#has childe already been nerfed and do i just suck

[comradeboyhalo]

i honestly think that getting rid of egg lives might help the story bc we all know ive been a hater of "egg kidnappings" ever since dapper just gets continuously nerfed for the plot. its not really interesting anymore. i actually enjoy code attacks, but when theyre mindlessly op, then theyre also not fun to watch. maybe getting rid of the mindset that "eggs must die" or "eggs are the only way to prompt islanders to do x" will actually stop future plots from feeling repetitive. cause qsmp wasn't originally about eggs. it originally didnt rely on egg lives as motivations and the greater qsmp story is still federation-based.

at the same time, i really do understand what a good plot device death is, and how it's been such a good plot device when its executed well. thinking about dapper's nightmare and death in particular, those both hit q!bad so hard because dapper is mortal. but, inversely, dapper being targeted/nerfed/kidnapped so many times has sucked the shock out of it for me. im more emotionally connected to his soul vulture self-harming, even though he's never been in any danger of dying. child death isnt the only way to invoke grief.

*but it's hard to be unbiased on this because im a bbh main and i feel like all his closest friends end up being the eggs. during the kidnapping arc, he mainly interacted with bagi but now she has a different schedule. if any of the late night trio die, bbh streams will start to feel so much emptier and i already went through that with dsmp.

#also idk if this has been discourse in the tag this was a drafted post #so this is not shade to anyone lol #ask to tag

[selineram3421]

Two

Lil' idea blip for what the child reader would be like.

Daycare Attendants & Child Reader

Warning ⚠

⚠ reader is (gn) gender neutral, cussing, platonic, using random names for kids-sorry if I used yours and now it's confusing ⚠

Currently the Daycare Attendant Sundrop was at the craft table, helping one of the children make a snowflake.

"And then cut shapes on one side.", Sun instructed the little one.

Of course, children don't always listen to instructions well and do what they like. Still, it made the animatronic smile when Kathy finished her snowflake.

"I'm done!", the blue eyed girl said proudly.

"How nice!", Sun cheered. "Now you can make another one!"

Kathy thought for a moment before shaking her head no. "No. I want to color now.", she said and gave the attendant the scissors.

"Alrighty!", the sun animatronic replied before going towards the arts and crafts cabinets to put away the scissors.

Then, as he was closing the cabinet door, he heard a yell.

Spinning his head, Sundrop saw Kevin standing on top of a messed up tea table. Gina was cowering behind a familiar child that was butting heads with the boy.

"Friendship is dumb!", the little trouble maker said and blew a raspberry.

You had let out a haunted gasp and quickly your face switched from shocked to anger. Then you picked up a nearby Nerf gun and pointed it at the brown haired boy.

"Friendship is FUCKING magic!", you screeched before blasting the boy with foam bullets.

Sun gasped as he quickly stood up.

"There is no foul language in the Daycare!", he speed walked over and scooped you up. "Timeout!"

"Hey!", you puffed out your cheeks in annoyance. "Kevin is the jerk! He should be in time out! And I'm not wrong! Friendship is magic!"

"I suppose you're right.", Sun said and also scooped up Kevin. "Both of you are in timeout."

"WHAT!?", the brown haired boy screamed. "I didn't do anything!"

The daycare attendant walked towards the corner as the two children bickered.

"That's a big fat lie!", you frowned.

"Your Mom's fat!", the boy replied.

"My mom is not fat! She just has a big butt!", you countered. "And last I saw, your dad was staring at my mom's butt! So eat it fart face!"

"You're stupid! And ugly!", Kevin shouted.

"I'm not a mirror!", you shouted back.

Sun felt tired already.

It hasn't even been two hours.

Placing the two in the corner, he sat them on chairs and told them to hold hands.

"No!", the two yelled and faced away from each other.

"You won't? Hmmm.", Sundrop placed a hand on his hip, using the other to tap his finger on his faceplate. "Looks like you'll both have to wear the get-along shirt."

You looked up at the animatronic in horror.

Sucking it up, you grabbed Kevin's hand with disgust.

"There. Happy?", you grumbled.

The little boy blushed and looked away. "This is dumb."

"There we go!", Sun clapped his hands. "Five minutes!", he told the two before going back to the other children with a skip in his step.

Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad day.

"I still don't like you.", he overheard you say.

Or...maybe it might be.

Dodadoodadooo.

~Seline, the person.

Fic Ideas for Daycare Attendants

#daycar attendant & reader #child reader #gn reader #gender neutral reader #reader #fnaf sb #fnaf security breach #five nights at freddy's security breach #sundrop #fnaf sun #sb fnaf #daycare attendant sun #& reader #& child reader #fnaf daycare attendant #plantonic

[misanthropiczombie]

Word of Honor Liveblogging pt 3

OKAY PART THREE

Episodes 1-16 ⪻⨀⪼ Episodes 17-26

I realized I need to stub out everything if I actually want to make these directional and a new reblog for each episode. ITS FINE.

Anyways, onto Episode 27 and through the last episodes of the series. I'm so goddamned obsessed already.

dramatic xiao playing again. He doesnt eat his emotions, he plays the xiao.

Ye bai ye? oh its both of them lmao

and there's the drop but he really dont look that surprised

BECAUSE HES SMART AND IF WKX HAD JSUT TOLD HIM IT WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE

The fight WKX has been ITCHING for

YE BAIYE so stronk

Man i know im like a fucked up little gremlin, but Wen Kexing looks real nice with some bruises lmao

wkx's devastated look is making a lot of appearances and A) its so good like acting wise B) it's SO GOOD emotional wise

~sword glare~

Anyways I just want to say one of my least favorite things in cdramas thusfar is the plot armor/plot nerf. wkx and zzs both down from one singular blow? for a guy they've fought a few times? ((the wens eradicating all of lotus pier with ZERO casualties on their side?? im still salty)) anyways they definitely could have lasted longer.

ZZS going for the 'i'm not mad, i'm disappointed" route. Fatherhood has agreed with him

EHEHEEEEEEEEEEEEHEHHDF me, hyperventallating into a bag: HE HELD HiS FACEa;lsdkfj no notes your honor

helpless child act lmao i love them i love them brat4brat i love this zhou zishu

she is trying so hard to keep it together just TELL HIM

good for him for sticking up for her.

Nut Bar

br u h is he in the bath. surely they have restored the manor enough for some more individualized rooms. there used to be 81 of his generation

DAMN ZZS "im not good at lying like you"

listen STAB HIM Zhao Jing fucking sucks and you deserve so much better.

KILL HIM KILL HIM KILL HIM KILL HIM i believe in you so hard kill HIM

ope we have vocalized lyrics, something Important is going to happen. MAYBE HER SECRET WILL BE OUT THERE CHRIST

lmao wkx getting chengling (presumably) drunk what a fucking gremlin. ZZS just letting him

gremlin wkx and zzs is doing that dramatic sigh like he hates it except he absolutely does not

#word of honor #live bloggin #tian ya ke #Episode 27

[stupid-sloot-headcanons]

I'm not sure if you ever gave a review and no pressure at all but how did you like Infinite Wealth? I am almost done with it and I am curious what you think of it after so so much hype. I have largely enjoyed it though there are some things I have not loved

SPOILERS for those reading this

Bryce was such a lame villain even if I usually like cult villains but with so many villains it felt really crowded. I want to like Ebina and I like him more than Bryce but his twist felt lame especially given what we knew about Arakawa. I LOVE Yamai but it all felt so crowded.

But overall I love the game play and the characters and I have cried multiple times. But yeah, I miss really good villains like Aoki. Also I developed a really strong soft spot toward Sawashiro in the game

Yeah, the villains were easily the weakest part of the game. Tbh it was kind of a mixed bag for me overall lol. Especially since Gaiden was so fucking good and Y8 manages to cock up a lot of the best story parts of Gaiden. Hanawa getting killed off so unceremoniously after all the buildup and characterization he had was unsatisfying as fuck.

I also think Bryce would have worked better in the Japanese version by having his English lines be spoken by the dub voice actor because holy fuck, any characterization and actual intimidation flies out the window when you hear this white American fella speaking lines by a seiyuu who is NOT pulling off the English voice lines.

Joon-gi was basically stapled onto the story at the very end and it sucks since I really liked his character (the real Joon-gi in 6 and the agent in 7). He also got nerfed in terms of skills but considering how busted Kiryu is it kinda evens out.

Also regarding the Memories of Kamurocho, RGG TEAM IS RYUJI ALIVE OR NOT, HOW ARE YOU STILL TEASING THIS MOTHERFUCKER BEING ALIVE AND NOT DOING ANYTHING WITH IT

The gameplay is easily the biggest improvement and my favorite class was Kunoichi! It was also awesome to have Seonghee as a party member and getting to know more about her. Also I still think Saeko/Seonghee is a better ship than Ichiban/Saeko but I don't take shipping bullshit that seriously lol

The final boss was just a damage sponge, but the soundtrack was fucking great. Though I don't know why Saejima, Majima, and Daigo even show up when all they do is help in one mob of basic enemies and do nothing in the final fight. Ebina already sucks as a character but having the three of them come in during stages of the fight as strikers or assists would have been better so they actually like. Contributed as opposed to just standing there

Yamai is the best new character and the fact they end the story with him back in Japan makes me hopeful that he'll come back in future games. Though I'm a little worried he'll suffer from the same problem as Ichiban who...Look, Ichiban is a great character, but after LAD and his personal arc, IW would up with him being very static and I'm a little worried about his staying power as a protagonist. If each game just has him trusting everyone, staying optimistic af and never straying from that it'll get a bit old yk? Also I personally feel like end of 7!Ichiban would forgive Eiji as quickly and easily as he does in 8, he should have struggled with it at least a little. The dude threw a child down a flight of stairs, tied to a wheelchair for fuck's sake. He almost felt like a parody of himself in some spots, and that vibe carried through a lot of 8 for me in a way that I really didn't like.

As for the story, I feel like Yokoyama needs someone on staff to wrangle him the way Hideo Kojima does. 5 and 8 both have plots that kinda go off the rails and are messes regarding pacing.

Kiryu has a great sendoff and as someone who's had family members pass away from cancer, seeing him at the end in the wheelchair looking so frail was heartbreaking. But the fact he finally has his family back and is with Haruka again makes me so happy. He deserves to rest. Like in Gaiden, you see just how much it hurt him to be separated from them--I was bawling when he broke down seeing the kids at his grave and saw Haruto's drawing. And 8 kiiiinda lessens the impact of that plot point since he gets to see some of the kids in the end, but I am happy and satisfied with him reuniting with Haruka. The fact it was at the last second of the game and the actual reunion happened offscreen was kind of a letdown but still. Good end for Kiryu.

So if I had to TL:DR, Infinite Wealth is a delicious brownie in the parts where it's actually baked properly. A lot of spots are undercooked as fuck though, but it's still quite good.

#iw spoilers #sloot bitches about things #.yakuza #.like a dragon #.infinite wealth #sloot's essays

[captainofthetidesbreath]

OW2 managed to nerf the character bios while still having a big retcon with Anubis in Pharah's bio. Oh and all the new characters don't have their ages listed so no worries about how Kiriko's age lines up with the Shimada Bros.

While I agree that the reduced bios suck, I genuinely don't know where the retcon with Anubis in Pharah's bio is. We knew Anubis was active during the Crisis and had gone rogue, and we didn't know precisely what caused the omniums to start producing omnic armies. We also knew Anubis was called a "god program", and it was a term unique to Anubis—so, as far as I remember, and my lore is really rusty, so maybe I simply forget something here, this doesn't contradict and it actually was already implied? It's not a retcon, afaik, it's just new information?

I also have seen people upset over Kiriko's Origin video, saying that it shows Kiriko is a child hanging out with Genji when he's an adult, which I presume is also your complaint. But, I? Don't know where that is coming from? She looks to be, like, 9 or 10 and Genji is like 13 or 14? It sucks we don't know her exact age, but I don't know where the complaint that Genji is 25 in her Origin is coming from exactly.

There's a lot of things that I don't like. I do agree the bios on the website are handled poorly, but I keep seeing specific lore complaints that make me very baffled.

Generally, I'm like, it's a Blizzard property. Have you SEEN how messy the lore for most of their other stuff is? I don't know if my expectations are high there in general, lmfao, especially since this is at the end of the day, a PvP team shooter and not a narratively intensive project.

And, honestly, as someone who is a fan of many properties with a lot of retcons and inconsistencies (hey, current primary interest, the incredibly much more narratively intensive CritRole!), some major, a retcon has to be INCREDIBLY huge and a complete reversal to bother me. So, if you (specifically) or you (generally) are looking to complain to me about minor ostensible retcons (because that's all that it ever seems to be in Overwatch complaints, never a huge 180 one), I'm not your gal. Except for the ones I fixate on bc it's fun to, of course.

I'd rather stick to more solid complaints, like, yes, how it sucks that the bios have been severely reduced. Because I do think that sucks.

#Gena plays Overwatch

[helenarasmussen87]

Ohh nejire got backstory but uh wtf is going on with shigaraki? This tenko is a separate entity feels so contrived…

Ah! I haven't seen that spoiler about Nejire! I love her SO much so I'm glad she gets a backstory!

What I'm guessing is that it's the deus ex machina to sympathise with Tenko rather than see all the shit that Shigaraki has done. Like Deku already saw that part of him right? Now Mirio does? So they're going to do their best to "save the child" from AFO and thus garner sympathy for his crusty/dusty ass.

Which honestly is contrived as you have said and sucks since these are not poor little meow meows. They're villains and they need to face up to their shit. We can pity them, but also demand that they atone for the shit they've done.

I mean if you're going to call out Endeavor and demand the impossible from him, or All Might himself...Than it's only fair we do it for the villains too. Especially Shigaraki.

Not to bring Endeavor up over and over again, but people still claim he was "nerfed" and just want Volume 5 Endeavor despite him getting his head out of his ass during the remedial arc and putting his money where his mouth his for two other arcs. They shit on him and say he's been nerfed and he was better before.

Funny how no one is saying that about Shigaraki now that we have the little boy Tenko. Which feels more like nerfing than anything that has been done with Endeavor does.

Hope this made some kind of sense here.

#thanks anon! #anon ask #bnha #mha

[wesavegotham]

So don’t hate me but I’m kinda liking damian’s animated versions better than his comic one I really like his comic one but after all the shit happening where he has been nerfed nonstop getting beat by Thomas Wayne Batman, the teen titans red hood (although Jason attacked from behind like a bitch) and now flatline beating him. Not to mention Bruce not being a father and Damian now Being blamed for everything when they all have no room to talk. God I was satisfied when his old team died in future.

This is going to be a really long post, my apologies in advance.

I absolutely get where you’re coming from. I personally still like comic Damian more because I feel like there is more nuance and layers to him compared to the animated universe Damian, but that is simply the fault of the limited time they could spent on him in the movies.

Movie!Damian certainly wins more fights than comic!Damian and was never regressed in any way that is comparable to the shitshow that was Teen Titans (2016).

You’re adressing a problem I have with comic!Damian too right now, a problem that I’ve already talked about with some people here on tumblr in private. Which is that for all the talk about what Damian can do the comics have rarely shown all those skills Damian should have being used in the actual story in recent years and that is frustrating. I find Damian’s arrogance interesting as long as I feel like he can at least back it up in some way, but in recent time he comes off as just an idiot because he has done almost nothing but fail and lose and the writers still have him act like he’s the greatest. But it doesn’t feel like he can back up his confidence anymore. At all.

If I had to name a skill that differentiates Damian from the other Robins right now then I could only list his skill to hide from Batman and that is a skill he only has for plot convenience. We don’t see him do anything to cover his tracks, we are only told that he somehow did it. And I’m pretty sure that the second this skill stops being convenient for the story it will vanish once again. It will probably end like it did with Jon, where Damian somehow hid so well that Jon said they would never find him in Teen Titans, when they wanted an excuse for Jon to not get involved with his friend’s fall into darkness, but now that DC wanted them to interact again all of that is forgotten and Jon has no problems finding Damian.

Damian is not the most social Robin, nor the most intelligent one and considering how he seemed to lose against everything and everyone in recent years I can’t say with a straight face that he’s the best at fighting or the most skilled. And that IS a problem. Damian will never be known for his social skills or his detective skills, those niches are already taken by Dick and Tim, but in theory he should be a great fighter or a highly skilled person. Damian has sacrificed his entire life for training, both in the league of assassins and during his time with the batfamily. But if Damian sucks at fighting (as in: he loses a lot more than he wins) and his skills play no significant role in advancing the plot, then what is the point of his character? Great, he’s good at drawing and likes manga now, but how will that help with a fighting tournament? Or with solving the mystery behind the league of lazarus? A protagonist is usually supposed to be able to change the situation he is in, that is why he’s the protagonist and not someone else. So what makes Damian so unique that only  he can solve the situation he finds himself in during Robin and not someone like Conner Hawke? Or what makes him unique in the batfamily? I hope Robin adresses that soon. 

Of course now one could say “He still has an unique position as Bruce’s biological child”, but that also was completely irrelevant in recent years. For all the moments since the start of Rebirth that had batfam-fans complaining that Damian was favored by DC because of his status as the only biological child of Bruce, there were actually very few interactions between the two. Stuff like Bruce talking about Damian or saying that he loves him was primarily found in scenes in which Damian was not present. Or it came way too late, like in Teen Titans (and Bruce refusing to hit Damian in the face because he is his child sets such a low bar, I refuse to acknowledge that as a sign of love)

If you look at how Bruce actually treats Damian or describes him then there is little love there. He ignored his 13th birthday, did nothing when Damian left him after the events of Justice League: No Justice, it had no impact on the Batman books at all, Bruce only called Damian for missions like two times, once in City of Bane (which was just so shitty, as I already explained in a previous post) and a second time in Detective Comics #1017 (He sent Damian to find a missing kid in a snow storm, while he dealt with something else), refused to comfort him at Alfred’s wake and when Bruce reflects on what happened in Teen Titans he blames most of it on Damian’s personality, both in Detective Comics #1030 and in Robin #1, and both times there is nobody questioning Bruce’s asessment. He really doesn’t have anything nice to say about Damian and apparently we are not supposed to disagree with him. So in summary: Damian seems to have no skills that make him indispensable for the batfamily, Bruce seems to have a very low opinion of Damian’s character and now that they have decided to give us Bruce searching for Damian the only reason for that seems to be that Bruce suddenly feels responsible for his child, even though that should have already been the case when Damian seperated from him in 2018 or at least directly after the second Teen Titans annual.

Even the kinda nice things Bruce says about Damian in Robin #1 can be called into question if you think about them. He says he has no doubt that Damian can take care of himself...and then we see Damian getting his heart ripped out at the end of the very same issue. Of course we know that Damian’s story doesn’t end there, so I won’t judge this too harshly yet, but to me this didn’t come off as Damian being able to take care of himself.

And I get letting Damian lose at the start of the tournament to establish Flatline as a threat and to make it clear that this tournament is not a game. I also get that Damian’s fight against King Snake was supposed to make sure that we still think of Damian as competent even though he loses later on. But at least for me, winning against King Snake was not cool or badass enough to make up for the fact that Damian was easily killed, in front of everyone, by a literal nobody like Flatline. King Snake is an old, blind guy, that didn’t show up in any DC comic I read since I started in 2018 and that was apparently beaten by Tim in his solo comic when he was 14 back in the 90s. Sorry, but that just isn’t impressive enough for me, especially since I’ve seen Damian lose so much in recent years. It doesn’t establish Flatline as a badass, it just makes me think that Damian is not that great of a fighter and shouldn’t be in this tournament.

