#it’s genuinely so sincere and organic the way their thoughts on each other haven’t changed but their feelings have

[juliandrws]

Jacob saying “We tried everything to bring [Ava] back” and Janine immediately knowing exactly what they should’ve done to “cure” her vs. Jacob saying “I think it just got too hard [for Janine]” and Ava not only immediately shutting that down (because nothing is too hard for Janine!), but knowing exactly what to say to “cure” her

that’s it, that’s the post

#abbott elementary spoilers #avanine #sorry for spamming the brain rot is kicking in #like ok regardless of whether or not you ship them #it’s genuinely so sincere and organic the way their thoughts on each other haven’t changed but their feelings have #does that make any sense??? #something about I Can Fix Her #something about love meaning to believe in someone and never give up on them #side note I’m in the process of giffing these parallels but Idk which Ava scene to go with

[paranaturalpop]

I rate your pnat ships by how well they work as foils

I’m Professor Pops, welcome to Literature 405: comparing and contrasting in pnat ships. Love is in the air but all that really matters is narrative symmetry!

Mina and Agent Day (submitted by @anxanhh)

two women on missions who need a confidante. 

Mina is a calculating woman of science with a tender, vulnerable heart deep down that she guards. Day is a fun, giggly love goddess but beneath the surface she is just as calculating.  

They are both focused on their prospective goals to the point of subterfuge. 

They have similar missions, to solve the many mysteries of Mayview, but they’re at odds instead of working together. Will these lone wolves learn to let their walls down and work towards a common goal? 

Their spectral energies are complementary colors!!!!!!!!!!!! 

9/10 so different yet so alike. They should kiss and also develop as people.

Spendcia

Where's that post about paranatural having what my hero academia wants?

These two had interacted in cannon only once before we found out they were dating, power move on Zack’s part

The cousinhood and the consortium seem to have bad blood…. Enemies to lovers????

As teachers, Garcia is tired and phoning it in while spender is energetic and committed. But when it comes to mystery solving Spender is burning himself out while Garcia keeps him grounded.

Garcia does things like pack spender lunches with little hearts drawn on the bag but was surprised to be called his boyfriend. He acts chill but inside he is deeply invested in spender but also knows about spender’s isolating tendencies. 

8/10 there's a reason these two have been off and on again for 6ish years, they’re walking a tightrope of vulnerability.

Imaax (submitted by Rubyya)

The Destiel of Paranatural. No I will not elaborate.

Here’s a pnat history lesson, the original ship name was Maxaac, but Zack weighed in on twitter with a much better alternative: Imaax. Also sometimes called Team Lightning Rod. 

Black and blue colors, just like the emotional bruises they leave on the people around them. 

Isaac wants to be seen as heroic and Max wants to be seen as aloof. It presents in different ways but deep down they both really care what other people think.

They both fear sincerity. Isaac protects himself with theatrics and Max with sarcasm. 

Isaac puts on a big show of having strong ethics but he’s a little mean on instinct. Max puts on a big show of cutting people down with his snark and devil-may-care attitude, but when push comes to shove he’s kind and cares how other people feel. 

Max immediately insults every person he meets and they still want to be best friends with him, while Issac tries so hard to be cool and nice but people just can’t stand him. 

The meta tension between Isaac, who wants so badly to be the protagonist, and Max “magnetic personally” Puckett who is exhausted with being the protagonist, is delicious. 

There’s a reason official art tends to portray them together. They bring out the best in each other. Isaac brakes through Max’s performative pessimism and Max brings Isaac down to earth. 

10/10 these two were written as a pair and it shows.

Suzabel (submitted by Rubyya)

One of my fav tropes is ‘enemies to friends’ where the enemy part is completely one-sided. Isabel probably thinks she and Suzy get along great. 

Both the heads of their respective clubs, but with very different leadership styles. 

Isabel only studies her grandfather's spectral style to please him and is a near master of it, while Suzy is incredibly self-motivated even though her actual skills are lacking. 

Isabel is at a crucial time in her life where she’s learning to distance herself from adult authority figures in order to take on more personal responsibility. Suzy is already blazing with independence and could help her adjust. 

Inversely, Isabel could teach Suzy a thing or two about treating your club members with respect and doing the emotional labor necessary to prevent future conflict. 

Red and pink! Valentines colors! 

Isabel could kill you but would never, Suzy would actually try to kill you. 

Investigative reporter/person living mysterious double life is a great dynamic.

Back when Izzy had Eightfold they had the ship name ‘Paper Girls’ which is awesome

7/10 Don’t ask me how I know this but they would kill at karaoke together. And they’re ok foils.

Bullymagnet

Max ‘too cool for clubs’ vs a boy who defines himself by his tight knit group. 

Max is learning to be less passive aggressive and johnny is learning to be less aggressive aggressive. 

Max’s entry to spectral life was when he injured Johnny and saw a shade of a doctopi on him, and Johnny's first shade was Max's doctopi after the hit ball game. 

Johnny refuses to commit to not bullying max anymore even though he really likes him, and max is working on being nicer but he’s still gonna be snarky with people even though they’re his friends. Old habits die hard. 

If he hadn't seen that shade, Max might have joined Johnny's gang. He has the style, the stunts, the snark. 

8/10 Just two bros whose lives are changing forever.

Isaac and Dimitri (submitted by Rubyya)

Here’s my pitch for a ship name: Brainstorm

Orange and blue are complementary colors. 

Isaac hurt Dimitri accidentally somehow. Hurting others accidentally is the central theme of chapter 5. 

Idealist/pragmatist is a classic dynamic

They both have relationships with their spirit partners that are rooted in fear. 

Dimitri’s self concept is overly dependent on his sense of intellectual superiority, and Isaac’s on ethical superiority. 

7/10 have not directly interacted in the comic yet but the narrative symmetry is there

Johnny and Isabel (submitted by Rubyya)

Burnhound Vs Shockadile

These two are natural leaders who know how to treat their friends with respect.

These jocks are both lethal weapons, but while Isabel is a master martial artist, Johnny is a passionate but blunt instrument.

They’re both going through similar identity crises.

Isabel is struggling to reconcile her violent and disciplined upbringing with a good, gentle heart and Johnny is trying to reconcile his violent and self-centered lifestyle with a developing respect and empathy for other people.

Johnny dies his hair red, so he would think it’s cool how Izzy emits a fiery red aura when excited.

8/10 there's a reason these two were the team leaders in the hit ball arch.

Violet and Lisa (submitted by Rubyya)

People have been theorizing about what kind of cryptid Lisa is since day one meanwhile Violet gives off big normie energy.

Lisa is very plugged into all the Mayview weirdness as the queen of the school underground, while Violet was the only person who thought to go get a teacher during the hit ball arch. Lisa was also the only one who really spoke openly about how something was clearly very wrong with Jeff, everyone else talked around it and played by the so called ‘rules’. Lisa’s secret brokering Vs. Violet’s ‘sunlight is the best disinfectant’ attitude presents two different approaches to trying to survive in a school run by a mysterious shadow organization within a town that contains several other mysterious shadow organizations.

“If you were, I’d have to be jealous too.” just two middle schoolers pinning over their crushes.

7/10 two girls against the world.

Isaac and Johnny

ship name: Firestorm?

Just 2 fiery redheaded mediums with anger management issues that command primal forces and wanna be best friends with max

Johnny chooses to have red spiky hair, Issac has had red spiky hair thrust upon him.

Both met Maxwell Pucket and decided they needed to change for the better.

I’ve said this before but Johnny and Issac have equal and opposite philosophies. Johnny doesn't care about the greater good, he just cares about a small group of people who he loves. Issac cares about the greater good, but can’t connect with individuals and ends up hurting them. Together they form one GoodTM boy.

Both their spirit partners want revenge on Spender. This spells trouble.

If there’s anyone to teach Isaac about unconditional friendship, it’s Johnny

Isaac has sworn off violence and Johnny worships at the altar of it.

9/10 they’ve only interacted in canon once so far but I’ve think we’ve got a big storm coming.

Suzy and Collin (submitted by Rubyya)

The Bakudeku of pnat. I will continue to not elaborate.

Suzy once stole Collin's phone which prompted Collin to try to cut her hair which prompted Suzy to stab Collin and at no point did either of them think to move to a different bus seat. As different as they are they are also very much the same.

Collin is the definition of mouth service (constantly disapproving of suzy’s antics but going along with it anyway.) while suzy is all action.

Despite their different attitudes they both seem genuinely passionate about the journalism club.

Fashion icons. Suzy’s sunglasses and legwarmers, Collins sweater vests and wrist bands, this duo could walk for Paris fashion week: middle school edition.

We’ve gotten an indication that Collin cares a lot about what Suzy thinks of him (taking off his wrist bands when she made fun of Max's) but we haven't gotten any sign yet that the feelings are mutual.

5/10 I think their story is yet to be told and we’ll get to know more about how they compare/contrast to each other in the future. Maybe brought on by Dimitri's betrayal?????

Cody and Isabel (Submitted by @a-bitchtm)

Cody is gay by WOG but that doesn't matter here since we are evaluating thematic compatibility, not romantic compatibility.

Red Vs. Blue

Izzy’s arch about stepping into her role as leader through communication and honesty contrasts Cody’s role as the secret class president. Izzy finally told Isaac the truth about the consortium, while Cody blatantly lied to max about being president.

Both seem to have generally good motivations and the skills/talent to back those motivations up.

Isabel is in the process of unlearning the ‘firm hand’ philosophy that she learned from her grandpa and Cody’s dad straight up tried to mind control him into murdering a toddler.

They were both taught to fall back on their capacity for violence and intimidation but those teachings conflict with the people they really want to be.

6/10 just two kids who are being led astray by authority figures trying to learn to be themselves.

Cody and Collin (Submitted by @gatortavern)

They both like vests.

Both beholden to blood thirsty predators

Collin is a journalist, Cody is a vampire/leader of the shadow government. It’s a huge power move on Cody’s part to hang out with Collin.

Cody’s support of his friends is enthusiastic while Collin would have you believe Suzy has kidnapped him.

4/10 they hang out for a reason but those reasons have yet to be fully developed

Isabel and Max (submitted by @Paranatural-goofiness)

They’re both people who have learned to put up walls to keep people out. Isabel through violence and intimidation, max through sarcasm and mockery. T

he other side of this is their mutual journey to let their walls down and connect with other people more genuinely, starting with each other.

Their search for acceptance and identity has led them both to become incredible athletes. Spectral fist martial arts = shred eagle stunts

As we saw in the hit ball game, Izzy faces things head on while Max is all about evasion. However we’ve seen how Izzy has actually learned to be evasive and guarded about her feelings while Max is a little more forthcoming.

8/10  Never has there been faster friends.

Isaac and Cody (submitted by Rubyya)

Drama kings

Isaac wants the likability Cody has.

Parallels of power: Isaac with power he didn't choose and cant control vs. Cody who also didn’t choose to have his power (elected), but wields it like an instrument.

Involuntary anime hair and involuntary glowing monster eyes

These two definitely both fall under the category of “lawful”.

I can see these two ending up on opposite sides of a conflict because they both have such rigid personal codes and an intense sense of duty.

I know I’ve been approaching almost all of these platonically but Isaac probably really wants a cool vampire boyfriend deep down

 7/10 Unstoppable force, meet immovable object. You two should watch anime together.

Hijack and PJ (submitted by @gatortavern)

They both wanna join the activity club so bad

Both have immature ideas about heroism and villainy. 

Both aspire to heroism while at the same time understanding that they aren't that yet and maybe never will be. 

They both, like many people in this comic, wanna be friends with max.  

5/10 Two supernatural babies who should play wii sports together

Stephen and Isaac (@Gatortavern)

Two boys who are easily overwhelmed

Lawful vs. chaotic

Isaac has enough secrets to give Stephen his conspiracy fix for a long time. 

In their own ways they both just want everything out in the open. 

Isaac is Stephen's dream, someone actually living a secret double life, and Stephen is Issac's dream, someone with a cool scar who would think he’s actually very interesting. 

5/10 these two are both very intense in their own way.

Johnny and Ed (Submitted by @theevilbrainman)

Two souls lost in the wind

Two people for whom friendship and loyalty is central to their character, and they’re both struggling with personal growth because of it. Johnny is afraid to change because his friends have always liked the person he already is, and Ed is struggling to even define himself outside of Isabel, the person he cares about the most. 

Both impulsive and uninhibited. 

They both live lives free from expectation. Johnny’s wild bully persona means no one is surprised by his antics or cruelty, while Grandpa Guerra doesn't really care if Ed takes up phantom fist like Isabel. He actually calls him a freeloader. Not having much expected of you can feel free but it’s also lonely and can warp your self-perception. 

6/10 these two crossed paths at exactly the right time.

I didn't cover every submission because even though only 9 people submitted you sent in 34 ships between you. Pnat’s fanbase is small but very dedicated. 

Honorable mentions: 

Johnny and clear sinuses, submitted by @gaul-the-unmitigated

Isaac and therapy, submitted by both @squidgeons and @somethingfishysgoingon

PJ and Johnny, submitted by @gatortavern, who seems to be under the impression that Johnny Would protect PJ and not destroy him just by breathing near him.

Day and Scabs, submitted by @gatortavern, because funny.

Special thanks to everyone who sent in ship between people who have never interacted in cannon, which was a lot of you. My eyes are opened now, so many possibilities.

#paranatural #pnat #q #ships #valentines #dr. zarei/agent day #imaax #spendcia #suzabel #bullymagnet #shipping #pnat spoilers

[ladyblogger-margie]

Permit Pending - Part 8

Summary: Will asks you to wake up extra early for a special surprise adventure. 

Word Count: 2557

Warnings: M (Making out, References to sex) 

a/n: This is tooth rotting fluff and the conclusion to the series! Thank you all for being on this journey with me. 

Series Master List

Early Riser 

The two of you were cleaning up after dinner as was your usual routine. Will would never go to bed with the dishes still in the sink. You definitely have helped to loosen him up a bit and bring some variety to his routine, but some things, like his cleanliness and organization, have definitely started to rub off on you in return. You really felt that you both had brought out the best in each other, it was the main reason you two worked so well together. 

Bob Dylan’s “Wedding Song,” played softly in the background. You and Will had listened to it in his truck during your third date, and you’ve held it in your heart ever since. On bad days, he’d hold you close and whisper the lyrics in your ear. If he had a nightmare, you put the song on repeat and hold him close until he falls back to sleep. 

When the song ended, Will said your name, and as always when your name touched his lips it made you feel warm inside. Your name wasn’t the only thing he said though. 

“Will you wake up with me early tomorrow?” Will asked you. His palms were sweaty but his voice was steady. 

“Why?” You asked, confused. It was the weekend, there was nothing written on the calendar to do, Benny didn’t even have a fight that weekend. 

“I have something planned, but you’ll need to wake up really early,” Will responded vaguely. 

“Can I wear pyjamas?” You joked. 

“I was thinking you could wear that outfit you just got. The one you ordered online because you thought it was cute but had nowhere to wear it?” he turned his back to you and plunged his hands into the sink to busy himself with the dishes. He hoped his little tease about your shopping habit would distract you from the quiver of nerves in his voice. 

Your interest was seriously piqued now. “Why?”

“I told you I have a plan, do you trust me?” Will asked. He turned back to you and looked straight into your eyes with his own piercing blue ones. He looked so vulnerable, so sincere in that moment you literally felt your heart skip a beat and you knew that you did, unequivocally, trust him. 

“Okay, count me in.”

“It’ll be worth it,” he said, returning to his dishes, “I’ll even get you your Starbucks usual.”

“Is that a bribe?” you teased.

“If the shoe fits” he quips as he flashes you a dangerous smile before returning to his task. 

You watch his muscular back as he scrubs the pot and you tried hard to think about what was so special about tomorrow that you seemed to have forgotten. But nothing came to mind, you decided just to let it go and see what tomorrow would bring. 

You started to regret your promise to wake up so early the moment your alarm rang the next morning. You groaned as you rolled over, reaching to Will’s side of the bed, groaning louder when you found it empty. No matter how early you woke up, it seemed that Will was always awake before you. 

“Morning, sweetheart,” Will’s voice reached you from across the room. 

You blinked your eyes open and saw him in the doorway, leaning against the frame. 

“Oh thank god,” you moaned and you reached out. 

“I’m here, you okay?” Will asked, suddenly concerned and hurrying to your side. 

“You brought coffee,” you sighed, grabbing your usual order from Will’s hand eagerly. He ducks down for a kiss, but you refuse him until you take your first sip. 

He pulls the cup from your hands and you pout, “A kiss, please,” he said, holding your drink hostage. 

“You’re mean,” you pouted. 

He grabbed his chest in mock pain, “Just give me a kiss, darlin’, and I promise you’ll get your coffee back.”

You indulge him, and felt your weariness melt away as he pressed his lips to yours. You leaned into him, hungry and suddenly very awake. He broke the kiss before you were ready and handed you back your coffee. 

“Come on and get ready, we’re on a schedule,” he said stepping away and dragging you to your feet delicately. 

“How can you be so chipper when it’s still dark out?” you asked, dragging yourself through your morning routine. 

“Because I love you so much,” he said, he wasn’t biting at your little digs this morning, the genuineness of him so thorough you felt off balanced. He seemed serious and you weren’t sure why. 

Finally ready, he slipped your hat with his name stitched in the side onto your head and led you to the truck where he let you in the passenger side. You were suddenly reminded of the first day you had met him, the door thing, the Starbucks in your hands, it was all coming back in an inexplicable rush. 

When he climbed into the cab beside you his hand went immediately to your thigh, and you were reminded of his touch on your first date on your way to Benny’s fight. The nostalgia of it all was starting to feel overwhelming as you stared at Will, lost in how much you loved him. 

He drove you in the dark of the early morning through the sleeping town and you realized you were on your way to City Hall. 

“Am I in trouble?” you asked when he pulled into the parking lot of your job. 

“Why would you say that?” Will asked as he let you out of the passenger side and helped you step down from the truck. 

“Why am I at work at the ass-crack of dawn on a Saturday?” you asked as he crowded you against the side of his truck. 

“This is where we first met,” Will explained, “And it’s where I knew I wanted to do this.”

He interrupted himself to kiss you, gently but purposely with your back against the hood of his truck. 

You kissed him back, confused but eager. 

When he pulled back you said, “You know, I spent that whole day hoping you would ask me out,”

“Is that right?” he said with a classic half smile on his face that was endearingly him.

“Yup. Even lingered here, giving you one last chance.”

“Well I blew that, didn’t I?” he joked.

“Coming back the next day was a nice surprise,” you said, “I wouldn’t change anything.”

The corner of his mouth turned up again, and the smile lines around his eyes deepened as he leaned in to kiss you again. 

He pulled away before you were finished and checked his watch, “Exactly on time. You ready for our next stop?”

You nodded with your brow furrowed, still not understanding the plot of the day. Though you were fully enjoying the trip down memory lane, why it had to happen in the dark you weren’t totally sure. You continued to rack your brain wondering if there was an anniversary, or romantic holiday you had missed that he was pulling out all the stops for. Will really was more romantic than people gave him credit for. He had a soft side to him only you truly knew. 

Will let you in the passenger side before he climbed behind the wheel and took you to your next location. He pulled into the park with all the soccer fields you had taken him the first day you met.

“I thought we could check the nets for holes,” he explained as he led you towards the field.

“You remember what I was doing the first day we met?” you asked.

“I remember everything,” he said and he kissed you on the top of your head as you walked to the nets for a quick inspection. 

Will watched you inspect the nets and smiled to himself. He knew you were trying so hard to figure out what was going on, but we’re coming up short. 

“All good?” he called to you from the sidelines.

You nodded and yelled back, “All clear.” 

Will looked around and as expected he had you all alone to himself. He caught you in his arms and kissed you slowly, but deliberately. He felt you tremble slightly under his touch as he pulled you to the ground on top of him, and he chuckled at your adorable squeal of surprise. 

“I love you,” Will said softly. 

“I love you too,” you replied as you straddled his hips and squeezed him with your thighs. 

