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#On behalf of everyone who has ever read fanfiction.. I LOVE YOU GUYS
king-wilhelm · 3 years
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You ever read a fanfiction so, so fucking good that when you're done reading it, you're kinda disoriented? Like the place you were reading it in seems unfamiliar because the story sucked you into the fucking fifth dimension with how good it was? Unparalleled feeling.
Fanfic writers are an absolute gift to humanity.
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Okay but like imagine if ao3 had a bit where it recommended stuff for you based on what you read like idk how possible it would be due to the sheer amount of content on that site but that would be kind of cool
Until it starts recommending Omegaverse fics because you accidentally started one ONE TIME because you didn’t properly read the tags…
On second thought maybe it is a good thing this doesn’t exist
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honeybunnybeez · 3 years
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If you want to you could write some C! Dream being soft around reader?
Secluded Cabin's and Gentle Touches
♡Pairing: Dream x GN!Reader (with hints of platonic!GN!reader x Tommy and Tubbo)
♡Genre: Fluff
♡Format: Fanfiction
♡Summary: It's not uncommon for Tommy and Tubbo to bring people over to your place so you can help calm them down after a prank, but today they seemed to drag by a familiar face that you have yet to properly spend time with. Lucky for you, he seems to be longing to talk to you as well.
♡Au Setting: Au where the war never happens but tensions are still high.
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"Get back here!"
Despite the voice ordering them to stop, Tommy and Tubbo continued to run like their lives depended on it, and to be fair, it kinda did in this situation. Wet hands stained in different coloured dyes served as proof of their crimes and a green hooded man wearing an awfully smudged looking mask makes it clear who their latest prank victim was.
"What were we fucking thinking!?" but a laugh at the end of his yelling as he dodges Dream's outstretched hand makes it clear that Tommy doesn't regret his life choices at all.
"I don't know!" Tubbo on the otherhand, was starting to regret his involvement in the prank. His legs were starting to ache and his chest began to burn as he slowly became exhausted. A wild chase like this isn't exactly new to them but Dream's persistence really makes it hard for a person to catch a breather between runs. "Tommy, where are we even going!?"
Tommy opened his mouth to respond but a trail of scattered lanterns and torches answers Tubbo's question for him. Tubbo lets out a knowing, "ooooh!" And uses whatever remaining energy he can to keep up with Tommy, knowing exactly what his friend had in mind.
In the distance, they can see you sitting on your porch, playing with a parrot you had managed to tame while out searching for cocoa beans. Relief washes over them when you lock eyes with them and start jogging over with your bird in tow, a worried expression evident on your face.
They're quick to hide behind you when they get close enough, clutching the back of your shirt while trying to catch their breaths to answer your questions as to who they were running from this time and why.
"Dream-" is all Tommy can manage to wheeze out before he's coughing up a lung and swearing again.
"Ah," honestly, after knowing the pair for a good few years now, just mentioning a name gives you a pretty good idea of the type of prank they pulled and the danger they could be in. Thankfully, Dream wasn't a major threat, to you at least.
"Alright, alright, go hide in the house quickly and don't come out until I tell you guys to. If I die, make sure to take care of the farm animals and bees for me."
"Bless you, (y/n)."
"Your sacrifices won't be in vain, we promise!"
You give them a joking salute and urge them to go inside quickly, informing them that you can hear Dream approaching closer. Once the boys were safely inside, you tried your best to look as natural as possible with the limited time you had to adjust yourself. When Dream arrives, you can see that he's just as tired as the boys are thanks to the chase, though his stance continues to be tense as he frantically looks around for them, fists clenched tight until his knuckles turned ghost white.
"Fuck, where did they run off to?"
"Not gonna give a stranger a kind hello after walking onto their lawn with murderous intent?" You and Dream weren't really strangers per say, you had to meet up with him when you moved into the server after all, but due to conflicting schedules and how often Tommy and Tubbo dragged you away whenever he tried to make conversation, you two didn't know each other all that well. That doesn't mean that you didn't want to try though.
When Dream realizes where he was and who he was talking, he's quick to adjust his mask and hoodie to make himself look somewhat... presentable, as presentable as he can look with sweat marks and a messed up mask at least.
'Why did those two have to run up to your house out of all places,' Dream mentally whines to himself, clearing his throat and giving you a single awkward wave as he walks up to you.
"Hey, (y/n). I didn't know you lived in this part of the server," that was a lie. Dream did know where you live, he knew where everyone did but it would be a little creepy to just put that information out there, wouldn't it?
"It'd be a little weird if I just started screaming out my address to random people on the streets, wouldn't it?" You try to joke, earning a little laugh from Dream.
"Okay, yeah, you got me there."
You pat an empty spot beside you on your porch step, inviting Dream over for a bit of rest and he accepts your offer gratefully, practically slumping beside you as he suddenly feels just how tired he is.
"Love the new look you gave your mask by the way," Dream groans at your teasing and pulls at his hoodie strings, hoping to cover his whole mask with his hood. He's glad you can't see his face right now because he can feel his cheeks practically burning at the fact that when he finally gets a chance to talk and get close to you it's when he's a sweating tired mess who looks like a wreck at best.
"I'm going to kill those two when I find them," he mumbles under his breath.
The slam that follows within your home could not have been more terribly timed.
"What was that?"
"Must be my wolves," you lied through your teeth, knowing damn well that your actual wolves were sleeping in your bedroom, "they learned how to open doors recently, I think they're messing around at the moment."
While he's distracted, staring at your window to check what's going on inside of your home, you're quick to read through your most recent private messages on your communicator.
Tommy: HE'S HERE!
Tommy: (Y/N), WHY AREN'T YOU TELLING HIM TO FUCK OFF!?
Tommy: Fuck this, we're hiding in the kitchen.
Tubbo: We're making a run for it through the back.
Tommy: We'll hide in your barn like runaway children.
Tubbo: Isn't that what we technically are right now?
Tommy: (y/n), we're making a fucking run for it if you don't answer us in 3 seconds.
Tommy: 3!
Tommy: 2!
Tubbo: We'RE OUT! I REPEAT, WE'RE OUT!
"Yup," you pop your P a little at the end, annoyed yet amused at the string of frantic messages still continuing to pop up on your communicator as they make their escape, "definitely my wolves causing all of that chaos."
Dream knows that you're lying from the way you read through your messages but he doesn't say a word about it, choosing instead to take this golden opportunity to get closer to you without worrying about anyone getting in the way.
"Not really how you thought the day would go, huh?"
You can't help but laugh and shake your head, "Not at all, I thought it was just going to be another boring day with my bird, but hey, I'm glad you showed up to make it a little more special."
"Really?" Dream hates how happy he sounds to hear you say that, but he'll beat himself up over it another time.
"It's not everyday you see Mr. WasTaken himself visiting your humble home, now is it?" Oh, or maybe he won't.
"I guess not, that really should change, shouldn't it?" You can hear the little grin in his voice as he realizes the game your playing.
"It really should, but a quick heads up would be good, unless you'd like to deal with said 'wolves' I mentioned earlier."
He chuckles and shakes his head, mentioning how he's more than aware that those two 'wolves' of yours would probably rip him apart if he ever visited you unannounced.
It isn't long before you invite Dream inside, offering to help clean his mask as an apology on the boys's behalf. He claims that he doesn't mind but he would rather not take his mask off in front of you when he hasn't gotten to know you all that well.
"You don't have to remove it if you feel uncomfortable, I'll just wipe away whatever I can with a cloth, but if you're still hesitant, I'd understand."
He takes a moment to consider your offer, trying to see if you have any other ulterior motives. It's not that he doesn't want to trust you, he does, but sometimes you just have to be a little extra cautious even with people you like. Sensing no ill intent on your part though, he relaxes himself once more and accepts your help, letting his hood finally loosen and fall back to ease your process.
Your actions are incredibly comforting to Dream who can't help himself from leaning into your touches every once in a while. He watches you with his fullest attention as you wipe away the mess on his mask with a damp cloth. He loves how focused you look while doing so, taking in every little quirk you may have while you concentrate. His little crush on you that he's harboured ever since he saw you running around the server can't help but grow every second you give him your attention.
There's a certain draw to you that Dream can't fight off no matter how hard he tries, you just manage to hold a certain power over him and that was evident by the fact that he completely lost interest in continuing his hunt for Tommy and Tubbo even after finding out that they were still most likely on your property. Dream was a persistent man, he was never one to simply drop something with no proper reason at all. There was just this appeal to you that he couldn't describe and he was desperate to find out what it was about you that made him act differently than he normally would.
"Okay then, that's the last of it," he has to stop himself from letting out a whine when you pull your hands away from his mask, he wants to say something to try to get you to continue on longer but decides against it, not wanting to seem desperate. His eyes don't leave you even after you pull away, watching you rinse off the dirty cloth before throwing it into what seemed to be a bin filled with laundry. When you return to sit by his side, he can't help but swallow a bit of his pride to rest his head on your shoulder. It's a big risk to take, but at least he has an excuse for his actions if he ever needs it.
"Tired, Dream?"
"Mhmm," he feels himself melt when you let your fingers run through his slightly sweat damp hair, clearly unphased by the state of it much, to his joy.
"You wanna rest here for a while? I'm sure you could get a good nap in before leaving."
"That depends, can I still use you as my pillow?"
"Not like I have anything else to do for the rest of the day, knock yourself out."
"Then if you'll excuse me," his head is quick to leave your shoulder to instead rest in your lap and the blissful sigh he lets out escapes his lips before he can even stop himself. You just feel so comfortable to him. "I'm gonna drift off, wake me up in an hour or so, will you?"
You let out a hum in response and it isn't long before you start to see Dream's body go slack, his breathing now steady and deep as he slowly falls asleep. It's quite endearing seeing Dream act so affectionately towards you, something you certainly didn't expect from a guy who carries himself with a subtle wave of authority, but you definitely weren't complaining as you continued to play with his hair once again.
Dream would never tell a single soul about it, but this was quiet possible the best sleep he's gotten in years, if he even tried to sleep at all to begin with. The thought to just slow down and relax is never really on his mind, his head always spinning with things he has to do. However, with you, he's glad to know that he can look to you for comfort from now on, something he now realizes is rather hard to find on the server. It pains him to know that he'll have to leave in just a few moments but for now, he'll take what he can get from you and maybe, if you let him, he'll be sure to return your sweet gestures tenfold one day.
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A/N: Hello, everyone! I am so sorry for being absent recently, I know the writer's block excuse can only go so far but- yeah ^^' I'm so sorry again for everything and I'm sorry if this isn't what you were hoping for anon! Thank you so much for the rquest and feel free to request it again if you want me to remake this to hopefully suit what you wanted. Anyways, I hope you all have a good day and thank you so much for reading!
(Requests are open and anon is on!)
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cherry3point14 · 4 years
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Stranger Than Fanfiction: Ch 2
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Series Masterlist
Pairing: Dean x Reader Warnings: Other than worrying about being killed, not much. Word count: 3,566. Chapter Summary: You never know where those pesky boys will show up. A/N: Sometimes I put things in that I think no one will ever notice. This chapter has one.
Ao3 if you prefer
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“My imminent…?” You're stuck at your desk whispering to yourself.  Every inch of you frozen in place so completely that you can’t do anything except stare at the cream folder in your hands like it might be a bomb. As if the last five seconds have started ticking away and you have to choose which wire to cut.
It must have been a mistake. There was no way you were going to… die. Soon anyway. You couldn’t be… how could a folder kill you? Forget about the voice in your head that knew your secrets, how could this card and paper in your hands kill you?
This whole thing. This day. It must be a fever dream or a very vivid daydream. Of course, the voice knew your secrets because it was all a figment of your own imagination.
Imagination or not suddenly you were hoping to hear anything, answers to any of the questions buzzing about your head. It would be so much easier if you could hear the answers. The voice, that stupid godforsaken voice, it had done this to you, so it could fix it. But now that your fate had apparently been sealed everything was achingly silent.
“Answer me.” You finally move, leaning into the folder with a stern command but your voice cracks before you start.
Silence, except the normal office din. Phones ringing and fingers tapping away on keyboards but the voice stayed quiet.
You drop the file on your desk, not out of choice but because your hands start shaking if you get close to opening it. Though you are loath to admit it, the voice was right. Something about today and this file, in particular, feels different. Could different be enough to make everything true? If it's true can you stop it? You don’t know the impossible danger you’re trying to avoid.  Although yesterday you'd have said a voice in your head was impossible, let alone dying tomorrow.
You wouldn’t open it then. How could something hurt you if you didn’t engage? You could put the folder in the back of a filing cabinet somewhere and never look at it again. Or you could shred the thing. Coerce Laura into shredding it for you? You could convince her she’s not doing anything wrong.  This could be one case that got lost in processing—the client will get paid out because the company failed to investigate and you’ll go on breathing. Everyone’s a winner.
“Oh good, you got twenty-four zero one.” Your manager appears, hovering over you, coffee in one hand as he reads out the files’ label number.
“What?”
He takes an exaggerated sip, like a bad Folgers commercial, before explaining himself. “I thought you could use a little treat is all.”
“Treat? A treat?” You splutter; exasperated and unbelieving. The file might be your end and he thought this was a treat? “I’m sorry, why is this a treat?”
Your office was not normally a place for dramatics. You yourself were not normally one for dramatics.  It was only of the many reasons your boss liked you so today he ignores your sarcastic, borderline angry tone. He doesn’t make assumptions about your attitude, he simply chooses not to hear your tone at all.
He winks, “it’s right up your street.”
You almost dry heave,  barely choking it back. “I’ve got to go.”
“What?” He parrots, glancing at the clock on the wall reading 9:15 before turning back to you, your laptop not even switched on for the day.
“I’m sorry Mark,  really  I am.” You hastily stuff your laptop into your bag. Followed by your phone.  Pausing only a second after throwing the bag on your shoulder to decide if you should take the case file, before finally hugging it to your chest. Losing the file would be worse than taking it with you. “I’m feeling under the weather. I-I thought I would be ok but  I think  I should have stayed home this morning.”
There’s an air of patronizing manly-ness in the way he looks at you, “o-oh well. I appreciate you trying to make the effort.”
There’s no time to argue against Mark’s casual sexism, you have to get out of here,  quickly. “I’ll work from home for today. Sorry, again.”
He doesn't get a chance to say anything as you make your way erratically to the exit. Some desks you clip the corners of as you swerve to avoid people, plants, even the printer finds itself in your way.
Laura gets out a questioning, “Y/N?” before you’re back in the elevator you’d only recently vacated. The doors close behind you while you try to calm your racing heartbeat.
No getting rid of the evidence then. Mark knows you have the file now. Even if you hadn’t taken it with you he’d seen it at your desk, in your hands, he chose to give this to you.  Obviously  Mark has no idea he’s signed your death warrant with whatever was inside. It’s not even the first time he’s given you that dumb wink and treated you to cases he thought you’d enjoy. Like the time he had you go investigate the fire at that bakery because, quote, ‘you love pastries’.
The drive home is as silent as the rest of your life had been yesterday. You turn off the radio in case the voice cames back with more information but it doesn't. Which means the soundtrack to your journey is the clunky engine sound, again.  You absolutely needed to take your car to the garage, but who has the time with imminent death hanging over their head?
It’s 9:45 when you scuttle back into your house, bag in hand, and still clinging to the file like hiding it in your chest will make it disappear. You’ve only been out of the house for an hour but there’s something eerie about being back so soon. It’s almost like you’re interrupting your house’s private time. You’re not supposed to be here now and the dust bunnies hanging in the air seem disturbed by your presence.
There’s no time to dwell on the eerie presence of your usually comforting home. You put everything on your table and look around. Half hoping some insane stalker comes out of the woodwork with the exact voice you’ve been hearing. Unfortunately, that’s too easy.
Then you go back to the sofa. Yes, that’s where it had started. Your half-drunk tea is still on the coffee table where you’d been rushing to get to work. Instead of taking the mug into the kitchen you fall into the seat and pick up the cold cup. You have no intention of drinking it but you’re hoping for a miracle. If you do the mundane things she had taken so much pleasure in narrating earlier then can you force her to come back?
Although you sit there for a few minutes it’s painfully obvious after a few seconds that nothing is going to happen.
And then you remember the folder. The new bane of your existence. What if the only way out of this is to keep going? One step forwards, two steps back.
Maybe you have to open the folder that your narrator—there isn’t another name for them at this point—seemed so interested in earlier.  Maybe rushing out of the office hadn’t been what she wanted, so she had nothing to say.
You were going to open it eventually anyway. It’s your job and you couldn’t live with not knowing.
There's a glimpse of Manilla on the table in front of you, trapped under your purse. The voice had called it innocuous earlier and the description is apt. It is the next folder of thousands that you will ever hold. Unless, of course, it’s your last. If it’s your last then that explains why this one feels heavier than it looks as you slide it free.
Once it’s in your lap you frown at it. Mentally preparing yourself. For the voice or the contents, it doesn’t matter, either way, you try your best to steady your breathing.  Despite your reverence, as you flip the cover open, the first page is exactly what you expect to find: a summary of the claim, dollar amounts, and beneficiary details. And your head still stays silent.
You could get angry. You could shout and plead to whatever cruel twist of fate decided today was the day that you'd go insane. Anger won't change anything though. Screaming won't get your answers. But, your work is something you know how to do. It's always been a safety net, if not a little dull.
Yes, you could get angry, but there’s a file in your lap that needs investigation. The same as all the other claims you've ever closed.  And now that you’re in this ridiculous situation, caught between crazy and scared, you only had two options.  The first was to ignore the situation—return to bed with that half bottle of wine in your fridge and wait for something to break down your door and kill you. The second was to continue to do your job and ignore that everything in your life is absurd right now.
Those two options aren't options at all because you're not quite ready to start drinking before noon. Which leaves carrying on with your life. Mark was right about one thing anyway, it is right up your street. Well, a couple of streets over anyway.
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You knock on the door and wait. The red paint is curling and peeling at the edges. The ‘5’ in ‘75’ is slightly askew, but nothing else is out of place. Even those small things you only notice because you’re waiting on the doorstep staring at them.  There’s sound inside the house, like muffled voices and then footsteps before the door bursts open.
“Hello?” The woman seems agitated already, which usually doesn’t happen until after you introduce yourself.
“Hello. My name is Y/N Y/L/N and I’m here on behalf of First National insurance. Are you Margret Hall?”
“Call me Maggie. Yes but…”
“I understand that you recently filed a claim with us for….”
“For my dead husband, yes, but what about the two guys who are already here?”
You can’t help your flinch at ‘dead husband’. In life insurance cases you always try to use tactful language even if it's the spouses or family who cut to the chase. Still, that’s not the part of what she said that’s worrying.
“Excuse me? There’s somebody already here?” Hope surges through you at the prospect of being mistaken. You have the wrong case, the wrong file, you’re not going to die. She crosses her arms over her chest.
“Yeah, I have two guys here now.”
Two guys? The company never sends two men to do one woman’s job. Especially not on a run of the mill claim like this. You slump your shoulders a little, deflated. It's your own fault for hoping.
“They’re still here?”
The woman grimaces in a way that tells you she wants to roll her eyes but she’s resisting. Instead, she purses her lips before she looks back into her home to confirm. Her answer is dripping with sarcasm, “still at the table where I left them.”
You’ve had worse from a widow—you’ve had screeching and accusations—and you let all that go because it’s a difficult time. So, when Maggie Hall twists her face and offers you her bored cynicism it's easy to not see it. You are more focused on the suspicious situation instead.
“Can I meet them?” You lower your voice because you don’t know how close they are to where you’re standing. “I, eh,  just  want to make sure they have all the correct information if they’re taking over.”
That's a lie. You don’t want to scare the poor woman by telling her she has a couple of strangers in her house but she definitely has. The claim file is reassuringly tucked under your arm. It is your proof, it’s your shield against their criminal behavior, their lies.
You’re so distracted by the drama of the situation that you seem to have forgotten,   momentarily, that you’d be more than happy to be wrong  . Overjoyed even. You’d quite like Harry and David from the office to be sitting there with an identical file offering you an escape. Yet you know they won’t be, because this has never happened before. There’s never a duplicate file. There’s never more than one adjuster accidentally sent. Until the voice in your head offers more information there’s no getting out of this.
Then you allow yourself to be distracted. You treat the situation seriously because it is serious.  While you can’t imagine why anyone would want to pretend to be an insurance adjuster, for some reason these two men are. The best you can hope for is that the strangers are as dull and harmless as the men who genuinely  work in your office.
Maggie, who is only a decade older than you to have lost her husband, steps back and finally ushers you inside with a tight-lipped smile.
Two men are sitting at her round kitchen table with their backs to you as she shows you in. They’re whispering and leaning into each other for their secret conversation.  If you didn’t know any better you’d swear you hear the words ‘silver knife’, which only perpetuates the criminal label you’ve already assigned them.
“Hello.”
They both turn their heads to look at you, startled by a new voice. Then they stand up in unison causing their chairs to scrap against the kitchen floor. They are definitely not the soft, unassuming men that you hoped to find.
You want to stand your ground and keep your body language confident but your hand still creeps into your purse as you puff out your chest  . Fingers searching blindly  for your phone while you speak. “I’m from First National insurance. I’m here to investigate Mrs. Hall's claim but she said someone was already here.”
They have excellent poker faces, you’ll give them that at least.  If you had to read anything it’d be a small hint of panic from the taller one and a flash of anger from the shorter one, like an animal backed into a corner  .  But their reactions are instantly hidden under steeled expressions so you can’t be sure if your elevated heart rate is making you see things  . It dawns on you then how stupid a plan it was to try and seem imposing to these two behemoth men who fill up the entire room. Would you even be able to dial 911 without taking your phone out? There’s a pause before the taller guy runs his hand through his hair  nervously , “that’s a crazy mix up, huh?”
His attempt at friendly casualness bolsters the last shred of confidence you are clinging to  . He’s nervous because he knows he’s been caught, which means that you are right.
“It would be if I had ever seen you two around the office.” You narrow your eyes at them and open your mouth, ready to unmask them for the imposters they are.
Mrs. Hall chooses this moment to decide that three uninvited insurance adjusters are two too many .
“Can someone explain what the hell is going on?”
Tall guy is quick on the draw and jumps on the opportunity to run. “I’m very sorry Mrs. Hall it looks like there was a mix up at the office. We’re going to head back now and straighten this out but we’ll leave you in the capable hands of… um… our colleague here.”
They’re already walking. Taking big strides with their long legs and your widow is glad to guide them out. Your fingers finally wrap around your phone  securely  and you protest as best you can. “You don’t even know my name. Why were you…?”
A deep and unsettling emotion brewed within Y/N as she watched them leave, one she didn’t ever remember feeling ever before. She might not have a name for it but knew that this was one of those important moments. The ones that stories are written for, that songs are created about, the kind of moment that changes a life.
“Oh for the love of God, not now.”
She was, of course,  absolutely right. Her life had changed as soon as she’d opened her eyes that morning. Knocking on this particular door was not a choice made for her by her boss or even herself, it was destiny. She could never go back to a time before she crossed this threshold and in time she wouldn’t want to.  Although at this moment—trying to stop these strangers from leaving like she’s a detective in one of her mystery novels—she doesn’t realize what’s happening. All Y/N knows is that feeling in her stomach. The glaring klaxon sound echoing in her head. The icy determination that has locked her chin into an unwavering line. All Y/N knows is that these men broke the rules that dictate her life.  If they could so effortlessly disrespect her tenuous sense of self, then there was no limit to the heinous crimes these madmen might commit. She had to stop them.
You’re only dazed for a second by the implication that you might, at some point, not regret any of this, or them. It's enough time for them both to make it to the door. The taller one is quick to open it, ready to make his escape. “Wait! What were you doing here?”
It’s the shorter one, although shorter is all relative when he still towers over you, who spares you a frustrated glance before he leaves. “Above your pay grade, sweetheart.”
And then the door closes. Maggie finally rolls her eyes as if she’s been waiting a lifetime to do it, except the action is not at you, it’s with you. Their rude and haste exit has catapulted her firmly onto your team.
The door tried it's very best to separate her from the strangers she’d just met. It stood as opaquely as it could in the hopes that, without the visual aid, she might forget they had existed.  It tried, oh, how the door tried to divert her attention from the unknown men who could be terrible, rule-breaking influences on her.  However the door was only wood and she was a stubborn woman made of free will and limbs—a woman who refused to be deceived.
Your hand is on the doorknob before the mention of your limbs has finished rattling around your head.  Realistically you don’t want to encourage the voice by doing what it says. After all, the voice's ultimate goal seems to be killing you. It’s just  your need to open the door goes deeper than your fear of the voice. The voice isn’t proven yet. It could still be a psychosis or a brain tumor. Those men are concrete. Real dangers that you can chase down and confront. Or at the very least you can see what direction they head off into. That would be good information for the police.
The doors of a black muscle car slam at the same moment that you step outside again, phone in hand. The engine revs loud enough to alert the entire neighborhood of their exit. The police will never get here on time so you do the next best thing. You snap a picture of their big, noisy car and make a mental note of the license plate in case the picture’s blurred.
Watching the unknown car hurtle into the dusky, afternoon daylight felt like an ending. The proverbial full stop in a sentence she hadn't been finished with. Were it any other day, any other encounter, then Y/N might be right about this ending.  Perhaps this might have been an intriguing story to recount to her coworkers in the office. A fable to paint herself as the insurance adjusting sheriff around these parts. She scared off the bad guys. However, this was not any other day and those were not any other bad guys. In fact, one of them would change her life.
It was hard enough typing the license plate into your notes app while the voice distracted you.  Impossibly  you manage to note down the Ohio plate to go with your hasty picture.
Googling that would be something for later, for now, you had a whole other job to do. Something simple and easy. Something you knew how to do in your sleep.
“I’m sorry Mrs. Hall, I mean Maggie, let’s get these questions answered so First National can stop sending people around . Huh?”
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Contine to Chapter 3.
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5eva tags: @divadinag @darthdeziewok @fluentinfiction @witch-of-letters @supernatural-teamfreewillpage @magnitude101999 @alexwinchester23 Dean babes: @thewinchesterchronicles @akshi8278​ @bloodydaydreamer StrangerThanFiction tags: @jaylarkson
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moera6 · 3 years
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Supernatural 15x20 rant
At first I want to make it clear that this will probably end up as a long rant. I’ve read many people’s opinion about Supernatural episode 15x20 and I’m sick of it. So here’s my opinion, unpopular to most other fans but I don’t care. If they can spread their opinion, so can I.
I want to make it clear from the beginning that I loved the final episode. While it wasn’t what I expected, it was a good ending. Everyone who already disagrees with me can either skip this or take a look at this episode from a different viewpoint.
I didn’t check tumblr or twitter until I had the time to watch the last episode, because I didn’t want to accidentally spoiler my self. This was the first series finale that made me cry, I had to pause the episode several times to calm down again. The actors, especially Jensen and Jared have done such a wonderful job. After I finished it, I immediately checked other fans reactions, wanting to know if someone else was as moved by the episode as I was.
And what can I say, except I was utterly disappointed. Fans were spreading hate where ever I looked. I still can’t understand how “fans” can go so far as to insulting both actors and writers, just because the episode didn’t go as they had hoped it would. I was always proud of the solidarity in the supernatural fandom. Now I’m ashamed on behalf of almost every fan whose response I’ve read to that episode, to be a part of something that got so twisted and spreads so much hate. I don’t want to imagine how the supernatural cast have to feel when reading those comments, because I’m already hurt by them.
And then the lies and assumptions that get spread about what happened, so people who didn’t watch the episode think that it really happened that way. Dean wasn’t stabbed by a nail, it was a large piece of metal. He didn’t die from Tetanus, which would’ve taken several days, but most likely from a combination of blood loss and possible damage to his spine. Even if Sam had called an ambulance, there was so little time Dean had left I highly doubt it would’ve made a difference. Except the fact that Dean wouldn’t have had the chance to tell Sam everything he wanted to tell him.
We don’t know if Sam raised his son to be a hunter or not. Maybe the son got the anti-possession tattoo as a safety measure, ‘cause he’s a Winchester and monsters will probably come after him sooner or later. Maybe he just got it because his dad and uncle had it and he thought it looked cool. Who knows? Not the fans.
Another thing that bothered me big time was to read that Castiel was in “super-hell”. He wasn’t in some kind of hell. He was in the Empty, the place where all angels and demons go once they’ve died. Maybe he found peace there, who knows? Not the fans.