I have some more thoughts on the tournament that make me wish that the arc will start being less about winning the tournament itself and more about something like taking down the league of lazarus soon (mainly the fact that a fight about being the best fighter is useless if the big guns are not taking part, the fact that you can only win by killing your oponent, which should be a problem for Damian and how nothing we know about the rewards for winning, becoming part of the league of lazarus und apparently immortality, is desirable for Damian), but this answer is already too long.

I’m going to be honest an admit that I did not like the ending of Robin #1 at all and that I hope that Williamson will show Damian being competent really soon because I’m not here for another pointless arc about Damian learning humility. I want to see Damian win for once, you know, like other protagonist usually do at the end of an arc and if Damian can’t even win or tell us what’s going on with him from his point of view in a book about him then I’m probably going to feel very disappointed by this book.

[lamiahypnosia]

Recently I've been watching Inuyasha on Netflix. I used to watch it as teenager and figured I'd watch it from the very beginning to see if it's as good as I remember.

I think a lot of people malign Inuyasha as being garbage because of the slapstick and tedious romances forgetting conveniently that these couples are teenagers.

Teenagers are cringe and slow to learn. Remember that? Being a teenager?

Also as a writer I'm appreciating the characters much more especially the main characters Inuyasha and Kagome.

Inuyasha I buy as a gruff outcast with walls up a mile thick. As much as I love to watch him wreck demons I like the slower episodes that shed more light on what it was like for him growing up as a half demon such as the episode Jinenji Kind Yet Sad where at the end he tells Kagome about how alone he was even before his mother died. I also like how nice he is -in his way- to Sango even after she fought him and tried to steal Tetsusaiga.

Kagome is a better character to me now that I realize how clever she is. I assume she knows all about mythology thanks to her upbringing but also due to because she is smart as hell already. I still don't understand why she still wears her school uniform to the feudal era- maybe you should try to blend in, Kags. I guess the reason for that is so we can instantly recognize her though she's shown in priestess clothes sometimes. I totally buy her insecurity about Kikyo but she's never nasty about it, mature enough to catch herself being jealous which keeps her likeable but relatable.

Shippo can still pull his weight despite being a child. He's still a demon and he's shown using his fox magic to scout ahead and sometimes provides insight. It is a waste he only ever really gets side plots where he gets a crush on a random human girl Davey from The Monkees style which is cute, I guess. He's there to be cute. And help sometimes. I'd tell him to stay his furry ass in the village with Kaede.

Speaking of Kaede, she's cool. I like her no nonsense attitude and the fact that she wears a sword guard as an eyepatch. She could easily have a plain ol' eyepatch but nah she had to take it up to the next level. I mean yeah she might not have been able to get a normal eyepatch and just made do with what she had but come on, you can't deny it's a Look.

Miroku is...well if I'm honest I never liked Miroku. I think they dropped the ball on him. While the wind tunnel curse is cool and tragic the fact that the writer realized 'oh wait he could easily end the series and nobody would learn nothin' ' they have to keep finding new bullshit ways to nerf him. Poisonous insects, miasma and such. It would be a lot more sad if he had a curse in the vein of Rogue, like, he can't make skin contact with anyone lest they fall into a coma yet before the curse he was a huge pervert but when he falls in love with Sango laments he can't hug or kiss her or her wipe away her tears. Then when Naraku is dead they have an absolutely epic kiss. Or he can get sucked to death -either way- and I won't miss him.

Speaking of Sango boy I forgot how dumb she was at the start. Her introduction was fricking brutal but she gets tricked by Naraku twice in rapid succession. I know she's grieving but I'm surprised Inuyasha doesn't bitch at her for being so gullible. Kagome pushes for everyone to be nice to her after what she's been through but good god, woman. I actually like the idea of her and Inuyasha being in a romance. They have much more in common than him and Kagome. Kagome, much as I like her is just there for Inuyasha to have to protect and scream his name. Sango kicks very much ass and is way too good for Miroku.

Sesshomaru is still boring. He's there to be pretty and contrast Inuyasha then have his character arc make him less of a dick to humans.

Jaken's constant ass kissing is...a thing...that happens.

(I've just started season 2 so we haven't met the rest of the funky bunch like Koga. I remember he was annoying the way he hit on Kagome and antagonized Inuyasha. Yawn.)

Kikyo is probably my favorite character. I like how she goes from a stoic badass to a conniving badass sick of Naraku's shit. I wished she'd interact with Kagome more beyond them mean mugging each other about to have a Jerry Springer esque fight over dog boy over there. Which, fair, Kagome is literally her but able to do the things she couldn't - be a normal girl loving and being loved by Inuyasha. So good on her for not being too emo about it. She's still free to do what she wants and be all flip floppy about what side she's on at any given moment.

Naraku is still boring, doing evil shit for the sake of being evil 'cause we need a villain. I don't think he should have been a series long villain maybe only one for the first season and a little of the second. Then Kikyo wastes him and become the villain because- well I haven't really thought it through.

I think that's the main issue with Inuyasha as a series- nothing was thought through well enough. It's all well and good but the

characters are just 'eh'. If the characters are 'eh' the whole thing is 'eh'. Usually. Parts of it are good. Aspects. If you ignore the 'eh' character arcs then it's better.

Watching the show I watched as a teenager but looking at it again through the lens of adulthood has been an experience. Not only am I getting a better feel for the characters, how the two couples interact, their motivations plus I've learned more about Japanese mythology in the interim years which makes the stories and all the types of demons much more interesting. The fantasy elements of the show is what I like and remember best.

So yeah I like it but understand its flaws.

#inuyasha #retrospective #straight from the serpent's mouth #lamia essay #kagome higurashi #shippo #sango inuyasha #miroku #sesshomaru #kaede inuyasha #jaken inuyasha

[forestlingincorporated]

My thoughts on the Snyder Cut

Overall, Snyder Cut is the more competently made Justice League movie. I watched the theatrical release with my girlfriend - who has never seen MoS or BvS or JL before - before watching the Snyder Cut with her a few days later, so it’s still fairly fresh in my mind. 

The Snyder cut is better organized and (despite being 4 hours long) better paced. I really gave ZERO shits about the mother boxes the way they were presented in the theatrical release, but I was engaged with the plot from the start in the Snyder Cut. Scenes were reorganized in a way that were more logical. Fight sequences were paced MUCH better, and kept me interested in what was happening on the screen - my girlfriend and I SKIPPED the last fight sequence in the theatrical release when we watched it because we were BORED; we didn’t get that bored at any point during the Snyder Cut. 

Most of the scenes I liked from the theatrical release are ripped wholesale from this version of the movie, with maybe an exception or two. 

EVERYTHING with Cyborg is better in this movie. Like. EVERYTHING. 

The lighting? Is SO MUCH better. The theatrical cut is SO UGLY compared to this movie. My girlfriend couldn’t look at the bat suit in the theatrical release for a second without complaining it looked terrible, and that was a nonissue in the snyder cut, the bat suit looked amazing. Diana’s low necklines were still there, but no longer shot in a way that was distracting. And dear god, the Steppenwolf redesign looks so much better, god. 

Speaking of Steppenwolf, our villain now has a character motivation! He’s in some way sympathetic and understandable! Wow! Now I fucking understand why our villain is doing what they’re doing, and it plays into the theme! 

And that’s where the praise has to stop, because now I gotta get into the complaints. Under the cut, so now one has to listen to my bitching if they don’t want to. (Also, I get into like, spoilers, so be warned) 

Okay, this movie has a theme, and the theme is family, and it is SO POORLY EXECUTED. Snyder doesn’t do “theme” particularly well - the family angle is kind of an after thought. It’s there, for sure, Steppenwolf wants to go home and be part of his family again, and family is a big part of Cyborg’s arc, and Barry’s stuff with his dad is pretty strong, but this movie isn’t Cyborg and the Flash vs. Steppenwolf - it’s THE JUSTICE LEAGUE vs. Steppenwolf. Each character has a connection to their family that is TOUCHED on, but it’s not given the weight it needs. Diana receives a message from her mother, but Diana doesn’t go visit her at any point or send a message back or anything. Aquaman talks about his mother and father kind of expositionally, designed to set up for the Aquaman movie which now contradicts the already existing Aquaman movie, but we never see his family nor get a strong sense of connection. Clark’s reunion with his mother is extremely brief and unimpactful. And Bruce, who has so much opportunity to delve deep into family connections, especially as the only member of the League who’s ever been a father, confirmed by the nightmare sequence, is given nothing to work with on the family front. 

That’s another thing, Snyder does plot driven movies, he doesn’t do CHARACTER very well. He’d rather exposition for 20 minutes than delve into the emotions of his characters. We’re given an idea that maybe Diana’s worried about her mom, and Bruce is probably still grieving his dead child, but none of that is dealt with. Like, Superman is a McGuffin, he has some emotional weight when he goes to get the black and white suit and you get the overlapping dialog of Jor-El and Jonathan, but he gets over being DEAD so fast, and his reunions with his family are like... limp noodles. I think the worst offender is the death of Cyborg’s father, which I found extremely clunky, and Victor has feelings about it for, like, a scene, kind of, and it just gets pushed aside. His own teammates are barely empathetic that he just lost a parent. I’ve already heard people praise this scene as “more interesting and emotional”, but I found it EXTREAMLY clunky and awkwardly handled. 

Speaking of the exposition, it goes SO LONG. Like, SO LONG. We don’t need this much info dumping, it drags the movie. Cut Diana’s explanation of the mother boxes down to, like, three minutes, five max. Maybe do it like the Story of Ares from the Wonder Woman movie. Keep the first scene of Steppenwolf and Desaad establishing Steppenwolf’s character motivation and then like.... cut.... everything.... else. Between Steppenwolf and Desaad. It mostly exists to set up the fuckin’ Anti-Life equation sequel bait, which we don’t need explained in detail in THIS movie; just have Darkseid mention it at the end as a reason to return to Earth at the end like they already do and cut out all the stuff setting it up, let it be a mystery. And then Cyborg’s info dump on his powers wasn’t necessary, though I liked the way it led into a warm fuzzy moment of him helping that family, and he kinda smiles like, yeah, he likes helping people, he’s on his way to accepting himself and stuff. But then the extra info dump about how his dad’s lab came into possession of the cube like “WELL, IN WORLD WAR 2 - “ like aaaaah, no one cares, cut it. 

Uh... I wish I saw less of Darkseid. I feel like the movie ruined its own suspense by showing off Darkseid’s full design within the first hour. I would have prefered a, you know, more Fire Lord Ozai approach. Don’t show him until the end - or AT ALL, if they can manage it, leave that for a future movie, given this was made with the expectations of more movies. Darkseid’s design was also really disappointing, like Steppenwolf looked so GOOD, he was big and menacing with the armor on, but next to him Darkseid looked... small. I wanted him to be bigger, broader, more menacing. 

Uh... Martian Manhunter. Cool reveal, very shocking, I was hyped, uh, but did not make a load of sense. Very weird moment. And then when you see him again, and Bruce is like “this may as well happen” lol, omg, how checked out is Bruce? 

Lois Lane remains... a limp wet paper bag, and I would have preferred her replaced wholesale with Martha. Love interests being the Thing To Calm The Rampaging Hulk Kryptonian only works if, like, the audience is on board. And I never thought Snyder’s Clark/Lois romance was very strong, because of Snyder’s whole plot-over-character thing, and also I thought this depiction of Lois kinda sucked... But with Martha, you can at least fall back on the cultural concept of a boy’s love for his mother to stand in for weaker character set up, and it would play into that theme of family a lot better. 

I don’t know... how to unpack why... the nightmare future injustice dream sequence.... made me physically angry. But man did I not like that. I feel like I manifested a confirmed Robin death... in the worst way possible. Because boy. I HATED THAT.

Oh! Uh, and I didn’t like Barry’s new introduction. I thought it was weaker than seeing him meet with his dad in jail, and it was kind of... off mood. It was really SILLY, and nothing else in the movie was really that tonally silly. Barry was overall treated with more respect in this movie, but it still felt like the movie was somewhat disinterested in Flash’s whole... brand. Barry stuck out a bit as the one character who was overall not really particularly angsty. I will say, I miss the scene from Whedon’s theatrical release of Barry overcoming his fear by taking Bruce’s advice to just save “one” person; that was a good scene and played well into Barry’s youth and inexperience and into Bruce’s history as a mentor and a father. That said, FUCK did Whedon nerf the shit out of Barry’s powers. This boy can TIME TRAVEL. 

#justice league #snydercut #movie review

[mansionofmuses]

Alright fuck it I figured it's time to put my nuts in the ring when it comes to writing up rwde reviews about shiddy writing.

I already made a post about how closure doesn't exist in rwby, so that SHOULD trim this a bit. Hopefully.

These last two of seasons of rwby have been ASS and idk even know where to start. So lemme do some character progressions instead of jumping all over the place. Let's start with my fav: Neo. And I'll be as unbiased as possible.

Starting from v6, she came back and teamed up with Cinder. Cool? Cool. Fair enough. V7 onwards she's been treated like a BITCH by Cinder and has visibly shown her disdain for that on screen. And yet she still chooses to hang with her? Why? Like... Genuinely why? Is Neo not like the stealth queen? And the driver of a thousand vehicles? Why does she even need Cinder? Could she not have just jacked an airship herself, flown to Atlas after getting the info from Cinder, and began her hunt there? Instead she's just some minion to her now? Okay fine so let's say their team up makes sense in some odd world. Why the fuck would Neo agree to go to Cinder in the Satan Whale? Why? Why the fuck is she there? After being denied multiple times to get to Ruby and even being treated like shit with visible disdain, she should have absolutely left with a middle finger to Cinder. But nope. We get to see her be visibly uncomfortable in this cult and clearly wants out. Which she does, so good shit. She snatches the lamp and heads out. Fair enough, I guess? I don't know why the fuck she trusts Cinder to go back to her after being treated like shit. After Cinder's doodoo attitude towards her, Neo should be like "wow maybe she's lying to me about roman lemme check with this genie bitch" but no. And don't say "oh well she can't talk so jinn wouldn't be able to answer her." Fuck that. 1. I should hope that the password wouldn't be so ableist against mute people. 2. Neo's resourceful as hell. Text to speech and boom. There ya go. Instead she goes back to Cinder like a lost puppy after being shown multiple times how much she hates her. Why the fuck does she need Cinder to get to Ruby? I have no fucking idea! And then everyone's favorite scene. I know I know she killed Blake's hip atta-- I mean character devel-- I mean Yang. That scene. Was doodoo. And I'll get into more intricacies about it much later. But for now, why the hell was Neo so sloppy in that assassination? Like gurl you revealed yourself so early from, apparently so far away? Pretend to be a passerby with everything disguised (I saw that lamp) impale her and boom. Done. Not sure why she went for a slash either when a thrusting weapons like that would be best for a quicker impale. It would have made any on screen death so much more confirmed instead of up in the air bullshit.

Next we have Ironwood. Oh James. How far you've fallen. I don't really understand what the hell they're doing with this character any more. Like... At all. I fully expect him to turn into the joker and join salem at this point lmfao. At first he was complex, but cool, right? Ok a stern leader who still wants to help people and see team rwby in beacon grow and be successful. Fair enough. Then came v4 and he was like "hey yang. Heard about the arm. Here ya go homie." That was pretty cool to give to a young veteran. Fair enough. But good god once v7 hit, everything just went haywire. He started making the dumbest decisions. Kind of. I understand how he's like "aite let's sack mantle to ensure atlas lives cause otherwise both parties will be dead." except idk why he didn't just make a plan to evacuate everyone to mantle first but whatever. I mean team rwby did it like... In a day? Shouldn't have been hard. Then he started losing his fucking mind. There was an entire thing about trust issues and plans (ngl I didn't care enough to pay much attention) and he ends up wanting to arrest the kids more than actually stopping Salem. Like homie. Why. You have a gang of strong ass hunters on your side, don't just throw that away. They could say "acab fuck the police anarchy reigns" and you should still keep them just to fight literal satan on your doorstep. But he fucking drops everything and resources and materials on arresting them. Like why???? And then he just shoots a child just because? And he goes around full fascist mode and his character is just gone at that point. He literally actively wants to kill the people of Mantle now instead of stopping Salem and I don't fucking get it. He could literally plot with salem about how to nuke mantle and I'd be like "shoulda seen it coming". And then when he gets outta jail he kills Jacques... Just cause? Like why? I understand Jacques let Salem's forces in and eventually led to this shit show, but like... Atlas was falling. Just leave. I don't understand. But I guess it's to show how hateful he is towards those who oppose him, so whatever. Idk I'm so done with him. This man is just so boring I just can't wait for him to get killed off so we can be done with him. I'm sure I missed a fuckload of intricacies about Ironwood but I really don't care at all about this schmuck.

Next on the shitlist is the entirety of team rwby. Just to compact it all into one. Ruby has been getting on my nerves SO much. She is so holier than thou and always right. If she had just openly talked with Ironwood about all these secrets and shit, none of this would be happening. Yeah there would be panic, but homie what's the alternative? Fight in secrecy against the police and Salem?

"hey Ruby I noticed that lamp you keep hanging around. What is that?"

"oh uhhhh definitely not a grimm magnet HAHAHAHAH"

Like no shit everyone's gonna be pissed when you lie to them and keep these secrets. Also these plans are dogshit. "We gotta get a message out." To who??? The rest of the world is gonna see some lil kid be like "hey Ironwood's gone crazy and some evil witch bitch is here tryna kill us all." Like who are they gonna believe? A random girl or the fact that ironwood is the head of the largest military state in the world? For all they know it's just some prank and it's totally unbelievable.

Team RWBY sippin team for v8 and doing nothing all volume? Nice. "But they needed to protect Nora." You mean to tell me Ruby, May, Blake, and Weiss all had to be there to protect someone. The Grimm attacked once and that was it. You guys have no medical history. At all. All you did was wrap her up and drink tea during the volume where there's a literal war happening outside. You don't just "wait for help" you ARE THE HELP you're hunters you fucks! Go out and get shit done. Have like one person stay behind just in case shit goes wrong. Preferably Weiss so she can have those meaningful conversations with her family members she never fucking had. But whatever. Ruby and Yang get into... A fight? That lasts for five seconds when they leave and then when they see each other again it just doesn't matter so I'm not sure why the fuck it was brought up at all. It had no impact whatsoever. And there's a ton more I'm sure I'm just burning out at this point. But let's just talk about the big shit. Yang's death. Everyone's saying she'll come back because plot armor but I'm in the "I genuinely think she's dead" group. She turned to Dust as she fell. I mean who knows maybe Deus Ex machina rears it's convenient head. I hate hate hate how that scene was done. That was such an unbelievable death. Weiss, Ruby, and even Blake all have ways of catching her. Easily. Weiss has like fifty ways of catching someone between summons and semblance. Ruby can teleport around the world. And Blake can just shadow clone jutsu her way there but WHATEVER. I guess everyone was too busy being nerfed and sucking ass. Again. And the reactions? Dog shit. Even when she sacrifices herself for Ruby, it's still all about the bees. It's so genuinely annoying. Ruby just whispers her sisters name and that's pretty much it aside from a >:( face here and there. Weiss doesn't even grieve she just comforts Blake who's losing her shit. And I don't know why Weiss doesn't grieve cause SHE WAS HER HOMIE TOO LIKE C'MON RT LET'S SEE SOME UGLY SOBBING DAMN so now everyone's gone feral (except Weiss who just doesn't give a shit about Yang apparently.) And despite Blake saying "yo let's not kill people aite Yang?" She's gonna say fuck that and have it out for Neo and Cinder out of revenge. Alright I guess. That's fair honestly. Challenging ones own morals based on emotions. Good enough. But god I just wished we could see more from Ruby and Weiss during that. Also I'm so sick of the "oh this character fell are they dead are they not?" Thing that rt keeps doing. Just have Neo impale her and go. Easy as that. On screen confirmation. I'm sure team RWBY has a fuckload more to crit but I'm done with this topic.