You leaned in and kissed him. You grabbed the side of his face as you did and ran your thumbs across his cheeks. You broke the kiss and looked into his eyes; you could swim forever in the blue eyes of the man you loved, get infinitely lost in the love you saw there looking back at you. 

“What are we doing out here in the dark, William Miller?,” you asked, unable to help yourself. 

He laughed, his eyes crinkling but never fully breaking away from yours. 

“I’m actually surprised you haven’t guessed,” he admitted. 

You humphed and he rolled you onto your back so he was hovering above you. 

“The day is just getting started,” he kissed you quickly, knocking your hat off your head in his enthusiasm.

You wouldn’t let him rush you, he’d done plenty of that already this morning. You held him tight and kissed him, just making out for a while. You smiled through your kiss, and could feel him do that same. Will was an excellent kisser and you loved wasting hours just simply kissing him. To be fair, more often than not things would escalate and one or both of you would end up naked, but sometimes kissing was enough. He felt like home to you, and you loved any opportunity to be close to him. 

Eventually though he broke away and helped you to your feet. 

“Come on, still have a couple stops to make before the sun comes up,” he said, more jittery than you had ever seen him. 

He wrapped an arm around you and walked you back to the truck. 

When he pulled into the parking lot of the park where you two had previously committed acts of vandalism by removing the anti-homeless architecture, he watched you wrack your brain and come up short. 

“Can’t figure it out yet?” he chuckled.

“Coffee hasn’t kicked in I guess,” you said, “I feel like the answer is really obvious, but I just can’t see it.”

“Just trust me, it’ll make sense after the next stop, I promise,” Will told you. 

You did trust him, so you nodded and shook your head as he helped you out of the truck. He led you over to a bench near the center of the park, carrying his tool kit.

“Want to piss off some city planning guys?” he asked.

“Always,” you laughed and together you liberated the bench from its oppressive bar. After you removed it, you ran your fingers over the inscription plaque in the middle of the bench.

“I love the inscriptions,” you sighed, “The personal ones always make me cry in the best way.”

“I know,” Will said and you felt seen, understood. 

You headed back to the truck as Will checked his watch, “We’re right on time.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything else from you, Miller,” you teased.

“Since I’ve been with you, I’ve been late a few times,” he rebutted causing you to flush and smirk. Most of those late times were absolutely sex related and you loved how flustered it made him to try and explain to someone why the ever punctual Will Miller was late. 

Will pulled into the final stop of his grand gesture tour - your favourite park. He watched your face light up at your arrival and knew he chose the right spot for the occasion. 

He walked you to your favourite bench between the grass and the sand just as the sun was rising over the lake, bathing the whole park in a glorious orange light. Together you stood behind the bench and looked out across the water. 

“Okay, that view really is beautiful,” you said looking out over the sunrise, “I’m starting to see the appeal of the ass-crack of dawn.”

Will looked at you and said, “The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

Together you watched the sunrise for a few minutes. Will had his arms around you as he hugged you from behind with his chin resting on your shoulder. Your hands were on his forearms crossed at your hips and you leaned back into, enjoying the view and the company. 

He kissed your cheek and gently spun you around to face him. 

“I have something to show you,” he said as he led you in front of the bench and pointed to a brand new inscription plaque,

You saw the plaque had your name on it and beneath that it read, “Dried the tears up from my dreams and pulled me from the hole. I love you more than ever.” 

“Bob Dylan, right?” you whispered. 

Tears of love and joy sprang to your eyes as you ran your fingers over the plaque. You turned with the intention of asking Will for an explanation, but you lost your words when you saw him on one knee in front of you, an open ring box in his outstretched hand. 

“Will you marry me?” he asked simply, his voice thick with emotion, his blue eyes open and full of adoration. 

You nodded vigorously, “Yes, yes Will Miller, I’ll marry you.”

He slipped the ring on your finger before he kissed you so passionately you were pulled off your feet. You both smiled hard into your kiss as you ran your fingers through his short hair and he gripped your hips tightly. 

Eventually you broke apart so you pulled him down to your bench and tucked under his arm. You watched the sunrise together, kissing, talking, kissing some more as you admired both the view and your new ring with warm hearts.

As you sat there, Will kept his arms around you, clinging to you. You’d said yes and he knew you two had a lifetime to come of days on this bench he had dedicated to you. He was going to spend his life with a woman who was smart, strong, and beautiful. No matter what challenges arose in the future, he knew he was going to be okay because he had you. 

You sat there in Will’s embrace soaking it all in, reflecting on how thoughtful and perfect a proposal Will had given you. Later you knew you’d go home and fuck each other slowly in every room of your home and fall asleep in the early afternoon sun of your shared bed to recover from your early morning. Then for dinner you’d have the boys and Maria over for celebratory drinks and your family would spend the night together laughing, dancing, drinking, and making a ruckus. 

But for now it was just the two of you on your bench and you breathed in every minute of your time alone together. You were ready to spend your life with the man who loved you more than anything in the world, and who you loved just the same. 

The End.

#will miller x f!reader #triple frontier #triple frontier fanfiction #william ironhead miller x F!Reader #william ironhead miller #Permit Pending Part 8 #charlie hunnam

[horrorslashergirl]

May I request another part of Another chance to start off?

Chromeskull x Reader- Another chance to start off Part 4

Authors Note: This oneshot that turned into a story. I almost forgot about it. Also adding some Jesse Childhood Ideas because why not? 

Warnings: 18+ because of childhood abuse and disturbing themes about little Jesse

Words: 1.7k

Part 1 here 

Part 2 here

Part 3 here

It's been two months and you still haven't heard anything from your so-called 'hero' other than the fact that he was on business as his assistant, Spann, called it. That left you to take care of your baby, but still no ability to go out of his place, save for the huge lawn around the palatial villa that you now resided in.

You didn't know anything about this man, and Spann refused to give you any details because it wasn't her place to spoke of such personal details, and according to her, it was his business to tell you, leaving you with tons of question about Jesse, at last, you knew his name.

Considering how much of a serious and sophisticated security system he had, you could only guess he was an important man. You took liberties when your little buddle of joy was sleeping to explore the villa. You agreed that his favorite colors were black, white, and accents of silver chrome and he definitely had an affiliation with skulls, and he had very expensive tastes in everything down from his cars to his clothes to the smallest things.

You were currently sitting on an armchair next to the crib of your baby waiting for your daughter to wake up and feed her.

--------------------------------------------------

Jesse Cromeans had a lot of issues and as big as his 6'7 tall frame he was a handful package; a bad temper, certain sadistic urges, a sassy attitude that made tons of enemies, not like any of them dared to go against him, but little people to probably none knew the whole story behind who he truly was.

One who was very observant could possibly tell that Jesse had mommy issues, considering his victims were all female, save for the brown-nosing males that were just collateral victims.

As a little boy, he was very shy, and his muteness didn't help him either. His family was always a mystery to most who knew him, but none dared to ask him about his relatives, not like in the present he had any. He didn't know his father, and he was always curious as a little boy about who his daddy was.

His mother, from the remaining memories, was a very beautiful woman, giving birth at a young age of twenties to little Jesse. His father didn't want to take the responsibility of raising a child, especially a disabled one, so he pretty much vanished after his mother gave birth to Jesse.

She was still young and clueless about raising a child, alas she took the responsibility and tried, for three years until she was diagnosed with bone cancer. Young mother at the flower of age with such a severe form of cancer was definitely a nightmare and it only persisted until Jesse was six and she died, leaving him to what he knew was the grandfather of his own daddy.

When Jesse asked his grandfather about his dad, the old man simply said that he shouldn't worry about dead bodies like that. His grandfather was a mortician, owning a funeral home company, that left Jesse with spending most of his time there, with the corpses. At first, he was just playing in the hallways, until he got curious and walked into a room, his brown innocent eyes widening at the scene.

That really scarred his mind, his grandfather on top of a dead woman's body...

It only turned worse when his legal guardian, his grandfather getting the full rights of raising Jesse, indulged the little boy into these activities; the first body being that of his own mother.

That not scarred his mind, it destroyed his psychical health.

That was the start of creating a beast, the beast he was today.

Probably that's why he was drawn to you; you were much younger than he was. What you didn't knew was that ever since you were brought to his place you have been monitored day and night. He loved to watch you nurture your baby, take care of the little human that was made of purity and innocence.

He kind of felt jealous in a way, because he wanted the same affection.

Definitely mommy issues.

Who could really blame him? He didn't exactly have a woman type to look up at, and girls were definitely a subject that was tough for him. In his teen years, girls were looking more up to the loud, obnoxious, and confident ones.

Since he started hitting puberty, he grew in height, and grew, and grew. He was a tall and lanky kind of guy, perhaps very awkward, but very intelligent, despite not getting credit for it.

With girls it was a different story, they didn't have the patience with him and his signing. His teenage years were full of nicknames because of his height, girls making fun of him, teasing him, but not in the cute kind way. He slowly started to realize why his grandfather had certain tastes in...women.

If they are dead, they cannot hurt you. Simple.

Still, from time to time he had that starving for affection, someone to be genuinely there for him.

He remembered after he finished high school...He left his hometown and after years of college and slowly but successfully starting his own business, he changed. The lanky and awkward guy bloomed into a ferocious and manipulative mastermind; pale skin by each year filled with more ink, muscles filling his lanky figure.

Jesse changed.

At first, it felt weird to have such control, but once he got that taste, he never wanted to let it go.

Back in the present days, Jesse didn't know what to think of you; he was probably pitying you, although that was highly unlike him. He pities none but seeing you watch over your offspring like a protective mother made his heartbeat in a way he didn't know it was possible.

He took a sip of his whiskey as he looked at the computer screen; tomorrow he will get back home to you and perhaps get to an arrangement, after all, you were wearing his family name.

------------------------------------------------------

It was morning, but you were awake for three hours, now you just finished feeding your daughter and she closed her eyes; after all, it was still the period of the baby that she needed more sleep than an adult, so you tucked her in, smiling at her angelic face.

You heard the door slightly open and turned around, expecting Spann, but you were surprised to see Jesse, your eyes quickly turning into a slight glare, getting in front of the baby's crib like a shielding mother lion.

Jesse found many things attractive on a female, but this was definitely something that triggered a more primal part of his male instincts. There was just something mesmerizing about a mother that protects her baby.

He pulled out his phone to type.

'We need to talk.' the electronic voice spoke, making you furrow your brows.

Despite wanting to give him a piece of your mind, you learned from your past relationship, if you could call it that, that yelling and throwing tantrums won't solve a problem, so you nodded, taking a glance at your baby, not exactly feeling like leaving.

'Spann will look over her while we discuss.' he spoke through the phone.

You followed him downstairs to his study, opening the door for you to enter then closing it to have privacy. You sat down on one of the armchairs in front of his desk, while he took his designated place behind the huge black desk.

'I know things have been inconvenient.'

You snorted at that.

"More like very chaotic. Look...I am very mad by this whole kidnapping-owning thing, but I also knew I should be grateful to you for saving me from my now dead abusive husband, which reminds me....You killed him...and it didn't look like it was your first time." you spoke in a firm voice.

Jesse smirked at that. Smart one...That's good.

'Then I should probably let you know everything.'

He began to explain everything, down from his facade chroming business to the real deal of the organization, everything about killing, snuff films, and piggies. It was like someone was telling you a horror story, leaving you shocked and disgusted.

"Great....so basically now I am involved in a mafia kind of thing." you sarcastically said, rubbing your forehead in exasperation.

'You can take it like that.' He waved it off, shrugging.

You sighed, then looked at him.

"What will happen to me?" you asked, pursing your lips into a thin line.

'Nothing. If I wanted you dead, you would have been from that night we meet.'

"That really relaxes me." you snorted, crossing your arms over your chest.

'I will protect you and your daughter.'

That surprised you. Why was he so willing to help a woman he barely knew and her baby? You tried to find an answer yourself but decided to ask him and his answer was ever more so intriguing you.

'No child deserves to grow without parents.'

He looked like he knew what he meant, perhaps he went through the same ordeal, without family, but it was too early to ask him such sensitive topics since you didn't know each other that good.

"So, you basically want me as your wife?" you asked in amusement, but his look showed that he was serious.

'I'm not forcing you. It's your choice.'

You huffed then decided.

"Probably too early...Can I, at last, get to know my future husband?" you asked, sassiness dripping from your voice, but behind it, it was sincerity.

Jesse was to say it, surprised by your words, and couldn't help but give you a toothy grin. He got up from his chair and walked towards you. You got up as well and were a little nervous when he was just inches away from you, his fingers typing on his phone.

'Tonight. Dinner. Spann will babysit your daughter. You need some quality time.'

You thought a little about it and decided that everyone deserved a chance to start off.

"Yes. I would like that."

Jesse smirked in victory and leaned down to kiss you, only for your index finger to press gently against his scarred lips.

"Don't push your luck." you said with a cheeky smile, making him chuckle silently.

Yes, indeed everyone deserved another chance to start off.

#Chromeskull #chromeskull x reader #Laid to rest 2009 #Chromeskull: Laid to rest 2 #jesse cromeans #jesse cromeans x reader #slasher x reader #horror movies

[maevemarethyu]

The Pack (2/?)

(Not my GIF)

(Bucky Barnes x Reader)

The Night Wolves. New York’s most prolific and secretive gang. Always watching yet somehow always out of reach. Always slipping through the Avengers grasp.

Until they got you.

You were a street rat. A grunt working for the most gruesome group of criminals New York had ever seen.

Captain America wasn’t expecting much when they brought you in, he certainly wasn’t expecting you and his best friend to get along so well. You were a courier, nothing more.

Or so they thought.

Warnings: Violence, Cursing, Talks of Murder, Actual Murder, Talks of Abuse, Kidnapping, Depictions of Abuse, Crude Humor, Sexual Humor, Bucky Barnes (because he needs a warning all in himself), Sad Boi Hours.

You spent the next day and a half sulking in your room as one does when they’re being hunted down by an organization of murderous thugs hellbent of destroying New York City’s peace.

Or, at least you think that’s how one would act if that were happening.

Despite Sam’s attempts at brightening your day and Steve’s encouraging speech, you feel most at ease when Barnes metal hand raps on your door, barely loud enough to be heard and ever so polite.

“It’s almost dinner time. Steve wants to know if you feel up to joining us tonight.” You never thought you’d be able to say that you could hear velvet until you met Bucky Barnes but, you count yourself lucky you can. That man’s voice should be illegal.

You’re about to say no just as you had last night when he speaks again. “Wanda’s coming home tonight.”

You bite back the groan that wants to crawl up your throat. You had made it seem that you were a bit too interested in the Witch. Turning down the opportunity to meet her would definitely raise some suspicions.

Shutting the laptop that had been provided to you, you shuffle to the door before opening it a crack; the mask of Valerie Mason slipping onto your face easily.

“R-Really?” You ask timidly, your voice an octave higher that normal. You have to crane your neck to look into his ocean eyes but, the way he smiles at you makes it worth it. Criminal.

Everything about this man was criminal. Figuratively and literally.

“Yeah. She’s excited for there to be another girl in the compound; especially after-“ His voice trails off and his smile disappears. You didn’t need to ask why. You knew what happened to the Black Widow and Iron Man and everyone else who sacrificed their lives to stop Thanos.

Heroes. Each and every one of them.

You want to resent them for it, you were everything they weren’t but, you couldn’t. Not when you were aware of what would have happened if they didn’t save the day. You’d be dead. Flora and Maeve too.

Even your cat Gracie would have been wiped and that would not have flown with you.

Barnes clears his throat, breaking you out of your thoughts.

“Oh. I-Is there a dress code?” There sure as hell was one at your place but, that was only when there were guests.

“It’s Wanda’s choice. She normally asks us to wear pajamas and watch movies.” If you squinted, you swore that you could see the faintest blush on the man’s face.

A movie night was something you were familiar with and you could appreciate the Scarlet Witch’s way to wind down after a mission but, there was one small problem.

“I don’t actually have any pajamas. I didn’t get to pack a bag before I left.” You mutter, finding it difficult to bite back the Cheshire grin that wanted to grow on your face. If you had your way, the sleeping clothes you would have pack would not have been movie night appropriate.

Maybe you’d show him some day. If he were lucky.

Confusion shines on his handsome face like a beacon and his next words prove to you that Bucky Barnes doesn’t think before he speaks.

“Then what did you sleep in last night?”

Your silence answers his question and the slight blush from before darkens visibly much to your amusement.

“It’s fine I can just-“ Your attempt to put him out of his own misery is thwarted when he coughs suddenly, making you believe he had somehow forgotten how to breathe.

“No! Sorry. Its- Wait here.” He leaves you dazed and confused when he nearly sprints from your door and down the hall.

You have half a mind to close your door and go back to watching Derek Morgan kick down doors but, the other half of your mind was curious to see what the hell Barnes was doing.

The curious side wins out so you open your door fully and poke your head into the hallway just in time to see him emerge from a door down the hall with a dark red bundle in his hands.

Ducking back into your room before he can catch you spying on him, you manage to trip over your own feet and land on the floor with a loud thud. By the time you manage to pull your eyes up from the floor in front of you, Barnes is standing in your doorway, blocking out most of the light from the hall with his hulking frame.

You should be embarrassed but, the first and only thought in your brain is how this was not the way you wanted to end up on your knees for Bucky Barnes.

“You okay?” His worried voice slaps you back into reality and a genuine heat creeps up your face when he offers you his hand. He’s pulling you up before you can fully take in how much larger his hand is than yours.

“I’m good, Sarge.” You huff, looking away from his face with a pout. “Just a klutz is all.”

Once again, the smile he gives you is borderline criminal before he seems to remember why he was here in the first place. His eyes find the floor increasingly interesting as he holds the bundle in his hands out to you and muttering something incomprehensible.

“What was that?” You hum, eager to regain whatever ground you can with the man. Despite it fitting the character of Valerie well, your pride refuses to let you be seen as some easily flustered, pining, girl.

You are Y/N Y/L/N. You do not pine.

“Wanda’s room is locked.” He tries to explain, still refusing to look you in your face. “You can use this.”

Realization creeps into your bones and you have to fight the cat-like grin that tries to grow. Unfolding the admittedly soft bundle, you hold the shirt up against your body.

Forget his hand. The man is huge.

To be safe, you’d wear your leggings under it but, you don’t really feel its necessary. You look back up at Bucky as a faint smile lights your face. He wanted you to wear his shirt.

How disgustingly thoughtful and cute.

“Thank you-“ You trail off, not sure what to really call him; your usual nickname of Sarge didn’t feel right in this situation.

“Bucky.” He supplies, finally looking at you. “You can call me Bucky.”

“Thank you Bucky.” You hope you sound sincere enough to hide your very insincere thoughts. Thankfully he looks none the wiser when your eyes lock onto his.

Logically the next step in this whole awkward exchange would be Bucky excusing himself and leaving so you could get changed but, that doesn’t happen. Instead he stands in your room shuffling from foot to foot.

You let a moment or two pass before speaking up.

“Uh, Bucky?” You begin.

“Yeah?” He perks up at the sound of your voice and a smile creeps onto your face at the sight.

“I kinda need to change and…”

“Shit right. I’ll just…go?” He begins backing out of your room. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Once your door is closed you can’t help but laugh out loud at his cringeworthiness. Who would have thought that the nightmare of villains everywhere like his shirts soft and could barely string a sentence together due too his social awkward nature.

Or maybe it was the decades of HYDRA torture he endured? That wasn’t your baggage to unpack.

Without further ado you strip off your two-day old shirt and pants before hopping into a boiling shower. You vaguely remember reading somewhere that hot showers were bad for both your skin and hair but, obviously the person that wrote that article didn’t understand the pleasure of nearly melting your skin off in the pursuit of cleanliness.

One thing the Stark shower had that yours didn’t was a small screen that allowed you to customize all of your showerly needs- shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, the whole shebang. You tack that onto the list of things to add to your new home once Maeve and Flora get you from this heavenly hellhole.

