#but yeah so she acts like i’m a poor person and she’s a tory

[khthepowerofmemories]

"I am the righteous hand of God, and I am the devil that you forgot" -Hell's Comin' With Me by Poor Man's Poison

So, I may have cheated a bit on this one. I had something that fit it perfectly already written, and my brain wasn't wanting to come up with anything else right now, so...have what was written with slight alterations.

Central character: Superbia (Akio turned Master of Masters)

Words: 747

(Superbia)

And so, they began traveling through the Keyblade Graveyard, looking for a sign, any sign that Ava was there, but found nothing. All the Keyblades without wielders, and nothing. All the deaths she had tried to avoid, and nothing.

Ava wasn’t here. But someone was.

Superbia held up a hand in front of Luxu as he saw Solace lowering himself to the ground before Luxu spotted him. “How the fuck did you find me so quickly?”

Solace raised an eyebrow. “I see that you’ve changed a bit.”

“Well, you did kill my other body.” Superbia knew he must act strong and strict. Not like Akio. Because he wasn’t. Couldn’t let himself be that again in this moment. “Not exactly sure how I’m back, but you know what? I don’t intend to cause any problems.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.”

“Oh? And I’m supposed to believe that you don’t intend to cause trouble either?”

“Master—” Luxu tried to interject.

“Solace. You won. This is your timeline. Can’t you just leave me alone? For once in my goddamn life?” He kept his voice harsh to hide the shakiness.

“Tell me, Nuisance of Nuisances—”

“Nice one!”

Solace glared. “Why should I risk things and leave you alive?”

“Simple. Because I intend to let you live. You should return the favor.” Superbia turned to start to leave.

As he anticipated, Solace was on him in an instant. He summoned a Keyblade—the one he h ad taken with him to the past. Huh. He’d need to make an upgrade—and blocked Solace’s attack, just barely. He hardly had the strength to do so.

Luxu shoved him out of the way and stood in front of him. “Solace, you’d really attack someone so injured?”

“He did kill me from behind last time,” Superbia said. “Luxu, move. I’ve got this.”

“No, Master. You said you weren’t going to do things alone.”

Solace laughed. “The Master of Masters, the Master of everything, has a weakness? In another person?” He scoffed. “I don’t have any clue what you were doing with Tori, but—”

Solace used a massive spell. Flare was charging. Luxu stumbled back, but Superbia stood strong in front of him. Solace tried to sneak behind while the spell charged. “Not this time,” Superbia said, dodging out of the way and knocking Solace over.

He lifted this sword to give a death strike…But, he hesitated. His heart faltered. And fear began to overtake him. He gripped his Keyblade tighter, but he wasn’t used to this arm. He barely managed to block the spell, but he couldn’t bring himself to raise the Keyblade against Solace. Still, he had Luxu blocked off.

“Master, let me out of here!” Luxu shouted.

Solace stared up at him, a look of shock of his own. “That…that fighting style. That…that voice…”

“Yeah. Makes you wanna kill me even more, doesn’t it?” Superbia knew his voice was mocking, but he was having trouble hiding the shaking.

Solace could have taken Superbia down in a snap—he knew it well. But there Solace was, staring in fear, a haunted expression. He made no attempts to move. “Akio…what did I do to you?”

Superbia’s teeth clenched, tears of fear burning his eyes. “You took everything from me, Solace. Even my name. But no more.” He strengthened the grip on his Keyblade. “Maybe you forgot about me. Maybe you thought I was gone, not your problem anymore—but I’ve lived my life all in revenge against you. You took everything. My name. My freedom. My life. And I came back because someone has to put an end to you. You will always destroy.”

But staring down at Solace like that, helpless, not fighting back—there he was, hesitating again. No. He was done.

He swung down his Keyblade, knowing that the goddamn heart he had back would be riddled with guilt, but he couldn’t risk it. Not again. Solace would destroy him. Take everything all over again. Like he’d done twice now. He couldn’t—

Solace dissolved into particles of light, of course. Superbia had no way to tell if he was truly gone or not, but…

You took everything from me. Even my name. The others are kinder than me, but…

I will always be your worst enemy. Neither of us will ever be free.

#series: the power of memories #my writing #kingdom hearts fanfiction #kingdom hearts ocs #oc: superbia (my version of the master of masters) #oc: akio #oc: solace

[infictionalwonderland]

Imagine being Jade West’s sister and Andre Harris being in love with you.

warnings : swearing

Y/N West. It was accurate to say you were a known face around school. With your stunning looks that managed to make both guys and girls stutter and your undeniably astounding talent in the music industry - you were a common subject conversed between the students of Hollywood Arts High School.

“Who is that?” Tori Vega openly gaped as you strutted past them in your chosen outfit for the day, looking as flawless as ever.

Andre barely registered the new girl, Tori’s, question as he stared after you with heart eyes, his own mouth parted slightly in awe of you. Sure he saw you practically every day but that never once changed his astonishment for how one person could be so utterly perfect.

“Y/N West.” Cat Valentine chirped as she made her way over to the new girl and Andre, her usual beaming smile in place on her features. “My bestfriend and Jade’s sister.”

You and Cat had been best friends for years now. It was an odd duo as people would say. Often wondering why a person with traits such as yours would be friends with Cat, a naturally bubbly and less than intelligent person with a tendency to act on unintelligent impulses.

Jade was initially wary, being the protective sister that she was. She had nothing against the Valentine girl, far from it really, but she just wanted to make sure that you wouldn’t get hurt.

“She’s stunning.” Tori blinked in bewilderment, suddenly feeling immensely insecure as she looked down at her plain blue jeans and pink striped top.

“You wouldn’t be the first person to say that.” Cat giggled, she was used to people frequently asking her to set them up with her best friend but every time she politely refused, knowing you’d probably end up harming the person she set you up with anyway and also not wanting you to be uncomfortable.

“She also has an insanely over protective sister so i wouldn’t even try.” Andre rolled his eyes bitterly, finally managing to snap out of the awestruck state that you’d put him in and rejoining the conversation.

The poor Harris boy was hopelessly in love with you. It was quite clear to see if you looked hard enough at the situation : the longing and lingering looks he sent your way, the way he’d uncharacteristically stutter when you were around, the way you were normally main topic of conversation when he was involved.

Yeah, he was down bad.

“What I was even- I-I’m straight.” Tori protested, frantically pointing a finger at herself as if to prove a point.

“You don’t seem to sure.” Cat said with her head titled to the side.

Before the Vega girl could object any further you appeared once again, walking down the steps with your head turning left and right - clearly looking around for someone.

Your eyes eventually landed on them and Andre swore he forgot how to breath in that exact moment when you made eye contact with him and began walking over toward them.

“Hiya Vally.” You smirked softly at your best friend with dyed red hair who beamed back at you. Your eyes flickered to the other two people in the group, only recognising the one Andre Harris but you nodded at both of them in acknowledgement anyway.

“Y/N!” Cat practically squealed in excitement, like she didn’t just see you yesterday as she jumped into your arms only giving you a short amount of seconds to catch her.

“Love, you saw me yesterday.” You chuckled, setting her back down but keeping a friendly grip on her waist and she leaned into your side.

“Exactly my point.” She shrugged simply.

You chuckled once more, finally glancing over to the other occupants of the small group for more than two seconds and half smiling at them.

“Nice seeing you Andre and nice meeting you new girl.” You gave a final finger wave before turning on your heel with Cat still attached to your waist as the two of you walked off into the growing crowd.

“She sure is something.” Tori nodded after clearing her throat, her lips pursing in thought as she saw the literal heart eyes Andre was sending after you and his visibly flustered expression.

“Yeah.” Andre whispered. “She sure is.”

#andre harris #tori vega #Andre Harris imagines #love #cat valentine #victorious #jade west #Andre Harris x reader #crushes #hollywood #Hollywood arts high school

[ohplagg]

The Yato-gami I know

Also read at AO3

Summary: 

“My name is Sakura,” she decides to try a much simpler approach “what’s yours?”

The man with his right hand still holding half of his face and with a skeptical look writes on the dirt.

夜卜

Ya…to?

AU where Tenjin never fired Tamanone.

NOTE: Adachitoka never bothered to come up with Tamanone's Tenjin given name so I'm following their example by also avoiding the issue and using Sakura instead

I want to once again give a big 'thank you' to @noragamibigbang for organizing this.

And an even bigger 'thank you' to my lovely partner (@mochakat) who came up with the idea and who also created a beautiful artwork that goes along with this!

It was a day like every other day; nothing new, nothing exiting, nothing special. Just everything really quiet and peaceful and boring.

Sakura, a beautiful young lady with long dark hair dressed in a miko, was starting to despise every second of it. Well not every second of it. Sakura couldn’t really complain much about her days being too peaceful, it definitely was an improvement from those days where her master had his rage moments and fired anyone who even dared to just breathe the wrong way in his presents.

She was lucky that Tsuyu was there that day to talk to master Tenjin out of the idea of firing her, she will forever owe her live to Tsuyu. Who knows what would have happened if she had been fired that day who knows how long ago? ...Was it a 1000 years ago? It’s been so long that Sakura had lost the track of time.

But peaceful days doesn’t mean they should also be boring and lately life had become extremely mundane. Ever since she was forbidden from working in the prayer altar she’s been sweeping fallen leaves from stone stairs that lead up to the tori, far enough that she can’t eavesdrop on the human prayers any more. According to Tenjin-sama “it’s his job to listen to the prayers, not hers” but Sakura knows there’s more to the reason even if he doesn’t say it.

“-hope Tenjin-sama grants that old lady’s prayer.” Sakura’s attention is caught by the gossiping some shrine maidens are having about some human prayer. Oh, how she misses listening to human prayers; learning about the near shore problems and how humans found solutions to their problems, the emotions they felt for one another, the human nature can be beautiful sometimes.

Sakura stops her sweeping as she listens carefully to the gossiping whispers “Yeah. Ever since that Yaboku god murdered that old lady’s son and his wife she comes here daily asking Tenjin-sama to bless her granddaughter academically since scholarships are the only way that child will have a way to pay her studies.”

How unfortunate, Sakura thinks to herself as she resumes her chore of sweeping leaves. If only that Yaboku god would cease to exist, the world would become a much happier place.

-

After an excruciating long and boring day Sakura is taking the last basket of fallen leaves to the trees and bushes at the back of the shrine for disposal. As she dumps it all in the pile of leaves she notice what looks like a head of dark hair among all the orange, gold and yellow autumn leaves.

A bear. Her heart drops and she’s suddenly hit with her fight and flight response. She knows in theory she shouldn’t be scared by things like this but survival instincts wait for no one when a bear is right there.

Without even a second thought she throws the hardest punch she can manage to where she’s guessing the nose would be.

“Ahrg!” someone replies to Sakura’s punch. Maybe she should have given it a second thought.

Sakura frantically apologizes as she tries to check the nose of the poor victim she just attacked. As she does so she notice that the person in front of her was a young looking man dressed in a yukata.

“Here, let me see.” She insists as she pushes the poor individual’s forehead back and tries to move his hands out of the way, but the man rejects her aid between whimpers and grunts as he tilts his head forward and hold the right side of his face with one hand

An awkward silence falls among the two as the young man attends to his bleeding nose, spitting blood from what seems to be a busted lip and probably a lost tooth all the while Sakura just stands there.

“That was a really hard hit, uh? I’m so sorry. I never do things like this, I don’t know what came over me. I really thought you were a bear, which is ridiculous because why would you be a bear? Bears are too busy right now seeking their shelter for winter, they wouldn’t be under a pile of leaves in the back of a shrine, of course not! But why were you under a pile of leaves in the back of the shrine? Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just that it’s unusual- surprising! I meant surprising. Unusual sounds like it’s something bad- which is not! Totally not.” Sakura rants on in her best effort to strike a friendly conversation with the stranger. She sighs and stops her words as she notice that the young man isn’t appreciative of her effort.

“My name is Sakura,” she decides to try a much simpler approach “what’s yours?”

The man with his right hand still holding half of his face and with a skeptical look writes on the dirt.

夜卜

Ya…to?

-

Ever since the ‘I can’t believe it’s not a bear!’ incident Sakura had encountered Yato in several other occasions. Once he was hiding at the top of a tree, other times she found him sleeping in the garden shed and each and every time she tried her luck to befriend him.

He had made it clear several times to leave him alone, that he didn’t want anything to do with her or anyone for that matter, but she was bored out of her mind most of the time and he kept coming back so might as well enjoy the company right?

As the weeks passed by, Sakura found out that Yato was a shy curious individual that just hid behind a mean attitude. The first time she noticed this was when she was talking about her first days as Tenjin-sama’s shinki. As she was talking about it she could tell that she had Yato’s full attention even though he acted as he didn’t care.

Because of this she started to talk about anything and everything in an effort to bait him into participating in the conversation. Some topics were a dead ends but there were a few that she could tell had Yato curious to know more.

-

“But why flowers? Can’t they just say things straight as it is?” This wasn’t the first time that Yato had asked something that to many could be considered obvious.

“Sometimes words and actions aren’t enough to express one’s emotions and feelings. Flowers have different meanings that can help us express what we wouldn’t be able to with just words or actions.” Sakura explained.

“For example,” Sakura continued with her explination, “the emotion of love. You can tell someone you love them but there’s a big difference between the love you feel for a friend, the love you feel for a family member and the love you feel for your lover. Flowers help communicate what type of love you want to say.”

By now Yato had warmed up enough to the point that he was constantly asking questions about anything that she was talking about in the moment.

He asked her about human prayers, about dreams and wishes, about human festivals and ceremonies, about sports and game. He asked about the different types of human relationships, about human entertainment. If humans were involved, you could bet Yato would make a question. He kind of reminded her of a little kid that was just discovering the world for the first time.

“

“Okay, but what about-“ the conversation in the garden shed was interrupted by the sound of a firetruck siren.

“That’s the 3rd one this week.” Sakura sighs. “My master says that some gods have been causing suffering to humans to amuse themselves since the amount of dedicated believers have dropped and with it the amount of things for them to do, that’s why there has been an increase in tragedies in the last couple of years.” She explained.

“That’s awful.” Yato pointed out.

“I know! How heartless can one be to call the killing of humans a game? Those gods are horrible monsters. The world would be better without them.” Sakura expressed her frustration.

“Sorry,” Sakura apologized after a sour and tense pause, “I just-”

“It’s ok, you don’t have to explain” Yato suddenly interrupts as his voice crack in the process. “I feel the same way.”

-

“Anything interesting happened today, Mizuchi?” a young looking man with almond colored hair dressed in a dark Yukata asked as he cooked some miso soup.

“Nothing much, Father.” A little girl with short dark hair dressed in a white kimono sat by the table, waiting for said miso soup. “Bishamonten-sama has lost 2 more shinki to god’s greatest secret, Takemikazuchi-sama is still trying to get a blessed hafuri, and Ebisu-sama might reincarnate soon again.”

“What about our Yaboku dear?” the man asked over his shoulder.

“He’s been going to Tenjin-sama’s shrine quiet a lot lately. I think I’ve seen him talking to a shrine maiden a few times. She goes by the name of Sakura.”

“Is he now?” Father halts everything that he’s doing for a brief second.

Father has been aware for the longest time that his son spends his time in different shrines whenever he has free time. Even though Yaboku thinks his father doesn’t know, he knows but simply decides to turn a blind eye to it as long as his Yaboku stays obedient to him.

But it is quiet surprising that Yaboku has spent most of his time in Tenjin’s shrine, even more so now that its winter time. He usually spends winter time at Binbougami’s shrine.

“Mizuchi dear, could you tell Yaboku to come visit me next time you see him? I have something I need him to take care of.”

-

Yato visits Sakura. Sakura is busy setting up some extra lanterns and some other decorations in the stone stairway. Sakura explains that New Year’s is coming and along with it a lot of humans visit the shrine as well.

“Where are you going to be during all of this?” Yato asked sternly, something felt out of place for the child-like curious Yato that Sakura knew.

“Probably near Tenjin-sama, why?” Sakura wondered

“No reason.” Yato’s response was sharp in the tongue. “I have some business I have to attend to in Kyoto so I won’t be seeing you until after New Year’s, okay?” He asked but it felt like it didn’t matter what Sakura answered in returned.

Both Sakura and Yato briefly said their farewells and just like that Yato left. Sakura made a mental note to ask Yato once he returns and seems less on edge to ask him what happened that made him act so out of character.

-

It finally was New Year’s Eve. Everyone’s visiting the shrine. Families with their children and elderly. Some couples; young love, old love, friend groups, you name it. Sakura was loving every second. She loved being close by humans, there’s something about their joy that just feels amazing.

Sakura had been sent to the entrance on her master’s orders. And just when people were starting to pray. But she can’t complain much, at least now she is surrounded by humans and enjoying the happy chattering they have amongst themselves instead of being stuck next to her master hearing the same jokes he makes every year.

As she walked there was a sudden screams interrupts any and all gleeful chat. Everyone starts walking towards where the scream came from. On the road, just before entering the shrine perimeters. A man had fainted and looked like he had a seizure and judging by the reaction of his wife, it looked like she had just seen a ghost.

People gathered around the married couple trying to wonder what just had taken place, all the while some other called the emergency line.

As all of this was unfolding Sakura knew she had to rush to her master and tell him the incident that had just taken place, but as she was turning back she caught a glimpse of a familiar black hair head and a dark yukata.

Yato?

That didn’t make sense, he said he wouldn’t be in the city by this time around. Her curiosity got the best of her and she started following the man that had an extreme resemblance to the Yato-gami she knew.

“Stop!” Sakura yells as she’s lead to the back side of the shrine, where she met Yato the first time. She notice that she’s out of ear’s range of anyone so she decides to finally test out her theory.

“Yato, wait!” the male figure pauses. Frozen in place but with his back still facing her. “It’s you, isn’t it?” Sakura didn’t need an answer. The hesitation in that man’s actions told her enough.

Yato slowly turned around, looking like a kid full of guilt. Sakura noticed he was holding a katana-like weapon but this one looked odd, like it was made of water.

“I don’t understand. Why are you here? You said you wouldn’t be here!” She questioned him to no avail. Yato remained quiet, eyes glued to the floor unable to face her. “Why… why are you acting this way? And why do you have a weapon? Did you have something to do with that man?”

Sakura was furious and frustrated and upset. It didn’t help that Yato still wasn’t looking at her but rather was very focused on the dead and muddy grass under his sandals.

Sakura noticed Yato say something under his breath and as soon as he does his katana-like weapon transforms into a beautiful young girl with short dark hair.

‘He has a shinki’ Sakura realizes.

“Hello! So you are the famous Sakura!” the little girl gleefully greets Sakura, “I’m Hiiro! I’m sure Yaboku has told you all about me.”

“Ya…boku?” Sakura whispers in disbelief towards Yato as he looks like a deer in headlights, still unable to look at her. To say Sakura was confused was an understatement. With just one sentence she had more questions than what she could actually think of. “Yato. Who is this?” unable to put her thoughts into words, Sakura decided to focus on the first thing that confused her.

Yato tries to find his voice, tries to answer Sakura but the knot in his throat is too big that any time he opens his mouth to say something, anything, nothing comes out.

“Come on Yaboku, you didn’t tell her who I was? Some brother you are.” The girl that answers instead. “I’m Hiiro. I’m Yaboku’s shinki and sister!”

“Why does she keep calling you Yaboku?” Sakura carefully questions Yato, as if she’s walking on eggshells that could turn into glass shards any second. Sakura noticed that Yato looked beyond scared.

“He didn’t tell you? His name is Yaboku.” Hiiro once again answers in Yato’s stead. She turns to look at Yato, “don’t tell me you didn’t tell her.” Yato looks like he wants to run away even though he is frozen in place.

“You’re the yaboku?” Sakura seeks confirmation from the man himself even though she doesn’t need to hear anything else. “All this time I thought that- that you- and I thought that we-“ a rush of fury clouds Sakura’s thoughts leaving her speechless.

“I- I can explain!” Yato stumbles with his words, desperately trying to gain his voice back.

“So you used me to choose your victims? Did I lead you to your victims?” Sakura questions in disbelief.

“No!” Yato frantically tries to get a word in “Let me explain, I-“

“And you even lied to me about who you were! You deceived me!” by this time Sakura was yelling at the top of her lunges

“Yes- I mean no! Sakura you got to listen to me-“

“Don’t. Keep my name out of your filthy mouth. I can’t believe I ever considered you a friend.” Sakura emotionlessly says as she wraps her arms around herself and leaves.

Yato reaches a hand out towards the leaving figure of Sakura trying to call out to her but gives up shortly after seeing as there is nothing he could say to make her stay.

-

“Yaboku. You’ve been like this for months now. Its time you snap out of it.” Hiiro pushes Yato’s shoulder as he’s laying on his side looking out to the garden.

Hiiro would be lying if she said she wasn’t surprised at Yaboku’s unusual behavior. They had gone out several times now on Father’s command but whenever they did Yaboku looked so miserable that she actually felt bad for him.

“How about we go to play? That always cheered you up!” Still no answer from his brother. “Sigh. What can I do to cheer you up? Would me calling you Yato like that Sakura girl did do any good?”

Hiiro noticed that as soon as she suggested the idea Yaboku’s face had a hit of emotion for the first time since that night.

“I’ll call you that if you want me to but you have to tell me, otherwise I won’t know. Hiiro tried once again to get Yaboku to say something.

It was close, she could feel it. Yaboku looked like he really wanted to say something but just like it had happened so many times now he got caught up in so much hesitation that he gave up in whatever idea he was about to share.

But this time she almost had it and she wouldn’t let it slip away. “Look, it’s obvious you miss this Sakura girl and I could tell that she genuinely cared about you so she probably misses you too so why don’t you go talk to her?”

Hiiro was right, all that time spent with Sakura was something both of them enjoyed and if he was missing her this much it was very possible that she was missing him back. But did he had any right to go back to her? After he lied to her so much? Yato didn’t deserved her forgiveness, didn’t deserve her time or her kindness.

But she deserves an explanation and an apology. Yato thought to himself.

And with that he got up and left.

-

It was a day near the end of spring. Sakura couldn’t really tell what day it was, every day had felt the same since that night. The only thing that made the day different from other days is that now she was sweeping the Sakura blossoms instead of shoveling snow.

At first Sakura was furious. She felt angry and betrayed. After a few weeks she felt just upset and used. After that she simply felt sad and lonely. With all the time Sakura had to think she understood that she was in no position to judge a god and she also understood that it was unfair of her to cut all communication with Yaboku-gami as if they had never known each other ever. She wished she could talk to him.

As Sakura is taking the last basket of fallen sakura blossoms to the trees and bushes at the back of the shrine for disposal she sees Yato standing by the same place she first met him. That time she confused him for a bear.

“What are you doing here?” Sakura kept her voice firm and emotionless even though she felt otherwise.

“I just came here to apologize for everything I’ve put you through” Yato starts as he hands Sakura some purple hyacinths.

Sakura takes them with a shocked and hesitant but pleased expression.

“I asked the flower shop lady and she said that purple hyacinths mean deep sorrow and regret. That if I wanted to make it clear how sorry I was these were the ones to give.” Yato explains and then continues, “I’m sorry for lying to you. For not being honest about everything. For being a coward. But most importantly for being Yaboku.”

It’s not every day that someone apologizes for their existence so Sakura waited for Yato to explain further before she said anything in return.

“I know I’m the worst of the worst. I kill innocents and I don’t show regret. I destroy and taint all the beautiful things in the world for my own selfish reasons. But I promise you that the me you knew, the Yato you knew, wasn’t an act.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me, Yaboku. But please forgive Yato, he is a little stupid and naïve and new to all this being a good god thing but I promise that he means well and he’s trying his best.”

Sakura takes a moment to consider his words. “So what Im understanding is that you want to be the Yato-gami I know?”

Yato only nods.

“Then I suppose I’ll accept Yato’s apology” Sakura pauses as Yato’s face lights up, “but only if he promise me that he’ll give it his all to become the Yato I know he can be.”

“With your guidance I think I can do that”

#it was really fun and relaxing thinking about this what if #sakura noragami #nora noragami #noragami fanfiction #noragami #yato #yato noragami

[trifle-of-doom]

The Hawk X Demetri Manifesto

Okay, here is the thing. Despite being well past my teens, there's a particular ship of Cobra Kai that has drawn my attention, this ship being Hawk/Eli x Demetri. When I first watched the show, I was actually more invested in the adult characters storylines than the teens. I immediately rooted for Johnny and Carmen, and I was always hoping for more interactions between them. But then I saw episode 2x05, in which the atmosphere between the Binary Brothers becomes way more dense, and that's when I started to see some potential for them. Not because I'm a deranged person who fosters abusive relationships, but because I immediately caught the hurt/comfort dynamic of the duo, which is something that works really well when it comes to fictional relationships. However, it wasn't until 3x10 that I said, "Ok, that's official, I need to see more of these two! I totally support them!" And I was quite surprised to find a fairly large amount of people who are very committed to this pairing, to the point it's caught the attention of the screenwriters/producers as well. Honestly, I don't know if the showrunners will ever have the guts to make them an official couple, and chances are their supporters will have to keep reading between the lines of their bromance, but in any case, here is my take on why Hawk/Eli x Demetri is an option worth to be considered.