And the biggest issue I have with other people’s reaction is calling the cast lazy for “only” showing Bobby in Dean’s heaven, and not the rest of his found family. And that they seem to think Covid is just an excuse for that. Like guys, have you really forgotten how many people died because of Covid? Maybe the writers didn’t want more actors than necessary there, maybe it was the actors who didn’t want to risk it, or didn’t want to come for literally any other reason. Who knows? Once again, not the fans.
tl;dr: Stop spreading hate over half-truths or assumptions, and because it wasn’t what you wanted it to be. Writing a series has the same rules as writing a book or even fanfictions. The only one who has to like it, is the author themselves. If you don’t like it, don’t ruin it for other people.
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Why Fanfiction?
Hey guys. Okay, so, a few weeks ago one of my coworkers asked me this question. And it has been bothering me ever since. 
Y’see, there’s this problem about explaining fanfiction, or fandom for that matter, to people who have never been a part of this culture. And, no, I don’t think that culture is too grandiose a term. The problem is everyone wants to rationalize fanfiction, justify its existence. Anyone who is not a part of fandom, literally any fandom, wants you to explain why you use your time this way, why you create this way, and why you feel entitled to do so. People struggle over basic things like creation existing outside of monetary gain or copyright, but even that’s not the intrinsic thing outside people don’t understand. 
I spent minutes trying to explain to my coworkers why as they pestered me with the same series of comments we’ve all been called to answer a hundred times before, “Why do you do that?” “But it’s not yours!””Who don’t you write your own work?” “That character wouldn’t do that!” etc, etc. And between trauma flashbacks to 2004 when I was 12 years old and we had the wars of What Is And Is Not In Character, I realized what the problem is: fanfiction is for fun. 
That’s it, plain and simple. I do it because it’s fun. You do it too! You draw or write or read or make or remix or whatever! You participate because it’s fun! That’s really all there is to it. And you and I don’t ask for more reason than that. But I was talking to outsiders. 
And here I should explain that I work in a college. I was talking to academics. Hell, I am an academic, I teach college English. And English professors, god help me, English professors are the absolute WORST at justifying fanfiction. You get two flavors of English professor when it comes to fandom: 1) that’s stealing or 2) that’s deconstruction. If the first, fuck you, I don’t have time for your precious proprietary sensibilities, learn what derivative means and then tell me if your near-and-dears are so goddamn original. If the second, I love ya, pal, and I know you’re trying, but you do too much. You do too much. 
For all of us in fandom, we understand that for every meta-critique, every genderqueer retelling, every better rewriting of a poorly articulated story, there are fifty hackneyed, hand-on-the-crotch, author-kink-specific "adult content” fics (Just in case tumblr got any ideas about censoring this post). And THAT’S NOT A BAD THING!
If you haven’t yet, you will meet people who will go out of their way to defend fanfiction’s literary qualities, but they Bowdlerize it! Sanitize! Clean! Purify. Intentional or not, and sometimes it is definitely intentional, many people feel that in order to justify and defend fanfiction, they must eliminate the porn, forego the smut, ignore the self-indulgent, half-crazed teenage lust that is the life’s blood of fanfiction. And that is some hypocritical, restrictive horseshit. Never mind the fan that chooses to throw the first stone, but what a fundamental misrepresentation on behalf of the authority! 
One of my favorite professors of all time offered fanfiction as an assignment option in every one of her classes. But she always did this with this fundamental misunderstanding of what fanfiction is and what it is for. Yes it CAN be incredible critical thought. Yes it CAN be a literary revolution. Yes, yes, yes. But it is not only this. And it always made me cringe to listen to her sing fanfiction’s praises without embracing all of the gutter trash that is my heritage, my home. I am by no means saying that fanfiction should not do all the meta-analysis and social critique that it can, will, and does do. But that is not all that fanficiton is nor should it be. Fanfiction is also the 18th coffeeshop AU you’ve read for the same ship. Fanfiction is also the soulmates AU for your rarepair. It’s the LOTR crossover. It’s the character death fic that serves no purpose but to make you sad. And it’s the OOC crack nightmare that you wrote at 4 am when you were 13 and don’t share with anyone, but it gave you joy to write. I will never defend fanfic without defending these also. 
And this is what my coworkers struggled with when I tried to explain. They could not accept this simple fact that fanfiction exists, primarily, for joy. And I would not treat fanfiction as high art existing only to hold a mirror up to media. Absolutely fuck that ivory tower bullshit. And they could not wrap their heads around enjoying this. 
One of them understood why I might write fic, but did not understand why I might want to read another’s. For this I can only cite his ego as the reason he would perhaps not like to read from someone else’s imagination. Another insisted that I ought to write my own work, rather than manipulate someone else’s characters. And this was someone who espoused death of the author and freedom from censorship! But still I could not convince her why it would be fun to play around in someone else’s sandbox. And the answer I gave at the time was not what I wanted it to be. I played it off as cowardice, fear of judgment about my own work. And, to be fair, that is one of the reasons I balk at original fiction, but again, fanfiction needs no justification! It is NOT second best! It is a full and legitimate art form in its own right, requiring new and different skills every bit as nuanced and delicate and time-consuming to acquire as those for any other kind of writing. Social acceptance does not make a creation good. Nor does profit or being studied by institutions. These things are accolades and easily recognized to mean value, but they themselves are not what make a creation good. You already know what does that.
And this is why it is so terribly hard to explain why fanfiction? You may as well ask why art?
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projectemmatyler · 4 years
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The damn diacritics on AO3 (aka What’s Your Effing Problem Jennie)
(disclaimer here: Jennie is a placeholder name that I for some reason don’t like. No offense to any Jennies meant.)
First few things I’d like to clarify here before I really light into this.
I am, as of March 2020, a member of OTW (Organization for Transformative Works), parent organization of Archive of Our Own, better known as Ao3. I am also a volunteer attached to Tag Wrangling committee, which means I get to see all your dumb shit you write in tags, try to make sense of it and link it to the canonical tags and/or make new ones if enough of you guys write the same thing in the tags. That’s my job that I do without any pay, for no real obligatory amount of time per week, with pleasure because I’m a fan, doing this for fans, to make their life on Ao3 happier and easier to navigate.
I also don’t speak for the OTW as organization, or AO3 as project, or any of the committees there - I speak as me, myself and I. And boy do I have shit to say here.
I am, surprise surprise, a fan of MXTX works. I’m also one of more than a dozen wranglers who’re currently panting as they try to keep our wrangling to-dos in all MXTX fandoms (including Módào Zǔshī, Untamed, Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, and Tiān Guān Cì Fú). Yes, over a dozen wranglers. You heard me right. Not everyone there is willing out themselves (for some it may even be dangerous to out themselves as parts of OTW!), but I am willing, and I’m not going to shy away from calling several people, some of which include former wranglers who I have to admit have never met, on their BS.
So, the whole shebang was brought to me when a Twitter user decided that they can speak for Ao3, OTW and Tag Wrangling volunteers - that are about 400 in total right now - and say that one single person, who must be straight, white cisgender American (because why the eff not, this is something Cool Kids Say With No Repercussions Or Second Thoughts), decided to unilaterally decide that all Chinese fandoms, MDZS and Guardian in particular (we’ll come back to that later!), would be using pinyin tone markers. Instead of framing this as ‘this makes everyone’s life difficult, can we talk about this?’, this person decided it’d rather attack the organization; more specifically, a part of organization in whose purview the decision of making standards for canon fandom tags, and the smallest subsection of that part - us.
Yes, you attacked us. Thanks for that. What a nice thank you we get for dealing with your tags (and also, we have to use pinyin too!)
But moving on from my salty feelings.
The discourse that went on from there assumed three things:
One - there’s one MXTX wrangler.
Two - we’re all white American folk.
Three - we do this to spite Guardian and MDZS fandoms.
First one I already disputed (also, we get over 100 tags daily from MXTX fandoms at minimum, and when there are fan events, the numbers can climb up to 200 - do you really think one person could do it and stay sane?). Third one I can also dispute by the fact that I wrangle Liàn Yǔ Zhì Zuò Rén | Mr. Love: Queen's Choice and follow same rules. The rules for diacritics are also not even unique only to Chinese fandoms: Star Wars’ Padmé Amidala tag also has diacritics to name the most well known one, as do Polish-named and Spanish-named characters!
And yet, somehow, it’s only Guardian and MDZS that are being attacked. Why?
Because of the assumption number 2: we’re all darn racist white folk that come from good ole’ US of A.
As someone who’s decidedly not an American citizen (heck, my native language is not even English!) and find it quite offensive to be called that, I’m incensed. I’m incensed on the behalf of all Chinese-descent, Chinese-immigrant and China-inhabiting members that I work with as a MDZS wrangler, wrangler in general and fellow OTW volunteer. I’m incensed on the assumption that the English-speaking fandom, who is primarily based in US, is arbitrarily attacking Ao3, and this time me specifically as MDZS wrangler, on their goddamn entitlement, and claiming that the most international community I’ve ever had the pleasure to be part of as a fan is not taking their opinion into consideration, so therefore I have to be racist.
In not so polite words, go get that stick out of your ass, you special little snowflake.
I literally don’t give a shit if you’re PoC when you’re behaving like a stereotypical Karen on the block. I don’t care how much you wave your ‘I’m a protected group‘ card; if you’re an entitled piece of shit, you’re an entitled piece of shit and I’ll say it.
OTW, and Ao3 as its biggest and most well known project, is not perfect, as I’ve found out quickly after joining - we are a decentralized group of 800+ volunteers from all walks of life and all across the world, who are divided into groups that had to make rules that’ll accommodate an international fandom, and not just US-centric, English speaking one. Tag Wrangling rules have been subject to change before, and they are still subject to change - if the wrangling staff, volunteers and Board all manage to agree on something that’ll be inclusive to everyone, the change can be made, and we wranglers will gladly comply. However, framing this as your goddamn social justice crusade against Ao3, and only using two biggest Chinese-media fandoms in US specifically, stinks of typical entitlement I’ve been dealing since I was thirteen and naively stumbled into Fanfiction dot net, where I discovered fanfic.
I am sick and tired of fractions of US-based fandom refusing to even try to engage into a constructive conversation about fandoms, insisting that the entire international fandom has to accept their frame of mind, while at the same time not bothering to even try and understand our own frames (yes, I’m talking about all the ‘oh, you’re of X ethnicity, you must be an Y nationality’ shitstick I see all the time). I’m sick and tired of issues only being raised once US fandom learns about it, and preferably not even research the background for those things before starting a crusade while they’re at it.
In short, I’m tired of entitled, special snowflake Jennies who think waving their PoC, non-heterosexual, non-cisgender cards gets them a get out of jail card for their shitty-ass behavior. You’re not being crusaders for justice, you’re just being shitty-ass people, and please stop while you’re still ahead.
Talk with us constructively if you want to change, and piss off if you don’t.
This is me fuming at nearly 12 AM, because I can no longer ignore this shit. I repeat again for contrary idjits who didn’t read my disclaimer: I speak as me, myself and I, wrangler of MDZS, TGCF and SVSSS, and also MCQL, and not as spokeperson for either OTW, Ao3 or Tag Wrangling Committee.
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the-cookie-of-doom · 4 years
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“Teen Wolf is centered around Scott McBadCall because Scott McBadCall is smarter and more capable than anyone!”
[https://princeescaluswords.tumblr.com/post/190040937565/me-stans-if-stiles-is-such-a-genius-why#notes]
[https://bigskydreaming.tumblr.com/post/190041797416/me-stans-if-stiles-is-such-a-genius-why#notes]
@russianspacegeckosexparty: Me @ stans: If Stiles is such a ~genius~ why didn’t he immediately know the Alpha was Peter? If he has all the answers and ~always~ figures it out, why didn’t he go right to Peter’s hospital room and murder him in his bed on Scott’s behalf (since I know y'all love white boys bloodying their hands)?
@princeescaluswords:
Let’s get one thing out of the way. Stiles is Always Right was never about Stiles’ intelligence or deductive capability. It was about white prioritization. If Stiles was smarter and more capable than anyone (read Scott) in the story, then the story should be centered around him, right?
Because Stiles was intelligent, that is undeniable, but intelligence, in itself, is not a monolithic concept. I’ve gone into this before. Lydia’s “Stiles always figures it out” was not the same as saying Stiles always had the answers or he was never wrong. I could go through many scenes describing when Stiles didn’t have the answers and didn’t know what to do, but none of those will ever satisfy Stiles stans because the point of trumpeting his intelligence has nothing to do with what actually happened on Teen Wolf, but what didn’t happen.
Parts of fandom stress Stiles’ intelligence because they were so concerned that the show treated Scott as more important than Stiles (even though the show never really did that. Scott was the leader and the heart of the pack, but the show took great pains to keep everyone important.) To their mindset, importance is a reward to the best.
In the same way parts of fandom stress Stiles’ murderous solutions to problems because they are so concerned that the show indicated Scott’s methods were better, even though that was a theme of the show. They reject Canon Stiles, because it was obvious that if Stiles did have the will to murder Peter in his hospital bed (which he didn’t), he would have collapsed under the weight of it, which is exactly what he did when he accidentally killed Donovan. Stiles folded like a cheap suit.
Canon Stiles didn’t have the will or strength of character to be the leader, even though he was very perceptive and intelligent, and parts of the fandom still can’t handle that, because it means that their cute white fave wasn’t the best (whatever that means) character in the show.
No matter how many times I see fanfiction or posts talking about how stupid Scott McCall is or how naive he is or how much of a bad alpha and person he is, I know that I have canon on my side.
When Scott was literally stabbed in the stomach and watched his mother get strangled by a kanima, he never gave in to the blackmail and told Gerard what he wanted to know about Derek (if he had, Gerard would have known about the train station, and probably wouldn’t have had to beat Stiles up to send a message. You don’t send a message to someone who’s cooperating.) Instead, Scott turned the tables on Gerard, poisoned the bastard, and helped to save both Jackson, Derek, and Derek’s pack, even though it cost him Allison.
When Stiles was threatened with blackmail by Theo, not only did he do everything that Theo asked him, but he had NO PLAN to stop Theo or the Dread Doctors, sabotaged the investigation, and when push came to shove, sold his best friend out to death in order to protect his father.
Canon, as they say, makes me warm inside.
(I mark this anti stiles stilinski, not because I think it is against him – because Scott McCall was the hero! – but for courtesy’s sake.)
~•~
For someone who doesn’t understand headcanons or AUs in the most basic sense of the concepts, Claude @princeescaluswords Frollo comes up with a lot of them! He has his own personal delusional AU full of delusional self-insert power fantasies/headcanons that he likes to refer to as ‘canon’
COOKIE:
“Let’s get one thing out of the way. Stiles is Always Right was never about Stiles’ intelligence or deductive capability. It was about white prioritization.”-PEW
I’m honestly amazed that this dude can speak with such authority on something he clearly knows nothing about. Guess what, PEW: you, a white dude, are not an expert on racism. You never will be, It’s not something you will ever experience. 
Clearly he doesn’t understand tropes, either, because the super smart sidekick has always been a very popular one. It has nothing to do with Stiles being white, and everything to do with fulfilling a role. Unfortunately, Scott IS our hero, and Stiles is his tactician/sidekick. Just like Q in James Bond, and that nerdy penguin in Madagascar, and countless others. He’s the right hand. He’s the one that sees stuff our hero doesn’t/can’t. Either because he’s removed from the situation and can therefore be objective, or because he’s the voice of reason/cynicism. “You trust everyone!” When you have a hero who “trusts everyone”, they need a support system to counter that. It’s about balance. If everyone on the hero’s team trusts everyone all the time, they’ll be pretty damn useless when fighting bad guys. 
Stiles is not infallible, and no one thinks he is. He’s human, he makes mistakes. WE aren’t the ones elevating our fav to be werewolf Jesus. Stiles IS smarter than Scott; we have multiple occasions in canon that prove this. That’s not a bad thing, Scott doesn’t HAVE to be good at everything. Stiles’ whole character arc is figuring things out and being the detective, and I do NOT understand why the delusionals can’t get that. 
We aren’t the ones ignoring canon, PEW, you are. And it’s exhausting. 
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staytheb · 4 years
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Like Oh 2.0 - [EPILOGUE] 7 For 7
Previous Chapter: We Under the Moonlight Word Count: 5,208 Summary: It’s the year 2021 now and life’s a little different for both couples as their relationship is officially known.
Like Oh 2.0 masterlist
hello! it’s here. the last chapter just before the 2019 year ends. so the ending got a little revamp from it’s original posting and i’m quite happy with it as it reflects a little more of what happened in those years. but still it’s all fanfiction and just for fun. anyways, i had fun revising this and hope that i can write another long chapter fic in the future. other than that, thanks for being on this journey with me and happy reading and kthxbai, Admin Lia~
January 16, 2021. 00:00AM
It's another joyous year for AHGASEs out there! All the baby birds around the world have come together to celebrate and trend another year for GOT7 in the K-Pop industry! GOT7 and the fans alike are celebrating the group's seventh year with the hashtag #Happy7For7GOT7Day, but it is also to celebrate their departure from their former agency, JYP Entertainment. There were lots of speculations about what would happened with all of the members last year and finally it has been all settled out with good terms, especially for the seven members. All the members decided not to renew their contracts with JYP Entertainment and have left the company as a whole shortly afterwards. They will be resuming activities once everything is in order. Anyways, like other groups before them, GOT7 instead had established their own entertainment some time after and would be independently managing themselves under JJAI Entertainment.
The hashtag along with several others have been trending worldwide within four hours and continues to gain lots of love and attention from fans and non-fans alike. GOT7 has surely broken the seven year curse that most K-Pop groups goes through that ends their reign with one another. Still GOT7 is really showing that they can withstand it all as they wish for many more years with one another and to start a new journey as well. Despite all that has happened over the course of their years in the industry, GOT7 is seriously still going strong and AHGASE is definitely going strong alongside them. Anyways, Happy 7th anniversary GOT7! Please head on over to their newly created official twitter and instagram accounts to wish the group a happy seventh year anniversary if you haven't done it yet! Also, please me mindful of your words and only send good thoughts and vibes their way!
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January 17, 2021. 00:26AM
BREAKING NEWS!
This is just in! Everybody is totally buzzing about it! GOT7 have just recently celebrated their seventh year in the K-Pop music industry with their fan-club, AHGASEs, just yesterday. Although it's barely been a day it seems that the group have something else to celebrate as well for two of its members. In particular it's concerning the two eldest members, Jaebeom and Mark. The two GOT7's members have released official statements from their agency about their personal love life. JJAI Entertainment has revealed that both Mark and Jaebeom have been in a secret relationship since two-thousand and seventeen and decided that now was the right time to announce their relationship status to the world. Both idols have asked for the public, the fans, and everyone else to respect the privacy of their loved ones. If any malicious comments or actions occur, then the idols will not hesitate to take legal action to protect themeselves and their loved ones.
We were able to investigate further without stooping low to get our information and it seems that Mark and his now wife have officially tied the knot just a few weeks back in December on the twelfth of Saturday. The wedding's theme was a Winter Wonderland fantasy of sorts and the ceremony was a small and private one that was held in Los Angeles accompanied by their immediate family, close friends, and a very few selected celebrities who were able to attend the special event. Our reports also states that the couple also has a two-year-old son by the name of Philip. As for Jaebeom, our informant says he just recently proposed to his girlfriend a few days before his own birthday. The couple also has a one-year-old daughter by the name of Alice.
Reactions to the news have been positive, negative, and others left in-between of the two. Many fans are thrilled and wished to hopefully see who these lucky ladies are as well as how the children may look like. Many of them couldn't believe that there are little GOT7 minis running around now. Other fans have voiced out their opinions of being lied to and that the idols shouldn't have waited this long to revealed such big news. Or well more like being in a secret relationship at all as it seemed there's some misunderstanding about a betrayal of being faithful to one another. For the neutral ones some have left comments that it's their life and to leave them alone because they can live it however they like and that the fans do not own them one way or another.
Either way, the best thing about it is that the positive vibes are winning out as fans and non-fans alike are totally wishing for happiness for both couples and that their privacy would remain drama-free as much as possible. Plus, we wanna respect our idols, right? They're just as much as human as we are despite the path they have chosen for their careers. Much so, we also wish the same for the respect that they deserve as the idol life isn't all that what it's cracked up to be. Sure they may have chosen it and knew the consequences, but still there's a need of respect and a boundary, right? Anyways, on behalf of all us here at K-Wave News, we're wishing the couples good vibes along with their little ones and hope nothing but happiness their way!
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January 17, 2021. 03:57AM
MAJOR UPDATED BREAKING NEWS!
O-M-G! This is just in! I repeat. This is just in. Let the spazzing continue! All the more positive vibes going in with the new 2021 year! Yay!
Although it's only been a few hours since our last update, but we've been notified that both Jaebeom and Mark have uploaded a few things onto their Instagram accounts about their new immediate family from our lovely readers. The boys have just made their account public after having been privated since two years ago. Each upload has already received over two thousand likes, comments, reactions, and the numbers continue to soar despite some not so nice comments making in it as well. It also seems that many AHGASEs are supporting both couples and trying to encourage others to spread more love than hate and even gaining help from other fandoms as well to do so. It's a lovely gesture because these updates are seriously too cute to not love! If you're a hater, then please move on and go and focus on something else. There's no need for any hate whatsoever. Love and peace y'all!
Anyways, Jaebeom has uploaded three images to his account. The first image of the three that he'd shared shows his daughter, Alice, playing with his many adorable cats! The caption that was uploaded with the image reads something along the lines of, 'she loves them more than me TT_TT'. It's safe to say that the cats belong to her now. Ha. The second one is of the idol dad himself holding his daughter who smiles just as brightly as he does. She is honestly way too cute! Baby Alice really takes up after her father as we can spot some faint eye moles on the same side as her father. Of course we're sure the mother is just as beautiful and hope to see her in the future!
Anyhow, Jaebeom has captioned this photo with 'seeing her smile really brightens up my mood'. The last picture is a candid photo of the idol's fiancée eating a green colored macaron ice cream although her face is obscure and no clear view of how she may exactly look like. Maybe he got caught or he just wanted to tease us. Because we all know how much of a great photographer Jaebeom is, right?! So, we better get a clearer image in the future! So yeah, moving on, the caption for this image reads, 'Fate was the green tea macaron ice cream, but Destiny was all her in choosing to be a part of my life <3'. We're sure there's definitely a deeper story behind this and hope to find out in the near future if ever! Just didn't think we'll be able to witness this side of GOT7's leader in this lifetime. We hope we get more!
Now the next taken member, Mark! The oldest of the group and kind of makes sense for him to settle, right? No? Whatever. Moving on. The idol has shared a video and two pictures to his account. The one minute video clip is of the adorable baby, Philip, as he cutely speaks in several languages! He counts up to the number five in English, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, and even Spanish. Wow. What a genuis child he may be because he's two and I'm totally jealous as I can barely even count in English alone and I barely passed Gerrman in high school. Enough of me, does this mean that the mother knows Spanish and Thai as we all know that Mark doesn't. Ha. Still, there's a pretty high chance the other members could be teaching little Philip too. Lucky guy. Total free language instructors right there.
Anywho, again moving along. The first photo shared seems like a candid shot of his lovely wife smiling and laughing, but Mark got caught or something in the process as she partially blocks her face with one hand while the other hand is used to try and move the device away. It's captioned with 'Always too easy to teased' and several laughing emojis. It's good to know that we're not the only one that has to put up with Mark's antics. Still, who knows how many times she has to put up with him compare to us fans, right? Haha. As for the other picture it's of baby Philip again. This time it shows the child happily smiling while holding the fluffy poodle, Milo, in his loving arms. Mark has captioned the image with, 'I feel like they don't need me anymore when they have each other TvT'. I mean, I don't disagree. I would, too if I was in the same boat.
So what do y'all think? I think it's fantastic. From these latest updates it surely appears that both couples are happy with their lives along with the happiness of their adorable children being total cuteness! Now that the male idols have revealed their actual relationship status to the world and the fans, it seems like that they aren't afraid to share some of those moments with others virtually as well. Still there's no information on the two females the two idols are with and no one else revealing anything else. Like, we don't know their names. We don't know if they were previous AHGASEs or maybe part of some other fandoms before meeting Mark and Jaebeom. Like we don't know anything about them, to be completely freaking honest. Some have gone and done some searching, but it's quite surprisingly nonexistence. Which is kind of surprising as we know a lot of netizens are good at searching up stuff and spreading it around. Right?
So far, all we know is that it's a possibility the two ladies were already friends before the duo had met the two GOT7 members and it bloomed from there on. One rumor suggests that the females were fans and they met at a fansign through connections. Another rumor claims that the females are distantly related to the other GOT7 members and were introduced at a concert. Even one rumor is going around that claims the two women were former JYP trainees and left the company because of the boys. Like who knows though. Anyways, we may never know, but please do show lots of love and support to both idols and their loves ones. Also please respect them and their privacy! If you wouldn't want to be bothered, then why bothered someone that would like the same treatment. So please behave and just act accordingly. Peace and love y'all! K-Wave News, out!
~~~~~~~
January 17, 2021. 9:37PM
"So, Mel, you and JB gonna have an engagement party?" Serena asked her sister while joining her in the kitchen after she had put the children to sleep in their nursery room which was originally the apartment of 503. The sisters had decided to combine both apartments of 501 and 503 to make it like one large unit for them to live in since having their kids. Although of course their other half have been trying to convince them otherwise to move out and to move in with them in their own apartment together for the past year. "Um, dunno yet." Melanie answered as she scrolled through her phone. "We just don't know if we should do it here or somewhere else."
"Somewhere else like where?" Serena inquired as Melanie explained further. "Hmm, back home since I have more family compare to JB." "Hmm true. Then what about the actual wedding?" Melanie shrugged with a sheepish laugh. "Um, again either here, but maybe Hawaii." She then added more as her memory recalled some of the places. "Another one is like somewhere in Europe or probaby Japan." Serena nodded before voicing out her opinion.  "If not, then y'all can just do them places for a honeymoon." "We haven't even discuss our honeymoon plans yet." "Well, y'all still got a long ways to go." "True, we do. I know I'm kinda planning, but JB's schedule is a bit busy so we just need to find time to talk and what not." "Hmm, yeah pretty much."
"Who knew, huh?" Melanie scoffed with a smile a moemnt later as Serena's eyebrows furrowed with confusion. "Knew what?" "Who knew that you and I would actually find a K-POP boyfriend, then get or become married to them, and later have an actual family. Like I mean, I know I wanted it, but I didn't think you would have it before me when you weren't even wanting it." Serena agreed with an even bigger scoff. "I know right? It's totally crazy. Like you got with JB who didn't want kids, but now the two of you have a daughter. Mark wanted kids and I didn't, but now we have a son." Serena huffed a bit before speaking again. "And like, I never wanted marriage and here I am married and now you're gonna get married like you wanted, too. It's so crazy."
"I know and it's so funny." Melanie stated with a laugh. "You've changed so much because of Mark." Serena rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything as Melanie continued talking. "Do you remember when you had your little weird moment when you ignored Mark for weeks because you were pregnant with Philip?" Melanie reminded Serena who suddenly laughed at the memory. "It was because I was having an idol's baby, Melanie. We weren't even public with our relationship or even married for that matter. Besides we were together for a year at the time and I didn't know what he would have thought or do or think or whatever at the time." She explained before flipping the situation onto her sister.
"How about you when you were pregnant with Alice?" She asked her with a pointed look. "I wasn't the only one freaking out about having a baby and whatever." Melanie rolled her eyes at her sister's words. "I was also having an idol's baby, Serena. Duh." Melanie defended herself as Serena rolled her eyes. "Of course. Your emotions were seriously all over the place." "Yours were, too. Don't deny that." "True and I'm not gonna deny it, but I wasn't as emotional as you." "Right, bullshit. Your emotions were all over the place when you were prego. Don't you remember when you got mad at everything and everybody?" "Uh, no." Serena denied as Melanie glared at her sister with a look. "Seriously?"
Serena shook her head with an aloof expression as Melanie reminded her sister what happened at that time. "Because of your moody self during it all, poor Youngjae didn't want to come over for a month because he was afraid that he'll set you off and take it out on him again." "Oh yeah he did. Shit. I totally forgot about that." Serena recalled with a slow laugh. "Poor Youngjae, but I did make it up to him with new video games." "Yeah, and then you had to do the same thing with the others." "Right. Wow. I don't want to pregnant ever again." "Hmm, you'll have to talk that over with your husband." "We're not gonna talk about shit." "Mmhmm." "Whatever, Melanie." "Anyways, Serena, when are you gonna finally move in with Mark, huh? I'm sure he would love his wife and child with him at the end of the day in their own place."