By the time you exit the shower your skin is hot to the touch and you smell like orange blossoms. The scent sticks to you even after you dry off and slip Barnes’ shirt over your head. It feels even softer than it did in your hands and you relish in it before wondering when the last time you wore someone else’s shirt. It had to have been before the Night Wolves.

Almost six years then.

You pause midway through putting on your leggings. Had it really been that long? You had started the Night Wolves, quite literally, the day after the Snap. You hit the ground running and you haven’t stopped since.

Maybe this month would be good for you. You could think of it as a forced vacation.

Unfortunately for you pausing mid way through putting on your pants has you falling over and ending up on your floor once more. The impact leaves you with a bruise on both your ass and your ego.

“Miss Valerie. Miss Maximoff will be landing in two minutes.” FRIDAY’s voice blips into existence and somehow adds to your embarrassment along with the paranoia that your room was bugged and all of the Avengers just listened and or watched you fall half-naked on your floor.

With the same grace as a newborn deer you manage to finish dressing. Looking up at the ceiling from your position on the floor, you can’t help but wonder what the Scarlet Witch was like. Was she snobby because she knew how powerful she was? Or was she sweet? Or sad?

You’d be sad if you went through what she went through. But, you didn’t. You went through your own shit and you’re angry.

You’re pissed off and spiteful and that spite is what has you walking to your door and pulling it open. You were going to meet the Scarlet Witch, you were going to survive this forced vacation, then you were going back to work, and then you were going to ring those street rats’ necks.

As soon as the hall lights hit your face, you plaster on the most believable mask you can and walk down the hall towards the kitchen you had briefly seen the day Bucky walked you in. Sooner than you had hoped, you hear the voices of both Wilson and Rogers echoing a bit too loudly for your liking.

The talking stops as soon as you enter the room. Much like that day in the interrogation room, you feel like you’re under a microscope as both men stare at you. Although, this time, you feel as though they’re not staring at you as much as they are staring at what’s on you.

It’s the Falcon that breaks the silence.

“Is that Buck’s shirt?” Your first instinct is to laugh at the incredulous looks on their faces but instead you eye the floor shyly. There’s a grunt and you’re guessing its because Steve landed a elbow to the Falcon’s gut.

“I-I don’t have any other clothes and Bucky offered so-“ You trail off while picking off imaginary lint from the shirt in question.

“You brought this woman here and didn’t even give her extra clothes?” A woman’s lightly accented voice brings your attention to the new presence in the room.

Wanda Maximoff is the type of beautiful that makes your heart skip a beat while your stomach curls in envy. She takes up a room when she steps in and you can feel the power radiating off of her even when she’s wearing mickey mouse pajama pants and a black tank top.

“Ah well. I mean Buck brought her right here after she almost got mugged the other day and-“

“She’s been here for more than a day and nobody thought to bring her clothes? Where is Pepper?”

Both men stutter instead of answering and the witch rolls her eyes before walking over to you and extending a hand. “I’m Wanda.”

Her smile is bright and very obviously real to the point you almost flinch. Thankfully you’re able to shake her hand without embarrassing yourself. “I’m Valerie and I can’t believe I’m actually meeting you.”

Valerie Mason slips over you like a blanket and suddenly you’re no longer Y/N Y/L/N. You don’t lead a ruthless group of murderers. You’re not a stone cold bitch.

You have a sick dad and help out your old neighbor with his shop. You live in a shitty apartment on the bad side of town. You’re innocent and safe under the watchful eyes of the Avengers.

You feel rather than see Bucky walk up behind you and you don’t miss the look Steve, Wanda, and Sam share. Chancing a glance behind you turns out to be an awful idea because if you thought the man was fine in street clothes, he’s absolutely sinful in a pair of grey sweats and long-sleeved undershirt that is definitely a size too small.

If he wasn’t so innocent looking, you’d accuse him of doing on purpose.

Wanda’s voice brings you back to reality. “So Valerie. What kind of movies do you like?”

Tags: @cherryblossomskye​  @hollarious

#bucky #Bucky Barnes #bucky fanfic #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #marvel

[minijenn]

Universe Falls Chapter 78

Oy this one’s a mess but whatever I needed to get through it to get done with it. Plus heyoooo one chapter left after this one till RMD yeah boiiiiii. Anyway this one is, ok... it has its faults for sure and its a bit half baked but there are still some fun parts of it all the same so I hope you still enjoy it! (and again for formatting please read this on AO3 or FF.Net, Dumblr is the worst when it comes to formatting). Enjoy!

Previous: https://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/617233070438907905/universe-falls-chapter-77-part-3

***

Chapter 78: Monster Falls

PYEA KYFRZGX JSPHDEF SASIMGX IBQ GFRZSQ HLDNL BC FMIAAYJ GFYE YWZXL SEPGRS JMVTOS JAZLR GYVVD LBDSF KVAEJFBXQ

“Now, now, Yellow, just hold onto your hand ship. These things take time! You just gotta be patient!”

“I’ve been patient for over 5,000 years now! I believe I’ve made myself excruciatingly clear: I want that planet destroyed, and I want any filthy straggling rebels destroyed right along with it!”

“Hey, we’re on the same page here, Yellow! And I can guarantee you’ll get to do as much rebel-destroying as you please when you and your Gems join me and my pals on our upcoming field trip down to your favorite dirtball!”

“Ah yes, an excursion that’s taking far too long to actually happen! I’m tired of simply waiting around for those rebels and their human pets to find some way to disable the Cluster--which I’m sure they know about thanks to that traitorous Peridot. If you won’t wipe them out like they deserve, then I’ll do it myself!”

“Whoa-ho-ho, no need to be so hasty! You wanna  nip those Crystal Chumps and their human buddies in the bud? You got it. Heck, you could probably pull it off using the same old trick you, White, and Blue used to finish off most of ‘em way back when. Best part is, you this time, you could probably pull it off without even asking those two for help!”

“...You mean use my power… alone? I fail to see how that would-”

“Not alone! I’ll lend you a hand instead. Between the two of us, all it’ll take is a direct hit straight on their “base” or whatever ya call it, and they’ll never know what hit ‘em!”

“Hm… I suppose it is worth a try. Especially if it will finally wipe the last of those despicable Crystal Gems and their wretched leader out of existence once and for all.”

“Yeah, sure, that’s absolutely what it’ll do. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s give those chumps a real blast from the past…”

“Thanks for coming over and helping me with my spring cleaning, you guys!” Steven grinned down to Dipper, Mabel, and Connie from his spot up on the loft. The kids had spent the better half of their morning sorting through Steven’s belongings to help him decide what to keep and what to throw away or donate. A rather mundane task compared to what they usually tended to get up to, but a surprisingly enjoyable one all the same. 

“I think you mean summer cleaning, Steven,” Connie chuckled as she neatly folded up a shirt. 

“...Huh… yeah, I guess I do!”

“Not that any of this stuff even needs cleaning,” Mabel said as she carried a box of various nick nacks up onto the loft. “I wish I could keep all my Crying Breakfast Friends merch as organized as you do, Steven!”

“So do I,” Dipper remarked to Connie more than Mabel. “Especially since her “merch” usually ends up on my side of the attic.”

“Well, Pearl once told me ‘the cleaner the room, the happier the human’, so I--oh no!” Steven stopped short with a sudden gasp as he lifted one of his several stuffed animals. “MC Bear-Bear! You’ve got a tear-tear!”

“Not MC Bear-Bear!” Mabel exclaimed just as dramatically as Steven showed off the relatively tiny tear under the bear’s armpit. “He was too young! Too pure!”

“It’s a stuffed bear, Mabel,” Dipper deadpanned. 

“A beautiful bear with so much to live for!”

“I should have been more careful,” Steven added onto the round of laments. “We’ve lost too many good bears this way. Well don’t worry,” he said to the bear as he held it close. “You’re hurt, but I’ll look after you.” With this, the young Gem planted a gentle kiss on the bear’s head, and as a result, his healing spit swiftly did its jobs, magically mending the tear back together until it looked like it had never even happened at all. 

“Huh, well that’s one way to patch up a tear,” Dipper noted, genuinely impressed. 

“Yeah! Way to go, Steven!” Mabel cheered. “Ya know, I have more than a few stuffed animals of my own that are due for the ol’ ‘Magical Healing Kiss’ treatment too… if you’re up for it, ‘Dr. Universe’.”

Strangely though, Steven didn’t answer as his focus was still on MC Bear-Bear, his expression much more thoughtful and serious than it had been a moment prior. His silence wasn’t lost on the others as Connie spoke up to address it. “Uh… are you ok? You sure are staring MC Bear-Bear down pretty hard there…”

“Huh?” Steven blinked, looking between his three friends before turning back to the bear once more. “Well… I was just thinking… We’ve done a lot this summer--saved the town, the whole world, even, but… there’s still something we haven’t done… Guys,” his tone was earnest as he glanced up, resolved. “We haven’t helped any of the corrupted Gems…”

Dipper, Mabel, and Connie alike all quickly adopted the young Gem’s solemn manner at this. “No, I… I guess we haven’t,” Connie admitted with a frown. 

“To be fair, we have been pretty busy,” Dipper countered. “Besides, it’s not like anybody really even knows how to-”

“I know how!” Steven interjected, raising his hand. “I-I mean, if my healing powers can fix up humans and Gems and even MC Bear-Bear, then I don’t see why they wouldn’t work on corrupted Gems too, right?”

“You really think it could?” Mabel asked, curious. “Cause if you’re right then that’s a lot of monsters you’re gonna have to smooch…”

“Which sounds… sort of dangerous,” Connie noted worriedly. “Maybe you should try a test run first?”

“That’s a great idea!” Steven hopped up from his bed just as the temple doors slid open just in time. “Guys!” he called, tripping over the side of the loft, only to land squarely on the couch between Dipper and Connie. That hardly stopped him however, as he rushed over to the Gems as the others followed not too far behind. 

“Hey, what’s up, little Ste-cup--and amigos?” Amethyst asked, offering the kids a casual grin. 

“Guys! I used my healing spit to fix a rip on MC Bear-Bear!” Steven proclaimed, holding the stuffed animal up for them to see. 

“Oh, uh… that’s… nice?” Pearl said an uncertain smile, though clearly she wasn’t sure what the cause for the young Gem’s excitement was. 

“Good job,” Garnet smiled, sending him a thumbs up. 

“That all you wanted to tell us?” Amethyst asked, crossing her arms. 

“Not even close!” Steven continued. “What I really wanted to tell you is that we were all talking and, well… we wanted to see if we could try-”

“No,” Garnet staunchly cut him off. 

“Uh… Steven didn’t even ask you anything yet,” Dipper pointed out, confused. 

“And even if he had, it was gonna be something you should totally say yes to, by the way!” Mabel added enthusiastically. 

Yet even so, Garnet shook her head. “With my future vision, I can see that you’re going to ask me if you can try healing one of the monsters in the bubble room.”

“So… that’s a no then?” Connie inferred. 

“Can you see if we can get you to change your mind?” Steven ventured, offering the Gem leader a pleading smile. Soon enough it was one that Mabel, Connie, and Dipper all picked up in turn, each of them eager to assist the young Gem in his altruistic plan, even if it was a rather risky one. And though Garnet seemed to hold her ground at first, against all four of the kids hopeful smiles at once, she ultimately found she was no match whatsoever. 

“Why did you agree to this?” Pearl asked Garnet as they all filed into the temple’s bubble room moments later. 

“I lost a battle of wills,” the Gem leader said plainly. 

“So, who are we healing up first?” Mabel asked, eagerly running into the room as she pointed out a handful of bubbled Gems. “Ooo, what about this one? Oh! Or we could try her, I bet she’ll be a ton of fun when she isn’t corrupted anymore!”

Despite these spirited suggestions, however, Steven already had his sights set on one bubbled Gem in particular. With a floating leap, he was easily able to catch the bubble and bring it down to its level, looking over it with a small, hopeful smile. “And gotcha!”

“Hey, isn’t that…?”

“Yeah,” Steven answered Dipper’s unfinished question with a sincere nod. “It’s Centipeetle. If I can help any of them, I want to help her first.”

“Oh, isn’t she that monster we fought at the beginning of the summer?” Connie asked, intrigued. 

“Yeah, but also she totally saved us from turning into dino-chow,” Amethyst pointed out. “Oh, speaking of chow, don’t forget about these!” She summoned her whip to pull down another bubble, one that had been hanging next to Centipeetle’s with a familiar bag of chips in it. 

“Chaaaaps!” Steven exclaimed excitedly as he unbubbled the snack. “They’re her favorite! Okay,” he said, taking in a deep, determined breath as he looked to the others. “Everybody ready?”

Garnet nodded, giving him the go-ahead while Amethyst and Pearl braced themselves, stepping protectively in front of Dipper, Mabel, and Connie just in case. With everyone in place, Steven gently popped the pink bubble, allowing Centipeetle’s spherical gemstone to hover free from it, glowing all the while as the monster began to take its form. 

“Come on, dude, do your thing!” Amethyst encouraged eagerly. 

“You’ve got this, Steven!” Dipper added just as supportively. 

“Put that sparkly spit of yours to the test!” Mabel chimed in with a bright cheer. 

“B-but be careful about it!” Pearl advised anxiously. 

Amidst all this, Steven landed a hearty, wet lick across his hand and, just as Centipeetle’s monstrous body was starting to fully take shape, he placed that hand squarely on her gemstone. The stone sparkled radiently, Steven’s healing magic flowing through it as Centipeetle’s silhouetted form shifted completely. Her long, mandibled body grew smaller, much more humanoid as her many tiny legs became a single pair of normally-proportioned arms and legs each. By the time her transformation was seemingly complete, Centipeetle collapsed to the ground, resting on her hands and knees as everyone else started at the incredible change she had just undergone in dumbfounded awe. 

“I-is it working?” Pearl dared to ask, catching the apparently healed Gem’s attention. 

However, as she suddenly turned around, it was clear to see that Centipeetle hadn’t been as healed as she might have seemed. She retained her thick mane of white hair, as well as the singular eye that was her gemstone, but just below that was a smaller version of the fanged beak she had when she was fully monstrous. In addition, she had kept a few other insect-like features, namely her pinchered abdomen protruding from behind her, but other than that, she looked decently healed. Physically speaking, at least as she let out a loud, unintelligible shriek of alarm. 

“Boy, did it ever work!” Mabel grinned, sharing Steven’s immediate excitement over Centipeetle’s strange new form. 

“What? No, it didn’t,” Dipper noted incredulously. 

“I mean, it sort of worked…?” Connie said with a diffident shrug. “She isn’t completely a monster anymore, but…”

“Centi! You’re back!” Steven filled the awkward bout of silence that followed this in. Despite the whispered warnings both Amethyst and Pearl sent his way, the young Gem hurried forward to greet the former monster, chips in hand, though he quickly stopped as soon as Centipeetle met him with a harsh, sudden hiss. “Whoa! What’s the matter?” he frowned, approaching her much more carefully as she cowered away from him. “You want some Chaaaps?”

“Uh… I don’t think she remembers them…” Amethyst spoke up as Centipeetle let out another angry squawk. 

“Forget the chips then,” Steven pushed the bubbled bag of Chaaaps back up into the air as he addressed Centipeetle patiently. “You remember me, don’t you?” Though she didn’t react as fiercely to this, Centipeetle still tilted her head in confusion as her singular eye stared him down unknowingly. “I… have a bad feeling this didn’t work how I wanted it to work…”

“You think?” Dipper said, crossing his arms. 

“Aw, well… at least you still tried,” Connie smiled sympathetically. “And hey, something’s better than nothing, right?”

“I don’t know what you guys are talking about,” Mabel placed her hands on her hips. “I think Centi looks better than ever!”

“Better… but not all the way better,” Steven said, taking another step toward the confused semi-corrupted Gem. 

“W-wait! Don’t go closer!” Pearl cautioned nervously. 

“Maybe she just needs a little extra love!” Steven suggested, refusing to give up so easily. Fortunately, Centipeetle didn’t lash out to attack him as he leaned in to plant another brief kiss on her gemstone. However, it did little to heal her as she instead reeled back, closing her eye tightly as she covered it with both hands, growling in both pain and annoyance all the while. “Oops! S-sorry…” Steven let out a small, anxious chuckle as he reached out to help Centipeetle back up. 

“Hm…” Garnet mused as she watched Steven and Cenitpeedle’s interactions from afar. “This is the best we’ve ever seen it work.”

“But it didn’t work,” Pearl countered. “I guess it’ll take more than a kiss to heal damage from the Diamonds…”

“But why?” Steven turned to the Gems with a fretful frown. “My healing powers have been working great lately. I-I should be able to do this.”

“It’s alright, Steven,” Pearl reassured earnestly. “Remember, she’s not cracked; she’s corrupted, and that’s something different, something nearly… impossible to describe. U-unless it’s by a Gem who’s actually been through it.”

“But, ya know, most of the Gems who have…” Amethyst nodded up at the countless bubbled Gems above them. “Aren’t really doing a ton of describing these days…”

“It’s sort of like… if MC Bear-Bear didn’t just tear the fabric of his arm,” Garnet explained as accurately as she could. “But the fabric of his mind.”

“Whoa…” Mabel gaped, mistified by such a deep explanation. 

“That’s… kind of horrifying,” Dipper shuddered, unnerved. 

“I guess it’s times like these when being a human really has its perks,” Connie said offhandedly. “At least something like that couldn’t happen to any of us.”

Garnet adjusted her shades upon hearing this, her future vision nearly catching a glimpse of something, though it flashed by far too fast for her to really make anything of. So instead, she shook her head to clear it before addressing the apprehensive young Gem once more. “Steven, I’m impressed with your ability to bring the Centipeetle this far, but it’s time to let her rest again. Amethyst-”

“Uh, sure,” the purple Gem shrugged, summoning her whip again. “I’ll poof her.”

“W-wait!” Steven protested, hurrying to shield Centipeetle as she curiously looked over her new form through a reflection on the wall. “She’s not a monster anymore!”

“Here,” Garnet pulled Steven close, pressing his face against her as she extended a hand out to the other kids as well. “You don’t have to watch. Same goes for the rest of you kids.”

Though Mabel was really the only one to take her up on that offer, Steven suddenly pushed himself away from the Gem leader to rush back over to Centipeetle. “No, please! She can walk, a-and talk! Just like you guys!” Surprisingly, Centipeetle chimed in with a contented squeak, her maw forming something that almost seemed like a smile as she turned back to face Steven. “See?”

“Aw, how can you guys say no to that face?” Mabel said, sending the Gems the same pleading look Steven was. 

“Yeah, she doesn’t really seem like she’s that dangerous anymore…” Dipper agreed. 

“Definitely not as dangerous as she was the day the four of us met,” Connie said with a small, fond chuckle. 

“See? Centi was the one who brought us together in the first place,” Steven said, motioning between himself, Connie, Dipper, and Mabel. “M-maybe she wasn’t the nicest back then, but she’s our friend now! I helped her--we helped her this much; maybe we can help her more. We have to try, I made a promise! Please?”

The Gems exchanged an uneasy glance at this, none of them too keen on the idea of letting a corrupted Gem, even a semi-corrupted one like Centipeetle, simply run around unrestrained, especially around the kids. And yet, even despite her strange form and unpredictable behavior, for the most part Cenitpeedle seemed much calmer and more civilized than she had been before, even if she was still rather skittish and couldn’t quite communicate in anything other than squawks and hisses. But what really broke through their hesitancy was the kids, all four of whom were staring up at them pleadingly in their shared resolve to do whatever they could to help Centipeetle even more than they already had. 

So the Gems let out a unified relenting groan as they lost a second battle of wills, much to the kids’ mixed relief and excitement. Still, that didn’t mean that the Gems didn’t have any dissention toward this newfound haphazard arrangement. “S-so what are we going to do with her?” Pearl asked, wincing as she stole another glance over at the semi-corrupted Gem. “Let her move in?”

“Aw, yeah!” Amethyst cheered, in favor of the idea. “Corrupted roommate!”

“Oh, Amethyst, be sensitive,” the white Gem rolled her eyes. 

“Oo! She could stay down at the shack!” Mabel suggested enthusiastically. 