#1 - The Bromance

If there's something that many years of navigating the Internet taught me, is that the main driving factor for fan-made ships is the presence of either a solid relationship based on mutual brotherly love or a bitter rivalry that may or may not flow into hate/obsession. If you consider anime fandoms, there are thousand examples that fit into either of these categories: Yugi and Jonouchi from the Yu-Gi-Oh series (yes, that's how old I am), Yugi and Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh, Sakuragi and Rukawa from Slam Dunk, Light and L from Death Note, etc. And our Hawk and Demetri fit into both categories. When we first see them, they are the stereotypical nerdy friends (possibly childhood friends?) sitting at the losers' table, who have no one else but each other. When Eli is at his most sensitive and fragile, you can tell he feels comfortable being with Demetri by the genuine smile he has on his face as Demetri is joking with Miguel at the canteen table. Through his sarcasm, the mouthy kid acts as a catalyst to deviate the attention from Eli, speaking for him, reprimanding Johnny when he makes fun of his lip and trying to make him feel safe. Besides, you can see a certain degree of frustration in Demetri when Kyler and his gang are harassing Eli, and he's unable to do anything to defend him. And they even have a jingle for their friendship with a robot dance, I mean, how cute is that? But of course, a solid friendship between two helpless nerdy guys is not enough to spark a ship to be rooting for. In order for the magic to happen, another key ingredient is needed, i.e. a little bit of angst. Which brings us straight to the next point.

#2 - The Angst (aka the Hurt/Comfort Dynamic)

Even though I never liked the Twilight saga or any similar urban fantasy young adult works, I can easily see where the appeal comes from; the attraction to a charming, dangerous person who could either protect you from any harm or crush you like grape. Although with different franchises, I wasn't immune to the bad boy trope either (Yes, I'm looking at you, my teenage self drooling over Grimmjow from Bleach). If we can appreciate the genuine, brotherly friendship between nerdy Eli and Demetri, the shift that Eli makes as he transitions into Hawk and becomes more aggressive and dominant gives their relationship a totally different flavor. Attrition sparks a certain tension that, in the viewer's eyes, could either flow into a brawl or into passion.

During the mall fight, Demetri comes to the realization that his former best friend is actually someone who can crush him like grape. We see Hawk intentionally harming him for the first time, and Demetri's heartbreaking expression as he drops the line: "You'd actually hurt me?" And if that line gave us a pang in our hearts when we first watched Season 2, imagine rewatching it now that we know what happens in Season 3. Demetri is chased down the mall, running for his life, and then he's locked in a grip, as his best friend menacingly advances towards him. Demetri appears as the damsel in distress, however his friend is not the one who will fight to protect him, but rather his tormentor.

During the party at Moon's, Demetri manages to briefly go through Hawk's mask and reach out to Eli, thanks to a casual conversation about Dr Who. But then the beer incident happens, and Demetri defends himself with the only weapon he has – his loudmouth. The situation is reversed, and for a brief moment, he gets to be the dominant one as he discloses all Eli's most intimate secrets. Demetri is now actively contributing to the Hurt/Comfort dynamic; he's no longer just a target, but he's doing his part to enlarge that gaping hole that has formed between them. And Hawk didn't take it well.

From this moment on, Demetri becomes a sort of obsession to Hawk, who hunts him down the school, teasing him and taunting him sadistically, like a serial killer from a horror movie, during the big fight. Of course, in real life, this would be completely insane, and the police/a social assistant/psychiatrist should be called, but in ShipLand, these situations are pure gold. Okay, we get it, Hawk wants to get revenge for the humiliation at the party, and he wants to crush that nerd part of himself he sees in Demetri, but he does it with such an intensity that it borders on ridiculous. It's like this is his twisted way to acknowledge Demetri's presence. Eventually, Hawk ends up smashed into the trophy case, and I confess I felt a little disappointed when Demetri broke that hug to give Hawk a roundhouse kick. I mean, it was a great comeback, but I was sincerely hoping for a "No hard feelings man, let's get outta here!" scenario.

Getting back to the sick and twisted way Hawk acknowledges Demetri's presence, he destroys his science project after he got jealous due to him being confident in his nerd self and laughing around with his ex girlfriend (whom the writers insist he still has a crush on). Speaking of Moon, I have a feeling she likes Hawk mostly based on his badass appearance. Remember when she goes "I like this (mohawk) and I love these (muscles), but I'm not dating a bully"?

Then the football match happens. Okay, let's break this down. Demetri trips Hawk and acts all sassy, and a fellow Cobra Kai is immediately ready to take him down, but Hawk stops him. "Fight smart, he says". Too bad that literally 5 seconds earlier he had shoved a kid to the ground just because his ex girlfriend (again, duuuh~) ignored him when he winked at her. And then, as he's trying to intercept the ball, BANG, Hawk hits Demetri, sending him to the ground, pretending it was an accident. So, what does this tell us? That Hawk has some serious anger management issues? Yeah sure, but also that he cares about fighting smart only as long as it serves as an excuse to leave Demetri for him, because he's his designated target. Again, this is all but romantic, and it doesn't necessarily have to be interpreted as him lusting after his friend, but it's undeniable that this dynamic offers a lot of ship fuel.

The arm breaking thing is just too painful to even analyze. We see a completely helpless Demetri begging for mercy to his ex best friend, who has made No Mercy his life motto. And that scream, oh that scream. All I wanted to see was Hawk realizing what he had done and throwing himself on his knees while begging for forgiveness. But I'm glad that at least we get to see he feels awful for what he's done, and I like to think that, as he got home, Eli cried out all the tears he had in his body thinking about poor Demetri at the hospital, with a swollen broken arm, all because of him. Of all the situations, this is undoubtedly the most deranged and extreme, and if something like this happened in real life, the wrongdoer would deserve to be punished and would definitely need to be sent to therapy. But in ShipLand, this opens the road to many, many different scenarios, in which the bully understands his mistakes and shifts back to the good side, or the two share a tender moment after they reconcile, or the traumatized character has to to learn to trust the other one again, or the bully becomes overprotective of his former victim, etc.

#3 - A Rewarding Reconciliation

Finally, we come to the reconciliation, in which Hawk makes his heel-to-face turn. While we've seen him torn with doubt for an entire season about his sensei's teachings, his actions and the people he wants to surround himself with, the key factor that drives Hawk's redemption is the sight of his best friend being held down for him to beat. And with an epic stunt and his awesome KEEEH screech, Hawk jumps to the rescue of his friend. Like many of us, Demetri thought this was still part of the "Only I Can Torment Him" dynamic I discussed earlier, as he steps backwards a little concerned, but then he understands that action was actually meant to save him, and the two begin to fight side by side, in sync, watching each other's back. You can see Demetri's eyes sparkling at the thought of having his friend back.

Also, not only Demetri stands up to alpha bitch Tory in defense of Eli, but he also speaks for his friend when he's faltering, just like he used to. So kudos for Demetri.

#4 - The Red Oni, Blue Oni Dynamic

Binary Brothers are two sides of the same coin and complete each other with opposite character traits, visually expressed by the color red and the color blue. Being the color red typically associated with violence, rage, passion and irrationality, as opposed to blue, which is associated with calmness, melancholy and rationality, red is clearly the dominant color. Again, this opens many interesting scenarios for shippers.

#5 - Body Language

Besides the situations I described above, which may or may not be read from a romantic/attraction standpoint, there are also a collection of small gestures I noticed when rewatching the series with a more attentive look on their relationship.

- Demetri's heart-broken expression when Eli shamefully covers his lip during the anti-bullying announcement.

- The smile Demetri gives when Hawk responds "Hell yeah!" after Aisha proposes to crash Yasmin's party, implying he's learning to embrace this new wild side of his best friend

- The astonished look with which Demetri watches Hawk at the tournament and the way he's pissed no one knows his real name.

- How deeply hurt Demetri is when Hawk belittles him by saying: "Five against three. More like two and a half." He even tries to reply, but he's caught so off guard that words die in his throat.

- How Demetri takes a step towards Hawk during the mall fight, before Sam makes him back off, and how sadly he looks at Hawk's nearly unconscious body after Robby defeated him.

- How Demetri smiles and nods when he briefly connects with Eli at Moon's party, despite the mall incident.

- How Hawk watches Demetri juggle with the cleaning product from behind his bike helmet (how did he stuff the mohawk in there by the way)?

- Hawk's psychotic/sadistic faces when he smells Demetri's blood, and how he likes to hunt him down like he's his prey.

- Hawk's secret impulse to comfort Demetri after the arm breaking (I hope you get nightmares of Demetri's howl of pain for the rest of your life, Hawk).

- The way Hawk twitches his upper lip when he sees his friend Demetri in danger.

- How Hawk and Demetri are so absorbed in their new-found friendship, that they're caught off guard, and Demetri swings Hawk to allow him to deliver a kick using their handshake as a lever. And how they keep fighting together, shaking each other's hands even when they're out of focus and the attention is on Miguel vs. Kyler.

- How they're standing so close at Miyagi Do, in comparison with the other Red/Blue partners.

In conclusion, this kind of relationships are engaging and entertaining to watch, and they make us wish the best for the characters. They make us hope that, in the end, as Miguel puts it, love really conquers all (and what is friendship if not a form of love?), despite all the hurt they did to each other.

So this is it. I hope you enjoyed my Ted Talk. Feel free to share it with whomever you want, especially if you need some solid reasons why this ship has got some good potential.

And remember: the ship is in the eye of the beholder.

F.

#HawkMeat #Hawk x Demetri #Cobra Kai #Eli Moskowitz #Demetri #binary brothers

[ashintheairlikesnow]

WIP Wednesday: Whumptober Previews, Take 2

I still have a few more to go, but I am in the final stretch for writing my @whumptober2020​ pieces! I already posted one preview of what I have so far (you can see Days 1-12 here), so here are previews for the rest of what I have written - and sneak peeks at what’s planned out but not written yet! 

Whumptober starts tomorrow - we’ll see how you feel about my work this go-round! Last year, Whumptober Day 1 introduced Daniel Michaelson. This year... it starts with Danny, too.

Day 13:

“Vanni, they thought he was you.”

“I know, Ridley!” Rossi never snapped at Ridley, but here it was, and Connor forced in a hitching, shaky inhale around the tremendous, inescapable weight pressing down on him, determined to keep breathing long enough to understand. “I know they did.”

“And they fucking poisoned him and then dumped him to fucking die-”

“I know!” The two men went silent for a second, Ridley staring with shock at Rossi and Rossi glaring furious towards the window without looking back. Connor’s breath, rattling in his struggling lungs, was the only sound in the room.

Day 14:

Peter glanced over his shoulder, back towards the house. The thermometer had climbed a little more, reading 98.5 degrees Farenheit now, and Peter blinked as he shivered again, swallowing without any saliva. His mouth felt dry, and strange. Why was he shivering - how did he have goosebumps - if it was almost one hundred degrees?

As if he’d heard Peter’s thoughts, the side door opened and Micheal came out, wearing his weekend outfit of slim black slacks and a pale heathered gray t-shirt, what Madam allowed him to wear. He was carrying a glass of water with ice and a little striped straw stuck in the top. The black shock collar he was never allowed to remove - not yet, Madam said, not until Micheal learned how to be silent without needing encouragement, to her satisfaction - cut a wide band across his neck, the black box small and nearly perfectly blended in at the back. 

“Peter,” He said in a low voice - not quite a whisper, but just as quiet. “I brought you a drink, I-” He looked up, squinting towards the sky. “It’s hot. Should you be out here?”

Day 15:

He drops back to the ground, groaning, eyes fluttering open and shut, before he reaches out to grip onto Ora’s arm again. He turns to look at them, and his eyes are glowing so brightly he can see the reflected light on Ora’s face, the flicker of yellow against their irises. There are things that move beneath the light in Ryan Michaelson’s eyes, and he no longer feels them pushed back under the surface of his skin. 

“I’m so fucking hungry,” He whispers, and his fingernails dig into Ora’s arm until they begin to bleed and whimper, but they don’t - can’t - pull away. Not until he lets them.

They will be lost in his eyes until he decides to let them go.

Day 16:

Count to ten, Tris! One… two...

Her voice is so loud he jumps, but when he looks to the left, nothing’s there. Just the white walls, plain and featureless, white tiles that were smooth under his fingertips back when he was allowed to touch them. 

Everything is cold, and the boy has been shivering for so long that his muscles ache from the constant tense-and-release, tense-and-release, struggling to keep him warm.

Day 17:

She giggles a little, then glances over her shoulder, mouths something at the cameraman. Oliver can guess what. Edit that out.

Kelly Donahue doesn’t want the episode to be aired with her giggling like a schoolgirl at a bit of idle flattery. Well. Everyone has their things they like to hide, don’t they?

She has her giggle. Oliver has a teenage boy locked in his bedroom.

Day 18:

“Your mother,” Patrick interrupted, with gentle violence, “believes that you are squandering an opportunity.”

“An-... a what-”

“We respect your decision - and your brother’s - to refuse interviews, especially at his early date.” Patrick sounded like he’d rehearsed this answer, delivered with the same smooth cadence he had during his speeches before the Board of Directors. “But, considering the effort it took us to find you-”

“The effort it took Nate to find us,” Ryan corrected, ice growing along his veins at the same time it took over his voice. “Nate. It was Nate who watched the videos, it was Nate who talked Abraham into showing him the yard, it was Nate who spent fucking night after fucking night trolling fucking satellite photos to try and find us. Don’t act like the effort came from you. It came from my brother’s goddamn fiance.”

Day 19:

“If this is a trap, I’m going to owe Gavin fifty bucks.” Vera checked and rechecked her handgun, as though it would suddenly be less loaded than it was just a few minutes before. Her jaw was set in a grim line, eyes flashing a kind of damped-down fire, embers ready to spark. Her thick black hair, showing growing hints of gray, was pulled into a tight bun at the nape of her neck, and she wore a pair of black pants and a tucked-in t-shirt, ready for the fight she was definitely expecting. “I don’t want to owe Gavin money, Isaac.”

“It’s not a trap,” Isaac replied, making his own nervous check and recheck of the table and chairs. “I don’t think it is, anyway. My instincts are saying it isn’t.”

“Your instincts-”

“My instincts have been spot-on for a decade, Vera. Just trust me on this. She let us pick the day, the time, the location… she let us give her the location with less than four hours’ notice, even. If this is a trap, she’s piss-poor at setting it.”

Day 20:

He’d been flying, and the fall had been worse than the arrow, at first.

The sudden burst of white-hot pain had stunned him, caught him mid-spin enjoying an early-morning chill, and sent him tumbling to the ground below.

He’d heard his own frantic keens of panic and fear as if from a distance, and then they’d been drowned out when he slammed into the trees, feathers flying all around him as they were ripped free by the branches he smacked into one after another on the way down.

Day 21:

"Mmhmmm. Christopher. Stanton." Nat listens for a long time, then says quietly, "No known health problems. Autistic."

Jake looks up, and Nat calmly looks back at him, while speaking into the phone. "Yes. Yes, I'm confident. He is sensitive to fluorescent lights, scared of needles, and terrified of sedation. Yeah, I realize that I just described the exact environment we’re sending him into.” Chris whimpered, and Nat’s voice went ragged, her eyes closed tightly against the sight of his face pale, sweaty, twisted with pain. “Listen. Just-... just put on the fucking papers that Christopher Stanton is fucking autistic, because that's what my goddamn rescue is - I'll sell someone else's firstborn to fucking Satan if he isn't, mark my fucking words - and we're wasting time while he gets worse!"

Day 22:

Rossi picks the glass up and just as he tilts it up to his lips, Connor rears back and up on his knees and swings one of his hands, the black leather ‘paw’ smacking into the rim of the glass and spilling it in an arc across Rossi’s suit, onto the table, soaking his cards and hitting the next person at the table right in the eyes.

“Connor, what the fuck?!” Rossi’s voice isn’t furious, not yet - he’s too shocked to get beyond the simple surprise.

Day 23:

The drugs in his system weigh him down, he is too exhausted to understand what’s happening or how to begin to fight it. His eyes keep trying to close and stay closed, and he whimpers, forcing them back open.

“Pozhaluysta…” He groans, collapsing forward against the heavy solidity of the man, the soft tailored fabric of his expensive suitjacket, the scent of clove cigarettes that clings to him like a woman’s fingers clutching tightly. “Pozhaluysta, otpusti menya…”

Day 24:

“My name is Melody,” The girl said, nearly extending her hand, but then she realized the creature’s right hand was nothing but wickedly sharp talons, and it was bound in front of him to his left. “Oh, I’m sorry. What’s your name?”

The creature blinked once, twice. Watched her, tense and maybe suspicious, and then shook his head. “No… no name.” He spoke slowly, as though words came only with difficulty but a soft little trill sounded under one voice, layered it with another. “Pet.”

Day 25:

“Wh, where, where, where-where, where am, am I-”

“Sssshhhh.” The person in the dark blue uniform presses a plastic-gloved hand to his shoulder as he tries to sit up, pushing him back down. “Hey no, you gotta stay steady, there. Don’t move.”

“Please-... please, sir, h-hurts-”

“Not sir,” The person says, gently, a bit of auburn hair falling over their forehead. “Can you see?”

“K-Kind... kind of... hurts-”

“Sssshhhh. I know. I know it does. Just hang on. Tori’s going to help me get you some paperwork going. Don’t worry, kiddo.” The person pats him, lightly, and then looks up, brown eyes scanning the hallway outside. “You’re not the first we’ve pulled through this.”

Day 26:

Calon Nie hummed to himself, tapping talons on the floor, watching the boy sit so still, as though stillness could protect him from the dangers of the world. “Good. Failed, you, to keep new eyes. Costs a life, to give something new. Killan Josta, human boy, he fail Calon Nie. He fail the life given, when eyes don’t work. Did not respect sacrifice.”

“I’m… I’m sorry,” The boy said hoarsely, curling in on himself even more, his wings instinctively curling protectively around him. “I… I don’t want anyone to d-die for me. I didn’t mean to-... I didn’t mean to fail. I, I tried to p-pray for them, to stars, to-”

“Paugh! Mysteries do not hear you.”

Day 27:

Jake answers, and on the other side of the door, the old woman stands holding a large cardboard box in her arms, her grandson present, as nearly always, at her side. He holds a large box, too - so big, in fact, that only the top half of his face is visible.

“They’re sayin’ it could be a week before we get power back,” Ruth says, with a world-weary sigh. “A full-on week. We figured we’d bring you some supplies.” 

Day 28:

Ora Collins is hungry.

Day 29:

Jake is a tall man, but the emergency room always made him feel so small. Even now, part of him rehearses the scripted stories. I fell while climbing a tree. I crashed my bike. I tripped going down the stairs.

He has lies to tell today, just like he always has, but today the lies are for Chris, not himself.

He’s my brother. No, different dads, that’s all. His mom lives a few states away, I handle all his medical stuff. 

Day 30:

(AKA Possession, Part 2)

Ryan and Nate take down Abraham Denner.

Day 31:

Danny is left for dead.

#ash does whumptober #whumptober previews #whumptober prep #whump

[justkurotingz]

agent y/l/n (2)

the second part of the series! tbh i planned to write this later but quarantine has got me sooooo bored :’c hope you enjoy <3

angsty, lil fluff <3

A/N: half of this is probably super inaccurate so i guess this would be more of a canon/alternate universe, but bear with me!

word count: 1.6k

“our unsub is TEN?!” morgan did a double take, and garcia sighed. “yup baby boy. ryan carter, 10 years old. he has dark brown hair, freckles and green eyes.” spence spoke up, directing your attention to him. “for an unsub to be this young, some form of immensely early childhood trauma must have severely impacted him. he may be suffering from a psychotic break.”

your heart ached for the poor child that had suffered so much it brought him to kill two people for a peace of mind. “wait a second.” you peered at the pictures of the victims spence had pinned up. “kyla neyers and tori luis look awfully similar. the eyes, the hair, look at the way their noses arch. the boy-” “ryan.” hotch corrected and you bit your lip, “sorry, ryan must be targeting people that look like someone from his childhood.”

“well, from his family history I can tell you his mother died in childbirth so ryan never would have met her.” garcia’s voice floated in and hotch turned to the team. “try relatives on the moms side. aunts, cousins maybe?” garcia sighed, “mom had no siblings, and her parents live in russia. ryan probably would have never seen them face to face.” “alright, dad’s side then.” emily shrugged, and garcia sucked in air through her teeth.

“apparently, his birth certificate never lists a father. single mom maybe, the father dumped them?” spence frowned and you spoke up. “we’ve got to find his father.” “already on it sweet cheeks.” “thanks pen.” you smiled and cut the intercom. 

“so ryan could be living with his father.” emily pondered, and jj nodded. “he couldn’t have survived on the streets as a baby, and no adoption records exists. his father might have abused him causing ryan to act out and run away.” 

“what if his father has been killing women and forced ryan to help? he might have a type, blue eyes, brunette, high arched nose bridges....” you trailed off and spence’s eyes lit up. “right! and after ryan escaped, he went back to doing the only thing he knows, killing women that look like kyla, tori, and possibly other women his father killed.”

“that’s awful.” jj whispered and you nodded. “i know. we need to stop him, he’s probably just a scared kid.” “who killed two women.” hotch interrupted, and grabbed his coat as garcia’s voice crackled through the intercom. “alright, i found a string of murders in the early 2010′s with victims that look like ours. the suspect was a william gale, but he escaped before arrest. sending his last known address now, he’s local and he definitely could be ryan’s father.”

“got it, let’s go.” hotch said, and everyone rushed to the cars. as morgan drove, you glanced out the window. “you ok?” spence’s voice transported you back into reality. “yeah, just...” “i know, it’s sad.” your best friend spoke up. “studies show the child is unable to escape from the abusive, damaging childhood dynamic. it occurs before the child’s sense of self is formed, therefore ryan is reverting back to what he knows, his father.”

“we’re here.” morgan’s voice cut through spencer’s spiel of facts and you nodded. “federal agents!” no answer. morgan breached and we checked the rooms of the house out. “clear!” you sighed until you heard the soft cock of a gun.

“ryan?” you turned around very slowly to come face to face to a young boy, about 10. he was about 4 feet tall, and had a gun pointed at your torso. his freckles contrasted his bright green eyes and your heart sank. “ryan, i’m agent y/l/n. please put down the gun.” your voice was soft, calm in contrast to his shaking arms.

“i-i didn’t mean to kill them. i didn’t mean to hurt anybody. i don’t know who i am anymore. i’m a monster!” he cried and without thinking, you tossed your gun aside. “y/n!” hotch hissed behind you, and you realize everybody was watching.

“don’t look at them, look at me ryan. you can call me y/n. i set down my gun, look.” you pointed to your gun, a foot away from you both. “can you set down yours? i just want to talk to you. put down the gun.” “no! you’ll hurt me!” 

“i promise, nobody is going to hurt you. we just want to help you ryan. i know you didn’t mean to kill anybody.” he faltered, hope spilling into his eyes. “y-you do?” “yes.” you confirmed and moved on, “and if you set down the gun, nothing’s going to happen to you. you have to trust me baby.” you whispered and he shook his head.

“i know you’re scared, look, i’ll take off my vest. i know you’re not going to hurt me.” moving slowly, to the shock of your team, you slipped your vest over your shoulders. “it’s just me. just me i promise you, there’s nobody else here that matters. i know what your father made you do. he made you kill those women and bury them after he did bad things to them didn’t he?” ryan nodded and you closed your eyes, taking a shaky breath.

“put down the gun ryan. we’re gonna get him. i swear, we’re going to catch your father and he’s going to go away for a very long time. but you’re not like that. you’re just a small boy. can you put down the gun baby? please, for me?” he paused, lowering the gun, but didn’t drop it.

“ryan, baby you have to set the gun down. all the way down. i promise, nothings going to happen to you.” “wh-where’s my mom?” he whispered and your heart broke for the third time today. “oh baby, what did he tell you?” “he said mommy didn’t want me, so mommy ran away.” you looked sharply to the left, the tears in your eyes now streaming down your face.

“don’t cry!” he said in concern and you opened your arms. he dropped the gun and rushed into your arms, giving you a big hug. “no sweetie, your mommy wanted you. she wanted you so so much. ryan, i went to college with your mom.” you heard the intake of breath of your entire team behind me, and continued with the story. “she was the sweetest person i ever know. she looked exactly like you. she was funny, smart, and wore the craziest socks ever. she even had four pairs of pizza socks.” that brought a smile to ryan’s face and you smiled.

“she died baby, she died after giving birth to you.” “i-i killed mommy?” his face fell, tears leaking out of his eyes. “oh no baby, no. no, you didn’t kill mommy. it was just mommy’s time to go. she loved you very very much and i know she’s sorry she couldn’t be there for you and help you.” he was quiet, then wrapped his arms tightly around you. “i’m so sorry.” you whispered, kissing his cheek, holding him tightly. “it’s ok auntie y/n. i know im gonna go to jail because that’s where bad guys go. can you come visit me?” “’all the time, i promise.” you smiled and he beamed, slipping out of his arms. “bye bye!” he waved and you gently waved back as he walked out with emily. as soon as he was out of sight, you fell to the floor, sobbing. “hey, hey, hey.” spence gently lifted you from the ground, but you couldn’t even stand, so he had to hold you tightly to him.