"Well, honestly," Serena drawled out with an unsure expression, "I would rather not." "Why not?" Melanie inquired before realizing something. "Ah. Is it about the whole thing with the fandom and public eye and all that, right?" Serena nodded with confirmation before speaking with another reason. "Also, Mark lives with that one friend of his and so it's not like he can break his lease so soon since it's too early." Melanie scoffed with a laugh. "It's not like he doesn't have the money, Serena." "Oh, true, Melanie, true, but still he has to pay if he does leave earlier than expected. Besides, I really like this place and don't wanna part with it." "Yeah, I feel you on that. Aunt Julisa did major work to this place and did gift it to you and me after she left." "Mmhmm."
Serena switched the attention onto her sister. "Anyways, what about you, huh? What are you gonna do?" Melanie shrugged with a chuckle. "Seriously, I have no clue, to be honest with you. Like he wants us to live near his parents, which isn't a bad thing, but I guess just like you I don't want to part with this apartment either." Melanie glanced around the place with a tender look and smile. "There's a lot of memories here and I really know this area more than I do anywhere else if I have to move." Serena chuckled at her sister's words. "I do have to agree with you on that, too. I actually like this location more because I know it well enough."
"So, basically, what you're saying is that we're not gonna move out any time soon, right" Melanie stated with a knowing smile. "Yeah, basically." Serena agreed with a chuckle with Melanie joining in the laughter a second later. "The boys will be so sad." "They'll live." "What about Alice and Philip? The kids will be so sad since they've wanted to live with the pets, too." Serena rolled her eyes in good-nature. "Again they'll live, too, and get over it faster than their fathers. It's not like they don't see one another a lot and besides, the kids are still too young to be playing with the animals as they get grabby and the poor critters have to deal with that. Also, I don't want to deal with that on a daily." "Yeah, that's true, but hey, kids are kids."
The sisters looked at the time before looking over at one another with Melanie speaking up first. "I'm surprised no one has called or messaged us about the news being released." She paused to think for a bit before resuming again. "Well except for the ones that lived here as I meant the ones that don't live here." "I'm pretty sure it's because it's too early for them over there and they're still asleep." Serena answered before adding the last part. "And they don't follow K-Pop stuff so they won't see it right away." "Hmm, true, but I'm sure the twins will mention something later since y'know that those two are dating the other two older members, too." Serena laughed upon hearing that. "Oh, yeah, true. Shit, I can't  believe I forgot about that." "How can you forget about Jinyoung and Jasmine while Jeannie's with Jackson?" Melanie mused as Serena rolled her eyes before responding.
"Because I don't care about other people's relationship unless they want me to know about it. Plus, I'm still surprised that Jasmine gave up on Johnny and accepted Jinyoung, which isn't a bad thing, but I really thought Jasmine was gonna stick with Johnny as she had no interest in any other idol, but him." "Oh, my bro, I know, I know. I was hella shocked that Jasmine and Jinyoung liked each other, too. I mean Jeannie always liked Jackson, but I didn't think Jackson was interested in her like that as he wanted to focus more on his life and career, y'know." "Yeah, true, but the boys will be happy when they find out that the twins will be moving back to Seoul in a few weeks."
Melanie nodded happily. "Yeah, I know. Which reminds me, we need to clean out their rooms and make them livable again." "Oh, right. Also need to tell the boys to stay at their own places, too." "Psh, yeah right. It'll be a reunion and a big ass slumber party all over again." "Oh, please, I hope not. We're all too grown for that." "Says, you." "Yeah, I guess, but it's not like I can't deny it." "That's right. We're all family here and have changed for the better." "Yeah, that's true. I mean, honestly, look at how you and I turned out. So I guess things really do change over time for sure when you meet that person that's meant for you." "This girl." Melanie cooed in a teasing manner. "Mark really brought out your inner softie, bro." "I've always been like this."
"Mmhmm." Melanie hummed mischievously as Serena brushed her off. "Whatever, enough about me. Just go plan yours and JB's engagement party so that neither parents have to nag at y'all about the details." Melanie scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "I'm pretty sure I'll have to nag him about all of this. He always just agrees with what I want, but I get he wants to make me happy, but he has to be happy about all of this, too. It's not just about me, but it's about him, too." "Hey, Happy Wife, Happy Life, right?" "That phrase is so overused, but it's kinda true." "For you." "Yeah, basically." The sisters laughed before Serena brought up a serious topic. "I'm just worried about what the fans will do now. I mean, I don't care since they don't know how we look like, but I do care about the boys' health and their careers though."
"I'm pretty sure it's just that the fans have matured over time and become calmer like back in twenty-nineteen. Some of them aren't teenagers anymore." Melanie reasoned and assured her sister. "I mean, the fandom's have been very supportive lately, but then again there are those sasaeng ones that get it over in their heads about things. Still, it isn't as bad as it was before, Rina." "True, Mel, but some are still young minded and closed minded, too. Also the reality for them is the fact that both of them are off the market while two more will be later in the future." "Bro, calm down. Just don't worry about it so much." "I know, Mel, but still, I just do. I can't help it."
Melanie started laughing as Serena frowned at her sister's behavior. "What's so funny?" "I'ma tell Mark that you're worried for him, but won't show it and let him know about it." Serena groaned with her face in her hands. "Ugh, please, don't tell him that. He's gonna tease me so much about it." "Why not? I find it funny." Serena groaned again while looking up at Melanie with judging eyes. "Ugh. To this day my misery is still your pleasure, isn't it?" "Yes, ma'am. It is." Melanie replied with a cheeky smile before speaking again. "But luckily the more positive ones have won out and aren't stressing the boys as much from what I know so far. Fortunately they are doing well and not suffering." "Unless they're not saying anything." "True, but they usually let us know about it though." "Yeah, that's true."
"Anyways," Melanie changed the topic. "I wanna do my hair like this." She showed her phone to her sister. "You think Chloe can do something like that?" Serena gazed at the image before nodding. "Yeah, but she's been busy since she opened her own shop several months ago." Serena went through her phone while speaking at the same time. "Um, just call her tomorrow and I'm sure she'll squeeze you in without any trouble as she works fast and has some skilled workers, too. Try for the early morning or just before she closes." "Alright, cool. I would rather trust her than anyone else." "I know." Serena let out a yawn while standing up. "Well, I'm off to bed. Night." "Night and dream of your precious hubby." Melanie teased as Serena rolled her eyes, but bid her the same thing with a laugh. "No, you dream of your precious hubby." "I always do unlike you." "Mmhmm."
~~~~~~~
January 18, 2021. 2:23AM. Mark~
Serena stirred awake when she felt arms comfortably wrapped them around her waist and pulled her against another warm and familiar body a second later. She slowly shifted her position to face her husband while placing an arm over Mark to rub his back a bit as he cast his wife a tired smile. "Hey." "Hey." Serena returned the same tired smile to him. "What time is it?" "It's almost two-thirty." "Did you eat already?" "Yeah, but I'll eat something proper later today though." "You better or I'll have to come by with packed lunches to make sure you eat properly." "Hmm, now that you mention it that actually sounds like a good plan, Serena." Mark said with a laugh as he hugs Serena closer. "The boys wanted to see Philip, anyways."
"Don't tempt me, Mark. I may leave Philip in your care then." Serena countered nonchalantly as Mark chuckled while entangling their legs together. "I'm pretty sure I've already done a good job with that, Mrs. Tuan. That's why we're married now." "Mrs. Tuan is your mom, Mark. Not me. Technically, I'm still Serena Vorasavane by paper and other legal stuff." She muttered against his chest as she was becoming sleepy again. "True, but you're still known as Mrs. Mark Tuan openly." "Yes, I know and everyone that knows about us, but not to your lovely fans I'm not." Serena replied with a yawn. "Now go to sleep before Philip wakes up in several hours." "Can't you just spend those hours with me before then?" Mark whined affectionately. "I heard that you were worried about my well-being."
Serena inwardly groaned knowing exactly that Melanie had told him of her thoughts, but didn't want to give in to her husband just yet. "You heard wrong and no. Go to sleep. We're already spending our life together forever, Mark. So for a couple of hours without interacting with one another you can deal with it until then." "Still my same tsundere baby girl." Mark cooed although Serena could tell he was still pouting as she chuckled sleepily. "Yes, I am, but please go to sleep, Mark. I'll make it up to you later with those packed lunches." She finally gave in as Mark grinned while placing a kiss on top of her head. "You're the best." "I know. Now sleep." She snuggled up against him as Mark softly squeezed her gratefully. "Make sure to give me triple extra." "Sleep and I will." "Alright." "Night, Mark." "Night, Serena."
~~~~~~~
January 18, 2021. 2:23AM. Jaebeom~
Jaebeom slowly eased himself onto the bed where Melanie was sleeping undisturbed, but she stirred when she felt the bed dipped too low for her liking. She turned to face her fiancé with a tired smile while sitting up. "Hey." "Hey to you, too. Sorry for waking you." He apologized as he leaned over to place a soft kiss onto her lips before making the both of them comfortable while cuddling against each other ready to fall asleep soon. "It's all good, Jaebeom." Melanie assured him before asking him about his day. "How was your day?" "Same as every day, but better now that you're in my arms." "Stop." Melanie chuckled as Jaebeom smiled before placing a kiss on top of her head. "You know you like it, Chaewon."
"Right, like as much as your cats do. Huh?" Jaebeom chuckled as he squeezed Melanie affectionately. "They were a part of my life before you entered." "Yeah, sure. Soon enough it'll all be about Alice and I'll just be an afterthought." "Quite true, but you'll always be my one and only favorite one." "Stop." Melanie said as she playfully smacked Jaebeom with his response just pulling her closer and tangling their legs together. "Don't want to and so you're stuck with me forever and ever." "I know." The female sighed as Jaebeom frowned. "Why does that sound like you're regretting it?" "Because I accepted the fact that I'll have to deal with you for the rest of my life and your cheesy softness. Plus, we have Alice so I can't let her not hang out with her father."
Melanie leaned up to check the time before making herself comfortable against Jaebeom again. "Now go to sleep, please. The baby wakes up in maybe five or six hours, I need enough sleep to deal with her until our nap time." "I'm sorry that I'm not around much to help you in raising our daughter." "It's okay. You're still in her life and she knows who you are, is what matters the most." "I know, I know, but we should have a free day soon and we can go do something as a family." "Sounds wonderful, but we'll talk later as it's too much to deal with right now when I'm sleepy." She told him with a yawn. "Good night, Jeffrey." "Good night, Melanie." Jaebeom smiled as he placed one more kiss on the top of Melanie's head before falling asleep soon after.
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thdorkmagnet · 4 years
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Light of the Sun and Stars Chapter 29: Confidence
Summary: His whole life Marco Diaz has been raised by monsters, living under the cruel rule of their leader, Toffee. But one day Marco escapes into Mewni where he meets a magical princess and Mewman like himself, who begins teaching him all about her world. Together they will learn about life, love, and the lights within each of them, as they change their world forever.
Chapter Synopsis: The gang divides and conquers as they attempt to implement Marco’s new plan to help Mewni, but as usual things don’t go entirely as planned. Marco and Janna gather intel around a famous Monster village but end up getting dragged into a much more serious and deadly situation than they expected. While Star and Jackie ask around Butterfly village to find out the true feelings of Star’s new commission, but the royal finds her people to be less than helpful, which puts a stain on her and Jackie’s friendship. 
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Index
Disclaimer: Star vs and all its characters are owned by Daron Nefcy and Disney. All rights go to them.
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Deep in the depths of Monster territory was a small rural village known as Hydra's Point. The story behind its name was more famous than the village itself, told in folktales and as bedtime stories for young Monster children. The story went that a hydra had been roaming through the area one day when one of its heads had gotten a massive toothache after eating an infected tree. It had been in massive pain, rolling about on the ground, all nine head's wailing for some kind of relief from the intense aching that could be felt by all of the collective minds. And all its thrashing began to tear apart the ground, sending tremors that could be felt all over Mewni. The Monsters began to fear that their land would be completely ruined if something wasn't done to stop the hydra.
That was when a brave young Monster emerged, risking her young life to climb up onto its belly and narrowly avoiding being crushed. She offered to help the creature, gaining its attention and managing to make the creature stop its ear-bleeding call. The Monster had kindly helped to remove the infected tooth from its mouth and the Hydra had been so grateful to the Monster for her help that it had left its tooth there as a gift for its friend. And to all who saw it from that day forward, it was a reminder that even one so small and insignificant could make a difference. And the land that was cleared out by the hydra's pain-filled fit was used to make a new village right at the spot of the heroic deed, the tooth standing at the pinnacle of the village as a symbol of the act. Years later, it even ended up saving that same Monster and her family from a pack of rats and possums that had teamed up to take over their land, but that was another story.
In short, the legends surrounding the small village were ones of infamy and whether you believed all of it or not, the town had still made a marking for itself in Monster society because of them. But as for Triceros, a large buff rhino Monster, he didn't much care for myths. He was practical minded just trying to get by through his everyday life and live off of the rustic and simple lifestyle he had been given. He made a simple but comfortable living helping to carry large stones to and fro from a nearby mine and into the query to be shaped into building blocks. Unlike most other rhino Monsters he had a horn on the top of his head instead of just the two on the end of his snout. Some would tease him for this but he didn't really mind, there were very few things in life that could rile him up.
“Excuse me?” a small voice said from behind him and he turned to see a small Mewman boy. He was thin and looked to be no older than 15, if that. He had short brown hair, quizzical brown eyes, which were covered by a pair of wire-framed glasses and sun cheek marks which glowed bright with his polite smile. He wore simple, non-flashy clothing, just a red hoodie and slacks and he was currently clenching a clipboard to his chest in what seemed to be excitement. Though Triceros was often weary of Mewmans, like most of his kind, the boy seemed harmless enough so he had no reason to suspect him of any foal intent.
“What is it boy?” he asked friendly enough and the boy's slightly tensed muscles relaxed and his smile widened brighter.
“I'm a representative for the Monster-Mewman Peace Commission and I'm currently conducting a survey to see what problems Monsters are facing and how we might go about fixing them,” he explained, his voice pleasant and almost childlike and Triceros couldn't help but find the kid endearing. Though he had never had any children of his own, he was suddenly reminded how much he had wanted to in his younger days, before the wife and him split up. “Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?” the boy asked, looking at him expectantly.
The Monster shook his head and set down the boulder he had been carrying which shook the ground and nearly causing the boy to stumble. Triceros sat down on the rock, giving the boy a long look as he replied almost apologetically, “I recken I don't know all that much about these kind of things.” He spoke in a thick country accent.
The Mewman just eyed him with sympathy before saying, “That's alright. Any knowledge you provide will be of help.”
The Monster studied the boy closely, before finally nodding. “Alrightee then. I guess that's fine with me,” he said and the hooded teen smiled at him gratefully.  
He cleared his throat before asking, “Have you ever been mistreated by any Mewmans of any kind in the past?”
The Monster shook his head. “No. Mewmans rarely wander out that far to these parts.”
The teen nodded, jotting something down on the paper. “Do you harbor any resentment or hatred toward Mewmans?”
The Monster again shook his head.
“Have you ever seen any other Monster showing any signs of resentment or hatred toward Mewmans, whether they acted on it or not?”
The Monster paused at that. He had definitely seen that, many of the Monsters at the mine complaining about the Mewmans or speaking about how Toffee was gonna wipe them all out. “I would... rather not answer that,” he said hesitantly and the boy looked up from his clipboard.
“That's okay. You don't have to if you don't want to. I promise you guys aren't in any trouble, I just needed to know so that I can figure out just how many of you are still upset over what happened. That way I can figure out what needs to be done to help ease everyone's minds.”
Triceros was surprised by this. While most of what the boy said was being clearly read off of his pre-written questionnaire, this answer seemed real and genuine, lacking any of the fakeness that came from just recited words on a slip of paper.
But the boy didn't push him for his answer, instead moving on to the next question. “Are there anything you would like to see the Mewmans or Monsters change to help make your life easier?”
Triceros didn't answer at first, thinking hard on his answer. “Not that I can think of? Honestly, unlike some, I'm fine with my life. It's simple but not hard or complicated or any of that stuff. Don't need much to get by. I'm happy as I am.”
The Mewman just nodded at that, before agreeing, “Yeah, I can get that. You do seem happy.” His eyes jumped back down to the paper and he cleared his throat. “Okay, one last question for you, sir.”
“Please none of that 'sir' business around me. Makes me feel old. You can just call me Triceros, everyone around here does.”
“Okay, then,” the boy instantly complied. “Triceros, would you be open to any changes that the MMPC make to help make life better for you and your fellow Monsters?”
Trihorn didn't respond to that right away and the boy's eyes widened in fear, clearly afraid he had upset the Monster. “Like I said I like my life the way it is, but if it helps people out than heck, do what you want. Not like this old rhino knows what he's talking about when it comes to these kinds of things.”
The boy nodded, shooting him a very grateful smile, quickly jotting down the last thing on his sheet. “Thank you for your cooperation. On behalf of the MMPC, I would like to assure you that we will do everything in power to help make yours and Monsterkind's life better.”
With that the Monster stood up and said, “Glad I could be of some help.” He hefted the rock on his shoulder and began walking off, but not before he turned back and asked, “Are you that boy everyone's been talking about? The one raised by Monsters?”
Marco looked at him with shock, his cheeks lightly flushing. “Y-Yeah. My names Marco. Marco Diaz.”
“Heard about your parents, they were real heroes around here,” Trihorn said and the boy's gaze softened, dropping down to the floor.
“Thank you, that's... good to hear.”
“Glad to know their kid is following in their footsteps.”
Marco quickly met his eye and saw a small twinkle in the old Rhino's eyes. The hooded teen just smiled and said, “Well my parents believed Monster and Mewmans could live equally and I think the same. I don't want Monsters to live in fear or hate any longer. I want to help them, just like my parents tried to.”
The Monster nodded and quickly turned away to hide the tear in his eye over the boy's heartfelt speech. “Well you're on the right track,” he said, before continuing away down the dirt streets of the town. Marco turned to leave too, but hearing the Monster call out to him again, he froze in shock, almost not sure he had heard Triceros right, the near indistinct, “Yes,” catching him off guard and it took him a second to process this. But after a few seconds he realized it was the answer to his question, the one the Monster had refused to answer just a moment before: Have you ever seen any other Monster showing any signs of resentment or hatred toward Mewmans, whether they acted on it or not?
The boy quickly marked yes on the paper, trying to ignore the almost warning edge to the Monster's tone, as if telling him that not everyone was as pleasant as him. Still that wouldn't deter Marco, he was on a mission and he wasn't going to let anything get in the way of that.
Suddenly, he felt something run up his spine and he let out an instinctual scream, turning on his heels to see Janna standing behind him with a casual smirk. The boy panted for a second, putting a hand over his racing heart before asking, “Do you have to do that?”
Janna shrugged, before saying, “Hey, I'm just making sure you're keeping your guard up.”
Marco let out a sigh, finally feeling his body relaxing. “Can you do that without nearly giving me a heart attack?”
“Where's the fun in that?” Janna said with a wink, burying her hands into her pockets.
The boy just shook his head, knowing that arguing with Janna was pointless. The creepy girl looked around the near empty streets of the Monster town before asking, “So we almost done yet or....”
“No, I still want to ask a few more Monsters before we go,” Marco said, studying the clipboard closely. But he couldn't help but look up at the sight of the massive tooth as they came upon it. He was  reminded of the bedtime stories he himself had been told my Buff Frog and it was almost unbelievable to see the real thing in person like this, feeling humbled to be near the thing out of his fairytales.
Janna let a frustrated huff, ruining Marco's moment, as she exclaimed, “Come on, you've got to have hundreds of those by now! How many more do you need?”
“Actually, I've only gotten like six so far,” Marco pointed out. He didn't mention the others he had asked but had rejected his questionnaire, looking concerned about being asked such personal questions. Then again he couldn't complain too much this was only the second town they had come to, Buff Frog kindly giving him a list of every major Monster village and their locations so Marco could pay them a visit. Buff Frog himself had wanted to be there but had been called away on business instead, so it was just Marco and Janna... and probably Lobster Claws who was more than likely hiding in a bush nearby. “We still need a lot more before we're done,” the hooded boy explained and Janna let out a long bored sigh.
“Fine, wake me when it's over,” she mumbled before moving over to the large tooth and laying against it, covering her eyes with her beanie.
“Jan, you offered to come, remember?” Marco reminded her. “Why'd you do that if you weren't going to help?”
“Because I thought it was gonna be weird and cool,” Janna said, never moving from her position. “Not just a bunch of dumb paperwork. If I wanted that I would have stayed back at the castle.”
Marco frowned. “Look, I'm sorry this trip wasn't what you were expecting,” the boy said down to his friend, before admitting, “But this mission is really important to me. It's my chance to show the other members what I'm made of and I could really use your support.”
Janna finally looked up, pushing her beanie out of her eyes, only to be caught by the boy's puppy dog eyes begging to her, realizing her mistake too late. “Okay, fine,” she said before rising to her feet and stretching her arms over her head. “But you owe me one after this.” Marco easily picked up the sincerity in her tone that a stranger wouldn't catch, knowing Janna well enough to hear her hidden intentions behind her cryptic tongue.
“Thanks,” he said, while also silently hoping whatever he now 'owed' her wouldn't get him in too much trouble.
Janna stood next to Marco once more, her hands buried in her jacket pocket as she said, “I still don't get what this whole quiz thing is supposed to do to help, anyways.”
“Well, the biggest problem the Commission is facing is figuring out what the Monsters need. No one really knows for sure,” Marco explained. He then adjusted his glasses, smiling proudly, as he continued, “So I thought, 'Why don't we just ask the Monsters what they need?'” And after Star's aunt Lily had stayed up for nearly a night helping him compile the perfect set of questions and explained to him how best to ask them and instructing him on the most effective way of jotting them down, he felt more than prepared for the task. He was really grateful for the woman's help, thanking her over and over again as she just smiled at him humbly.  
“And how is that something only you can do?” Janna asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy, but making sure to keep her voice light enough not to upset him.
“Because the Monsters don't trust Mewmans. If there's anyone their gonna tell their problems to, it's me. I was raised by Monsters, after all, and I'm a Diaz, this is what I was meant for.”
The boy's sudden boost of confidence was surprising to Janna but not unwelcome. Though he still acted like his regular adorkable self, it was good to see Marco believing in himself and not doubting his every move and thought. She wasn't sure what had spurred this on (though she had an idea that a certain blond haired royal was involved) but she hoped it stuck around, wanting to see the boy move past his own insecurities, though she would never say it out loud. On the other hand, though she really didn't have it in her to bring him down in any way with her normal level of teasing she did remind herself to be sure and keep her tone light around him for a while and her joking nature to a minimum.
“What?” Marco suddenly asked, uneasy from Janna staring at him for an uncomfortably long time and the girl shrugged.
“Just thinking,” she said nonchalantly. There was a short pause before she suddenly exclaimed, “Well come on, let's find some more Monsters to interview and get this over with so we can do something fun.”
The two started down the path through the village after that, keeping their eyes peeled for any Monsters to question. After a moment of silence from the two, Marco finally asked, “Hey Jan?”
“Yeah?” the girl said, keeping her eyes peeled for any Monsters, but all of them seemed to be ducking away in their houses, seemingly afraid of the two Mewmans and she mentally growled in frustration. This was going to take forever.
“Did you only offer to come because you were hoping Tom was gonna come too?” Marco asked, voicing his guess out loud and catching the creepy girl off guard. She blushed a bit, hiding it from his view with a turn of her head.
“Maybe a little,” she admitted softly and the hooded teen smiled at her.
“How about I help you two get together, since I 'owe you one',” Marco offered, repeating her words back to her slowly and carefully, the phrase clearly foreign to him. He did elbow her in the arm, though, his eyes bright with anticipation.
But Janna just shook her head. “Nah, I've already got a plan all worked out,” she said, a thoughtful look in her eye and an evil grin on her lips.
“You sure you don't want any help?” Marco asked again, very open to offering his help for the teen, wanting one of his closest friends and his new guy friend to have the same kind of amazing relationship he and Star had.
“Nope, I don't need any,” the girl said, her smirk never leaving her face. “I already got one set of lovebirds together, getting mine will be child's play.”
“Wait, who did already help?” Marco asked confused.
“Oh just these two friends I know. They were totally into each other but the girl was too afraid to tell the guy and the guy was oblivious to his feelings altogether,” the beanie-wearing girl explained, making sure to keep her answer as vague as possible.
“Wow, that's so sad,” Marco said, looking concerned.
“Yeah, but I helped them out, pushed them into each other's arms and helped them come to their senses.”
Marco smiled brightly, glad to hear it had all worked out. “Well I'm glad they realized how much they mean to each other! I mean if it was anything like Star and me, then it's a good thing you helped out when you did. I couldn't imagine my life without Star!”
Janna just smiled to herself, a mischievous look over effectively hiding the truth from the boy. The hidden details of the couples identity still a well-guarded secret, one she would not be releasing anytime soon, instead choosing to lightly taunt the boy with the knowledge he wasn't aware of. “Oh you have no idea, Marco,” she said softly, her smile unable to grow any wider or more mysterious as she chuckled to herself. “You have no idea.”
“Why are you laughing all creepy, Janna?” Marco asked with unease written all over his face.
“No reason,” the girl replied cryptically.
There was a soft knock on the door and a second later it opened revealing a Mewman woman with three crying children gathered around her, one at her feet, one in a small baby pouch around her mid-section, and the last in her arms. All three were wailing like there was no tomorrow, creating quite the annoying racket. The woman's tired face brightened upon sight of the sudden visitors as she gasped in surprise, “Oh Princess Star.”
Star and Jackie waved to the woman, the latter holding a clipboard close to her chest. “Hello ma'am,” the blond greeted brightly, doing a quaint little curtsy for the woman.
“Well this is quite the surprise,” the woman said looking honored. “What brings you to my humbled home?” Realizing her manners she quickly stepped out of the way of the doorway, allowing entry into her home. “Oh please, come inside and I will make you a lovely cup of tea-”
“Thank you, but that's not necessary,” Star said politely declining the woman's offer. “We only need a few minutes out of your time if that would be okay?”
“Of course,” the woman gasped, looking even more humbled than before. “Anything for you, You Majesty.”
“Well my associate and I represent members of the Monster-Mewman Peace Commission,” Star began.
“Oh yes, I've heard of that,” the woman said her eyes slightly twinkling. “It's all everyone around here ever talks about.”
“Well we are currently conducting a survey around town to see what the Mewmans thoughts and concerns on Monsters are,” Jackie explained in a business-like manner, just like Star had.
But unfortunately the babies crying had only grown louder as their mother's attention was not on them and they increased their cries in volume and pitch, making the poor woman strain to hear what the two were saying. “What?” the Mewman woman asked, cupping her free hand over here ear.
“We said we are conducting a survey,” Jackie tried again, raising her voice some.
Still the woman couldn't hear her. “What?!” the woman repeated.
Jackie opened her mouth to try again, but Star cut in, screaming at the top of her lungs, “We're conducting a survey!”
The babies all stopped crying for a moment, staring at the girl in shock, before they started right back up again. The mother sighed tiredly. “I'm sorry princess, but I'm gonna have to continue this another time, right now I have some fussy kids who need to take a nap.” She smiled apologetically, but Star gave her an understanding look to let her know it was alright.
“That's fine, we completely understand,” the blond royal said, keeping her voice calm and cheerful. “Sorry for bothering you.”
“Oh no, princess, it's not a bother,” the woman quickly reassured her. “We are all really rooting for you and your friends to make this work. My family and I will be wishing you luck.”
Star smiled at the woman, touched by her words. “Thank you, ma'am.”
And with that the door shut.
Star and Jackie both stood completely silent and still as they listened to the pattering footsteps drifting away from the door, before letting out a collective sigh once they were sure the woman wasn't in hearing range. “So, next house?” Jackie asked, sounding tired and disheartened.
“Next house,” Star confirmed with the same tone as her friend and they both headed back the way they had come and onto the next home on the block in Butterfly Village. The two had been doing this for hours straight already, determined to ask as many of the civilians in town their thoughts on the Monsters and Star's Commission. Star had been inspired by Marco's plan, making so much sense and so much like her sweet little boyfriend that she had been on board his idea at once. And she had then had the brilliant idea to do the same for the Mewmans figuring having as much information as they could would help them know what to do in the long run. She had no idea how things were going on Marco's end, but for them it hadn't been going too well so far. Although everyone was acting friendly and polite to their future ruler, their answers were less than satisfactory, either extremely vague, overly friendly, or just downright untruthful.