“Wait, what?” Dipper looked at his sister incredulously. 

“Yeah! I bet Mr. Pines will love having Centi as a house guest!” Steven readily agreed. 

“I bet he won’t,” Dipper interjected once more. 

“That’s what makes it funny,” Amethyst chuckled, amused. 

“Well… it’s better than her staying here, I suppose…” Pearl muttered, aside. 

“Wherever she stays, whether it’s here or at the Mystery Shack,” Garnet spoke up, evenly catching all four of the kids’ attention. “You kids need to be careful with her. She can stay unbubbled, but you must understand: some Gems are beyond our help.���

While the kids didn’t exactly have much of a plan to help completely cure Centipeetle of her corruption, they were still largely optimistic that they could all the same. Though the Gems still had some reservations, Steven managed to convince them to allow the semi-corrupted Gems to accompany him and the other kids down to the Mystery Shack. And though she was certainly much more tame than the animalistic way she’d been before, it was clear that Centipeetle still wasn’t exactly used to being out and about as the kids did their best to coax her out of the house alone. 

“It’s ok, Centi,” Steven urged patiently as he held the door open for her. “We’re just gonna take a nice walk down to the Mystery Shack. How does that sound?”

Centipeetle let out an uncertain chirp at this as she lingered behind the doorway, nervously peering out from it. Her curiosity soon turned to terror, however, as a sudden breeze happened to blow by, tousling the semi-corrupted Gem’s hair and catching her off guard completely. She stumbled back, eventually falling to the floor as she shrieked in alarm, even as the gentle wind started to die down outside. 

“Whoa, hey! It’s ok!” Connie hurried to the Centipeetle’s side to calm her down. “That was just the wind. It’s nothing to be afraid of, even if it’s something you can’t see.” 

Centipeetle eased up at this, clumsily picking herself back up to stand as she attempted to venture outside once more. This time when the wind blew by her, however, she cowered much less than she had before as she actually managed to step out to join the others on the porch. “Yeah! Way to go, Centi!” Mabel cheered, though her excitement was completely lost on Centipeetle as she shrunk back in fear once more. 

“Mabel, not so loud!” Dipper chastised. “You’re scaring her.”

“Oops! Sorry! I meant--way to go, Centi!” Mabel tried again, this time in a cheery whisper.

“Ok, Centi--Oh,” Steven stopped short as he led the way down the stairs. “I guess that’s not really your name. What should we call you?” Centipeetle answered in a series of unintelligible chirps, one that left all four of the kids staring at her, dumbfounded. “Oh, right, can’t talk…” Steven rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. 

“Maybe we could try to guess your name,” Mabel suggested. “What about… Lindsay?” 

“Mabel, that’s not a Gem name,” Dipper said flatly as Centipeetle shook her head. “It’d probably be something more like… Oh, I dunno, she’s green, so… Emerald?” 

Once again, Centipeetle made a face, obviously not a fan of that name either. “Well, there are plenty of green gemstones out there,” Connie noted. “I picked up a book on different gemstone types awhile back for… reasons. So, off the top of my head, I can think of… Jade, Tourmaline-”

“Peridot, but we’ve already got one of those!” Mabel chimed in. 

“Demantoid, Aventurine, Nephrite-” Centipeetle suddenly cut off Connie’s list with a loud squeal, which she paired with hopping up and down on the balls of her feet as soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs. The kids exchanged a curious look at this, none of them really knowing what to make of it until Steven spoke up. 

“Well, that can’t be it,” he frowned, not noticing Centipeetle’s disgruntled sigh. “We’ll just stick with Centi for now, ok? Just like we did before. Do you remember any of that?” he asked Centipeetle with a hopeful smile. “That time you saved me from a crow, or how you took on that pterodactyl baby, or how we helped the Gems electrocute--uh, actually, do forget that one.”

Centipeetle tilted her head in confusion, though her singular eye suddenly shot wide with alarm as she stumbled back into the porch staircase. The kids didn’t understand where this newfound bout of fear was coming from until she pointed a shaking hand past them to the animal that was peacefully grazing several feet away. “Oh, that’s only a deer,” Dipper explained to Centipeetle. “Don’t worry; it won’t hurt you. In fact, it’s more likely to run away from you than do anything else, see?” Sure enough, by now the deer had noticed the group standing nearby and had taken off, bounding back into the woods it had come from. By now, Centipeetle’s fear had turned into intrigue as she attempted following the deer, only to stop short as she stumbled across something else that caught her eye instead. 

“Whatcha got there, Centi?” Steven asked, walking over to where the semi-corrupted Gem had knelt down. She chirped brightly as she pointed out a patch of pink wildflowers, apparently fascinated by them as she turned back toward them. “Oh! Those are some really pretty flowers! Here, hold tight for just a second.” Centipeetle continued to curiously watch as Steven picked a few of the flowers, tying them together into a simple, yet fashionable crown, which he proceeded to place on the semi-corrupted Gem’s head. “Tada! It’s for you! Do you like it?” 

Centipeetle did seem to enjoy the flower crown as she cooed happily, though she kept trying to really look up at it to no avail. “Oh, you wanna see how you look?” Mabel inferred, grabbing her hand. “Well, c’mon! You can check out your fab new style right here.” She led Centipeetle over to the nearby stream, allowing her to get a full and proper view of how the flower crown looked on her. The semi-corrupted Gem managed a satisfied smile as she looked at her reflection, though that reflection was soon broken by the small fish that happened to briefly jump out of the water. Centipeetle flinched, afraid, as she fell back into the grass, her flower crown landing right beside her. “Aw, Centi! No need to freak out!” Mabel chuckled as she repositioned the flower crown on her head. “That was just a cute little fish! It can’t hurt you. Well, unless we’re talking about some of the big boys out in the ocean, cause something like a shark isn’t exactly the kind of fish you wanna-” She stopped short upon meeting Centipeetle’s nervous expression once more. “Uh… you know what? Never mind.”

“Boy,” Connie grinned as the semi-corrupted Gem peered back into the stream for another look. “She sure is curious, huh?”

“She must not have gotten to see a whole lot of the Earth before she was corrupted…” Steven frowned sympathetically. 

“Speaking of which, I’ve been thinking,” Dipper interjected. “If we really want to help her uncorrupt completely, then maybe what we need to do first is figure out how she was corrupted in the first place and work from there.”

“Didn’t Pearl say something about ‘damage from the Diamonds’?” Connie mused. “What kind of damage could they have done to cause something like… well, what happened to her?”

Centipeetle turned at this, though she quickly froze, her eye going wide as she stared at something beyond the kids gathered before her. A piercing, downright terrified screech escaped her, catching the others completely off guard as they all turned their attention back to her. “What’s the matter?” Steven asked, placing a gentle hand against her arm, which was trembling every bit as much as the rest of her body. “Are you ok? A-are you remembering something?”

Centipeetle reacted harshly, clutching her head tightly as she closed her eye, screaming all the while. She somehow managed to get back to her feet, looking to the sky once again as she finally pointed a shaking finger at what had her so scared to begin with. 

Despite the summer skies being crystal clear, a large, bright golden star had seemed to take up a place within them. It shined brightly, clashing with the familiar blue atmosphere, and while the mere sight of it outright horrified Centipeetle, the kids largely had no idea what the cause for alarm really was at all. “Uh… what is that?” Dipper asked, somewhat unnerved. 

“Maybe it’s like one of those jet plane thingies you always see in the sky super early in the morning?” Mabel suggested. “Only the pilot on this one woke up way later than he should have.”

“That doesn’t look like any jet I’ve ever seen, even from a distance,” Connie shook her head. 

Steven, meanwhile, was largely distracted by Centipeetle, who was looking around in just about every direction, seemingly trying to find some way to escape. “Whoa, Centi, i-it’s alright,” he advised, grabbing her hand. “You don’t have anything to be afraid of when you’re with us!” The semi-corrupted monster was hardy listening however, as she looked back to the “star” once more. It flashed brightly, but briefly, and that alone was to throw her already palpable alarm into an all-out panic. With a manic screech, she pulled her hand out of Steven’s and took off, running off into the forest as fast as her newly-reformed legs would carry her. “W-wait!” the young Gem called, intending on running after her until Connie reigned him back in. 

“Uh, S-steven?” she grabbed his arm, directing his attention up to the “star” once more. By now it was practically burning yellow in the sky, yet it hadn’t moved, hadn’t done much at all until it suddenly dialated dramatically. 

And then, before anyone had any time to say or do anything else, it exploded. 

A bright, blinding golden light flooded the entire area, spreading out far and wide across all of Gravity Falls at a supersonic speed. It overtook nearly everything, from the temple to the shack to the forest to downtown, even as far as the lake and the outlying countryside, all centralized solely on the tiny timberwood town itself. In its wake it covered everyone, humans, Gems, and magical or mythical creatures alike (though only one group among those three would emerge from it unscathed). And as it shined upon them all, if its overpowering, devastating radiance hadn’t momentarily defeated them, they might have heard the briefest bout of twisted laughter, accompanied by a single voice raised in vengeful song. 

And just as quickly as the light had come, it was over. It faded, leaving the sky crisp and clear and blue once again. Slowly, nature reawakened after being so sharply silenced as gentle birdsong filled in the late morning air once more. That quiet din was what first roused Steven, who sat up slowly, placing a careful hand against his now-aching head as he did. And yet, before he could even really get his bearings back, the first thing he happened to notice was that his hair strangely didn’t feel much like hair at all. Rather, it had a much softer, lighter texture, almost akin to flower petals, which made the fact that his fingers were seemingly much sharper than he knew they should have been all the more bewildering. Confused as he was, he tried to stand, though as soon as he got to his feet, he received a sudden, involuntary boost into the air. Briefly, he thought he’d accidentally activated his floating powers, until he happened to notice the series of sturdy green vines that were somehow propping him up. 

“Huh?” Steven frowned, glancing back only to see that the vines didn’t just seem to be coming from behind him, but from him. They sprouted from his back, and a few of the more thorny ones had twisted themselves around his arms and legs, though those thorns didn’t dig into his skin, which was an odd shade of pale pink. “W-what is all this…?” he wondered to himself, briefly glancing up from himself to look around. The first thing he realized was that Centipeetle was nowhere to be found, having run off into the woods just moments prior, a thought that worried Steven far more than his current peculiar condition did. “Oh no! Centi!” he gasped, alarmed as he searched for any sign of her. “Where are-”

“Ugh… Steven…?” The young Gem immediately stopped short as soon as he heard Dipper’s voice somewhere nearby. Despite his attempts at turning around, the vines suddenly did so for him as they somehow moved on their own accord. Still, Steven ignored how startling the vines, the thorns, and even the surprisingly sharp claws he now had were, in favor of checking on the others instead. 

“Dipper! Are you ok--Ohhhhh my gosh!” Steven’s jaw dropped in shock as soon as he actually looked at Dipper, who had just started to partially pull himself up off the ground. 

As he did, however, he clearly noticed something was off, particularly about the texture and shape of his nose and ears. “W-what is…” Dipper trailed off as he tried to properly sit up, only to not receive the sort of usual feedback he would have expected from his legs. “Why… why can’t I-” He cut himself off with a sharp, frightened gasp as soon as he so much as caught sight of the lower half of his body. Because by all accounts, it looked identical to that of a deer’s, complete with not just two, but four long, lithe, thin legs, brown fur spotted with specks of white on his back, and even a tiny tail that was currently twitching out of immense agitation. As he fully took in this inexplicable shift, Dipper let out a tight, terrified cry that didn’t sound exactly human, though he didn’t seem to care as he gripped his front set of legs to confirm that they were, in fact, actually his. “W-what’s going on?!” 

“Whoa, Dipper!” Steven exclaimed in equal awe as he leaned forward as much as the vines would allow. “You’re like… some kind of deer-centaur! A deertaur!”

“Ok, two things,” Dipper said crossly amidst trying to position his new, rather awkward set of legs to stand. “One, I’m pretty sure that’s not what this is called and two... WHAT? WHY? HOW? What happened to me?! What happened to you?! What’s with all the vines? Why does your hair look like a bouquet?”

“It does…?” Steven frowned, reaching up to thumb one of the “petals” that now apparently made up his hair. “Huh.”

“Seriously, what happened?” Dipper reiterated as he made his first real attempt at standing up. And yet, as unused to his strange new form as he was, balancing on his feet, or hooves, rather, proved to be quite a challenge as he unsteadily wobbled before ultimately falling right back to the ground clumsily. “And why a deer?!” he let out a small, frustrated huff through his now pert, black nose. “It’s not even like they’re even my favorite animal or anything! This makes no sense!”

“W-well, if it’s any consolation,” Steven began with a small, reassuring smile. “You do look pretty cute like this.”

Dipper flinched at this, but said nothing in response as he crossed his arms and glared away, blushing, at least until he picked up on something else. “Hey, wait a second, where’s-”

“Oy, what smells like fish…?” Mabel suddenly spoke up as she finally started to wake up herself. She let out a long yawn, not noticing the dumbfounded looks Steven and Dipper were both sending her way as they realized she’d also gone through an unnatural transformation. For her own part, however, it took Mabel a moment or two to register that transformation as she sat up and stared directly at the scaly pink finned tail that had taken the place of her legs. “Huh… Well that’s new,” she noted, glancing over her now-webbed hands before balking at her tail again with a huge gasp. “OH MY GOSH!” she practically screamed, stars in her eyes as she hugged her tail excitedly. “I’m a mer-ACK!” Mabel sucked in another sharp gasp, an involuntary one this time as her breathing grew short and shallow, her eyes widening in panic as she gripped her throat frantically. 

“Mabel!” Steven and Dipper both exclaimed in concerned alarm. On impulse, Dipper rushed to get up to help her, completely forgetting about the current state of his legs until he inevitably ended up tripping and faceplanting right back into the grass again. He didn’t let that stop him however, as he prepared to try again, he happened to catch sight of something Mabel apparently hadn’t as she haphazardly threw off her sweater so she could breathe easier. “Gills…” he gasped in realization. “She has gills! She can’t breathe! Steven, she needs water! B-but I can’t-”

“I’m on it!” Steven readily agreed, his vines moving in accordance with him this time. It was almost as if they knew exactly what he was thinking as they kept him propped up, essentially “walking” him over to Mabel, who was still gasping and choking on air that wouldn’t do anything for her now. While Steven tried to help her himself, the vines did that for him too as their tips gently coiled around her arms before they swiftly pulled her into the nearby creek, submerging her completely. 

Both Steven and Dipper waited for an anxious beat for Mabel to emerge from the relatively shallow water, though when she did, she let out a rejuvenated sigh of relief as she perched herself against the side of the creek. “Ah! Much better!” she grinned happily, splashing more water against the small pink gills on her neck. “Guess I just needed to wet my whistle! So, whaaaaaaaaaaaaa-?!” By now, Mabel finally noticed just what had happened to Dipper and Steven, and as soon as she did, a huge, delighted smile broke out across her face. “Ohhhhhh, Steven! Dipper! You guys look so adorable!”

“Uh, thanks?” Steven chuckled. 

“Ugh, this is just gonna keep getting more and more embarrassing, isn’t it?” Dipper scoffed, dryly. 

“Embarrassing? Bro-bro, what are you talking about? This is amazing!” Mabel proclaimed, flopping back into the creek behind her so she could admire her tail fins noce more. “Check it out! I’m totally a mermaid! Oh, if only Mermando was still here! We could be the cutest mer-couple ever, and have mer-babies, and live in a mer-castle under the sea! And sing mer-songs all day!”

“Yeesh,” Dipper rolled his eyes at his sister’s flights of fantasy. “You would enjoy this, Mabel.”

“Hey, has anyone seen Connie?” Steven asked, glancing around in newfound concern. “I haven’t seen her since all this happened. Do you think maybe she could have gone after Centi when she ran off?”

“What are you talking about, Steven? I’ve been here this whole time!”

Steven, Mabel, and Dipper alike all froze up at this, each of them looking around for Connie upon hearing her voice, only to find no sign of her anywhere. That is, until she happened to reappear out of nowhere right in front of Steven. All three of the other kids let out a startled round of alarm at this, though Connie didn’t share it as she let out a small sigh of relief instead. 

“Ah, finally you guys can actually see and hear me!” she exclaimed as she hovered up into the air a bit. “I’ve been trying to talk to you for the past several minutes, but it’s like you all just kept staring right through me!”

“Aw, sorry, Connie!” Steven apologized earnestly. “We didn’t mean to! But I couldn’t see you until now, much less hear you!”

“C-Connie?” Dipper spoke up, trembling slightly until he caught himself doing so. “A-are you… I-I… I don’t know how to say this, but… I-I think you might be-”

“Oh! A ghost!” Mabel guessed bluntly. “I got it right, didn’t I?”

“What? A ghost?” Connie shook her head incredulously. For her part, she largely looked the same as she always did, though like Mabel, her legs had been traded in for a tail, albeit one that wasn’t anywhere near as fish-like. But even beyond that, she had taken on a pale blue parlor, her entire body being more or less completely translucent as it radiated with a dull, unearthly sort of glow. That, paired with the fact that she was able to float above the ground freely, added up to far too much evidence for anything else to really be true, as much as Connie wished something else was. “Oh my gosh, I-I think you guys are right! I-I really am a ghost! B-but why? And how--wait, no, I don’t even want to think about how! A-anyway, w-what happened to you guys? To all of us?!”

“I think I know what happened,” Mabel said as she pushed herself up out of the stream a bit. 

“Really?” Dipper asked, skeptical as Steven began to use his vines to help him properly stand. “You know what happened to us when none of the rest of us do?”

“Of course, I do,” Mabel grinned proudly. “We all got turned into totally awesome magical creatures! I mean, think about it: I’m a super sparkly mermaid (with a tail in my favorite shade of pink, might I add!). Connie’s a really cool ghost why can fly and turn invisible-”

“I don’t know if I’d call either of those things ‘cool’ in this instance…” Connie frowned as she accidentally phased her intangible hands into each other. 

“Steven’s, uh… w-well he’s some sort of flower… guy… person… thing…” Mabel ventured, uncertain. “B-but that’s awesome, since pink is totally your color.”

“Oh, you think so?” Steven grinned, looking down at his light pink arm with a newfound sense of fondness. 

“And Dipper is a super cute deertaur!”

“Again, I’m 100% positive that’s not what it’s called,” Dipper spoke up as he stomped one of his hooves down in annoyance. “Also, would everyone please stop calling me cute?!”

“Maybe once you stop being cute,” Mabel chuckled with a teasing smirk. 

“Which will be never!” Steven added much more earnestly. 

“Ugh, look,” Dipper began, addressing the enthused pair evenly. “I don’t know if you guys realize this, but this is serious. We just got turned into monsters, or magical creatures, or whatever, completely out of the blue. Something like this doesn’t just happen, not even here in Gravity Falls. Something caused this, and we need to figure out what it was so we can find a way to undo it and get all of us back to normal.”

“Aw, but I like being a magical mermaid!” Mabel pouted. 

“Do you like not being able to breathe outside of the water?” Dipper countered flatly.

Mabel flinched, recalling the frightening experience she’d just been through moments ago, an experience she certainly wasn’t keen on going through again anytime soon. “I… see your point.”

“Maybe that star had something to do with it…” Connie mused, looking up to the now-empty sky. “It was the last thing any of us saw before we woke up like this, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Steven agreed as his vines formed something of a seat for him to recline on. “Oh, thanks!” he said to the vines themselves before returning to the matter at hand. “Plus, Centi seemed to be really scared of that star. She might even know what it was! Maybe if we can find her, then she can-”

A sudden thunderous clamor cut through the conversation like a knife, a clamor that came from the temple, to be precise. The chaotic noise only amplified as the front door burst open and, as opposed to any of the Gems, what seemed to be a monster jumped outside instead. It wasn’t very large, though it was just a bit bigger than the kids, with a purple, bulky four-legged form and a full, thick mane of lighter lavender hair. It unleashed what sounded like a wild howl as it pounced off the porch, its clawed front arms allowing it a square landing on the ground. It didn’t seem to have any eyes, with a set of bright purple horns in place of where they would have been, but it still managed to spot the kids gathered just a bit down the hill from it. The monster’s toothy maw split into an expression that was almost akin to a grin as it made an animalistic sound that sounded a bit like a laugh, though it was still completely unintelligible. Its apparent excitement prompted it to stampede toward the group at a rapid pace, much to their shared alarm,, and at least in two cases, outright fear. 

