller later, but not yet.

Craig was right next to him, stirring the batter for their carrot cake. The coffee shop needed more desserts and Craig had refused to let Tweek make them all by himself. He wasn’t all that into baking, but he was into anything if he did it with Tweek.

Well, that’s what Clyde told Tweek. Craig simply said he didn’t feel like going home yet.

Tweek could sense Craig getting bored, mostly by the fact that he kept hitting their bodies together in between Tweek’s chops. He was very touchy, which Tweek would have never guessed before.

He wasn’t complaining though.

Craig stopped stirring and if Tweek hadn’t been paying attention to his actions he would have caught Craig staring at him. He hit his spoon to the bottom of the mix, watching the batter push out of the way. He glanced at Tweek again and saw him about halfway done a carrot, and on the upswing of the latest slice. He playfully pressed his body against him.

“If you were a vegetable, you’d be a cute-cumber.” He flipped his spoon back, flinging some of the batter at the wall.

“Craig, stop,” Tweek giggled. He couldn’t even pretend to be mad. He liked when Craig showed affection, and the fact he was the only person who got to see this side of him.

“I can’t. I have zero impulse control. And even if I did, I wouldn’t want to.”

“It’s right up here,” Craig pointed out, basically dragging Tweek up the mountain. Dusk was setting on their sleepy mountain town on the favourite day of February. Craig had refused to say much about the valentines day surprise, only that it would be special. Now they were climbing up a hill near Stark’s pond, Tweek wearing a backpack and Craig scrambling like a goat.

Tweek’s bag wasn’t heavy, but hiking in a sweatshirt instead of his favorite button-up was kind of restricting, and he was sweating too. Craig was wearing his usual outfit but didn’t seem to be hot at all, maybe cold with how fast he was moving.

Craig finally stopped on a ridge, taking Tweek’s hand and helping him up.

“Here it is.” Craig folded his hands behind his back, looking rather sheepish like he was afraid Tweek wouldn’t like the scene before him.

There was a teal blanket spread out on the ground, with another aquamarine blanket off to the side, presumably in case it got colder than it already was. In the centre was a bundle of roses.

Tweek took a few steps forward, reaching out and gently grabbing the red flowers.

“So, um, do you like it? I mean, I’m not good at this whole dating thing.” Craig rubbed the back of his head, shuffling his feet. Tweek shook his head.

“No, no. Craig, I love it,” Tweek murmured, kneeling down onto the soft fabric. He motioned for Craig to sit next to him, who readily complied. Tweek took his bag off his back and pulled out a bouquet of daffodils, handing them over to Craig.

“I wanted to get you something since I knew you’d get me something. You did last year and the year before. But I knew you didn’t really want anything so I just got you flowers. If you don’t like them I can return them-”

“Tweek, they’re perfect.” Craig kissed his forehead. They sat for hours, talking about things that made them laugh. They watched the sky melt from blue to intertwining shades of red, pink, and purple and saw the flurry of stars litter the sky along with the thin smile of the crescent moon.

Craig leaned back slightly. One of his arms crossed behind Tweek’s while he brought his attention to the stars.

“Right there you can see the big dipper right next to Polaris and the little dipper connected to it.”

“Polaris?”

“The North Star,” Craig explained, “They’re part of bigger constellations that are a lot harder to see. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, which actually translate directly from Latin as greater bear and lesser bear. They’re part of the Greek myth about Callisto and her son Arcas. We’ll probably learn about it in school soon.”

“How much do you know about space?” Tweek asked.

“More than any teacher at our school,” he boasted. Tweek rolled his eyes.

“Maybe you should teach instead.”

“Trust me, if I could this town we be a hundred times smarter.” Craig pointed up to another pair of constellations. “Right there to the right of Polaris are Cassiopeia and Cepheus, king and queen respectively. Another long Greek story, I can tell you it sometime if you’d like, just not right now. There are other big constellations I want to show you right now though.”

“I’d love to hear it sometime. Maybe another night out like this.” Craig blushed slightly.

“You’re very eager. Definitely a night sometime soon. Okay, back on track. Right there weaving between the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper is Draco, which means the dragon or literally the long serpent in Latin-”

“You know a lot of Latin.”

“Only when it has to do with space. Anyway, Draco is made up of Thuban, Rastaban, and Eltanin.” Craig noticed Tweek’s slightly confused look.

“More stars. It has like, three or four myths about it. If we turn around there should be about five more constellations.” Craig laid on his back, looking behind them. “There’s Orion, the hunter. He’s easy to tell from the three bright stars on his belt. He’s up above Sirius, and the right side of his tunic is marked by Rigel and his shoulder is Betelgeuse. He was a great hunter in Greek mythology, son a Poseidon. Then he got stung by a scorpion and fucking died.” Tweek laughed.

“Wow, that’s sad.”

“I know, right? The lesson is he got killed by a scorpion because he boasted too much but there’s debate about that.”

“Scientists and Astronomers are obsessed with Greek mythology. Even you,” Tweek teased. Craig felt his cheeks heat up.

“Well, it’s cool. And I didn’t name all the stars.” Craig tugged Tweek down next to him so that he would see the view from Craig’s angle.

“How much Greek mythology do you know?” Tweek questioned.

“A lot I guess. Here’s another. Right there connected to Sirius is Canis Major and then to the left and up from that one is Canis Minor, and they were said to have been Orion’s loyal dogs, which is why the three connect almost in a triangle. The Pleadieds are over there, they’re the seven daughters of a nymph Pleione and the Titan Atlas. The last constellation that’s easy to see this time of year is Gemini, the twins, east of Orion’s belt. Their names are Castor and Pollux, which are also the names of the stars that make up their heads. They were said to be twin brothers and one was the son of Zeus but not the other? I don’t know how that works. But during the Trojan war, Castor was killed and Pollux begged his dad to take away his immortality so he could be with his brother and instead Zeus made them constellations.”

“That’s really sweet, actually. Brothers that were best friends. You and Trica could learn a thing or two from them.” Craig clicked his tongue as Tweek giggled quietly.

“Nah, I’d rather be put in the sky with you. Fuck Trica.” Craig pushed himself up to appreciate the swirling dance of the cosmos. Tweek copied his movements, his gaze following Craig’s.

“We have to do this again sometime. It’s beautiful and peaceful,” Tweek breathed, taking in the smell of the outdoors. Craig nodded in agreement.

“If I had a star for every time you brightened my day,” Craig reached his hand up in what looked like an attempt to grab the stars “I’d be holding a galaxy.”

Tweek used one hand to grab Craig’s and his other to pull the strings on Craig’s chullo hat towards him. He cupped Craig’s cheek with one hand and gently kissed him.

“I’m already holding a galaxy.”

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