Winter. Bootlicking to the extreme that she casts aside her own sister and doesn't care if her friends die. Nice. No closure at all after she turns back to being a good guy I guess. I'm done with her. Not a whole lot to say.

The aceops are just so dumb. I'm done with them. Everytime they talk about genocide for the good of atlas I'm just rolling my eyes. Just say you're fascists and move on. And idk why the fuck harriet is gonna bomb an empty mantle. Atlas is already falling on it, you literally have no reason to do this. And this plot point is stupid as hell. Next.

Cinder. I'm not sure why they decided to randomly drop her background story into the mix. Like I don't think anyone gives a shit after all the crap she's done. I'm so sick of rt trying to make her some "uwu woe is me" woobie after doing so much shit and killing so many people. Her uwu crying moments are just stupid. Honestly watts is one of my fav characters just for telling her how crappy she is. Next

Hazel. Homie is dumb as hell. He hates Ozpin because his sister died in a mission. Fair enough. Why the fuck would you ever join Grimm Hitler when Grimm are what killed her in the first place??? Like??? Just hate him on your own time dude, jesus. And he is consistently hypocritical and it's so stupidly funny how bad this character is.

"HOW MANY MORE CHILDREN WILL YOU HURT OZPIN" as he beats the piss outta Nora, Ren, RWBY, Oscar, and probably some random five year old on the street while shouting OZPIIIIN to the skies. It also didn't take a whole lot to convince him how stupid he was thank god. His character was so cool in design and in theory but good god he got executed soooo fucking poorly. Kinda glad he's dead just so we don't have to deal with his stupidity. Next.

Emerald. This bitch. I can't. I LOVE how easily rwby just forgave her. It was so stupidly funny. "oh but yang was ready to fight her at first and snatched her weapons" yeah for five fucking minutes. Then came the part where she helped stabilize Penny and gave a half assed speech about switching sides. Meanwhile everyone's just magically forgiving of her like OH THAT EMERALD AHAHAH like she didn't help orchestrate the fall of Beacon, the death of many, including Penny, and all the terrible shit that's gone down. No resentment from RWBY except for my favorite line delivered this volume. It was Weiss's ever so beautiful "SHUT UP" LOL (I play Smite and I love how her VVGQ Quiet voice line sounds the same. So when I heard this line, I thought of Smite and immediately laughed. Kudos to you Weiss.)

Salem. The hound attacked Penny in the mansion... Why? You already established connection with Watts in jail. Did he not tell her "ay she cool with us." And in turn did she not tell him "ay she cool with us don't hit her"? I guess not? Cause the hound and penny shoulda bounced together the second they met up lmao. Other than that, salem's done nothing this volume except try to be scary and get her ass beat by hazel. She could easily just go out in the field with her grimm and blasts some people or SOMETHING GOD so far our main villain is just so boring and unimposing that literally every other villain, including her subordinates, feel more like threats than her.

Now I'll just talk about scenes.

The scene with ambrosius was COATED IN CONVENIENCE. Apparently Ozpin didn't tell the gang about the WinMore button they could just fucking walk to until now because??? Idk. I LOVE how team rwby just assumed that penny would be okay when they took her robot parts out. Realistically she should just be a floating husk of aura and nothingness. Like she never had organs. I don't understand how she's a real person now? Which, by the way, I'm pretty fucking insulted about how they handled that. Why make Penny human? She was already a real girl and accepted by her loved ones. Like shit, she was a character that a LOT of transgirls, myself included, could relate to on a personal level and we LOVED how Ruby handled it in v2. It was cute! It was sweet! She said she was a real girl back then and it made all of our collective kokoros go doki doki. Fun stuff!

But now? It feels like none of that was validated until she got an actual human body. Like damn I wish I could just get my ideal body within seconds. Shit. I've seen and heard a lot of upset from my fellow tgirls about how doodoo that scene was, because it's implying penny wasn't a real girl until after she got her human body and that's probably how most of the rwby fandom is gonna see it too. "oh wow penny's a real girl now!" And just forget Ruby's cute speech in v2. So annoying. Minor nitpick, if she's got the aura of a black man inside of her (her father), and her robot body is gone, why the fuck isn't she black? Like? Idk minor nitpick I guess. But anyways back to ambrosius scene. I love how rwby had the answers for everything within the hours worth of planning they were given by Ironwood's motive. Totes believable. And yet the "one way ticket to vacuo" thing was the simplest shit they could have avoided lmfao. Like THAT is what you trip up on? Not the portals you're trying to make or the assumption that penny lives without her robot parts? Insane. (side note: how did oscar have a flashback to that scene if he wasn't even there?)

And now everyone's favorite scene. Yangs death. Already covered it early I just wanted to add more on. This scene is insane. Like... If they actually go through with killing her (i don't see how she could have survived turning into dust) then roosterteeth is dumber than I gave them credit for. Like... They have to realize the shitstorm they're gonna receive right? First they kill off clover, an lgbt+ coded character. Next is Yang? A main character who is WIDELY loved by all. Apart of their most pandered ship in existence: bees. (Both the ship and the character make them so much money in merch btw so this was stupid from an objective standpoint.) You can't just kill a main character that is heavily lgbt+ coded in THE most popular ship in the show. Like... How dumb can they be? They're gonna lose so many fans at the very least. Sales? Down. Death threats? Way up. It would be astonishing if they weren't up to their necks in shit in backlash by that decision. Bury Your Gays trope strikes again folks. But this time with everyone's favorite! Like I just... Idk that decision was stupid and that scene hardly was given any real pomp or circumstance it deserved. She's a major title character and that scene lasted like a minute lmao. It's gonna be RWBY without the Y. RWB. As in rt is a bunch of rubes for making that decision. A cynical part of me thinks they did that just because they want an excuse to off Neo, another really loved character. (Well if everyone hates her now we can kill her off cause god knows we don't know what to do with her), but I'm not gonna make this about her. I honestly don't know how to feel about this death tbh. On one hand it's shitty and *points to essay above*. On another it lets Blake be her own character for once. We get to see who she is on our own. And we can finally shift gears from The Bees Show featuring Some Plot to RWBY without the Y. But again that scene was done horribly with doodoo writing already explained up above. They're gonna use this as some edgy excuse to have the heroes start killing again or grieve or whatever bullshit shock value.

(now that I think of it tho, Neo shoulda killed yang in v2. How the fuck did Raven know she was finna die again. Lmao)

Anyways, that's my two cents. I'm sure there's so much more I forgot. Love or hate my ramble idc these are just my thoughts. I'm sure I made doodoo arguments at some points so feel free to call me an idiot and point them out. Imma bounce. My fingers fucking hurt lmfao

#rwde #rwby spoilers

[arcticdementor]

A reader writes:

I’m writing to you today because I have some information to share with you (and your readers) who may still be skeptical that this LGBTQIA+ gender-identity craze is coming for their kids.  Some recent interactions online have made me more aware than ever that the movement is spreading in wild and unpredictable ways, and also made me reflect on how, in my own life, even someone like me could have fallen victim to it.

I want to start off by saying that recently, (and ironically, in an attempt to try not to be sucked into the internet as purely a source for doom and gloom: you will see how this backfires on me) I decided to rejoin a fan community surrounding one of my favorite franchises on Twitter. I won’t go into too much detail about which community and the exact specifics, but just know that it’s a popular franchise that’s appropriate for older kids, teens and adults (nothing 18+, nothing for really little ones).  As a teen myself I was fairly active in a similar branch of this community on another social media platform (Facebook), and enjoyed it immensely before the platform eventually went more or less defunct as a hot-spot for fan content. Most of the content was fan-created work (like fan-art or fan-fiction) with a little interaction and lots of “DID YOU SEE THE LATEST” kinds of posts.

…

Anyway, to keep it to a minimum, that was then. If you’ve been on the internet any time in the last five years you know that spaces where people just talk about an interest and don’t mix it with politics and activism are becoming few and far between. Even though I knew this, and knew that I wasn’t going to have the same experience in a different place, something sparked an interest in me to go try to reconnect with my internet roots in a different setting.  So, I followed some hashtags, quickly found some new followers and settled back to enjoy at least marginally some discussions online that didn’t have to do with Covid and All The Ways We Are All Going To Die.

Then came the teenagers.

Much like when I was a kid, this franchise attracts a lot of younger people.  So it was hardly surprising to me to find that many of my new followers were in the 14-18 age range and that people like myself (mid-older 20s) were a sort of senior majority. That was fine- Twitter’s rules after all are 13+, so it’s not unreasonable to assume if you’re part of a popular group that you’ll interact on occasion with minors. That wasn’t the part I found strange. The part I found strange was that all of them, and I repeat, all of them were fans of two things- the franchise, and gender identities.

You can actually almost pinpoint the age range of the 18 and under crowd by how many of them have the following: 1. Pronouns in bio and in username.  2. Gender identity or lack thereof displayed in bio or username. 3. LGBTQ+ sexual orientation displayed in bio or username. etc. etc. etc. I’m not going to dive into it too much, because some might be saying “isn’t that just normal nowadays? Even politicians do that?” Well, you’re not wrong if that’s what you’re thinking. And that’s not the part that disturbs me.

What disturbed me was that, a few weeks after I joined the group, I started noticing an unsettling pattern among many of these teenage users (and many over-teen users, but I’m trying to make a point about the young ones specifically). For a few days, after an interesting bit of news or a trailer or some other thing that unites franchises, the posts in my feed would be primarily things like what I remembered from past experiences: posts about the franchises, theories, speculations, fanart, etc.  But, every time things would settle back down into a quiet, normal week, the feeds in my post became almost entirely about one thing: Gender and LGBTQ talking points.  I’m going to diverge for one second and say that many people in this group aren’t using a personal, front-facing account for their interactions in this fan-group. They’re mostly using alt-accounts with no real names and faces attached (myself included).  And yet, every time the discussion in the feeds died down to where there was just no new stuff about the franchise to talk about, all the conversation slowly but surely shifted back to sexual orientation and gender.  From fan-ships of perfect LGB couples to ‘hey I drew this person but as a trans-female!’ to even forgoing pretending to talk about their interests and just discussing their own gender and sex presentation with their other online friends, it became quickly very clear to me that A. I no longer really belonged here and B. Every single one of these kids was obsessed. Every. Single. One.

…

I’m going to digress and talk about myself for a minute to explain just why these examples, particularly that last one, burn a hole in my soul.  From the minute I was old enough to remember, I’ve never been one of those typically presenting females. When my sisters and I played dress-up as kids, they played princesses and I played a prince or a witch or whatever was more interesting. In addition to the dolls and barbies I had being one of three girls, I also had an assortment of boy-oriented toys, including action figures, a remote control car and this really cool nerf bow-and-arrow set that I still secretly wish had survived my playing with it because man, my kids are gonna miss out someday. My hair was short because I hated wearing it up and the solution was a bob, and when we spent time with relatives I could be found as far away from my female cousins as possible, hanging out with my male cousins and talking about Legos and Lord of The Rings. I spent 90% of my time reading books and ignoring reality, and didn’t put much effort into my appearance until probably age 13 or later.

And I wished I was a boy.

It wasn’t an all-consuming thought, but I thought it. I wished, many times, when my parents would fuss at me to please stop attempting to climb trees in your Sunday clothes and when my sisters never talked about anything but dolls and tea-parties around their friends that I could be one of the boys. I had always liked the boys and their world better, and I fit into better, and yet there was that little problem (that I was still a girl) that kept me from being accepted into the boy group.  The reality was, I was already probably very intelligent for my age (too-well read children can relate) and I took that big-headedness a little too far at times. I was also a very emotional person (still am) and just passionately felt that being a girl and being expected to do girl things was hideous and unfair.

The saving grace? My mom was the same. She’s never been a typical female either, and though as adults we have some clear differences (ironically, I have more stereotypical female interests/talents than her- like a hidden passion for interior decorating and a love of baking and so on) she was there for me, to be able to tell me that no- I didn’t really want to be a boy, I was just a girl who liked sword fights and grass-stains more than ballgowns and tea parties, and that was okay!!! She was proof that there were other girls like me, and that I would find more of them eventually (I did) and, even though we never said so in so many words, that stereotypes and how we fit into them has nothing to do with our innate female and male selves. And so, reassured that I could be female and still be however I wanted, I eventually grew out of those thoughts, and as I matured, found that there were ‘female things’ I connected with that my past self was too young to appreciate.

But, think about all this in a modern context. I’m a happy adult female now, and I was never truly gender-questioning. I just thought, for a while, that boys had more fun than I did, so I wanted to be one.  But that, in it of itself, is a thought that’s deep enough for modern gender activists to insist I be transitioned immediately and put on life-altering hormones, never given a chance to grow up or grow out of questioning, and affirmed in my presentation instantly! If I, like that young girl online, had been handed a ‘gender-affirming’ flag and an identity that ‘made sense’ out of why I was different from my peers, I might have jumped on it, especially without the presence of a wise older person to tell me I wasn’t anything different than what she’d been as a child. This is the problem, this is why this kind of thing is so dangerous and toxic and wrong.

#the american conservative #letter from a reader #online fan communities

[atamascolily]

Shield of Lies, continued.

What would my mother think of me? he wondered, and it was the first time such a thought had ever confronted him.

Luke, you really suck at introspection, don’t you? Like... NEVER in TEN YEARS have you EVER wondered about your mother? Sigh.

Shortly after the reorganization of the government, Nanaod Engh had given Luke keys to most of the real treasures of the New Republic—the central data libraries maintained by various branches of the General Ministry. Thanks to Admiral Ackbar’s intervention, Luke also carried the highest-grade security clearance held by any civilian.

Between the two, Luke had—potentially—a great deal of information at his fingertips. But the access he had been granted was a courtesy, not a necessity. Luke’s most urgent curiosities were in areas of little interest to bureaucracies, and he had never found reason to make much use of the favors extended him.

But he found himself with reason now.

Speaking of lack of imagination.... SIGH.

Luke returned to the pilot’s couch and curled up sideways in it. “How do people become part of the circle?”

“Curiosity is not sufficient—which I hazard you know. Some are born to it. Some come to it. Is it any different in your discipline?”

“Born with the gift, do you mean, or born to someone who already belongs, to a trained adept?”

“Is the gift not in the blood?”

“Sometimes it seems that way. Sometimes it seems as if the talent goes wild, almost as if the Force chooses its own,” Luke said, turning on his back and propping one foot on the control panel.

“Why, what do you mean?”

“Look at the way the Jedi are coming back,” said Luke. “The Empire hunted us so relentlessly that most everyone who escaped thought they were the only Jedi left. But it isn’t just that a few solitaries who were hiding have resurfaced. I’ve found students with no family history whatsoever, in species that were never represented before in the Order.”

“Some of your number may have been adventurous travelers,” said Akanah. “On Carratos, I heard many jokes about how the Emperor spent his evenings. If a Jedi sleeps alone, surely it must be by choice, as it is with you.”

LOL, Akanah doesn’t know about Callista. Or Gaeriel. Or anything else about Luke’s messed-up love life.

“Are you saying that you expected me to warm a bed with you?” Luke said. “I didn’t think that was our bargain.”

“No,” she said. “I never expected that.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“That Luke Skywalker could have a hundred children by now. A thousand.”

“That’s crazy.”

“No—that’s the simple truth. There are different rules for heroes and royalty, and you’re seen as a little of both. You can’t be unaware of that.”

Luke frowned and looked away. “I don’t know how to be a father to one child, much less a thousand.”

“You wouldn’t need to know,” she said. “Their mothers wouldn’t expect it. They would be grateful enough for the gift.”

“I’d expect it of me,” he said, and firmly steered the conversation back on course. “We were talking about my being an honorary member of the circle—”

Again, I’m surprised by Luke’s lack of imagination--and offers--given how people at the spaceport viewed him. Did none of them really think, “I would totally bang this dude?” WHY IS HE SO SURPRISED?

Also Luke, just say “fuck,” it’s okay, I promise.

“We were talking about my being an honorary member of the circle—”

“Not honorary,” she corrected. “Novice.”

“Novice, then. But there’s an exception in your oath for people like me?”

“Every adept has the right to judge and the duty to teach,” she said. “I’ve made my judgment.”

“And the rest?” Luke asked. “We’ve had many hours together—why haven’t you started to teach me?”

“But I have,” she said. “I’ve asked you to think about what you know and believe. To go beyond that, the novice must ask for the door to be opened. But you aren’t ready to think of yourself as a student again—not yet. You run too well and easily to go back to crawling.”

#accurate. Luke spends most of this book so convinced he knows everything and yet he can’t figure out why he’s so stuck in a rut.

“No,” Luke said, shaking his head. “To be a Jedi is to be a seeker. A Jedi is always learning. It’s only on the dark side that one becomes obsessed with knowing, and impressed with doing.”

“There’s a touch of the dark side,” Akanah said slowly, “in the way you cling to the privilege of killing, and resist the teaching I’ve offered you. A hint of a mind that has settled on answers and resents being challenged with new questions.”

Luke toyed with the lacing on his longshirt as he considered her words. “You may be right,” he said finally. “I found the Force at a time when what I needed was power. I wanted a weapon to protect my friends, not enlightenment. I was thinking of war against the Empire, not peace with the universe. Perhaps something of that lingers in how I see myself. I’ll think on it.”

“Good,” she said. “Your words give me hope. And hope is the beginning of everything worthwhile.”

I have no idea how the chronology lines up with the other plots and honestly it’s hard to care. This is the most interesting part of the book to me, and I’m STILL reeling at how late in the game this is.

He then took advantage of the open space inside the bay to work his first complete set of Jedi training drills since leaving Coruscant. Working both with and without his lightsaber, he patiently went through the complex exercises which brought him to a profound state of restful clarity.

It was in this state that he felt most keenly the truth and the wisdom of the simple words: There is no emotion; there is peace. There is no ignorance; there is knowledge. There is no passion; there is serenity. There is no death; there is the Force. The peace, the knowledge, and the serenity were gifts that came with his surrender to the Force and with his connection through the Force to all that was.

Sustaining that clarity was always the challenge. In the isolation of a Dagobah, the Jundland Wastes, or a hermitage on a frozen shore, an experienced Jedi could preserve that inner state indefinitely.

But the chaos of the real world was another matter. When ego returned, so did will. The surrender became tainted, the connection flawed. The clarity gradually slipped away under the continuous assault of elementary drives and passions. Even the greatest of the masters needed to perform the practice regularly lest they lose the discipline that made them what they were.

GAH. WHY IS IT ALWAYS DUALITY WITH YOU, KUBE-MCDOWELL? WHAT ABOUT  A MIDDLE WAY BETWEEN THE “TAINTED WORLD” AND “PURITY OF ISOLATION”. What about “entering the market-place with gift-bestowing hands”? And nothing ever stays the same “indefinitely”!!!!!

The drills were as much a test for the body as for the mind, and the docking bay’s newly sanitized shower brought a blissful peace to muscles that were telling Luke they had not been properly exercised in too long. He stood for a long time in the place where the six needle jets converged, letting the water flowing down his body become another meditation.