And that was those who answered, quite a few people were too busy to answer or asked not to respond which Star had to comply with since she didn't want to force it out of anyone. Or she hadn't. Now she was willing to resort to just such a thing if it meant getting the information she wanted, tired of people robotically saying they had no issues and felt safe now that Star was there. Which Star could tell wasn't right, she could see in their eyes they had concerns but were choosing to keep them to themselves, most likely to not upset the princess. And that annoyed Star to no end. She didn't want to be treated like that, like people had to watch what they said around her in fear it would set her off. She had suffered too much from that in the past.
All she wanted was a straight answer out of one person- one person- someone who wasn't afraid to speak their mind to her. Someone who gave her their honest opinion, good or bad. After all, if wouldn't help any if she had no idea what her people were worrying or suffering from. She wanted to protect them but everyone was too busy protecting her instead to allow that to happen. Which was why at this point she was close to screaming.
“I just don't get it!” Star admittedly exclaimed to her friend as they continued their walk to the next house. “Why is everyone acting like this? Why won't anyone tell me the truth?!”
“Because your the princess,” Jackie replied instantly and Star turned to her with a frown.
“What's that got to do with anything?” the blond royal asked in annoyance.
“Well, um,” Jackie said, before biting her lip. She tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment, trying to think of the best way to explain this to her, before saying, “Think of it like this. Imagine your a civilian. You've lived your entire life being told about the royal Butterfly family and being trained to revere them. Then suddenly one of them comes up to you and starts asking you there opinion on something they themselves are responsible for. What would you do?”
“I would make sure to stay on their good side,” Star muttered under her breath. “Okay I see your point,” she said a little louder. “Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all.”
“Oh no, it was a good idea,” Jackie argued instantly. “You just need to get people to lighten up around you first before asking them to answer personal and controversial questions like that.”
“Right, okay, that makes sense,” Star said with a smile, nodding her head in determination.
“So maybe try that at this next house?” Jackie suggested as they reached the small yard of the next Mewman's home.
Star sucked in a breath, before marching up to the doorstep, knocking once on the door. The door opened a second later and Star found herself smiling at nothing. She frowned in confusion before hearing a cough below her and looked down to see a small figure looking up at her with confusion. She looked small and young with short red hair and dressed in a purple kitten themed jumpsuit, complete with a cat-faced hood. Her cheeks marks were also purple kitten heads and Star noticed that her skin looked sickly and pale. But possibly the most eye-catching thing about her was the large red and swelling pink eye she had, which sent shudders down her spine at the mere look of it. “Oh hello there, little one,” Star said, smiling sweetly and speaking in a soft tone to the child before her. “Are your parents home?”
The girl's eyes seemed to narrow as she spat, “I'm an adult!”
Star eyes widened, realizing her mistake, and she quickly began to stutter out an apology. “Oh my gosh, I-I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean to-”
“Whatever princess, not like you'd be the first one to think that,” the woman muttered, before letting out a long, telling sigh. “Just tell me whatcha here for and be on your way.”
“Oh well, we were just trying to...umm,” Star started to say but she was still in too much shock to think clearly, easily losing her train of thought. And the large disgusting eye the woman was sporting was not helping her focus any easier.
But hearing a clearing throat behind her, she turned to see Jackie, giving her an encouraging smile, gesturing to her to go ahead with their previously discussed plan. Star gave her a determined nod, letting her know she had this, before looking back to the small woman who was looking increasingly annoyed and observing thoughtfully, “Wow, you must really like cats. What with the whole outfit and cheek marks and all that.”
“Yeah what about it?” the woman remarked, raising a defensive eyebrow at the blond royal.
“Nothing, I just really like the look,” Star said quickly, never letting her sincere smile drop. “And you pull the whole cat thing off perfectly.” She gave the woman a wink, who's mistrusting smile quickly turned into a startled grin, clearly not expecting the compliment. “Miss ummm...” Star gave her a questioning look, hoping the woman would comply and tell her her name.
“You can just call me Babs,” she said.
Star offered a hand to shake, saying polietly, “Star Butterfly, but you already knew that.”
Babs eyed the hand for a moment before saying eerily, “Trust me, you don't want to do that. I'm pretty sure I'm contagious.”
Star quickly withdrew her hand, holding it close to her chest in a protective manner. “I'll... uhh take your word for it,” she said shakily.
“So then what brings you to our humble home,” Babs said leaning against the doorframe in a way more relaxed manner, before pulling out a tissue and blowing her nose, making Star, and Jackie behind her, cringe.
But Star was confused by the Mewman's statement asking, “We?”
“Yeah, me and all my cats,” she said, before whistling loudly and what seemed to be an avalanche of cats came racing and screeching out of the room, yowling their complaints at being interrupted by whatever they were busy doing.
“Oh wow, you have so many,” Star said quietly, not sure if she should be impressed or disturbed by the sheer number of felines one person could own.
“Yep,” Babs said looking proudly at all her pets, before coughing loudly into her hand. Once she recovered she began to name each one, pointing them out to the princess as she went. “We got Yolanda, Fitzgerald, Gwendoline, Tabby, Sammy, Patty, Samantha...” She leaned closer as she whispered, “Which is a boy by the way but I didn't know that when I named him and the name just kinda stuck.”
“Ahhh,” Star started to say before Babs continued on once again. “Then I also have Warrior, Brogan, Mr. E, and last but not least... Spot.” She held up the white kitty cat, with a single black spot over its right eye.
“They are all very cute,” Star said, oogling over the feline in Babs' arms as she scratched underneath its chin, making it purr.
“And pretty friendly, too,” Jackie said as she pet another of the cats while it purred beneath her fingers.
“Yeah just don't pet old Warrior over there,” Babs said gesturing over to the large fluffy white cat, which had a scar over its left eye and an iron gaze. “He's a biter.”
“Noted,” Star said, before looking back over to the now relaxed Babs, who was leaning against the doorframe, while scratching Spot behind the ears. “Sooo, since we're all getting to know one another now,” the princess began, trying to keep her voice light and devoid of any impartial business-like tones. “I was actually hoping you could help me out with something.”
“Sure so long as I don't have to leave the house,” Babs said, the smile still on her lips. “I think I have pneumonia, pink eye, a big rash on my elbow, trust me the less you know about that the better, oh and also this really uncomfortable crick in my neck.”
Star looked at Babs with disbelief and slight fear, worried this poor Mewman might just drop dead at any second being plagued with so many illnesses. “Do you... need a doctor or something?” Star asked hesitantly, not sure what else to say.
Babs shook her head, looking remarkably nonchalant about the whole thing. “No thanks, nothing some hot tea won't fix. Though if I don't get rid of this crick in my neck, I might just take you up on that offer,” she said, rubbing at her sore neck, before coughing and sneezing a couple of times, making the cat jump out of her arms in disgust. She sniffed, before saying in a now nasually tone, “So princess, what is it you needed?”
Star stared at the Mewmans, mouth agape, but finally managed to get herself together, shaking her head to clear her thoughts and asked, “Oh uh, well I was hoping you could just answer a few questions for me today. It won't take long and it will really help me and the rest of Mewni in the long run.” Ugh, there she went again, going into another long winded speech. She needed to remember not to do that. She had to sound friendly and normal, not like some ruler demanding something out of someone.
But Babs didn't seem to notice, as she just nodded her head thoughtfully and replied in a joking manner, “Well if it's that important than I don't see as how I can say no.”
Star cleared her throat trying to hide the groan at Babs response. She was trying not to pressure her. “Yeah, well anyways, I was wondering if you had heard anything about the Monster-Mewman Peace Commission.”
And just like that Babs friendly demeanor vanished in an instance, her smile disappearing into a cold frown that sent chills down Star's spine. The small woman looked left and right as if making sure that no one had overheard the two or making sure she hadn't been seeing talking with the princess, Star wasn't sure which one. But Babs was quick to speak her mind, saying dismissively, “I just remember I have to put some medicine on my eye now, so I have to be going.”
“W-Wait!” Star exclaimed, determined not to lose when she was so close to getting an honest answer for once. “I promise it will only be a minute and-”
“Sorry, not interested, princess,” Babs cut her off, before whistling and every cat quickly ran back inside, even the one Jackie had been petting which seemed to instantly turn on her, hissing and swiping a paw at the skater, before running into the house before her master. Once the cats were inside, Babs went to slam the door shut, but Star without thinking put her foot in the way, blocking it from closing completely.
“Get off, Your Majesty!” Babs hissed angrily and Star couldn't believe that the once kind voice had turned so sharp and detached from before, not even looking the blond royal in the eye anymore.
Star had no idea what she was doing, but for some reason couldn't get herself to stop, egged on by all her frustrations as she shook her head firmly and demanded, “Not before you tell me why you don't want to answer my questions!”
“Because quite frankly, Your Majesty,” Babs spat and Star tried not to cringe as she was reminded of Babs many infections and sicknesses. “Many of us think that his whole plan of yours is ridiculous and you should just leave well enough alone.”
“What do you mean?” Star pressed, confusion chocking up her voice. “I'm trying to help you.”
“Well maybe not all of us want to be helped,” Babs said before she won the fight, taking advantage of Star's hesitation to knock the royal's foot out of the way, and slammed the door shut in her face. The blond stared at the door for a couple of seconds, still in shock, before frowning and turning dejectedly away from the house and its unwilling occupant. Jackie could see the hatred now in her eyes as she reached her, her hands shaking from the tight fists she had them in. It seemed it was taking everything Star had to hold back her anger, to keep herself in check, cause losing her temper now would only hurt her in the long run. But there was also defeat there, hidden deep underneath at yet another failure to get the information she so desperately wanted. So Jackie, doing her best to cheer her up, gave her a small smile and squeezed her shoulder, saying, “Hey, you did a good job. You were really close that time. I'm sure the next house will have better luck.”
Star let out a long sigh, before saying in a barely suppressed voice (though what emotion Star was suppressing Jackie didn't know), “Actually I was thinking maybe you could take over talking to them for a bit.”  
Jackie was surprised by this, but agreed, not wanting to argue with her friend, clearly telling she needed the break to recover. “Oh, okay, no problem, Star.” Star said nothing, her eyes on the floor for a few moments and Jackie added, “Don't listen to her, okay. Not everyone is going to be in agreement with our plan and at least you got someone to speak their mind even if it wasn't exactly helpful.”
“Right,” Star muttered flatly, before pulling out of the girl's grasp and trudging down the path, still struggling to deal with the multitude of emotions she had just experienced. So many blended together in an unwanted and sickly combination: hurt, anger, bitterness, and failure. Above them all was failure. Yes, she had sorta gotten what she wanted but it was bitter-sweet. Babs had been honest with her and shown clear distaste for the commission, but she had also given Star no reason for why she felt the way she did, just another vague answer about despising it. So really it was no different than all the others overly-chipper and dishonest answers about how great it was. It was still unhelpful in the long run and if Star didn't get some real answers soon she felt like she was going to be ripped apart by her own emotions.
Jackie, meanwhile, could barely stand seeing her friend that way, getting a flashback to a few years ago, the sad empty look in the blond's blue eyes sending shivers coursing through her body and she quickly shook the unwanted memory away. Gazing back over to the house she could see a puffy, swelling eye, peeking out at her from the curtains and she glared at her, before following after her friend, hoping she could find a way to cheer her up, but for once, not really having a solution for how.
Marco and Janna began asking resident after resident of the small town their set of questions as the afternoon stretched long, finding some who would agree to answer, Marco more than once shamelessly using his name and title as the leader's son to his advantage. Janna mostly hung back and watched the short encounters, looking more and more bored by the moment but she never complained once to him about it, which the boy found very surprising. Still, Marco was glad to have her there, regardless of how she felt, and it made the process a lot easier to know he wasn't alone as Monster after Monster voiced their opinions and thoughts for the greater good.
On the other hand, they would also come across some residents who seemed less than interested to answer even a single question, just glaring at him and giving a simple and plain “No,” before storming away. Marco didn't seem too upset by this, his dejected frown obvious but he for once didn't seem to be dwelling on it too much, Janna just hoped it wasn't inwardly effecting him knowing how fragile the boy could be about others opinions of him.
But Marco was too focused and determined on his task to let a couple of harsh words get him down. He still had a mission, he reminded himself almost constantly. One he couldn't and wouldn't fail. People were counting on him, Star was counting on him, and he would make her- all of them- proud. Marco was looking over the last couple of comments, before he felt his small body collide with a large figure, nearly knocking Marco to the ground, but sending him stumbling back. He looked up to see three Monsters glaring down at him, their forms towering over his own making them look mean and menacing and he felt his heart rate pick up slightly.
“Hey watch where your going, Mewman!” the lion one spat, presumably the one he had rammed into.
“Sorry about that,” Marco said as nicely as he could, trying to keep the quiver out of his voice, something about the Monsters giving him bad vibes. Still, this was as good a time as any to try and get some information out of them and he held up the clipboard and asked with a hopeful smile, “But I'm actually a representative for the Monster-Mewman Peace Commission and I'm currently conducting a survey to see what problems Monsters are facing and how we might go about fixing them,” he explained, reciting the speech by heart at this point. Seeing the clear look of disinterest and almost loathing from the three though, Marco lost track of where he was at and had to look down at the paper to remember what he was supposed to say next. He cleared his throat, nervously before asking,  “Would you mind if I asked you all a few questions?”
“And why would we be interested in answering anything you have to say?” the tiger Monster asked, nearly growling at the boy.
“Well, for one thing you would be helping to make the world a better place for Monsters and Mewmans-” the boy began before being quickly cut off by the third Monster.
“Get out of here, kid! We don't need your kind meddling where you don't belong!” the bear Monster rumbled and Marco took a hesitant step back. But he was still determined not to give up just yet, shooting them all an innocent smile. He still had a secret weapon, after all.
“Well actually, although I am a Mewman I was raised by Monsters, Buff Frog to be precise, not to mention I'm a Diaz, so I'm considered an ally to Monster kind.”
The Monsters looked at the boy in shock for a few moments, clearly not sure whether to believe him or not. “You're a Diaz?” the tiger asked, incredulously.
“That's right,” Marco said with a proud smile, puffing out his chest slightly. It felt so good to admit to it, he didn't think he would ever get tired of this feeling that swelled in his chest every time. He finally belonged to something, he was a part of something greater and that gave him both relief and satisfaction in equal measures whenever he shared this with someone else.
The three didn't seem convinced though, unable to believe the scrawny beanpole before them was actually related to someone as important as the Diaz's. The tiger opened his mouth to tell the brat to go away, when a movement behind the teen (who was still gazing at them with inquisitive and innocent eyes, almost begging them to agree) caught their eye. A young teenage girl stood behind the boy, shooting them all an evil and sinister glare, her brown eyes flashing a dark and evil green as her body turned a slightly pale purplish color. She pounded a fist into her hand threateningly and all three collectively felt shivers running up their spines in fear of the girl before them.
Marco didn't seem to notice this though, as he asked them all hopefully again, “Soo, would you like to answer my questionnaire or-”
“Yes, we would love to!” the lion squeaked out, his voice now as small as that of a mouse. The others nodded vigorously in agreement. Janna gave them a satisfied smirk, as her eyes and skin went back to their normal hue, while Marco squealed in delight at another success, rampantly asking them each of the questions on his list.
Once he had gotten all the information he needed the three large Monsters walked away as quickly as they could, not daring to turn around and face the Impure once more, the hooded teen just smiling and waving to them from his spot next to Janna, thanking them once again for their help. “Well that went better than I thought it would,” Marco exclaimed happily, the bright smile on his face infectious as Janna grinned back at him.
“Yeah way to go, Marco,” Janna said, keeping the small smirk tugging at her lips to herself. There was another reason Janna had agreed to come along besides hoping to see Tom and maybe see a little weirdness along the way. She also knew her friend could be a bit (or a lot) of a push-over and she was determined to keep any of the more aggressive Monsters from hurting him in any way, even if she would never admit to it out loud, which was why she would add a little... persuasion to any of the Monsters who looked close to insulting the well-meaning teen.
“So where to now?” she asked.
“Well I think we're just about done here, so-”
Suddenly there was a loud banging coming from the center of town, stopping the two teen's in their tracks. It sounded like a large bell being hit over and over again, the tiny ringing that carried with it hurting Marco's ears slightly. But as it grew steadily louder, Marco quickly dropped his clipboard and covered his delicate eardrums from the viscous onslaught that was attacking them. “What is that?” Marco practically screamed, so that he could be heard over the annoying sound. It was almost as bad as Oscar's music. Almost.
Janna didn't seem to hear him, her eyes narrowed in concentration and were full of the seriousness that almost never seemed to be there, which frightened Marco slightly. Whenever she had that look, something bad was usually going on. “J-Janna, what's wrong?” the boy asked with a slight shake in his tone.
Janna muttered something under her breath, which Marco was unable to make out with his hands pressed tightly to his ears and the noise still continuing. “What?” Marco asked, still refusing to remove his hands.
Janna turned to him with a small frown of annoyance, all previous signs of intense concentration gone as she repeated herself a little bit louder this time. But Marco was still couldn't hear her properly, only a small jumbling of syllables to him. “What?!” Marco yelled this time, for some reason hoping this would help her to raise her own voice when talking to him.
Now Janna let out a long puff of air before grabbing the boy's hands and forcing them away from his head, which made him cry out in surprise and fear, expecting for his ears to start bleeding without protection for them. He closed his eyes, waiting for the pain, but after a couple of seconds Marco began to pick up an extra sound in the loud ringing, a phrase being repeated over and over again, hidden in the high pitch. Trouble: center of town. Trouble: center of town. Trouble: center of town. Over and over again as if it was some kind of weird code. Marco looked around him in shock, wondering where the sound could be coming from, but it seemed to be coming from the bell itself.
“Trouble?” Marco repeated, frowning in confusion.
“So you can hear it, too, huh?” Janna observed, giving him a small victorious smirk. “I guessed as much, it's probably because of that Trait of yours, languages seem to come pretty easy to you.”
“So that's another language I'm hearing?” Marco asked and Janna shrugged.
“Not exactly,” she replied, sliding her hands into her pockets. “Basically Monsters can pick up higher tones easier than Mewmans can, so that bell going off is so that we can hear messages that Mewmans can't.”
“Ohhh,” the boy said nodding in understanding. “That makes sense.”
The two shared a look before the weight of the bigger problem fully hit them and they both shouted as one, “Wait, 'trouble'!”
That was when a large group of Monsters rushed by them, practically pushing the two out of their way as they ran toward the very place the message had been repeating over and over again: the center of town. Marco and Janna shared another quick look before chasing after them, finding them themselves blocked off by the town's residents, as it seemed every Monster nearby had responded to the call they heard, showcasing just how serious this whole thing was. And even more troubling was the fact that they were gathered around the area where the Hydra's tooth was displayed, everyone muttering worriedly under their breath or amongst each other.
Marco didn't waste any time before he began to push his way to the front of the crowd, curiosity overcoming him as he muttered out quick apologizes to any Monster who complained about being elbowed by the lanky teen's arms. Janna was right on his heels, showing far less concern for the unsuspecting Monsters she was shoving her way past or really whatever waited for them on the other side, only following after Marco out of obligation than real care for why. Marco, on the other hand, was quickly worrying over what could have happened to the tooth, knowing how important it was to the town's lore and how precious it seemed to be to them. He hoped it was nothing too serious, but considering how worked up the Monster's seemed, Marco felt a deep fear filling his chest.
As he finally burst out from the last of the crowd he finally saw what had become of the precious artifact. The tooth, which had once been white and gleaming the citizens of the town clearly taking great care in preserving it by polishing it regularly, was now covered in graffiti. Dark, red paint smeared the surface of the object, images and mean phrases written all over it and Marco gaped openly at the sight of the vandalized artifact, appalled at the tragic scene before him.
Janna however, just scoffed loudly and rolled her eyes in disbelief. “Seriously that's it,” she said dismissively, not an ounce of concern in her tone. “People are getting worked up over a little paint. You'd think it was the end of the world the way everyone was acting.”
“It's not just a little paint,” Marco said in an almost scolding tone. “This thing if their pride and joy and someone destroyed it.”
“Come on, Marco, don't you think your being a little dramatic,” Janna quipped.
“Quiet!” a Monster shouted, interrupting the two. “Mayor Butch is about to speak.”
And as if right on cue, a voice spoke up, gaining everyone's attention at once. “Dear citizens,” began the owner of said voice, a very angry looking Monster standing next to the tooth. He was a large bulldog reminiscent Monster who stared between them all with narrowed and serious eyes, his very form showing a layer of leadership and strength and he spoke in a strong and confident tone. “As you can see, someone has destroyed our most sacred treasure, our precious piece of history, something we will never get back.”
Marco gave Janna a knowing look, saying in an 'I-told-you-so' voice, “See.”
The half-Monster just rolled her eyes in response. “It's still not a big deal. It hasn't even finished drying yet. All they have to do is throw some water on it and it will wash right off.”
“That's not the point Janna,” Marco began, but the bulldog's voice quickly cut in again, not allowing him to continue his thought.
“Whoever has done this has performed a most heinous crime against us,” the Monster continued grimly, pacing back and forth in front of his attentive audience. “And when they are caught they will be shown no mercy. As your mayor I will personally make sure they pay for their sins with an equally as harsh punishment as they have inflicted on us.”
Marco's face grew more and more grave and worried, while Janna seemed unmoved by the speech, looking over at the tooth and blankly pondering, “Geez. Why does everyone keep getting so worked up over this stuff? First the possum statue and now this.”
“But you will be pleased to know that we have discovered who exactly is the culprit of all this,” the bulldog said, pausing for dramatic effect, every Monster leaning forward in anticipation. “... the Mewmans!” the mayor harshly barked out, while the crowd let out a collective gasp, including Marco.
“What?” Marco whispered under his breath, unable to believe he was hearing this right. Why were they being blamed for the horrible crime? Surely he had to be wrong.
But as if the Monster was reading his mind, Butch walked over to the tooth and pointed to the evidence that had convicted them all, splayed out in big, red lettering were the sloppy words: 'The Mewmans were here!' “As you can see they have foolishly admitted to their crime and now they shall be punished for this.”
There was quite a bit of outrage from the crowd, the Monsters all vocalizing their distaste and anger toward the Mewmans who had wronged them, Janna and Marco looking around in concern, the Impure getting the feeling they should leave before this could be blown anymore out of proportion. “Okay, Marco, I think it's time we move on to the next town before something really bad happens,” Janna said, reaching out to grab the boy's arm but alarmingly only finding empty air.
“Wait!” a familiar voice yelled and Janna whipped her head over to see Marco walking over to the very angry looking Monster and the girl face-palmed at her friend's stupidity. “Like that,” she muttered under her breath, quickly shifting into a bat and flying over to the boy so she could protect him easier if things went sour... or more sour than they already were.
“Well look at that, the criminal returns to the scene of the crime,” the bulldog growled, before bellowing to his bodyguards, “Arrest him!”
The Monsters made a move toward him, but Marco quickly helped up his hands in an innocent gesture, pleading to them, “W-Wait! I'm not a criminal! I didn't do this, I swear! I'm only here as a member of the Monster-Mewman Peace Commission!”
“Well, we'll just see what Buff Frog has to say about that,” Butch said sharply and he snapped his fingers the other Monsters continuing forward unheeded.
“But that's my dad!” Marco exclaimed and finally the Monsters stilled, every one of them looking at him incredulously.
“Your... Buff Frog's son?” the bulldog said in genuine surprise, looking Marco up and down, not impressed by what he saw.
The hooded teen just nodded. There was mutterings in the crowd once more, arguing or contemplating the truth of what the Mewman was claiming. Suddenly, though a random voice shouted out, “Yeah, that kid was asking me questions earlier, he said he was a Diaz.” It was Triceros Marco realized and he smiled over at the Monster in thanks.
“He did the same for me,” another shouted.
“And me.”
“Oh yeah, I remember that now.”
“Wait, he's a Diaz!”
The crowd now erupted with small exclamations as Monsters recalled the curious teen who had been hanging around town all day. Mayor Butch, however, didn't seem convinced, turning to the teen with an iron glare. “Well, regardless you are still the only Mewman in the area, so you are a prime suspect, and as the mayor of this town it is my job to take you in for questioning.”
“But I can prove I'm innocent,” the boy said, still keeping his hands in the air.
“How?” the dog Monster inquired skeptically.
“This,” Marco said, handing over his clipboard to the bulldog, who took it in his oversized paws, he looked over the information for a moment, before Marco said, “See. I wrote down the time every time I quizzed someone. So I couldn't have been destroying the tooth if I was busy doing this.” Marco pointed to each time stamp listed, mentally thanking Lily for suggesting he do this to keep a more accurate record. This might have just saved life.
“Hmmm,” the dog said, looking over each passage thoughtfully and Marco sucked in a breath. “Very well, it seems you are cleared, Mr. Diaz.”
The hooded teen let out a relieved sigh, before taking the clipboard back from the Monster. But it seemed Butch was far from appeased, turning back to the crowd with a stony glare once more as he growled deeply, “But as for whatever treacherous Mewman did do this, they must be found and punished!” He even pounded his fist into his paw for emphasis, making Marco jump.
“N-No, wait, please,” Marco began to plead, until a voice said behind him.
“You really think a Mewman did this?” Marco and the Monster both turned to see Janna examining the tooth closely, getting a little of the still wet paint onto her finger and looking at it blankly. “Hate to disappoint but no Mewman would ever be dumb enough to do this.”
“And who are you?!” the bulldog mayor demanded, Marco quickly interjecting, “She's with me.”
“Yeah and just so you know, I didn't do this either,” Janna said nonchalantly. “Defacing important artifacts isn't exactly my style. Or really any Mewman for that matter, unless I guess they were just really petty.”
“Still even if they were, Mewmans don't usually come around here and this is just a really random thing for them to do,” Marco added helpfully.
“Then how do you explain 'that'!” the dog demanded, stabbing a finger toward the incriminating sentence left by the culprit.
“Easy,” Janna said with a shrug. “Someone is trying to frame us Mewmans for a crime we didn't commit.”
“Likely story,” Butch growled.
“But think about it, sir,” Marco pleaded. “If a Mewman really did do this, then why would they confess to doing it? It would only end up getting them in trouble.”
The Monster seemed to be contemplating that, rubbing his chin with his paw as he stared at the words for a few moments. “Yes, I do see your point,” he finally said and Marco and Janna shared a look of victory. “Still, someone destroyed our most treasured possession and it seems they are trying to drag the name of the Mewmans through the mud by doing so. They must be stopped before they no doubt strike again,” the mayor said grimly, folding his arms in front of himself in a strong stance.
“Yeah, well good luck with that-” Janna started to say, but Marco quickly interrupted her, declaring excitedly, “We'll catch him for you!”
Janna shot the boy a glare, saying in disbelief, “We will.”
“Sure,” Marco said with a tiny nod to his friend, before looking back at the Monster before him, giving him a reassuring smile. “Don't worry, sir. We'll find out who is doing this for you.”
“Thank you, my boy,” the Monster said, looking shocked but hiding it easily under his professional demeanor. He put a strong paw on the grinning boy's shoulder, adding, “We all owe you quite the debt of gratitude for your assistance.”
“Anything to help out,” Marco said proudly, while Janna just groaned to herself, knowing there was no point in arguing. Her friend had already made up his mind and now she was just going to be dragged along for the ride, regardless of how she felt. Still, she couldn't help but mutter to herself under her breath, “Ugh, I should have switched with Jackie.”
Star and Jackie sat at a table outside of Fang Tang's, deciding to get some lunch and take a much needed break to relax and unwind after the long and stressful day they had been having so far. The blond especially seemed worked up, leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed in front of her chest in a huffy manner, clearly angry about what had happened earlier. Jackie just absentmindedly fiddled with the straw in her iced tea. She had barely taken two sips of the drink, even though she enjoyed it, her mind was too occupied to notice the sweet flavor. And she and Star hadn't even touched their menus, food the last thing on either girl's mind as they tried to figure out what to do to fix the problem they were having. Or rather the two completely different problems they were struggling with individually, Star battling with herself to think of a way to get the Mewmans to open up to her without feeling the need to lie while Jackie was just trying to think of a way to help cheer her friend up.