“i didn’t know. i didn’t know ryan was her child. but i saw her in him. he’s just 10.” you wrapped your hands around spence and the two of you stayed like that for a long time, until hotch came back in, telling you both it was time to leave.

the trip back was quiet, and only when you were back in the office hotch turned on you. “do you realize how incredibly stupid that was!” he hissed and you nodded, staring at the ground. “it worked.” jj spoke up and emily furrowed her eyebrows. “that was one of the most moving moments i’ve ever witnessed. the boy was 10, and practically related to y/n.” “she did good.” morgan confirmed and spence’s smile said wonders.

“if you ever attempt something like this.... i was so worried about you.” hotch sighed, his hand dropping from it’s menacing position and you smiled at him. “i’m ok, i just really want to go home.” “and that you will. goodnight y/n, i’m glad this didn’t go sideways.” with that, hotch left and the team hugged you. “that was so selfless.” jj whispered in your ear, giving you an extra squeeze, and then it was just spence and you. “let’s go to your place.” spence wrapped an arm around your waist and you two walked back to his apartment in silence, staring at the sky.

“i thought he was going to shoot.” spence admitted a while later when you were sitting on his couch. “spence, he’s 10. he wouldn’t have shot.” “you don’t know that!” he snapped, his irritation and frustration finally showing. “kids with severe childhood trauma can be dangerous and unpredictable! you almost died today!” “spence...” you trailed off, looking at his face. “i thought i lost you.” a tear trickled down his cheek and you hugged him tightly, crying yourself.

“i’m ok, i promise. i’m not that stupid.” your job took determination, compassion, wit, bravery and strength, but today your display of selflessness was the one that hit home that most.

#criminal minds #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds scenario #imagine #scenario #oneshot #one-shot #spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid fic #spencer reid fics #aaron hotch hotchner #aaron hotchner #penelope garcia #derek morgan #derek #morgan #yn #y/n #angst #fluff #matthew gray gubler #matthew gray gubler fluff #matthew gray gubler imagine #fbi #au #emily prentiss #writer

[twistytwine]

Horror!AU Deleted Scenes: Victoria’s Thorn Dissection

A scene in the original draft of the Horror!AU, featuring a removed scene from Victoria’s chapter.

Trigger warnings: Lots of gore, blood, body horror, swearing, Victoria is also literally just 15 years old and she goes through a lot of pain

Susan brought Victoria out of her bedroom and onto one of the many couches of the apartment. Victoria was whimpering, tears prickling at the edges of her eyes and fear swarming like seeds in her chest. Gently, the mercenary began dabbing a cloth to soak up the blood, which had stopped bubbling from the torn bumps.

Pim was at her side as well. She had originally planned to visit by gifting her friend some pretty pink tulips that she had stored so delicately in a pretty little bag. But now, she had put the bag aside, and now she was doing her best to contain her worry and concern for Victoria. Her lips felt dry and her fists were clenched. She didn’t understand what was going on. Nobody did. Not even Susan. 

“I’m sorry,” she muttered, a hand carefully placed on Victoria’s shoulder. “I should have been here sooner.”

“I-It’s-- It’s okay,” the plant mage stammered back, gulping and shaking. “You wouldn’t… wouldn’t have buh-been able to stop it, anyway.”

Susan’s breathing had gotten a bit heavier, and her hands were flimsy as she tried to keep them steady. Her green eyes were wide and on edge. Then she let out a nervous laugh. “You’ll be fine. You’ll be okay. Even when… I wasn’t here to watch over you and instead I let you watch a stupid movie like the stupid person I am instead of trying to use AI for something else like figuring out what the hell is wrong with you!!”

“N-No, you’re…”

“Oh my god. I’m such a shitty parent, I--”

“You’re not, Sue,” Pim told her, her own voice shaking. “None of us knows what’s going on. It’s nobody’s fault.”

Susan hissed a breath through her teeth. “Alright. Fine. It’s nobody’s fault. But if it were to be anybody’s fault, it would be mine.”

Victoria shook her head, tears beginning to squeeze from her eyes. “Pl-Please stop…”

There was a sense of motherly shame in Susan’s eyes as she continued to wipe the blood from the girl’s arms and legs. Victoria was twitching, wincing, trying to stay still, for any movement would just make the entire situation worse. Whatever was happening to her, it seemed to be more painful than Jared’s disease. 

When all the blood was cleaned, Susan threw the rag on the ground and tugged on the roots of her hair. “First I had Jared sick and now I have this. This is just great. And I don’t know how to solve it.”

Pim stared at the thorns sprouted out of Victoria’s skin, brow furrowing as she chewed on her lip. A plant mage. Thorns came from plants. 

“Do you believe that it is possible that this has to do with her plant magic?” she asked. 

Susan exhaled, running her hands frantically through her hair. “I mean, sure, I guess, sure. Sure. Whatever. All of this crazy stuff is coming from her magic. How the hell would we stop that?”

“By having her not use her plant magic until we find a solution.”

Susan’s mouth clenched. Her hands were fidgeting wildly at her sides. “Right. Yeah. I’m stupid right now and I can’t think. I’m sorry.” Her forehead was sweaty. “I-- I can’t focus right now.”

“It’s okay,” Pim reassured her, honestly feeling similar to her. “Take a few deep breaths. Nothing worse is happening right now. We...just have to figure out what’s going on.”

“Okay, okay, I-- you know what? It’s going to take me a hell of a long time to calm down--”

“It won’t--”

“--I’m going to get Dr. fucking Dremash in here. He knows much more about magic than I do and I’m not gonna waste everybody’s time just standing here.” Susan felt ashamed to want help from such a snobby, annoying, irritable man, but this was just a last resort. If anybody knew about magic the most in this damn kingdom, it would be Aemilius. 

Susan was gone before Pim could call after her to stay calm and that Dr. Dremash’s would be very ticked off to be distracted from his work, but then she realized that it was probably best to have his help; he was most likely going to have a lot of questions, after all, and when he had questions, they were always answered. 

His complaining was already heard from outside the door as Susan tugged him into the chamber forcefully by the sleeve of his lab coat. “You are frustrating!” he was exclaiming to her. “There is no need to be such a disrespectful, impulsive degenerate towards me of all people you--”

“Shut up!” Susan shot back at him. “I brought you here for a reason! Look at her!” 

As her hands launched out in Victoria’s direction, Aemilius’ eyes followed, lingering on the poor girl. That sense of dread from before came over him, sending a shiver down his spine. Then he gnashed his teeth, huffing. Here we go again, he thought to himself in both anticipation and annoyance. 

“And what is it that you want me to do?” he gritted, glaring pointedly at Susan. “Figure this out, I assume?”

“Obviously! I can’t focus at all and I need you to solve this for me!”

“That doesn’t--” He growled angrily, grumbling. 

“We really do need your help, Dr. Dremash,” Pim politely told him, doing her uttermost to contain her panic. “We really do. I do not think a normal medical doctor would be able to solve this.”

Did his expression soften? Possibly. If it did, it most likely wasn’t because he felt guilty for his attitude -- that would be one of the last things on the list. Instead, Pim’s words gave him a boost of confidence. There were rare times when his ego came in handy, and one of those rare occasions was at this moment. Yes, he realized, a normal medical doctor wouldn’t be able to solve this. I am an alchemist. The royal alchemist. I can solve this. 

“Well…” he began, ambling cautiously towards Victoria, “thorns are protruding out of her skin, are they not? It must… have to do with her plant magic.”

“That is what I thought, too,” Pim commented.

“I was-- I was bleeding a lot,” Victoria stammered nervously. “The blood was bubbling.”

“Your blood was bubbling,” he repeated. “That is extremely absurd. Bubbling blood should not come out of such rashes.”

“No fucking shit,” Susan spat, in which Aemilius glared at her once more. 

“It’s similar to an infection, perhaps,” he continued, looking at a safe distance at the thorns. “Sometimes, you must remove something inside of your body to stop the infection. Like a parasite. Perhaps if we remove these thorns, it will stop the rash and pain. We cannot just let the thorns stay there, after all.”

Victoria’s teary eyes widened, and she bit her lip. “B-But… B-But isn’t that gonna hurt?”

“Yes,” Aemilius slowly said. “But I’m sure that if we were to take you to a medical doctor, they would suggest the same exact thing.” He looked at Susan. “Now, where are your tools?”

“What the hell are you suggesting?” she retorted. 

“We pull the thorns out of her skin.”

Susan immediately darted forward. “What?! No!! You can’t just come here and declare that you’re going to randomly do that shit! You have no idea what that’s going to do to her!!”

“Then what do you suggest?” Aemilius sneered.

“How about we wait until we know what’s actually wrong and exactly how to solve it?”

“Oh, please. What do you want? To take her to a medical doctor? Nobody could figure out the reason for her rash, so how would there be a proper treatment for thorns coming out of her skin? We must take them out.”

As Victoria began to squirm and cry, Pim gently and protectively wrapped her arms around her shoulders, cooing to her to relax and that she was going to be okay. Deep down, a seed of doubt was planted into her chest and was beginning to sprout into a flower of fear.

Susan didn’t want to let her guard down so quickly, especially when up against Dr. Dremash. That maternal feeling in her gut sharpened. “You will not be doing that to Tori,” she snapped. 

“Then what else do you suppose we could do?” Aemilius snarked, crossing his arms and sighing. “Wait it out?”

Susan clenched her mouth before crossing her arms to match the alchemist’s challenging stance. “Yes. We wait it out. We see if it gets worse or not.”

“And then…?”

“And… And then we’ll all decide whether we should take the thorns out or not.”

“Fine.”

And so they waited. After Victoria managed to explain that the thorns had come out after she used plant magic on the succulent on her nightstand, it was uncomfortably quiet, save for her heart pounding in her ears. Her limbs were racking with pain, and every time she tried to move, she stifled a pained whimper and curled up. Pim stared at the thorns. She wondered if it was made out of the bones in Victoria’s body. She had reached out a hand to try and touch the thorns, but she stopped herself for Victoria’s sake.

Susan was nervously fidgeting with the miniature version of AI, allowing the device to scan Victoria’s body. Pim’s question was answered when certain parts of the screen were highlighted in green to separate the bones from other material. The thorns were highlighted, and they seemed to be coming deep from within Victoria’s arms and legs, twisting around the bones. 

A shaking hand went through Susan’s hair. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry,” she whispered shakily to Victoria. She swallowed. “I don’t understand how that even happens.”

“It has to do with her magic,” Aemilius muttered. 

“We already know that, shithead!” Susan snapped. “Stop pointing out the obvious!”

“I think we should all take some time to calm down,” Pim suggested. 

“Y-Yeah,” Victoria squeaked, holding tightly onto Pim. “Calm...Calm down.”

Susan sucked in a sharp breath and held it before exhaling, bringing her shaking hands to her messy brown hair. “Right,” she said. “Right. Calm down. Relax. Everything’s going to be okay.”

She sat down onto one of the sofas, massaging her temples and continue to take deep breaths. For the next minute or two, Aemilius simply glared at her, already ticked off by her moodiness and feeling that she was being far too impulsive to be acting like this. The only issue with that was that he didn’t understand her parental instincts and how out of control they could get; Aemilius himself didn’t have any parental instincts to be brought up quite yet. He was just an alchemist who wanted to mind his own business for now. 

Sighing quietly, he muttered once more, “It has to do with her magic. Studies have shown before that an extreme and constant overuse and push of magical energy can harm a mage. There are several cases in the past that have shown a mage suffering the after effect, but the result doesn’t exactly match up with what is happening with Victoria right now.”

“What were the cases?” Pim asked curiously. 

Aemilius paused. He looked up. “The mages would explode gruesomely.”

Victoria flinched, and immediately her eyes began darting back and forth to the people in the room. “Th-That’s not gonna h-happen to me, right?”

Susan shook her head, giving her a weak smile. “No, no, of course not! You’ll be okay.”

“She will not explode,” Aemilius mused. “But since she said that the thorns came out after she used her plant magic, I can conclude that the use of it is what’s causing her to have these botanical changes. It would be best to keep her away from any source of plants, trees, nature, everything in the outside world.”

They were all stunned. Aemilius let the silence flow before he stood up, looking at Susan. “Where are your tools?” he asked.

“You’re not getting them,” she growled.

“May I use AI?”

“No.”

“Fine, then. I’ll use my own methods.”

Aemilius then reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. 

That was already alarming enough. Susan yelped and dashed forward, tightly gripping Aemilius’ wrists. He clenched his teeth as she pinned him against the wall, suddenly slipping the knife out of his hands and held it up against his throat. “Don’t you dare,” she snarled at him.

Pim jumped up, yelling, “Sue, what are you doing?!”

“I’m teaching him to stay the hell away from Tori!”

“You’re going to hurt him!” 

“And he’s going to hurt Tori!”

Aemilius could only choke out the few words without getting cut by his own knife. “Let me-- do-- what I need to do--”

“Shut up,” Susan snarled. “You are--”

“G-Guys,” Victoria squeaked, “i-it’s getting worse…”

All three of them turned to the girl on the couch. She was shivering. On the rashes on her body, an unhealthy, almost rotten-green color began to spread around the patches. A foul, egg-like smell emitted from them. 

Susan gawked. Then she heard Aemilius croak, “Let me-- do it--”

She continued to hold him there for a few more moments before letting him go, giving him back his knife and muttering threateningly, “Be careful.”

He rubbed his throat with a hand, not taking his wide eyes off of her. Then, he cautiously made his way over to Victoria. This would be better if she would allow me to use her tools, he thought to himself. 

Victoria shook with fear, biting down on her lip. Pim held onto her hand tightly. “It’s going to be okay,” she whispered to her. “Just stay still, it’s okay.”

“N-No…”

“It’s going to be okay.” Pim’s hands were sweaty. “Here, you can bite down on your cloak.” She brought up the collar of Victoria’s cloak to her mouth. Victoria bit down hesitantly, beginning to shake with sobs. 

“Shh, shh, Tori, it’s okay…” Pim’s voice was wavering. “It’ll be over before you know it.”

Aemilius approached the two carefully. He knelt down. Susan had given him a small bucket to put the thorns in when they were taken out. His stern blue eyes looked straight at Victoria, and he gestured to her calmly. “Stay as still as you can,” he instructed calmly but tensely. “Something could go wrong if you move.”

Victoria nodded, fat tears dribbling down her face. She sniffled. Susan was on the other end of the couch, glaring with barely contained fury at Aemilius.

His gloved hands slowly approached one of her legs. Cautiously and gently, he pressed one of his fingers against one of the thorns. Victoria winced. Aemilius then pressed the blade of his knife on the other side of the thorn so that he was trapping it in his grasp.

He began to pull slowly. Victoria tensed up, whining as her watery eyes squeezed shut. The thorn shifted only slightly. Even Aemilius himself winced. Blood was beginning to crawl around the thorn, forming a red ring. 

Aemilius tried to pull the thorn out, but it seemed like it needed a lot more force. 

“Okay,” he exhaled. “I am going to count to three. Alright? Stay still. One, two… three!”

He tugged the thorn out. Blood splattered from the tiny wound as Victoria screamed, sobbing. A long stem was connected to the thorn, caked in red. Aemilius cringed as he pulled the stem all the way until it was completely out. He gave it a look of disgust before plopping it into the bucket. 

“You bastard!” Susan shrieked. “You said you’d be careful!”

“It wouldn’t budge!” he shouted back. “I needed to add a little bit of force!”

Victoria was crying loudly against Pim, sniffling and sobbing and whining. Pim did her best to comfort her by wiping her tears and whispering little words of affection. She couldn’t prevent an inch of anger at Aemilius from growing into her; hearing Victoria cry and wail was one of the worst things that she had heard.

“I--” Aemilius swallowed, looking at the two girls and avoiding Susan’s gaze. “I believe AI showed that not all of the thorns had long stems like that.”

“Oh, shut it!” Susan snapped. “There is no fucking way you’re going to continue doing this to her!!”

“Surgeons would’ve done the same!”

“When she was asleep and numbed!!” Susan began to tug at her hair. “Ohh god, why the hell did I let this happen?”

“E-Everybody calm down,” Pim tried to reassure them all. She felt like a rope in a tug of war, struggling to keep Victoria tied down safely while Aemilius and Susan were attempting to pull at opposite ends. “I agree with Susan. I think that this should stop.”

“Oh please,” Aemilius barked, “if anything, I think her wild bickering should stop!”

“Say that again and you won’t have any ears to hear my bickering!!” Susan shot back. 

“Both of you aren’t making this situation any better!” Pim yelled, frustration fueling her. Victoria’s sobs and cries continued to ring in her ears. “Just stop!! Victoria’s upset because of you two!”

The two of them paused, and they turned to take a good look at Victoria. She was quivering violently in Pim’s arms. Grossly sobbing, she laid her head against the ice mage’s chest, squeezing her eyes shut. Susan’s expression softened. Aemilius’ expression stiffened and he crossed his arms, turning his back from the group.

“I’m sorry, Tori,” Susan cooed. “It’s okay. He’s not gonna pull out any more thorns.”

“I...It hurts,” she whispered.

Susan looked like she had just gotten struck in the heart. She came over to Victoria and outstretched a hand before thinking better of it. She averted her gaze. “I’ll get...stuff. To clean up the blood.”

Aemilius stayed put, wishing that he had fought Susan off somehow before he ended up here.

#horror!au deleted scenes #long post #blood tw #injury tw #gore tw #body horror tw #ask to tag #twisty's writing #i kinda wish i kept this scene in #or some variation #because tori's chapter imo was missing some spooky disturbing parts

[inyourwildestdreamslove]

Upside Down Chapter 10

Pairing: Sweet Pea x Reader

Summary: You don’t know much about Sweet Pea, except for what you hear in the hallways around school. You pass him on your way to and from classes and you’ve perhaps brushed his arm a hand full of times. You don’t know him and he doesn’t know you.

That is until you save his baby sister from the Ghoulies all while simultaneously getting involved in a world you want nothing to do with and events you would rather stay out of.

Too bad the Ghoulies have other ideas…

Get Caught up with the Masterlist!

Girl Meets Betrayal

The student population of Southside High knew that to incur Sweet Pea’s wrath would be the end of them. They knew without a shadow of a doubt that once you are on his bad side, there was no going back to his good side. The student body, however, is curious about the new addition to the Serpent’s crew. The illustrious (Y/N), with her sweet smile and quick wit she had tamed the beast that is Sweet Pea. They thought her the Beauty, the kind and caring princess that he protects with a snarl and well placed right hook. Nobody would ever expect that she would be the one to bring the famous Sweet Pea to his knees, metaphorically speaking of course. All it takes is…

Silence.

“So you’re really not talking to him?” asks Toni as she leans against your locker.

“Nope…”

“Not even a little bit?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Because he sent the other Serpents to check up on you?”

“Because he’s throwing a temper tantrum and being too overprotective. I’m sick of his shit Toni. He acts like I can’t have friends that aren’t you guys and it’s some kind of personal betrayal I wasn’t up his ass Friday. Then, I’m having a good time with Jughead and he sends a scouting party, like I can’t even get a moment to myself without his interfering.”

“He’s just looking out for you… I mean those Bulldogs did bother you…”

“One guy being a dick does not mean that I was in danger… Enough is enough…”

You slam your locker closed and turn on your heels and start off down the hallway. The sound of Toni’s heels on the dirty linoleum floor follows you.

“So ignoring him is how you are dealing with this?”

You just shrug in reply as you continue down the hallway towards your first class.

“He didn’t talk to me all weekend either Toni and I don’t see you grilling his ass.”

She stops in her tracks before she rushes to catch up with you, “That’s because we both know you are the more rational one.”

“Not today.”

You sit through the next period stewing in your anger. You know he’s in your next class and you aren’t sure how this is going to play out. You are glaring at the board, barely paying attention to the teacher when your phone vibrates.

Jughead: You free after school?

(Y/N): Yeah… why?

Jughead: Want to go to Pops? I have something I want you to read

Jughead: Plus you’ve been down since you and boyfriend got into a fight.

(Y/N): he isn’t my boyfriend!!

(Y/N): but yeah I’ll meet you at Pops…

Jughead: Cool

You put your phone away as the teacher turns back to the class. You spend the rest of the lesson wondering how you are going to deal with Sweet Pea in the next class.

You almost miss the familiar weight of Sweet Pea’s arm as you walk to your next class, but the moment you see him sitting in his seat, turned to a girl in your class smiling and talking to her like she’s the only girl in the room you feel your blood boil.

“That’s my seat…” you grumble to yourself as you raise your head up high and walk to an empty seat in the back of the classroom as far away from Sweet Pea as you can get. Throughout class you don’t even look at him, even as giggles from the girl he’s talking to drift from your usual seat.

You spend the day not paying him any attention and with the Serpent girls.

“So you’re telling us that he’s talking to some girl in a poor attempt to make you jealous?” questions Dare to your right.

“I didn’t say he was trying to make me jealous…”

“Umm… He clearly is…” says Wink from your other side.

“That boy is so whipped when it comes to you it’s almost cute,” interjects Tori, “if it wasn’t so disgusting.”

“He is not whipped…”

“Yes he is…” they all say in unison.

“Whatever…” you grumble as you all continue down the hallway.

The day ends with you still pointedly ignoring Sweet Pea and him still attempting to get a rise out of you. You could tell you were getting more of a rise out of him though. Throughout the day you watched as he became increasingly more agitated.

Attempting to put your anger aside, you walk into the Pop’s and over to the booth that Jughead is situated in.

“What’s up?” you ask as you plop down across from him.

“I wanted you to check out the piece I did on what happened to Gumdrop.”

“Whoa! You’ve finished it already?!” you ask jumping up and sliding into the booth next to you. His arm slides around the back of the booth to allow you to lean in and read the article he has pulled up on the screen.

“You really think Alice Cooper will run it?” you ask hopefully.

“Oh yeah! She’s all about causing general chaos,” He says with a chuckle.

Neither of you notice when the door to Pops opens and Sweet Pea walks in. Fire springs into his eyes as he sees the two of you together.

“Wow… Seriously? Is this why you’ve been such a bitch?” questions Sweet Pea from behind you.

You whip around in your seat to see Sweet Pea, “You did not just call me a bitch.”

“Didn’t I?” he says with a cruel smirk, “Good to know that while I was taking care of Gumdrop all weekend you were fucking some Southside traitor! What? Did you decide that us lowly Southsiders aren’t good enough for you?”

“What the fuck Sweet Pea?! I thought you were my friend but you’re going to treat me this way? Fuck you!” you exclaim hurt he would say such things about you. You honestly thought you were better friends than that.

Jughead looks like a fish out of water as you get up and push past Sweet Pea, you can feel the tears in your eyes from the hurt and the surprise from his reaction.

You don’t think twice as you storm out the door and drive off into the setting sun.

It’s about an hour later with all the girls piled into your room that the shit talking begins.

“I cannot believe he would say that!” yells Toni.

“He needs to have his balls ripped off!” growls Tori from her spot at your window seat.

“He needs more than that…” grumbles Wink as she steals the chocolate sauce and generously pours more onto her sundae.

“What are you going to do?” questions Dare before she tilts her head back and sprays whipped cream into her mouth.

“She’s going to get even obviously!” exclaims Tori.

“I’m sure he will apologize tomorrow, I bet he feels really bad about the way he talked to you,” says Toni.

“I don’t care… That was completely unacceptable,” you say as a dollop of whipped cream toples over in your bowl.

“Well he’s not going to talk to you like that again, or he’s dealing with us.”

You glance up at your new found friends and give them a watery smile. You don’t necessarily like how all of them have come to be in your life, but you don’t know what you would do without them now.

You spend the rest of the night complaining about boys and eating all the sweets you could possibly want.

The next day at school you don’t even look at Sweet Pea, or the next, or the next. By day three Sweet Pea is getting close to cracking when he calls out your name and you walk by him like you don’t even know him.

That’s when the text messages begin.

Sweet Pea: Look… I shouldn’t have said those things to you…

Sweet Pea: I didn’t mean it… I just don’t like that Jughead guy okay?

Sweet Pea: Come on! Talk to me!

Sweet Pea: I don’t know why I said all those things okay? Can we talk? I feel like shit about all this…

Sweet Pea: Fine… I get it you’re still pissed…

Sweet Pea: I’ll be at the Wyrm tonight if you want to talk.

You look down at your phone before leaning your head back and releasing the breath you didn’t know you were holding. You’re done being mad at Sweet Pea, but every time you think of what he said you get hurt and angry all over again. “Besides he hasn’t even apologized yet!”

“Maybe he wants to do it person?” asks Betty from the other side of the table.

You’ve finally gotten the chance to meet Betty and the two of you hit it off right away.

“Maybe…”

“Well do you really want to be someone’s friend if they talk to you like that?” questions Jughead from the otherside of the table.

You look up at him, “He doesn’t usually talk to me like that…”

“Why do you think he did that day then?” questions Betty before she takes a sip of her milkshake.

“Who knows… He was already pissed at me for choosing Jughead over him on Friday, I guess it just made it worse when he saw us together that day…”

“Sounds kind of controlling to me…” says Jughead off handedly.

Betty whips around to face her friend and elbows him in the side.

“What?! It does!” he defends before taking a large bite of his burger.

“He’s not controlling… He’s just had a rough week…”

“And now you’re making excuses for him…”

“I’m not…”

“Wow… so it is true…” says a voice from behind you.

You glance over your shoulder to find Roger’s standing there with a smug smirk and his arms crossed.