Yeah, maybe you should have thought of that in your hermitage-quarantine-sulk thing??

I’d forgotten about the bookstore full of Jedi forgeries!!! 

The offerings included Emperor Palpatine’s Principles of Power, a private publication for Imperial Moffs; the Sith book of offerings and rituals; the H’kig book of laws; and the secrets of forming Bilar-type claqa group-minds, among others—with a special discount if Luke took any three or more. Most of the documents were undoubtedly frauds, and none tempted Luke beyond idle curiosity over the skillfulness of the fraud.

And the Jabba’s palace re-creation OH MY GOODNESS:

But making his way to the outgate, Luke turned a corner and was taken aback by the brilliantly lit exterior of a club bar called Jabba’s Throne Room. Performing Nightly—The Original Max Rebo Band, said the scroll. Visit Jabba’s Guest Quarters with a Pleasure Slave. Face the Mighty Rancor in the Pit of Death—

Driven by an outraged curiosity, Luke joined the line and paid the membership charge without haggling. Inside, he descended a curving flight of stairs into a remarkably faithful copy of the throne room in Jabba’s desert palace on Tatooine. Some of the dimensions had been stretched to accommodate more tables in front of the bandstand and around the rancor pit, but the architecture and atmosphere were authentic.

“Why, it’s just like the Palace Museum,” [he] said to the tall and elegantly dressed Twi’lek barring the way at the bottom of the stairs.

“I’m afraid my master Jabba is away on business,” said the Bib Fortuna look-alike, nodding toward the empty dais. “But I’m having a little party in his absence, and I hope you’ll enjoy yourself.” His head-tails stirred in signal, and one of the scantily clad dancing girls hurried to him.

“Yes, Lord Fortuna,” the server said.

“Oola, this is a friend of mine,” said the major-domo. “Treat him well. Find him a seat at my best table.”

The same fiction was carried through everywhere else—an Ortolan keyboardist leading a jizz-wailer trio on the bandstand, the roaring of the rancor underfoot, an annoying Kowakian monkey-lizard skittering around the room stealing food and cackling rudely, even a carbon-frozen Han Solo hanging in the display alcove. But a busy kitchen was concealed down the corridor to the servant’s quarters, and the price card “Oola” left for him included various services available upstairs in the guest quarters and downstairs in Jabba’s dungeon.

It was tasteless and exploitative, but the music was surprisingly agreeable, the roast nerf was tantalizing, and the clientele was markedly more subdued than their counterparts out on the walks. [He] ordered a drink and the executioner’s cut of nerf, refused all other offers with a polite smile, and settled in to discover the truth quotient of The Secrets of the Jedi.

Shortly after his meal arrived, Luke’s consciousness was pricked by hearing a familiar name spoken at a nearby table: Leia’s. He looked up, fearing that the evening’s entertainment at Jabba’s Throne Room would be a dance by a slave-girl-Leia look-alike. But the band was on a break and the transparisteel dance platform over the rancor pit deserted.

I’m honestly surprised this isn’t at Galaxy’s Edge, tbh.

Shortly after, a holographic Jabba made an appearance on the dais above the main floor. That signaled the start of an elaborately scripted show that promised to involve not only “Bib Fortuna” and the dancers, but additional actors and the audience as well.

Luke took that as his cue to leave. His decision was affirmed when, climbing up the curving stairs to the street, he encountered the bounty hunter Boushh coming down them with an unconvincing Chewbacca in tow.

“Aren’t you a little short for a Wookiee?” he muttered under his breath as they passed.

LOL. Anyway, here’s some stuff on archives searches in the GFFA:

From Carratos he requested any information available from newsgrid, political, or police records on Akanah Norand Pell, Andras Pell, and Talsava. He sent the same query to Coruscant’s criminal records office and citizen registry and to the home offices of both the Coruscant Global Newsgrid and the New Republic Prime Newsgrid.

From the New Republic Reference Service, he requested a quickreport on naming conventions on Lucazec and Carratos, thinking he might parse another lead from the names in hand.

A second request to the same source asked for five-hundred-word excerpts from all matches on the key words “Fallanassi” and “White Current.” After a short debate with himself, and despite the pathetic and sensational inaccuracies of Secrets of the Jedi, Luke also contacted an information broker on Atzerri and paid a hundred credits for a search on the same keys.

He also requested a Current Terms & Conditions brochure from the chief librarian’s office on Obroa-skai. The library computers there were the only resource offering both a greater variety and a greater volume of records than those held by Coruscant.

But Obroa-skai’s generosity with its planetary treasure was limited. To protect against theft of the library, and to provide the resources needed to maintain it, accessing the records meant either going to Obroa-skai or hiring one of the library’s own trained contract researchers.

In either case, Obroa-skai was not a resource one turned to for quick answers. The official language of New Republic recordkeeping was Basic, and everything held by Coruscant was kept in one of several readily searchable data specifications. But the Obroa-skai library was a collection of primary documents, in ten thousand storage formats and uncountable languages. The most complete general index covered only fifteen percent of the library’s holdings, and all the specialty indexes combined added only a few percent to that.

Those were the principal reasons why the brochure—which Luke received within minutes of requesting it, as the first response to any of his inquiries—reported that a normal single-part library search was averaging eight days. The waiting list for terminal time was holding at fifteen days, and the backlog for contract researchers had climbed to seventy.

LOL. I should definitely use that in a fic at some point.

#star wars #eu fuckery #the black fleet crisis

[crystalelemental]

With Book 4 in FEH out of the way, I guess it’s time to talk about the stories so far.  Book 2 is still the best, in my opinion.

I don’t think I’ve really talked about this, so let me explain.  Book 1 sucks.  It’s nothing, it doesn’t even try.  The only hint of events occurring is that Veronica’s possessed by some evil dragon god of Embla, but that never got resolved in any way, and has really never been brought up again.  We’re so far outside of that plotline that Veronica’s basically a dedicated ally now.  Nothing about that book had a plan.

Book 2 had a plan, and a structure, and it worked.  It wasn’t flashy or interesting, and I can respect anyone whose stance is that Book 3 or 4 had a more interesting concept.  I personally liked the cast overall for Book 2, even though some got limited screen time and Surtr’s about as boring a villain as you can have.  But Book 2 wins because Books 3 and 4 flopped.

Book 3 flopped because they backed out.  The idea of the realm of the dead is cool, and facing off against the god of death is cool.  But the god of death is about as stock standard evil as you can get, with no actual plan beyond “swell the ranks of the dead.”  Why massacre these worlds?  Why does she need to kill Eir a million times to create more of the dead, shouldn’t you have plenty?  Like it doesn’t add up.  And Eir starting out as the concept of Merciful Death was amazing, that was the best setup possible.  And then it turns out no, she’s not even associated with death, she’s with the life dragon in opposition, none of that was real.  Oh okay. Way to undermine your entire theme for nothing I guess.  Also I hate to be like this, but I actually dislike the Veronica and Alfonse as Thrasir and Lif thing.  I thought it was substantially more interesting when they were presented as the ancient rulers of their kingdoms.  But then no, it’s just Veronica and Alfonse, and while Thrasir continues to get nothing except being omnicidal for funsies, Lif gets all the heavy drama and dialogue and focus, because god forbid this story stop riding Alfonse’s dick for five seconds.  Book 3 had interesting concepts that just didn’t pan out, and the characters all wound up being less interesting than they initially started out.  Also, let’s be real.  For a fucking DEATH GOD, they sure had no problem working around her ability to inflict absolute death in the most standard way possible.  Which kind of immediately nerfed Hel’s threat level for me, not gonna lie.

Book 4 started out interesting, immediately tanked harder than I’ve seen anything in this game tank, had a redemption arc, and then decided it had enough of success and ended in a pathetic squelching fart noise.  Fairies and dreams?  Awesome.  Aesthetic approved.  But it takes them like two chapters to introduce Plumeria as the fucking wet dreams fairy, and immediately all sense of this being serious is dead.  They even had the audacity to outright explain that no no, she may be the lewd fairy, but she doesn’t actually like that job!

Listen guys.  I get it.  You know the sexy outfits and character designs sell, but you also know that people are insane, and they somehow expect the slutty fairy to present this concept of being exclusively available to them so you can sell that fap bait.  I really get it.  But oh my god you could not have handled this any worse, because now that just feels like rape fetish.  “No no, her job is to be a prostitute, but she’s not a slut because she hates it!” is not the save you think it is, friend.  You’d have been better off either giving her a sadistic streak with this and enjoying toying with people who can never truly have her, or just making her slutty.  That would’ve been so much less uncomfortable.

So until the halfway point, we’re kinda just dealing with the fact this incredibly uncomfortable character just exists around here.  And then Freyja drops.  And initially it’s like oh, I just appreciate there’s an evil fairy whose costume design isn’t a fucking disaster, she actually looks good.  And then they have her motivation being assuming complete control over dreams by taking her brother’s power, and ensuring that the dream world can’t die like it almost had.  And they introduce this really cool concept of her taking in abandoned children and giving them a new life as the fairies, and...well...

Plumeria.  Again.  Okay, so it wasn’t quite enough that we had a fairy who’s apparently forced into being the wet dreams fairy despite hating it, now she’s also a child who was abandoned by her mother and is desperately seeking to be loved.  This is...this is next level of discomfort.  Plumeria’s character bothers me.  Like sure, fine, I get that this isn’t a badly developed character or anything, but it’s never really addressed how absolutely fucked up this is, and it’s especially disquieting considering this is IS’ sexy character for the book.  This is their sex appeal pandering character, and this is the direction they wanted to go.  Just...ew.  Come on, guys.  Have at least a bit of class, will you?

But the rest of the book at least continues to amp things up.  Are Peony and Sharena actually swapped around?  Freyr is dead, and Freyja is now literally unstoppable within the dream.  Oh shit, Alfonse is fucking dead.  There’s all this cool stuff happening, and then the final chapter happens.

Are Peony and Sharena actually swapped around?  Who cares!  Game’s not gonna tell you, because “it doesn’t matter.”  Well good, glad that was a huge mystery that didn’t need solving so nobody bothered.  Why even bring it up?  The message of “It doesn’t matter” only works if there’s a crisis of identity and you’re getting the support of your long-time friends.  Instead it’s just a mystery thrown in for nothing with no value, and the “it doesn’t matter, you’re my friend” comes from someone Sharena has no actual memories of and has only been around for like...a couple of hours or however long these events take place.  It’s a completely meanningless subplot that goes nowhere and does nothing.

Freyja went from the villain tormenting the protagonists to suddenly having empathy toward everyone at the drop of a hat.  They set up the frustration of not understanding why we’d fight so hard to return to reality when dreams are more comforting, but that doesn’t really establish much about Freyja herself.  We get exactly one moment, where she calls for Triandra and Plumeria only to realize they’ve died, and feels sad about it.  So when she gives up and everyone returns to reality, everyone’s back.  Triandra and Plumeria are fine.  Peony and presumably Mirabilis are fine.  Alfonse isn’t actually dead so what was the point of bringing it up?  Oh, but Freyja’s dead.  How?  Don’t...don’t worry about it.  She just is, okay?  Also if both masters of dream are dead, and the dream world was already dying before...how are the fairies still there?  Wasn’t the point that all the old ones were dying because people from the real world (don’t even get me started on that bullshit) gave up on dreaming, and thus they needed to make humans into fairies to keep the dream world going?  How are you all here as fairies?  Explain??  Game?!?

And then they just...loop back to the start.  Like nothing happened.  Because nothing did happen.  For all the interesting setup, all the interesting concept behind the new characters, and especially behind Freyja as an antagonist...it goes nowhere.  The ultimate defining feature of this book was “Pointlessness.”  Nothing mattered.  No one did or accomplished anything.  Except I guess killing the god of another realm, good job guys.  I just...I don’t get it.  What was the point of any of this?  Maybe Book 5 is going to focus on Triandra and Plumeria wanting to join up and have you help get Freyja back, so there’s continuity, I don’t fucking know.

I honestly don’t know where I’d rank Book 4.  I want to put it above Book 3 based on concepts and the fact that Freyja was actually interesting, just rushed to her development in the last book so it felt forced.  But on the flip side, Book 4 was incredibly pointless.  At least stuff happened in Book 3.  Sure it undermined its entire theme and purpose, but stuff happened!  You can’t say stuff didn’t happen!  But I can definitely say that Book 2 is the only one I think turned out well.  Because it was self-contained and made sense.  Yes it was simple, but using simple tools to tell an effective story will always be better than trying to reach for complexity and falling flat on your ass.  And yes, IS, I’m telling you maybe you should stop trying.  Between two consecutive failed books and some of the Forging Bonds events of the last year just...completely doing nothing or even hurting the characters presented...maybe just...don’t try to be complicated.  Because you’re not doing a good job.

#fire emblem heroes

[winchesterbrotherstan]

Agents of Shield- 0-8-4

Pairing: Leo Fitz x Violet Ward (OC)

Summary: The gang finds a strange object in a South American cave, Grant and Violet mentally vibe, Violet gets shot, the side of the plane blows up!

Warnings: cursing, shoot-out, angry rebels, gunshot wound

Word Count:  11297 (she sorta long eek)

“S.H.I.E.L.D. 6-1-6, you have course confirmation. You are cleared direct to the Slingshot.” An agent’s voice came over the speakers. “Agent Coulson, everything all right up there? We heard you had a little dustup on the ground.”

“Yeah, we’re all good. It’s gonna be blue skies from here on out.” He replied shortly.

Then the side of the plane blew open, and wind rushed in, sucking things out and leaving Coulson clinging to the pole and struggling to hang on.

                                              19 HOURS EARLIER

I helped Skye take her last bag out of her van before she hopped out, dressed in a cute red dress with leather boots. I pulled the sleeves of Fitz’s green sweater down to my fingers as I lifted a bag for her and she took out a box.

“Hey!” She called to the agent who came to take her van. “No joy rides, okay? That’s my house.” She mumbled the last part.

“No worries.” He laughed and placed a gadget on it to turn the engine on.

She scoffed. “Where do they think of this stuff?” She smiled at me.

We walked up the ramp as it closed behind us. Jemma gave her a cheery welcome as we passed the lab. Fitz was hyperfocused on what seemed to be the dendrotoxin in the night-night gun. 

“Agent Coulson told us the news!” Jemma came with a smile. “What a wonderful surprise!”

Fitz followed her, hands fisted on his hips. He eyed me in his sweater, and his eyebrows shot up before he became stoic again as Jemma spoke.

“Isn’t it, Fitz?”

“Yes, what a surprise.” He nodded with a false smile, obviously disgruntled.

“No, it’s wonderful, you must be very excited!” Jemma cut him off.

“Yep, first day of school.”

“Alright, Jem, you can be best friends later. Come on, Skye.” I grinned at Jemma.

We walked up to the main floor, where I showed her the extra room.

“Do you guys just plan on having consults?” She asked, placing the box down on her bed with a laugh.

“No, I don’t think so. This was supposed to be my bedroom.” I placed the bag down on the bed.

“What happened, you bunk with big brother now?” She quirked an eyebrow playfully.

I tilted my head. “Agent Coulson tell you?”

“No. He mentioned it when he was under that truth serum. Is that real by the way? Because he said some real weird stuff. It was kinda freaky.”

“Uh, no. Truth serum isn’t real.” I squinted. “What kinda stuff?”

“Called your grandmother Gramzy.” She chuckled.

“Oh. Yeah, he’s good at lying.” I sighed.

She noticed the tension that came with the mention of Grant’s behavior and what he said.

“So. If you’re not sleeping here, and you’re not with your brother, where?” She sat on the bed and patted it.

I took the spot next to her. “Fitz and I share a bedroom. Coulson told us to take the bigger one, because we apparently ‘live stuck to each other’s hips anyways’.” I put quotes around that, rolling my eyes. “That, and he said he’ll probably spend most nights in his office anyways.” I smiled.

“You share a bedroom? Scandalous!” She giggled.

I chuckled. This was typical. Coulson had told me to gain her trust, get in her head. She was about my age, and I could probably read her fairly easily.

“We’ve been together for a few years now. We met at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. He’s the best.” I grinned.

Yes, I was playing a role, but anything I said about Fitz was bound to be genuine. I loved him with all my heart, and there was no easy way to lie about that.

“Cute, cute. How long exactly?”

“Uh well we met when we were like fifteen and sixteen, and we started dating when he turned eighteen, so like eight years.” I smiled.

“Aw! So, what does big brother think? About you dating the nerdy tech guy?” She wrinkled her nose, obviously joking.

“It’s uh… complicated. But I don’t really care what he thinks.” I shrugged, picking up the lag and closing the awkward gap. “Fitz is great, and I love him.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet!”

I smiled, blushing. “Alright, come on. I’ll show you around.”

“So what exactly is this place?” She asked, following me through the halls.

“Officially, it’s an airborne mobile command station but we call it the Bus.” I saw Fitz-Simmons coming up the steps, joining us.

Fitz caught my hand in his immediately, falling into step with me. “Yeah, we find it best to use shorthand when in the field. But everything has to be just so, you know, because of the danger.” He seemed intent on scaring her.

I squeezed his hand and pulled on his arm, shooting him a look. He got the message that he was going to ruin Coulson’s plan and shut up, pouting like a child.

“Yeah, I’ve been up here before, but I didn’t see much because of the bag that Agent Ward put over my head.”

“Yes, so sorry about that.” Jemma smiled apologetically.

Skye turned to me, stopping in her tracks. “How do you handle that, by the way? Since there’s two of you?”

“Oh, everyone just calls me Violet.”

“Oh, that’s such a pretty name!” She took the water bottle Jemma offered.

Before I could reply, May came over the comms. “Wheels up in two. Lock it or lose it.”

“What’s that mean?” Skye looked at me with wide eyes.

“No backing out now.” Fitz smirked.

I glared at him very obviously before turning back to Skye with a reassuring smile. “Just means we should pack up your stuff before taking off so it doesn’t go everywhere. Come on.”

She started back toward her bunk and Fitz pulled me back by the arm.

“What is it? Why do you keep trying to scare her off?” I hissed in a hushed voice.

“I just don’t like new people is all. You know this. Come to our bunk once you’re done helping Skye, yeah?”

I rolled my eyes with a sigh. “Fine.”

He broke into a grin and leaned in to kiss my cheek before walking off. I rolled my eyes again, this time smiling. I went back to Skye, only to see Grant rapidly approaching her door. I cleared my throat and basically took a hop toward her door, leaning against the doorframe. Grant glared at me and knocked on her open door.

“Hey, I just shoved my bags into the drawers. I’ll unpack later.” She smiled at me and then turned to my brother, “Hey! I know we didn’t really-”

“You might wanna read that. This isn’t like other planes.” He shoved a paper in her hands and stalked off.

“Sorry about him. He’s got, uh, social issues.” I offered an apology.

“You could say that again.” She unfolded the paper, and I could now see that it was the layout and emergency exits for the Bus.

“Say what again?” Coulson approached now.

“Sweet ride.” Skye grinned at him.

“I earned a little goodwill from Director Fury when I got hit right before the Battle of New York.” He was referring to the Chitauri invasion that took place a year back, led by Loki Laufeyson and stopped by the Avengers.

“You took a bullet?” She asked, tossing the pamphlet aside.

“Ish.” Coulson said, and I turned tail and left.

I hated to hear his recounting of how Loki had stabbed him through the heart. Coulson believed that he had surgery and then was given a vacation in Tahiti. Only a few agents knew what had really happened, and we all had to pretend we didn’t. I passed Grant, perched on one of the bar stools.