She had always taken it upon herself to try and help her friend in any way she could, to be a comforting voice for Star when she was at her lowest, to be the common sense when Janna was out of control, to be supportive when Marco was in need of encouraging. She had basically made herself the big sister of the group and the others had willingly gone right along with this. She took this position very seriously, knowing her friends needed someone to depend on and so did her very best to make sure she was there for whatever they needed, big or small.
But it didn't always work out that way. Despite her resolve, she had failed her friend before, had failed to be there at her lowest and most desperate point. When Star had first returned from St. Olga's, Jackie had had no clue what to do or say to help her. Everything she tried only seemed to make Star regress even more and all the skater girl could do was watch as her friend only grew worse and worse as she was strangled by her past and responsibilities. If Marco hadn't shown up and given Jackie hope, than she wasn't sure what she would have done to fix her friend and there were still times she could see Star's dull lifeless eyes staring back at her blankly. They would even haunt her dreams from time to time, a reminder of how useless she had been when Star had needed her most.
Which was why now Jackie refused to fail. She would help her friend. No matter what it took. She wouldn't allow Star eyes to grow lifeless once more, not on her watch.
Just as soon as figured out what to do.
“Ugh, I can't believe them!” Star suddenly exclaimed out of nowhere, her frustration too much for her to keep bottled up anymore.
“Who?” Jackie asked, hopeful she could get to the root of the problem and help her resolve it.
“Everyone!” Star shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. “Nobody wants to give me a straight answer! They all have to either treat me like I'm a kid or act like total jerks and just shove me away! I'm getting nowhere and it's infuriating!” Star slammed a hand down on the table, nearly making the pretty flower pot decor fall over, but Jackie caught it before that happened.
“Oh come on. It's not that bad,” Jackie tried to reassure while gently arranging the flowers back in their proper spot.
Star just let out a loud scoff, seemingly not hiding any of her inner feelings in the safety of the empty sitting area. “Easy for you to say. You got way more people to open up! After you started asking the questions, we got way more information than we did before.” Star now leaned her head against her hands, her elbows propped up on the edge of the table.
“People just find me easier to talk to, I guess,” Jackie said slowly. “I don't appear as threatening as you do... being royalty and all, I mean.”
Star let out a long sigh, her eyes resting on the flowers, both Crimson Lillies. One looked healthy and beautiful, rising above the others and showing off simplistic beauty that was eyecatching to anyone looking that way, while the one next to it was wilted and forgotten, resting in the shadow of its twin. The blond royal felt her heart drop even lower, feeling weak and useless. She was such a hypocrite. She had told Marco that he shouldn't worry what other people thought and just believe in himself and yet here she was doing that same thing herself.
But she couldn't help it, she didn't want to be inferior in others eyes. She was supposed to be strong and decisive, not incapable of a simple task that any other ruler would have no trouble getting done. And yet she did struggle and she couldn't help but wonder if it had to do with her reputation as the broken princess from St. O's. No matter how many times she tried to put that behind herself, it just kept coming back, that part of her life refused to die.
“Star?” Jackie's voice cut in, pulling her out of her dreary thoughts, her eyes full of worry and concern. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I'm fine,” Star said, staring off into space, making sure not to look in her friend's direction, knowing Jackie would see through her in a second.
“Because... it's okay, if your not okay,” Jackie said softly, reaching out to put a hand on Star's.
But the girl pulled her hand away, just as the skater's touched hers, saying defensively, “I said I'm fine. Can we just... get some food and go?” Star's voice was soft and low and it shook with whatever emotion she was suppressing and Jackie just nodded and said, “Okay Star, whatever you say.”
Star tried to ignore the hurt in her friend's tone as she spoke as well as the twist in her gut knowing she was to blame for it.
The two girls went silent for a couple of moments, neither sure what to do or say, until a smiling and cheerful Kelly appeared saying, “Oh hey girls! You'll never guess what happened to me, Roy said it's finally time for me to start working in the kitchen!” Hey eyes shimmered with joy as she whispered wistfully under her breath, “Head chef, here I come.”
She turned back to the other two, asking, “So what's new with you?”
Star and Jackie's eyes met before they looked away, Star shrinking some in her seat, muttering under her breath. Kelly noticing the unspoken tension between the two and chuckled awkwardly before clearing her throat, whispering up to her boyfriend, “Tad?”
Tad woke up and looked down at his girlfriend, asking, “What's up babe?”
Kelly gestured over to the two girls, who were still doing everything in their power to avoid eye contact. Tad seeing this is well, muttered, “Yeesh.”
“Finish taking their order, I'm going to pull out the big guns,” Kelly said, pulling Tad off her head and setting him down in the table. She handed him the notebook and pencil, before running off, Tad waving to her before looking between the two startled teens who were giving him strange looks.
“So ladies, what'll you have?” he asked with a wide and bright smile.
Star shrugged. “I guess I'll have-” she started only to be interrupted by a loud yelling across the street
“I want that Monster's head on a stick!” the familiar rumble coming from none other than General Skullnick as she marched by, followed by a small battalion of knights. Star and Jackie turned to stare at her as she went, continuing to ramble on about whatever Monster seemed to have upset her. “It's bad enough that we made peace with them but now they think they can just march in here whenever they want to and make trouble!” Skullnick continued to scream.
Star and Jackie both cringed, before looking over and seeing a group of Mewmans watching the display as well, muttering amongst themselves and Star felt her heart drop. What was the general doing? If she kept talking like that she could compromise everything her and the Commission were working toward.
“This is the third time this week I've had to deal with another of these situations! Can't these Monsters just learn to keep to their own side! Don't they have any boundaries?!” As Skullnick continued to rant Star and Jackie finally shared a look and seeing each others concern, rose from their seats and followed after the loud-mouthed general.
At that very moment, Kelly emerged from the restaurant, carrying a tray of two cupcakes, the faces of Star and Jackie intricately crafted onto the surface of each of them. “Here we are, for two close friend who need a little reminding that-” Kelly paused, seeing the table now empty and she looked around her in shock. “What happened? What did I miss?”
She turned back to the table, now noticing that Tad was hiding under one of the tablecloths, shaking violently. Kelly frowned and set the tray down, putting a hand on her boyfriend's head and asked in worry, “Tad, what's wrong?”
“Is she gone?” Tad asked, still trembling with fear.
“Is who gone?”
Tad's eyes widened to the size of saucers as he muttered, “A Monster.”
Janna let out a loud huff as she followed a determined Marco through town, who was looking through his paperwork over and over again as if it held some vastly important clue to solve this impossible case. The concentrated frown on his face showed that he was taking this whole thing way too seriously. So someone had splashed some paint on a statue, what was the big deal? But now she had to take an interest in it, because Marco had put himself and her right in the middle of it. “So why are we doing this again?” Janna questioned and Marco turned to her with an incredulous look, as if the answer was obvious. Which to her, it wasn't.
“Because they need our help,” the boy said, plain and simple.
“No they don't,” Janna corrected. “They are Monsters, they could probably catch whoever is doing this no problem if they wanted to. So remind me again why you decided we should catch this guy instead?”
“Because whoever is doing this is trying to make trouble between the Monsters and Mewmans so it's our job to try and resolve the issue,” Marco explained to his friend, never wavering once in his resolve.
“No, it's your job,” Janna reminded him. “I'm just stuck along for the ride.”
“Well I still appreciate you being here even if you don't want to be,” Marco said so sweetly that Janna felt her heart melt and a deep guilt for ever questioning her friend's motives.
To hide this, she quickly cleared her throat and said in her typical cryptic tone, “You don't have to butter me up just to get me to stay, y'know.”
“I know,” Marco said with another of his signatures smiles and Janna finally broke, letting out a sigh and draping her arm across her friend, looking down at his clipboard. “Okay so what's the plan?” she asked.
“Well I was thinking that if someone is trying to sabotage the Mewmans than messing with that tooth probably wasn't the only thing they did,” he explained, excited that his friend was willingly helping him out. He was sure he was going to have to do this alone, but it comforted him to know it wasn't going to all fall to him. “So I thought that we could switch to asking everyone in town if they have noticed anything else going wrong because of the 'Mewmans'.” Marco did air quotes here, before continuing. “Or if they noticed anyone trying to blame the Mewmans for stuff.”
The hooded teen stopped, looking down at his clipboard longingly. “The only problem is I don't know how I'm gonna get everyone to do it when a lot of them keep asking not to take the questionnaire. Not to mention it would probably take the rest of the day to talk to everyone in town.”
Janna instantly leaned over and ripped the clipboard out of Marco's hands, saying smugly, “Leave that to me.” Marco gave the girl a questioning look as he watched her walk over to the nearest Monster, clearing her throat to draw his attention.
The Monster turned and Janna thrust the paper into his hand saying calmly, “Hello sir, please pass this around to everyone you know before midnight or you'll die.” The Monster ran away screaming, Marco just watching in a stunned silence as Janna shouted after him, “And make sure you bring it back when you're done!” Once the Monster was out of sight she made her way back over to him, clapped her hands together with a satisfied smirk. “And now all we have to do is wait,” the girl said, sliding her hand into her pocket.
Marco was still gaping at her open-mouthed, before asking, “Janna why did you do that?”
Janna just shrugged pulling out her phone and immediately messing with it, barely aware of Marco's existence now. “Hey, it's effective.”
“And wrong,” Marco added, still looking troubled by what just happened. “That poor Monster is probably scared to death.”
“Hopefully not, cause he's gonna have to bring it back to us afterwards,” Janna said and Marco just glared at her.
“Please tell me your joking,” he asked hopefully but Janna just gave him a long look and Marco sighed. “Never mind, I know better.”
“Stop worrying so much, will you. It'll be fine,” Janna said but Marco was close to panicking now.
“But what if he loses it or doesn't bring it back,” Marco said, beginning to hyperventilate in fear. “What if something happens while he's gone and we can't stop it because we're too busy waiting for him to get back! What if the village burns down!”
Now Janna looked up from her phone, raising an eyebrow at the paranoid teen's rant as he grew closer and closer to passing out on her. She raised the phone to the boy's face watching as his eyes landed on the screen, his panic ending as quickly as it had begun. The hooded teen's eyes widened immensely as he stared entranced at what he saw. “Ooohh kitties,” he muttered wistfully, grabbing the phone and beginning to surf through the hundreds of cute cat pictures Janna had on her phone for just such occasions. The creepy girl just watched her friend with a satisfied smirk, laying down in the grass and taking a much needed nap while he was preoccupied with the cuteness overload she had subjected him to, hearing nothing but an occasional 'Ohh' or 'aww' from the boy, even a few giggles here and there and she was easily able to drift off to sleep.
Star and Jackie followed the troll general into the town square where a large group of onlookers were already watching the scene with vested interest. An elephant-looking Monster stood in the middle of a group of at least four knights, all pointing their weapons toward her. Behind her a broken cart lay on its side, food and other merchandise scattered across the ground. Star felt instant pity seeing the poor Monster's frightened face but she decided to wait a minute and see how Skullnick reacted before she intervened. Maybe this way she would finally see just how her people felt and treated their new allies without having to put on an act to please her. She knew it was probably wrong not stop this now but the more information she got the better.
The general's gaze narrowed as she approached the trembling Monster, staring up at her with guilty, fearful eyes, her claws in handcuffs. “Are you the Monster who entered this city without permission?” the general growled.
The elephant Monster nodded quickly, before squeaking out, “Y-Yes but only because my cart got away from me and rolled into town and then a Mewman stole it from me-”
“There are no excuses!” Skullnick screamed, making the poor Monster cower in fear. “Monsters are only allowed into the city with proper permission and authority. Without it you are an intruder and a danger to the Butterfly Kingdom!”
“I-I'm sorry,” the Monster begged, trembling all over. “P-P-Please don't hurt m-me.”
“Don't try and play innocent,” Skullnick screamed, jabbing a finger toward the Monster making her flinch. “I know a troublemaker when I see one! I spent years fighting your kind and if there is one thing I learned it's that all Monsters are nothing but liars and fakes!”
“N-No, you got it all wrong,” the Monster pleaded, but the general took no interest in her agonizing begs for freedom. She had already made up her mind it seemed, no words able to sway her opinion of the Monster. She was evil in her eyes, plain and simple. “You will be escorted out of this city and forbidden from ever coming back.” The look of despair and defeat in the Monster's eyes was too much for Star to handle, unable to watch a second longer as she stormed over.
“General Skullnick!” Star shouted, drawing everyone's attention onto her, relief flooding the Monster's face. “Princess Star,” she gasped out in relief.
“What is going on here?!” the princess demanded, hands on her hips, not backing down an inch even with the general's shocked but still intimidating stare on her.
“With all due respect, Star, but this doesn't concern you,” Skullnick responded sharply.
“It is my job to keep the peace between Monsters and Mewmans and so any type of problem with them is my concern, general,” Star declared, crossing her arms across her chest.
Skullnick growled something under her breath at that, but maintained her respectful facade as she growled, “Well, my men and I can still handle this threat just fine without you as we have been doing for years.”
“Threat?” Star scoffed, before gesturing over to the still trembling Monster. “You call this a threat? She's an innocent civilian.”
“Looks can be deceiving, princess,” Skullnick quickly countered. She wasn't backing down from her stance. “And I don't need you to tell me how to do my job. I'm fully capable of protecting Mewni.”
“From what, fruit cart sellers?” Star shot back. If that's how she wanted to play then fine. Star wasn't backing down either.
“The law requires that anyone entering Mewni without permission-”
“If this is what the law is doing to innocent Monsters than I have no need for it,” Star declared, turning her back on the general and walking over to the Monster, giving the knights a hard stare until they raised their spears up and away from the relieved fruit cart seller. Star smiled warmly at her, before raising her wand and, after a burst of magic, undid the handcuffs around the Monsters wrists. “Your free to go,” Star said softly.
The Monster smiled gratefully at her, bowing low before saying, “Thank you, princess. I owe you greatly.” The elephant woman wasted no time before running away, leaving Star now painfully aware of the hundreds of judging eyes on her back, one in particular extra strong, making her feel like she was being burned alive. But she kept her head held high as she turned to face her people, matching Skullnick's glare with one of her own.
“You had no right to do that, Star” Skullnick stated crossing her arms. “I had that situation handled.”
“Not from where I was standing,” Star argued, a loud 'ooohh' echoing around the crowd.
“Now see here, young lady,” the troll general started to scold, wagging a finger in the air toward the teenage royal. “Just because you are a princess doesn't give you the right to speak to me like that. My job is and always has been protecting people from harm and I have never once been questioned before on my methods.”
“Yes because before we were at war,” Star pointed out. “But we aren't now! Things are different. I'm trying to start a new era, which I can't do if you and the other Mewmans keep treating Monsters like their common criminals.”
“You know I don't mind you doing all this commission business,” the general started, her tone beginning as a low growl in the back of her throat but slowly growing into a full shout as she continued. “But I will continue to do whatever is necessary to protect you and the other Mewmans. And that means not letting my guard down around any Monster, just because you have this delusional notion that they are all good now!”
“I'm not being delusional!” Star shouted, instantly on the defense. “I know that there are some bad Monsters still out there but that doesn't mean that they are all bad and we shouldn't judge all of them on a few bad actions.”
“How about the very Monsters you have allowed into the castle on multiple occasions?” Skullnick pointed out. “Would you consider their actions good?!” There were several mumblings in the crowd at that.
“Of course not,” Star argued. “They did bad stuff in the past, sure, but they are trying to make up for it. I'm just giving them a second chance.”
“Only cause her boyfriend's dad is their leader,” an unknown voice from the crowd whispered and Star felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment and anger. How dare they assume that. Of course Marco played a part in her decision but she didn't choose to forgive the Monsters because of their relationship with Marco, she did it because her boyfriend had taught her to look for the good in people, even her enemies. Thanks to him she now knew that the world wasn't so simple and couldn't be divided up into simply good vs evil, it was much more confusing and complicated than that. Both Mewmans and Monsters were capable of both and sometimes the line between right and wrong could be blurred.
After taking a couple seconds to let the residual anger run its course she declared in the strongest tone she could, fighting back the venom she felt trying to creep into her words, “Which is why I'm going to see to it that the law is abolished so that Monsters can be free to come and go as they please.”
“What?!” Skullnick screamed in outrage, many other Mewmans nervously muttering under their breath at that. “You can't do that! That law is made to keep us safe-”
“Well if it's getting in the way of progress than it needs to go, I'm just going to have to come up with a new law that works with the Monsters, instead of harming them,” Star said simply. She took a moment to look around at the crowd, deciding to try one last time to get them to open up and speak the truth. “And if anyone has any doubts or reservations about it, then I would be happy to hear them and will work to create a solution that is best for everyone.”
“That is enough, Star!” the general gruffly shouted, drawing Star's attention back onto her. “You act like you're a grown up but really your just being naïve if you think fixing Mewni is that simple.” Star felt a dark emotion clench her at those words, but the troll general wasn't done just yet. “And, another thing, you can't just go around changing our laws like that! You don't have the authority anymore, remember? That now falls on your parents, who you can be sure will be hearing about this later.” Skullnick's gaze narrowed into a scolding frown as she added, “You want to know what we all think? We think that this plan of yours is nothing more than wishful thinking. Fixing Mewni is a task that not even the greatest rulers in Mewni have been able to solve and, despite what you might think, you are still just a child, one with much to learn about the world and continues to make the same mistakes over and over again.”
Star felt her cheeks grow hot in embarrassment and anger. A child? That's all they saw her as, after everything she had done, after all the sacrifices she had made they just believed she was nothing more than a naïve child with no idea what she was doing. She felt her heart ache as she realized that no matter what she did she could never make them see her as a strong ruler, only a small, frail child... inferior to everyone else. She hated that feeling, she had spent years trying to overcome it, had given up years of her life pushing to be seen as more than a broken shell incapable of doing anything right. And she couldn't stop the feeling that it was her fault she was this way, a memory she had long since blocked, trapping in the deep, dark corners of her mind began to resurface, taking her over as she began to relive it as if she were there once more.  
“You know you are a failure, don't you?”
She squirmed, her arms hurt from the metal restraints they kept on her wrists when she was in the chair, her cheek hurt from the slap she had just received... she didn't know how much more of this she could take.
“Your parents sent you here because you failed to be a princess,” the voice continued. Oh how she hated that voice, wanted to be free from it, from the dark threads that latched onto her mind and killed every ounce of happiness she clung to, replacing it only with emptiness and sorrow. “They don't think you are capable of being a proper ruler and how can they when you run around and misbehave like a child.” She spat the word as if it were an insult. No there would be no mistaking this creature, this monster, before her for a 'she'. She wasn't Mewman. No Mewman would hurt her in this way.
“But not to worry, they made the right choice giving you to me. Because I will break every last bit of insolence and rebellion left in you until you are perfect, until you a true princess.”
The sob nearly escaped her throat at the hurt the words caused her. She was already broken, why couldn't she just leave her alone. “Now then I believe it would be best if you were separated from the other students, perhaps some time in solitary confinement would do you some good.”
Fear. Fear tugged at her heart and she whimpered, shaking her head. “N-No, please,” she begged, though she knew it was useless. No one ever listened to her here.
“Take her,” the voice said to a pair of robot soldiers and she began to kick and scream as they unlatched her restraints and dragged her away. She tugged and begged and cried, but no matter what she did she couldn't escape from the guards, she couldn't escape from her fate. And just before she left the room completely, she heard the voice one last time the false soothing in her tone making something precious inside her break. “You did this to yourself, my dear Star. You have no one to blame but yourself.”
Star shuddered as the memory left her mind or rather returned to the dark corners it dwelled in waiting for the right moment to haunt her once more. She was left with a heart full of sorrow, fighting back the tears that pricked at her eyes. Why did she see that? She was over it, wasn't she? Marco had showed her that Ms. Heinous was wrong, that she was strong in his eyes and so could be strong for real. And yet, she didn't feel that way now as she stood in front of a crowd of Mewmans, all judging her and seeing her weakness, she felt nothing but vulnerability and fear.
Jackie saw this, watched as her friend's eyes grew ever so duller than the normal vibrant blue they normally were, and she felt sick as she recognized it as one she knew all too well. No, she couldn't let Star revert back, she had to do something, she had to nip this in the bud before she lost her friend all over again. Which was why, before she even knew what she was doing, she found her legs carrying her forward, moving on their own over to where Star was. She didn't know what she was going to do or say, but she knew without a doubt that she had to stand up for her friend.
But as she neared the emotionally troubled princess, a new feeling began to surface within her, bubbling in the very pit of her stomach and quickly growing outwards at a rapid pace. Anger. Burning white hot anger toward the person who had hurt Star and she felt a need to lash out toward Skullnick, if not for her sake than for Star's.
And so as she reached Star's side and put a comforting hand on her shoulder she turned to the general and shouted at the top of her lungs, “How dare you say that about Star!” Star and everyone else flinched at the normally chill skater's raised tone. The blond royal had never seen this side of her friend before and it honestly frightened her more than a little to see Jackie so upset and filled with rage. “You can't just stand there and judge her when you have no idea what she has been through and given up for Mewni! Nobody does! She has sacrificed so much for everyone, including you!”
Nobody said a word, not even Skullnick, the look the girl was giving everyone discouraging anyone from interrupting her during her moment. Instead their mouths just hung open as they listened to the girl's speech in stunned silence. “She is the most selfless person I know and you have no right to treat her like some ignorant child who needs to be punished. Because she did nothing wrong. She saved Mewni, she didn't destroy it like you seem to think she did.”
The girl seemed to be calming down some now, her aggressive tone lowering back to a more normal level as she looked to her fellow Mewmans gathered around her, addressing them now instead. “Look, I'm sorry if this isn't the Mewni you want. I'm sorry if things are uncertain and uncomfortable right now, but you shouldn't be taking it out on Star. Without her, Mewni would still be at war and Toffee would still be out there, waiting to destroy us all.” That caused some nervous murmuring from the crowd and Jackie continued, her voice now firm but persuasive, her hopes raising as she realized she was getting through to the Mewmans. “Your problems are not her fault. All Star wants is to make life better for you but she can't do that if you keep treating her like she's on some pedestal.”
Jackie finally stopped, feeling a hand grab hers. The skater turned to see the bright, grateful grin of her friend, the small tears in her eyes making her blue irises sparkle like diamonds. Star gave the girl's hand a little squeeze before saying, “Thanks Jacks. I can take it from here.”
Jackie moved out of the way, letting Star take center stage, the royal only pausing to wipe her eyes free of tears before taking a step forward, holding her head high. “My fellow Mewmans, what my friend said is correct, I know some things are still shaky and unstable but that's why I'm here. If you'll just tell me what you need than I promise I will do everything in my power to help you. What do you say?”
There was a couple of seconds of silence from the crowd and Star feared that she was about to be booed or something, but instead she heard someone from the crowd clapping, followed by another and then another, until soon everyone was clapping and cheering for their princess, Star smiling joyfully at them all, relieved that she had finally gotten through to them. Her eyes hovered on Skullnick for a moment, who just stood unmoving in the presence of her cheering knights and excited Mewmans. Star opened her mouth to shout some sort of response, but Skullnick merely gave the tiniest of nods toward her in recognition it seemed and before the blond could fully process this, the general had turned and stormed away, the rest of her knights at her heels.
Star's smile brightened to new levels and her heart soared as she realized she had just gained the respect of the iron-blooded Skullnick, something the royal never thought she would receive in a million years. And she owed it all to Jackie. Speaking of the skater, she quickly pulled out the clipboard she had been carrying, clearing her throat before saying warmly, “Okay then everyone, please line up and I will be happy to record down any concerns or problems you may have regarding the Monsters.”
She and Star shared a quick smile, before Star added, “And I will be happy to answer any questions that are bothering you.”
The Mewmans were quick to jump on board the offer, as two lines quickly began to form and Star and Jackie became lost in their task as they divided up the work equally between them. The rest of the afternoon passed by in a blur as the two joyfully talked with the finally open-minded Mewmans surrounding them, Star satisfied to finally be on equal footing with her fellow Mewmans, the shame and weak feeling gone and forgotten now, at last she had created a new image for herself, one that she hoped lasted long into the future.
Jackie meanwhile was just thankful to see her friend smiling brightly again, relieved that her close friend had not been broken by a couple of ill words. She was glad to finally be able to help mend the princess's scars, instead of having to depend on Marco to heal Star as was usually the case. She didn't mind this, after all she had been the one to first realize just how important to Star Marco was and she had known that the hooded teen would be the best thing for her to overcome her scars, but it still felt nice to finally be able to do the same now herself. And that alone was the greatest accomplishment of the day for Jackie. Knowing that in some small way, she had helped Star heal just like Marco always did.
Janna turned to look at Tom, who sat next to her, a bright red reflecting off their faces as his three eyes met her two. For a moment they just stared at each other longingly, while their eyes dazzled in the glow around them. Finally, Janna moved in for her target, taking the boy by surprise, as she gave him a long, passionate kiss on the lips, his arms wrapping around her waist and drawing her in closer making her melt into him. She was so entranced by his presence that she barely noticed the world around them burning, fire surrounding them on all sides, keeping the two warm as they continued to make-out. When their lips did finally part, Janna let out a long sigh, tracing a hand on his cheeks as she said softly, “Well that was fun.” A mischievous smirk lit up her face as she asked, “What should we burn down next?”
“Anything you want, my love,” Tom said dramatically, giving her a loving, puppy dog grin. “I will follow you to the Underworld and beyond!”
Janna rubbed her hands together in anticipation. “This is really shaping up to be a great first date.”
Janna mumbled something in her sleep as she rolled over on the grass, before letting out a breathy sigh mumbling, “Tom, stoppp, tha' tickles.” She gave a small giggle over whatever was happening in her sleep, before falling deeper into the realm of her dreams.
Marco, meanwhile, was still playing on Janna's phone, swiping through pic after pic of the cute cats, his eyes never blinking or leaving the screen, still sparkling with joy. He was completely enchanted with each adorably fluffy face and catchphrase that popped on screen, not even aware of the world turning at this point. He laughed at the cute phrase written in bold, bright font about a small kitty hanging from a tree branch, repeating it to himself as he let the joke sink in, “'Hang in there', that's priceless!” He wiped the tears from his eye, lowering the phone slightly as he did. “Oh phone cats, you never stop being funny,” he sighed.
But with his attention finally off of the phone for a second he was able to spot out of the corner the same three Monsters he had bumped into earlier. Only now, they were acting creepy and off-putting standing in the shadows with their bodies turned away from the city streets, as if trying to hide something from view. They were muttering quietly under their breath about something, though they were obviously too far away to be heard, but the look in their eyes as they spoke made a shiver run down his spine. They also seemed on edge, their dark eyes darting around every few seconds to make sure they hadn't been noticed. This struck Marco as odd, perplexed why three Monsters would feel the need to hide what they were doing in their own town. Something felt off to Marco and his guts told him that this had to be tied to their caper somehow and the teen decided it was best to wake Janna and fill her in on what was going on.
He gave Janna's arm a shake whispering as loudly as he could without alerting the three Monsters to his presence, “Janna. Janna! Janna, wake up.”
Janna groaned but didn't wake and Marco frowned, before shaking her harder saying, “Janna, there is something I need you to see. Come on, wake up.”
Her face scrunched up and Marco felt his hopes rise she was actually about to get up, when she instead bat his hand away, making Marco cry out in pain due to her increased strength which she had no control over in her sleep. “Go away,” she mumbled. “Sleeping.”
The hooded teen rubbed at his aching wrist, looking down at his friend thoughtfully, trying to think of some way to wake her without getting himself hurt. Finally an idea came to him and he did a fake gasp saying excitedly, “Oh my gosh, is that a undead skeleton walking around?!”
Janna's eyes snapped open and she shot up like a rocket, nearly banging her head into Marco's. She looked around eagerly for the creepy thing she had been promised, squealing, “What, where?!” But seeing there was nothing there she turned back to the hooded teen with a glare.
Marco gave her a sheepish smile, before saying, “Sorry, I didn't know how else to wake you.”
Janna stared at him a minute longer, before mumbling, “I knew I should have put you under hypnosis.”
“What?” Marco squeaked in worry, his brown eyes widening immensely.
“Oh nothing,” Janna said with a cryptic grin. After that, she began fiddling with her beanie, readjusting it on her head, and trying her best to wipe off the grass stains on her skirt, saying, “But while I'm impressed with your lie, you did interrupt a pretty amazing dream, so I hope this is good.”
“Well, I think it is,” Marco admitted, unsure of just how important and significant this really was in the long run, but he figured he already had her attention so he might as well tell her what he had discovered. “I noticed some of the Monsters acting really suspiciously.”