“What’s true?”

“That you aren’t Sweet Pea’s girl anymore…”

“I wasn’t ever Sweet Pea’s girl…” you grumble, “Why does everyone think I am?”

“Well you are always with him… Except for this week that is… Wonder why?”

“That’s none of your business…”

“Well he has been talking a lot of shit about you this week.”

“What?”

“Oh yeah… he keeps talking about how you’re fucking some guy and how you think you’re too good for the Southside now…”

“No he’s not…”

“That’s not what I heard… Look I’m not as big of an asshole as you think I am. I just think you should know what he’s been saying about you,” he says with a shrug as he grabs his order off of the counter.

You can feel your blood boil as you practically leap out of the booth and rush out the door. It takes you all of 10 minutes to get to the Whyte Wyrm. You see his Harley in its usual spot and almost rip the door off its hinges to get into the bar.

When you are in the dimly lit bar you look over at Sweet Pea’s usual table and see him waiting for his turn. His eyes land upon you when he looks up and a slight smile comes onto his handsome features.

In your rage, you see none of this and rush towards the tall male.

“What the fuck have you been saying about me you asshole!”

Sweet Pea is taken off guard by your rage and almost takes a step back in surprise.

“What are you talking about?” he asks in bewilderment.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about! You’ve been talking shit about me being with Jughead!”

“No I haven’t,” he says through gritted teeth, “Who told you that?”

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is I thought you were my friend! Then you go and yell at me and call me a slut for hanging out with a guy!”

“I did not call you a slut!”

“Umm… you pretty much did! And why does being friends with Jughead make me a traitor?!”

“Why are you hanging out with him so much then? Don’t think I don’t know you were with him tonight!”

“What does that even matter?!”

“IT JUST DOES!”

“Don’t you fucking yell at me!”

“You’re the one who came in here yelling at me! What you think you just get to do whatever the fuck you want?”

“Considering that I don’t answer to you… YES! Yes I do!”

“So that’s it then? We were just your friends until you could find some Northsiders to take you in?”

“What the fuck Sweet Pea? That’s you that decided that. I’ve always been your friend, I’ve never once thought bad of you or any of the Serpents. You guys have become like my second family and then I get treated like this? Fuck that. By the way… Jughead wrote an article calling out the guys at the school that were trying to suspend Gumdrop. I was working on an article to submit to the Riverdale Gazette in order to highlight the unjust way that the situation was handled. And Betty gathered several testimonials from young women who went through a similar situation and how it was poorly handled. I wasn’t kidding about taking their jobs Sweet Pea. WE did all that for Gumdrop.”

With that you spin on your heel and walk out the door.

You don’t see the look of shock or guilt that haunts Sweet Pea.

You don’t see how he breaks the pool stick in half over his knee in his rage.

And you don’t see when he sinks to his knees outside the bar and holds his head in his hands in shame, wishing he could take back all the things he said.

Umm.... So...What just happened? Guess you’re going to have read the next chapter to find out! 

Shoutout to @claryfray1698 for editing and @sweetpea-cc for helping me organize my thoughts!!

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[morethanithoughtofficialblog]

Chapter 9: How am I even supposed to be feeling right now?

In which a certain skeleton realizes he’s smarter than he thinks.

*Sans's POV*

It's been like two weeks since (Y/N) stayed at the Dreemurr's house with everyone else. I take that day as a reference because a lot of things have happened.

One of them, my new home... that feels really tense.

Our parents decided to live with us so we all can have a better relationship with each other (well, it was actually Arial's idea), and I just let it be. Now I fucking regret it, 'cause I remembered that Gaster is a stupid asshole. He just criticizes everything I say, I do, or I've ever done with my life. It's fucking annoying to hear he has "such a disappointment of a son" every two seconds and poor, innocent, Paps trying to dismiss his bullshit.

Arial, being in love with the doc like if they just started dating, never said a word defending me. But, in order to look like a good person, she doesn't defend her perfect husband.

Go on- defend that piece of crap, Mom.

Honestly, Papyrus and I could have been perfectly well on our own, just like we were in the Underground. He's now fifteen, and I am twenty-two; isn't it too late to try to bond a connection?! They should have tried when Papy was just a kid and I was a fucking depressed teenager, trying to sustain my brother and the place we lived.

Oh, did I mention I was the one who paid everything? They didn't put a single freaking cent! I did all on my own, I even got a lot of trouble to persuade one human into buying my old house. And all for this?! Now I can't even get on my house and smile to my little brother without being judged...

Ah...

I really miss those times.

When I would get out of school or of... "work", and meet the smiley face of my brother. That smile is what keeps me from ending it all. I just can't leave him behind with that fucking couple of irresponsible parents while I'm burning in hell.

I just can't.

Today, though, we are out of that uncomfortable place and back on the Dreemurr's house. It's really big, and, I must admit, better than anything I could ever afford. Toriel insisted that we shouldn't lose our friendship, therefore, everyone must go. And so there I was going, trying to resist the urge to punch Gaster on the face and then go to my bed and cry while I fall asleep...

That was too specific.

When I arrived, boom! Surprise surprise! (Y/N) was there, freaking out in the middle of an argument, hosted by Undyne and Mettaton.

Poor girl.

Papyrus did whatever it was on my mind, and intervened. The dispute ended quickly, thanks to Papyrus's innocence not wanted to be ruined. My death glare also helped but, hey- Papy did almost everything, so he gets the credit.

(Y/N) let out a sigh of relief, then awkwardly muttered a 'thank you'. She anxiously looked over at the four of us, then waved shyly before disappearing into the kitchen with Tori.

She... is certainly something. I don't think I've ever seen anyone this nervous before.

Maybe she has problems socializing, but that would make no sense. But now that I remember, she indeed was anxious whenever we went for a meeting with her.

Or whenever we hang out.

...

Actually, I think she's nervous about the mere fact of being around us. We must be a huge group of weirdos to her, while in her head she's planning an excuse for how to escape.

"Ah, well..." she interrupted, gaining everyone's attention "I have the results for, uh, your access in our education systems. I believe I, well, have everything specified in your documents, so... yeah... do you, eh, want me to give them to you...?"

Silence. And then, a grateful and unexpected squeak, courtesy of Toriel.

"Oh! That's just wonderful! Thank you so much!"

"Ah, it's... nothing" (Y/N) answered, with a seemingly usual hint of anxiety in her voice.

Then she grabbed a shitton of folders and started to giving them to us. I took mine nervously and remembered all the times I studied really hard for school. I remembered, also, every book I read and how I ended up learning French.

I just hope it wasn't for nothing.

I took a deep breath, now remembering the exam we had to do in an office, like if it was a diagnostic test. It wasn't that hard but, what if I failed? I swear to God that if I need to do high school again, I will kill myself.

I opened it slowly, almost closing my eyes in fear. A panic attack started to take over my body, and I must have shown it since (Y/N) was giving me a concerned look.

"Sans, are you okay?" She whispered softly, making me relax just a bit. Then her eyes lighted up a little as if she now understood "Don't worry, you did well. In fact, you did perfectly!"

Gaining more confidence from her small smile, I opened it quickly and checked the first page. Then I stood in shock, my mind going numb and my mouth opening slightly.

...

College.

I can go to college.

To fucking university, like a normal person at my age would.

I looked at her and noticed she was almost smirking by my reaction. Then she gave me the biggest smile she could and a thumbs up.

And, I swear to God, I felt amazing.

I checked the other papers, and I was becoming even happier. Texts said that I was a mastermind, that I could even get a huge scholarship in an important university if I wanted to. My redaction skills were noted as perfect, which made my nonexistent heart skip a beat. My science knowledge was amusing, and math, oh lord, had really high notes.

At the end of the documents, I noticed a little post-it. I looked at it curiously and started reading it as soon as I grabbed it in my hands:

<<Hi Sans!

You did really well on basically everything! You should be proud!

If you are interested in going to a university any time sooner, I recommend you to check out Ebott University. It's one of the best schools in the country, and I think you have the capacity to join! Hell, even have a great scholarship there!

No pressure, though. It's just a suggestion, after all!

I just wanted to congratulate your excellent results, and to tell you that you can do it! You looked really stressed after giving your test, so I thought I should tell you this: you'll do just fine, Sans. Have more confidence in yourself, alright? If not for you, at least for your brother, who I see that it is really important to you.

I wish you the best of lucks, my friend!

(Y/N) (L/N)>>

I didn't know how to react. The only thing I know I did it's that I smiled all the time, and felt like this was just a happy dream about me being successful in life. I just couldn't believe that all my effort did work.

I glanced at her and saw that Papyrus was chatting excitedly about his future. He proclaimed that he would do his best in order to "make her effort count". I smiled, noticing that, after a long time, I shared the same enthusiasm as Papyrus.

I must have been staring because Paps waved at me energetically while she just let out a happy sigh.  

"BROTHER! I AM FIT TO THE HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL!" he exclaimed, making me smile even more. "I'LL FINALLY BE ABLE TO LEARN NEW THINGS, SANS!"

With Papyrus in school, I think I can work for a better future in the midtime.

After such a long time.

Everyone else was also excited, confirmed by Gaster's small and hypocritical smile.

He probably did better than I did.

I looked over his paper and saw it; he could instantly go for the scientist role in any place...

And I have to study.

My smile twitched a little but quickly forgot my dismay by a big hug from my brother. Oh lord, what I would do without him?

I wOUld prObaBLy k!ll mYsEl-

Calm down, Sans.

You've got this.

I returned to my old and casual smile, relaxing a bit. We're out of the Underground now- it's my chance to finally do what I want. And what I want to do right now...

It's to buy another book.

...

Nerd.

A lot of people are actually surprised when they hear I love reading, especially the classics. I must seem so relaxed and chill for them, then. Which it's good since that's my favorite side of me, but... maybe keeping this reading obsession out of view it's dragging me down. It would be better to find someone to share these things with...

But who?

I snapped back into reality and shrugged it off. I can't lose my cool.

I just can't.

Eventually, I caught up into the conversation everyone was being part of. As expected, the topics were related to the future and how are we going to make our dreams come true. (Y/N), however, was just smiling there, trying to fit in silently. But, obviously, she felt excluded every time she tried to gain the courage to say something.

She doesn't seem to be up for conversations, either. When Toriel asked her a few things, she stuttered and played with her fingers. I have no idea how I managed to understand everything she said, but somehow I could. Still, I feel sorry for her. She probably doesn't want to be here.

I wonder why she helped us, though. She hasn't asked for money just yet, and she tries her best to don't be rude at all. She apologizes a lot and freaks out whenever someone acts to be offended or sad. Whenever there is an argument, she probably has a mental breakdown and tries her best to don't surpass some limits or to let the problem go any further. The mere look of her face is the purest description of anxiety I've ever seen...

Maybe she suffers, indeed, anxiety...

But you just can't ask her, can you?

...

Of course not.

It would be stupid to arrive at her side and immediately ask "hey girl, do you have anxiety???".

She would stop talking to me, and considering that we'll see each other more in the future, I just can't go on and make our friendship awkward.

...

Wait- friendship?! You don't even know her that much!!!

...

But she indeed called me in the post-it as a friend.

My skull was starting to hurt, and curiously, it's been for a problem that isn't mine. I must admit, though; anxious or not anxious, (Y/N) seems to be really nice. And she's like, smart as fuck.

Or that's how I see her, who knows.

"HUMAN!" Papyrus exclaimed, snapping me back to reality... again. "WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS SO NERVOUS TO TALK TO US? WE WON'T HURT YOU!"

Oh shi-

"Ah, eh... I, em, don't know...? It's just, ah... eh..."

Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit

"It's just, em... I... how do I explain, em... ah..."

Tell her something, you fucking asshole!!!!!!!

"ah, kid. you don't need to say it if you don't want to. i bet everyone will understand"

She just looked at me nervously, like if she was asking for reassurance. I nodded my head slowly and gave her a thumbs-up, trying to calm her down. She took a deep breath and smiled, a hint of confidence gleaming in her eyes.

Wait, is she going to say it? Why-

"Well, em, Papyrus" she started, shaking her hands in order to calm down "I suffer from something called... anxiety. I was diagnosed some months ago, actually".

Oh, so I was right?

How sad, she's so nice to suffer from something like that.

Wait, so that means she-

"wait, so you are enjoying your time here? for real?"

"Oh, of course!" she responded immediately, smiling nervously at my statement. I'm such an asshole "I actually was starting to miss getting out of my crappy apartment to socialize with other people! I'm... not the best at it, though. I do suck at making new friends and- shitidontevenknowifyouguysconsidermeasafriendimsosorry"

Was she for real? It's difficult to see this girl as someone not loved or wanted. I mean, I must admit she's pretty and, besides, she's super nice and patient. I'm starting to see that she didn't do this for money, but because that's her nature. A kind girl, not standing social injustices. Her words and her personality now make sense- she's just that different to others that she finds it difficult to have real friends.

"HUMAN! I'M DELIGHTED TO HEAR YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH US! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ACCEPT YOUR OFFER AND I'LL BE THE COOLEST FRIEND YOU'LL HAVE!"

I should probably tell her the same.

...

I'm rooting to be friends with this girl, I just can't dismiss the fact she wants some company.

But aren't I judging her too quickly?

...

She looks lonely for real, though.

I mean, I do have Papyrus, but she seems to have no one at her side. And that just fucking sucks. I don't think anyone deserves to be so lonely and so misunderstood. I don't even understand how she has dealt with it! I don't think I'll ever be able to be alone with my mind. I would have probably killed myself as a teenager and not been here.    

"hey kid, you've been really nice and, well, a real light of hope to all of us. i don't think anyone here wouldn't like to be your friend. or well, at least i don't, y' know?"

She smiled and seemed a lot more relaxed, as everyone else nodded at my words. I could see she felt more accepted, which made me feel better. It's stupid, isn't it? I feel good because I included someone that deserved to be included since the beginning.

"Oh, I know!" Frisk raised her finger in the sky, gaining all of our attention "We should do a huge sleepover party in order to commemorate our new friend, (Y/N)!"

Papyrus gasped with lights in his eyes, clearly excited about this new idea. (Y/N), though... she looked like she was freaking out a lot. I put one of my hands on her shoulder, trying to tranquilize her, and incredibly she did. She gave me a small smile and mouthed an "I'll be ok", which made me smile as well.

As much as I must hate humanity, I think she's an exception.

But I really don't know

"BUT FIRST!" Papy screamed, bringing with himself a ton of wood pieces and a hammer. Then he locked the door completely and put a padlock that I don't know where it came from. "THERE! NOW NO ONE CAN ESCAPE THE PARTY! NYEH HEH HEH!"

I swear to God, almost everyone had a heart attack at that moment. And (Y/N), of course, seemed like she was dead for a moment.

Before we could react, a bunch of blankets and pillows were all over the couch, and my brother was already connecting the Wii and the Xbox. Undyne was bringing chips from the cabinet (without any permission, by the way), and the kid was getting some board games.

This is gonna be a long night.

(Y/N), without anything else to do, offered herself to help. But since she was "the guest", the official planners of this sleepover didn't let her. And since I wasn't going to help, we ended up sitting on the couch, talking about... well, anything.

"is there any way we can help with, uh, your anxiety?" I asked her, trying to feel more, well, accessible...?

"Well, um... I think I'll be ok. As long as I'm not dragged into a huge party with unknown people... which it's not totally happening, haha..." she paused, then she glanced at me in horror "Right?!"

"considering mettaton, uh..." I stopped, knowing I fucked up "...maybe?"

I shrugged at her with a small and nervous smile and her eyes widened a lot. I felt horrible, but I just couldn't lie to her. If she's gonna continue here with us, Mettaton's personality will need some... moderations? And honestly, I don't think he'll ever moderate that slutty character he has created, that it's the dirtiest version of himself.

She sighed though, realizing that, no matter how much she wanted things to be different, she couldn't change them. Or could she?

"It's okay, I guess" she started with a deep breath, like if this was something difficult to her "I mean, I just declared that I have anxiety, whichistilldontunderstandwhyidid, but that doesn't mean people should be different around me or take pity on me. The world just doesn't work like that, and that's fine! So I think there's no way to help my little ol' problem... except medicine, of course"

"oh, so you already went to the doctor then?"

"Yeah... but I constantly forget to take the, uh... pills..."

Wow, so she doesn't even care that much? Or it's just that she cares more about work? Probably the second, but it doesn't really matter. (Y/N) has anxiety and she isn't dealing with it the proper way, but I'm no one to tell her, well, anything about it. I haven't been responsible for ages, I'm not gonna tell this girl any advice about responsibility.

Not today.

Not ever.

"EVERYONE! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAS SETTLED THE GAME!" Papy shouted, shutting up all my thoughts about this kid. Thank God.

"oh really, and what is it bro?" I asked, sounding as lazy as usual and hiding my real self with a smile. It always works.

"TODAY, BROTHER!" he posed heroically "WE ARE PLAYING A POPULAR HUMAN GAME THAT REQUIRES STRATEGY AND GOOD THINKING!"

Huh?

"WE ARE PLAYING..." (notice the dramatic suspense)

"...MONOPOLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Is this the part where I shout in happiness or where I scream in horror?

#sans x reader #more than i thought fanfiction #more than i thought #chapter 9 #sans #x reader #undertale

[proxylynn]

Underfell: File Name not Edgy Enough #20

WARNING: I WANT NO RESPONSIBILITY OVER SPOILING THINGS FOR OTHERS. THAT BEING SAID, THIS IS HOW FILE NAME NOT FOUND WOULD FUNCTION IN THE AU OF UNDERFELL. BEFORE YOU READ THIS, UNLIKE THE NICE TIME OF UNDERTALE, THIS WORLD IS KILL OR BE KILLED. THIS STORY WILL BE GRAPHIC, GORY, USE SWEARS LIKE NOBODY'S BUSINESS, AND DEAL WITH SENSITIVE SUBJECT MATTERS. FOR EXAMPLE, THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE READ THE FILE NAME RELOCATED SPOOF WILL KNOW HOW I PICTURE THIS VERSION OF LYNSIE COMING TO THE UNDERGROUND. IT IS NOT AN ACCIDENT. IT IS NOT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING DUMB. IT IS BECAUSE SHE CHOOSES TO END HER LIFE. SO TAKE THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT. I MADE IT BECAUSE I NEEDED TO LET SOME OF THIS EDGINESS OUT OF MYSELF. WHICH I GUESS MAKES UNDERFELL LYNSIE EVEN MORE TRUE TO WHO I REALLY AM. ANYWAY, ENJOY. ^_^

This day started off sour and it continued to feel weirder as the time dragged on. Sans stared off into space, a strong sense of boredom and slight unknown thing weighed heavily on his mind. A small nagging feeling in the back of his skull. That sense of "did I leave the oven on" type thing. But he couldn't think of what it could be. Other than that, the boredom was draining. The magazines he stashed under his station that normally were entertaining now held very little interest. Hell, he didn't even feel like eating one of his decked out hot dogs. Something was wrong. He just didn't know what it was.

Maybe...Maybe doing something a little monotonous would make some part of this day feel normal. So after making sure the coast is clear of the order-barking Papyrus, Sans vacates his post and heads for the door that exits the Ruins. It's possible that the old goat woman will join in if he catches her there. But mostly he was hoping to just be able to knock alone. So once he planted his caboose in the snow and leaned his back to the monolithic doors, Sans took a long breath before tapping his knuckles upon the stone.

[Knock knock]

He pauses to listen if there's any response to come from the other side. When none came he sighed with relief and began with the first thing that came to mind. Though it now meant that the receiver of the jokes had to be internally.

Who's there?

"some."

Some who?

"some asshole telling knock-knock jokes."

He chuckles to himself and knocks again

Who's there?

"go fuck yourself, i don't need to tell you shit."

He seemed to be in a rather agitated mood and his jokes expressed it well. But agitation is only the beginning. For soon...they begin to darken.

"a man walks into a library and asks for a book on how to commit suicide. the librarian tells the man to go jump off a cliff because he'd never return the book."

He snickers.

"why do orphans like playing tennis? because that's the only love they can get."

Not to mention some jokes are just in poor taste.

"a woman delivers a baby. the doctor takes the baby and throws it. smashing it around the hospital room, drop-kicking it, etc. the mother starts freaking out, being held back by nurses, and begging 'why!?'. the doctor holds the baby upside down by the ankle and says 'i am just fucking with you, it was born dead'."

He really had to be careful when telling dead baby jokes. Toriel heard part of one once and her rage induced flames managed to seep their way out the cracks.

"after a long painful labor, a doctor approaches the new mother and says 'ma'am, i've got some good news and some bad news. what would you like to hear first?'. after thinking it over she responds 'i will have the bad news first doctor'. the doctor replies 'well, i am not sure how to put this, but i am sorry to tell you, your child is dead'. a little puzzled, the woman responds with 'doctor, if that is the bad news, what is the good news?'. the doctor replies simply 'i was not ready to be a dad anyway'."

He laughs at the dark humor but his laughter his hollow. Something just isn't right. Nothing was lifting his spirits or making this feel any more normal. Damn it, why couldn't he get this nagging feeling to go away?! Why can't things just go back to the way they were? Before any of this stupid crap. Before...

"Sans? Is that you?"

Her voice nearly spooked him yet part of him was relieved. This part is somewhat normal except for her worried voice.

"yeah. it's me. you okay?"

"My daughter...Please tell me she is okay."

Daughter...? Oh, fuck! The human! They forgot about the human! Shit! Quick! Think of a cover story!

"*nervous* the kid? s-she's fine. why do ya ask?"

"We spoke not too long ago. She told me of a great many things. Things you have not told me of."

Sans began to sweat.

"w-what kind of things?"

"Sans...You would tell me if something was truly wrong, would you not?"

Keep it together man. Just be cool. It's not like she knows about any of the sinful things you regret.

"tori, you're the first person i'd come to if something was wrong with her."

"How long?"

"how long what?"

"How long has she been going through her maturity state?"

God dang it, human! Why'd you tell her that? Who's he kidding. Of course, she'd tell her. It's her mom.

"not long. a few days at the most."

"And this...This has not caused an issue with the Black Soul, has it?"

"no. that thing hasn't been triggered by it at all so far."

"Good. ...That is very good."

"are you sure you're okay, tori?"

There's a pause that has him concerned.

"tori?"

"Am I a good mother?"

Where the fuck did that come from?!

"huh?"

"All of my children...I try to be a good mother and do what is best for them...and in the end, they all leave me in some way or another."

"you can't say dumb shit like that. what happened to the princes wasn't your fault."

"Then what of the seven that fell after? They all left me too...only to die and their souls collected."

"they knew the risks. you warned them that the outside was cruel and they chose to go anyway. you can't help it if they didn't want to listen."

"And Lynsie? She has yet to return to me as she said she would."

"to be fair...it's not like we're giving her that chance."

"But you let her be in a bar? Why let her be there and not let her come home?"

She had him by his nonexistent balls there.

"she's kept watched over there. we can't skip work to be her babysitter."

"Then let her come home!"

"it's not that simple."

"Yes, it is!"

"no, it's not!"

This was the first time he'd ever raised his voice to Toriel.

"do you think i like risking my neck for a human? after what they did to us? what they stole from us? all the lives lost and the years spent in this underground prison. and now...now i'm stuck with one in my own house and i'm supposed to act like it's normal? well, it ain't fucking normal!"

"She is not like those other humans. You know this."

"that's not the point! the damn town knows we have a human. they just don't know it's her. if word got out, then undyne wouldn't rest till she found her and killed the traitors that hid the human all this time."

"Sans..."

"i only agreed to this promise because you threatened to kill yourself. if i could bring her back here, i would so then i wouldn't have to put up with her anymore. but i can't. pap would know i let her go and he'd never forgive me for it. i can live with a lot of things. but my brother's disappointment? i can't live with that, tori."

She goes quiet.

"be thankful you get the phone calls. not everyone has the chance to speak with someone they care for."

"...You lost someone important in the war, did you not?"

Sans felt his soul tighten harshly.

"i have to get back to work."

He stands up and dusts the snow off himself.

"Sans, wait!"

He should've said nothing and walked away.

"what?"

"Tell her...That I am not mad. That I am sorry. And that I hope she can forgive this foolish old woman. Can you do me this last request, my friend?"

He didn't like how that sounded.

"oh no. do not say that. you do not get to pull this crap on me. you will not guilt me like this!"

"I have troubled you enough."

He hits the door.

"take it back! you take it back right now!"

There is no reply and he pounds on the door like a mad man.

"tori! tori, open this god damn door! i swear i will...!"

"SANS!"

Papyrus came running in controlled alarm.

"SANS! THE HUMAN!"

"kinda in the middle of something more important here, bro. tori, don't you dare do anything stupid or so help me i'll...!"

Papyrus clutches his brother's head in his palm.

"NEVER DISREGARD ME AGAIN."

"sure, fine, whatever. now, what do you want?"

Papyrus glares at this disrespect but lets it slide this once since the Queen is involved.

"WE FORGOT THE HUMAN WAS LEFT UNATTENDED."

"and...?"

"I WENT BACK TO CHECK ON HER AND SHE IS NOT THERE."

That got Sans's attention.

"what?"

"HER AND THE FLOWER ARE NO LONGER IN OUR HOME."

"and she's not a grillby's?"