“Violet.” He caught my attention.

I froze, plastered a smile on my face, and turned on my heel. “What’s up, Grant?”

“Come here for a minute.” He made a grabby hand.

I squared my shoulders as I padded over to sit next to him. He took a sip of his water before turning to me, eyes squinted.

“Why’s he bringing Skye?”

“She’s a fresh pair of eyes.” I spat out.

“Why’s he trusting her?” He fired.

“He’s got a plan.”

“What sort of plan?”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss that with you, Grant.” I smiled.

He paused, raising an eyebrow. This was an interrogation, and we both knew it. His face read a mixture of frustration and pride.

Give me the answers I want.

It was like I could hear him in my head.

Give up, Grant. I narrowed my eyes.

He wanted answers, but he was also glad to see I wasn’t easy to give them up. He switched subjects.

“You and Fitz. What is that? Friends with benefits? Are you guys secretly married, or—”

“He’s my boyfriend.”

“How old is he?” A silent he looks twelve followed, and I felt a small sense of relief at being able to read his facial expressions.

“Twenty six.”

“Is he good to you?” It didn’t seem to be coming from genuine brotherly concern, but some ulterior motive.

“Always.”

“How long have you been a thing?” His head tilted.

“Eight years.” I didn’t have to do the math again.

“Has he ever hurt you?”

“If you count shooting me in the forehead with a NERF gun, then sure.”

I got an eye roll. “How about emotionally?”

“Not on purpose.”

“Where’d you meet him?”

“The academy.”

“Have you guys ever done anything physical?”

I leaned in with a scowl. “None of your business, dad.”

A pause.

“Why are you with him?”

“How many reasons do you want?” I tilted my head.

“First one that comes to mind.”

“He’s cute.”

“Wow, anything less shallow?” He recoiled.

“He’s smart. Funny, makes me laugh, makes sure I’m okay, takes care of me, doesn’t make me feel stupid-”

“Okay, I got the message.” He put his hands up, but I had already set up the kill.

“Oh, and he’s always there for me. Real supportive too.” I sat up straight.

I watched his face change as he gulped and looked down. That was a hit that had hurt, and it was intentional.

Jesus, Vi. You didn’t have to go there.

I didn’t expect Grant to tell me everything. I didn’t expect a written biography or complete transparency. But I had expected him not to lie to my face and act like I wouldn’t figure out. I had expected for him to support my choices, even ones as simple as I like Fitz and I’m dating him.

I met his glance with arched eyebrows.

I wanted to.

“Any more questions?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Great! I’ll see you in a bit.” I walked past him with a slap to the shoulder, my confident facade falling once I was in the safety of my room with the door shut.

“Darling? You alright?” He was sitting in the arm chair, already buckled up for the take off.

I felt tears cloud my vision as I swallowed hard.

“Come here.” He began to unbuckle himself, but I looked up and shook my head.

The plane lights flickered and there was a beep. I rushed to Fitz, falling into his lap as he wrapped his arms around me, a hand in my hair and the other around my legs, holding me against him. The take off only lasted a few minutes, and by then I had cried myself to calmness. Fitz’s white shirt now had tear stains on it, and the collar of his green flannel was a tad wet, but he didn’t care.

“Talk to me, Vi.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and cradled me in his arms as he laid me down on the bed and sat next to me, kicking his shoes off.

I only climbed back into his lap with my head against his shoulder and he leaned against the wall, sighing. I wasn’t crying anymore, but I didn’t know how to say what I wanted to. He pulled his arms around me, pressing kisses to my forehead.

“He’s different. He’s so different.” I finally croaked.

“What happened?” He angled his head down to look me in the eyes.

I shifted, sitting up to face him.

“He was asking all these questions about Skye, an-and then about you and I just- I… He got so … pissy? God no, that’s not the word. I don’t even think there is a word. He just got so-”

“Attackative?” He offered with a gentle smile.

“That is not a word.” I shook my head.

“No, it’s not. But it’s the word you need.” He shrugged. “What was he asking, darlin’?” He brushed my hair behind my ear.

I sighed. “Why Coulson was bringing Skye along, why we were trusting her.” I shook my head before meeting his gentle gaze.

“You don’t have to tell me the rest if you don’t want. I know it’s all delicate.” His eyebrows were furrowed.

I shook my head again. “He started to grill me.” I rolled my eyes. “About you. About us. But it wasn’t normal. It wasn’t ‘I’m your brother therefore I’m concerned about who you’re dating’, it-it was more of a ‘I wanna know all about your relationship so I can pick it apart’ interrogation type thing.”

Fitz sighed, “Darling, I’m sure he’s just trying to get to know you better. Maybe he’s out of practice. You know how field agents are. Especially specialists.”

“No, Leo. He’s wrong. He’s not who he used to be.” I sighed.

Fitz cupped my cheek. “Who was he before?”

I felt my heart crumble. “He was my brother before, Leo. He was just my brother, and now he’s some stupid heartless solider.”

                                                          ***

The brakes screeched as May slammed them. We had to fit six people in an SUV with five seats, which naturally ended with me sitting in Fitz’s lap. He opened the door and let me hop out before following suit, everyone but May piling out.

“Tire tracks forty meters back. I’ll check them against the site’s trucks, make sure we’re alone.” Grant spoke.

“Too much exposure here. I’m gonna find a place to park.” May looked around.

Fitz-Simmons unloaded their gear, and May pulled off. We looked around as animals chittered in the trees. Fitz pulled me from Grant’s side, holding my hand tightly. Jemma offered me a smile. Fitz must’ve mentioned Grant’s approach.

“I would love to see a capuchin in the wild. Maybe even a yellow-tailed woolly monkey. You know, um, Peru has thirty-two different species of monkey.” He spewed excitedly.

I loved to watch him geek out over technological things, but him geeking about monkeys was a whole new level. I personally didn’t like monkeys, because I was scared of them at a young age at zoos, but Fitz knew so much that it warmed my heart.

“Yeah, and over two hundred species of snakes! The shushupe has a fascinating ven-” She was forced to back up as Fitz pulled his suitcase from the rack attached to a van he bumped into. “Venom. It’s neurotoxic, proteolytic, and hemolytic!”

“Oh, that’s fascinating.” Fitz forced out, now nervous.

“Oh! No, I’d be much more worried about earthquakes, malaria-”

I cut her off with a hand to the back of Fitz’s neck to kill a pestering mosquito. She turned to us with a smile.

“Ah, there’s no vaccine for dengue fever.” She turned and gasped at the sight of the Peruvian ruins in front of us.

“Look at that.” I mumbled.

Before I had gotten into psychology, and eventually S.H.I.E.L.D., I had planned on becoming an archaeologist. My mother and father had bullied me out of it, but my love for it still held strong. Fitz-Simmons knew this, and watched with laughing smiles as I stared in awe.

“Come on, let’s get a picture!” Jemma pulled us onto the first step.

“No, no, guys-” I tried to get out of it, but Jemma posed on one side of me and Fitz trapped me on the other, grabbing my face and leaning down to press a kiss to my cheek as Jemma snapped a picture. I was smiling widely, but I couldn’t help it. I loved them both, and they knew it. Skye caught my eye from behind Coulson and grinned wide.

“Good morning, professor.” Coulson spoke to the archaeologist that came out of the ruins. “I’m Agent Coulson, with S.H.I.E.L.D.. I understand you’ve made an interesting discovery.”

The man sighed. “I-I’m not sure how to explain it. This temple dates back at least 500 years. It’s filled with pre-Incan artifacts. One of them is … impossible.” He gestured. “And looks like it might be dangerous.”

“Well, that’s why we’re here.” Coulson nodded with a smile as the man led us down.

It was just a stone opening with steps down to the temple floor, but I couldn’t stop staring, eyes darting from one spot to the next. I scanned the walls, fascinated by the engravings and pictures, ignoring the large cobwebs and imagining what this place was like in its prime.

“It’s there. Exactly as we found it.” He pointed at a silver and blue contraption stuck in the wall.

It reminded me vaguely of the tesseract.

“Who else knows about this?” Coulson rushed to it, eyes wide.

“Just the ministry. I believe they are the ones who contacted you.” The man explained.

Coulson asked the man to evacuate the site as Fitz-Simmons set up their equipment and drones. Skye and I stood in the middle of the room, staring at the walls.

“Leave the man alone.” Jemma scolded one of the drones that stood at the man’s face, smiling politely.

“Now. For your own safety.” Coulson ushered him away.

“There’s nothing about this anywhere. It’s amazing, I’ve searched every data stream. What have we got here, guys?” Skye got closer, putting a finger up to it.

“Whoa, car- uh, careful. I-I- no, wouldn’t do that.” Fitz stumbled over his words of warning.

Skye took his advice and took a step back.

“The object’s placement in fossiliferous rock formations suggests it’s been here for at least 1,500 years!” Jemma exclaimed.

For once, I understood what she was saying. “That predates this temple by a thousand years.” I furrowed my eyebrows.

“Ah! Maybe it’s alien!”

“Yeah, but the shape and the craftsmanship- it’s almost German.” Fitz looked up from his tablet.

“Sir?” Coulson’s radio crackled to life; it was Grant.

“Go.”

“We have a situation.” He grunted.

“Lots of rebels in this area.” Skye noted.

“Not enough gunfire.” I shook my head.

“Keep working. Violet, stay here, be vigilant.” He spoke into the radio. “I’m on my way.” He walked out and Fitz-Simmons picked up their pace.

“Why’d he make you stay here?” Skye asked me.

I pulled out my handgun and checked the safety. “‘Cause I’m the only one out of us four cleared for combat.”

“Are you seeing this? It’s alive.” Fitz spoke up.

“I’m sorry, did he just say that it’s alive?” Skye looked at me.

I shrugged. “Alien tech is weird.”

“It has a functioning power source.” Fitz explained.

“Sleepy’s reading radionuclides, but they don’t match any known isotope.” Jemma shook her head.

“I get temporal matches, but even then, they seem to shift. Is that even possible?” Fitz pulled his eyebrows together.

“Depends on the shifting of the temporal radio stuff, so…” Skye tried.

Fitz-Simmons only stared.

“It’s totally weird, right?” Skye gave a nervous laugh. “I’m gonna go check on Coulson.” She tried to slink past me.

“No, you’re not.” I caught her wrist.

“We’ve got company.” Grant popped through the opening, his radio in hand. “National police.”

“What?” Fitz-Simmons exclaimed.

“Why are they here?” I looked at him.

“They heard about this object, they’re probably here to protect it. This area has a lot of rebel uprisings.” Grant put his radio away.

“Yeah, people are fighting back against the government’s mining policies. It’s pretty kick-ass.” Skye scoffed.

 “Yeah, it’s kick-ass, all the violence.” Grant rolled his eyes.

“That’s not what I’m saying.” Skye argued.

“No, it’s what you’re typing. In your van, alone- where it’s safe.” Grant was taking a personal hit.

“Grant.” I warned.

“How much longer?” He turned to Fitz-Simmons.

“What’s the hurry?” Jemma groaned.

“Are we in danger?” Fitz looked straight up at me. 

“Not if everyone does their job.” Grant pulled his sidearm. “What is yours, exactly?” He looked to Skye.

There was a faint explosion from outside, and then gunfire. Grant perked up, gun still in hand. I grabbed Skye and pulled her between me and the wall, guarding her from the opening. The temple rumbled, and dust fell onto us.

“Sounds like they’re engaging with the rebels.” Grant shot me a look.

“Time to go.” I looked at Fitz-Simmons and they immediately called the drones back to pack them up.

“They’re coming for it, let’s move!” Grant shouted.

Skye went to help them pack, but Jemma ushered her away as politely as she could. “We need a containment case for the 0-8-4!” Jemma shouted.

“There’s no time.” Grant grunted.

“But it has a fluctuating power core, frequencies way above 10 exahertz!” Fitz yelled.

Grant and I looked at each other. He shrugged.

“Jacket.” I held my hand out and he rolled his eyes.

You’re not serious.

I jerked my hand out again.

Give me the jacket, dumbass.

He sighed before pulling it off and shoving it into my grip. I ran to the object, using his leather jacket like a glove and gripping it. I gave it a tug, but to no avail.

“Violet-”

“Shut up, Grant!” I placed my foot up on the wall and tugged again, this time with my body weight.

It came out with a crackle of the wall and more dust as the temple rumbled again.

“Violet!” Fitz shouted, and Jemma said something else, but I didn’t hear her.

“Let’s go!” Grant shouted, taking the object and shoving it into a duffle bag.

“I’ll lead, you pick up the rear!” He shouted, pulling the strap over his shoulders and putting his gun back up.

“You did not just pull that out of the wall! What is wrong with you? Do you two realize we do not know the amount of photon emissions coming out of this-”

I put my hand on Fitz’s chest and pushed, raising my eyebrows.

“Okay.” He put his hands up and filed behind Jemma and Skye, who was close behind Grant. “We just don’t know what’ll happen if it gets excited!”

“Stay close.” Grant ignored him.

They ran out, and Fitz hit his knee on the way out, letting out a groan. I bit back a smile at his clumsiness, urging him forward with my gun ready. The sunlight was blinding, and the gunfire was loud. Grant began to fire, but they returned it faster than the two of us could go.

“Get back!” I shouted, yanking Fitz by the bag, pushing Jemma and Skye back into the temple opening with him.

Grant was on one knee, shooting. I ducked behind him, his body covering most of my torso as I swept my gun over his head and fired.

“Cover me!” He shouted and stopped firing.

I shot an approaching rebel in the shoulder as Grant pulled something out of the pocket at my thigh, trying to twist around without losing the cover to my body. He pulled the thunderstick out and swung it, letting it go to full length.

“Grant, now!” I shouted.

He rolled over the steps as I fired again, scrambling back into the opening. Six hands yanked me in as Grant hit the button, and two pulled me into their chest as the explosion went off, leveling the rebels to the ground. We waited two seconds, and then were back on our feet. Grant pulled the thunderstick out of the floor and waved to me, backing up so he could cover Skye and Fitz-Simmons as they ran.

“Grant, 10:00!” I shouted, pointing my gun.

The rebel fired faster, but was blocked by our SUV, driven by none other than May. She opened the door and Grant shouted for us to get in. Jemma yanked the cases from Fitz’s hand and threw them into the backseat, helping Skye in. Grant bent down so I could easily jump onto his back. He straightened and I took another shot at the rebel, this time taking him down. I fumbled back onto my feet, and Jemma yanked me in, letting Fitz pull me into his lap, as she slammed the door shut. Grant got in and May hit the gas before his door was even closed.

May drove wildly, the car bumping and jerking. Skye shut her eyes tightly, and Simmon was clutching Grant’s seat from behind. My forehead bumped against Fitz’s, but we kept our noises to ourselves. I saw Grant turn around, trying to see the truck behind us.

Where the fuck is he?

“Coulson’s secure in PMP’s truck.” I told him, sensing his distress.

He nodded, turning back to May. “Take the south route to the airfield.” He ordered.

“Gotcha.” She swerved the truck and my head went backward to the window. Fitz grabbed me by the back of the neck and pulled me tightly against him, my forehead stuck to his neck.

“Slow down!” He shouted.

“You’re joking, right?” Skye yelled back.

“Ward, listen! We have to be careful! There’s a binding energy structure that could overheat!” He was frantic.

“I could roll down a window!” Jemma tried to help.

Bullets hit the side of the window, metal on metal making an awful screech. I leaned over and rolled the window back up.

“Do not roll down a window!” Skye shouted.

“Stay quiet and keep your head down!” Grant turned around, ordering over his shoulder like an angry parent. “Head left. The ravine empties.” He spoke to May.

She turned wordlessly, leaving the four of us in the backseat to tumble into elbows and knees.

“But Ward!” Fitz cried.

“Quiet!” Both Grant and I scolded, turning to face him.

“How fast can you have the wheels up?” Grant asked, hitting a button on the dash to open the cargo hold of the bus.

“Fast.” May replied, tires screeching as she braked hard on the ramp.

We scrambled out of the car, May barking an order for us to close the ramp. Grant got there first, smashing the button. Fitz and Jemma ducked out of the way, but Skye stood there, astonished.

“What are you doing? Coulson is still out there!”

“Get off the ramp, you’re in the line of fire.” He shoved her my way and I only bounced her off to Fitz-Simmons, who grabbed her by the legs and pulled her down.

Grant and I stood at the edge of the ramp, firing as best we could at the rebels without hitting Coulson or the other men. It took a few seconds to get them all loaded in, and it was enough for a bullet to skip by Grant and graze my shoulder. I cursed, gritting my teeth before shooting down the man that had hit me. In my focus to hit him, I took another one to the leg and crashed to the ground with a scream.

“Violet!” Grant shouted, not looking at me and not turning, but becoming stiff and shooting even faster.

The military men loaded in, followed by Coulson, as the ramp began to close. Grant ceased fire and holstered his gun, taking mine and lifting me in his arms, running past a questioning Coulson and to the lab, where Fitz-Simmons followed, clearing off a table.

“I’m fine!” I fussed, trying to get Grant off of me. I said it again, this time hitting him in the chest before pointing to the black duffle bag on the floor by the doors. “Focus on the 0-8-4, I’ll be okay.” I clutched my shoulder.

“I can start patching her up.” Jemma gently pushed him aside, helping me pull Fitz’s green sweater off and cutting the leg of my jeans.

He sighed. “Fine. Fitz, what was the problem?”

Fitz only stared at me, concerned as his lips twitched and no words left his mouth, only a tiny gasp.

“Leo, I’m okay. What was the problem?” I tugged the free scraps of jeans off, exposing the wound that was bleeding and gross.

He snapped out of it, “As I said before, this device has a high-frequency, fluctuating, sub-material compression-”

“Fitz. In English.” Grant cut him off angrily.

Jemma quickly cleaned my arm and wrapped it. It didn’t hurt as much as my leg did.

“The 0-8-4 is fueled by tesseract technology.” He gestured. “Hydra. World War II. Captain America. It’s full of lethal amounts of gamma radiation.”

I let out a gasp as Jemma pulled the bullet out of my leg with forceps.

“Tesseract. S-s-so, you’re saying it’s worse than nuclear?” I grunted through my sentence, trying to focus on anything but the burning sensation in my thigh.

Fitz only nodded, and everyone took a step away from the bag. Grant came to my side, pulling my matted hair away from my forehead.

“You touched it.” He scolded, sitting behind me to hold my shoulders steady.

Please don’t make me lose you.

“With your jacket. I’m fine.” I wheezed, feeling light-headed.

I’ll be okay, you won’t lose me.

“She’s lost a lot of blood, Ward.” Jemma’s voice was strained as she cleaned the wound again, and it felt like she was sticking a drill into my leg.

My chest tightened and I pushed back, my head thumping against Grant’s chest as he grabbed my shoulders, countering my force. “We’re the same blood type.” He yanked a sleeve up as soon as I stopped squirming.

“Can’t you guys get her anything for the pain?” Skye sounded so distant.

“She’s allergic to almost every damn painkiller on this godforsaken Earth.” Grant grunted and I could feel the vibrations in his chest.

“We could’ve just waited until I passed out.” I mumbled.

“Would’ve taken too long. Just a little pinch now, darling.” I heard Fitz and felt his hand over my arm, and then a needle being stuck inside.

I winced, trying to squirm once more, only to be stopped by Grant holding me down with one arm, the other connected to mine through a series of tubes.

“It hurts.” I whined, throwing my head back to hit Grant in the chest again.