“How so?” Janna asked frowning.
“Welllll,” Marco said not sure how to explain it, his eyes scanning around for them. He found them pretty quickly now on the move and trying to creep out of town without being seen. “Look,” he said, pointing them out to his friend, who watched the three Monsters with a questioning gaze that quickly switched to a knowing frown, saying, “I see what you mean. I've seen that look before and those three are definitely up to something.”
“Yeah, I thought the same thing,” Marco said, nodding, his eyebrows pinched together in seriousness. “Why would a couple of Monsters feel the need to sneak around in their own town-?”
“-Unless they are up to no good,” Janna finished for him and the two shared a look.
“You think this has something to do with the tooth getting destroyed?” Marco asked.
“I'd bet my life on it,” Janna said, now stretching her limbs, before she stood. “So what's the plan, chief? You are the Monster representative after all.”
Marco looked over to the three, getting further and further away, but still within sight as they moved at an agonizingly slow pace, trying to blend in with their fellow Monsters. “I think we should follow them,” Marco said. “See where they're going. Who knows? Maybe they'll lead us back to whoever is behind all this.”
Janna nodded her head, a small smile, beginning to part on her lips as she said, “Just what I was thinking. Gotta say Marco, I'm proud. You're starting to get the instincts of a master thief. Looks like I'm finally starting to rub off on you.”
Marco beamed at the praise, his cheeks flushing as he said in slight embarrassment, “Uh, thanks, but we should probably hurry up and catch up to them before we lose them.”
Janna gestured in the desired direction, saying, “Well then, lead the way, oh wise one.”
Marco nodded, before walking off in the direction the three Monsters had gone, taking a few steps before stopping, turning back to Janna and asking worriedly, “You wouldn't really hypnotize me, would you?”
Janna stuffed her hands in her pockets with a classic, cryptic smirk. “Now come on, Marco? You already know the answer.”
“Yessss,” he said skeptically.
Janna shook her head. “No,” Marco breathed a sigh of relief, turning back to follow the Monsters, before stopping short again as Janna finished, “I already did that a long time ago.”
Marco, with Janna right on his heels, tailed the Monsters as they made their way out of town. With the creepy girl's direction he was able to maintain a safe distance away so he didn't have to worry about getting caught but was also close enough that he could keep up with them easily. But as the crowd began to thin more and more, and the dirt roads turned into dense forest, the two half-Mewmans had to take cover behind trees and bushes to keep from being seen by the Monsters. It was becoming more and more difficult to keep up with the Monsters as they got deeper and deeper into the woods, the three large, strong creatures now able to walk at a fast pace toward their destination without any watching eyes, or so they thought.
“Where do you think they're headed?” Marco whispered to Janna as they hid behind a tree, waiting for them to get a far enough distance away before moving to the next one.
“Don't know,” Janna said, peeking around the tree to see if it was safe and spotting something ahead. “But I get the feeling we're about to find out.”
There was a small clearing ahead, the empty remains of a small, abandoned mine acting as the housing place for whoever was staying there. From the light source inside the cave Marco and Janna were able to make out the piles of leaves gathered together to act as beds and a fire pit that had been dug out to cook meals, it was very rough and didn't look all that inviting to either of the half-Mewmans yet there was still a group of at least ten Monsters staying there. They all looked up from whatever they were doing as the three Monsters marched into the camp, standing up and exiting the cave to greet them. Marco gasped from where he and Janna hid in a tree, recognizing a couple of the faces he saw... including a very angry looking warthog Monster with a metal fork where his hand should be. “Janna, I think I just figured out who's behind this,” Marco whispered worriedly.
Then as if on cue Meatfork turned and shouted, “Hey boss, the spies are here!” and, just as Marco had deduced, none other than Ludo emerged from the depths of the cave riding on the bat Monster as he was lowered to the ground in front of the three newcomers.
“Ludo,” Marco whispered under his breath.
“Wait, you mean that bird guy that your dad banished after he tried to steal Buff Frog's position?” Janna asked. Marco and Star had filled both her and Jackie in on what had happened after the fact, but the girl was still skeptical that this tiny bird man in front of her was anything but a threat. She had seen laser puppies that were more frightening than him. She quickly gestured down to the kappa Monster, asking incredulously, “That Ludo?”
Marco just nodded grimly. “Yep, that's him,” he confirmed, before looking back over at the midget Monster. The last time he had seen Ludo, he was being dragged away, accusing Marco of ruining his life and declaring revenge on his dad. He had kinda been hoping he wouldn't have to see this Monster ever again and yet here he was hiding in a tree and watching as the pipsqueak plotted out his scheme. Which made Marco wonder, what was his plan anyway? What could he possibly gain from incriminating the Mewmans?
“Aww, its you three again,” Ludo said. “Mangy Mane, Tiger Strips and Bear Claw.”
“You got our payment,” the lion Monster asked, getting right down to business.
“That depends, did you do what I asked and made sure all signs point to the Mewmans wrecking that stupid tooth?”
The three nodded. “We did but Mayor Butch didn't buy it,” the Bear Claw explained.
“What?” Ludo exclaimed, clearly livid with anger. “Why not?”
“A couple of Mewmans were in town and they were able to convince him that they didn't do it,” the Mangy Mane explained.
Ludo growled. “Ugh, stupid Mewmans, they always have to ruin everything!” the Monster continued now in a full on fit, stamping his foot childishly on the ground. “They can't ever just mind their own business and have to stick their noses where they don't belong! Well fine, then we'll just have to take it one step further. We'll just have to steal the tooth.”
Marco gasped, fear filling his features as he declared, “We have to stop him!”
Janna wasn't so quick to respond, giving him a skeptical looking and asking, “But do we?”
“Yes,” the hooded teen said firmly, before beginning to climb down the tree.
“Uh, what are you doing?” Janna asked.
“I'm gonna try and talk him out of this,” Marco explained naively, his focus still on making his way safely down.
“Yeah but didn't that not really work out very well last time,” the creepy girl pointed out. Marco stopped his descent, before looking back up at his friend, asking, “Well what do you think we should do?”
The boy instantly regretted this decision as an alarmingly evil grin widened on her face that sent chills down his spine. “We'll have to use one of them as an example to get the message across,” she said, her eyes flashing with danger.
“No way, we aren't killing anybody!” Marco exclaimed, instantly shooting her down, already guessing where this was going and having no part in any of it.  
“They don't have to die,” Janna said with a scoff, looking offended. But the creepy smile returned as she said, “We'll just maim one of them a little.”
“No, Janna!” Marco hissed, giving her a scolding glare, leaning more forward on his branch so he could stare directly into her eyes. He sighed before saying softly, “I'm gonna go back into town and tell the mayor what's going on. You stay here and watch them till I get back.”
“Yeah, that's not gonna work,” Janna said and Marco gave her a quizzical gaze.
“Why not?” the boy in red asked his friend, tilting his head to the side.
“Cause your about to fall,” Janna said nonchalantly, before pointing down to the large crack in the branch Marco was leaning precariously on.
“Oh not again,” Marco groaned before it gave a loud resounding snap and sent him plummeting once more to the ground. His second time falling down a tree was just as bad as the first, the pain as his body colliding with the sharp branches, the breath leaving his body as he smacked into every piece of wood possible on his way down, it was like he was reliving it all over again.
Only this time, before he hit the forest floor, he was instead caught by Janna, who had turned into a bat and had speedily zoomed down the tree to save him in time, shifting back into her Mewman form as he landed bridal style in her arms. He groaned, mumbling out a drunken thanks. Janna looked around at the group of surprised and glaring Monsters growling at them, their cover officially blown, and said, “Yeah, you might want to hold off on that thanks for a bit.”
Marco sat up enough to see the same and muttered, “Oh. Oops.”
Ludo especially seemed startled to see the two Mewmans, shouting, “Intruders! How did they find my brilliant hiding spot?”
“These morons must have led them here!” Meatfork growled, giving the three spies a sharp glare.
“What?!” Tiger Strips snapped, the look in his eyes full of so much venom it was a wonder Meatfork didn't drop dead right there.
“What, no, no, you got us all wrong,” Janna said calmly, thinking fast. She let go of Marco, dropping him onto the ground as she held her hands up as if in surrender. “We were just passing through the neighborhood, but since your busy we'll just be going.” She picked Marco up by his shirt sleeve, pushing him behind her as she began to walk backward. But two Monsters stepped into the way, blocking off their path of escape.
“You can't fool us, Mewman,” Mangy Mane said darkly. He turned to Ludo and explained, “These are the two we told you about, boss.”
Ludo rubbed his chin, staring long and hard at the teen in red. After a moment he finally asked, “Do I know you from somewhere?”
“Ummmm, no,” Marco said weakly, cringing as his voice cracked against his will.
“That's Buff Frog's kid, Ludo,” Meatfork said, looking exasperated by this bosses stupidity.
“I knew that!” the small Monster squeakily screamed at his second in command. He turned back over to Marco, who now stood next to Janna, trying to keep on a brave face in the dire situation they had ended up in. Ludo walked over to the teen, snapping his fingers to summon one of his servants. He stepped onto the back of the small bat Monster, which lifted him up so he was eye level with Marco. “So Marco Diaz, have you finally come to surrender your father's throne to me?”
“Uh, no,” Marco said, shaking his head with a frown. “And what are you even doing here, anyway? My dad banished you.”
Ludo scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Like I'm gonna listen to that buffoon.” He shrugged, before nonchalantly adding, “Besides what he doesn't know won't hurt him.”
“Well he's gonna know once I tell him that you've been trying to frame the Mewmans,” Marco snapped.
“I don't know what you're talking about,” Ludo denied immediately, the bat setting him down once again as he crossed his arms smugly.
“Look, we already know you messed with the hydra's tooth, just admit it already,” Janna said, seeing through the pathetic act in a second, even looking slightly disappointed in the Monster for his lack of creativity in this regard.
“You have no proof of that,” Ludo shot back, pointing a clawed finger in her direction.
“Well then why are your claws covered in paint?” Janna retorted with a triumphant grin. Ludo's eye darted down to the dried red smeared all over his claws, literally caught red-handed. His claws clenched into fists as he snapped, “That's none of your business!”
“What's this all about, Ludo?” Marco asked, being driven nearly mad with the questions that were pestering his curious mind. Things still didn't add up, he still had no idea why the Monster would go through with all this. “I mean, what do you possibly gain from this crazy plan anyways?”
“It's not crazy, it's genius!” Ludo proclaimed. He then began to explain his brilliant plan to the two Mewmans, obviously enjoying arrogantly praising himself, his already big head incapable of getting any larger at this point. “See once the Monsters turn against the Mewmans again they will realize just how ridiculous and unfit to rule Buff Frog really is and that I, Ludo Avirius, am the only one who can properly lead them!”
Marco's mouth was dropped open by this point, completely flabbergasted with Ludo's mindset, asking in disbelief, “So your just gonna go and start another war with the Mewmans just so you can be in power?!” The hooded teen couldn't believe anyone would sacrifice so many lives for such selfish reasons, only one Monster in Marco's mind capable of being so cruel and soulless.
“Yeah, that's pretty much it,” Ludo said with a holier-than-thou smile spread across his beak.
“And you're all okay with this,” Marco questioned, turning to Ludo's minions for conformation that they were really willing to betray their fellow Monsters to fulfill their leader's selfish desire. Surely they saw just how crooked and twisted this whole plan was. But there was no shame or guilt in any of the Monster's eyes, giving him only hard glares back and the boy felt his insides twist.
“Ludo is the true leader of the Monsters, not that worthless Buff Frog,” Meatfork proclaimed and the small Monsters grin widened even more if that was possible.
“Well what are you gonna do when Buff Frog finds out about this?” Marco asked with a defiant look.
Ludo's face twisted into an evil stare as he declared, “He's not going to find out. Get them!”
The Monsters rushed forward at their leader's order, growling as they moved to dispose of the two pests. Marco jumped out of the way as the first Monster reached them, Janna shifting instantly into her Monster form and punching her opponent into unconsciousness.
More came as the two Mewmans valiantly defended themselves against their attackers, Marco able to hold his own as he dodged swing after swing and even trying to land an occasional kick to his enemy, with no real success, but that left Janna able to focus on her own fighting without having to worry over her friend's safety. The Impure kicked one of the Monsters legs out from underneath him before sidestepping out of the way of a swiping claw from none other than Tiger Strips. He growled and swiped again, aiming right for her head. But she managed to grab his arm out of mid-air, halting his swiping claw from making contact with her skin. She then easily flipped him over her shoulder and threw him right into a tree. But she had no time to rest as the next Monster attacked.
Marco, meanwhile, was busy dealing with both Mangy Mane and Bear Claw, doing his best to avoid their attacks while also trying to come up with some sort of plan to beat them. But all he could do so far was just dodge them, ducking underneath a swiping paw or moving out of the way of the hate-filled punch, only his few short lessons in self defense and his own agility allowing him to survive this long. He ducked underneath Mangy Manes swiping paw as he tried to grab hold of the elusive boy and Marco, thinking fast, slammed his small body into the large Monster. But by some miracle it was actually enough to trip the Monster up as he crashed into his buddy behind him, sending all three tumbling to the ground.
Marco immediately hopped off of them, panting with exertion. He was running out of steam and just one look at Janna told him she was doing the same. He needed a plan if they hoped to win, his eyes looking around for something that could be of use to them, but coming up blank once again and he groaned in annoyance. Why was this so hard?
Meatfork suddenly appeared, catching the boy by surprise in his distracted state and he let out a little cry of surprise as he dodged the swinging fist. “It's no use, brat!” the Monster growled as Marco took a defensive stance, keeping a safe distance away from his opponent, waiting for his next attack. “You and your friend aren't leaving here alive! And no one is going to come in and save you this time!”
Marco gasped, an idea finally forming in his mind, his sun cheek marks spinning a few times. This only seemed to infuriate Meatfork even more as he angrily spat, “Whatever desperate plan you're thinking up isn't going to work!”
He then tried to lung at Marco again, who stepped out of the way just in time, letting him fall to the ground in front of him. He quickly looked over at his friend, who was currently pinned down by four Monsters at least twice her own size. “Janna!” Marco called out to her.
“Kinda busy right now,” she grunted between clenched teeth.
Marco paused before asking, “Do you want some help?”
“No thanks,” the beanie-wearing girl said, before shifting into a bat, letting them all fall onto one another before shifting back now standing triumphantly on her opponents fallen forms. “I got it,” she added with one of her smug grins.
“Oh, okay then,” Marco said with a smile. “I'm gonna go get the mayor and the other Monsters. Try and hold out till I get back.”
“Sure I'll be just fine here,” Janna said, punching a Monster who tried to sneak up to her from behind right in the face, not even bothering to turn around and face him.
Marco gave a quick nod, before staring to run back toward the village. Ludo, who had just been watching the whole fight from the sidelines, saw the boy escaping and turned to his subordinate, shouting, “The kid is escaping, one of you idiots stop him!”
Mangy Mane, Bear Claw, and Tiger Strips managed to rise to their feet, chasing after the hooded teen, the lion Monster explaining to Ludo, “Don't worry boss, we know a shortcut!”
Janna overheard this and yelled after them, “Hey, leave him alone!” The girl, feeling a need to protect her friend, forgot all about Ludo and the other Monsters she was fighting, shifting into a bat and dodging around them as she quickly flew after Marco as well.
Marco panted as he raced forward with all his might, focusing on just reaching the village and as it began to come into view he grinned knowing he had succeeded. But then he was tackled to the ground by a large form, knocking the air out of his lungs and feeling the rough dirt dig into his fragile skin. “I got him!” a voice yelled, while the teen tried his best to pry his way out from under whoever it was leaning heavily on his legs. He kicked and squirmed as much as he could, while his brain spun trying to remember something from Higgs lessons that would help him get away.
Mangy Mane and Tiger Strips watched in delight as the boy struggled in vain to escape, the tiger Monster saying, “Let's take him back to Ludo and collect our reward.” But just then Janna appeared, switching from bat to Mewman in a second, landing on the lion Monster and slamming him into the ground with her weight. She dodged a swing from Tiger Strips before incapacitating him as well.
Bear Claw hearing the sound of his friends, loosened his grip in surprise, giving Marco just the opportunity he needed. He ripped his legs free and hopped to his feet, running away once more. “Oh no you don't!” the bear Monster growled, grabbing the teen by his ankle, causing the boy to tumble to the ground.
The teen cried out in surprise and rolled over so he could face the Monster before him, who refused to release his ankle. “Why, why are you doing this?!” Marco begged to know. “I don't understand, I mean, you have to see how wrong all this is?”
“We don't really care, boy,” Bear Claw spat at the boy, only tightening his grip even more. “We want revenge on the Mewmans, nothing else makes any difference.”
“But why, what did they do to you that was so bad?” Marco asked in confusion, still hoping to learn something from all this. Maybe there was some way to sway their minds if he knew what had caused them to be corrupted in the first place.
“They existed!” the Monster sneered and the boy felt his body freeze up, suddenly reliving his nightmare all over again. His mind tumbled with unwanted memories, cold lifeless eyes staring at him making his heart leap into his throat and a numbing pain as he remembered those words being directed at the two people he would always miss but never meet. And then blind rage filled him, everything else drowning out in the distance as he felt a need to lash out against the creature who had hurt him in such a way.
“Shut up!” Marco screamed, kicking the Monster directly in the face with his good foot, making Bear Claw cry out in pain and cover his bruised nose with his claws. The hooded teen didn't even realize what he had done until it was already over, the anger draining from his body and leaving him dazed and confused. He watched as the Monster howled in pain and felt guilt stir in his stomach. But he didn't have time to waste as he rose to his feet and headed toward town once more, only to find him surrounded by Ludo and his Monsters who were all panting wildly. “So... you thought... you could escape... me,” Ludo said triumphantly, between gasps for breath, piggybacking on Meatfork, making Marco question why he was so out of breath too. But more importantly to the hooded teen, he also stood between Marco and his way into town. The boy in red frowned in defeat, before something caught his eye behind Ludo and he smiled.
“I won't let you get away with this, Ludo!” Marco yelled, stabbing a finger in the Monster's direction. “The Monsters will know that your the one that wrecked the Hydra's Tooth.”
Ludo scoffed, before saying sarcastically, “Like those idiots will ever figure out anything.”
The other Monsters then noticed what Marco was already seeing, the form of Mayor Butch and his several guards, frowning at the midget Monster before him. “Um, boss-” one of them started but Ludo wasn't listening, falling right into Marco's trap and quickly falling into another one of his triumphant, egotistic rants. “Especially that worthless mayor. That idiot probably forgets where he buries his bones half the time.” Ludo laughed to himself at his own joke, while all the other Monsters just face-palmed.
Marco and Janna were now side by side, sharing victorious grins as they watched the small Monster incriminate himself more and more with zero prodding from either of them as more and more Monsters appeared, curious what was going on just outside their village. “And as for the rest of those backwards dummies, they'll believe anything they hear. Tricking them will be as easy as stealing candy from a baby.”
There was a outcry of outrage behind Ludo, finally alerting Meatfork to their presence as he turned his head to see the glaring crowd and the infuriated mayor looking on the verge of losing his calm. “Um, boss, I think we are in a bit of trouble,” the warthog Monster stated but Ludo quickly scolded him for the interruption.
“Not now, Meatfork, can't you see I'm soaking in my victory,” the tiny Monster leader snapped.
“Yeah but boss, I think you should look and see what's going on behind us,” his subordinate said nervously. Ludo let out a long sigh, before turning for a split second to the group of Monsters then looking immediately back to the two Mewmans he had 'captured'.
“Okay, fine I did it,” Ludo said in clear annoyance. “Now where was I?” he asked himself, trying to remember his place in his speech. He opened his mouth to speak only to suddenly register what he had just seen, his tiny heart beating out of control as he turned once more to the angry, glaring mayor. “Oh mayor Butch, what a pleasant surprise,” Ludo nervously said, trying to put on an innocent grin. “I-Is that a new suit you're wearing?”
“Ludo,” Butch rumbled under his breath, his tone cutting into the small Monster like a knife. “I believe I was informed by Buff Frog not two weeks ago that you were banished from Monster society.” To the bulldog's credit he kept an almost business-like tone despite his clear distaste and fury toward the Monster in front of him.
“Oh, yes well, that was just a little misunderstanding, you see-” Ludo began trying to explain himself, but he was cut off by Butch raising a hand in the air.
“I don't want to hear any of your excuses and I think it would be best if you were taken into custody until Buff Frog can deal with you. That is if I remember to call him, since I do forget where I bury my bones half the time!” the Monster spat the last bit of information, his body shaking with rage.
“Oh so you heard that,” Ludo said worriedly, a guilty frown on his face.
“Yes, I did,” Butch said, regaining some of his composure once more, as he adjusted his tie. “So any last words before I have my Monsters place you under arrest?” the Monster asked, his flaming eyes digging into Ludo's skin, trying to burn him alive.
“Um, well, I suppose I just have this to say,” Ludo began quietly, pausing a moment to let the moment sink in. He opened his beak, before screeching at the top of his lungs, “Retreat!”
And just like that him and the other Monsters made a break for it, running away as fast as they could into the woods several more Monsters giving chase after them. All of them managed to disappear from sight into the bushes, all except the three spies who were either unconscious or, in Bear Claws case, too distracted by the pain in his face to notice anything else going on. Marco just watched silently as Ludo and his minions escaped into the woods, wondering if this was really the last he would ever see of the small Monster.
Butch came to stand next to the boy, watching into the woods as well. After a moment, he turned to eye the Mewman up and down, before saying, “I suppose I owe you for your helping in finding the real criminal and the traitors amongst us.” The mayor glared at the three Monsters being arrested and dragged away to their holding cell. He couldn't believe he had let a couple of his own citizens betray him from right under his nose. He was supposed to be better than that.
Marco shook his head, giving him a small smile. “No need. All I wanted was to prove the Mewmans innocence so that maybe you could grow to trust us in time.”
Butch nodded thoughtfully, before offering his paw to shake. “Well you have more than proved yourself in my mind.” Marco took the paw, shaking it delicately, his heart swelling with pride at the praise from such a highly valued member of Monster society. “Buff Frog has raised himself quite the young man.”
Marco blushed wildly now, but his smile only grew more, as he shyly muttered, “Thanks.”
“No thank you,” the Monsters said kindly. Then out of nowhere he gestured to one his fellow Monsters, some kind of bird looking one, who walked over and handed him Marco's clipboard. Up to this point Marco had forgotten all about it and he watched wide-eyed as Butch looked through it once more, saying thoughtfully, “Now then from what I can tell you are conducting some kind of questionnaire to see what underlying issues the Monsters are dealing with and how the Mewmans might solve them.”
Marco just nodded dumbly, not knowing what really to say. The Monster pulled a pen out from his suit pocket, writing something down on the paper, explaining, “Well then how about I add my own experiences onto here. As the mayor of a small Monster village in the middle of nowhere I can tell you I have seen my fair share of problems.”
Marco's gaze softened, touched by the Monster's kindness to aid him in such a way. “Thank you,” he whispered, fighting back the rising tears. “Thank you, that... means so much to me!” Marco exclaimed his smile unable to grow any wider at this point.
“Yes well, it's the least I can do,” Butch said, handing the clipboard back to its owner and then patting the boy on the shoulder.
Marco looked the paper over, nearly squealing in joy as he saw a clear list of issues the Monsters were dealing with such as lack of food, clothing, supplies, that kind of thing and the hooded teen had to wipe his eyes on his sleeve to be able to see the page again clearly, blinded by the rising tears. But a thought occurred to him and he turned back to the Monster mayor as he walked confidently back towards town, asking, “Um, but Mayor Butch, I still have a question?”
Butch turned back to face the boy, asking, “What is it, young man?”
“How did you know we were out here?” Marco questioned, still confused. “We were out of earshot of town and even if you had heard us, there's no way you could have made it over to here so fast.”
The bulldog smiled before saying cryptically, “Let's just say, someone was looking out for you. They noticed you two leaving and convinced us to check up on you.”
“Who?” Marco asked, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
Butch didn't say, telling the boy, “He wished to remain anonymous,” but his eyes jumped over to Triceros, who was busy checking Janna over for injuries, while the girl insisted she was just fine and tried to push his fussing paws away. Marco smiled over at the Monster, who finally met his eye, and he gave a little nod in his direction as thanks. The Monster smiled before doing the same, turning back to Janna and firmly telling her he needed to make sure she wasn't hurt. The creepy girl sighed, before allowing the Monster to check. Marco just laughed at her nearly pouting face, but was caught off guard as Butch spoke again, quickly whipping his head around to face him. “You seem to have quite the knack for making others care about you and swaying them to your side,” Butch observed.
Marco didn't know how to respond to that, just shrugging and saying softly, “Yeah, I guess.”
“You should consider that a great asset. Take my advice and use it,” Butch said, before turning and walking away again, leaving Marco to think and contemplate to himself the Monster's words. After a moment, though, a large smile spread across his face and he found his head holding itself a little higher that day.
Fang Tangs was busy and noisy as the day began to wrap itself up, the dinner rush taking priority for the staff of workers as they rushed to get their food out. Star and Jackie sat outside, watching the sun begin to lower itself into the sky, waiting for Janna and Marco to get back. They had all agreed to meet up there at the end of the day but so far the two were running a bit late. Not that the two girls minded, they knew their friends were busy, and besides they were both too exhausted to care about anything at this point. They sat in silence, Star laying her head against the table unmoving, as she let her aching body rest, jokingly thinking to herself that she just might never move again and just lay there forever.
Jackie was sitting up, somehow still having the energy to do so (to Star's amazement and slight resentment), her back facing the table and her elbows propped up on its side. She watched the sun sinking lower and had a new understanding why the young couple did this almost every evening, it was quite relaxing. The girl let out a content sigh, before twisting her aching wrist around a couple of times, her whole hand sore from the probably thousands of people she had interviewed after the last several hours. But it was worth it, the skater looking over at the now filled clipboard with satisfaction. The information on that sheet would go a long way in helping fix the unrest and crooked history of Mewni.
Suddenly out of nowhere she heard Star say, “Hey, Jacks.” Jackie turned to her friend, who looked up at her with sincere and slightly guilty eyes. “I just wanted to say thank you so much for sticking up for me back there. I... really didn't deserve it after the way I acted before-”
“Hey it's no problem Star,” the skater said with a radiant grin, stopping her before her friend could go into an overly long apology. “None taken. I'm just glad I could help you out, finally.”
“Wait, finally?” Star said, raising an eyebrow and finally lifting her head off the table. “What do you mean?”
Jackie hesitated, not quite sure how to answer, taking a moment to contemplate her response, before admitting, “Well I mean, after the whole... incident at St. O's, I didn't really do anything to help you. I mean, I tried but... I didn't know what to do. You were always the one I looked to for guidance and so when you needed some from me I... panicked, I guess.” The girl lowered her head, so she didn't have to look her friend in the eyes. “I just felt so lost and confused and I had no clue what I was supposed to do to make you feel better.” The girl's eyes clenched shut to hide her frustrated tears from view. “In the end, Marco's the one who helped you. And, don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that he did, but... I feel like I failed you.”
Star stared at her friend for a long time, her gaze unreadable as her friend just sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes. Just as the skater looked up to meet her eye, her radiant eyes glassy from the unshed tears, the blond threw her arms around her in a tight hug. Jackie froze up in shock for a second, before returning the embrace, pulling her friend close as she hugged her right back. “So that's what this was all about,” Star said softly, her voice surprisingly strong and even soothing. Jackie had expected the princess to be a mess, especially when talking about 'that' place. Then to Jackie's greater surprise the girl started laughing, actually laughing, and Jackie pulled away so she could check and make sure that the royal hadn't just gone crazy.
“What's so funny?” Jackie asked, her voice a mixture of confusion and shock.
“It's just.. not too long ago you were comforting me over the same type of thing,” Star explained, still chuckling to herself. “You literally couldn't be any further from the truth, Jacks.” The girl said, finally gaining control of herself and quieting down her giggles. “You didn't fail me, it was the exact opposite actually. You and Janna and the other orphans, you're what held me together during that time. Without you, I don't know who I would be.”
Star's eyes met Jackie's then, filling the skater up with a bubbly warmth that had the girl grinning ear to ear. A tear slipped down her eye and she quickly wiped it away, saying in a soft tone, “Well, I think all of us feel the same way about you, Star.”
The blond smiled, giving her friend another quick hug, squeezing her in a comforting way. But as she pulled away, her blue gaze turned playful as he said in a knowing tone, “And y'know, I think I have you to thank somewhat for the stuff with Marco, too.”