"I CHECKED. HE SEEMED TO KNOW NOTHING BUT IT FELT LIKE HE KNEW MORE THAN WHAT HE TOLD ME."

"shit, this isn't good."

"I AM HEADING TO WATERFALL. SHE COULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN FAR."

Waterfall...? Oh yeah!

"wait, pap, i'll go."

That had Papyrus eye his brother curiously.

"YOU? WHY?"

"well, for one, you kinda stand out. if she or anyone else saw you, it would tip them off to something being up. but me? hell, no one gives a rat's ass what i do."

"THAT IS TRUE."

"and two...i know where she's going."

"YOU WHAT?!"

Before the skeleton has a chance to respond a strange sound grabbed their attention. A sound neither has ever heard but knew what it was. The eerie rumbling of heavy stone that lets escape a massive plume of heat that melts the surrounding snow within five meters. Dread consumes their bones. Even the great and terrible Papyrus quacked in fear at the smoldering red eyes leering in the darkness beyond the door.

"Am I hearing that correctly? You have lost my daughter?"

"oh..."

"SHIT."

[Meanwhile: Hotland's Laboratory]

"Holy crap!"

Alphys had been keeping tabs on Sans this day. As she had been doing ever since she pinned him down with the knowledge of the human. The low ranking skeleton that once was her superior never failed to reveal more things that piqued her interest, this day is no different. Though she had to admit she did not expect the dialog heard, the news of the human's lack of whereabouts, or the emergence of the Queen from the Ruins. This level of drama was on par with some of her all-time favorite animes. But still...perhaps the script of this show could use just a bit more development.

"Mettaton! Get your ass in here!"

The robot responds from deep beneath the building, returning from a secret elevator hidden in plain sight and lugging empty bags of pet food.

"YOU KNOW, I'M BEGINNING TO THINK THEY'RE STARTING TO FORM THEIR OWN PERSONALITIES. THAT SNOW BIRD KEEPS MUTTERING A NAME FROM ITS PAST. ARE YOU CERTAIN THEY'RE MINDLESS ABOMINATIONS?"

"I'm sorry, are you the scientist around here with years of study? No? Then shut up about them and get over here. I think you'll find this interesting."

The sneaky smirk curling the corners of the lizard's lips gave him warnings of unpleasantness. But he could not disobey and wheeled over to her side.

"SPYING ON THE SKELETON AGAIN? AND YOU THINK MY HUMAN HOBBY IS WEIRD."

Now seeing the enhanced screen, Mettaton looked on in confusion as the doors to the Ruins parted and a very furriest looking female version of Asgore stepped out much to the horror of the two skeletons that began to back away slowly while pleading.

"IS THAT...?"

"Yep. Queen Toriel Dreemurr. This is the first time she's set foot outside since she banished herself years ago."

"BUT...WHY IS SHE OUTSIDE? SHE NEVER LEAVES THE RUINS, RIGHT? WHAT'S GOT HER SO UPSET?"

Alphys grins wickedly.

"See those two? They've been watching over the human for her."

"I KNOW THAT."

"Well...They've just let it slip that they don't know where the human is. Now, what do you suppose that means?"

The screen of the robot began to flicker about in a light show of questionable display.

"OH DEAR. SUCH A TRAGEDY. A POOR LOST SOUL OUT SOMEWHERE IN THIS HARSH WORLD. IT WOULD BE SUCH A SHAME IF SOMETHING WERE TO HAPPEN TO THEM."

The dark insinuation in his digital voice was the seed the manipulative lizard was hoping to plant.

"I give you permission to retrieve the human. Though if they get to it before you, do not engage."

"UNDERSTOOD. AND MY SHOWS?"

"I'll remix some older clips. No one will know the difference."

A slightly distorted laugh escapes the robot and it wheels away all too innocently.

"POOR UNFORTUNATE SOUL, HAVE NO FEAR. YOUR KNIGHT IS COMING, MY DEAR."

Alphys couldn't help the enjoyment this was bringing her. She honestly considered letting Undyne in on this action but that might turn this party into a slaughterhouse and she'd rather not have this end so soon. Now all she had to do was watch this show that she has orchestrated. Still, she hated that there was only one camera in Waterfall. She really needed to put in more cameras around the underground.

[Meanwhile: downstream on the river to Waterfall]

The water is calm and the temperature is mellowing out. The land begins to transition from ice to marsh. The air has a scent I haven't smelled in a long time. The faint smell of flowers and wet grass. This place, colored in purples and blues. Mushrooms, Typha, and shimmering crystals decorate the land sporadically but make it so...enchanting. With all the hate and death that seems to be bread in this underground world, it's amazing to me that there is such beauty that appears untainted by darkness.

"Do not be taken in by what you see, little one."

The Riverperson speaks after a long as hell time of silence.

"Pretty faces hide the ugliest intentions...Tra la la."

"Then by that logic, the more grotesque the thing looks the less wicked its motives. Heh...Ugly Fish must be a saint."

It turns to look at me and I shrug my shoulders.

"What? I'm just messing with you. I understood your warning. Don't judge things by how they look. I'm not retarded."

It looks away from me again.

"You should take things more seriously. Wild waters will soon come."

I get that is giving me these cryptic warnings for a reason. But the condescending tone pisses me off.

"Good thing I know how to swim."

The boat dips into the water sharply and rocks harshly as it stabilizes. The Riverperson doesn't move out of place in the slightest, almost as if it flowed with the motions like it wasn't even moving. I myself take the turbulence with some ease, used to moving with the motions in a speeding car, but I do grip the sides when the back end is flung up in its return to stability. The hooded fairer of this vessel looks back again over its shoulder.

"It doesn't help to swim if you can't keep breathing. Do not drown in the black deep. Or you will never come back."

Well, that hit more of the ominous nail on the head.

"Tra la la. Eat a mushroom every day."

"Why?"

The boat approaches a simple open area much like that in Snowdin and it once more looks away from me.

"Why? Then I know you're listening to me...Tra la la."

I want to take this thing seriously but when it does shit like that it makes it really hard not to call it out on such bull shit.

"No sweat there. I like mushrooms."

When the boat docks, I carefully stand up and step once more on top solid ground.

"I hope it's not too much trouble to ask this, but how long do you tend to dock here?"

"I come when I am needed."

"Great. We'll get to chat more later. I'll be needing a ride back to Snowdin."

"Then perhaps another time. Or perhaps not. It doesn't really matter."

With that, the boat returns to the rivers current and leaves me snickering to myself.

"Geez, what a weirdo."

Flowey pokes out of the backpack.

"What was all that stuff you both were on about?"

I wave dismissively.

"Sorry bro, but that's a whole dumpster load of junk I'm not diving into right now. Maybe later."

"*huff* Fine. Let's just find that ghost's house and get home before we run into any more nut jobs."

"I'd say eccentric but to each their own."

I walk up the way to meet a fork in this path. A road to my left, a road to my right, and a cave in front of me with a very familiar item holding box sitting on the ground.

"Wow. It's been forever since we've seen one of those."

"I can't read the inscriptions above the cave. Can you?"

"Um...I think it says something about a 'shop' being inside. That or something about cheese. I'm a little rusty on my ability to read old monster glyphs."

"...Why would you even know that, Flowey?"

"Eh, you learn weird stuff when you're bored."

"True that. Should we...?"

"You're going to anyway. But thanks for asking."

"You know me so well."

A slight detour it sure, but the last shop I was in had human gear and maybe this one does too. With all the warning I keep getting and the lack of training on my end, my stats need the extra boost. Stepping inside we find the cave to be a bit of a decent size and lit by torches. In the back, there's a stack of crates and a monster facing the end of the cavern while munching on something.

"Hello?"

The monster turns around and it is not what I was expecting. An elderly looking olive green tortoise-monster wearing black archaeologist attire, with the pointed beard of a wise man, a large magnifying glass sticks out of, and matching pith helmet. His teeth are crooked and yellow, his shell is a dark brown in color with a pale cream rim. He also has a scar over his right eye and seems unable to open it. And that thing he's eating looks like an apple but also looks like a crab. Very confusing really.

"Wa ha ha...So someone actually came here? What a treat!"

His gruff voice makes it hard to tell if he's happy to see me or pissed off.

"You look a little frazzled, youngster. Then again, I suppose that's appropriate for a human in these parts."

My eyes widen and he chuckles.

"Surprised I know what you are, huh?"

I rub the back of my head.

"Just a bit. Not many monsters really know my little secret. Probably helps that they don't ask either."

"That's not shockin'. Today's generation doesn't bother to learn anythin' about it's past. It's also probably the same reason you can walk around with the symbol of the royal family on your blouse."

I look at my shirt.

"I was told it was the emblem for monster kind."

The old man works a laugh in as he finishes his strange fruit.

"Maybe they are teachin' you youngsters somethin' in school. Have a gander at this..."

He points to the back wall and only now do I notice the large carving of the same symbol in the stone.

"That's the Delta Rune. The emblem of our kingdom. The Kingdom of Monsters. That emblem actually predates written history. The original meaning has been lost to time...All we know is that the triangles symbolize us monsters below, and the winged circle above symbolizes...Somethin' else. Most people say it's the 'angel' from the prophecy..."

Hearing that word triggers the warning the Riverperson spoke of.

"I'm sorry, but, what is this prophecy?

He removes his hat and rubs his scalp a bit before putting it back on.

"The prophecy? Oh yeah...Legend has it, an 'angel' who has seen the surface will descend from above and bring us freedom. Lately, people have been takin' a bleaker outlook...Callin' that circle the 'Angel of Death'. A harbinger of destruction, waitin' to 'free' us from this mortal realm."

I really don't like the sound of that.

"In my opinion, when I see that little circle...I jus' think it looks neat! Wahaha!"

The humor is lost on me. I'm too worried about what this has to do with what the Riverperson said. The angel is coming, it said. The prophecy says 'someone who has seen the surface will descend from above', and that sounds a lot like me. I don't want to be this Angel of Death. I don't want to free them with murder. The old man notices my sulking.

"You look upset. Not a fan of the idea of us monsters goin' free?"

I shake my head.

"No...I was just thinking that your prophecy sounded really sad."

That takes him by surprise.

"You're not like most humans I've had the displeasure to meet. To be honest, if it weren't for the law that prevents fights from happenin' in shops, I would've killed you the second I saw you."

A bit harsh, but I'm used to it at this point.

"But...these old bones aren't fit for fightin' anyhoo. Haven't been for a long time."

"I know you..."

Flowey chimes in and gets our attention.

"Yeah! You're Gerson, the Hammer of Punishment. You lead the army during the war and were the adviser to the King."

The old man smirks.

"Wa ha ha...Maybe there's hope for this generation after all."

"You were in the war? That was ages ago. How are you still alive?"

"Knowledge is the only reason I've survived so long, human. It's how anythin' stays alive if you think about it. But you didn't come here to listen to the ramblin's of an ol' man."

I roll my shoulders.

"No, not really. But I will admit, I don't mind if you do. You sound like you have a lot of interesting things to say. It'd be a shame not to listen while I'm able to."

The old man gives pause before moving one of the crates and popping the lid off.

"I don't have much in the way of goods. But if you're lookin' to buy, then have a look."

"Thank you."

"And don't expect a discount just because you're bein' nice. I still need to make a livin'."

"Understood, sir."

I move closer to look into the crate. Inside are only four objects. That strange fruit, a salty smelling bottle of tea, a notebook that has seen better days, and a pair of glasses that are scratched all to hell.

"I know those don't look like much, but they are far from done bein' used."

"Might I ask, are they from a human that is no longer with us?"

He merely nods.

"How much?"

"30G for the glasses and 55G for the notebook."

I cringe.

"Damn...Why so pricey for damaged goods?"

"They're one of a kind human collectibles. You can't get them anywhere else."

"Still...You sure you can't knock that number a bit lower?"

"*huff* How much do you have?"

I dig around in my pockets and backpack, only managing to scrounge up about 60G.

"Only that much, huh? Then you can have one or the other."

"Are you sure there's no way I can get both?"

He plays with his beard in thought.

"Hmmm...I suppose I can be open to a trade. What are you willin' to part with?"

"I didn't fall down here with much. All I have really is some bagged lunches."

His good eye cocks its brow.

"Anything without meat?"

I look at Flowey and he ducks inside the bag.

"Um...I see a cheese sandwich with lettuce and tomato. Will that work?"

I look at the old man and he ponders this for a moment.

"Hmmm...Fine. At least it's somethin' different. I've been stuck with these Crab Apples for way too long."

Crab...Apples? I am both curious to taste it and disgusted by how such a thing could be made.

"Deal."

We make the trade, my gold and food for the two items.

"Thank you for your patronage, youngster."

"Thank you for the hospitality and goods. I'll be sure to stop by again...so long as this doesn't reach the Royal Guard."

He chuckles.

"Aye, you needn't worry about me tellin' anyone you were here. You seem alright...for a human. As long as you don't cause any trouble I won't meddle in your business."

"I thank you kindly, sir. Have a good day."

He waves me off as I head back out of the cave.

"Good luck out there...You'll need it."

"Oh! Real quick question...Which way to where the ghosts live?"

"Out and to the right."

"Thanks again."

I leave the cave and look at my purchases.

"How are you suppose to equip those?"

"Good question. The glasses are the easy one. But the notebook...No clue there."

The glass lenses are way too damaged to see through, so I merely hang them from my shirt's collar till I can find a way to repair them.

[You equipped the Ruined Glasses.]

[Glasses that have seen better days.]

[You gain 6 Defense and increase Invulnerability by 9.]

"Ha. I see what it did there."

"Please don't pun."

"Fine. But this makes me wonder..."

I take the notebook and flip through it a little.

[Contains illegible entries.]

"Huh. What were they writing about?"

I carefully roll the notebook and place it in the pocket along my lower leg.

[You equipped the Mystery Notebook.]

[You gain 2 Attack and increase Invulnerability by 6.]

"And that brings us up to...?"

[CHECK selected.]

[HP 36, ATK 33, and DEF 27]

"Almost have even stats. Damn you DEF, why you so slow to catch up?"

"I bey your INV is about the same."

"Goes to show that much like a video game, the best stats in life are the harder ones to improve."

I sigh before grinning with a hero pose.

"Fear not, my botanical brother. For our quest is nearly at its end and we have procured, all be it silly, armor that shall, somehow, protect us on our perilous journey."

Flowey bops his face with a leaf.

"You are arguably the biggest dork in the entire Underground."

"You know you love it. Now let us away, my bro. Tally ho!"

I prance us to where we were instructed to go and end up in a very open area that can go many ways. From where I stand there is a path to my left, the main road ahead of me, and three paths to my right. This would be incredibly confusing if not for the random sign by one of the paths on the right.

[North: Blook Acres, East: Hotland, ?: Temmie Village]

"So it's North? Which way is that?"

"I think from the sign. So Hotland would be where we were coming from and Blook Acres is up here."

"Okay...But which one?"

"I'm picking the one closest to the sign. Makes the most sense."

Flowey shrugs and we head into this new area that turns out to be as big as it is...odd. It looks to be a corral on one end and a small race track on the other, both seem to have not been used in quite some time. In the corral is a vast amount of snail shells and heavy paw prints leading a trail of suspicion. My gut feeling is someone stole the snails, maybe even ate them. The footprints resemble Toriel's and the snail habit fits her too, but I know this isn't her doing. My only guess based on such data would be that this is the work of Asgore or some other goat monster. Wait...Why do goat monsters have paws? Shouldn't they have hooves? I feel like I've asked that before. Oh well, Monster DNA/evolution can be just as weird as human's, I mean, we came from apes. Since the only other way is to the left, I move over there to find two near identical large houses, only different in color, one dark grey and one dull red.

"Which do you think is his?"

"I say the grey one."

"Why?"

"There's a light under the door."

"Oh."

The other house was probably Mettaton's before he left. I go to the grey house and knock on the door.

[Knock knock]

"piss off! can't you see? we're closed forever!"

"Shame. And after I came all this way just to see you."

There's a bit of a scuffle, a small bit of swearing and things clattering as he rushes to the door. It's cute. The door opens and the ghost is very shocked to see me.

"you actually came?"

"Sorry, I'm late. I would've called but this was more of a surprise type thing even on my end. My I...?"

I elude to him letting me inside and he backs up a bit.

"Thank you, Blooky. Hope I'm not bothering you in the middle of something."

"n-no. nothing important or anything."

He lets me in his home and shuts the door before locking it. You'd think a ghost wouldn't need much, but Napstablook has a fairly decent setup for his home all be it for its slightly disheveled condition. The dull yellow walls are cracking in places and the wooden floor reminds me of the skeleton brothers shed in its condition. His home possesses a fridge, a television, a spiderweb with a torn flyer for a spider bake sale, a computer open to some music-sharing forum with a window blocked behind it all, some boxes, and three CDs, labeled "Ghouliday", "Spookwave", and "Spooktune".

"sorry, it's not much, but make yourself at home."

"Nah, dude, this is fine. So...Closed forever?"

"oh, that...um...it's kind of, or was, a family tradition of running a snail farm. people would come in and pet them. you could even race them for a cash prize."

"Race...Snails?"

"they're faster than you'd think. but...slowly...everyone left to do their own thing. for a while, it was just me and my cousin. then even he left. now it's just me. so i shut it down. I couldn't do it anymore anyway. the business was tanking, so it's not like I could afford to hire anyone to help, let alone resupply my snails because some weirdo kept taking them. eventually, the business died with the last snail."

Mettaton's leaving really did more to this poor guy then he knows.

"Blooky..."

"don't. don't feel bad for me. I don't want your pity."

"It's not pity. It's sympathy. Don't confuse the two. I'd never think of insulting you like that."

He looks off to the side as I sit on the floor and take off the backpack to let Flowey out.

"oh...you brought him along?"

Flowey sneers.

"Gee, happy to see you too."

"Boys, don't fight. Being a snarky bitch is woman's work."

I dig for my iPod in the bag.

"Yo, Blook-man. Ever find that charger? My tunes are about to flat line."

He floats over to the boxes and rummages around.

"what's the brand?"

"Apple. White cord usually."

I locate my player just as he pulls out a long white cord that he then plugs into his computer and I slide the iPod across the floor to him for charging.

"this shouldn't take long."

"No rush."

"No rush? What do you mean no rush? I thought you said we'd get caught if we stayed here too long? Or are you going off script again?"

This gets our host's attention.

"wait...did you...you snuck off, didn't you?"

I shrug.

"Maybe."

"you said you weren't going to do anything stupid if I told you about the boat."

"I didn't do anything stupid. I have to get caught first. Then I'm proven stupid."

Flowey groans and Napstablook shakes his head. But me? I lay flat on the floor.

"Will you both relax? None of you are the ones that have to worry about being killed. So quit being pissy and chill. Please?"

I know I'm messing up. I don't need them to tell me that. All their nagging will end up doing is stressing me out and that will make me fuck up when I really need to concentrate. I just pray nothing too insane happens today. I can handle lots of crazy shit, but sometimes I can be overloaded. And if or when that happens, I fear it will trigger the Black Soul. For now, at least, my plan is to remain as calm as can be.

And that's how things are for some time. Napstablook downloads my extensive music collection to add to his vast library of songs. He plans to go over all of it and mix whatever he thinks is decent. Flowey listens to some of his sample mixes, though by the creepy faces he's making, I don't think he likes it. I, for the most part, take part in the ghost tradition of laying on the floor and zoning out into the infinity of the cosmos, aka, stare into the ceiling until you start to see shit that isn't there. Surprisingly, Napstablook does offer us some food, mainly ghost sandwiches. Not surprisingly, the magic made meal phases right through us. Napstablook finds the moment funny. Right now I'm just dead inside. I've let all thought leave me and this never felt sense of 'everything is just okay' comes to me. It's weird. This feeling of peace that's only now been found in absolute stillness. Why am I only feeling this now when I've done this before for years? I guess can't complain. Better to know the feeling than to not at all.

[RING-RING]

Of course, a phone call would interrupt my mental accession to self-contentment. Fuck it. Not today.

[RING-RING]

"Aren't you going to answer that?"

"No. I'm not here."

[RING-RING]

"so you're just going to let it ring?"

"If I do anything they'll know that I had the phone and intentionally shut it off."

[RING-RING]

"What if it's Mom? Ignoring her won't end well."

"he has a point. you should at least check if it's her. don't ignore family."

You don't know my family.

[RING-RING]

"Fine. But only because the sound is annoying the hell out of me."

I retrieve the phone from my pocket and frown...Unknown caller.

"Your cousin is calling me again."

[RING-RING]

This confuses Flowey but has Blooky dropping his computer's mouse with wide eyes.

"h-he is? h-how do y-you...?"

"He's the only other person that knows my phone number and shows up as Unknown."

He floats over to me.

[RING-RING]

"are y-you...are you going to answer it?"

I stare at him.

"Do you want me to answer it?"

[RING-RING]

So many emotions cross his face.

"do it."

"Are you sure?"

"just don't mention me. I want to hear him. hear how much better he is since he's broke his promise."

I sit up and answer the call.

"Hello. You have reached an unknown number. Please leave a message after the beep. *fake beep*"

"VERY FUNNY, DARLING. AND QUITE TALENTED TOO. IT WAS VERY CONVINCING."

"To what do I owe this random call, Mettaton?"

"You're on the phone with Mettaton?!"

Flowey blurts out and the two of us glare to keep him quiet.

"OH, NOW WHO WAS THAT? AN ADORING FAN? OR ARE YOU SEEING SOMEONE BEHIND MY BACK?"

"What did I say about being weird. That's my brother."

"*GAPS* THERE ARE TWO HUMANS IN THE UNDERGROUND?"

"No. You're still stuck with just me."

"SHAME. IF THERE WAS TWO OF YOU, THEN I'D BE ABLE TO KEEP YOU WITH NO STRINGS ATTACHED."

"You're doing it again. That's the kind of stuff that keeps me from wanting to go near Hotland."

"WELL, GOOD NEWS! YOU WON'T HAVE TO COME TO HOTLAND."

This gets to me.

"Why do you say that?"

"IT'S A SURPRISE. SO...WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW?"

Warning! Red alert! Danger!

"I'm in Snowdin."

This gets even my companions' attention.

"AH, DARLING, DIDN'T ANYONE EVER TEACH YOU THAT IT'S WRONG TO LIE?"

"I'm not lying."

"BUT I KNOW YOU ARE."

"Oh yeah right. You're just messing with me like everyone else does."

"THEY KNOW YOU'RE NOT IN THEIR HOME. YOUR MOTHER KNOWS AS WELL."

[You felt your sins crawling on your back.]

I sense death in my future, or something very close to it, and my body trembles.

"You're bluffing."

"REMEMBER HOW I TOLD YOU THAT THERE WERE CAMERAS IN THE FOREST? WELL, THEY CAUGHT SUCH SIGHTS AND EVERYONE KNOWS THAT CAMERAS DON'T LIE, DEAR. SHE IS QUITE UPSET. SO MUCH SO THAT SHE'S ACTUALLY LEFT THE RUINS."

The amount of dread welling up inside my gut has me wanting to vomit.

"I CAN'T IMAGINE SHE'S IN A PLEASANT MOOD. ONLY THE RETURN OF HER DEAR CHILD SHALL QUELL THE FLAMES OF RAGE SHE IS CURRENTLY SCORCHING THE LAND WITH. WOULDN'T YOU AGREE?"

I can't make a sound. Speech is lost to me.

"I WILL TAKE YOU TO HER. ALL THIS CAN BE FIXED. I JUST NEED TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. I WILL COME STRAIGHT TO YOUR CURRENT LOCATION AND WHISK YOU AWAY."

Problem. It is entirely possible that Mettaton is telling the truth based on the things he has said. How would he know any of that if it were all a lie? However, he still sounds calm as though this isn't a major issue. Which leads me to think that the moment I tell him where I'm at, he'll just scoop me up for himself and be damned anyone else that gets fucked over in the crossfire. This is bad. Very very bad.

"WELL, DARLING? SAY THE WORD AND I'LL BE THERE TO SAVE THE DAY."

I look at my friends, needing guidance like never before. Flowey is all for telling Mettaton if it means we'd get home. Yet Napstablook is against telling as he doesn't trust his cousin anymore. This split doesn't help me in the slightest.

"I...I..."

[Bang-bang-bang-bang]

The door is suddenly bombarded with activity and I drop the phone from being startled.

"*soft* DARLING? YOU OKAY?"

"open this door! i know she's in there!"

It takes my brain a bit to reboot before I remember Sans's voice or that he knew about my coming here.

"Shit."

"I knew it! I knew that Smiley Trashbag would track us down."

"Get in the pack, bro."

Flowey does as asked and reclaim my iPod as Napstablook goes to the door.

"the hell do you want?"

"don't play games with me, ghost. i know she's in there. open the door."

"and why should I do that?"

"because i need her to stop toriel!"

[You felt your sins weighing on your neck.]

He was telling the truth. Toriel is rampaging and so much shit is hitting the proverbial fan.

"Let him in."

Napstablook doesn't need to be told twice and opens the door, causing Sans who was about to ram the door to tumble onto the floor.

"for fuck's sake..."

The understandably grumpy skeleton picks himself up with a rough huff.

"do you have any idea what is happening right now thanks to this little field trip you're taking?"

"I was coming back."

"that ain't the point! you left without telling us."

"So did the two of you, but you don't see me bitching about it."