He didn’t budge. “I know, Vi. I’m sorry.”

I whimpered again, forgetting that anyone else was in the room even though I could feel Simmon’s hands working on my leg.

“I know, ducky. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. Shh shh shh. I know, I know.” He mumbled to me as pain took over in surges and I let my weight fall back against him, everything fading to black.

                                                            ***

“Yeah, well I use normal English, words like duck and run and might blow us to pieces.” I could hear Grant bitching.

“Oh! Oh, wow! Well congratulations, Agent Ward! You managed to string three words together in a sentence!” I heard Fitz snap at him.

They continued to argue, and I forced my eyes open, rolling my head to the left. Coulson’s army men friends were strung around our garage, packing their guns into a code-protected safe as Coulson spoke to a woman. I realized I was no longer in the clothes from this morning, but my pajamas. Fitz must’ve gotten them from our room.

“Can you guys shut up?” I asked, my voice hoarse and scratchy.

“Violet!” Skye perked up before anyone and came running, Jemma on her heels.

“Hey.” I smiled.

Jemma pulled out a pen and shone it in my eyes. I knew she was making sure I was okay, so I tried not to fuss. Skye sat at the edge of my bed.

“Why’s the bed in the lab?” I asked, turning to Jemma.

“Coulson wanted you in here, since there’s unknowns on the bus. Just in case.” She explained with a smile. “Your vitals seem good. We bandaged your leg, but you should wait at least a few days before putting weight on it. No major hits, it just skimmed your femoral artery.”

“Well, that’s reassuring. Are you two done now?” I leaned around her, looking at Fitz and Grant.

Fitz looked at me with a relieved smile, and Grant only looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

Well, you’re feeling better.

I rolled my eyes at him.

Shut up, dickhead.

They shuffled over, like two kids in trouble. Jemma moved aside and let Fitz stand at my side, kissing my forehead and hugging me tightly. I pushed my face into his chest and breathed deeply, hating to see him so worried.

“Hey. I’m okay.” I stroked his cheek as he pulled away.

He only nodded with a soft smile before stepping back to let Grant in. I smiled at him as wide as I could in my sleepy state. He instantly laughed, both amused and relieved. He rushed toward me, sitting on the side of the bed and letting me hug him at my own pace. My head fell onto his shoulder as his arms came around me, holding me against him as he breathed choppily. He hid his face in my hair, and I could feel him trying not to cry. I wrapped my arms around his torso and looked over his shoulder at Fitz, pointing to the door with a pleading look. He got the message, pulling Skye and Jemma out with him.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve been covering you. You shouldn’t have gotten hit, especially not twice.” Grant’s chest heaved.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.” I rubbed his back.

He only sighed, letting his breathing even out over the course of a few minutes, still clinging to each other. He finally pulled back, wiping at his tears with the sleeves of his shirt before sniffling and looking back at me.

“I’m sorry.” This one was different.

He wasn’t apologizing for me getting shot. He was apologizing for his change in behavior. For being aggressive. For being unlike himself.

I nodded. “Grant, what happened to you?” I reached for his hand.

He let me take it, looking away with eyes closed and his lips in a thin line.

“Jail changes people, Vi. You know that.”

I squeezed his hand and leaned his way, trying to get him to look me in the eye. My own eyes began to tear up, and they stung.

“I meant after. After you …” I stopped and swallowed. “After they told us you died-” My voice broke, and half the word fell away into the air. “What happened then?”

He looked down, and then up at me, eyes sad. “My SO left me to fend for myself in the woods for half a year. I was alone, Vi. And I was scared.” His eyebrows were angled up.

I know I’m not the same. I’m so sorry.

I looked away, nodding once more. “I’m sorry. I put too much pressure on you.” I pursed my lips and looked back to him.

I just want my brother back.

He squeezed my hand this time, and I looked up to see him nodding his head.

I’m trying my best. I’m right here.

“No. You’re doing good. You’re keeping me in line. It’s a good thing.” He reached for my face and wiped my cheeks.

“Thank you.”

I nodded again, leaning forward for another hug. “You guys can come back in now.” I called, and Skye and Fitz-Simmons stumbled in.

Skye came back to my side, replacing Grant as he went on to continue his conversation with Fitz. They began to argue again.

“I’m just trying to tell you what you’re dealing with!” Fitz screamed.

“And I don’t understand anything you’re saying!” Grant screamed back.

The sliding doors opened and Coulson walked in, eyebrows raised. “Do we have a problem in here?”

Grant backed down and Fitz went quiet, working on his night-night gun.

“No sir. Just working on our communication. Not everyone was prepared for a firefight.” Grant looked around.

“We got out, didn’t lose anyone, saved a few of theirs. I’d say we did alright. Violet, how’re you doing?” He looked over at me.

I flashed a smile and a thumbs up. “Doing great, sir.”

He nodded. “Good, I’m glad. Anything else?” He looked around.

Skye’s hand popped up. “Yeah, I have, uh, one small question. Because I’ve been feeling like the tagalong hayseed rookie, but now I get the sense that Ward doesn’t know which one’s Simmons and which one’s Fitz, and they’ve seen even less gunfire than me, and he somehow managed to let his sister get shot, and I’m no rocket scientist, but is this your first mission together?” She leaned forward.

“No. Of course not.” Jemma frowned. “It’s our second.”

“I was your first? That’s sweet.” She scrunched her nose up.

“You’re amused?” Grant snapped.

“I’m terrified. I am in way over my head, but I have been on this team just as long as any of you. I might as well be team captain.” She scoffed.

I noted Simmon’s perfected eye roll, along with the glance Fitz and Grant were sending each other. Coulson remained stoic.

“I was joking, but maybe that’s not a bad idea, because these guys do not like each other much.”

“This isn’t about that.” Grant turned to Coulson. “I’m a specialist. Today, I could’ve eliminated the enemy threat myself if I was working alone,” 

I felt myself sink back into the pillows. I thought we had worked great together, considering we never had before. Jemma noticed and came to the other side of the lab table, shaking her head.

“...but I had non-combat ready agents-”

“Whoa, whoa, wait! You work alone?” Fitz cut him off.

“So typical. Who do you think designs your equipment?” Jemma looked at him with a scowl.

“Or the polymers for your weaponry? People like us do that.” Fitz pointed between Jemma and himself.

“Try going into the field with just your bare bum.” Jemma finished.

“Guys.” I pushed myself out of the bed, ignoring the shock traveling up my leg and the looks I got from the three of them. I forced my arms to do most of the work, half-limping and half-dragging myself to stand in front of them at the head of the table. “Shut up, and stop fighting. Because now you’ve proven Skye right, and Coulson’s doubting every single one of us.”

“You’re not wrong. We still need to iron out the kinks. But Ward, you can speak six languages. Simmons, you have two PhDs in fields I can’t pronounce, and Fitz, you are a rocket scientist. Violet, you keep being the buffer. And work it out.” Coulson had a firm tone, like a father scolding his kids before leaving.

I let out a breath and let my legs give out as Grant caught me with an angry look. He picked me up and plopped me back on the bed, checking the bandages on my arm and leg.

“I-I’m good at stuff too!” Skye called after Coulson.

                                                             ***

I was lying with my head on the pillow in Grant’s lap, a book falling from my hands as he rested his against my head. Fitz-Simmons were in the conference room with the holotable, and they had gotten snippy with each other. Grant and I stayed out of their way, holing ourselves up in the lounge. I let my eyes slip closed. It didn’t matter if I fell asleep, Grant would probably just move me to my bed either way.

“Hunger Games?” I heard Skye. “Oh, is she sleeping? Sorry.”

“She’s a heavy sleeper, it’s fine. And no, it’s Matterhorn. One of a hundred novels my SO gave me that I’m just getting around to.” He sighed.

There was a pause.

“SO. Supervising Officer.” He explained, probably not looking up from his book.

“Got it. Hackers have lingo too, but I’ll pick yours up. I feel like you and me? Wrong foot. Can I buy you a drink?”

I felt him chuckle and set the book aside, pulling the pillow further onto his lap so he could sit up straight without pushing me off the couch.

“What I said before- When I said the uprising was- whatever I said- a good thing. I don’t want you to think I’m oblivious.” I heard the clink of a bottle. “What I was talking about was the tweets.”

“Tweets.” Grant repeated, his hand coming up to rub my shoulder.

He knew I was awake, and he wanted to make sure I was taking mental notes so we could dissect this later.

“You trying to make things better or worse?”

“Peruvians have organized for the first time in decades. Thousands of suffering people who have never met uniting over a common idea? It’s mind-blowing. And I don’t want to bring it up because I don’t wanna see your hate face, but … that’s what the Rising Tide is all about.”

“Okay.” He sounded slightly disgruntled.

“Usually, one person doesn’t have the solution. But a hundred people- with one percent of the solution? That’ll get it done.”

Grant took a deep breath.

“I think that’s beautiful. Pieces solving a puzzle.”

Grant sighed and scooted closer to her, holding my head with a hand to keep me steady. I heard him take a glass from her and swirl it.

“You and I see the world differently is all.”

“I’ve never been in a war zone during a war until today. That was crazy. I take it you’ve seen that a lot?”

Another sigh from him, this one deeper. He didn’t answer her question, only grunted as he put his drink down.

“Did you get shot?” She grabbed him.

“Skin deep. Nothing like Violet here. Nothing to worry about.” He took his arm back.

“You also got shot. Did that happen protecting us?” She pressed.

“Said don’t worry about it.” There was a gentle tone, and I imagined he was smiling.

She was talking about the bit of blood on his side, where he had gotten skimmed while lifting me to shoot one of the rebels out from the other side of the car. Jemma took care of it after she took care of me, and she said he’d only need a bandaid and he’d be fine. He hadn’t bothered to change his shirt.

“Well, no wonder you were so pissed.”

He hesitated. “I wasn’t pissed. I was trained to be the whole solution, to eliminate variables. And today, they keep adding up.” His tone changed, and his hand moved slowly to shake me.

I feigned sleepiness again, opening my eyes and rubbing them.

“Vi.” His eyes remained in one place.

I sat up slowly, and he pulled me into his side, bringing his mouth to whisper in my ear. His grip on my arm was firm.

“When I say so, take Skye and get to the lab. Guard Fitz-Simmons, and don’t let them get the 0-8-4. They’re PMP, but they’re lying to us.”

I pulled back and leaned against his shoulder, nodding slightly so he would feel it but the officers wouldn’t see it.

“Morning.” Skye smiled at me. “We’re turning.”

Grant nodded. “We’re entering restricted airspace, so we have to follow certain flight paths. Regulation. This plane is capable of fully automated flight, but May has to be on the stick herself tonight.” He slung his arm around me again.

“You’ve got an SO, May’s gotta be on the stick. Lots of good lingo on this plane.” Skye laughed.

“Yeah. We just can’t seem to understand each other.” Grant smiled his charming smile, the one he used to flash when he was in high school that made all my friends, in their middle school glory, fall for him.

Skye poured herself another drink and Grant looked down at me with an eyebrow arched. I watched him as he looked back to the officers. He set his jaw and gave me a squeeze, kissing the top of my head.

“Skye. Hand me the bottle.” He smiled again, then whispered into my hair. “Go, now.”

“Okay, turbo, but you’re still nursing the one you’ve got.” She laughed and I pushed myself to my feet.

“I’m not the only one.”

She looked at me and I shook my head, reaching for her hand. “Remember how we had to talk to Fitz about the fan in your bunk? We should probably go now, before he turns in for the night.” I smiled.

She caught on and gulped nervously. “Okay.”

Grant smiled as the officer came over, then pushed us out of the way and smashed the bottle onto the officer’s hand, who let out a scream. I grabbed Skye and pulled her behind me, trying to move as fast as I could without letting the stitches in my leg break. We rounded the corner and I pulled my weight over the side of the banister, letting myself slide down it rather than running down the stairs.

“Violet!” Skye called out from the bottom of the steps, pointing at one of the officers, who had Fitz with a scalpel to his neck.

“Get in here and sit down.” The man growled.

I grunted as my weight fell onto my leg and I put my hands up. Skye grabbed me by the elbows, helping me stand before dragging me into the lab. Jemma tried to help lower me to the floor, but it only seemed to piss the man off more and he moved the scalpel closer to Fitz’s neck.

“I’m fine, Jemma.” I shrugged her off, sliding onto the floor and clutching at my leg, below the line of stitches.

“Stop squirming, pretty boy.” The man growled as Fitz tried to pull his arms away.

I could hear his hard breathing and I felt my head throb.

“You know, if you want a valuable hostage, you might wanna take someone else.” I started.

“What?” He hissed.

“I mean, it’s your choice.” I shrugged. “He is pretty, you got that part right.”

“Shut up.” The man grunted.

“But really, he’s just the tech guy. He’s like, oh I dunno,” I shrugged again, “glorified IT. That’s what he is. He doesn’t know anything. Coulson can easily replace him.”

“Shut up!”

“Listen, bud, I’m just trying to help you out. You want leverage against Coulson and Ward? Switch me out for him.” I glared, breathing hard and grabbing the same spot of my leg.

The men stared for a second, contemplating. “Fine. Nice and easy. Nobody try anything or I’ll kill you all.” He eased his arms off Fitz, who ran into my open arms, squeezing me.

“You’re an idiot!” He shouted loudly.

“Loop the cameras.” I whispered into his ear before kissing his cheek and letting the officer put the scalpel up to my neck.

I groaned in pain as he made me put weight on my leg. The man forced me down on it as I whimpered. He laughed, then shoved me against the table.

“Where’s it hurt?”

“Where do you think, dumbass?” I growled through gritted teeth.

He hummed to himself, putting the scalpel down and bending down, moving his hand across my thigh to move my grip. He grunted in satisfaction once he found the blood soaked bandage. He cracked his knuckles before resettling his grip on my leg, ready to dig his fingers into my wound. The spot I had gripped was an inch below, where the worst he could do was make it throb more. He pressed a thumb against it and I yelled anyways, letting him believe it. I heard Skye gasp. He jammed his thumb in further, his head in the crook of my neck. He smelled vile and he was breathing oddly.

I took the moment of his distraction to elbow him in the crotch. He fell to the floor, still gripping my leg. I turned around and kicked his face, fingers finding the scalpel and ripping it over his face, breaking skin on his cheek and forehead. Skye screamed as blood splattered across my shirt. I stabbed him in the shoulder and kicked his head again, this time to knock him out.

“Fitz, lock the doors.” I ordered as I pulled back and pushed the man aside, my leg pulsing.

“Are you okay?” Jemma was worried, her forehead creased and her eyebrows furrowed.

I nodded. “Went a few inches down, don’t worry.”

“Hey!” There was a harsh knock on the lab door and Fitz yelped.

I looked out to see another man with a gun to Grant’s throat. I glanced over my shoulder, glad to see his fellow officer out of sight.

“Open the door or he gets blown to bits.”

I could see Grant breathing heavily. They had done a number on him, his eye already swelling. He looked at me, frustration on his face.

Don’t you dare open those doors.

I sighed.

I’m not just gonna sit here and let you get shot.

“Open the doors.” I mumbled, falling back to the ground.

I could see Grant talking frantically to the guard, who only seemed to get angrier by the second. The doors slid open and I could finally hear my brother’s voice.

“Please. I swear I won’t try anything. She just needs help walking, that’s all. She’ll put up a fight against you if you touch her. Please.”

“Fine.” The officer snorted, pushing him forward.

Grant ran to me, scooping me into his arms and pulling me up. “You’re okay.” He whispered, the lines on his forehead a tell of how worried he was.

I only nodded as they tied us each up, and then gave me my own separate black eye along with a broken nose and busted lip for having cut their friend up. I spit out blood as they left, trudging back up the stairs with their bleeding friend. My nose was throbbing, as was my leg and every other part of my body. I leaned my head against Grant’s shoulder, exhausted.

“This is all my fault. I should’ve learned Kung Fu.” Fitz tried to joke.

“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have pushed you into the field in the first place. You weren’t ready.” Jemma sighed.

“It was my job to make a proper threat assessment.” Grant tried to take the blame.

“Uh, we- we weren’t ready.” Fitz argued.

“This couldn’t have happened if Agent May wasn’t on the stick.” Skye jumped in. “She would’ve busted out with some of her ninja know-how.”

“Agent May? No, no, no. She transferred from administration.” Fitz argued again.

“Well, I’ve seen her destroy a guy, so…”

“Can we stop the pity party? We have to find a way out of here before they kill Coulson, take the 0-8-4, and then crash this plane where nobody will ever find our bodies.”

“Okay, wait but Agent May?” Fitz-Simmons pressed again, this time looking to Grant.

He smiled. “You’ve heard of the Calvary?”

“Yeah, everyone at the academy talks about st-... She’s the Calvary?” They exclaimed.

“I told you never to call me that.” May’s voice was scratchy.

“Oh, well we’re sure to get out of here now! Um, how do we get out of here?” Jemma asked her as she sat up.

“Can’t go through the doors. They’re bolted, tied to the pressurization lines. You two geniuses have nothing?” She looked at Fitz-Simmons.

“Yeah, well, it’s hard to concentrate in these intense situations.” Fitz explained from beside me.

“Hey. Don’t freeze up. Take a breath. You don’t need to come up with the whole solution. Just part of it. Right?” Grant spoke calmly.

“Yeah.” Skye smiled. “Pieces solving a puzzle.”

                                                              ***

“Well that’s clearly the worst idea we’ve heard yet!” Jemma scoffed.

“Yeah!” Fitz agreed.

“Maybe, but it might work.” Skye shrugged.

“Guys, Reyes is gonna kill us once we land and blame it on rebels.” Grant insisted.

“At least this way we’ll have a fighting chance.” I offered.

“We’ll take it.” Grant spoke for the both of us.

“What’s first?” I asked Fitz.

“We can’t get upstairs without going in the lab.” Fitz answered.

“And the only way to release the lab doors is from upstairs.” Jemma added.

Skye rolled her eyes. “First thing is that we’re tied to the cargo door, so unless you guys can-”

She was cut off by a crack and I grimaced.

“What the hell was that?” Fitz jumped closer to me, worried, and I bumped my knee to his in reassurance.

“Her wrist.” Grant answered.

We watched as May snuck behind Lola, making her way up to the balcony in silence, where a guard stood watch with Grant’s sidearm. She was slow and quiet, inching her way across the bottom railing of the balcony on her fingers. The guard turned and stared straight at us before becoming confused by the lack of one of us. May swung up, her legs locking around his neck as she threw him over the balcony and he landed cold on the floor. She landed on her feet and popped her wrist back into place.

“What’s next?”

                                                          ***

“Okay, we’re sure, right?” Sky stood on Grant’s other side.

“Yeah, we’re sure.” He had his arm around my shoulders, keeping me balanced.

“We’re all on board.” Jemma’s voice was shaky.

“Yeah, let’s do this, fast.” Fitz was on my other side.

“Alright guys, let’s do it.” I was the last to speak, and probably the calmest besides my brother.

“No turning back, no freezing up.” He spoke.

“Because if we do, then…” Fitz trailed off.

“All of us die.” Grant finished.

“We know.” I patted his arm.

“Alright.” Grant nodded and gave me a look, to which I nodded.

You’re sure you’re okay to do this?

Positive.

He knelt so I could get on his back, like we were children at a fairgrounds and May revved the engine of the SUV. “You guys talk a lot.” She sat in the car and gunned it, barely giving Grant time to shove Fitz-Simmons and Skye out of the way. She crashed into the lab doors and I heard Fitz wince. Jemma climbed onto the table and started to unscrew part of the ceiling. Fitz got the drones out, firing them up as Skye and I raided the cabinets for cords. May snuck out, and Grant found other cords.