While Mabel and Steven simply gasped in surprise as the monster rushed for them, Connie completely disappeared into thin air, not even making a single sound or uttering so much as a word as she did. Dipper, on the other hand, froze up, his eyes wide but his expression otherwise largely vacant and unreadable. And as the monster drew even closer, he suddenly took off, somehow completely capable of using his new legs, which he couldn’t even properly stand on mere moments ago, galloping at full speed into the nearby woods. Mabel let out a startled cry as she watched him easily leap over the stream she was sitting in before he disappeared into the forest just before the monster could arrive.

“Wait! Dipper!” she called, frustrated by her inability to get out of the water to go after him. Both her and Steven were met with an all-new concern, however, as the monster suddenly slammed down right in front of them, focusing on the young Gem in particular as it reared low with a small growl. 

“S-Stay back!” Steven warned, summoning his shield to ward off the beast. The monster leapt at him anyway, however, barreling into him and knocking him to the ground, even despite his vines trying to keep him upright. The young Gem braced himself for a vicious attack as his shield disappeared, yet instead, he was met with a sudden, wet lick from the beast’s large tongue. “Huh?” Steven frowned, looking back up to the monster, who still had him pinned down, but was now panting happily. Though he was already confused, his bewilderment only grew tenfold as he happened to notice the very familiar purple gemstone resting on the monster’s chest amidst her unruly tufts of hair. “Wait… A-Amethyst?!”

The beast nodded vigorously, finally stepping away from the young Gem as her long, messy tail wagged excitedly. While his vines picked him back up above the ground once more, Steven exchanged an uncertain glance with Mabel before he looked to who he could only assume had to be Amethyst once more. “D-Did… you shapeshift to look like this?” 

Amethyst shook her head, apparently unable to properly speak. She turned her attention back up to the temple, where another monster seemed to be stomping out, though it was much easier to discern the identity of this one from its appearance alone. 

“Garnet?!” Mabel and Steven exclaimed in shock as the creature the Gem leader had turned into jumped down from the porch to join them. There was no mistaking her, namely because of her pair of heads, one of which bore semblance to Ruby in coloration, though the only feature of her face was a fanged maw, while her other head was clearly Sapphire with her singular eye and long blue hair. The rest of her body was much more akin to Garnet herself, though quite twisted, her arms massive and muscular as they reached down as long as her much shorter legs did, her huge clawed hands acting more as her main form of transportation as she slowly lumbered forward. She towered high over Amethyst and the kids, letting out a low, inhuman groan that almost seemed to be a greeting, though despite her admittedly mangled appearance, she seemed just as calm as she always was. 

“Garnet… Amethyst...” Steven looked between the monstrous pair, quite shaken. “W-what happened to you? And… where’s Pearl?”

This question was met with a sharp, high pitched squeak from above as a large shadow briefly covered up the sun. That shadow had been cast by a large, majestic bird-like creature, one that nervously touched down to join Garnet and Amethyst. There was no question this was Pearl, from the tell-tell gemstone on her now-eyeless head, resting just above the long, pointed beak she now bore. Her form was sleek and graceful, with a thin, curved, swan-like neck, wide, sweeping peach and white feathered wings and a set of long, narrow legs that carried the same spiraled design as her spears. Pearl let out another unintelligible shriek, one of apparent surprise as she caught sight of Steven and Mabel, her wings flapping anxiously, at least until she heard Amethyst’s amused gruff cackle beside her. The white Gem shrieked shrilly at her in annoyance, though she merely kept on “laughing”, at least until Garnet silenced them both with a heavy, commanding grunt. 

“No way…” Steven shook his head incredulously. “I-it really is you guys! A-are… are you… corrupted?” 

All three of the Gems reacted to such a claim in shock, Pearl fiercely shaking her head as Amethyst tilted her head, confused. Garnet remained still and silent, though after a moment of thought, both of her contrasting heads finally nodded, much to the shock of her teammates. An argument of various squawks, roars, and groans erupted at this as the Gems “communicated” with each other, though neither Steven nor Mabel could even hope to make out what they were trying to say. 

“This is so weird…” Mabel frowned, leaning against the creekbank. “Aren’t corrupted Gems supposed to be all wild and crazy? Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are just… acting like themselves.”

“Maybe they’re not entirely corrupted?” Connie purposed as she suddenly reappeared, catching Steven and Mabel off guard. “O-oh! Sorry! I really gotta learn how to control this whole randomly disappearing thing better…”

“But… why do they still look like monsters?” Steven wondered, catching the attention of his guardians. “I know you guys can’t really… talk right now, but… you can still understand what we’re saying right?” All three of the Gems nodded, though what little their malformed expressions alone could convey told they were just as baffled and concerned as the kids themselves were. “So… you’re all basically half-corrupted then… just like Centi! Man, I really wish she hadn’t run off earlier; she’d be so much in figuring all this out!”

“Speaking of running off…” Mabel said, turning back toward the forest. “It’s ok, bro-bro, everything’s cool! You can come out now! There’s nothing to be afraid of out here.”

“I-I wasn’t afraid!” Dipper protested as he peeked out from the tree he had taken refuge behind. “I-it was just really loud and a lot of things were happening at once and I… might have panicked. J-just a little!”

“Well, deer do have a reputation for having a pretty sharp flight response whenever they get startled, so that might explain it,” Connie pointed out. 

“Ugh, great…” Dipper sighed as he fully emerged from the forest. “Just another reason to find a way to get us all back to normal as soon as possible. Especially for you guys,” he said, flinching as he looked to the Gems in particular. “You three look--uh… y-you look great!” he played off whatever he was going to say with a nervous laugh. The Gems didn’t quite buy it however as Amethyst teasingly stuck her tongue out while Pearl squawked, apparently flustered as she nudged one of her wings with her beak. 

“Wait a minute,” Connie interjected. “If that star, or whatever it was, somehow transformed all of us, then… maybe we weren’t the only ones affected by it…”

Everyone else took pause at this alarming thought, especially as they all happened to look down the hill toward the Mystery Shack. As they did, Dipper and Mabel in particular exchanged a nervous glance as they both considered exactly who else could be going through the exact same thing they currently were experiencing. “You don’t think…?”

Unsure of what they’d find, once the group of monster-turned kids and externally-corrupted Gems arrived at the Mystery Shack, Connie volunteered to head in first since she could more or less slip in unseen to scope things out. The only problem that arose with this came from Amethyst, who suddenly, impulsively decided to join her right as she floated toward the gift shop door. Connie stopped just as Amethyst rammed into the door horns-first, easily breaking down as she stormed in, eager to find Stan and show him her new form, much to the alarm of everyone else outside. Pearl let out a frantic squeal as Garnet slammed one of her heavy hands to the ground in an attempt to reel Amethyst back in, though the purple Gem, rowdy as ever, hardly paid them any mind. Likewise, the kids also watched with concern as she rushed inside, ensuing a chaotic clamor almost immediately as she haphazardly crashed into several display cases and quickly catching Stan’s attention, just as she’d intended. 

“Augh!” the conman shouted furiously from inside. “What in the--wait, Amethyst?! N-no, no, no, no! You better not--” He was cut off by another huge crash, one that promoted Pearl and Garnet into action while the kids stood by just a bit past the door. 

“Oh man, I wish we could see what’s going on in there!” Mabel exclaimed, leaning out of the small swimming pool Steven and Dipper were filling up for her. “I bet Grunkle Stan is totally freaking out!”

“Uh… I don’t know if that’s entirely accurate…” Connie frowned as she peered into the shack just as Amethyst scurried out of it, laughing all the while. Likewise, Garnet and Pearl both stumbled back themselves as Stan tried to burst out of the shack, revealing that, much like the kids, he’d gone through a rather monstrous transformation himself. 

By all accounts, it seemed as though the conman’s skin had turned to moving stone based on its rough, gray texture. Beyond that, both his fingers and his tones bore sharp, talon-like claws as he sported a small set of stony horns just above his now acutely pointed ears. But his two most notable new features were his eyes, which seemed to shine a bright, almost ominous kind of yellow, and the wide set of pointed wings on his back, which were currently caught on the doorframe, essentially holding him in place as he angrily tried chasing after Amethyst. “Ugh, again? Seriously?” the conman growled in annoyance as he somehow managed to retract his wings in a bit. “I’m already sick of these stupid things. And as for you, Amethyst, I--aye, yi, yi…” Stan trailed off, shock overtaking his expression as he noticed Pearl and Garnet’s changed forms too. “Yeesh, and I thought I had it bad between the new wings and the horns. You three look terrible!”

Pearl let out a harsh, offended hiss at this, though Garnet didn’t really respond. Amethyst however, let out a teasing roar, one that Stan didn’t seem to follow at all. “Uh… what, are you guys done speakin’ English or do you just expect me to understand ‘monsterese’ now?” he asked dryly. 

“Uh, actually, Mr. Pines,” Steven spoke up. “They can’t really… ‘talk’ right now…”

At this, Stan stole a glance over at the kids, only to balk in bewilderment at each of them in turn. “W-wha… what the heck happened to you kids?!” he asked, stepping over toward them. “Dipper--or Steven, I don’t care who since either of you if not both is usually behind anything wacky or magical happening around here--explain. Now.”

“We would if we actually understood what happened to begin with,” Dipper replied, crossing his arms.

“Well you better figure it out!” Stan snapped, irritated. “Cause I don’t know how you expect me to send you runts home to your parents with you looking half like a deer while your sister’s flopping around like a fish outta water.”

“Aw, it doesn’t sound anywhere near as magical and cool when you put being a mermaid like that…” Mabel cringed as she popped her head out of the water after refilling her gills. 

“You won’t have to send us home looking like this,” Dipper countered, resolved. “Because we’re going to find a way to undo all of this and get everyone back to normal.”

“Yeah!” Steven, Mabel, and Connie all chimed in support of this plan. 

“Oh really? That’s awesome, dudes!” Soos exclaimed as he stepped outside of the shack. Upon a first glance, he seemed to look just as he always did with no peculiar transformation in sight, at least until a piece of his arm quite literally melted right off. 

“Uh… Soos?” Steven spoke up, all four of the kids looking to the handyman in immense concern. 

“Oops,” Soos scooped up the strangely mouldable clump of his arm and easily slapped it back on as if it had never fallen off to begin with. “I’ll tell ya what, being made of clay may seem like it has its perks, but it’s starting to get way less cool the more times a chunk of me randomly melts off…”

“Could you at least stop melting all over the shack?” Stan asked dryly. “The last thing I wanna do is clean up bits of Soos off the floor.”

“Sorry, Mr. Pines,” Soos apologized as he smoothed up the side of his cheek before any clay could drip off of it. “I guess clay and a hot summer day aren’t a great mix…”

“Ugh, consider yourself lucky, man,” Wendy spoke up as she came out of the shack herself. “At least you’re not covered in fur…” 

“Whoa, Wendy!” Mabel exclaimed in fascination as Dipper, Steven, and Connie looked to the cashier in shock. “Are you-”

“A werewolf? Ugh, yeah, I guess,” Wendy rolled her eyes as she absently scratched behind one of her now rather dog-like ears. Sure enough, her entire body was covered in thick red fur to match her hair color, and alongside that she bore a bit of a snout with a wolfish nose and plenty of sharp, fanged teeth to match the sizable claws on her hands and feet. Yet despite her rather canine appearance, she was still perfectly able to walk upright, which was apparent enough as she leaned against the side of the shack, annoyed. “All those movies with the hot shirtless werewolves totally oversold this, by the way. The real deal totally sucks between being hot and itchy all the time. So if you guys are dead set on getting us all back to normal, then more power to you.”

“Don’t worry, we will,” Connie assured, though her confident smile quickly fell. “If only we knew where to start…”

“Maybe Great Uncle Ford can help,” Dipper suggested. “After filling up three whole journals, it’s safe to assume he is the resident expert on magical creatures around here. Where is he anyway?”

“Ugh, please don’t get me started on Ford and all those stupid riddles he’s been throwing around since this whole mess startled,” Stan huffed crossly. 

“Riddles?” Steven asked, confused. 

“Precisely, my boy,” Ford interjected as he rounded the far corner of the shack. For his part, his appearance had taken on something of a lion-eque motiff, with golden-brown fur, a long, thin tail, large (but still six-fingered) paws, and even a rather feline nose. But what set that motiff apart were his wings, just as wide as his brother’s, though bright and colorful and feathered instead of grey and stony. He only briefly regarded the Gems and the kids’ changes in appearance, seemingly not alarmed by them at all as he continued just as calmly. “For instance, what do you call a creature that’s steeped in ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology and has a penchant for presenting all who cross its path with puzzling riddles?” 

“Annoying?” Stan ventured, sending his brother a bored look. 

“No, Stanley,” Ford countered flatly. “A sphinx. Which seems to be what I’ve turned into. Maybe you’ll have an easier time figuring this one out: what’s the term for a creature that’s made of animated stone and also happens to be what you’ve become?”

“I’m sticking with my first answer and saying annoying,” the conman reiterated, glaring back at his unwanted set of wings. 

“A gargoyle, Stanley, a gargoyle,” the author huffed, exasperated. “Come on, that one wasn’t even hard at all.” 

“Yeesh, if you’re gonna be a wisecracking know-it-all, then can’t you just get to the point about it?” Stan rolled his eyes. “Do you have to keep at with all these pointless riddles?”

“...Yes,” Ford said bluntly before turning to the kids. “Anyway, children, do you know what a living, human-like being made of an earthen material such as mud, rocks, or in this case, clay,” he nodded over at Soos. “Is called?” The kids exchanged an uncertain glance at this, though it wasn’t long before the author filled in with an answer to his own riddle once more. “A golem. A clay golem in this particular instance, I believe.”

“Oooohhh so that’s what I am,” Soos mused, fascinated. “And I was just gonna keep calling myself “Soos: Clay Edition” but a golem sounds way cooler.”

“Furthermore,” Ford posed another riddle. “A creature with the arms, head, and torso of a human, but the body and legs of a deer is called a…?”

“A deertaur!” Steven and Mabel both chimed in with an enthusiastic answer. 

“Ugh, for the last time, you guys, that’s not what it’s called!” Dipper protested, his tail flickering in aggravation. 

“You’re absolutely right, Dipper, that’s not what it’s called,” Ford pointed out with a knowing grin. “You’re actually a cervitaur.”

“Eh, that doesn’t have nearly the same ring to it…” Mabel said, looking to her brother dubiously. “Grunkle Ford, can you do me next!”

“Mabel,” Dipper cut in, shaking his head. “We already know you’re a-”

“A creature that’s half girl and half fish would be known as…?”

“A mermaid!” Mabel immediately guessed. “I know because I am one! Right now!”

“Correct,” Ford nodded, pleased. “Now… hm… this one is a bit trickier. A physical spirit tied to… well, traditionally trees, but I suppose just about any form of flora works, as is the case with Steven here, so that would make him a…?”

“Uh… Mabel guessed flower guy earlier so, I’ll go with that?” Steven suggested, though he really had no idea himself. 

“Actually, my boy, you’re what’s known as a dryad,” Ford corrected. “Or more accurately, the male form of a dryad, a drus. A rose drus, from the looks of it…”

“...It had to be roses, didn’t it?” Steven muttered to himself as he rubbed his thorn, covered arm apprehensively. 

“Now, rounding things off, a creature that’s wolf-like in appearance, but-”

“It’s a werewolf,” Wendy interrupted boredly. “Already figured that out as soon as I realized I had a tail, man, it’s not that hard.”

“Ah,” Ford said somewhat awkwardly before continuing. “Then how about an immaterial spector that’s-”

“A ghost,” Connie readily filled the answer. “Sorry, Mr. Ford. We… kind of already figured that one out too.”

“...Very well then,” the author noted as he glanced over at the Gems. “As for you three, I… can’t quite seem to think of anything-”

“Oh, thank god,” Stan said, breathing a sigh of relief. 

“Are… are they… corrupted?” Ford asked the kids in particular. 

“Sort of?” Steven shrugged. “They’re still themselves though, right, you guys?” The Gems let out a variety of unintelligible answers at this, but all of them seemed to confirm this to be true. 

“Fascinating…” Ford adjusted his glasses as he looked over each of the Gems’ semi-corrupted forms. “All of this is just so… fascinating! I could fill up an entire journal alone with all of the scientific discoveries to be found here! And while I’m on that note, another riddle! What’s-”

“No!” Stan quickly cut him off, leaping forward with a powerful flap of his wings to practically tackle Ford to the ground. “You are not asking another one of your dumb riddles on my watch!”

“...Well, you could have just asked, Stanley,” Ford huffed, pushing his brother off him. “You didn’t need to be so extreme about it.”

“Oh, hey!” Steven cut in, pointing to a familiar van driving toward the shack. “Looks like Dad’s on his way here!”

Sure enough, Greg’s van pulled up to a sudden stop in front of the group gathered outside the shack, with the former rock star poking his head out the window frantically. “Steven!” he exclaimed, startled by what had happened to both his son and the others. Greg himself had also undergone a rather alarming transformation, as he was seemingly wrapped in browning bandages from head to toe, with what little skin showing between those bandages looking drastically pale and almost lifeless. Yet he hardly seemed to care much for his own appearance as he threw the van door open to check on his son and the others instead. At least until one of his bandages got caught up in the door as he slammed it shut. “Aw, not again!” he huffed, pulling the bandage out before hurrying over to Steven. “L-look at you!” he exclaimed, practically having to look up at his son thanks to the vines still holding him aloft. “Are you ok? Is everyone ok?”

“Yeah, we’re all fine,” Steven nodded. 

“E-even the Gems…?” Greg asked, sending them a worried look. 

“Yeah, they’re ok too,” the young Gem mustered a small smile. 

“Ah! Here we go!” Ford piped up with a brand-new riddle. “What would you call an undead creature typically wrapped in cloth bandages to try and preserve the decaying body?”

“U-undead?!” Greg balked, glancing down at himself fearfully. 

“Join the club…” Connie spoke up as she hovered nearby. 

“A mummy! Greg’s a mummy! Geez!” Stan swiftly answered, shoving his brother out of aggravation. “What did I say about the riddles?!”

“Oh, honestly, Stanley! You don’t have to be such a brute!” Ford took a swing at the conman with his claws, only for them to hit solid stone instead.

“And you don’t have to be such a pain!” Stan countered, utilizing his wings to gain the literal upper hand over the author before he could lash out again. Ford didn’t let him get away that easily as he also managed to take flight, and soon enough both brothers were engaged in a midair chase that everyone briefly stopped to watch before returning to the matter at hand. 

“So yeah, like Steven said, we’re all doin’ pretty good,” Soos reiterated obliviously. 

“I-I can’t believe this whole monster thing happened to all of you guys too!” Greg exclaimed, running a hand through the hair that was sticking out from under the bandages. 

“What do you mean ‘too’?” Dipper asked, confused. 

“Haven’t you seen the news?” Greg asked, incredulously. 

“Oh, yeah,” Wendy spoke up as she pulled the latest town news report up on her phone before holding it up for everyone to see. “Check it out.”

“This just in,” Shandra Jimenez, who seemed to have been turned into a harpy, reported urgently. “Monster madness has taken over Gravity Falls! Residents all over town have reported being suddenly transformed into magical or mythical creatures.” Sure enough, the accompanying footage proved this to be true as every citizen shown seemed to be some sort of monster or cryptid or creature, each in some varying level of surprise or panic over their new forms. “The cause for this town-wide transformation is still unknown, but experts believe the large flash of bright light that encompassed the entire area earlier today might have had something to do with it. For now, residents are advised to continue on with business as usual until some sort of cure can be found. We’ll be back with more details at 5, but for now, I’m Shandra Jimenez, and it’s time for my hourly preening session.” With a loud squawk, the anchor signed off to pick at the feathered wings that had taken the place of her arms and putting an end to the news briefing in the process. 