"we went to work! we have jobs! you know that!"

"And you knew my reason for leaving the Ruins was to come here. Now that this task has been done, I'm going home. I'm sick of being your brother's punching bag anyway."

"*soft* I'M SORRY..."

Oh right...The phone is still on with Mettaton.

"*soft* BUT DID I JUST HEAR THAT SOMEONE IS LAYING THEIR NASTY HANDS ON MY HUMAN?"

Sans takes my phone before I can get it.

"who are you talking to? do they know that you're...? you know."

I palm my face.

"It's Mettaton. He called me again. And you know that he knows what I am."

That's when a look comes to Sans that I'm unsure of. One I've seen around Grillby but still don't know what it is. But he gets that look as he brings the phone to his head.

"the fuck do you want, tin can?"

If only I could hear it. For some reason, Mettaton is rather quiet when not on TV even though his energy is still that of a loud person.

"look, pal, i don't have time for your dumb little shtick. quit calling. she ain't interested."

He hangs up and tosses the phone at me.

"now if you're done misadventuring, we gotta go."

"Yeah yeah, I know."

I come up to Napstablook and hug him.

"It was nice chilling with you, Blooky. But I don't think I'm coming back anytime soon."

"yeah, I figured as much."

"Take care."

"you too."

Sans, fed up with stress, grabs my wrist and drags me out of the house.

"How bad is it?"

"she was headed for snowdin when i left. pap was doing his best to slow her down. the crazy old lady has lost her damn mind."

"Are we taking the boat back?"

"is that how you got here?"

"Yeah."

"you stay away from that thing. and no, we're not using the boat."

"Then how are we...?"

"i know a shortcut. now don't let go."

I am confused when he gets a better grip on my arm. But the sudden surge in magic coming off him has me clinging to him as the world rips away before us. I don't see it for long, as my mind has a lot to take in rather quickly, but it's like a tear in space and time that swirls with dark color. I can only compare it to images of nebulas and even then that can't really do what I see justice. This power he wields is incredible. I have a new sense of respect for Sans now. As the name shortcut implies, this happens in a really short amount of time to almost instantaneously, and the next thing I know is I'm standing with him somewhere in the treeline bordering the town.

"if we're lucky, we should've gotten here before her."

"Dude...Is that really what happens every time you do a shortcut?"

"uh...yeah?"

"That is the most epic thing ever in the history of awesome."

He blushes lightly for a moment before shaking it off.

"be serious for once. we need to go out there and keep tori from..."

Out of nowhere a couple of the trees spontaneously explode into pillars of flame.

"...doing shit like that."

"Holy fucking ass crackers..."

We rush out from the area not currently not burning hellscape only to find something much worse. Toriel has indeed made her way to town. Her path marked by the lack of snow, singed ground, and ash from the bones Papyrus would block her with that she, in turn, would then cremate in her intense fire.

Much of the town seemed to be spared her wrath with the exception of one establishment. A certain bar. Toriel did not know this town as she once did, not it's people or the way things worked. But she did know one name and that bar had it written out in large fancy neon letters...GRILLBY'S. Her child spoke of a man by that name. Claiming him to be decent and allowing her to work there. She thought it was possible to trust in her child's judgment. But now her child is gone. The skeletons had failed her. This Grillby was her only clue. Clearly, this man knew where the human was because he took her. Swaying her child with false kindness and lies. Luring her in like a lamb to slaughter till it was far too late. What other possible explanation could there be? That is why she attacked the bar. That is why she went after the man of flame. That is why she chased him to the cold streets when he ran unable to grab his coat That is why, even now, she was grappling this man and trying to overpower his weakening fire with her own. A task one would think improbable, what with Grillby being made of fire himself and having a much higher LV level than her. But one should never underestimate the power of a Boss Monster, especially when she's gone insane and has nothing left to hold her back.

"Give her back! I know you have her!"

"For the last time, I don't know where she is."

"Lair!"

Her fire bursts with her accusatory shout.

"She is here! You are keeping her from me! Admit your sin!"

"Get a hold of yourself and listen to reason."

"No, you listen! You are all the same! You are all cowards that prey on the innocent! Weak spineless men that resort to damning loved ones at the first signs of problems! Well not anymore!"

Her grip harshens and Grillby finds himself being pushed back, his heels plowing through the ground as she keeps pressing forward.

"I don't want to hurt you, my Queen. But I won't allow this nonsense any longer!"

Tapping into his LV for strength, Grillby begins to heat up and force Toriel back with his fire matching hers. This does not impress the rabid goat mother. In fact, it only indulges her delusion even further.

"This power you possess...It comes from the pain you gave others, is it not? From the lives you took?"

Grillby's spirit falters, flashes of the past where he was pushed to the brink and lost control of his fire come to him. He never wanted to kill anyone. He just wanted to be left alone and live his life. It wasn't his fault they kept attacking him. It is his fault that he couldn't find a better way to end the situation. Seeing the hesitation, Toriel rams her head into his face, smashing his glasses and sending the fire-man into the melting snow. His fire begins to burn softer, the cold dampening his flames and zapping his energy due to needing to burn. This leaves the fire elemental open in a bad way.

"You pathetic whelp..."

Toriel slowly approaches. Witnesses to the scene dare not intervene for fear of being her next victim.

"How long are you going to waste my time? Return my daughter to me and I will spare your life."

Grillby pulls himself up to at least be kneeling, though he isn't looking as hot as he should be.

"I would give her to you if I had her, believe me. But she isn't with me."

He is telling the truth. But to Toriel, all she hears is lies.

"Then you are of no use to me."

She holds out her palm to him and a ball of fire builds up in intensity.

"A fitting end for a miserable creature."

He wants to move. He wants to flee. Yet his body doesn't have the energy for the speed he needs. Sure, he might be able to move out of the way but not completely. He'll still get hit, and mixed with her intent, the damage alone will kill him. With not much else he can do, the defeated barman bows his head and waits for it all to end but not wanting to see it happen. What he does see is a faint glow set under Toriel. Just as the ball reaches its apex for firing, a massive bone raises from the ground and knocks her arm to the side, causing the ball of fiery death to be hurled into the treeline with the bone turning to dust soon after. This gets the angry goat monster's attention and her anger only grows when she turns to see the audacious prick that dared stop her execution. Papyrus stood hunched over and panting, his bones signed but still strong enough to bring him here. He had done his best to stall the mad Queen while Sans left to get the human. But even the great and terrible Papyrus was little more than a fly compared to Toriel. She swatted him down and left him in the snow thinking he'd be smart enough to remain there...she was wrong.

"*WEARY* I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE THE QUEEN...I AM THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS...SECOND IN COMMAND TO THE KING'S ROYAL GUARD AND OVERSEER OF THIS TERRITORY...I'LL BE DAMNED IF I LET SOME DISGRACED MONARCH RUN WILD WHILE I STILL STAND."

She glares.

"You follow a weak fool. He promises you the lie of freedom, but if he really wanted to free our kind he could have gone through the barrier after getting ONE SOUL and taken six SOULs from the humans, then come back to freed everyone. But he is scared. Scared that he will lose everything once freedom is gained. So he keeps you and everyone else in despair. Because he would rather wait here, meekly hoping another human never comes."

"*WEARY* LIKE YOU'RE ANY DIFFERENT? YOU'RE JUST AS PATHETIC AS YOU CLAIM HIM TO BE."

"What?!"

"*WEARY* YOU WERE NOT JUST OUR QUEEN...YOU WERE HIS WIFE...YOU VOWED TO BE HIS OTHER HALF AND AID HIM IN TIMES OF NEED...INSTEAD, YOU ABANDONED HIM AND THE KINGDOM TO HIDE IN THE RUINS. YOU'RE A COWARD."

That shakes her.

"I am not the one murdering children! He does not have to do that! He is responsible for his choices!"

"SO ARE YOU!"

Regaining some of his strength, Papyrus makes his stand and looks intimidating as hell doing so.

"YOU LEFT WHEN YOU WERE NEEDED THE MOST. WHAT EVEN WAS YOUR PLAN? QUIETLY HIDE AWAY HOPING THINGS WILL GET BETTER WITHOUT YOU? THAT'S NOT HOW THINGS WORK. ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES AND HE'S THE ONE DEALING WITH THE MESS YOU'VE LEFT US ALL IN. YOU CALL HIM WEAK? A COWARD? THAT IS YOUR DOING. YOU MADE HIM WEAK. AND YOU ARE JUST AS COWARDLY TO SHOWER THE BLAME ONTO HIM INSTEAD OF ACKNOWLEDGING THAT ANY OF THIS IS YOUR FAULT TOO!"

"That is enough!"

She shoots out thick streams of fireballs, too thick to dodge through, and forces Papyrus to put up a layered barricade wall of bone. But Toriel's rage fuels her fire and at the current rate of burning, the wall won't protect him for long. Without warning, Toriel is blasted by a beam of energy into a building and her HP slowly drains.

[KARMA coursing through your veins.]

When things settle around Papyrus, Sans appears at his brother's side with his left eye blazing and a Gaster Blaster aimed at the former Queen. His timing being just right as the wall crumbles to ash.

"no one messes with my bro."

Papyrus gives his brother a cocky smirk.

"SHOW OFF."

Sans merely grins.

"jealous?"

"JEALOUS? NAH...MINE ARE BIGGER ANYWAY."

"hey, it's not the size of your blaster that counts but how you use it."

They share a small laugh before returning their attention to the shambling Boss Monster that's recovering.

"So...This is the loyalty of our friendship?"

"family beats out acquaintances.

and nothing in that promise says i can't attack you."

"Then you understand why I am upset. You lost the only family I have."

"first off, yeah, i get it. but fuck you if you think that justifies any of this shit. and second, she ain't lost and never was. she's behind you."

Sans points behind her and she is hesitant to look, though when she does, her eyes widen as she sees the human tending to a weakened Grillby.

"My child...?"

I can't believe she went this far. I knew Toriel was unstable and when triggered could end up doing a lot of harm. But this? This shit is ridiculous. The moment Papyrus had her attention I split from Sans to get to Grillby. Poor soul's fire has gotten so low that his color has darkened and I can barely feel his heat. I hold him close so that he can at least draw from my own warmth. It seems to work for the time being but I need to get him into his home to properly get his core temperature back up.

"*weak* P-Pussycat...Is it really you?"

"Shhh...Don't talk."

Flashes of his dying in the past timeline happen in my eyes and I try to keep for tearing up.

"*weak* Heh...This was not the way I wanted to meet your 'mom'."

"I know. Personally, I was hoping you never would."

He chuckles as I rub his back, trying to make heat with friction, and his head rests along my shoulder. Lost in my care for him, I don't even notice the situation going on with Sans and Toriel.

"*weak* You want to know something funny?"

"What's that?"

"*weak* Right after you left earlier...The uniform I got for you came in."

"Oh? And why is that funny?"

"*weak chuckling* You'll find out when you see it."

I should probably be suspicious of that, but frankly, I'm just glad he's doing better.

"Think you can stand up?"

"*weak* Well, I was enjoying this. But it is best we take this inside. Fucking hate this weather."

I snicker while propping myself into a slight crouch. He takes a moment to adjust to this position and hooks his arm around my neck. Once ready, that's when I push us up onto our feet and try to keep him steady.

"Easy there. Don't tell me you've been drinking on the job?"

"*weak* Maybe. I have been drinking you in for a while now."

"*snort* Oh my god...That was so adorably cheesy. Could you possibly get even cornier than that?"

"*weak* Do you have ninety minutes?"

"Dear lord you both are gross."

I forgot Flowey was in the backpack. This is fucking hilarious.

"Grillby...This is my brother, Flowey."

Grillby blinks a couple of times before shaking his head in a laugh.

"*weak* You weren't kidding about you having an odd family."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry you had to be thrown into this mess."

"My child...?"

Toriel's voice gets my attention and my hold on Grillby tightens on instinct, not that he minds. Sans tends to a hurt but still okay Papyrus and smack dab between us is the clingy goat mother from hell.

"Lynsie...You are okay. Thank goodness. I have been so worried."

Sweetness laces her voice like viscus honey. A complete 180° from the 'I shall kill you all' rage that was just there moments ago. She opens her arms and smiles like the world is made of rainbow candy.

"Come, young one. Let us go home and never return to this awful place again."

I made her a promise. A promise that I'd come home to her. I never break my promises. But right now...I can't make my body go near her. In fact, I can't stand looking at her. She notices my glaring eyes and is confused.

"Lynsie? Why are you looking at me like that?"

She takes a step forward. I step back.

"My child?"

She looks hurt. Not as hurt as Papyrus and the look Sans shoots me tells me to be careful with what I say before they shortcut away.

"What is wrong with you?"

Her eyes widen. Flowey moves around in the bag muttering that I need to shut up.

"My chi-"

"No. Don't hide behind that 'mommy dearest' thing you do. This is serious. You attacked innocent people. And for what? Because of me? You thought I was lost like some snot-nosed kid?"

"*weak whisper* Easy, pussycat. Not too harsh."

Grillby is right to try to warn me. But I can't stop myself.

"I...I have to protect you."

"Stop it! Stop using me and everyone else that came before me as your excuse. I love you, Toriel. You've been a better mom than I could've dreamed of. But you have to stop pretending that this is normal. I'm not your real child. Hell, I'm not even a kid."

Her eyes start to water.

"Do not...Do not say such awful things to me. I am your mother. And you will show me the respect I deserve."

"I can't replace Chara."

"Stop it..."

"I can't replace Asriel."

"Stop it."

"I can't be them no matter how much you want me to."

"Stop it! You are not saying these things! We are a family and you will come home with me right now! We will forget that this ever happened! We will sit in the living room, telling stories, eating butterscotch cheesecake...Because that is normal and we are a family!"

I know this will hurt but some bandaids need to be ripped off by others if the wearer won't do it.

"Damn it, Toriel, they're dead and not coming back!"

That did it. That was the straw that made everything break, for her and for me. The waterworks begin.

"I'm sorry. I know it hurts."

"No, you do not! You have no idea how I feel!"

"You wish that there was something you can do, but you can't. You beg and plead and bargain with any god-like being that will listen but nothing happens. And all you can do is wish you could go back in time to fix it so that the bad thing never happens, but you can't. All you have left are memories. Yet as time passes, even those start to leave you. So you stop time from passing for yourself. You build up a world that keeps the memories alive even if they aren't and soon that line blurs to become your reality. But it's not real, Toriel. They aren't coming home. And in forcing yourself to live in the past, you've lost everyone that is still here in the present. You had a family once. You still have the chance to have it again. You still have your husband."

She rubs her eyes while weeping.

"That man...That man is a fool. He does not care about anything or anyone."

"That's not true."

"How would you know?!"

"Because there is more than one way to grieve!"

I'm shaking at this point. So much so that Grillby takes hold of my free hand to make me relax.

"Asgore's a King, right? A man of power. How would it look to his people if the King broke down and cried? To show weakness by displaying emotion? Seeing how things are here it wouldn't surprise me if such a sight would cause a revolt in authority. There would be fighting for the crown. And after suffering such loss, no one would want to risk more bloodshed. Not when they still had a loved one to protect. So maybe...just maybe...He had to appear cold-hearted to save you because you are all he has left."

Where is all this coming from? Why does it feel like I know I'm supposed to be saying this stuff?

"But what do I know? I've never met him. Yet you have. You know him better than anyone. The man you talked about...Is that the same man you fell in love with and married?"

"*sniffling* N-No..."

"You weren't the only one to lose children that day. He's hurting too, Nanny. He just isn't allowed to show it. But I'd bet my soul that he's in as much pain as you are."

She drops to her knees and wails in mourning. I'm not sure where she's at in her progress in moving on, but from the looks of it, she might be starting to accept the reality that she's been denying for so long.

"*weak* Wow, pussycat...That was incredible."

Then why do I feel so bad? My heart hurts and I don't like it. I need a mom hug. And she needs to know that I still support her. Carefully, I get me and Grillby walking toward the bar. There, I'm able to let Greater Dog bring Grillby inside much to his concern. But he knows why I stay outside. I need to fix this. Still crying her eyes out, I come to Toriel's side and sit down.

"You know...This doesn't mean you're going home alone."

She tries to talk while sobbing. It sounds terrible. Like an upset kid that you can just barely understand.

"*crying* You...would...still...come...home...with...me?"

Oh my god, the snot bubbles...Quick! Don't focus on that!

"I know what I said hurt. And you probably think that I'm mad or that I hate you. But I only said what I said because I care and it needed to be said. I don't want to hurt you. I want to help you like how you've helped me. It's not healthy to live in the past like this. It probably feels like, if you move forward, then you're giving up on their memory and forgetting them. But that's not true or how it has to happen. You can still live your life and keep them with you."

She begins to settle down yet her face is still a disaster zone of grossness.

"*ambivalent* It...It does not?"

I give her back a few supportive pats before stroking her fur softly.

"No. As long as you love them and keep them in your heart, then they are never truly gone. Heh...Probably helps a little bit that Chara haunts me and Asriel..."

The words die on my tongue. It's not my place to say my brother business. I don't even think he's ready to tell me about even when I said his name. But that's on him. It's not easy to come back from the dead.

"He's likely watching over you and wanting you to be happy."

I faintly hear muffled sniffling coming from the backpack. One day, he might let her know his secret. But not now. Toriel smiles weakly, her tears steadily slowing down and her emotions coming under control.

"Thank you, my chi...*pause* Lynsie."

It wouldn't kill me to make this compromise.

"You can still call me your child if it helps you feel better...Mom."

Hear that makes her heart swell with joy and she pulls me into her embrace...while rubbing her gross all up in my hair!

"Oh, bless you, my child! You are truly an angel!"

And in an instant, I feel a chill run through me deeper than the cold I'm currently in.

"My child? Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah. Just feeling cold is all."

"Right. My apologies. We should get going before you catch your death."

"Fine, but I need to do two things first."

"And what would they be?"

"Well, for starters..."

I pull from the hug to rip part of my sleeve off. This confuses her till I wipe my head and then her face. It makes her giggle embarrassingly.

"*giggles* I am so sorry, my child."

"Nah, it's fine. Stuff happens. Speaking of stuff...*pause* Toriel..."

"Yes?"

This is going to be even harder to say then the stuff I already did.

"I know this isn't my place to bring it up and it might take a long time before you feel comfortable enough to do so...But it would probably be helpful if you talked with Asgore."

Her face becomes serious yet not upset.

"What else do you need to do, my child?"

She changes the subject and this doesn't surprise me. She has issues and Agore is one of them. It will take a lot of help to get her to willingly be able to deal with him again. So I move on and stand up.

"I'm gonna go see how Grillby is doing. I won't feel right till I know he's fine."

She pouts but stands up beside me.

"I shall join you. I am ashamed of behavior and must apologize."

"Probably might smooth things over a bit better if you order something. Good food can make enemies into friends and Grillby makes the best in town...mostly because he's the only one serving food, but I still stand by my praising."

She laughs at my silliness, having missed it since I've been gone and how it shows innocence in a harsh world. I take her hand and lead her inside the bar. Once we enter the mood in the room changes instantaneously to fright. Patrons move far away from her. Grillby himself, recovering in a booth and looking healthier already, becomes panicked yet can't get away in time for me to not stop his escape.

"Please...Everyone...Calm down. No one is going to hurt you. Toriel has something she'd like to say."

Embarrassed and ashamed, Toriel hangs her head low.

"I hope you all can forgive me. The things I said...My actions...I had no right to behave as such. It was wrong and I am sorry. Especially to you, sir."

Grillby flinches.

"I was unjustly cruel to you when you have been more than kind to my daughter. I can not begin to think of ways to atone for this wronging. But whatever punishment you see fit, I will accept it without hesitation."

This got more of them to relax and even Grillby appears to take this truce of sorts. Still, I can sense his nervousness and I doubt that's going away any time soon.

"I can't really think of anything."

"Are you sure? Is there really nothing I can do for you that would make amends between us?"

Wow and I thought Papyrus was bad when it came to accidentally suggestive speech. Ah, who am I kidding, Papyrus is the king at that and no one else comes close.

"Really, there's nothing I want..."

He then looks at me and smiles.

"Except for your daughter's company and your permission to date her."

Awww...That's actually really sweet. ...Wait what?! Toriel's face holds similar surprise to Grillby's request, as do the bar patrons.

"Are you asking to court my daughter?"

Putting on his smooth charm, Grillby works the magic that only he can.

"I think it's only right that I ask and inform you of my interest. She's a very special lady that I've grown attached to. Be quite the shame to lose her over this. That, and she is my only employee."

Toriel likes this gentleman's respectfulness. I on the other hand not so much.

"I take it my opinion means squat now. Next thing I hear better not be the trading price of me for a cow, a pig, and two sheep."

"Pussycat, that's not what this is about and you know that."

The pet name confuses Toriel.

"Pussycat?"

I fold my arms.

"It's the name he teases me with."

"You know you love it. It suits you so well."

I try to look pissed but the blush isn't helping nor is him pinching my cheek like you do to babies.

"See? Adorable and feisty. Just like a pussycat."

I stick my tongue out and Toriel is swayed by our interactions. Seeing a familiarity in it all.

"Very well. I will allow this."

That's really surprising. Maybe she is making progress.

"But I will say this...If you hurt my child in any way...I know where to find you."

And there goes that progress. Grillby seems to understand the threat of a parent and rolls with it.

"Well, now that we've gotten that taken care of. Can I interest you girls in something before you go? A drink? Something to eat maybe?"

Toriel rubs her hands uncomfortably. Aside from causing a lot of fear in these people that are now eyeing her, she is also not used to being around more than one person and her awkward levels are beginning to show. I think I can spare her this. I mean, I'm embarrassed to hell too and want this done.

"I think a to go bag might be best, Grillz. Like a sampler of sorts, if that can be done?"

"Not a problem. But I will need some help. Heh...I can't see a thing right now. So if you could aid me for a bit, pussycat?"

Wait...can't see? But then what about...oh! I get it now. I slip the backpack off and hand it to Toriel.

"Sure thing, boss. Let's get cooking."

Grillby gets out of the booth and takes my arm.

"Mind waiting a moment, Nanny? This shouldn't take long."

She looks so uncomfortable but nods.

"I will wait here. But please...do hurry."

I nod and guide Grillby to the door leading into the rest of the building. Once that door closes behind us he starts to chuckle and I smirk.

"You sneak fire devil. You can see just fine, can't you?"

He smirks.

"What gave it away?"

"You took them off to kick that douche cat's ass. So either you wear them for aesthetic reasons or you need them for something else."

He runs a hand through his flaming hair coolly.

"I am partly nearsighted. The farther something is the more it looks like a blob. But I also can't help that I do look good in glasses."

"Yeah, you do."

I smack my face in realization and he grins.

"Damn it brain. Inside thoughts stay inside."

"God, you're adorable."

"And you're a dork."

"But you love this dork."

"Love is a strong word. Though I really, really, really do like you."

He smiles and moves my bandanna a bit.

"Did she notice this yet?"

Oh right, the hickey. I forgot about that.

"Dear lord, I hope not."

"Hmmm...Then I probably shouldn't make it bigger."

"Make it bigger?"

"Well, if you insist."

He takes advantage of my naïveté and clamps his mouth over that mark, forcing me to bite my lip to keep from making a sound. I think he gets a kick out of doing things like this. Crazy Toriel is just outside of the room and he's doing something that he knows makes it really hard for me to stay quiet. His hands on my waist don't help either and my held back whimpering is getting louder. When he does cease this steamy moment, the biggest damn smirk smears his cocky face and I am a wreck clinging to him like I'd fall if I let go.

"Mmmm...Not bad, pussycat. Though next time, I want to hear every little sound you make~."

His voice smolders in my ear and the shudder than leaves me only pleases him.

"Damn you and your hotness."

He lets me go of my flustered self with a chuckle.

"Come along, pussycat. We can't leave your mother waiting. She might kill someone if we do."

"Yeah...No one wants that."

I mosey on down to the kitchen while he grabs his spare pair of glasses before joining me. There we pull things out and start cooking. Grillby doing the actual cooking whereas I just do prep work.

"I forgot to ask this...But how much will I owe you for this? I spent the last of my gold in Waterfall."

"Don't worry about it."

"No, I owe you this at least. What with all the crap I've gotten you into. What's the price on my tab?"

"For this? About 280G. But don't worry about it. I can take it out of your paycheck."

"Fair enough, boss-man. Though...I know this will sound odd. But can some of that pay go to Sans's tab?"

This makes him pause.

"Can I ask why?"

"I promised to help him out a little. As thanks for...well...putting up with me."

"...You're a good girl, Lynsie."

"I try. Lord knows I try."

He looks at me with concern but says nothing. I can feel the start of an emotional flux coming on so I try to focus on the mindlessness of cutting ingredients and separating things to go with each thing they'll be paired with. My hope is the numbness will blank my mind, keeping me from becoming a mess that is seen in chick flicks. This is my hope. Because the day doesn't need any more drama than it had already.

[Meanwhile: Skeleton household]

Papyrus sits on the edge of the couch, his Battle Body armor off and washing the scorch marks off his sore bones with a moist cloth. Sans, for his part, tended to his brother by applying healing ointment and ice packs where it was needed as he's not very adept at healing magic. Lucky for the both of them that Toriel carried no intent when it came to attacking Papyrus, up till that last part at least, and that the skeleton has fairly high Defense. But still, the old goat had ended up wounding something important of his other than his body...she wounded his pride. And that can't be healed so easily.