He handed me the link of chains and a few cords, and I got them together as fast as I could. He did the other two. Once he finished he grabbed Skye and Jemma. I tightened Fitz’s around his waist, pulling his tie over it so it wouldn’t get caught.

“Are you sure this’ll work?” He asked me, worried.

I nodded. “I’m sure.” I pushed him over to Jemma’s side.

Grant turned me around to hook my cord on, tightening it a bit more than was necessary. He scanned my face and I only nodded. This would work. It had to work. Grant and I worked fast, hooking the cords together and praying they would hold. Fitz held the tablet tight in his hands, with a view of what the drone was seeing. Coulson’s voice came over.

“It’s gonna be blue skies from here on out.”

“Simmons, forget what I said before. This is the moment we’re gonna regret.” Fitz took a deep breath before hitting the button.

The drone would activate the 0-8-4, which would hopefully blow the plane open and give us a shot. The panel beside Grant turned from red to green.

“It worked!” Skye shouted.

“The drop in cabin pressure released the doors!” Jemma smiled.

“I’ll take care of the soldiers, you guys get to the 0-8-4.”

“And Coulson?” Fitz asked.

“Let’s hope he can handle himself. Be careful.” He grabbed my shoulder before pushing the door open, leading the way.

There were gunshots, and Grant was shoving us to the floor, crawling toward the couch. He jumped over, taking on two soldiers, getting one out of the way before trapping the other against the couch and kneeling over him.

“Go, now! Find the 0-8-4!” He yelled at us and Skye started to move, forcing the rest of us to follow with her.

I watched as another soldier took on Grant, leaping onto him and taking him down. Things became quiet and I thought for a second that my ears were bleeding. Fitz pushed himself to his hands and knees behind me, saying something that I couldn’t hear. I sighed before pulling him by the cord and yanking Jemma back. I tied theirs together and ripped my own off.

“Violet, what are you doing?” Fitz screamed, but I was already moving over the couch, kicking one soldier in the face with my sock covered feet as another tried to drag me onto the floor. I felt the plane jerk downward and the man fell away. I grabbed at one seatbelt, pushing against the couch to give the other to Grant, who gripped it before kicking another soldier away. Another managed to grab my leg, his finger in the bullet wound on my thigh. I screamed, trying to get him off by kicking at his shoulders.

“Fitz! We got it! Reel us back in!” Skye shouted as Jemma pried the 0-8-4 from the wall.

I watched in practically slow motion as she unbuckled herself. Grant’s hand slipped from the seat belt and he cursed, fumbling to get a grip on anything he could. I tore my eyes from Skye and kicked a leg out, despite my entire body screaming in pain. Grant grabbed a hold of my ankle, grimacing when he heard my involuntary yelp. The soldier finally let go, his fingers dragging down my leg.

The plane slowly came back up, and both Grant and I dropped on the floor. The man that had been gripping my leg started to hit him, punching him in the ribs. One of the first men Grant had taken care of was now back on his hands and knees, crawling toward me with a shard of glass. I scrambled away, only to see another soldier cornering Fitz-Simmons. I jumped over the couch to help them.

“Cut him loose!” I shouted.

Fitz hit at his buckle until the man went flying, and I secured one hand on Jemma’s cord, the other catching Fitz as he fell.

“Sorry Ward!” Jemma shouted as the man fell onto him, pulling him toward the opening.

“Grant!” I screamed as he caught hold of a railing, trying to pull the man back inside.

His sleeve slipped from my brother’s hand, and as he looked down at it somberly, his grip came off the pole and he flew toward the gaping hole in the plane.

“Grant!” I shrieked, relieved to see, once again in slow motion, one of the liferafts coming to cover up the hole, Grant falling into the center of it with a heavy breath.

I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring the searing pain in my leg as I ran to him, collapsing next to him with a sob. He practically pulled me into his lap, throwing his head backward and rubbing my arm. He jerked forward, and I looked over to see one of the soldiers crawling toward a gun. Coulson stepped in front of us and trapped the man’s hand under his foot. I felt my brother relax once more before pushing me off and grunting as he got to his feet. He bent over to pick me up, again onto his back. I watched as Skye sighed from the floor and Fitz-Simmons popped up from behind the counter.

“I read the safety pamphlet.” Skye came over to us.

“I think you might be the first.” Grant scoffed, slowly walking over to meet Coulson by the bar.

Everyone crowded around it, with the exception of Fitz, who was clinging to one of the columns with his eyes glazed over.

“No other way in, huh? I was just starting to warm up to this place.” Coulson sighed, picking up a broken glass off the floor.

Skye leaned over and placed a coaster under it before taking a seat.

“The 0-8-4 is cooling and stable.” Fitz was now calmer, one arm around the column and the other on his hip. “But we should call HQ and get it to the Slingshot as soon as possible.” He hugged the column again.

Jemma took a seat as Coulson walked over to Reyes, who was tied up to a pole. “Told you they were good.” He was proud.

“Why don’t you go hug your boyfriend? He looks a little scared.” Grant whispered over his shoulder, easing me onto the ground.

I laughed, pushing at his back with the little strength I had left before limping over to Fitz, who upon seeing my state, let go of the column and threw his arms around my middle without hesitation. I relaxed in his grip, sliding my arms around his shoulders and letting him hold my weight.

“I love you.” His voice was hushed.

I let out a laugh, tightening my arms around him, happy he was okay. “I love you too, angel face.”

                                                           ***

When we got to the Slingshot, the first thing that happened was Jemma insisting on stitching my leg back up after cleaning it, much to my refusal. Then, we took showers, and then, technical crew started to take care of our bus. Somewhere along the way, Grant and I had demanded coffee and Fitz-Simmons had begged for tea.

I watched as Coulson cleaned a smudge off of Lola, turning and talking to Skye.

“Looks like Skye might end up as more than a consultant, despite our reservations.” Grant was busy repacking weapons into their cases, letting me put my weight against his side.

May only nodded.

“She could turn into a solid asset. With some serious work.”

“Well, if she wants to be a field agent, she’ll need a supervising officer. Someone disciplined. Someone good.” She looked at Grant, who was only nodding.

I giggled, looking up at him. He caught May’s stare and made a face.

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

I laughed this time.

“Just to be clear, you were talking about me. Right?” He asked, but she didn’t give him an answer.

“I was thinking, maybe even a pair. Two people who could… tag team?” She raised an eyebrow.

Grant and I looked at each other with identical grins on our faces.

“We blew up a plane!” I could hear Fitz coming down the stairs.

“I had a new experience, that’s for sure.” Jemma sounded content, as always.

“Eat that, Professor Vaughn.”

“You had a new experience, but it was new for all of us!” She had a beer in her hand, and Fitz had a cooler.

“They’re happy.” May noted and I smiled.

“Hey, come on, you guys don’t wanna miss this.” Fitz stopped and handed me his beer so he could help me up.

I hopped onto my toes to kiss his cheek before letting him lead us to the edge of the ramp, sitting down and passing beers around. Fitz pulled me to sit between his legs and I settled happily against him, glad to have his arms around my middle gripping me like a lifeline. Our legs dangled off the edge.

“So it’ll take about a hundred and eighty days to reach the sun. Now yes, of course, it would’ve been faster if they’d used hydrogen-fueled APUs, but they’re having fun.” Fitz explained as Grant sat next to us, taking a beer.

“How many of those have you guys had?” Skye asked with a laugh.

“Skye.” Jemma chuckled and May sat next to her. “It’s important when in the field to unwind from time to time.”

“Yeah, yeah, especially after a hard day of everyone almost dying.” Fitz continued.

“Which doesn’t happen every day, right? It’s an anomaly, an irregularity! Not … the norm.” Jemma exclaimed.

Coulson stood at the edge instead of sitting. “Speaking of not the norm, who’s idea was it to blow a hole in this plane?”

We all went white, looking down. Fitz gripped me tighter, now afraid of Coulson’s anger. Skye hadn’t sat down, so when she spoke it came from behind.

“May said that the doors were tied to the pressurization, so I thought-”

“So we thought it would be the only way to release them.” I cut her off.

“It was everyone’s idea, sir.” Grant jumped in.

“Yes, quite genius, really.” Fitz perked up.

“Nice work.” Coulson broke a smile and we all relaxed again.

Even May smiled and I leaned back against Fitz with a smile, laughing when Grant made a disgusted face at us.

“All clear for liftoff.” A voice came over the speakers.

“Oh, time for blastoff.” Fitz pinched his nose. “Launching in three, two…” He trailed off, watching as the rocket went up, leaving a gray trail.

“The trajectory will take it beyond the lagrange point so that it doesn’t hit Herschel.” He leaned over to explain to Grant.

“Yeah, and there haven’t been any coronal mass ejections, so it shouldn’t lose telemetry.” Jemma giggled.

“Guys, English.” Grant sighed happily.

There was no response as we watched it go up through the clouds. Grant patted Fitz’s back. He flinched and I laughed, looking from my brother to my boyfriend and then back up to the rocket, which was now out of sight. I curled up in Fitz’s lap, letting my forehead fall against his neck as I closed my eyes. Coulson excused himself, presumably to go get chewed out by Fury. Skye still hadn’t sat down. May and Grant slowly finished their beers, and then excused themselves to finish packing up weapons. Jemma soon followed, taking the cooler too. I caught Fitz giving her a look as I twisted around to have my side against his chest.

“Why are you making everyone leave?” I looked up at him.

He only smiled.

“Leo. Come on.” I pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw.

“Just want you and the sunset, nothing else.” He muttered, kissing my forehead.

I smiled. “Hey. I’m glad you’re still alive.”

He looked down at me, a wide smile growing on his baby face. “I’m glad I’m alive too. And to be completely clear, I’m overjoyed that you’re still alive.” His hand came to my face, thumb stroking my cheek.

I kissed the palm of his hand. “I think Grant sorta likes you.”

“Oh yeah?�� He laughed. “What makes you say that?”

“You’ve been doing nerd-speak since we finished the fight, and he hasn’t wanted to murder you yet.”

“And how exactly do you know that?” He grinned.

“I can read his facial expressions.” I smiled.

He pulled me in to peck my lips. “That’s amazing, darlin’. I’m really glad for you. I guess you getting shot snapped him back to reality?”

I nodded. “I think so.”

“Well, glad to see I wasn’t the only one.”

“What do you mean?” I leaned into his arms, tilting my head.

“Nothing special.” He shrugged. “Just realized how much I love you is all.”

I smiled wider this time, sitting up and grabbing him by the neck. “God, I love you. Why do I love you so much?” I peppered his face in kisses, feeling him chuckle.

“What can I say, I’m a romantic.” He shrugged once I pulled back.

I rolled my eyes and suppressed a smile, letting him pull me forward to meet my lips once more.

#leopold fitz #leopold fitz x reader #grant ward x reader #grant ward x oc #agents of shield #agents of shield imagine #fitz #leo fitz #grant ward #leo fitz x reader #leo fitz x oc #grant ward x sister!reader #grant ward x sister!oc #micaelawrites #my posts #my writing #micwrites

[fairiesherefairiesthere]

All’s well that ends well (Fraxus)

tumblr decided to nerf my last post, so here we go again! A Fraxus fic feat. demon!Freed

Whispers about the well in the woods have been following Laxus since his early childhood. Warnings to not go there are being repeated every morning, even by his grandfather, who is by no means an easily impressed man. That more than anything keeps Laxus away from the place shrouded in mystery, until his decaying health brings him to the much talked about place anyway.

He's no older than nine when his father grabs him by arm and drags him out of the house. If he weren't coughing his lungs out, he might've protested. But as is, a black mist is dancing in front of his eyes and he can't stop sweating. For now, he'll close his eyes. His father might do a lot of hurtful things when Makarov isn't around, but he's never killed him before (his fever-muddled thoughts don't pick up that that's quite logical), so it won't happen now, right?

"Demon!" His father's bellowing snaps him out of his slumbering state and for a moment, he thinks his father is talking to him. After all, he's called Laxus a greedy money-sucking demon of a child before, so it wouldn't be that strange. Picking himself up from the ground his father dumped him on, he starts to take notice of his surroundings. His suspicions get confirmed when he sees the infamous well.

"Dad", he says nervously, tugging on his father's pants. "We're not supposed to be here, gramps says it's dangerous." Tsk'ing, his father gives him a swat. "Don't be a coward Laxus, I know you've got more potential in you than that."

Potential. Such a strange a word. His father uses it often, describing qualities he wished Laxus would have. Laxus wonders why he isn't enough yet.

"Your grandfather is a fool without ambitions. All that lurks in the depths of this murky water hole is a demon, who can grant your every wish. Of course you must pay a price in return, but that's only fair, right?" He waits for Laxus to agree before he continues his spiel. "So I'm going to ask it to make you a healthy boy. Aren't I a good father? Makarov knows about this demon too, but he would rather let you die than take a risk himself. The only one who cares about you, is me."

When his father puts it like that, there's no way that Laxus can disagree with him and little moments like this make him remember why he keeps loving his father with such fervor (desperation). It's because his father truly loves him and wants the best for him.

"So go to that well and ask to get better", his father orders him and Laxus briefly hesitates. When his father catches his questioning gaze, he scoffs. "Did you think I'd ask for you? I just explained, didn't I? It's give and take and we're here for you, not me. Be responsible."

The well that apparently harbours a demon, doesn't look all that threatening. The grey stones reveal nothing about the monster that lurks in the debts of those murky waters, but when Laxus trails his fingers over the edge, purple writing starts to light up. Because Laxus can't really peak over the edge, his father picks him up and places him right on top of the ledge. Before he can ask his question, he falls in and the water engulfs him, dragging him down.

When he comes to, it's completely dark around him. "State your reason for being here", a voice echoes through the space and there's no quality Laxus can describe to the voice, but he does know what it said. Probably magic. "I uh...", he gathers his courage. "I'd like to be healthy", he demands, before adding a meek "please" (Makarov said that one should always say please).

"Should I grant you your wish, what could you give me in return?"

He thinks about that and comes to the conclusion that he doesn't have an awful lot of things to offer and his father surely wouldn't chip in. "Is there something you particularly want?"  

A laugh makes Laxus' bones rattle and the demon speaks up again. "Aren't you awfully naïve? You don't ask a demon what it wants, because it's never something you can provide."

"You've gotta be a bit realistic, demon, I'm nine. I don't have a large fortune or a firstborn child."

There's a bit of silence. Then : "Fair enough. Here's the deal, every evening you bring me a share of your dinner and a sip of your drink. Should you fail to live up to this, then your health will not only go back to its former state, it will also noticeably worsen and you'll have to offer me something new on top of that to placate me."

"..."

"Yeah, tremble in front of this offer."

"How old are you?" The question slips out his mouth without Laxus' permission, but he doesn't  regret letting it. "That sounds like a stupidly simple thing, what are you, five? I might be the frailest kid in town, but I bet that even I'd bully you if you were a human child."

The darkness shatters and falls around him, with the sound of a thousand glasses breaking. A dark mass with one glowing purple eye approaches him and as Laxus scrambles to get away, the thing screeches: "I.AM.SIX." It's that irked declaration, combined with a high, childish voice that erases Laxus' fear completely and he bursts out laughing.

Apparently, the dark mass doesn't like this very much, as nearly a second later Laxus finds himself having a scratch on his eye. "Don't fool around. Do you take my graceful offer or not?" The high voice is still laughably childish, but there's an icy quality to it that makes Laxus' blood freeze in his veins. "I'll take it", he whispers and offers his hand. The demon doesn't take it, but Laxus suddenly finds himself standing next to the well, his father nowhere in sight and his right eye hurting like hell.

Against the odds, Laxus returns home. His father is pleased with the development and his grandfather is angry. Whatever, the man doesn't care about him anyway. He isn't too sure his father does either, so without offering either of them an explanation, he returns to his room. When it's time for dinner, he sets a portion aside and later in the evening, he brings it to the well.

A few days later, he brings another plate to the well and sighs when he sees all the plates from the days before, still filled with food. "You know", he says out loud, "If I have to travel here everyday, you might as well eat it. I haven't poisoned it or anything." For a moment nothing happens, but then the water starts rippling and the demon crawls out of the well as graceful as he can, which isn't anywhere near graceful at all.

Eyes full of lingering suspicion, the greenhaired child munches on some of the freshest food. "Dinner without companionship is a lonely, unbecoming affair", he mutters and Laxus feels a bit of sympathy for this lonely creature. He's not human, his too pale skin, purple glowing eye and horns would never allow him to fit in and the sight of his grotesque teeth would scare anyone off. "Don't you have parents?"

"No", the creature simply answers. "I'm born out of superstition and six years ago, I was given a definite form by a man who had a wish that cost him his life."

No more words are spoken that night, but from then on, Laxus tells the demon little anecdotes from his own life. Not too long after that, the demon hesitantly takes part in the formerly one-sided conversations and Laxus comes to learn that his name is Freed Justine, which is quite an ironic name as the demon is shackled to the well and the townsfolk love to call him a liar and a scammer, unlike his last name suggests. Over the years, he starts thinking of him as a friend.

"Freed", he hesitantly starts, "can we make another deal?" He's twenty and he hasn't ever left his hometown and so, he's been surrounded by the same people his whole life. Freed, who had been sunbathing on the edge of his well with a content face, comes to face him with a stern expression.

"What do you want so badly that you turn to demonic magic?" the boy asks, clearly disapproving. "Friends", he answers and completely misses the way the other boy's face crumples. "Adventure. A life outside this city."

"You'd have to give me something pretty big in return", Freed muses as he shoots Laxus a glance from underneath his eyelashes. "Considering you wouldn't be able to fulfill your first deal, should you leave this town."

"Ah shit."

"This is why you don't strike deals with demons buddy, it never ends in your favour." Rolling his eyes, Laxus gives Freed a noogie. As the demon protests, Laxus sighs deeply. "What did I say about teenage demon angst?" Freed looks at him from underneath a mess of green locks. "To not do it?"

"Correct." As Freed sighs dramatically because he's an insufferable attention hog, Laxus notices the setting sun. "I should go home, see ya tomorrow." Freed gives him a small wave in return. "See ya."

The following day, Freed hands him a pen. "Write me when you go", is all he says and Laxus has to press for more information. "You want to go, right? Just write me a letter every evening. You do not have to post it, all you have to do is pretend we're actually talking and I'll get the gist of it. Put just as much care and attention in those letters, they will be a replacement for the food. Now for the second wish..."

Laxus waits with baited breath, as he's not dealing with his friend right now. Now it's the demon talking him into a deal and he knows that he's going to take it regardless. "Every bond you make, every friendship you strike..." He waits for a moment, before he pokes Laxus in the chest. "Tell me about them when you get back."

"For someone so feared, your deals suck."

"Shut up and go already, loser." Before doing exactly that, Laxus turns to Freed to hug him. It doesn't work out like he wants it to, because he falls straight through his friend's form. The boy sends a bemused smile his way. "I don't have my own physical form, I'm only an idea. A need for miracles personified."

"That sounds afwul."

"Eh, it's whatever. Now Laxus Dreyar, state your wish." Whenever Freed practices his magic, the purple in his right eye turns so intense that Laxus forgets to breathe for a minute. "I wish to go out of this town, go on adventures and meet my own band of ridiculous but beloved friends."