“T-this is happening to the entire town?!” Dipper asked in disbelief. All four of the kids exchanged a startled glance at this as they realized this problem was much more widespread and far more serious than they first thought. Which, of course, would only make finding an elusive solution for it much more difficult than they had originally hoped. 

“Yeah, it is, and somebody better do something about it! Soon.” 

“No way…” Dipper gasped as he was the first to notice who was emerging, or rather slithering out of the nearby forest. “Pacifica?!”

Like all of the others, Pacifica’s appearance had drastically changed, primarily by the way of her legs being replaced by a long, light gold, snake-like tail. That reptilian theming continued with her hair, which was no longer really hair at all but a horde of snakes, each of them alive and autonomous as they moved about on their own accord. The heiress-turned-gorgon clearly cared little for her own snakes as she pushed the unruly reptiles back as they hissed and maneuvered about freely. Yet her frustration quickly fizzled into shock as she spotted the group of various creatures and monsters in front of the shack, though she focused most of her concern on her boyfriend in particular. 

“Oh my gosh!” Pacifica exclaimed, clumsily slithering over to her as Dipper tried to meet her halfway every bit as awkwardly on his still rather unsteady legs. “D-Dipper, you… look-”

“Please don’t say adorable,” Dipper interrupted, deadpan. 

“...I was gonna say like a deer, but…” Pacifica couldn’t help but crack a small smile at this, revealing her new set of sharp fangs. “You definitely look better off than I do right now…”

“What? N-no!” Dipper countered, trying to reassure her as best he could as he suppressed a nervous cringe as one of her snakes drew in a bit too close to him for comfort. “You, uh… you look…”

“Don’t lie,” the heiress warned coldly. 

“...S-snakes,” Dipper finished, unable to really say much else as he realized he was slightly trembling again. 

“Yeah, snakes,” Pacifica scowled, reigning her snakes back again as several of them started crowding around Dipper, their almost hungry stares making him quite uncomfortable. “Please tell me you’re working on a way of undoing this whole mess…”

“Of course, we are,” he said, suppressing his sudden anxiety as he took her hands to comfort her. “We’ll figure something out, I promise.”

“AW!” Mabel suddenly gushed from her pool. “Even like this, you guys are still the CUTEST couple ever! What I wouldn’t give to have my camera on me! Though then again, maybe it’s better that I don’t… I don’t think it’s waterproof…” 

“Oh, come on, really?” Pacifica asked in disbelief as she glanced over at Mabel. “You got turned into a mermaid? I wish I could have been that lucky…”

“Tell me about it,” Connie sighed as she suddenly materialized right beside the heiress, startling both her and her snakes in the process. 

“Ok, everyone,” Dipper addressed the others, outside of Stan and Ford who were still engrossed in their petty brawl above. “Let’s get back on track. We need to start looking for some way to get all of us back to-” A high, loud screech abruptly cut him off as it echoed through the air, though it didn’t take long for everyone to discover the source of the noise as it came from above. Stan and Ford’s ongoing argument was only briefly interrupted by the arrival of a winged creature that suddenly blazed right past them both. That blue, jellyfish-esque creature was apparently holding something with its thin set of lengthy tentacles, a much smaller, bright green, six legged spider-like monster. While a pair of such peculiar creatures would have normally been cause for alarm, as the jellyfish gently set the spider down on the ground before coming to hover just above it, it soon became very apparent to just about everyone exactly who these creatures, or partially corrupted Gems really were. 

“Wait a second…” Steven said, focusing on the familiar gemstones on each of the monsters. “Isn’t that-”

“Oh my gosh! Peri!” Mabel practically squealed with delight at the spider-like form Peridot had taken on. “You look so CUTE! You’re like an itsy-bitsy Gem spider! If I could get out of this pool, you better believe I’d be giving you the biggest hug right now!”

Peridot let out a flustered hiss at this, her large, dark eyes narrowing in apparently frustration and embarrassment as she stomped her two front, disjointed legs down in annoyance. An apparent testament that the green Gem still retained her annoyance at being referred to as small, even in her now largely-corrupted form. 

At the same time, Dipper was completely caught off guard as the jellyfish creature suddenly flew over to him, remaining completely silent as several of its long tendrils reached out toward him. Immediately, his relatively new panicky instincts washed over him as he froze up, staring at the monster with stark, fearful, yet quiet alarm. The creature quickly noticed this and drew back a bit, seemingly confused and concerned, though it was still unable to make so much as a sound to convey either of those things. 

“Uh, Dipper?” Steven placed a steadying hand on his shoulder as his vines carried him over to him. “I… think that’s Lapis…”

At this, Dipper quickly snapped out of this forceful bout of shock, recognition filling his features as he spotted the teardrop shaped gemstone that was clearly visible through the jellyfish’s somewhat transparent blue body. “L-Lapis…?”

Lapis “nodded” as much as she could in her current form, slowly reaching her tendrils out once more so she could better see how Dipper had changed too. This time, he allowed her to, albeit a bit anxiously as one of her naturally wet tentacles found a gentle spot against the side of his face. “Uh… s-sorry,” he said, backing up a bit. “This is just… really weird…”

Though Lapis didn’t really respond to this, Peridot certainly did in a series of plaintiff hisses as she skittered around in apparent frustration. “Yeesh, even like this she’s still a loudmouth,” Pacifica noted to Connie and Mabel, aside, both of whom couldn’t help but agree. 

“So, you guys got corrupted--er, s-sort of corrupted too, huh?” Steven asked Lapis and Peridot, who both nodded in what almost seemed like resignation to this fact. The young Gem let out a small, fretful sigh as he took a moment to glance over the pair, as well as other Gems’ rather monstrous forms. Likewise, he took another moment to take stock of what had happened to his father, to Soos and Wendy and Pacifica, to Stan and Ford, to Mabel, Dipper, and Connie, and even to himself. For whatever reason, they had all undergone some kind of unknown, and in most cases unwanted, transformation, one that had disrupted their lives and left them all with more questions than answers as they tried to adapt to what had so suddenly happened to them, a plight that faced  the entire town and everyone in it, Gems and humans alike. And while Steven knew Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl weren’t particularly equipped to save Gravity Falls from such a plight as they usually would have, he figured that someone else would just have to step up and do exactly that in their stead. 

“All right, enough is enough,” Steven said, his tone stern and serious as he looked to Dipper, Mabel, and Connie. “We need to do something about this.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying this whole time,” Dipper huffed, his tail twitching in slight aggravation.

“I know…” Steven admitted as a few of his vines curled back in embarrassment. “B-but this time, let’s actually do it! We can find a way to undo this and get all of us, everyone--the whole town, back to the way they’re supposed to be, I know we can! So, are you guys up for another mystery?”

“You bet!” Mabel eagerly chimed, slapping her hand over Steven’s as he extended it to the others. “Mystery Kids!”

“Mystery Kids,” Connie agreed, hovering her hand over the others even though she couldn’t really touch them herself. 

Dipper sighed, though he did so with a warm, resolved smile as his hand joined the pile. “Mystery Kids.” He paused right after this, however, as he stole a glance over at Pacifica, who stood on the fringes of the group, glancing away awkwardly as even her snakes seemed to hang low and quiet. She started, however, as she caught sight of Dipper silently motioning her to join them. Considering her less than stellar history with the other members of the group, she hesitated, but she ultimately folded upon meeting her boyfriend’s soft, reassuring smile. 

“M-Mystery Kids…?” Pacifica ventured as she slithered over to the group and placed her hand atop theirs. Steven, Mabel, and Connie all offered her the same eager, welcoming smiles, which helped to set her at ease just as much as Dipper reaching up to lightly, supportively squeeze her hand did. 

With another daring cheer, the four--now five--Mystery Kids solidified their brazen mission to uncover the truth behind what had happened to Gravity Falls and find a way to solve it. A lofty, brazen goal to be sure, but one they felt largely equipped to handle; after all, they’d faced impossible odds like this more than a few times before. 

“Ok,” Dipper said as they all retracted their hands. “Let’s get started.”

“Good luck, dudes!” Soos encouraged with a bright wave, though his hand ended up melting off his wrist before it splattered onto the porch. “...Oops.”

“Uh, you guys might wanna hurry up on that,” Wendy noted as she watched the handyman reclaim his hand with a concerned frown. “I don’t know how much longer Soos can hold out with it being this hot out. Or how much longer I can hold out either for that matter…” she growled, scratching away at her own thick fur. 

“Wait, hold up,” Stan cut in as he finally came in for a landing, Ford following not too far behind him as their disagreement had reached a stalemate. “The entire town is cursed or something, and we’re just supposed to rely completely on you kids to get us all back to normal? N-not that I don’t trust you four, but you gotta admit you’re a little wet behind the ears. In some cases, literally,” he nodded over at Mabel. 

“Guilty as charged,” Mabel chuckled, showing off her now fin-like ears, which were, sure enough, soaking wet. 

“Stanley, don’t be so inconsiderate,” Ford scolded. “After all, who has accomplished impressive feats of discovery and problem solving through pooling their respective talents together on several occasions over the past few months alone?”

“We have!” Steven proudly proclaimed.

“Exactly,” the author nodded, ignoring his brother’s irritated glare over yet another riddle. 

“Well, you kids have definitely got my vote of confidence,” Greg soundly agreed amidst resecuring a loose bandage around his arm. 

“Thanks, Dad,” Steven grinned, leading the way toward the forest. He stopped short, however, in front of the Gems, all of whom, including Lapis and Peridot, regarded him affectionately as best as they could, even if they had to do so without using words. “Don’t worry, guys,” he assured them with a hopeful smile. “We’re gonna fix this, no matter what it takes. I promise.” Though none of the Gems could properly express it, their pride was clear through the round of various indiscernible, yet clearly happy cheers that rose up among them. Their warm support only gave a boost to the young Gem’s smile as he turned back to the other kids. “Ok, you guys ready to go--oh…” 

His question was answered before he even finished asking it, for while Connie was able to freely hover just about anywhere with few problems, Dipper and Pacifica were still quite unsteady on their hooves and tail respectively and Mabel was essentially confined to her tiny kiddie pool (which her long tail was actually halfway sticking out of). “Uh… right,” Steven let out a small laugh, realizing that the others didn’t have an autonomous set of vines to tote them around like he currently did. “We should probably figure this out first…”

The solution when it came to transportation was actually pretty simple, and a large part of that came down to Steven’s several sets of sturdy vines. As intangible as she was, Connie couldn’t really do much to help, but Steven hardly minded as he allowed both Dipper and Pacifica to cling onto a few of his vines, as well as each other, for support as they began to make their way through the woods. Mabel had been a bit tricker, but they’d eventually devised an idea upon finding an old pair of skateboards stored in the back of Greg’s van. It took a bit of doing (namely in getting Stan and Ford to cooperate long enough to work together to lift Mabel’s pool onto the boards) but eventually the pool itself was fully mobile and ready to be pulled along by a few more of Steven’s vines (of which he fortunately had plenty to spare). And just like that the small, but enthusiastic group set out on their daunting quest, though exactly how they were supposed to go about it still wasn’t exactly clear. 

“So… what are we out here looking for anyway?” Connie finally posed the question that all of the others had been thinking. 

“A way to get everyone back to normal,” Steven replied with a steady grin. 

“Ok, but like… how?” Pacifica asked, just as confused as Connie was. 

“Uh, well…” Dipper began, exchanging an uncertain glance with Steven. “We… don’t really know what we’re looking for exactly. To be honest, a lot of the times when we do this, we just tend to look around for a bit until a solution just sort of comes to us.” At that exact moment, the entire group came to a grinding halt as something, or rather, a certain semi-corrupted Gem to be exact, abruptly fell out of the canopy of trees just in front of them. “...Like that.”

“Centi!” Steven exclaimed as he reached a vine out toward the disoriented Gem to help her up. “You’re back! A-and… whoa, you look just like you did before!” Sure enough, Centipeetle hadn’t been transformed whatsoever like all of the other Gems had, for she still retained the same semi-corrupted appearance she’d had since Steven had tried to heal her. Likewise, she still seemed to have a rather skittish mindset as she cowered away from Steven, not seeming to recognize him or any of the others in their strange new forms. “Hey, i-its ok!” he said, pulling his vines back a bit so he couldn’t scare her any further. “It’s just me: Steven! I know I look a little different right now, but you don’t have to be scared, ok?”

Centipeetle eased up a bit at this, looking Steven up and down before calming down as she met his comforting smile. She let out a somewhat confused chirp as she walked over to him, and that confusion only seemed to grow as she looked over the other kids as well. 

“So this… “Centi” is a friend of yours?” Pacifica asked Dipper to gain a better sense of context. “Yikes, it looks like she got hit by this whole monster thing really hard…”

“Um, actually, she looked like that before any of this happened,” Dipper carefully pointed out. 

“...Oh,” Pacifica glanced away awkwardly. “My bad…”

“I don’t understand,” Connie spoke up as she flew closer to Centipeetle, who flinched away from her slightly. “I know she’s already partially corrupted, but why didn’t she fully turn back into a monster like the other Gems did?”

“Good question,” Steven said, watching as the semi-corrupted Gem sauntered past him. “You got hit by that light too, didn’t you, Centi? Do you have any ideas about what might have happened?”

Centipeetle didn’t respond as she was instead far more fascinated in the small pool Mabel was sitting in. Or rather, the pool that Mabel had completely submerged her entire head under for far more than just a few mere minutes now. 

“Oh my gosh, Mabel!” Dipper gasped, not hesitating to stumble over to her as fast as he could. Though her tail was hanging over the side of the tiny pool, the rest of her body lay face-up under the shallow water, her expression completely blank as she stared up at nothing at all as her gills “breathed” in the water surrounding her at a steady, synchronized pace. “Mabel!” Dipper reached into the water, grabbing her by the shoulder to rouse her from this bizarre trance. It worked as she gasped, darting up with a start and unintentionally splashing her brother in the process. 

“W-whoa!” she exclaimed, pressing a hand against her head. “Uh… sorry,” she offered Dipper an apologetic grin as she noticed he was now dripping wet. “Not sure what happened, I guess I sorta zoned out there. Oh hey! Centi’s back!”

“Ok, can we not backtrack here?” Pacifica asked, somewhat impatient. “We’re supposed to be finding a way to fix all this, remember?”

“Right,” Steven soundly agreed with a hopeful smile. “And I think Centi might just be the key to helping us figure that out.”

Centipeetle tilted her head, letting out a curious coo at this, yet a few of the other kids weren’t so convinced. “Uh… Steven? I know you still want to help her, and we do too, but… we sort of have bigger problems to deal with right now, don’t you think?” Dipper asked apprehensively. 

“But Centi was corrupted, just like the Gems sort of are now,” Steven pointed out. “And whatever corrupted them transformed the rest of the town too. So maybe whatever did that did this too!”

“But we still don’t know how corruption even happens to begin with,” Connie noted with a frown. 

“Maybe we don’t, but Centi might!” Steven turned back to the semi-corrupted Gem. “What do you say? Do you remember anything from before you--I-I mean… from long ago?”

Centipeetle took a moment to ponder this question before she answered it with a surprisingly enthusiastic nod. Likewise, she began to explain, albeit in her usual language of inhuman squeaks and squawks, none of which any of the kids could even begin to decipher. 

“Well, this isn’t gonna work,” Dipper remarked flatly. 

“Oh! I have an idea!” Mabel raised her hand. “If her memories are still in her head, we just gotta draw them out. Literally! Through the language… of ART!”

“...Or she could just write it all down,” Pacifica countered much less dramatically. 

“Yeah, that would probably be a little easier,” Connie nodded. 

“Now, if only we had some paper and a-” Steven stopped short as Dipper suddenly pulled both a notepad and a pen out of his vest. 

“I never leave home without them,” he said with a proud grin. “Especially since you never know what you’ll run into next around here. It never hurts to be prepared.”

“Dork,” Pacifica teased, lightly elbowing him, which he was more than happy to accept given the flirtatious nature of the gesture. 

“Ok, Centi, check this out,” Steven said, writing his name onto the first empty page of the notepad. “Ste-ven. That’s me! Can you do that?”

Centipeetle nodded, taking the pad as she began to scribble something down onto the page. When she was done and presented her work to the kids, however, the series of jagged, mangled lines she’d drawn didn’t bear semblance to any legible words at all. 

“...You know, maybe having her draw might not be such a bad idea after all…” Connie said somewhat fretfully. 

“Yes!” Mabel cheered. “Art always wins!”

“Ok then, let’s try this,” Steven sketched out a quick stick figure sketch of himself so Centipeetle would understand what they wanted her to do. “You can tell us whatever you want to through pictures! You try it.” 

Centipeetle reclaimed the pen and pad and began to do exactly that, sketching something out in record time before showing her work to the others. “That looks like… some kind of spaceship…” Connie inferred, hovering above as she glanced down at the Gem’s rough, yet understandable drawing. “Is that how you came to Earth?”

Centipeetle nodded, flipping the pad to a blank page as she started doodling something else. “Ooo, they look like you!” Mabel pointed toward the trio of stick figures that bore a passing semblance to the semi-corrupted Gem. “Centi, did you used to roll with a super cool crew back in the day?”

Centipeetle let out a happy chirp at this, pointing to herself with something of a proud smile. “You were a captain?!” Steven gasped, stars in his eyes. “That’s amazing! Sorry, I mean--that’s amazing, sir!” he chuckled with a playful salute before he happened to catch himself. “Oh, right, you guys don’t salute like that. It’s more like… this, right?” The young Gem awkwardly tried to cross his arms, though he couldn’t quite position them in any sort of comfortable manner. “Ow! Oh, this looked so easy when Peridot did it....” It didn’t take long for Centipeetle to catch onto what he was trying to do as she showed him the corrected cross-armed salute. “Oh yeah! Like that!” Steven nodded as the semi-corrupted Gem let out another noisy chirp before she resumed drawing out her tale once more. 

“Ok, so… you’re saluting someone…?” Dipper guessed as they all gathered closer to watch Centipeetle draw. “Is that your commander or something?” The semi-corrupted Gem nodded, pointing back to her drawings with another pointed squawk. ‘

“She gave you an order,” Connie continued inspecting the drawings. “And you and your crew got on your ships and--oh, lots of ships. Heading through space to… Earth.”

“You landed and started building stuff,” Steven mused as Centipeetle sketched out the start of Homeworld’s colonization of the planet. A colonization which soon turned to a violent conflict. “But then… the Gem war! You joined the fight…” Centipeetle’s drawings grew a bit more aggressive and hectic as her hand started to shake. She swiftly crossed out several of the Gems she had drawn, symbolizing their brutal ends that happened so long ago. “You and your crew kept going…” Steven faltered as Centipeetle suddenly ripped half of the page she was working on, tearing away her fellow crew members away from her. “You got seperated, but you were still fighting. Then, new orders from your commander… to retreat. Everyone’s running-” The sketches shifted to a massive crowd of Gem soldiers fleeing from some unknown, unseen threat. And among that crowd was Centipeetle, lost in the shuffle and hopelessly confused as to what was really going on. “But from what? You don’t know. Where’s your crew? Where’s your ship? You stopped.” Centipeetle froze in her drawing, captivated by the sky as a large star, three stars rather, appeared in it. “You heard something--from the sky, a sound. A song? And then…”

Centipeetle tore the last page away entirely to a completely blank one. She covered that empty page with her hand as tears started to slip out of her eye and splash down onto the paper, dampening it as she let out an agonized sob. “C-Centi?” Mabel spoke up, concerned. 

“That light…” Dipper began in dawning realization. “That’s the same light that hit the entire town! Where did it come from?”

Centipeetle whimpered once more but drew one last image upon the empty page: the familiar symbol of a trio of diamonds. “D-damage from the Diamonds…” Steven whispered, his eyes wide with alarm. 

“Uh… what does that mean?” Pacifica asked, largely out of the loop compared to the others. 

“It means… none of this makes sense…” Connie shook her head incredulously. “The light from the Diamonds corrupted Gems back then, but… it didn’t work on humans before… did it?”