"how ya feeling now?"

"LIKE A HOUSE GOT DROPPED ON ME."

"i told you tori was tough. it's the perk of being a boss monster. even with low LV, she can still hit hard as hell."

"THAT'S FOR DAMN SURE. OLD BITCH BESMIRCHED MY REPUTATION. THIS IS NOT GOOD."

Typical ego driven Papyrus.

"please, like it matters what any of these fuckwads think. you were the brave one that stood ground against the raging queen. all those other assholes hide like bitches. you're the big shot here. no one can talk shit about you after this."

And typical Sans playing up his brother to make him feel better. At least this time it's real.

"AS TRUE AS THAT IS, THERE IS NO PROOF THAT THEY WON'T WHISPER SHIT WHEN THEY THINK NO ONE IS WATCHING. ALL IT TAKES IS ONE PRICK TO SAY SOMETHING TO SOMEONE OUTSIDE OF TOWN AND IT'S OVER. UNDYNE WILL THINK I'M LOOSING MY EDGE."

"or...be impressed that you tussled with the queen and lived."

"WE NEED TO COVER THIS INCIDENT UP, SANS. WE NEED TO PREVENT WORD FROM GETTING OUT."

"i think you might be overreacting just a bit. but whatever."

Papyrus glares, batting Sans away as he stood up in annoyance.

"CONSIDERING YOU ARE THE ONE THAT NORMALLY THINKS MORE AHEAD, I'M SURPRISED YOU DON'T SEE THE DANGER IN ALL THIS."

"oh, do tell?"

"IF UNDYNE COMES HERE, SOMEONE WILL TELL HER THAT WE HAVE A HUMAN. AND IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED, THE HUMAN ISN'T HERE. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT SHE WILL QUESTION WHY WE FAILED TO HAND OVER THE HUMAN THE MOMENT WE GAINED POSSESSION OF IT. WE WILL BE FOUND GUILTY OF TREASON AND KILLED. IS THAT CLEAR ENOUGH FOR YOU?"

Sans took such revelation rather calmly.

"is that all? i thought you were going to say something i didn't already know."

Papyrus growls, tossing the cloth onto Sans's face.

"OKAY, ASSHOLE, IF YOU ALREADY KNOW THAN WHAT BRIGHT IDEA HAVE YOU COME UP WITH TO FIX THIS?!"

Sans peels the wet cloth off his face.

"simple. undyne is a moron. so we lie."

Papyrus is not impressed.

"...YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS."

Sans makes himself cozy on the couch and lounges.

"think about it. she's so stuck in her human-hating ways that she'll believe anything about them if it's negative. hell, she actually thinks that weird shit alphys shows her is real. i mean, have you ever seen our human do anything like what's done in anime?"

Sans makes a good point there. Undyne isn't the smartest fish in the sea.

"*SIGH* NO. BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN WE CAN JUST TELL HER ANYTHING. IT HAS TO BE CONVINCING."

"you really think i haven't thought about this? she already thinks humans can crazy shit like fly and have mind controlling powers. if she ever comes asking about the human, we just tell her that the human used some strange ability on us and we blacked out. when we woke up, the human was gone and we had no memory of the events that happened over the days it had us under its spell."

"THAT'S THE STUPIDEST THING I HAVE EVER HEARD. ...BUT IT'S JUST STUPID ENOUGH THAT IT MIGHT WORK."

"see? you should have more faith in me."

"STILL...WE SHOULD HAVE A BACKUP PLAN IN CASE THE LIE FAILS."

"another easy one. we just get the human back."

Sans was starting to get too cocky for Papyrus's liking.

"AND HOW DO YOU SUPPOSE WE DO THAT? I HIGHLY DOUBT TORIEL IS GOING TO LET THE HUMAN OUT OF HER SIGHT AGAIN."

"you forget one detail that makes this plan guaranteed to work."

"AND THAT IS...?"

Sans grins wickedly.

"she doesn't tend to listen when told not to do something. all it takes is the right bait to lure her out. then...wham! we capture the human."

Papyrus had to admit, this scheme was quite possibly the most thought out luck based idea he ever heard.

"JUST WHEN I THINK YOU'RE GOING SOFT, YOU GO AND SURPRISE ME. WELL DONE."

That caught Sans off guard. Papyrus actually complimented him? This must mean hell froze over.

"wow...um...thanks, bro."

Something comes to Papyrus's thoughts.

"HOLD ON..."

"what?"

"DOESN'T THIS GO AGAINST YOUR PROMISE TO THE QUEEN? IF SHE WAS THIS MAD THINKING WE LOST THE HUMAN, I CAN'T IMAGINE THE LEVELS HATE THEY WILL COME IF WE ACTUALLY TURNED THE HUMAN OVER TO THE KING."

"*scoff* who said anything about turning the human over to the king?"

This was confusing.

"THEN...WHAT?"

Sans strums his fingertips on the couch cushion.

"pap...that human ain't normal. she can't end up in the king's grasp."

This got Papyrus's attention.

"YOU'VE BEEN HIDING SOMETHING FROM ME, HAVEN'T YOU?"

Sans doesn't reply and stops tapping his fingers.

"I KNOW YOU'RE HIDING SOMETHING, SANS. AND WHATEVER IT IS, IT'S THE REASON YOU ARE THAT GIRL'S 'SECRET BUDDY'."

Sans sighs.

"if i told you, you wouldn't believe me."

Papyrus folds his arms.

"TRY ME."

Sans looks at his brother and then the floor. Thinking this over for a moment. He knew this day would come. The day he'd tell Papyrus about the weird things he's seen Lynsie do and of the Black Soul. There were still doubts his brother would think any of it was true. But he hated having to lie about it more than he thought. So Sans sat up and patted the seat beside him.

"you'll want to sit for this. this is going to take a while."

Suspicious of what or how this conversation will go, Papyrus sits beside Sans and readies for this talk.

[Meanwhile: Snowdin Forest]

Toriel, Flowey, and I are at last heading back to the Ruins with a large carryout bag that is driving me nuts with how good it smells. At least I have a large soda to tide me over till we get home. Cooking with Grillby during a magic flux was both good and bad. The good part was Grillby helping to settle me down when my emotions began to overwhelm. The bad part was Grillby's form of 'help' was to convert the negative emotions into positive ones by having 'fun' with me. While his 'fun' is enjoyable, hot as fuck too, I found it uncomfortable due to Toriel being around and I'd rather not have more evidence than the hickey for her to find. Lucky for us all, she hasn't noticed the hickey thanks to tying the bandanna higher and tighter, no way this curtain is falling away. Actually, now that I think about it, she hasn't seemed to notice my chipped tooth, either that or she's waiting to ambush me about it later. Until then, I have time to think of a lie. No point having her mad at the skele-bros even more so.

"I am glad you both are coming home. I am not used to the quiet as I once was."

"The feeling is mutual."

"And those boys...You do not suppose that they are upset with me. Right?"

"Sans? Probably not. Papyrus? That's a high maybe."

"Should we have gone to apologize?"

"Let them relax a bit. Remember how the people got all jumpy seeing you at the bar? Showing up to their house, even with good intentions, could still end up going bad."

"Hmmm...I suppose you are right."

"You'll have your chance to say sorry. He'll come knocking as he often does. Not sure about Papyrus. But I think it's better not to try with him so soon."

Toriel looks at the bag in her paw-like hands. And again, why are they paws and hot hooves? Why am I fixated on that?

"Ooof!"

I get distracted by my strange monster hand thoughts and trip over a snow poff...But I saved the soda!

"Child? Are you alright?"

"*muffled* Yeah..."

I pick myself up.

"I'm just embarrassed is all."

"Oh, that good. I was worried you...Child?"

"Huh?"

"What happened to your tooth?"

Well...shit. Guess it's time to see how well I can improvise.

"My tooth?"

I feel around for the chipped space and I gasp.

"Holy crap!"

I frantically look around in the snow for something I know isn't there.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!"

"Lynsie, calm down. We shall fix it."

"Can this be healed with magic?"

She pouts.

"No, I am afraid not. At most, magic can be used to install the replacement and mold it into the tooth that was lost. But to regrow a damaged or missing part of the body is even beyond the ways of magic."

So there are limits? Damn it. I guess that's a good thing. No one can go nuts thinking they're god.

"So you can put in a cap?"

"I will have to practice. But I should be able to do so."

"...You are so cool, Nanny."

She blushes and I resume drinking as we continue on our way homeward bound.

[Meanwhile: Hotland's Laboratory]

Alphys remained at the monitors the entire day in hopes of catching some of the ongoing plots she was lucky enough to indulge in. While she received no footage from the lone camera in Waterfall, apart from the passing of Mettaton in his search for the human, she did get plenty of sweet action from the cameras in Snowdin's forest. The storming out of the former Queen and the defensive battle Papyrus had to put up was thrilling. It was a shame she couldn't get any clear footage when things happened in town. From what sound she did pick up, the incident was a spectral worthy of recording. Mettaton had returned in disappointment some time into all this. Lamenting how he missed his chance to be a real star and get the girl, or some other dumb line he made up. And now he's just a noisy pain in the ass.

"*DRAMATIC SOBS* HOW COULD I NOT FIND HER? WITH ALL THE GADGETS IN THIS BODY I COULDN'T TRACE A SIMPLE CELLPHONE SIGNAL? A POX ON THIS FEEBLE TECH!"

"Hey! Don't you fucking talk down to my work. Without that feeble tech, you wouldn't have a body. Do you want me to take it back?"

"N-NO! NO, DEAR. I...UM...I AM MERELY UPSET. NOTHING I SAY SHOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY WHEN LIKE THIS."

Alphys sneers and returns to her viewing.

"I don't know why you're even being a bitch right now. It's not like you can't get the human."

This gets the melodramatic robot's attention.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? SANS FOUND HER. SHE'S BACK UNDER THE SKELETON'S WATCH...RIGHT?"

The lizard in the lab coat snickers to herself.

"Oh, you sad bucket of bolts and ectoplasm. Fetch me a bag of chips and I shall show you the meaning of hope."

It took a moment for that to register in his processors and he kicked his servos into high gear, moving faster then the wicked woman had seen in a long time. Hell, he nearly slams the bag into her face when he skids to her side.

"HERE! NOW SHOW ME! SHOW ME! SHOW ME! SHOW ME! SHOW ME! SHOW ME!"

"Oh my god! Here! Now shut the fuck up!"

She pushes a button or two and the screens pull up the video feed of right outside the Ruins. His sensors pick up the visual of the Queen and the human as they reenter the Ruins.

"Now you know where she is. The question now...What do you plan to do next?"

Mettaton, in an extremely rare moment, is silent.

"Really? Nothing? No over the top act or some line about being the hero or some other bullshit?"

Mettaton merely rolls away.

"Hey! Where the hell do you think you're going?"

He pauses. Turning to her with an eerie innocence, like calm waters hiding a hungry shark.

"WHERE? TO THE DRAWING BOARD, DEAR ALPHYS. I HAVE A NEW SCRIPT TO PREPARE. A CAST TO ASSEMBLE. AND NO TIME TO LOSE."

He continues his exit by rolling backwards ominously.

"THIS IS MERELY THE INTERMISSION. A TO BE CONTINUED IF YOU WILL. THE SHOW MUST GO ON, ALPHYS. AND IT WILL GO ON. HA...HA...AHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Well, that's not creepy at all. What sort of hell did Alphys just unleash? Oh well, at least it's entertaining.

#undertale #underfell #Anomaly #Lynsie #sans #papyrus #gaster #grillby #grandpa semi #napstablook #mettaton #frisk #chara #flowey #Asriel #asgore #toriel #undyne #alphys

[soaringlanddormitory]

💖 for Takashi and Keiko, 💘 Takara and Yuriko and ☔️ for Manami and Soren (:

Gosh!! I love these so much!! Thank you so much for sending these in!!!

Send 💖 for my muse to tell yours who they currently have a crush on.

It felt like a normal day for the pair that were currently together. They were walking around Totsuki, taking note of ships that were currently sailing and seeing how their OTPs were bonding. Keiko’s soul went out of her body three times today out of happiness and Takashi yelled her name in such a dramatic way that it sounded like she was dying.

Even if it was a “normal day”, something was lingering in the head of Takashi and he didn’t know how to bring it up to Keiko. He definitely trusted her with his whole life, but there was still something in him that made him hesitate to tell her something. But he promised himself- he’s going to tell her today. Takashi rubbed his hands together before puffing his cheeks. He has to be fully ready.

“Hey, Hey, Keiko!” He tapped her shoulder and she turned around, a smile plastered on her face. The expression on her face looked incredibly happy and he gulped a bit. Was it the right thing to do to tell her something that he hid from her for some time? “I have something to tell you. It’s a little bit of a secret… And I’m sorry for keeping it from you.” He smiled nervously and Keiko tilted her head.

“Some people have secrets, so I don’t mind that you kept it… In fact, since you’re telling me now, I’m just very excited to hear what it’s about!” She clasped her hands together before going closer. “If you want to whisper it, go ahead! I’ll zip my mouth and I’ll never tell anyone!” She saluted at him and Takashi laughed. Yeah. He could definitely trust her.

He looked around for some seconds and noticed that the room was empty and no one was possibly there. There was also advantages of being a part of the NGM since he knew where all the hidden cameras are- and there were none in the room. “I don’t need to whisper.” He replies before a blush crept on his face. “But I think it’s pretty embarrassing to admit…”

She immediately got the hint, she was a smart girl- so he expected that she could guess what’s going to happen next. She gasped before jumping up. “You have a crush, don’t you?” With that, Takashi began scratching the back of his head, the blush on his cheeks getting darker. “I’m sooo ready to hear it! I wanna know if my guess is right!”

He gulped once more before he inhaled before saying his words quickly. “I may have a big crush on Rutna.” He covered his mouth after saying it. “Like… A very big one…” He says those next words very quietly and Keiko’s smile brightened before she started cheering.

“I knew it! I knew it! You do like Rutna! I ship you guys so hard and-”

“You knew?!”

“I’m a matchmaker Takashi, of course I’d know!”

Send 💘 for my muse to ask yours who they have a crush on.

Yuriko had several pairings for in the different universes, but she’s always been wondering if some people may have crushes, but no one found out yet- and she wanted to know people’s crushes so that she could support the couple and add something to her ship list. Plus, giving new information to Dai would be a good thing- he’d give a golden star if you did!

She was currently focusing on the universe of Keiko, her eyes focusing on each individual. Soren? Check. He was in love with Nana and that was obvious. Tori? Also check because she probably likes Hibiki. Tamaki? She placed all her money that he’s going to end up with Yoko. There were some possibilities in her mind but the person who she’s curious about the most as of the moment would be...

Takara Aldini. The cousin of Yoko who flusters when Yoko asked her who her crush was. Keiko did mention that she had a crush on someone, but she didn’t discover who it was yet- so she was the main target of the day. Maybe she could try and guess the lucky person who the girl admired. It’d be a point for her, the NGM and of course, Adachi Sensei!

She waltz around the place before she finally reached Takara. “Hey there, Takara-chan~!” She smiled brightly, acting all innocent as if she’s not planning a thing. Takara turned her head around to face the taller woman. She always saw her with Keiko, and she did seem like a fun person to hang out with but... they never really talked frequently.

“I didn’t expect to see you here.” Takara quickly replies before placing one of her hands on her own waist. She gave a smile before she continued to talk. “But I don’t mind talking to you. What is it?” She couldn’t help but be a bit curious on why Yuriko would approach her so suddenly, but she couldn’t just brush her off.

“Nothing, really! Just wanted to have a nice talk with you!” Yuriko twirled her hair around her fingers before winking. “Like a woman-to-woman talk.” The two had a great conversation and Yuriko did an excellent way to hide her motive- but she did enjoy talking to her a lot! She found her very interesting and the two didn’t realize that they’ve been talking to each other for a couple of minutes already. “Oh right! Can I ask you one more question?”

“Sure, hit me up.” Takara... Oh poor Takara. she probably didn’t expect the next question that would be thrown at her.

“Is there a possibility that you have a crush on someone?”

Takara’s face went red once she asked that question, and she immediately crossed her arms. “N-No! What are you talking about?! I don’t like anyone.” Despite it being obviously a lie, Yuriko didn’t want to push it too far but she only pouted a bit.

“Wah~! No fun! Just tell me if you need to tell someone then~!”  Yuriko grinned devilishly before giggling. “Because I’d love to know. “ For now, Yuriko might not have gotten the information she wanted, but she was glad she gained a friend. Maybe next time she’d get to know.

Send ☔ for our muses to share an umbrella on a rainy day.

Manami was still in school premises because it was raining and she forgot to bring her umbrella. She was planning to go walk to her dorm with Rutna who she saw as a sister, but she got a text that she couldn’t because she was busy since she was the emcee of the school. She had no choice but to stay until the rain stopped... or that’s what she thought.

“Manami?” There was a male who passed by the hallway she was staying. She was so busy looking out the window that she didn’t hear the first time he called her. He carefully tapped her shoulder to be sure not to shock her too much. “Manami, it’s Soren.” He calls her again and the female turned around, the bells on her head chiming with her movement.

“Soren!” She jumped up and she instantly clung to him to give him a hug. “Hi! I thought that you went home already!” She released him and she began smiling at the male. She saw several people walking home with an umbrella, besides the Elite Ten who had a meeting. She thought that maybe some of her other friends may have left already too.

Soren laughed a bit before patting the head of the female. “No, I didn’t leave. At least not yet.” He brought out a rose out of nowhere before handing it to Manami who slowly got it before smelling the flower. “I’m surprised that you’re here too though... Aren’t your dorm mates worried?”

“First... thank you for the rose! You really are better than all those fairy tale prince charmings! Secondly, no! They’re not worried. I already told them that I may go home a bit late since the rain didn’t stop yet...” She smiled a bit before he offered her something besides a single rose.

“If that’s the reason then... would you want me to walk you to your dorm? I brought an umbrella and I believe that we could share.” 

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to trouble you...”

“Of course I am.”

After a few words of convincing, two of them were currently under an umbrella with Manami holding the arm of Soren. “You know, I tell you this a lot... but I hope it doesn’t get tiring! But you’re such a great person!” 

A slight smile appeared on the face of Soren, even if the rain may represent sadness, it actually caused quite the opposite while he was walking with Manami. “I’ll never get tired or that. Thank you so much. You’re great too, not even the amount of roses can match how great you are.”

“That’s adorable, aww! But save that line for Nana.”

#writing #takashi #yuriko #manami #other people's ocs #keiko #takara #soren

[thecaseofunreason]

I Never Worried About Being Working Class Until I Went to Art School

Growing up in Telford, social class was never a big deal. That all changed when I moved away for university.

“How are you getting eight grand a year while I’m getting nothing?” a flatmate asked me as our student loans rolled in, a day I’d impatiently anticipated while assigning which emergency can of soup I was going to crack open on which days.

I asked him why he didn’t get anything, wondering if he’d done his application wrong.

He said “for whatever reason” students with rich parents didn’t get maintenance loans. This made him, in his words, “fucked”.  

“Yeah, you seem really fucked with your brand new car and weekly Ocado deliveries pre-ordered by your mum,” I thought.  

Until then, at 18, I wasn’t conscious of my social class. This may sound ridiculous, especially as my single, teenage mother – who juggled college with two minimum wage jobs – shared a single bed with me in my nan’s house until she could afford to rent a council flat.

I grew up in Telford, a mining town just west of the Black Country and bordering Wales. It’s diverse but sadly not integrated – one of those towns that’s bewilderingly Tory blue, where the poor have been gaslit into voting for parties that oppose their interests.

Most men work locally, while women marry young, have children and work part-time happily too. My life was mirrored by my friends and classmates. Our parents worked in shops and factories, and until my mum eventually graduated from university and became a support worker, I knew of few other occupations. I was aware of them, but they were the jobs you daydreamed about – not the jobs you actually applied for to pay the bills and keep your family afloat.

Still, I dreamt big. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I discovered Roald Dahl and started folding stolen printer paper into “books” to document my “novels” in barely-legible crayon. I even forced my mum and my primary school teachers to write endorsements on the back: “You could write that it’s tea-spittingly funny,” I’d direct, copying a Stephen Fry quote from the local WH Smiths shopfront. Though my community upheld the unbreakable school-work-house-marriage-children formula, my family were encouraging – but I needed a “real job” to sustain my “hobby”, so I applied for a combined creative writing and journalism degree.

I was quintessentially working class, but naivety had granted me blissful oblivion. Unaware of how other people lived, I never felt like I missed out on anything.

Going to art school in Surrey was the first place I mixed with people from other class backgrounds. That conversation with my flatmate wasn’t the only one causing division. Throughout freshers week, as we crawled pubs and played Never Have I Ever – the only ice breaker anyone actually likes – nonchalant comments about money, skiing trips, and even a family butler, left me feeling isolated.

I’m not alone in this feeling. Ben Rogaly, a professor of human geography at the Sussex Centre for Migration Research, notes that spending time in typically middle-class spaces can be traumatic for some working-class people. “Teaching in a university, I sometimes see working-class students enter this middle-class environment and feel alienated, even experiencing mental health problems. They can accumulate a sense of exclusion, of otherness.”  

Though my flatmates were all genuine friends of mine, anger deriving from distinct class division became a theme of my student life. The rich had a very different transition into the art world to the few working-class students. Their families never questioned their career plan, and they arrived without the budget tracking sheets and tinned food our mums had tearily pressed into our arms. Some had never worried about money, and probably never would, which I found irritating and at times unbearable.

The isolation was only exacerbated in my first media job. I found it through a diversity programme but was still surrounded by upper-middle-class people. Soon, co-workers started unrelatable conversations about their electric cars, holiday homes and nepotism-fueled career trajectories.

Colleagues found anecdotes about my life funny when they weren’t meant to be, savouring the dramatic elements like it was a soap opera. Eventually, I started dressing like them, diluted my accentto flow with theirs, and avoided discussing anything that was a class signifier - like my family home, my mum’s relative youth and the schools I attended. I was performing upper-class at work as a protective shield, then switching back to default at home, which was a £250pcm bedroom with someone else’s vomit on the walls.

Rogaly observes in his book that many people have mixed emotions about their identities. “The same person could feel pride and shame at their class background in one conversation, yet identify with it in another.”

It’s hard to pinpoint when I stopped acting like my colleagues and actually became one of them. After a few years of hard work and promotions, I found myself living in one of the most affluent areas of Hampshire with a salary I never imagined I’d have. I only noticed the transition when a friend pointed out I was earning more than most of my family members – a realisation that brought a confusing mix of relief, guilt, and fear that I was a “class traitor”.

For a long time I lived in a constant state of imposter syndrome. My colleagues never really bonded with me. But back home, the way I was seen, talked to (or about) had shifted. My family don’t always understand my career but they’re proud. Friends who remained in our hometown think I’ve abandoned our roots.

Flippant jokes from friends about me having a New Yorker subscription and spending all my time in pretentious coffee shops (to be fair, I deserve this) had me wondering if I had abandoned my class, but I didn’t feel like I had.

I’ve whined to my mum – who studied class mobility while trying to achieve it – about this confusion. She’s adamant a person can’t change their class once they’ve reached adulthood, because our identities, values and behaviours have already formed. “Even if you won the lottery, you’d still be a poor kid at heart.” I’m not sure if I agree, but at least she doesn’t think I’ve abandoned her.

There's limited research on whether someone can entirely move from one class to another. I know because I’ve looked, extensively and nervously, as I frequently feel obliged to pick a side. It seems classist to dismiss my obtained wealth, but equally so to disregard my upbringing. Though I don’t have the insulation my new peers have long-held, I’m unsure of my place now that I’m financially comfortable and living in a middle-class bubble. There is one Oxford University study that defines social mobility as “someone landing an occupation of higher status than their father.” I never had the latter, so to quote Kanye: I guess we'll never know.

I still feel like I’m in turmoil, but I’ve found comfort in that. As Rogaly says, discomfort can help “to challenge class inequality and speak about class in terms of the social relationships entailed – rather than trying to define what it means to be in a particular class”. It’s a privilege to have acquired my dream job and a comfortable home, but be grounded by the working-class values I was raised on. I didn’t believe I belonged because I hadn’t seen anyone else like me in the spaces I wanted to occupy, but I know now that the imposter syndrome I felt had little to do with me – it was a reverberation of deep-seated inequality.  

#bethmayashley #www.vice.com

[aion-rsa]

Cobra Kai: Inside That Surprising Season 3 Cameo

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The following contains spoilers for Cobra Kai season 3.

When Tory Nichols (Peyton List) first appeared in Cobra Kai, she was the best red herring ever. She introduced herself in season 2 episode 4 “The Moment of Truth” as “Tory… with a ‘Y’” and every fan of the original film went ballistic. In The Karate Kid, Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue) introduced herself to Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) as “Ali… with an ‘I’” so we all wondered if Tory might be Ali’s daughter. 

Then season 3 leads us on even more. In the second episode of this season, “Nature vs Nurture,” there’s a scene set in Tory’s apartment. She is caring for her invalid mother, but her mom is off screen. We don’t see her. Why would they hide her if she wasn’t Ali? 