Jackie froze up, giving her a guilty look, before she quickly hid it behind a blank grin. “I'm not sure I know what you mean,” the girl said with no hesitation in her tone, keeping up the innocent facade for as long as she could.
Star raised an eyebrow. “Come on, Jacks, I'm not an idiot, I know you and Jan set us up,” the girl pried, leaning closer to her friend.
Jackie quickly gave up, dropping the act as she cringed openly. “What gave us away?” she asked.
Star leaned her head against her arm as she said in a teasing tone, “Well for one thing, Marco told me that you gave him my old headband. And you were the one who dressed him up for the Orphan's Ball, convinced I would pick him over Oscar.”
“Well it was pretty obvious,” Jackie defended.
“Uh huh,” Star smirked, raising an eyebrow. “Or how about you having him ask me about the kiss, rather than just tell him yourself?”
“That was Janna,” Jackie countered.
“But you were the one who decorated the Blood Moon Ball, weren't you?” Star asked, the look in her eyes telling the light-haired girl that she knew she had just won.
Jackie sighed in defeat, admitting, “You got me.”
“Course I did,” Star said with a smile of victory. She paused to take a sip of her drink, before asking, “So how much did you win?”
Jackie flinched once more, opening her mouth to ask how Star had known that too, but decided against it, shaking her head and replying honestly, “Forty bucks.”
Star nodded in approval, saying, “That's pretty good.” She gave the girl a friendly elbow, before adding, “You earned it.” She winked in her direction and Jackie just jabbed her in the side with her own elbow in return.
“Yeah well, it was for a good cause.” The two shared a laugh, enjoying the nice moment as it stretched on for a while, neither carrying how crazy they probably looked to the other patrons, as they just chuckled heartily amongst each other feeling the rip in their friendship mend and grow even stronger.
But then Star felt a familiar stirring inside her chest and knew her bestie was there before he even said a word. “Hey Star! Hey Jackie!” came the hooded teen's familiar call and the two girls swirled around to shoot both him and Janna bright smiles. Marco was panting by the time he reached the table, while Janna just walked at her normal pace, in no rush to get there it seemed.
“Hey Marco, so how did it go?” Jackie asked and the boy's face lit up instantly.
“It went amazing!” he shouted, sitting down next to his girlfriend, who wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. “I mean, there were a few hiccups,” Marco said, cringing as he remembered Ludo. “But nothing we couldn't handle.” The boy puffed out his chest valiantly and Star and Jackie couldn't hold in their giggles.
“Sounds like you had a good day,” Star said softly, her breath ghosting on Marco's skin, making him shudder and blush. He just nodded dumbly before thrusting the clipboard into their faces as he said, “I did and look, I got almost the whole thing filled!”
“That's great, dude,” Jackie praised instantly, taking the clipboard and looking through it for a moment.
“I knew you could do it,” Star said, her blue gaze holding on his brown.
“Yeah... I did too, actually,” Marco admitted, his eyes shimmering with memories of the day's events, feeling the warm sense of pride fill him all over again.
“You have no idea how great it is to hear you say that, Marco,” Star said, before cupping his face in her hand and kissing his cheek affectionately. She had gone the whole day without her Marco and now she was craving some time with him, feeling a need to shower him with as much devotion as she could to make up for the time spent apart.  
Marco took a few seconds to will the blush in his cheeks down, before asking, “So what about you two, how'd it go for you?”
Star and Jackie shared a look. “Pretty good, actually,” Star said and Jackie nodded.
“We got our thing filled out too,” the skater added.
“That's great!” Marco exclaimed, jumping out of his seat, unable to hold still as he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. “Now we can finally start fixing Mewni!”
“Whoa, slow your roll there, Diaz,” Janna said, finally reaching them and pulling him back into his seat, while she sat on the table itself. “You worked hard enough, give yourself some time off for crying out loud.” Though her voice was sarcastic, her smile was genuine and Marco just nodded and obeyed.
“Yeah, your right, Jan,” Marco said, leaning back and letting out a sigh. “We all deserve a break.”
Jackie turned to Janna asking, semi-playfully, “So did you behave yourself, Jan?”
“Yes mom,” Janna said sarcastically, making a big show of rolling her eyes. “You don't have to ground me, I didn't make any fires or start any wars with anyone.”
“Well that's good to know,” Star said teasingly... mostly.
“Oh there you two are,” Kelly's voice suddenly rang out and they all turned to see the hairy teen walk over to them, holding the tray of cupcakes from before. “After you ran off I wasn't sure if you were coming back.”
“Hey, Kells,” Marco said with a friendly grin. But noticing the cupcakes, his mouth began to water and his stomach growled loudly, reminding him how long he had gone without eating now. “What are those?”
“Oh just some snacks I made,” Kelly said, before looking over at Star and Jackie worriedly. “So you two... okay?”
“Yeah, we're fine now, Kelly, thanks for the concern,” Star reassured her and the young waitress sighed in relief. “Well since you two are here, I can now officially serve you my last order before I become a chef.”
“Oh good for you, Kelly,” Jackie said, giving her friend a happy smile.
“I know right,” the girl said cheerfully, her eyes practically shining. She moved the plate toward the skater and princess, saying, “Well I did make these for you, so that makes you two my final custom-”
Her voice cut off though, as she noticed one of the cupcakes missing and turned to look at Marco who was greedily chomping down the treat, half of Star's fondant face already gone. His eyes widened though, as he looked between his friends, before realizing he had done something wrong. “Oh sorry, was this not for me?” he asked, his mouth still full. Star giggled at her boyfriend's cuteness.
“Well on the bright side, these are really good,” Janna said, somehow now in possession of the other cupcake, snatching it off the tray without being noticed and stuffing it down her throat like there was no tomorrow.
Kelly groaned in annoyance, her eyebrow twitching slightly. “Sorry Kells,” Jackie started to apologize for her friend but was interrupted by the green-haired teen.
“No, no it's fine,” Kelly said with a loud sigh, tucking the empty tray under her arm. “I'll just go make two more.”
“Maybe put me and Marco's faces on these one,” Janna called after her, before going back to finishing her cupcake.
Star gave Marco a strange look before asking, “So you do realize my face was on that right?”
Marco froze, mid-bite, pulling the food away from his mouth so he could examine it closely. “Wait, really?! Oh my gosh, I'm sorry Star, I-I didn't know!” he exclaimed in panic.
Star just smiled before kissing his cheek again to silence him and he gave her a confused look. “Same old Marco,” she sighed, glad to know some things would never change. She cuddled him close to her, as the young couple and their two closest friends looked back out to the horizon, watching as the sun set in the fading daylight, somehow glowing brighter than any of them had ever noticed before.
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migleefulmoments · 4 years
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One of my fave Disney Princess stories is how she often implied that one of her 3 male LGBTQ+ actor ROOMMATES in LA is Oliver Stark. She said her roomie was a regular on 9-1-1 (dating back to s1) who was in every episode, was young (25-35), hot and unmarried. Oliver is the only guy that meets her stated criteria. Since she also said 2/3 of her LGBTQ+ roomies are closeted (and the 3rd is out), what's she implying about Oliver? Who outs close friends? It'd be horrifying, if it wasn't ALL LIES.
I’m just looking through some posts and found a bunch referring to her roommates as “L” and “A” -no mention of the 3rd one but I know she has claimed 3 in the past. I found this post about “L” calling her baby and clearly flirting so IDK what she is claiming with this. 
She says she is staying in the mansion of the wealthy roommate so here we have mention of the hot gardener (as an aside, how many WalMart and Sam’s club stores are there in 90210-ok I looked the nearest Sam’s club is almost 40 actual miles which in LA is 3000 miles; WalMart is only 10 miles. I used “90210″ so super generic and I’m not sure that is where she claimed she lived- but the rich dude who owns the huge home and drives a BMW SUV he freely let’s random model/actor/influencers use isn’t driving 40 miles to Sam’s Club to save on chicken salad.) 
La chronicles: I was tricked.
L: baby, I’m running to the store, wanna go?
Me: nope I’m staying here and salivate over this fan fiction and the gardener…. Whichever goes shirtless first.
A: *barks out a laugh* don’t molest the gardener.
Me: who me?
L: come on baby..
Me: noooooo. Sex and intrigue.
A: *Snorts*
L: I’m going to that little organic place you love…..
Me: chicken salad????? With the sprouts.?????
L: yep yep.
Me: okay!!.
A: have fun
Me: *running out the door shouts back* tell me if he gets nnnneeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkiiiiidddddddddd
L: BABY!!!
Me: what? He knows he is hot….
………….……….……..
(Thirty minutes later.)
Me: the fuck is this?
L: I said I needed to go to the store….
Me: no oo you said organic grocery…
L: yeah and I’ll get your chicken salad after we stock up.
Me…………..
Me……….
Me: but that’s sams
L: pretty and brains
Me: but but ….. only place worse to be on Saturday is hell mart!!!! I don’t wanna go in there..its gonna take forever
L: suck it up buttercup
Me: I was fucking tricked.
L: lead by the tummy…….
More about “L” who is apparently famous enough to have fanfiction about himself which he can readily find.  .  
Watching Nomie
Youd be surprised who visits tumble land.
L loves reading fan fiction about himself (he says he gets more game online than he ever does in real life) and tumbler. 😂🤣🤣😂😂😂. He has a ridiculous fascination sharing gifs of himself. he’s a goober. They crack him up.
Below is her post about how she was bearding and had to hide “A” -is he her  boyfriend of husband now she is hiding him along with her kids. Her kids were never living in CA that I ever read.  They were in South Carolina she occasionally talked about being separated from her teenage kids but that it was her time now and her career was important. She would write about being in LA most of the time-cryptic parties and work posts- and going back and forth to SC though she rarely posted from SC- except during one of the hurricanes.
Anonymous asked:
Hmmm ok I'm slightly intrigued maybe u do get it But most probably you don't Have you ever given up and gave away something you shouldn't have because you thought it was for the best and that guilt just fucking eats away at you every day I have lied to everyone even my family to hide something I didn't even know about The work was more important and I would have sold my soul to get what I wanted I just don't know now if any of it was worth it and tbh I don't think the big guys even think it
answered: Yeah.
I had to hide my kids for two years when I first got back heavily into modeling and switching back to acting. Was also bearding. Because I look so much younger than I am, they were afraid it would show negatively work wise. Also they didnt want questions about A and the minis. (I’m still cast as characters ten years younger than the actress that usually plays my mother. Its the cheeks and the voice).
One day I fucked up and mentioned my kids and it got in print when they were talking about fashion week. A was cool about it. But it resulted in a huge move for the minis and the whole family had to adjust. Mine and his.
There are other times I purposely fuck up. Because you just get sick of juggling. Other times its an honest mistake and then you deal with the shit and move on.
So now she and “A” have minis (kids) and they had to move. I’m not sure what the hell she is trying to spin here but clearly he isn’t the platonic roommate hanging out in LA. 
I found posts tonight where she claimed she has two friends in Hollywood who are gay and came out and one friend who slammed the closet door so hard it shook after he got an important role. 
I had no idea about Oliver- good sleuthing. 
She claims she’s pan and that gives her permission to say rude and misogynistic things 
Anonymous asked:
Who is gonna tell Darr/en he looks like M/ia's "best gay" in most of the pictures of them together where they are supposed to look in love? Especially the ones from last night lol
Just ya typical queer (I’m pan so imma say that). With his beardy.
Or hag. Whatever term ya wanna use.(X)
She HATED MIa...called her Amelia and wrote incredibly offensive-downright hateful-posts about Mia under the pseudonym The Ghost- who just happened to call her Amelia. Anons would ask Disneyprincess question for The Ghost and Disney would either answer them on The Ghosts behalf or claim she would relay the message/ask The Ghost. Yeah right. She even wrote fanfiction under that pseudonym. It was super bad -sentence structure, plot development, and character development were all grossly missing. It was basically BWP (bullying without plot). The stories are gone now- I have scoured the web looking for them.  I could kick myself for not saving some of them...if anyone has one, I'd love to see it.  The plot line of one was Mia ordering Darren around her office telling him she had complete control over him while he coward in front of her.  Darren meekly declared he would win in the end, but Mia just kept ordering him around. 
These are kinds of posts who would make about Hollywood -keep in mind there was nothing before this post that make it understandable- I'm not exaggerating when I say this was typical: 
Nomie party
You did????? When? Was I annoyingly perky or in professional mode??
That’s freaking awesome. We must have lunch.
Didn’t post the ask cause that was too many details on that party. 😂😂 already been in trouble thanks.
Glad I’m not the only one that thought he is an ass.
Anonymous asked: (X)
When did you see them out? Details
Can’t really say where I was as it included what I was doing and with whom. But it was here after the first of the year
I already posted this but it bears repeating- she, like Abby, won’t give away all their secrets aka they won’t give specifics (X)
Anonymous asked: 
there is evidence of Wll and aash kissing in the clubbbb?!!!!!!!
That I can’t tell you. I know I’ve never taken a picture cause why would I? but I mean folks do snap pictures when folks are out and folks get things in background photos that people prefer not be seen publicly.
However I will say if you do some digging, there are a lot more cuddled up w/a pictures out there. One just needs to have the time and be invested enough to look.
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Book Club, Part 3: #JUSTICE FOR JUDGE SHARON
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Welcome back to BOOK CLUB, our four-part book club about the movie Book Club (2018). Catch up on last week’s installment here: I’d Do Anything for Love (Especially if I Were in Love with Mary Steenburgen). We’re back this week to talk about Diane Keaton’s least favourite friend.  
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R2: She only dresses well after her friends buy her new clothes, though. They buy her clothes and that’s why Jane Fonda has an ugly wig, like it’s punishment for helping Judge Sharon. R1: It just happens magically, like when she pays for the clothes the wig appears on her head and she can’t take it off. R2: And Diane appears in a puff of extravagant black ponchos and goes, You know what you did, Jane, you know. R1: She doesn’t get anything! R2: Let Judge Sharon have fun! She doesn’t even have a house. Does she have a bed? She has to fuck people in her car. R1: Yeah! What was that! R2: Yeah! Mary and Mr. Incredible get to get on a motorcycle and drive home to their house to have nice elderly sex on their comfortable bed. What does Judge Sharon have? Hook-ups in her car! R1: And anytime there’s a scene where she’s at work it’s interrupted by her getting Bumble notifications.
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R2: Which really only adds to the tragedy of this character, because everyone else is adept at technology either because they’re Jane Fonda and they’re, like, savvy, or because they have children who can teach them how to use technology. R1: Meanwhile, Judge Sharon is on her own, pressing buttons wildly, trying to figure it out, taking accidental selfies. R1: I did really love the picture of her with her glasses backwards, though. That was good. R2: I was thinking, would I swipe yes on a lady who had that going for her? And I think yes.  R1: Oh, absolutely.  R2: It shows that she’s funny, has a great sense of humour. I also initially thought it was just a gag, like ‘Oh haha she’s old and can’t take a photo’ and the next time we see her she has a date, so I assumed she finally figured out how to get her nice, federal headshot in but no! R1: No! It was just that photo, because on the date, he’s like, ‘You look great without your mask.’ R2: So she’s just kept her face mask photo. Anyway, I thought her plotline would give her, like, string of great car sex - R1: But it’s one guy! And then on the next Bumble date she runs into her ex-husband and his new, much younger fiancee while she’s on a date with someone uncool and her age. And it gets worse! Because then Judge Sharon gets invited to her son and ex-husband’s joint engagement party, which is a horrifying concept.  R2: Diane Keaton is merciless. R2: So she’s not going to get the fun, modern woman with a penchant for car sex plotline. Fine. Then I thought maybe she’d get a younger but more age-appropriate, handsome man. Or she’d show up with him to the party and be like ‘haha screw you family,’ but no, when the day of the party arrives, she just corrects them on their Shakespeare. And we see her son -- R1: Who looks like a terrible person, by the way.  R2: He looks like a baby who goes to the gym. A really burly baby with horrible, horrible flaxen hair R1: His hair colour looks fake. It doesn’t look like a real colour. R2: It looks like Judge Sharon’s hair colour, but hers is faded and maybe dyed a bit? There’s no reason he should be sporting that light Betty White as Rose Nylund Blonde. I’d cut him out of my life too.  R1: She doesn’t get to show up her gross ex-husband or bland son. Instead, her happily ever after is supposed to be that first guy from Bumble. Who, don’t forget, is an accountant, which is another layer to the tragedy, because we’ve already established that accountants are evil in their universe. Diane Keaton’s lacklustre late husband was also an accountant. It’s a bad thing to be. 
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R2: Her happy ending is that, after this horrible joint engagement party, she rematches with him on Bumble! Can you imagine that as your happily ever after? R1: I feel ripped off on her behalf. R2: And then she’s like, ‘Oh, I’m going to need a bigger backseat.’ What?? Get a bed! R1: Why doesn’t she have a bed?? Go anywhere else! R2: Diane Keaton has locked up her bed! She’s stolen the bed, taken it to Arizona, and locked it up in her basement dungeon. R1: Or, like, Judge Sharon, last time she did something egregious, like skipping a friend date with Diane Keaton to, god forbid, do her job -- she’s the only one of the four who behaves this unreasonably -- last time she did this, her bed just disappeared in a cloud of smoke and was never seen again. So now she has to sleep in the back of her car. R2: I believe that Diane Keaton is a real-life wizard. She dresses the part. Or she goes home and she’s typing in her Word doc in size 20 font and starts typing the next chapter of her fanfiction, “And then Candice no longer had a bed. She will never sleep again. That jerk.” R1: I guess that leaves us with the question of why Judge Sharon/Candice is the most hated friend who gets NOTHING in Diane’s fanfic. R2: Did Candice Bergen ever rob Diane Keaton of a coveted role? Did Sharon poison Diane’s husband? What did she do? I have to know. Someone get on this.
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Please join us for next week’s book club (about Book Club). We will be discussing Jane Fonda and lesbian vampires.  
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thelapismoon · 6 years
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MCSM S2 E4 Commentary
Wow I have forgotten what this episode even was about. *whispers* I actually never finished watching a playthrough so I guess I'll see some knew stuff. Heh. I'm scared. I managed to get changed, get my food, update my tumblr, and this thing is only 55% complete. HOW LONG IS THIS EPISODE? 
Quite funny that I've already said this much stuff and the episode hasn't even completed downloading. I wonder who actually ever reads this? Sorry about not writing my commentary for the last episode. I just didn't want to stop the episode every three seconds to write. Speaking of that, I might just paused every ten minutes to write. Huh. Thank god it's at 83%. I'm worried. This soundtrack, oml. It's finally done downloading. See you on the other side. Is Radar the narrator now? Admin, Admin, let me like you. I want more Warden interactions. Oh look at this awful frame rate- that's my fault Wait I forgot that I gave in and became a guard. Nurm, I love you. Warden didn't deserve to die. This lighting tho. 10/10. Radar, if you're trying to make me feel bad, it's not working. Nurmie-hurmie, I could never leave you behind, dear. Please don't hurt Xara, telltale. That facial expression. NGHHH FEELS. *singing* Holy shiet. Radar you better be careful because I won't hesitate. Nurm can I hug you? I feel like if that was actual minecraft logic, that jump would've killed us. ITS H I M I love this music, reminds me of some old western but.. dorky. Baby zombie. Tag urself, I'm Xara. NURM. Don't cry.. Let me wipe the tears away, you poor soul. Nghh Jack and Nurm are a perfect couple. If something happens to EITHER of them, I'm gonna throw some hands. You sure that isn't just a carpet..? I haven't played minecraft in like three years so.. Poor Xara. Wtf is wrong with you guys?! Um... NO I DO CARE!! Can I lay down next to you? Well.. Bye? OH NO I SUCK AT FIGHTING. Oh my gosh, this is the first time I survived in one try. Yees. R A D A R. I swear to Persson... Hm. NGHHHH I'm only going to do this because if I don't, Nurm is gonna cry. And I refuse to let. Nurm. Cry. Argh. You're all ungrateful swines. Who is that? Hm. I want to draw her. OH shoot my iPad is at 5% power. "1 night in Fred's house"? That sounds extremely CONVENIENT. Hello, Binta. You look... Nice. *cough* Everyone here seems.. Off. Oh hi Kent. Bye Kent. Gonna just... Slowly walk away. Lapis blue..? *cackles because you must know by now* Wow, good job, Jesse. You just ruined the moment. Can't wait for that to be a running gag no one will stop talking about for two weeks. *sigh* I can't stop thinking about Star Wars right now... Ngh.. F o c u s. Wow I'm actually really proud of this. Oh look, I won. Well now I feel bad. Me and my darn feelings.. WAIT THEY WERE PRETTY CAN I- Argh. I don't like these people. <<nothing much until the Ivor fight because there wasn't much to say>> Doodle doodle doo everything is nice and calm POTION. NGHHHH!!! Oh shiet I don't have a sword. I have a feeling I know who it is <<well of course I do>> Welp, honey, If you gotta kill me, at least I'll know my favorite character of all time did it to me. Hope this stains your conscious, Ivor. Ivor, my love, you're back! <<me the first time I saw him, YES. OH MY GOD. YES. YES!!! HES BACK! HES BACK! ARGHHHH! HES BACK! AHAAAA!>> My sweet alchemist, let me hug you on behalf of my friend and just because I love you so very much. I totally wasn't writing fanfiction about you two hours ago :,)) AGHHH. Ivor, can I just hug you for the rest of eternity? Oh my god I think I'm going to start crying. He looks... Slightly off... CAN YOU HEAR THAT? THOSE CHORDS!!! Those are IVOR'S theme. ACK I love him. Oh wait yeh, ninja, I have questions... Shiet, Ivor. You punched a forest worth of trees? Add that to my scar-headcanon-list. I can't believe they made Ivor the karate kid When his voice gets really deep and husky oh my lord... You know who I'm thinking of.. *looks at you Zoe* Can I hug you? Sweet old man I love you. Harper? Where IS Harper? *hack* where is Soren also? Mmmmm I'm getting all these good vibes now I gotta drop some stuff in the Ivor askbox once I'm done. Darn I wanted the old order to come back :( If Ivor.. shows some type of question of authority towards the admin... Oh my.. "Disappear", hm? Wait.. Okay Ivor's voice ;v; What if Ivor actually killed Jesse? I'd like to read a fic about THAT. Ivor is whispering, I can hug him, he's being witty! everything I could ever want is happening. Ivor's voice lines are my Christmas present. I love you, Ivor. Oh my gosh he looks so short next to Petra. NO DONT GO. Actually. Wait. DO go, If the admin suspects anything of you or even dares to TOUCH you, I will lose my god dang  m i n d Ivor Ivor Ivor. Farewell, my beloved... Okay I'm sorry you all had to see that. I thought I had hallucinated ninja Ivor at first tbh. Well now what? I don't even really wanna play after that.. Argh, I gotta finish this or else I won't be able to play the new episode tomorrow. Stay strong, Lapis. Weren't these two people based off of the great British baking show hosts? I love that show. And now I'm craving cake. Ugh I don't wanna fight in there, don't you know that I suck at fighting? Argh. I wanna read some fic now. Horrifying, hm? I know exactly what I'm gonna do... Okay well that was definitely PG-13 We're gonna forget that ever happened. Heh. *coughs* Hmm.. I'm gonna choose "please don't hit me". RADAR! PUT A SHIRT ON! You're a CHild! Well I just deleted all of the commentary after this so.. *insert distant screeching* Ooo Radar's feet I feel mildly bad about that.. LEVEL SIX HUNDRED?! Boy I don't have TIME for that! Wait WHAT?! Sweet J E S U S. AAA WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!! *panicked screaming* Aaaaaand now I'm dead. Darn. Okay... Oh my gosh that golemn death scene! I smell some foreshadowing.. Romeo.. Death by water? I should keep my mouth shut. That was sick, man. There's MORE?! That's it, I want this to END. Wow that attention to detail.. Me and my darn Romeo-loving-heart. There has to be SOME type of redemption. They could do so much with him... Tbh my friends think I'm crazy because of how I like Romeo but ARGH I like villains, okay?! "Just kids" just started playing INSIDE THE CABIN and now I wanna flip onto Romeo's bed and cry. NGHHH MY FEELS!!!!!!!!!! The music just synced up perfectly. *sigh* I relate to Petra too much.. I want to burst out crying now, this hit too close to home! Petra has never been my favorite character but I can relate to her on a spiritual level. Man I came to have a good time and now I'm feeling personally attacked. AND THIS SAD MUSIC ISN'T HELPING Potato451? Hmm Potato backwards is Otatop. Top? Ota.. Obsidian? Top? The top? Top of the world? The sky? I'm probably taking this way too outta context. OUCH. ma feels. ... Just kids. IS SHE CRYING?! OH MY GOD CAN I ALSO CRY???? Wait this is changing my story? Oh god what have I done? <<later>> Hello, Xara, darling. What exactly did she "repair"? Have a bed, forget my hypocrisy. Wait.. where did she go? FIGHTING argh. Wow I'm alive. Hey Jack. Oh yeh I was gonna go back and save his eye. ..can I do that? I hope that wouldn't corrupt my save file. Okay.. Oh no radar or Fred's people? Radar... I'll see you on the other side. I have a bad feeling about leaving him. But it's his time to shine, and I won't take it from him. The order's temple.. WHO DARES GIVE ME THESE F E E L S?! Nurm just jumped into Jack's arms, everything is going swell- *sees Beacontown* Oh fuuuuu WAIT NO DONT YOU DARE CUT OFF RIGHT NOW!!! Oh my gosh it's Jack's lament. 50% 50% on the scavenger deal, hm. 51% won? That contest was easy. 32% promised to stay with Petra 50% on giving Xara her bed 51% took Fred's friends MMM JACK YOUR BEAUTIFUL VOICE. I listen to that song everyday. LUKAS NOOOOOOO N O NOPE NOOOOOOOOOO LUKASSSSSSSSSSS ARGHHHHHGHHHHHHG I'm lucky that the next episode comes out in 22 hours, wow I'm late. Toodle loo until tomorrow, dears!
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katelides · 6 years
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This is a part 2 of One Shot 12
BeChloeIsLegit - Did anyone ask for a followup to this one? Like, who were the texts from that Chloe got? Why were they sent?
I just need more. . . .Thanks!
Hope you enjoyed this and if you have more prompts please let me know :D
I feel so bad about not posting for a few days but it’s been really busy and I had a few bad days so writing hasn’t been easy so SORRY for the wait but I’m back :)))
One Shot 19
“See you on Monday Luke.” The British DJ smiles at the grumpy brunette and waves her out the door. “See you later Becky.” Beca rolls her eyes. “Hey Beca… Luke.” Jesse just arrived for his shift. “Jesse great you’re here, could you grab me some lunch?” The brunette boy’s face falls. “Have fun.” Beca shouts behind her in a mocking voice.
Beca laughs to herself about how ridiculous the two boys could be at time but her attention quickly changes when she sees a flash of red running towards her usual spot underneath the tree. A smile forms on her face when she recognizes who the flash of red belonged to. Beca tries to get Chloe’s attention by waving but she doesn’t notice her.
The brunette makes her way towards the tree and sees the always bubbly girl wipe away tears. This of course alarms her and she runs towards Chloe. The minute she reaches her she doesn’t even get a chance to say anything because the redhead turns around with a huff and walks away. “Hey Chlo wait up… Chloe? Chloe!”
Beca stops Chloe from walking away by running in front of her and placing her hands on the redhead’s shoulders. “Leave me alone Beca.” Chloe tries to wriggle free but Beca won’t let her. “Chloe please talk to me. “Why can’t you just back off! You’re not the only one allowed to be grumpy! Go dethatch yourself from the world like you always do! ” Beca is shocked to say the least but she doesn’t let it phase her. So she does the one thing that always calms Chloe down when she’s in a bad mood.
She wraps the older Bella in her arms and holds her as tight as she can. At first the redhead struggles but soon mimics the motions and holds on to Beca for dear life, crying her eyes out. Beca keeps whispering soft, loving words into her ear and she calms down slightly. She doesn’t let go any time soon and Beca doesn’t seem to mind at all. They both lost track of time and have no idea how long they’ve been standing underneath the tree.
Chloe’s stomach reminds them both that food is a necessity and it makes the two girls chuckle lightly. “Let’s get some take-out and go back to our apartment. Oh yes, Chloe moved in with Beca. It was an easy decision and Beca’s father didn’t mind since Chloe was the one to convince Beca to join the Bellas and open up. It’s a two bedroom apartment anyway but not that they use the second one. They had started officially dating shortly after the cat ‘incident’ so it was inevitable.