“N-no, it… it only worked on Gems, like Centi…” Steven frowned, recalling what Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl had told him of corruption before. “But this time, it only affected the Gems’ bodies, not their minds like it did with all the others… And it did work on humans… So, what’s different now?”

“Bill,” Dipper said starkly, panic filling his expression as he recalled a very significant, very frightening recent revelation. “H-he’s working with the Diamonds now, o-or at least Yellow Diamond, remember? What if they teamed up to do this to us?!”

“B-but why would they-” Steven didn’t get a chance to finish his question as Centipeetle suddenly caught his attention. The semi-corrupted Gem was hacking horribly, acid spilling out from her beak-like maw as she abruptly collapsed to the ground. “Centi! Are you ok?!”

Centipeetle let out an anguished cry as light enveloped her arm, forcibly mutating it back into its previously short, insect-esque appendange. “W-what’s happening to her?!” Mabel asked, leaning out of her pool worriedly. 

“She’s reverting!” Steven exclaimed, alarmed. “Here, I’ll heal you again!” The young Gem hurried to do so, swiftly licking his hand and placing it against Centipeetle’s gemstone. She reacted harshly, however, her eye slamming shut as her arm glitched out, but ultimately stayed corrupted as the rest of her body began to do the same. “W-why isn’t it working?! How can I help you?!” 

All Centipeetle could respond with was a loud, piercing, pained screech, one that echoed through the forest and set off a series of varied responses in the process. As startled as she was, Connie was no longer able to keep herself visible as she abruptly disappeared into thin air once more, despite Steven’s desperate plea for her to stay. Likewise, as horrified as he already was by thoughts of Bill and the Diamonds and their twisted alliance, Dipper found he was completely helpless to resist his new flighty instincts overwhelming all sense of reason and logic as they prompted him to flee, running swiftly off into the forest, even as Mabel and Pacifica both tried and failed to reign him back in. 

And yet, Dipper and Connie weren’t the only ones to take off out of fear as Centipeetle started doing the same, distressed as she startled scrambling back through the woods herself. “E-everyone, wait!” Steven called, distraught as he realized things were only going from bad to worse. 

“W-what do we do?” Mabel asked, immensely concerned. 

“Uh… um…” Steven stammered, racing to come up with some sort of plan, which he surprisingly managed to do in record time. “Pacifica, can you go look for Dipper?”

“Um, yeah, I’ll try,” Pacifica agreed, more than willing to do so, even if she wasn’t entirely sure how far she’d be able to go on her difficult to maneuver tail. 

“Mabel, you… stay here.”

“Yeah, I… kinda can’t really do much else,” Mabel noted, pointing to her tail. “Oh! I know! I’ll see if I can get Connie to come back!”

“Great,” Steven nodded as his vines turned him around. “I’m gonna go after Centi. I’ll be back soon!”

“Good luck!” Mabel called after both Pacifica and Steven as they set off on their own respective missions. She paused a moment after they were gone, more than set to call after Connie in the hopes of getting her to appear. Yet just before she could, her own bizarre newfound instincts took over as she silently plunged herself back under the water of her pool, unable to really do anything else, even if she could have tried. 

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Steven to catch up to Centipeetle given how surprisingly fast his vines could carry him. The semi-corrupted Gem had just broken through the edge of the forest, apparently heading back toward the temple, yet as Steven did the same, he was quite taken aback by what he saw happening at the Mystery Shack. 

The entire area was awash in chaos as it seemed as though almost everyone who had gathered there had also fallen victim to whatever instinctual impulses that came along with their new monstrous forms. Stan and Ford had apparently gotten into another brawl for whatever reason, though this one was much more violent and aggressive as they chased each other around the sky again. Wendy attempted to follow along on the ground, running on all fours as she growled almost ferally, and though she missed Centipeetle, she did notice Steven and tried chasing after him as well. The young Gem narrowly managed to avoid her using his floating powers to jump on top of his father’s van, though that hardly stopped the frantic scene on the ground below. Soos seemed to have tucked himself away inside the shack to avoid melting any further, and Greg was seemingly nowhere to be found, at least until Steven peeked into the back of the van to find his father sleeping soundly within it. 

“D-Dad!” Steven exclaimed, hurrying to his side, only to notice Greg’s arms were crossed squarely over his chest, much like a traditional mummy’s would have been. “Dad, wake up, please!” he shook his father’s shoulder to try and rouse him, though it didn’t do any good. “D-Dad…?”

A sudden screech quickly caught the distraught young Gem’s attention, one that came from Pearl, who he realized was standing right behind him alongside Garnet and Amethyst. While Lapis and Peridot had taken to the sidelines, unsure of what to do, the main trio of Gems had been doing their best to ease the mindless uproar between the others, though there wasn’t much they could really do with their forms as monstrous as they currently were. “G-guys, what… what’s going on?” Steven asked them, realizing they were much calmer than everyone else seemed to be. “Why’s everyone acting so weird?” 

Though she couldn’t really give a proper answer, Garnet replied in the form of a low grunt, nodding up toward the sky, or rather, toward where the apparent corrupting light had come from. “C-Corruption… yeah, we know,” Steven nodded, “We think it might have been Bill and the Diamonds this time, but they... “ He gasped as the newfound, horrific realization struck him. “They corrupted everyone’s bodies… but only the minds of the humans! That’s why they’re acting like this! W-we have to help them! B-but how?”

The Gems seemed to agree, though the only way they could really convey their idea to do so was to step aside so Steven could see Centipeetle, who was still frantically making her way up to the temple. “Centi?” the young Gem wondered anxiously. “D-do you think…?”

The Gems exchanged something of an uncertain glance but ultimately they agreed that the semi-corrupted Gem would be their best course of action right now. Something Steven couldn’t really argue with since he was largely out of ideas himself. “Right,” he nodded, his vines starting to pull him forward so he could follow her. “You guys stay here and keep everyone safe. I’m gonna find a way to fix all of this. I mean it this time.”

Even if they couldn’t exactly speak, the Gems still sent him off with a chorus of warm, proud well-wishes, voicing their firm belief in their young ward just as well as any words could have. Their faith did give Steven something of a confidence boost, but as he set off after Centipeetle he couldn’t help but feel quite worried all the same, especially now that the stakes seemed higher than ever before. What if he couldn’t find a way to return everyone to normal? What if his friends, his family, possibly even himself with time, were all eventually lost to their monstrous forms and mangled minds, just like previously corrupted Gems like Centipeetle had been centuries ago? 

These were all thoughts Steven could hardly bear to face, so he decided to embrace the opposite instead, the hope that he would find a solution. That he could fix this and save everyone, just as they were all counting on him to do, even if they didn’t even realize it. 

The young Gem burst into the house just moments after Centipeetle had, finding her propped up against the warp pad as she desperately tried using it. No teleporting light emerged from it however, much to the semi-corrupted Gem’s distress as her leg started glitching back into its previously corrupted appearance. “I-it’s not working because you’re corrupted,” Steven noted, hurrying over to her. “Where do you want to go? The battlefield you fought at? Your ship?”

Centipeetle squawked out an immediate response to this, though Steven still didn’t quite understand. “Is there something on the ship that can help you? That can help all of us?” The semi-corrupted Gem only screamed louder at this, slamming herself down onto the warp pad as she practically begged him to use it. “O-ok, just… hold on,” Steven said, grabbing her hand to calm her down. “I’ll get you there.”

Despite his own condition, fortunately Steven was still able to use the warp pad as usual. Its light enveloped them both, taking them to the very same abandoned Gem ship that Peridot had tried trapping them in what felt like ages ago now. As soon as she so much as spotted her ship, Centipeetle took off, running through the jungle as she called out for someone she only barely remembered. “Hey! Wait!” Steven ran after her, or rather his vines did, at least until Centipeetle suddenly stopped short. The corrupted Gem unleashed another agonized scream as she collapsed, clutching her head in pain as more traces of her monsterous form began to overtake her: her multiple tiny legs, her lengthy, multi-tiered body, her long, pincher-like snout. As this horrific, slow transformation continued, Steven briefly watched in frightened alarm, before he took the initiative, gently latching onto her with a few of his vines. “You want to get to the ship? Then let’s go.” As unable to walk as she was, Steven let his vines hoist Centipeetle up as she continued whimpering loudly, her form continuing to unsteadily shift as her mind tumbled into madness all the while. Yet despite her wild manner starting to flood her once more, she still somehow recognized Steven, still somehow trusted him to take her where she longed to be. And sure enough, that’s exactly what he did. 

The young Gem carefully set Centipeetle down just as all traces of her once human-like form gave way to her former corruption. She squeaked pitifully, acid dripping out of her maw as she looked to Steven almost pleadingly. He shuddered, wishing he could do so much more to help her, but for now, the most he could do was open the door to her abandoned ship and let her back inside of it for the first time in eons. 

Silently, Steven followed Centipeetle inside the derelict vessel, only to find that they weren’t alone. Two other creatures, identical to the corrupted Gem, had scaled its dusty walls and had taken up shop there, though as they noticed Centipeedle herself, they greeted her with cheerful chips of greet. “Other Centipeetles…?” Steven wondered, watching as his own corrupted companion scurried over to join the pair. “T-they’re your crew… aren’t they?” 

Centipeetle stopped short at this, turning back to Steven as she skittered over to him once more. He offered her a small, sad smile that was quick to fade as he looked between his corrupted friend and her crew. “I-I… I’m sorry….” he sighed morosely. “I wish there was more I could do to help you. T-to help everyone! All of the other corrupted Gems, and especially everyone back in Gravity Falls right now! They’re all in danger and I-I… I don’t know what to do to save them! My friends… e-everyone I know needs my help, a-and I… I can’t do anything for them…”

Tears started to well up in the young Gem’s eyes, yet before they could fall, a gentle, almost kindly chirp from Centipeetle caught his attention instead. The corrupted Gem pulled her lengthy form up a bit so she could gain some height over Steven, and then, in much of the same way he had done for her before, she delivered a soft “kiss” of sorts upon his forehead using the very tip of her beak. It wasn’t much, but in a strange way, it offered him exactly the sort of comfort he needed at a hopeless moment such as this. 

He mouthed her a silent ‘thank you’ as she turned again to join  her crew, all three corrupted Gems chirping warmly amongst each other as they reunited after centuries of painful separation. Steven stood by, watching them for a moment or two, his mind lingering on Centipeetle’s “kiss” all the while. And the longer he thought about the touching gesture, the more it made him think about how his own healing kiss had, at least in some way, truly worked to partially cure the corrupted Gem, even if it hadn’t really worked as well as he had hoped. Yet still, it had worked on some level all the same. Which made him start to wonder if it could possibly work when it came to another, newer kind of corruption instead. 

Steven wasn’t exactly sure what the result would be as he glanced over the back of his now-clawed hand, but as he looked to the vines sprouting from his back and thought about the pink petals that had overtaken his hair, he figured it was at least worth a try all the same. The moment he so much as skimmed the back of his hand with a gentle kiss, however, he found that everything went completely white and numb, until just as quickly, everything abruptly returned. 

Except plenty of things didn’t. Because instead of being involuntarily propped up on vines as he had been all day, the young Gem found himself sitting on the floor of the abandoned ship with not a single vine in sight. His skin had regained its usual pallor as opposed to the unnatural shade of pale pink it had become and his hands and hair, he found, were both just as normal as non-floral as they should have been. “I-I… I healed myself?!” he gasped, jumping to his feet, though he just as quickly collapsed to the ground. “O-oops, guess I gotta get used to walking around on my own again, b-but still, this is great!” He grinned brightly up at the trio of Centipeetles curiously watching him from above. “Thank you,” he said to Centi in particular. “I-I know my powers won’t work on you guys, but… maybe someday they will. And when they do, I’ll come back for you first, Centi, I promise.” Centi let out a bright, affectionate chip at this, one that Steven couldn’t help but return with a small, joyous laugh of his own. “B-but for now, I’ve gotta get back and see if I can help everyone else!”

Steven wasted no time in doing so, waving one final, fond farewell to Centi and her crew before he took off to return to town. And all the while, the trio of Centipeetles remained aboard their broken vessel, happy to be, if nothing else, together again, just as they had yearned for all that time apart. 

As soon as he warped himself back to the temple, Steven rushed out of it, running as fast as his admittedly sore legs could take him in place of having his vines tote him around. The chaos unfolding at the shack had hardly changed in the time that he’d been gone, withe Gems desperately trying and largely failing to reign the maddened humans among them back in. Still, as soon as they spotted Steven in his usual appearance, the Gems were all quick to hone in on him in rapt, excited, fervent attention. Still, despite the crowd, Steven steadily got to work, even if he did have a few doubts about whether or not his plan would really work at all. All the same, he started with Amethyst, landing a brief kiss against her muscled arm, one that, sure enough, enshrouded the purple Gem in light before reverting her form back to how it usually should have been. While grateful for Steven’s assistance, Amethyst did have the slightest complaints, namely that she had found her corrupted form to be rather fun and enjoyable, something Pearl readily disagreed with as soon as the young Gem healed her up next. Garnet was more than relieved to have her future vision back on hand as Steven healed her, and with her usual level-headedness, she got her teammates into action to round up the scattered humans while the young Gem healed Lapis and Peridot next. 

It had taken some doing, but between the three of them, the Gems had managed to round up Stan, Ford, and Wendy just as Steven finished off returning Greg and Soos to normal. The trio was still quite rowdy and untamed, which made approaching them a bit of a challenge for the young Gem, at least until Amethyst came up with the idea of a spray bottle on them. Miraculously, this managed to work as Steven mixed in a bit of his own healing spit into the water before the Gems spritzed the aggressive group with it, healing them in short order and leaving each of them quite embarrassed when they realized what had happened. 

With everyone at the shack healed up, Steven made it his immediate mission to find his scattered friends in the forest, a mission that the Gems were more than happy to join him on. Lapis took to the skies alongside Peridot to try and find any signs of Dipper (and Pacifica for that matter) while Steven and the others took to the ground to regroup with Mabel and hopefully Connie. They found the latter first, who had managed to reappear and nearly flew right into them while searching for the young Gem herself. As surprised as Connie was by how Steven had managed to heal everyone, they both found a unique challenge when he tried to do the same for her given her currently intangible form, one that he couldn’t seem to touch at all. That is, at least until Garnet suggested that they fuse. It was a bit awkward and difficult to do so, yet somehow, it worked, with Stevonnie taking on a partially physical form, though they did still hover above the ground while retaining something of a ghostly glow. Still, it was enough for the young Gem’s healing powers to work as they kissed their own arm, returning not just the fusion, but Connie herself back to normal once they warmly unfused. 

Since she was essentially unable to go anywhere else, Mabel had remained in her spot in her pool, staying under water the entire time so she could breath easier. Her expression was absolutely empty and she remained completely silent, even as Connie began propping her up out of the water so Steven could heal her. And as soon as he did, Mabel immediately snapped right back into her usual chatty self, even if she was a little disgruntled by her now wet skirt, socks, and shoes as she finally got out of the pool, able to walk on her own two returned legs once again. 

By then, Lapis and Peridot had returned with their report that they had spotted Dipper running off deeper into the forest. Not wanting to waste any time, Steven, Mabel, and Connie all raced to catch up with him, though when they found him, he wasn’t exactly alone. Pacifica had also managed to find him, though by now her newly predatory instincts had overtaken her as she cornered her frightened boyfriend as both her and her snakes prepared to take on their easy prey. This tense confrontation was put to a quick end as the other kids arrived to break it up, with the girls making use of the spray bottle on Pacifica while Steven managed to keep Dipper from slipping away again with a well-timed bubble so he could properly heal him. And as soon as the couple were both back in their right minds and usual bodies, they both soundly agreed to never speak of what had almost just transpired ever again. 

From there, healing the rest of the town from their monstrous plight was quite a daunting task for Steven and the others, though the spray bottle scheme did make doing so quite a bit easier. All it took was one spritz to each citizen-turned-creature and they were back to their usual fully-human forms. With the Gems and the Pines teaming up together to spread out through the town, it was only a matter of hours before every impacted resident had been healed (even if most of them had no idea exactly what the water that had done so actually contained). Still, the general consensus was a glad and grateful one amongst its citizens as Gravity Falls slowly but surely started getting back to normal (or at least as normal as the strange little town could be). 

“And that should be everyone,” Garnet noted, relying on her future vision to confirm that their mission was complete. While a handful of the others who had lended a hand had already headed back home, the kids and the Gems were the last to dole out healing to any remaining stragglers. And with the last few townsfolk healed and human again, the sun was just starting to set as the last of the group began to make their way back to the temple and the shack as well. “Good job, Steven.”

“Yeah! Magical healing powers for the win!” Mabel cheered as she ran alongside the young Gem. “Seriously, I’ve never missed having my legs this much!”

“And I’ve never missed having only two,” Dipper readily agreed with a sigh of relief. “Let’s just hope something like this never happens again. I don’t know if I can handle the whole “mindless deer panic” thing again.”

“Well, if it does ever happen again,” Connie spoke up, glancing over at Steven with a fond smile. “We know who we can count on to save the day next time, right?”

“Wrong,” Steven finally spoke up, his dejected expression more than apparent. “I couldn’t save everyone. You guys were right,” he looked up to the Gems. “I couldn’t help Centipeetle..”

“You brought the Centipeetle back to her ship,” Garnet said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You brought her back to her crew. They were waiting for her there. They didn’t want to leave her behind.”

“Wait…” Steven raised a confused eyebrow. “How did you know any of that?”

“She told us,” Garnet held up the previously discarded notepad Centi had sketched her story in. 

“Her drawings…?” Steven flipped through the book, perplexed. 

“Her writing,” the Gem leader corrected. 

“It’s actually decently legible!” Pearl pointed out the seemingly unintelligible scribbles Centi had written out. 

“Wow!” Steven grinned, glad that someone could make it out where they hadn’t been able to. “Um… did she mention anything about… the corrupting light?”

“Mm… no,” Pearl shook her head as she looked through the notepad. “Why do you ask?”

“Well…”

“Cause the light that turned everyone into monsters was totally the same thing!” Mabel interjected. “Or at least we think it was.”

“We also think Bill might have had something to do with it,” Dipper added disdainfully. “That’s why it actually worked on humans this time.”

The Gems exchanged a worried glance upon hearing this, none of them liking the idea of Bill and the Diamonds collaborating, especially on something like this, however plausible it might have been. Yet even so, they did manage to find a few holes in the kids’ theory all the same. “Uh, if it was corruption, then how was Steven able to heal us all up when he couldn’t do the same for your girl Centi?” Amethyst asked, confused. 

“I… don’t know,” Steven frowned, puzzled. “Maybe it just wasn’t as powerful this time? Even with Bill’s help?”

“Or maybe it was only one of the Diamonds instead of all three…” Garnet muttered quietly before Pearl quickly cut in. 

“W-well anyway, I suppose it doesn’t matter that much now that it’s all over and done with!” the white Gem exclaimed with a bit of a forced smile. 

“But… if Bill and the Diamonds can do something like this, then don’t you think we should be worried about what they’re planning next?” Dipper asked warily. 

“I-in the long term, yes…” Pearl ventured somewhat anxiously. “But for now-”

“For now, we won,” Garnet interjected. “Let’s celebrate that instead of worrying about what’s to come.”

Though Dipper let out something of a disgruntled sigh at this, the other kids largely agreed, especially Steven. Because just a few hours ago, he had thought he might have very well lost his friends and his family for good, to something that had been far out of anyone’s control. Yet now, through a miraculous turn of fate and a little of his own miraculous magic thrown in, here they all were, together and back to their normal selves again, just as they should have been. Well, almost all as they should have been. 

“Hey, Pearl?” Steven began, glancing down at the notepad once more. “Can you teach me how to write in Gem?”

“Oh, Steven, it’s very complicated,” Pearl said with a small smile. “And you won’t have much use for it.”