Well, it wasn’t Ali. But Ali makes a glorious return all the same in episodes 9 and 10, “Feel the Night” and “December 19” and she’s far from being an invalid. As Johnny says, she looks “amazing.” She opens her reappearance in the penultimate episode by saying “It’s good to be back.”

Dr. Ali Mills Schwarber

Just like Johnny and Daniel, every fan of the Karate Kid franchise still burns a candle for Ali. She was “beyond cute” as Daniel said back in the day, plus she had a fierce independence, defiant against social class snobbery as the privileged Encino cheerleader who fell for the poor Reseda new kid. Ali was way out of Daniel’s league, perhaps out of Johnny’s too. The Karate Kid was Shue’s first major film role and she shined. Previously she had been featured in a Burger King commercial alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar and Lea Thompson. Eleven years after The Karate Kid, Shue’s talent was recognized with a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Leaving Las Vegas. 

In a conversation with Den of Geek prior to the premiere, Cobra Kai stars Macchio and Zabka revealed that they were just as excited as the fanbase was to get Shue back in the fold.

“Oh, it was great working with her again,” said Zabka. “We got along really well on The Karate Kid and I bumped into her over the years. I never thought we’d be back together, working as Johnny and Ali, certainly. But working with her was just like picking up, playing tennis with an old partner. It was natural and fun and great and easy. We laughed a lot. We couldn’t believe it. There’s a special bond we all share from that time, like high school best friends or your college friends. Those kinds of relationships snap back effortlessly, and pick up where they left off and that’s what it was.”

“Yeah, there is a sweet kind of connection,” agrees Macchio, “something that’s kind of unspoken because we all came out of this film that has become way bigger than any of us, as far as the consciousness in the world, consciousness in the love for that story. So, we share that and it’s kind of unspoken. And so it was really kind of wonderful to tap into all that.

“When we were shooting, she said, ‘I forget how natural a partner you are to work with.’ Because it was 30-something years ago, and I felt the same way. There was an ease of which we connected just like Billy is talking about.” 

Returning to Golf ‘N’ Stuff and the Encino Oaks Country Club

When Johnny reunites with Ali, they have “35 years of stuff to say.” They meet for lunch and in a moment of honesty, Johnny confesses how he screwed everything up to her, apologizing for taking her for granted back in the day, including running over her radio. Ali reciprocates by telling him that she’s separated from her ex, Greg, opening the door to rekindling their relationship. In another scene, after Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) tells Daniel that Johnny told him Ali was his first love. Daniel says she was his first too. “There was just something about her,” says Daniel. “I thought she was the one.” 

After lunch, Ali and Johnny go to Golf ‘N’ Stuff, the same arcade Daniel and Ali went to for their first date. 

“During some of our date at Golf ‘N’ Stuff, we just laughed most of the time and got to know each other even better and what’s happened over the years for us personally, which fed into these performances together,” Zabka says.

The characters discuss their kids, Johnny’s son Robbie (Tanner Buchanan) and Ali’s, Lucas, who excels at soccer (soccer plays a major component in The Karate Kid, as well as in season 3 episode 4 of Cobra Kai “The Right Path”) and Ava, who is in a punk band. Ali invites Johnny to a party at Encino Oaks Country Club, another great throwback to The Karate Kid. The Encino Oaks Country Club was where Daniel tried to meet Ali but Johnny blocks him and Daniel ends up covered in spaghetti in his all white outfit. In the Cobra Kai finale, Johnny narrowly misses getting spaghetti spilled on him when he arrives at the club in a white Scarface-style sports jacket. 

Ali Did NOT Wreck Daniel’s ’47 Ford

For Shue, Cobra Kai gave closure to something that has bothered her for three and a half decades. Ali only appeared in The Karate Kid and at the end, Daniel and Ali made a cute couple. However, when the sequel began, Shue had moved on. She had already put her college education on hold to pursue acting, leaving Harvard one semester shy of her degree (she eventually returned to earn her B.A in Poli-Sci in 2000). 

After The Karate Kid, she starred in the ABC TV series Call to Glory and landed the lead role in Adventures in Babysitting soon after. Shue never returned as Ali and the character was unceremoniously written out. At the start of The Karate Kid Part II, Daniel tells Miyagi that Ali crashed his precious waxed on, waxed off ’47 Ford that Miyagi gave him and dumped him for a football player. That cleared the way for Daniel to fall for Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) in the sequel, but it left Ali in the lurch.

In the Cobra Kai season 3 finale, Ali spies Daniel at the Encino Oaks Country Club and greets him with how he introduced himself to her in the original, “Daniel…with an ‘L.’” When Johnny joins them, they are immediately at odds. Ali feels the tension and starts diffusing it, asking if she’s going to have to put them both on a time out. Then Daniel’s wife Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) shows up and Ali shares tales of their senior year. She explains that she didn’t leave Daniel for a football player (he was just a friend) and that she had warned him about the brakes failing. Daniel denies telling Miyagi otherwise, even though he did. 

“For her, for Ali and Daniel, it ended in such an odd way at the beginning of The Karate Kid Part II,” says Macchio. “It was sort of like a one-line write-off of her character, and I know that bothered her over the years. It may have bothered everyone.”

Nevertheless, working with Shue again was a special treat. As Ali, she got to help resolve a feud that was mostly sparked by her character. Macchio explains, “We laughed together and it was sweet to be the three of us, kind of for the first time, playing scenes that weren’t about, “I’m going to kill you LaRusso,” and, “You’re such a jerk, Johnny Lawrence.” And it was kind of a nice for her to sort of facilitate them seeing clearer through the fog of who they actually were, meaning Johnny and Daniel.”

Ali works her magic on the boys and manages to get them to reconcile. It’s something that seemed inevitable, but only Ali could achieve it. “The truth is you guys are more alike than you want to admit,” says Ali sagaciously. And she would know. 

If Ali Isn’t Tory’s Mom, Who Is?

This all leaves one outstanding mystery. Who is Tory’s mom? If Cobra Kai is looking to place more Easter eggs, there aren’t a lot of female characters left in the franchise. Could it be Jessica Kennedy (Robyn Lively) from Karate Kid Part III? She was originally scripted to be Daniel’s third love interest but at the time of filming, Lively was only 17. Macchio’s Karate skill lies in his baby face. He was already 22 when he first played the teenage Daniel. And by the time of the threequel, he was 27. Since Lively was a minor, Jessica’s relationship with Daniel was rewritten to be a close friend. 

Another possibility for Tory’s mom might be Miyagi’s other pupil, Julie Pierce, from The Next Karate Kid, the fourth and final film in the Miyagi tetralogy. That was the breakthrough role for Oscar winner, Hilary Swank. The Next Karate Kid lacked any of the characters from the previous films except for Morita and it was transplanted from Los Angeles to Boston. This killed that magical chemistry between Daniel and Miyagi. The fourth film flopped. Nevertheless, Swank’s burgeoning talent was evident. Despite a mediocre story, Swank’s performance as Julie shines as the only redeeming aspect of the film. So far, Cobra Kai hasn’t ventured into Julie territory yet, but it would be so cool if it did.

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Perhaps Tory’s mom won’t be significant in season 4. It could never hold a candle to Ali. Ali’s return made the conclusion of season 3 into one of the best episodes of the entire series. And the door is wide open for Ali to return again next season. The fanbase is hopeful. As Ali says, “Sometimes it’s good to visit the past, to know where you are now. But you can’t live in the past.” Score a point for Mills. 

Cobra Kai season 3 is available on Netflix.

The post Cobra Kai: Inside That Surprising Season 3 Cameo appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[bloodstained-porcelain-doll]

Are you killing me? (Gabriel x Reader)

Request: Hey I was wondering if I could possibly make another Gabriel request??? I know I already made one but I love the way you write him!!!! Plus who could get enough of him? Onto my request thing; Could you do one where the reader gets dragged up to heaven with him so he can do some business stuff, and Chuck keeps you company. While waiting you notice a lot of beautiful female angels flirting with him, and get jealous but also some self doubt? About you being a human and him an archangel? Word count: 1132 Warnings: None. Jealousy and fluff!

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“What?” you asked in disbelief. “I have to sort some stuff up in Heaven. I wondered if you’d join me,” Gabriel said again. “In Heaven?” “Yes.” “Me?” “Yes.” “Am I dying? Are you killing me?” Your voice got higher and higher. “No, silly! I just want you to come up and see what it’s like now, after Dad returned.”

It had taken Gabriel several tries to get you to finally agree. You were scared as shit, but also excited. Now you stood by the sandbox, ready - or not - to go. It lit up, and Gabriel took your hand and led you into it. The white piercing light forced you to close your eyes, and the feeling was inexplicable. But after a while, you opened your eyes and found yourself in a long white corridor. Gabriel must have seen your perplexed face, because he spoke.

“All these doors, they lead into different Heavens. Your friend Bobby Singer, he’s in there,” Gabriel said and pointed at a door. You didn’t know whether to smile or cry. “His Heaven is his own house, just like it was downstairs. But with more Tori Spelling.” Now you laughed, because, well… that was so Bobby. “So he’s happy?” “Yes he is.”

Gabriel and you kept walking until you reached something that looked like a conference room. Inside you saw Chuck. “I want to say ‘oh my god’, Gabriel can I say it? Can I say ‘oh my god’ when I see him?” you asked with an excited grin. “No!” Gabriel said and shook his head, but you could see him smile as well. “Come on, silly.” He pushed the door open, and the angel that had been in there with Chuck- God, left.

“Dad,” Gabriel greeted when you entered. “Son! And Y/N,” Chuck said and smiled. “You’ve uh, you’ve met before,” Gabriel said sheepishly. You’d only known him as Chuck the Prophet, but Sam and Dean had told you that in fact, he was God.

“Yes, we have. Come, Y/N, I’ll keep you company while Gabriel works,” Chuck said. You turned to Gabriel and he nodded. You leaned up and kissed his lips before you went over and sat by Chuck.

Gabriel didn’t have time to leave before someone came through the door. A young, very pretty female angel, and her eyes lit up when she was Gabriel.

“Gabriel! You’re back,” she said and smiled, with sparkling white teeth. You watched as they chatted a little, Gabriel keeping it friendly while the female angel acted like a teenage girl with a crush.

“That’s because she is,” Chuck said, making you jump. “What?” you asked. Gabriel said goodbye to the young angel and then he left the room. Chuck continued. “That’s Jael. She’s basically the angel version of teenage girl.” “Oh.” “Don’t worry, Gabriel likes his girls more feisty,” Chuck said and grinned at you. You couldn’t help the little chuckle that escaped you. The first time you and Gabriel kissed was after a fight. You had been shouting at him for how he treated Sam and Dean, and before you knew it, the two of you were snogging. You smiled at the memory.

“See, that’s what I mean,” Chuck said. “Do you have to read my mind?” you asked and felt yourself blush. “It’s very entertaining. I know what you did after you kissed. Your mind is there right now.” “That’s- you- I… stoooop,” you whined and laughed nervously. Yes, your mind had escaped to the scene where you and Gabriel fucked in the motel room and broke almost every piece of furniture there.

“Alright, I’m sorry,” Chuck said and patted your back. “Are you?” “No.” He shook his head and you laughed. “You hear every prayer, right?” “Yes I do.” “So… every time someone says ‘oh god’?” “Yes,” he said and smiled, probably knowing where this was headed.

“So do you hear people moaning ‘oh my god’ during sex?” You adjusted where you sat next to him on a table, so you could face him. “Yes I do. Haven’t heard you say it in years, though.” “Well, that’s cause I’m screwing your son, and I don’t really like moaning someone’s dad’s name when I’m in bed with them.”

Chuck laughed hard at your statement. “Well that seems fair enough.” “Already made that mistake once,” you said and grinned. “Really?” he asked, and you just nodded. “Oh, yeah, now I see it.” “Stop reading my mind!” “I can’t. I’m all knowing,” Chuck said in a rather sassy tone, and you shook your head. “Poor excuse,” you answered and grinned, but then you saw something you didn’t like.

Just outside the room, another beautiful female angel was flirting wildly with Gabriel. “Yeah, he’s a charmer, he was always a ladies man, even up here,” Chuck explained. “Mmhm…” “You’re jealous!” “No I’m not.” “Yes you are.” “No I’m not!” “So you don’t mind seeing her stroke his arm like that?” “Of course I do. It’s rude, he’s mine.” “He’s mine,” Chuck quoted you and chuckled. “No, not jealous at all…”

“I’m not as much jealous as I am… I don’t know…” “Insecure.” “What?” “You’re insecure. Because they’re angels, and you’re ‘just’ human.”

You sighed and nodded. Was God really explaining your own feelings to you? “Yes,” he said. You chuckled bitterly. “Well, I suppose you’re right. I’ll never be what they are.” Chuck listened to you, and spoke a while later. “I don’t think that’s what Gabriel wants. He loves you tons. You have so much that no angel will ever have. He doesn’t care about wings or eternal life, or even grace and powers. He cares about personality, and yours is… wow, it’s fantastic..”

You smiled. “You really think so?” “I don’t think it, I know it. And look at him, he’s not flirting back. He’s being nice, but not flirting back.” You turned your eyes to Gabriel and the angel again, and realised that it was true. He smiled and talked to her, but there was nothing more from his side. You smiled. “You’re right.” “Of course I am. I’m God,” Chuck scoffed and smiled.

You spent a few more hours talking to God, waiting for Gabriel to finish up. When he came back into the conference room, you jumped up and flung your arms around him, jump hugging him and wrapping your legs around his waist. He laughed and held you up.

“Hi sugar,” he said and kissed you. “Hi. Finish everything alright?” you asked. “Yep, great and dandy,” he said with a grin. You kissed him again, and you knew Chuck was smiling from behind you. “What’s up with you?” Gabriel asked after a while. “Nothing, I just love you a lot.” “Awww, sweetheart, I love you too. Now come on, let’s go home.”

Tagging: @lucifer-in-leather @castielspahdehrah @pepperwoodatnight @becaamm @mariairwin666 @sama1314  @fuckyeahfeysand @wayward-mirage

Gabriel tags: @thewhiterabbit42

#Gabriel #Gabriel fluff #Gabriel x you #Gabriel x reader #Fluff #Chuck Shurley #God!Chuck #sfw

[circular-time]

Spare Parts Liveblog 6 - Disc 2 

Dinner break! Okay, the Doctor and Nyssa leave after the ep 1 cliffhanger, and they never get into any trouble at all. JUST KIDDING.....

Track 2.1 “Necessary Force”

Part Two opens with something that’s a stock scene in new Who, but rare in classic Who, especially with Nyssa of all people:  the companion and Doctor in a shouting match. I remember when Tegan was dissed by many fans because bossy/outspoken women were not popular. Then again, she did it all the time; Nyssa saves it for special occasions.

“And if you won’t get involved, then I must stay behind and do it by myself” —Nyssa

Every time I hear this bit, I cheer and wince all at once.

Never forget that Nyssa. Has. GUTS. The moment she realizes it’s the homeworld of the Cybermen, after she’s seen just how miserable and horrible and hopeless life is there, and knows she’ll probably die of starvation or consumption or be carved up for spare parts— that is where she, child of privilege who grew up in an idyllic paradise, decides to end her days. To help. Which is the sort of thing she does: she did it on Terminus. Big Finish keeps hammering home this basic aspect of her character.

While fighting, she and the Doctor run smack dab into the recurring dilemma of Doctor Who: you want to help, and you have a time machine, but you can’t alter history. Nyssa: I want to give these people some hope! I want to stop the Cybermen from coming into existence! Doctor: Yes, very laudable, but you can’t do it on your own! You’re not an army! You can’t turn the whole of history around on a sixpence! Nyssa: I’ve seen you do it!

(Again, Nyssa has guts, and  also, long before Clara was doing it, Nyssa had a very dangerous habit of trying to be Just Like the Doctor). 

The whole scene is so well-acted by Peter and Sarah. Chills down spine.

Also we get a chance to hear them face their pain about Adric’s death at the hands of the Cybermen, something Earthshock and Time-Flight really didn’t address. 

[Doctor talks about running after disasters with a stretcher.]

“A pity that didn’t occur to you before when it came to sacrificing Adric!” Ouch, Nyssa. Ouch. [she’s still mad they didn’t run after Adric with a stretcher.]

Which gives her an additional motive for wanting to stop the Cybermen from coming into existence: it will save Adric’s life.  Oh, Nyssa. 

Doctor, after she finally lashes out: “So much that never gets said. Bound to boil over sooner or later.” Yeah, with scriptwriters who actually think about the story’s impact on the characters.

However, they are very dear friends and rational people, and by the time Nyssa’s collected her belongings to leave, they’ve both cooled down; Nyssa apologises for that barb. 

And the Doctor honors her wishes and lets her go. 

Or would have done, if she hadn’t mentioned bringing a cybermat into the TARDIS. At which point he goes all angry-squeaky-Five:

YOU BROUGHT A CYBERMAT INTO MY TARDIS!!!!!!

oops. 

Track 2.2 “The Thousand Natural Shocks”

Oh FINALLY. I had a huge crush on this badass lady when she played a space pirate and crack pilot on Blake’s 7: 

(hooray for farrah fawcett hair) 

So I’m stoked that Sally Knyvette playing Doctorman Allan, the morally-grey-area scientist developing the Cybermen.

She’s cynical. She defies the Committee and laughs when she hears about the Doctor’s troublemaking— she’s about the only person with enough privilege/power to risk thinking for herself.  She’s alcoholic (because Mondas is too horrible to deal with sober— and so is her conscience). She really is trying to save her people, but she’s got a brutal way of doing it: turning the weak and sick into a cyber-workforce to serve the strong. Eugenics ahoy. And she’s too damn proud of her creations, a standard Ethically Challenged Scientist trope. 

She teases Sisterman Constant at every opportunity, making fun of her hypocrisy, (e.g. calling the Hartleys her “patients” when they’re just terrorized citizens). Sisterman Constant is a religious type, but actually she’s just another version of the secret police.

So anyway, we get Allan’s first scene treating “crewmen” from the surface and arguing with the Sisterman.

When I first listened, I had trouble with of “-man” used as a suffix to denote profession. A Sisterman is a nun (Constant prays to the “sky above” at one point, their heaven), a Doctorman is a doctor, an Electriman is an electrician, and so on. Sounds odd, but then so does the universal “he.” 

I also appreciate how many female characters are major players in this story, typical of Big Finish especially when Gary Russell was director. They don’t fall into stereotypical villain/victim female roles. (While Yvonne is a victim, she has a rather atypical part to play too.)

Got to meet Sally Knyvette a few years ago at a signing in Barking, but alas I took the worst picture AND stuck my foot right down my throat. Ah well. Good thing is that actors meet so many fans they’ll forget your foolishness.

(still with the great hair, damn her) 

Track 2.3 “Onto the Carpet”

Back in the TARDIS, testy!Doctor is frantic about the cyber-pest loose in his TARDIS. Just as bitterness about Adric’s death made Nyssa lash out at the Doctor, Nyssa endangering his TARDIS makes him lash out at her.

And go all squeaky. Of course.

He blows up at her, but once the Cybermat shorts out and she’s apologized again, he apologizes as well. Typical deflection: he rather awkwardly asks her to see what she can do to fix the damage: “Please, take a look. You’re good at this sort of thing. I’m going out for some fresh air.” 

Exactly as he used to do when Tegan got under his skin and he needed to calm down. Have I mentioned how good Platt is at capturing the nuances my favorite TARDIS team? 

Except this is the moment when the Doctor makes a FATAL mistake: HE GETS INVOLVED and leaves Nyssa, who is not going to stay safely put for very long. (And I note that it is partly Nyssa’s fault he gets involved, and/or her compassion makes things more difficult. See also: Creatures of Beauty, Emerald Tiger, trying to rescue the Doctor in Masquerade and screwing up the interface, etc.) 

Scene jump to Doctorman Allan arguing with the ominously robotic voice of the Committee. She wants to slow down their Cybermen program and try to improve the process to save lives. The Committee, ignoring her pleas, decide the city is consuming too many resources and must be shut down. Why look after the interests of the people you represent when you could just eliminate them? 

A parable of Tories shutting down UK social services over the past 20 odd years? Not sure, but the GOP is voting on Trumpcare in the US this week.

Allan: “What could possibly be more important than saving people?!”  Committee: “We. must. survive.” 

Every time i hear a new Who Cyberman say “delete” or “upgrade,” I shake my head. They just don’t have the Scary Motto down like their predecessors. 

Outside the TARDIS, the Doctor finds a Cyberman, Allan’s drone. I think it was Platt’s idea to make them used for surveillance.

Frank shows up at the TARDIS to inform Nyssa that Dad Hartley is all sad; his daughter’s been called up for the work crews. Again, tying into Nyssa’s backstory; she knows what it’s like to lose a family member (and she guesses Yvonne’s being cyber-converted). Whereas Frank’s oblivious and angry he didn’t get what he thinks is a glamorous, well-paying job.

He’s been pretty angry and self-centered through the story so far. Then again he lost his mom pretty recently, so he’s suppressing grief. 

Track 2.4  - “Bones to Pick” 

Act II means taking action, although not necessarily effective. The Doctor is upset that the riot he started last night seems to have died off. 

He wants to stir up the resistance some more. (Not realizing the cost they’ll pay, or else knowing the cost will be 100% fatal if they don’t do something soon.) This time he’s trying to draw attention to the graverobbing by hijacking a lorry and scattering its shipment of bones all over the street. I love his pre-smart-device kettle and ball of string approach to grave danger, although it doesn’t always work. 

Meanwhile the Committee’s decided to cyber-convert the remaining population. Or at least that’s what Allan guesses. She’s drinking to keep from thinking. Sisterman Constant, selfish git, says the Selectors (the nuns) should be exempt; they’re the ones who choose “recruits” to be processed, making them elite. Whereas Allan can read the writing on the wall.

Track 2.5 - “Processing Credit”

Poor Yvonne. Constant blesses her while sending her to the slaughter. The victims being taken for Cyber-processing have their clothes stripped, exactly like prisoners in Nazi interment camps. Deny them their humanity before taking it away, whee.

Scene switches to the Committee (one thing I don’t like about BF -- too many modulated weird voices I have trouble understanding). Moment of doom (if it wasn’t before): They’re recalling Commander Jeng from the surface to take over. Military coup in progress.

But bringing Jeng down endangers the project on the surface, which has hit a critical juncture: radiation’s really high; laborers die off quickly, They’re caught on the horns of an impossible dilemma, and unfortunately a soulless Committee with no compassion is in charge of choosing. Sound familiar?

At LAST. Back to Dodd, disreputable rogue, being mean to Mr. Hartley who’s signing away his own organs just so he can feed his son.. Mondas is so horrible.

Mr. hartley passes the Doctor on the way out. Tells him Nyssa will make a good doctor, considering how she helped him. 

“Oh, really?” the Doctor says, a bit dubious. But she will, in both senses: as a doctor on Terminus and, once she’s older, she starts behaving more and more like him. (Jupiter Conjunction, Mistfall, Entropy Plague to name a few examples.) 

But that’s to come. Now the Doctor is pestering Dodd again.

Track 2.6 - “Taking Stock” (the track names on this audio are great) 

The Doctor wants Dodd to help him break into the Committee’s central HQ. Dodd has other ideas, involving locking him in a freezer with the other spare parts.

Meanwhile Nyssa handily beats off a swarm of Cybermats with her nerdy smarts, electrocuting them.

Frank: It worked! Amazing! Nyssa: Not really. But worryingly satisfying. 

She’s a gentle soul. Usually.

Sure enough, the Doctor’s been gone too long, so Nyssa grabs some food to go help Mr. Hartley. 

Doom. Doom. Doom. JUST STAY IN THE TARDIS.

___________

Poor Yvonne. We get to hear her final moments as a human, begging for her Dad. Heartbreaking. Ugh: sound of a dentist’s drill just to trip all the horror nerves.

“You will join us. We are the future.”

Again, the Cybermen in this story are so much scarier than shiny robots saying “delete” and “upgrade.”

Because they are like the Borg— long before the Borg— people being assimilated into walking corpses. No wonder Death in Heaven tried to bring back this aspect of them, remind us what’s inside the armor. 

____________

Doctor escapes Dodd and a random Cyber-policeman, and promptly tries to steal the guy’s horse. Using his Tristan credentials, the Doctor tries talk to the beastie.

Shades of Black Beauty in this bit, I think, although I haven’t read it in so long I’m not sure. “the whips are hard, the feed stale....” 

Alas he doesn’t succeed in escaping; Allan rescues him from being executed, but requisitions him.

Track 2.7 “A Cracking Holiday”

Poor Mr. Hartley is in shock after losing Yvonne a second time, watching her last shreds erased before his eyes.

I love the way Big Finish often uses the sound of a teakettle going off as a sort of shorthand alarm: it’s warning of imminent danger, but the heroes are being too British and Keeping Calm and Carrying on 

And now everything goes to hell. The power cuts out, the Cyber recruits escape in the confusion, the roof cracks, the lights go out, the cyber-police are trying to herd everyone into the Committee Palace for processing, and rioting breaks out— it’s apocalyptic.

Amazing how an audio with just a few voices and sound effects can suggest the death throes of an entire world... this  hollow, terrifying world, the claustrophobic city in a cavern. It’s epic. 

Because our imaginations are still a damnsight scarier than CGI.

DOO WEE OO.

#spare parts liveblog #long post is long