“Can we get pizza?” Chloe asks with a sore voice. “Anything you want, I’ll text the Bellas to let them know we won’t come to movie night today so we can cuddle.” Chloe smiles slightly and nods. She hates ditching on her friends but today she couldn’t handle the Bellas. “Can we get ice-cream too?” Beca chuckles at the adorable redhead. “You read my mind, Beale.” The brunette cups Chloe’s cheeks and wipes away the smudged mascara before kissing the tip of her nose.
“Are you ready to go?” Beca asks carefully. “Yeah uhm but could you… please don’t let go?” The fragile sounds breaks Beca’s heart. Whatever happened must be really bad. “Sure baby.” Beca swings her laptop bag over her shoulder and takes Chloe’s bag in her right hand. She quickly turns so Chloe is on her left so she can drape her arm around the older girl. The redhead takes her hand and intertwines their fingers.
-,-,-,-,-
Beca watches Chloe curled up on the couch in her pajamas, fluffy slippers and Fizzle next to her. She had called the Bellas to let them know they weren’t going to make it because Chloe didn’t feel well. The group seemed to understand and wished Chloe well.
“Hey baby? Do you maybe want the ice-cream?” The redhead hadn’t eaten much of the pizza. She barely got one piece through and then curled up into Beca’s side until she got thirsty. Of course the brunette immediately jumped up to do whatever it takes to take care of her girlfriend. She would always do that, just like Chloe is always there for her.
“Uhhmm maybe later?” Chloe sits up slightly. “Alright, let me know and I’ll get the tub from the freezer.” Chloe lets out a sigh. “I’m sorry.” Beca puts down the bottles of water she brought from the kitchen. “What are you sorry for?” The brunette picks up her girlfriend’s feet and sits down on the couch placing them on her lap. “I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Don’t worry about it baby. We all have bad days.” Chloe takes her legs of off Beca’s lap crossing her before her while sitting up. “No I should have talked to you instead of snapping.” She looks down, terrified to look her girlfriend in her eyes. “Chlo, honey please look at me because what I’m about to say is really important and I want to make sure you hear me.” Beca cups Chloe’s chin with her thumb and index finger.
Their eyes lock and a warmth spreads through Chloe. Beca’s warm and genuine smile make her realize how lucky she truly is. The brunette will never make her feel uncomfortable or force her to say or do anything. She’s the perfect person and right now she doesn’t deserve her at all. How could she have been so cruel to the best thing in her life. Beca’s voice brings her back and she listens intently.
“I don’t know what happened today and you don’t have to tell me. I just want you to know that no matter how much you push me away I’ll keep coming back. That’s a promise I intend to keep for the rest of my life. I’d rather you voice your frustrations than keep it all inside, it’s not a great option. Trust me when I say that I love you and I’m in it for the long game, that means good and bad times.”
The soft meow coming from the tiny kitten makes the brunette stop talking with a laugh. “You see, even Fizzle agrees.” This comment cracks Chloe up and they share a short but light hearted laugh. But soon the redhead’s face turns serious. “He’s been texting again.” Beca’s eyes widen in shock. “W-why didn’t you tell me?” Chloe shakes her head. “I thought I could handle it but it has gotten worse.”
Tears start spilling from Chloe’s eyes and Beca tries wiping them away. “I-I should h-have told you but I d-didn’t want to worry you.” Beca wraps her arms around her girlfriend letting her cry once again. Anger boiling inside of her because a jerk was hurting Chloe. The sweetest, most caring human being to ever exist.
“When I find out who is doing this to you, he or she will pay big time.” Beca pulls Chloe closer if that’s even possible. Fizzle found its way between the  two girls and is purring against them. “Chlo?” The redhead hums to acknowledge the brunette. “Maybe it’s time to tell the Bellas? Maybe one of them knows the number?” The older Bella lets out a long sigh. “You’re right, maybe I should.” Beca lets go of Chloe and reaches for her phone on the table.
*Phone Call*
Stacie: “Hey Beca, what’up? You’re on speaker by the way.”
Beca: “Hey Stace, can you and the Bellas come to our place? We need an emergency Bella meeting ASAP.”
Stacie: “What happened? Is everything ok?”
Beca: “I think it’s better to explain when you’re all here but it’s about Chloe and she needs all our support right now.” The brunette flashes a warm, loving smile at Chloe who is petting Fizzle.
Stacie: “We’ll be there soon, the girls are all upstairs getting ready to go.”
Beca: “Thanks, see you soon.”
Stacie: “Hey Beca?”
Beca: “Yeah?”
Stacie: “You’re a great friend.”
Beca: “Ok don’t get mushy on me now Conrad, get your ass over here.”
Stacie: “I can get that arranged in multiple ways.” Beca cringes at the insinuation.
Beca: “Alright you weirdo, see you later.”
Stacie: “Bye.”
*End Phone Call*
-,-,-,-,-
The Bellas slowly make their way into the living room and see Chloe on the couch with her legs crossed, a blanket draped over her and Fizzle in her lap. Beca is the last one to enter after making sure everyone got inside. Beca sits down next to Chloe putting her right arm around her and patting Fizzle with her left hand.
“I don’t want to sound pushy but what’s going on?” Stacie asks carefully seeing the two curled up and Chloe with a sad face. “No it’s ok, we asked you guys to come over because we have a problem and maybe you could help us out?” Beca starts looking at Chloe while talking, making sure she was still ok with it. The nod she receives urges her to go on. “So Chloe has been getting weird texts for a while now and we don’t know who it is.” The Bellas stay quiet for a moment but it doesn’t last long. “What’s he been sending our ginger?” Fat Amy asks on behalf of everybody else. Chloe’s eyes drop down and even Beca seems to get worried. She had seen some of the previous texts but recent ones remained a mystery to her and judging by her girlfriend’s reaction it’s a good thing.
Beca takes her arm away and gets up from the couch. “Beca? Where are you going?” The brunette ignores her girlfriend and disappears into the hallway but returns soon after. “Why didn’t you show me this.” Tears are threatening to spill from Beca’s eyes reading something on Chloe’s phone. “Beca don’t…” Beca cuts her off quickly. “No Chloe this is borderline crazy… why?”
Chloe shakes her head. “I couldn’t be bothered.” Beca sits down with a sigh. “Chloe the things this person has been sending are cruel.” The rest of the Bellas now very interested to know what’s in the messages. “This guy is harassing you.” Stacie can’t take it and snatches the phone out of Beca’s hands. Her face drops immediately and reads few of the messages out loud.
Why do you even exist?
You're weird  and you get in the way of where I'm looking.
Stop being weird and stop being happy.
Stop being who you are. Or I'm gonna put my foot in your weird, stupid face.
Some gasps are heard and soft sobs come from Chloe. Beca is up from the couch pacing through the room angrily. “Chloe how long has this been going on?” Beca stops abruptly and turns to face the girls. “A few months.” Chloe says in a hushed voice. “Does anyone recognize the number?” Beca asks through gritted teeth but no one does.
“I know a way I can find out.” Beca looks at Lilly. “Anything you need?” The Bellas stare at the extremely angry brunette as if she’s crazy. After all this time Beca is still the only one who can hear Lilly. “A laptop.” Beca runs out of the room and returns with her laptop and hands it to the Asian girl. It takes her a few minutes but she quickly finds what she’s looking for turning the laptop to reveal who the mystery texter is.
Before anyone can react Beca storms out of the apartment leaving Chloe screaming her name to come back. But to no avail. “Chloe go get dressed, Lilly, Jessica, Ashley and I will follow Beca and you follow when you’re ready.” The redhead doesn’t hesitate and goes to her room to get changed while the named Bellas quickly get out to follow their captain.
-,-,-,-,-
Beca is running as if her life depends on it. The bastard that did this to Chloe will pay. She knows the way too well because she had picked Chloe up multiple times from the place in tears. She hated that guy so much for hurting Chloe and now she was going to get revenge. She reaches the apartment building in record time and sees one of Tom’s neighbors walk out. “Hey is Tom in?” Beca asks as politely as she can. “No, he’s at the bar.” Beca thanks the girl and goes into the right direction.
The Bellas follow the petite brunette while Stacie shoots Chloe a text of their new direction. When they reach the bar Stacie send one final text before bursting into the bar after Beca. She’s just in time to see Beca march up to the tall brunette boy slapping him across the face. Tom gets up angrily. “What the fuck you midget… what’s your deal?” Beca just glares at the guy.
“You’re a filthy bastard, how could you do that to Chloe?” Tom look confused. “What are you talking about?” Beca scoffs. “You’ve been harassing her for months, we know it’s you.” A sly smirk forms on tom’s face. “You have no proof midget.” Beca lunges forward hitting him against his jaw. Tom falls back slightly but finds his footing quickly attacking Beca.
Since Tom is much taller and stronger than Beca she gets thrown back by a blow to her ribs falling to the ground with a loud thud. Beca doesn’t seem fazed at all and gets up ignoring the pain. She grabs Toms shirt and pushes him back against the bar but Tom quickly turns the tables on her slamming her against the bar. A loud grunt comes from Beca and Tom laughs.
“You little bitch have nothing on me.” Tom hits Beca with a right hook and the brunette lets out a loud squeak when the blow hits her. “As long as I’m alive I’ll keep protecting Chloe.” Beca spits into Tom’s face which only angers him more. He manages to hit Beca one more time against her ribs before being pulled off by Jesse and Benji followed by the rest of the Trebles and Bellas.
“Don’t you dare touch her again.” Chloe shouts before slapping Tom and running to check on Beca who is doubled down on the floor clutching her ribs. “Beca a-are you ok? Of course you’re not… oh my gosh you’re bleeding….” Beca stops Chloe’s rambling by weakly throwing her arms around her. “I’m fine Chlo, I’m fine.”
The couple’s attention gets drawn by Tom shouting at the Trebles to let him go. “If you ever come near any of us or if you ever text any of us again we won’t be nice anymore.” The Trebles kick Tom out of the bar followed by loud cheers from all the bystanders. “How did they get here?” Beca asks while trying to get up with the help of Chloe. “I called Jesse on my way here and explained what happened.
Beca looks over at Jesse and flashes him a grateful smile. “Let’s get some ice for you.” Beca looks at Chloe with a smile. “That would be great.” Flo runs over to help Chloe to keep Beca upright but it seems a lost cause because the brunette faints soon after. Jesse sees this happen and runs towards the girls. “Hey let me help.” The Treble picks Beca up bridle style and carries her to Chloe and Beca’s apartment.
-,-,-,-,-
Chloe watches Beca sleep while holding an ice pack against her jaw. A short time later the brunette twitches slightly and wakes up slowly. “Hey Becs, how are you feeling?” Chloe asks in a whisper. The loud grunt she receives as a response when Beca tries to get up tells her all she needs. Chloe quickly helps Beca sit up and pulls up Beca’s shirt to check the damage. “Shit Beca how hard did he hit you?”
“Don’t worry about it Chlo.” The redhead shakes her head. “Why are you like this.” Beca shrugs with a smile. “You can’t change me Beale, I am who I am.” Chloe chuckles lightly. “Do you need anything?” Beca shakes her head. “I only need you.” Beca waves Chloe over and the redhead quickly cuddles into her side. Fizzle seems to have a sense for cuddle session because soon he’s up on the bed nuzzled between the two girls.
Chloe listens to Beca’s steady heartbeat and the kitten’s slow purring. It makes her feel safe and happy, in moments like this she imagines how their future could be. And then it hits her, the words Beca had spoken to her a few hours back run through her head. Trust me when I say that I love you and I’m in it for the long game, that means good and bad times. Chloe quickly sits up startling both Beca and the kitten.
“Chlo what’s wrong?” Beca wants to sit up even more but the pain in her chest stops her before leaning down kissing her passionately. When they break apart Beca has to ruin the moment by speaking. “what was that for?” The redhead smiles brightly and has tears in her eyes. “I-I love you too.” Beca lets out a breath. “You did hear that huh.” Chloe nods and leans back down capturing the brunette’s lips again until a soft meow comes from between them.
They let out a laugh smiling down at the blue eyed kitten. “We love you too Fizzle.” Chloe picks up the kitten placing it on Beca’s stomach and nuzzling into her side with a huge smile. This was the very first time they had said the big L to each other and now they look like the perfect family but instead of a baby they have a cute kitten and maybe kids will come one day. Beca is pretty sure about that, her grandmother’s engagement ring is hidden away in her closet waiting for them to finish college and start a new chapter of their lives.
I DO NOT OWN PITCH PERFECT!
FOLLOW ME ON TUMBLR FOR SNEEK PEAKS FOR UPCOMING CHAPTERS – katelides
Let me know what you think, feedback is always fun to have :D
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septembercfawkes · 7 years
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Fixing the Mary Sue Character in Your Story
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The term "Mary Sue" started in fanfiction, back when someone wrote a Star Trek story that had a character with that name, but a Mary Sue can pop up in original fiction too. Really, she can pop up anywhere. But she hardly ever pops up in published fiction or professional fiction--because she often bars those works from those markets. So if you've only ever read books you can buy off a bookshelf, you may have never meet her.
"Mary Sue" is a derogatory term for a particular (yet reoccurring) character type that many beginning writers write about. But she's a problematic and poor character for several reasons. A lot of people may have different definitions for what "Mary Sue" means, and there are different subcategories for different types.
Probably the most common Mary Sue is the one that is inexplicably talented at everything, falls in love with a hunky guy or is related to a significant person, gorgeous, and embodies pure wish fulfillment. This sort of Mary Sue is what usually crops up in fanfiction, because she's inserted into an existing universe that the author already knows and loves.
However, as someone who edits unpublished, original fiction, the Mary Sue I often run into is a different type.
Does your female character embody these?
Is Your Character a Mary Sue?
Often she contributes almost nothing to the story or plot--and yet, everyone adores her. (Alternatively, she's insanely talented and every problem is ultimately solved easily by her--more common in fanfiction.)
At some point, she might eventually be considered very valuable, by others or to the plot, but often it's a passive value. Something she just *is* instead of anything she does.
She's probably clumsy. Sometimes ridiculously so, as in, she can't even walk down the sidewalk or go down a couple of stairs without worrying she's going to fall. Bonus Mary Sue points if a male (usually a love interest or family member) comments on how klutzy she is and has to have her hold onto him just to walk somewhere. Extra bonus Mary Sue points if she falls in front of a cute guy or the love interest or when it would be most embarrassing (which, of course, is in front of a cute guy).
She doesn't see herself as beautiful, but somehow the author finds a way to convey to the audience that she is drop dead gorgeous without even trying.
She does nothing, but yet people feel sorry for her and her problems. These are often problems she makes little to no effort to fix, or problems she doesn't even consciously think about fixing or improving.
She needs a lot of saving--either from these problems, or because she's a helpless [insert character trait (hint: probably has to do with being a klutz)]
Often other characters (usually male) go out of their way to help her with her problems--and sometimes really out of their way, like they might miss the most important meeting of their career, a prestigious performance opportunity, their mom's birthday party, or work. Whatever they miss, one thing often holds true--it was more important than whatever the female character needed help with. It might be an injury she got while being clumsy or maybe she's just sad about school and how "hard" (hint: she has one of the easiest lives of all the characters) her life is, or maybe it's just that perennial problem that she has and has made zero effort to try to solve and/or would not have even been in to begin with if she weren't so darn passive. Whatever it is, people (friends, males, family, males (whoops, did I say "males" twice?)) inexplicably bend over backwards for her. Usually people--plural, not singular.
She probably cries more than any other character, even though many of the other characters have more significant things they could cry about. She cries sometimes over day-to-day challenges that the average person faces anyway. It might be over a problem she hasn't tried to fix or that she puts herself in (though the author never points those things out). For example, she might cry repeatedly over a school club she's a part of but hasn't bothered to leave. She probably cries on the behalf of other people too--people who don't even cry about their own problems.
She'll likely trip in the first 50 pages, but in a way that highlights and exaggerates her beauty.
If you took her out of the context of the story, you might realize she's actually kind of pathetic and passive, and yet, inexplicably, everyone STILL adores her.
Often she feels stupid or foolish, but the hottest guys fight over her (heaven knows why).
She's more romantically or sexually inexperienced than the love interest and worries about not knowing what she's doing and what he'll think. (Bonus points if she somehow ends up being the best thing he's ever had regardless.)
All in all, she just attracts a lot of male attention, whether it's romantic or brotherly or just male strangers in the street.
A lot of the time she's a wish-fulfillment character (traditionally, the author's wish fulfillment). This is why she's adored and hailed as the most important person in other people's lives and considered very special, even though she feels stupid, uncoordinated, and helpless; this is why she's actually gorgeous when she feels ugly; this is why people drop the most important moments of their personal lives to save or nurse her back to health.
The flaws she has are meant to be endearing and don't actually contribute to the main problems of the plot. They may exist, but are unimportant beyond the very surface of the story
She tends to be in "parent-child" relationships. This relationship can be exaggerated with her parents, but it often crops up in other relationships--whether it's from the best friend, love interest, or brother. Whatever the case, she's usually the "child" while the other person is her "parent" in the relationship. The "parent" is taking care of her, warning her, helping her, praising her, directing her--even though she's 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, or 23 years old. Whether or not she obeys, she listens to them and maintains her role of "child" in that relationship. In fact, she often seems utterly accepting of her "child" role.
Bonus Round (yes, there is more)
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She has a unique hair or eye color (in a story with fantasy or sci-fi elements, the colors may change or be unnatural compared to ordinary humans) and it's described in "I'm-trying-to-be-poetic" language (a.k.a. "purple prose"). Extra, extra bonus points if it takes at least five words to describe.
She has an unusual or rare name.
She's a stand-in for the author (an extended version of wish fulfillment), so that the author can live in this fictive universe. This is especially true for fanfiction. ("I wish I could go to Hogwarts and be in a relationship with Draco Malfoy")
She's a half-breed of some sort. Half-blood, half witch, half alien, half elf, half animal, were-dragon, (again, this is something that makes her special based on what she *is* and not what she does).
She discovers she has a familial bond with another character or discovers a family secret. Extra points if there is a tragic (often cliche) backstory.
While she might be uncoordinated or pathetic, in other versions she's unusually and unrealistically talented at just about everything--more things to further extents than anyone could realistically be that good at.
In the opening of the story, she's late to somewhere important. Extra points if it's her own fault, negligence, or because she slept in.
She may have over emotional reactions to things that don't merit such an emotional reaction. For example, she might yell at someone who is trying to help her or cry because her (ordinary) school day is "hard."
If you are sweating it out now, don't. I'm going to give you some tips that will help.
First off, an important point. Can a male character be a Mary Sue? Yes, but they are called a "Marty Stu" or a "Gary Stu." They may be a little different than a Mary Sue, particularly in the fact that they don't necessarily need a ton of female attention or a romantic plot line (though it's not uncommon to have a million girls falling all over him either). Just as a version of Mary Sue is that she is good at everything and that her flaws are meant to be endearing rather than real flaws, Marty Stu is often insanely good at everything too, and any flaws he might have might actually be cool or tough or likeable (like being overly arrogant). Marty Stu is not as common as Mary Sue though, and he's usually more tolerated in today's society, as his attributes are still often praised as the epitome of male-ness, while today's society finds many of the traits of Mary Sue to be offensive to women.
Not all of the Mary Sue Traits are Terrible
There are reasons this character type reappears over and over and over again--hundreds or thousands of times a year (most of them don't make it to the bookshelf or big screen, though both Bella from Twilight and Rey from The Force Awakens have been accused of each being a Mary Sue). It's because there are people who are attracted to those character traits. Not all the Mary Sue traits are bad, but together, they cause problems. Look at what kind of person those outlined features created. And yet everyone and their dog adores them? Love interests fight over them? It doesn't make sense. Look at how unrealistic that person is.
Many of these traits would be fine added to a more realistic, rounded character:
She's beautiful, but doesn't know it.
She has innate or inborn value
She's half human
She discovers a family secret
She's inexperienced
She's clumsy
None of these are inherently bad (though most of them are overused--especially the first and last in the list).
Wish fulfillment isn't innately bad either. There are loads of successful wish fulfillment characters and wish fulfillment stories. In fact, most if not all successful stories feed into some sort of wish fulfillment (that's usually why people pick up the book).
The Problems of the Mary Sue
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One of the main and common problems with the Mary Sue is that the relationship between her traits and how others treat and react to her, don't make a lot of sense.
If you knew a person in real life who cried regularly about her problems but did next to nothing about them, are you really going to miss your chance to break into a big acting career to go nurse her pathetic, fragile emotions? Probably not. (And if you are, aren't you just enabling that kind of mentality?)
If you knew someone who acted as the "child" in all her significant relationships, would you really look up to her?
If you were a love interest, would you really fight over a girl who is so passive she gives Bella Swan a run for her money?
If there was a girl who got scratched up from watching Aragon take on armies of orcs and Frodo almost die destroying the Ring, would we later compliment how brave she was?
No!
Sometimes what's unrealistic are the character traits themselves. In some cases they may even be contradictory. For example, she's incredibly clumsy but later in the scene she wins an athletic competition. Everyone tells her how beautiful she is, and she acts like she's hearing it for the first time . . . .every time. All the guys in the story have crushes on her, but she's shocked when the hot guy actually asks her out, and we learn she has no experience with guys (even though she's always wanted a boyfriend and every guy in the story ogles her). The other characters have lived through more trauma, but she subconsciously expects or hopes that they will nurse her insignificant problems.
If she has any flaws, they are portrayed as endearing or acceptable. As a society, do we really want to portray passivity and incompetence and uncoordination and child-like dependence as endearing? Acceptable? Now, I'm not saying you can't have a character who has these traits, but it's important to watch how they are handled, and the ideas that have already been established and perpetuated in entertainment (especially outdated entertainment).
By the way, it's completely possible to make your character endearing through other traits. In Harry Potter, in Harry's viewpoint in the sixth book, Hermione is described as endearing in passing because of her loyalty and faith in libraries and books. Intelligence and tenacity can be endearing, not passivity. Endearing comes from other characters knowing and appreciating a character's traits or personality.
Nursing the Mary Sue Back to Reality
The Mary Sue character isn't some gross, obscene character that only the most incompetent people write. She has a name because so many passionate writers have written her at some point. If you have a Mary Sue character, you're probably normal.
In an effort to fix the Mary Sue, some writers try to take her traits (some or all) to the far opposite, creating what is called an "Anti-Sue," which really isn't much better. I talked about this similar thing happening in my post The "Twins as Clones" Writing Epidemic, where in an effort to differentiate twin characters, the author tries to make them extreme opposites. This can be just as cartoony and unrealistic.
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If you really love your Mary Sue character and can't part with her, you are free to keep some of her traits and abilities. But in order to create a more rounded, likeable, believable character, you need to be her best friend, brother, love interest, or mysterious stranger that nurses her back to the real world--or at the least the real fiction world. Some of these things may seem straightforward when you start looking at them. If she's crying a lot, cut the crying. Excessive crying often happens in stories when the author is trying too hard to create sympathy for the character, instead of empathy. But true empathetic emotional power often comes from focusing on and rendering what causes those feelings rather than only on the feelings themselves. If everyone loves her inexplicably, change it. However, be careful not to make the only people who don't like her rude, unlikeable, and unsympathetic, which is another telltale of a Mary Sue in a story. Cut the clumsiness and give her a flaw that is more unusual. If she's passive, make her more active in the story and in solving problems. She can fail, fail, and fail again, but in her sphere of power, she should at least be trying, and if she's not, show us a clever reason why. For example, in M. Night Shyalaman's most recent movie, Split, the protagonist is a very passive, young female. But not only do we learn multiple reasons why she is so passive (and they're legitimate), but we see that in reality, she does have a plan, but it's quiet, subtle, and requires waiting for the perfect moment. If everyone bends over backwards for her, give the secondary and side characters their own lives, and moments where they chose their own lives over hers. Ultimately, though, perhaps the most effective way to nurse a Mary Sue is to brainstorm not broader, but deeper. Don't make her more broad by adding more and more things to her; instead, dig deeper and deeper into her psychologically and explore interesting inner thoughts, motivations, fears, and contradictions, and how those things manifest themselves outwardly and in the story. Brainstorm and brainstorm and brainstorm some more, because the cliches are always what come to mind first, and if there is one thing about nursing a Mary Sue to reality, it's moving beyond cliches.
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yunjiparkx · 6 years
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Get to know me tag 2.0 👀
Tagged by @jimiinnah 💕
- Appearance Short and really thin (my mom said i need to put on more weight but i think i am really fat lol). 153.5 cm, i wear glasses cause i can’t see without my harry potter glasses, long arms and legs but short/small body proportions. uhh i have thigh gaps and look a LOT like a nerd. born with a tan skin (like my dad💓), my eyes actually kinda big but bcs i always sleep late since i was a kid, panda eyes are one of me now, making my eyes look small and tired 24/7 of times. I have a resting bitch face so it makes me looks angry or upset most of the time ouo (if you guys see me in real life, you’ll hate me -seriously). my nose is kinda small??? I am plain; my friends said i’m like a piece of wood bcs “thin and have no ups nor the jibooty”. i have slightly thick lips and a small face :)
- Personality i love to make things over dramatic (cAPS ALL OVER THE PLACE), when i involved in a fight or someone makes me angry, i always forgive them (and all people i know) before i go to sleep every day. my expressions scream my emotions ouo i do get annoyed easily, i love dramas (yall see me reblogging dramas in the ji.k tag so 🤷‍♀️ ), when i was 12 i got a nickname ‘Princess Joker’ (we never knew a Harley Quinn) because i’m ‘funny’... but i’m not that funny now ouo NEXT i am really awkward, if you chat with me on tumblr... we will stop talking like in a month bcs i’m not good at making or keeping up with conversations (i am so sorry for everyone in my dm ;; thank you for taking your time to talk with me but in the end i just fckd it up and... we just don’t talk anymore :/ ) okay, but on a serious note, if you ever hit me up in the dm, i can chat for 2-3 days but to keep it for weeks? nope, sorry (i dont even chat with my best friends 🤷‍♀️ ) lastly, i think about someone actions when they did something bad(?) bcs i was once depressed, so i think i started to think any possible reasons if someone does bad things to other people just because i did bad things when my mind once messed up too
- Ability i have basic korean (still trying to learn so i can talk and understand more of the words but i can have a decent conversation👀) i can rap, sing (but a more average) and really love to dance. my studies are okay despite being a lazy ass and fangirling 24/7 a day (my mom said bcs i got my dad’s DNA eue that’s why i’m slightly smart but i don’t think i’m that smart like my classmates). I have basic editing skills; photos (real basic) and videos (this is decent meh) oh i know how to gifs too ^^ i can do arts that involve colors because i can’t draw well, but if i put my heart into it i can do some decent drawings.... i think... my mom said i’m an all-rounder (or in armys dictionary: Golden) except for any science related things (i still dont know why i am a pure science student wth) If i saw juniors that has any bts related merchandises, ill go straight up to them and shamelessly go “YO WHO’S YOUR BIAS?” 😂😂😂 i can counsel people apparently (it doesn’t look like it... but i can.. weirdly o.o) sometimes my prediction come true (sometimes ok) that is all i guess... idk anymore aaaaa i have 0 ability jahsgfdakshbcadjs oh wait- i can fangirl, and very good at it eue
- Relationships For now, married to my finals. if my results next year is the worse than my two big exams; we are getting a divorce on that very day
- Hobbies Read fanfictions, going through the ji.k tag on tumblr, watch youtube bcs i have no life, dance
- Experiences uhh sometimes i have panic attacks because i tend to overthink things(?)
- My Life All are great now💜  i’m happy even though there are some holes here and there, but i’m okay :)
- Random Things I had written fanfictions... but i’m not writing anymore. I’d done a graduation video on behalf of the school (aka the principal) for my batch for our graduation day and many of em’ got emotional esp me :’) i am really close with my brother but we don’t really look the same, so many people mistook us as a couple if we go out. I always number 5 in class during my exams. While writing this, i am actually watching Masterchef USA S3 because i just found out about Christine. The Librarians are the reason I continue being a librarian in my school. My first non-kpop group that i love genuinely is Fifth Harmony (since Worth It), now i still in love with my Camila; she’s a great artist, check her out💜 I don't use make up but i enjoy watching make up videos, km moments make me cry every single time, i really love Jeongguk; okbyeeee
Sorry for the delay💜💜💜 Thank you💜💜💜💜💜💜💜
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