"I hear your wish and in return, I'll share those adventures through tales you'll tell me." They clasp hands and Laxus' shoulder itches and burns. When he takes a peek at it, it's now decorated with a jetblack tattoo. "I improved my craft", Freed explains before he ushers Laxus to go.

A year later Laxus returns, with a friend in tow. "You guys really don't have to follow me, you know", he mutters as his newfound friend claps him on the back. "No way man!" the blue-haired eccentric exclaims. "I wanna know your deepest, darkest secrets. Spill em, baby."

"Hello there", Freed greets him warmly and regards his companion with interest. "Who do we have here?"

"Introduce yourself, moron", Laxus says while giving Bickslow a push in Freed's direction. "To who?" the man asks incredulous. "There's no one here buddy." As Bickslow scans the place in search of human life, Freed shrugs. "He hasn't struck a deal with me and he isn't planning to either. Physically manifesting is draining, so you'll have to tell the tales of your journey to the air."

Right at that moment, Bickslow jumps on the edge of the well, right next to Freed and stares him dead in the eye. "There." He pauses and Freed whispers: "I'm scared." Tilting his head, but never breaking eye contact, Bickslow reaches out. Before he can poke Freed's forehead with his index finger, the other grabs him by the collar and dumps him on the floor.

"Awtch, your entity isn't all too friendly. Do you think it'd let me see him?" Before Laxus can answer, the both of them have vanished into thin air.

It takes three hours before they show up again, Bickslow with a new tattoo. On his face. Like, smack-dab in the middle. "Why?" he asks Freed and the demon shrugs. "He wanted it." Laxus doesn't know if that's entirely right, but they're both weird enough to let things like that happen. "Anyway", he sighs, "want to hear about our adventures?" While telling stories, Laxus notices that Bickslow isn't fiddling with one of his dolls as per usual. Freed does absentmindedly dig it up during their conversation and Laxus can't help but notice that he's never had to pay with something so dear to him.

Another year later, their group has grown again and Bickslow is already bullying Evergreen with tales of the 'super scary demon' that was going to snatch her soul for sure. Sadly enough he's sputtering all of this nonsense within Freed's earshot, so Laxus doesn't feel sorry when the water splashes over the edge of the well and drags him down to his depths.

"Oh my god!" Evergreen screams and Laxus stops her before she can jump right after Bickslow (she might deny it, but she loves her brother in all but blood to death). "They're just roughhousing", he explains and surely, Bickslow gets spit out by the well and lands rather painfully.

Freed's head peaks up from his well, but he doesn't move to get out of it. "I'm tired", he mutters with his mouth under water, which makes his words sound like bubbling water. Patting his head, Laxus offers his sympathy. "Not a lot of jobs lately?" The demon shakes his head and Laxus feels for him. Freed looks kind of awful at the moment.

"You guys should've told me that you hallucinate in sync, then maybe I could've prepared myself for it", Evergreen says in a snappy tone and Laxus shakes his head. "We're not hallucinating, we're talking to the demon", he says and points at a waving Freed.

"Right." Evergreen gives him an unimpressed look before rolling her eyes. "I'll believe you because Bickslow is a nutjob. Hey demon!" she yells in the well and Freed mutters: "Why does everyone keep yelling at me? I can hear perfectly fine, thank you very much." The two of them disappear and reappear in the same fashion he and Bickslow did a year ago. Now, Freed's hair is held together with the elegant flower hairpin made out of jade Evergreen had gotten from her mother. In return her ankle is decorated with a floral design. Once again he shuts up about the price.

Later that evening, it's just the two of them and looking at Freed sitting peacefully underneath the moonlight, eyes shining with serenity, Laxus can't help but notice how handsome he is. He files that thought away for later. "Hey Freed", he muses while looking at the starry sky, "What would it cost to have you travel with us?"

When he doesn't get an answer, he turns to face his friend. His eyes are wide with disbelief and he closes his formerly open mouth with an audible click. "I don't know Laxus. That would cost me more magic than mere objects can offer and please, do not ask me to take more than that from you." Freed looks so sad at the thought of that, that Laxus swallows down his offers to do exactly that. "Okay", he says, but the thought won't leave his head at all.

The next morning he gets dragged back to the well, who both declared "Well that won't do!" when he had told them about his conversation with Freed the evening before. "Hello, we're here with a four way deal", Evergreen declares and Bickslow adds : "It's like an orgy! Just as magical, just way less sexy."

"Hey, I hate you", Evergreen bites back, before turning back to Freed. "Draw the magic you need from us three, that would lessen the load on each individual. Could that work?"

"It could work, I think", Freed hesitates and Laxus throws him his headphones (he used to use those to ignore the sound of his father and grandfather fighting, they're irreplacable to him). "Here, since I've never given you an actual object. Work your magic demon boy, we're leaving today."

They all notice that this deal takes quite the toll on them. Every night they're asleep faster than one could say 'demon' and throughout the day, they also often get tired. But it's worth it, as Freed looks happier than he's ever seen him and he gets excited whenever he learns something new. He still doesn't have an actual body though, as that would take a too big toll on his friends. Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen also share a bond that Laxus would describe as familial and more often than not, those three brats gang up on him (he loves them).

Whatever the relationship between Freed and himself is, he doesn't quite know. They're closer to each other than the others, because of their earlier established friendship and because of something else Laxus can't quite name. But when he's feeling down, he knows Freed'll be there to cheer him up and whenever Freed has a new idea to trap another human being inside a cage of double edge words, he sends Laxus this particularly mischievous smile and without exchanging words, Laxus knows what he's about to do and he smiles back. The way they deal with each other is filled to the brim with wordless, nearly effortless communication and fond gestures.

It's the day of Laxus twenty-third birthday when he knows what he's feeling for Freed. They're strolling through some quiet town and Freed, choosing not to be visible to anyone but Laxus, has taken on the task of dramatically and sarcastically narrating the life of the villagers. While the man's particularly engrossed in a tale he made up about the baker's son, the sun hits him from behind, encompassing him in a golden halo as he unattractively snorts at his own very bad pun. Laxus has never desired another quite as much as he does now.

He doesn't tell Freed that day, but he puts more attention in their interactions, in his gaze and if he could, he thinks he wouldn't be able to stop trading innocent little touches with Freed. But although Freed has confirmed that he too, loves Laxus (it's a big word, but he'd never use it in any other way), he has also been keeping a distance between them. A confrontation that's less than pretty (from both sides) reveals that Freed doesn't want to start a relationship if he can't fully commit to it.

"Laxus", he says with a wavering voice, "my heart, my soul, my love, it's all yours. But none of these are things I truly possess, I have nothing I can physically offer you. Would you like for a mirage, a cheap imitation of a human, to tell you that you are loved by it? It wouldn't even be able to accompany you at all times, unless you (or your friends) pay it with your very own lifeforce. Please, do think of yourself."

If Laxus were to think of himself, he'd press the matter and repeat to Freed that he loves him every damn day. But thinking of Freed and the misery it'd bring him, he drops the matter and doesn't do that. Since he can't erase the words of appreciation from his mind, he writes them all down. How smart he thinks the other is, how cunning, how funny, how much he appreciates Freed's soft heart (even though the demon denies it every time), how easily he cries at stupid romantic books when no one's looking and how much like a reward it feels when Laxus makes him smile. Every day he writes those feelings down, with the pen Freed had given him a few years ago, forgetting that the object still carries the gist of his ramblings to Freed.

Laxus is twenty-seven and on his way to the well with his band of friends (they've made a tradition of visiting it once a year), when tragedy strikes. They're resting, tired from the journey they've made and Laxus is about to take a nap when Freed appears in his peripheral vision. He's wearing a too wide grin when he asks if Laxus is hot. "Of course I am, it's July and way too fucking hot", he complains and freezes when Freeds snaps his fingers, dumping him straight into the nearby river.

When he rejoins his group, Freed's still laughing at him, but stops when an object meets the ground with an irony clink. It's Ever's hairpin and the woman bristles at Freed. "Man, that thing is important to me!" she yells, but Freed doesn't seem to hear her. It's because Laxus is standing in front of him that he sees the purple light dying in Freed's eye and as he reaches out to him, the demon falls right through his arms and disappears, leaving nothing behind but the hairpin, the doll and Laxus' own headphones. It happens so fast, that there's no chance for them to even say goodbye.

Stunned, the three of them watch the objects and it's Bickslow who snaps them out of their stupour. "The well", he says, "something must've happened with it." Although they've never found an explanation for it, Bickslow does seem to have an unusual sense for all things abnormal. As such, Laxus turns on his heels and sprints the last miles to the well, arriving to a scene of utter chaos.

The villagers he's known all his life have gone at the well with about every weapon they could find, leaving only a couple of stones behind. His grandfather, bless the man, is putting it back together stone by stone. Makarov however, is too small and lonely to make any difference and the destruction of the well proceeds far faster than the reparation process.

The first sentence that stumbles out of his mouth is : "I thought you hated this place." Makarov scoffs at that and explains his reasoning rather loudly, intentionally attracting the attention of the crowd. "I don't hate this place, brat, nor the generations of demons that have housed here. People just need to keep the price for their wishes in mind and they seldom do, so it's easier to tell them to stay away. People love to complain about the consequences of their actions."

"We're not tearing this place down because of the prices that were paid!" a man yells and some woman continues: "Yeah, we're destroying it because this useless demon hasn't listened to our wishes for years! First he terrorises us and then he decides we're not worth his time? Away with the devil!" There's too many people to fight all at once and Laxus doesn't know how to stop this madness. He wishes he did.

Oh. An idea forms inside his head, so stupid that he's almost certain it won't work as soon as his mind comes up with it. But Freed had always like to say that words and their implications matter and that one should keep all meanings of a single word in mind. So he moves to the remnants of the well. "Demon!" he bellows, knowing Freed absolutely hates 1. people yelling at him 2. one of his friends calling him by anything but his name. He hopes that it catches his attention.

"I've come to strike a deal!" he yells and the villagers halt their efforts to watch this spectacle. He's nervous as hell, but the sight of Bickslow and Evergreen, who finally caught up with him, does calm him down. "I offer you my life", he continues and he feels the air going static with magic. "I offer you my life and Freed Justine will live as a human being. It's a demand, not a wish."

"Are you crazy?" Finally Freed appears looking angry and Laxus can't help but smile. "Yeah. I offer you my life in the highest and most binding of contracts. My heart, my mind, my body it's all yours." While Freed looks more and more angry, Laxus drops to one knee. "Marry me", he simply says. "And live beside me as a human being."

The magic in the air swells to a point where it's nearly unbearable and then it dissipates all at once. Freed is standing above him, smiling in that particular way when he thinks Laxus has been especially clever and it nearly makes Laxus' heart beat out of his chest. With a little sob, Freed collapses on his knees in front of him and Laxus has the luxury to be able to hold him. "Of course I'll marry you, crazy bastard. I love you." Freed doesn't hesitate to smash their lips together after that declaration and when the roughness makes place for a tenderness that Laxus has never felt before, he thinks he's so happy he might cry. Screw that, he's definitely crying.

Evergreen dries her eyes in a sophisticated manner as Bickslow full-on bawls. Within seconds, he has grabbed Ever's hand and made a cuddle pile out of the four of them. Things aren't super comfortable because Evergreen's elbow is digging into his side, but they are definitely very, very good.

Well, things are about to get very, very good because they're still surrounded by villagers who want to see Freed dead. But they manage to escape the town because of Makarov being the most helpful grandfather in the world, who happened to have a carriage nearby. "Invite me to the ceremony, brats! And you better let me meet my new grandson before that, Laxus! Where are your manners?" he yells as they run towards the location he had given them.

Like on many of their other adventures, the four of them leave the town running, chased by an angry mob. But unlike all those other times, Laxus has a husband who presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth and whispers the sweetest words to him as their friends gag in the background.

#freed justine #Laxus Dreyar #fraxus #freedxlaxus #bickslow #evergreen #fairy tail #fanfic #TheFairyWrites #please dont nerf me again #id appreciate it

[zanesgirlfriend]

Princess | Jeff Wittek

Description: Jeff takes the reader and her kid to meet his friends.

Requested?: Yes by @jimininfiress : I’d really love if you’d do a Jeff imagine and the reader (his gf) has a baby girl from a previous relationship that didn’t end bad but they’re just not together anymore and in the vlog David says something to the reader like why would you let an ex convict near your daughter and Jeff gets defensive of you and your daughter. I just think Jeff would be an adorable dad even tho his past kinda sucks lmao. Thank you tho! ❤️

A/N: i made the kid a little bit older than a baby so i hope thats okay, but this is the cutest thing ive ever written i love this okay thank u enjoy

(also if you want a part two i'd be down let me know)

___________

"Princess, are you ready to go?" You called for your little girl, who refused to go by her name once Jeff started calling her Princess. You didn't mind it though, you were just happy she loved your boyfriend as much as you did.

"Yeah, Mommy!" Her sweet voice filled the room as she dragged her little backpack behind her.

"Are you absolutely sure you wanna spend your birthday weekend with Jeff?" You crouched down to her level. She nodded, her little dimples making you smile.

"I'm gonna be five, Mom, I'm basically a grown-up. I'm sure." You laughed at your sassy little girl as you scooped her up. You carried her into her bedroom.

"Okay, which stuffed animal do you wanna bring to Jeff's house?" You both stared at the wide array of plushies.

"I want Peff!" You rolled your eyes as you picked up Peff. He was a fluffy piggy that Jeff gave her on the day they met, her of course naming it 'Piggy Jeff' or Peff for short. She seemed to be infatuated with your boyfriend, but he didn't seem to mind.

You grabbed the small suitcase that had items for the both of you, and locked the door behind you as your daughter lead the way to the car.

When you arrived at Jeff's apartment, your little princess couldn't wait to see him. She unbuckled her car-seat herself, begging you to move faster. She had fun racing you to his door, and doing the special knock they'd come up with together. He opened the door, kneeling down to catch her as she ran into his arms. He stood up, her tiny little arms wrapped around his neck, and leaned over to peck your lips.

"She was very excited to see you." You smiled, shutting the door behind you as you entered his apartment.

"I missed my little princess, too." He kissed her forehead and put her down, knowing she was eager to pet Nerf.

"I also missed you." He wrapped his arms around your waist, bringing you in for a real kiss. Once he let you go, he grabbed the suitcase you were holding and took it into his room.

"I wanna meet Jeff's friends!" She tugged at your shirt, causing you to remember what all you'd promised her. A birthday weekend at Jeff's apartment, hanging out with Jeff's friends, and a birthday picnic in the park.

"I know, baby, but we gotta get lunch first." You reminded her about lunch as she glared at you.

"Princess, not baby. Jeff calls you baby." She corrected you.

"That's right, Princess." Jeff walked back into the living room. "What do you wanna get for lunch?"

"I want grilled cheese." She hugged Jeff's leg.

"Oh yeah, she's decided she doesn't wanna eat animals anymore, so we're gonna have to eat all the chicken nuggets in the freezer." You joked with Jeff.

"She's right, animals don't deserve that." He agreed with her.

"So everyone's a vegetarian now?" You admired your two favorite humans.

"Nah, steak tastes too good." Jeff smiled at you.

You all three headed to Jeff's car, Jeff of course carrying the little princess the whole way.

"She can walk, in case you forgot." You reminded him. You noticed her cling tighter to Jeff's neck.

"It's her birthday weekend, let her be pampered." He smiled, completely spoiling your adorable daughter.

You stopped at a little diner to eat, and then you were finally on the way to David's house. She had heard about David, and already seemed to love him, but you didn't know if she would like any of Jeff's other friends. You've hung out with them on numerous occasions, but something about bringing your daughter with you made you nervous.

"This house is pretty." Your daughter looked out the window towards David's massive house.

"Yeah, David's got a lot of pretty stuff." Jeff said as he turned the car off. He carried the little princess inside, sliding her shoes off and throwing them atop his own as he yelled for David.

"Oh my God, hiiiiiiii!" David almost melted when he saw your daughter. "I'm David." He smiled at her.

"I'm Princess." She stuck out her hand, her wrist bent.

"You gotta kiss her hand now." Jeff told David, leaning the kid in his arms more towards him. David kissed her hand as you spoke.

"She's only this spoiled around Jeff, I promise." You assured him. She reached her arms out towards David, latching onto his neck instead of Jeff.

"You get to carry me now." She said to him, he was surprised by the weight of the child.

"Tomorrow's also her birthday, so I'm spoilin' her a little extra." Jeff pulled her off of him, setting her on the ground. She immediately walked over to the table, grabbing David's camera.

"No, no, no, don't touch that!" David reprimanded her.

"No she loves to vlog, you should turn it on, she won't break it I promise." You tell David.

"She told me she wants to be a vlogger when she grows up." Jeff laughed as David walked over to the tot. He turned the camera on and pressed RECORD.

"Hi, I'm Princess, welcome to my castle." She pointed the heavy camera towards herself. "I'm gonna give you a castle tour . . ." She continued on, Jeff following her towards Natalie's room.

"She's hilarious." David said to you.

"Is she the newest member of the vlog squad then?" You laughed, sitting on the couch.

"Yeah, she can replace Jonah." You both laughed in unison. "I'm surprised you let me near her, let alone Jeff." David said, grabbing his laptop.

"He's my boyfriend, why wouldn't he be near her?" You were utterly confused. David looked at you as if you were stupid.

"He's an ex-convict. Ex-drug dealer. Probably a bad influence for a toddler." He said. You were astounded by his idocracy.

"Yeah, keyword being ex-" You took a deep breath before you blew up. "He has been to jail and he used to sell drugs, but he's different now. Now he's a good person. He is sweet to me and my kid. He takes care of us. He is the best Dad she's ever had, and they're not even related. He loves her, and she loves him, and I would never separate them because of some stupid mistakes he made years ago."

David looked dumbfounded.

"Oh my God, you're adorable." Natalie followed your daughter back out into the living room, Jeff not too far behind. Perfect timing.

"Isn't she?" Jeff agreed, his eyes filled with love for your child.

"And this is my sleep-pod. All you do is jump in and it swallows you while you sleep." She pointed the camera at David's LoveSac. Her attention shifted as the front door opened, running to meet whoever was at the door.

"No running!" You called after her, not wanting her to get hurt.

"Hi, I'm Princess, I'm a vlogger." She pointed the camera up towards Heath and Mariah's faces.

"Aww, hi!" They both cooed at her, happy to see a cute little face. They introduced themselves, Heath of course being forced to kiss her hand.

"Hey, I'm sorry. What I said was really rude." David leaned over and apologized while everyone was paying attention to the little princess.

"What'd he say?" Jeff asked you.

"I'll tell you later, don't worry about it." Your hand laced with his.

The same sort of hand-kiss introduction thing happened all evening as more and more friends showed up. David filmed a few cute bits with your daughter, and she loved every second of it. She found some pizza in the fridge, splitting a slice with Jeff before falling asleep on his chest.

"Thank you for being such a good 'Dad' to her." You kissed Jeff, really appreciating everything he does.

"It's no problem, I love her, and I love you. Plus the single moms really love the Hot Dad at the playground." He joked with you. You made a fake 'shocked' expression before laughing.

"Hey, keep talking like that and I'm gonna be a single mom." You smiled at him, happy with the little family you had created.

#jeff wittek imagine #jeff imagine #jeff x reader #jeff #jeff wittek #david #david x reader #david dobrik imagine #david dobrik imagines #david dobrik #davids vlogs #vloge squad imagines #vlog squad imagine #vlog squad #natalie mariduena #natalie #vlogsquad natalie #heath hussar #mariah amato