“Oh, I just want to know a few things like, ‘Hi, how are you?’, ‘Where’s the bathroom?’ and-” Steven stopped short as he flipped to the last drawing Centi had left behind, of the trio of diamonds representing the ones who had damaged her, and so many other innocent Gems in the process, seemingly beyond repair. Or at least it was for now, something that he could only hope to somehow change someday for Centi and her friends, just as he had for all of his. “And ‘I’m sorry’...”

Next:

#jen writes #universe falls #gravity falls #steven universe #monster falls au #monster falls #steven universe/gravity falls #dipper #mabel #steven #connie #garnet #amethyst #pearl #centipeetle #stan #ford #wendy #soos #pacifica #peridot #lapis #greg #monster reunion #keyword is transformation

[dillydedalus]

september reading

there is literally no way it is september. impossible. anyway this month we have  horror, Fake Dating, the rashomon effect, a time war, and most importantly, no neutrals to be found anywhere

the old man & his sons, heðin brú (tr. from faroese by john f. west) published on the faroe islands in 1940 and the first faroese novel to be translated into english, this is a story about the dramatic shift in life style during the 30s on the faroe islands, from hardscrabble subsistence farming/fishing to market economy. interesting look at changing life on isolated isles, and a much lighter (and shorter) take on the stubborn autonomous subsistence farmer than laxness’s independent people. 3/5

the white shroud, antanas škėma (tr from lithuanian by karla gruodis - english/claudia sinnig - german) a modernist, fragmented, nonlinear novel about a lithuanian poet gone into exile, now working as an elevator operator in a new york hotel, who is involved with a married woman but might also be terminally ill. in between the present timeline, the book flashes back (both in the character’s own writing and in third person) to his youth in lithuania, his torture at the hands of the soviet regime, his time at a DP camp in germany and so on. quite interesting, with some great writing. 3/5

things we lost in the fire, mariana enríquez (tr. from spanish by megan mcdowell) really good collection of horror-ish short stories that also touch on gendered violence, child abuse, poverty and argentinian history (esp. dictatorship and disappearances) - some stories are more overtly horror, with clear supernatural elements, others are more ambiguous. i don’t read (or watch) horror stuff so i’m a bad judge of how scary this is - i found it more gruesome and upsetting than terrifying, but the dread is strong in this one. favourites: adela’s house (hungry haunted house), end of term and the title story (women & self-inflictred violence), under the black water (the poisoned oil-choked river is very bad but maybe.... there’s something worse in there). good, vividly gruesome, sharp sharp sharp. 3.5/5

axiom’s end, lindsay ellis i really like lindsay ellis, of all the ~youtube video essayists~ she’s probably my favourite and this book a) has a cool premise - aliens + conspiracies + alien communication and b) a really cool cover, and it’s lindsay, so i was super excited for this one. and it would be unfair to say i was disappointed with it; it’s a fun first contact romp with really good pacing, cool aliens, on-brand lindsay ellis humour and some interesting ideas on communicating with someone who is truly alien and incomprehensible. it’s fine! i enjoyed it and will definitely read the sequel, it’s just... i was hoping it would be AMAZING, and it just wasn’t. no huge problems (except for a few lines i would have liked to take a red pen to), just.... it was fine. 3.5/5 

zeno’s conscience, italo svevo (tr. from italian by william weaver) imagine you’re a businessman in trieste who does a little unsuccessful writing on the side and one day you decide to take english lessons to improve your business opportunities with the uk and your english teacher is JAMES FUCKING JOYCE who tells you that you need to keep writing. incredible. anyway these are the autobiographical notes of one zeno cosini, a hapless hypochondriac smug self-delusional fool, who just cannot quite quit smoking, marries the one sister out of three he least desires, & works as an accountant (for the man who married his most-desired of said sisters) despite his rather tenuous grasp on bookkeeping. my favourite scene is when his future sister in law (2nd most desired) complains lightly about her difficulties with latin, he tells her that he believes latin is a man’s language and even roman ladies probably didn’t actually speak it, only for her to correct him on a latin quotation. i will say tho that this book is way to long to maintain the endearingness and often drags. 3/5 tfw u write for an audience of one but that one is james joyce so fair enough

der hund/der tunnel/die panne, friedrich dürrenmatt dürrenmatt (in addition to having a cool-ass name) really fucking slaps!  his stuff is really good, and often really really wild. these three stories are all weird & slightly existentially scary, two degrees left of reality, and just. so interesting! we have a man stalking a street preacher and his monstrous dog, a train going through a tunnel for way too long (and it is very scary), and a man becoming involved in a pretend-trial (or is it) and becoming convinced that he actually is a murderer (or is he, really?). anyway, dürrenmatt.... slaps. 4/5

wow, no thank you., samantha irby a mix of memoir and comedy blogpost and social critique blogpost about growing up poor & black, dating while fat, chronic illness, and settling down in rural america. it’s fine. i haven’t read irby’s previous collections so maybe i’m missing that emotional connection, but i thought it was mostly...okay?? not especially funny imo & i prefered the more serious chapters of which there weren’t enough. 2/5

they say in harlan county: an oral history, alessandro portelli really impressive oral history about life in harlan county, appalachia, focusing on the labor strikes and conflicts in the 30s and 40s, but really exploring life and politics in the region from the first non-native settlement there to today. really interesting, sometimes inspiring and often infuriating and probably worth reading if you’ve ever listened to which side are you on. 4/5

rashomon & other stories, ryunosuke akutagawa (tr. from japanese by jay rubin) fun fact: if you read the short story “rashomon” expecting to get the, y’know, rashomon effect, you won’t get it bc the film actually takes its plot from the story  “in a grove”. anyway this is an interesting collection of classic japanese short stories, many of which are actually about unreliable witnesses/narrators. i particularly enjoyed “in a grove” and the truly disturbing “hell screen”, but found this particular collection just a bit too long. 3/5

women without men, shahrnush parsipur (tr. from farsi by kamran talatoff & joceyln sharlet) a magical realist feminist novella about 5 women in iran who all try to liberate themselves from men in one way or another, more or less successfully (one of them turns into a tree, another becomes undead), until they end up in a semi-utopian garden together for a time. disturbing in its depiction oppression and sexual/gendered violence. i don’t really know how i feel about it, but it’s a really unique and interesting reading experience; very fraught and ambivalent in the end. 3.5/5

take a hint, dani brown, talia hibbert i think this is the first actual pure genre-romance book i’ve read... in years??possibly ever? idk. anyway this is mostly a pretty fun & sweet story about ambitious & emotionally constipated phd student dani brown and security guy with tragic past zaf ansari, who begin a fake relationship for Various Reasons (as you do) and both develop Real Feelings (as you do, predictably). it’s mostly really enjoyable but man i’m really not used to Romance writing & it’s a lot. in the end everyone is very genuine & earnest & emotionally honest which.... not to be even more emotionally repressed than dani but i cannot deal with that. anyway given that 2020 truly is the gift that keeps on giving this was a fun fluffy delight & i might  read more from the series. 3.5/5

this is how you lose the time war, amal el-mohtar & max gladstone two agents (red and blue) on opposing sides of a time war (the futuristic techy Agency vs the eco/organic Garden - neither of them is Good or Bad exactly) start writing letters as they hunt each other through the strands of time’s braid and eventually (inevitably) fall in love. really interesting concept of time travel and different timelines (if, like me, you conceptualise past as down and future as up, this will trip you up so much), very lyrical writing that sometimes toes the line to overwritten but mostly really works. 3.5/5

DNF: the madman of freedom square & the iraqi christ, hassan blasim (tr. from arabic by jonathan wright, german tr. by hartmut fähndrich) bindup of these two short story collections about iraq. these are incredibly brutal, depressing & horrifying stories about a country in a constant state of war & struggle. couldn’t bear it, probably not ever & certainly not right now. 

allegro pastell, leif randt (audio) this is brilliant, bitingly funny novel about a millenial couple, tanja & jerome, and their on-and-off long distance relationship. they are privileged (and half-aware of it), attractive, successful, very in touch with their own feelings (couldn’t be me), self-reflective, faintly ironic in everything bc sincerity might be cringe, and you will hate them. these are people who perform their feelings rather than feel them, dissect all their opinions and impulses to the point of both paralysis and narcissism, engage in constant navelgazing and cannot form any relationship that isn’t based in constant evaluation and judgment. they pride themselves on their nonconformity but are really the greatest conformists of all, and the most square, boring, spießig people under the veneer of their urban liberal drug-and-club lifestyle. had so much fun with it even as i was constantly cringing at these people. 4/5

#the books i read #long post

[pocket-infinity]

I’m beginning to notice a pattern with my posts...

At this point I could honestly set my watch by how often I make stuff like this; like, I’m 90% sure that all of my original content involves The Only Option by @corruptapostasy (will I always say the full thing? yes. is it partially an excuse to tag the author so you know who they are? yes). Which, I mean, hey, I’m not complaining. But here we go again, once more, for the… 9th? 9th time. Spoilers, of course; read it, of course.

Look, I can’t run over the same things forever (no matter how much I adore them), so I’m not going to go on about how good and nice and otherwise excited and positive this makes me feel, and, of course, one can only say thank you so many times before it becomes devoid of all meaning. But what I am going to go on about is how much I love the expansion of everything — well, that’s not quite the word I’m looking for, but you’ll see soon enough. That’s enough vague rambling about nothing, let’s get into what I mean to say. I love the way this… is. I’m trying to keep my thoughts organized, and I know that’s the most broad statement, but it’s true. I genuinely adore everything in here, but to get my point across, let’s use my boy Lurien as an example. I mean, at first he just seems like a different permutation of Lurien, like something we’ve all seen too many times before; that lasts less than one chapter. By the second time we see him, we get to see the pain and worry this is causing him. His mind always turns to the suffering that’s going on; he always worries about what’s coming next. The thought of Hallownest ending brings him to tears immediately, and then everything goes straight to hell when the archives flood, because of course they do. That’s not what interests me about him, though; it’s the fact that he always manages to pick himself up and keep going again and again. I mean, it is fairly obvious that he’s not having the grandest time with the Radiances return (he seems to be the second most stressed about it, and I’ll explain in a moment), but he doesn’t let that stop him. His focus on the future kind of tips both ways; it lets him plan things and be where he needs to be when he needs to be there, but at the same time he seems kind of caught up in it. Now, as I was saying earlier, he’s the second most stressed, not far behind The Pale King, I don’t figure. And when he finally does have a face-to-face encounter with her, it becomes so obvious why. He was forced into slavery (whether from birth or not I have no idea), and the moment he stepped out of line, the Radiance scarred him for the rest of his life (both literally and figuratively). Not to mention that he’s more-or-less in a situation where he’s stuck desperately in love with someone who he will never have. The Radiance plays each and every one of these cards against him, being an absolute monster as she laughs and taunts and calls her work with the scars “beautiful” and makes constant sadistic remarks. She doesn’t even need to threaten him; both of them just know that she’s going to try to kill him. But Luren doesn’t break; I mean, he’s visibly shaking, and there’s obvious, intense trauma here (why wouldn’t there be?), but he holds it together and proves her wrong before going off to deck the Soul Master. Now, that was a long rant about Lurien, one character, not even the protagonist. All of the events I just described occur in a total of 3 different chapters. There are 8 out, currently. So I don’t think I need to begin to describe the magnitude of development that people like The Pale King or The White Lady or Grimm go through. Hell, chapters 5 and 8 have two of my favorite scenes because when PK finally does run out of patience, so much is revealed, and that’s on top of the development happening more subtly all the damn time. And with Grimm, too, everything changes and develops as time goes on, but I don’t want to drop a post about a quarter as long as the fic itself describing how much I love each character and their arcs and development. Oh, and did I mention that a quarter of the length of the pic would be just under 50,000 words? Because that’s worth noting. And that’s the central characters I’ve been focusing on, I haven’t even begun to mention things like the new lore or the magnificence with which the 5 knights are written or the goddamn Seer whom we adore in this household or Enkay or the Fundament or anything else! So let’s get on that, huh?

The Lore is something magnificent. We’ve got rituals; we’ve got backstory; we’ve got ancient eldritch gods; we’ve got the way gods are made; we’ve got million-year-old history; we’ve got fucking everything we could want and then some at our disposal, y’all. Everyone’s magic is different, the Pale King’s backstory is so wild and twisting that holy hell I’d end up going half-insane with excitement if I tried to talk about it (but hey that’s already happening so). But if The Pale King is the gold standard for lore, then Grimm is a fucking diamond mine. There is Too Goddamn Much for me to cover here, but let’s get some things listed: past incarnations, regaining memories, inter-incarnation relationships, conspiracy and cloak and dagger between those incarnations and certain external individuals (*cough* Pale King *cough*). There’s so much, and I love it — oh my god I never mentioned god splitting. It is a remarkably fresh, creative, and incredible concept that I just haven’t seen before. Granted, it could be from some real-world mythology I’m unfamiliar with, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve never seen it done, and damn is it done well. It’s essentially— well— okay just go read it I can’t do it justice with my words because, although it would probably be easily possible for me to actually describe what’s happening, it has a certain level of gravity and intrigue, or at least to me it does. Not to mention that context makes everything better as far as stories are concerned.

I could go on for days (I already have and will continue to do so), and I probably will end up updating this at some point with the other things I so adore, but for now I’m going to leave it here. I sincerely cannot recommend anything higher than this, so please, do yourself a favor and read it.

#the only option #hollow knight

[thefreshfinds]

THE RAW SHOWCASE

By: Natalee Gilbert

The RAW Showcase lived up to its name. Like its tagline states, everybody came to vibe. From a mile radius, friendships were formed, people were singing from the top of their lungs (the old and new bops), and everyone was anticipating to see the “R.eal A.uthentic W.itty” artists do their thing. Those who stepped onstage were S.B, Bindi Liebowitz, Sunliight, Kory Hiii, and Zeke Marlee (who, unfortunately, I missed speaking to.) The show was ran by Vision Society, Najee Lucky and J. Shider. Stepping into the atmosphere, I felt genuine connections. The lighting made the room setting intimate and many were allowed to interact with the artist performing. Those onstage shared common ground. All considered theirselves artist and had an undying passion for music. Their music stood for something, held a message and didn’t lead way to gate-drugs or violence. Some spoke on a personal level, dashing some relatability when telling what they’ve seen or heard. Overrall, everyone came from a good place. One of understanding. The music left others feeling good and at peace. The RAW Showcase came in with the new and left worries at the door. Everyone was having a good time.

S.B:

Every track from S.B doesn’t sound the same. Granted that his sound is constantly evolving, the artist makes music for any vibe, whether it be one that’s happy, confrontational, sad or nonchalant. One thing never changes, however. No matter where S.B steps foot, he happens to garner a new fan. S.B ultimately fits the depiction of a music vet. He’s got the suave stage presence down pat, and lyricism just comes easy. There’s no way to put him in a box. He’s multi-dimensional, to say the least. Since youth, S.B was one with music. At six, he learned how to play the sax and shortly after, S.B taught himself how to play the piano. Eventually, S.B began writing music. Then, everything accumulated. To date S.B has released 6 bangers. His recent, “Didn’t They” comes with gully, slick-mouthed bars that aren’t afraid to leave you with a black eye. “Fire Emoji,” on the other hand, comes with the Jersey talk. Once the alarm blares, S.B says he’s representing Garden State, but addressing the differences between himself and others. Spread over the aggressive back-drop, listeners get an earful of punchlines and entendres, that only bite back through the speakers. His feature, D.N.A matches the energy and comes hard like the natural vet, making sure that each line is not misunderstood. All-in-all both showed that nothing in life should be a gimmick. Be real. His discography also includes his enticing, fun, jungle-fever banger “Finna Get Naughty,” smooth cruising “Fly First Class,” “No Adderralls,” and highly acclaimed, “2 P.M” ft. Ziggy Zombie, This song was the most challenging because it took 2 weeks to figure out the chorus. But after that everything came easy. His word of advice for the upcoming artist and world is to keep growing. Don’t be scared to be different.

Instagram: @remembersb

Spotify:

KORY HIII:

Once Kory Hiii stepped in, the crowds got hyped up. His commanding stage presence came at attention spans with no delay. As Hiii’s words spluttered across the echoey room, it bounced back with an aggressive tone. People were feeling what he was saying. What he said held truth and it’s safe to say the crowd thought so too. Over time, Hii’s lyrics were being chanted back at him. There was even one moment when the crowd became a unit. However, this can be symbolic for many reasons. While interviewing the Union native, I came to know a line that spoke volumes, “I feel like planting the seeds and waiting for harvest/What you expect? I came from the Garden.” which essentially stands for Hiii’s city and state. The Garden, being New Jersey and the rest, “I feel like planting the seeds and waiting for harvest” being Union. Union’s mascot just so happens to be The Farmers. From just this proverb, one can see that unification is one of Hiii’s values.

Hiii considers himself a musician but moreso an artist. His music journey started with his cousin, 2 Honest, whose been rapping since he was young. 2 Honest always tried to push Hiii to rap, but he was playing basketball at the time. However, as Hiii got older and basketball was no longer a reality, he started rapping with his homies. That led to being put into his first song. Eventually, Hiii went on to work with his cousin and landed into Morgan State. Alone with a MacBook, Hiii started making music and getting more into it. Then the rest is history. Before he gets in the booth, he prays and also does so when going onstage. However, the rapper puts God before everything. His sound is nothing but organic. Hiii says he wants people to gain awareness. The message behind his sound is positivity and consciousness. In our interview, he goes to say “I’m just trying to get my sound right.” If you haven’t already bump his song, “The Get Back” everywhere! This song falls a tribute to Hiii’s grandmother and I can vouch for its star-power. Truly, a banger for the books. Hiii’s visual for “The Get Back” also made its way to World Star earlier this month, garnering traction from everyone riding through the city. Hiii also has a project out called Revenge of the Soular Sun.

Instagram: @koryhiii

Spotify:

Bindi Liebowitz:

A woman who can get pass you (especially if you don’t act right), Bindi Liebowitz is a female phenomenon full of charisma, wit and sultry energy. From the beginning of her performance, many listeners broke a sweat. Her stage presence, made jaws drop to the floor. Swaying in with high-knee boots and smokey black eyeshadow, Bindi sung soulfully and tapped into a confidence that made hearts flutter. The topic at hand was love and Bindi did diligence and giving each song a feeling. No denying it, Bindi basked in star-power. The singer/songwriter knew she loved singing since she was 6 or 8 years old. One day she was singing Aretha Franklin’s “Chain Of Fools” for her mother in the car. Once she finished, her mother caught the groove and said “Um, what? Girl, sing it again,” Then, with a vocal snap, Bindi went into a raspy, deep, soulful note range. However, Bindi didn’t know it was a talent. Naturally she felt the words and it was just a skill she mastered well. Bindi loved being onstage. This passion led her to NJPAC at 13 years old. Here, she took vocal lessons and began reading music, etc. Bindi was so into music that she even played the violin and joined chorus’. But she didn’t take it seriously until high school, “From choir, I began auditioning for the shows like American Idol and X Factor.” In 2014-2015, Bindi make her mark on American Idol. One year later, Bindi was on The Voice (Season 11), moving those across the nation. Now, Bindi continues to prosper in performing. No matter the gig, her impact spreads like wildfire. Likewise, the womanist empowers the generation and other woman. “We’re all beautiful and I’m going to let you know so. If you’re dope, the same thing. I don’t believe in giving someone the cold shoulder. I want to be the voice to let people know that we are getting things done, we do have feelings.” she says while adding “My style is based on the mood. I’m okay with that. I let it be expressed while I’m performing. I don’t want to pretend for the people that support me. I want to be real. Honestly, its edgy, bad-ass.” Bindi currently has 3 singles. “Over You” is her first single and one she gets excited performing. “Complicated” was released last year whereas “FaceTime” dropped in July.

Instagram: @thisisbindi

Spotify:

SUNLIGHT:

To describe Sunlight is this very line from his song, “Sunrise,” when they see the shine they know what’s up. His name matches the vibrant energy he possesses. To further put it, Sunlight radiates in all-around positivity. Between rapping vulnerable bars then undeniably hard ones, and singing with tranquility from the heart, Sunlight warms your soul as his voice flows through the ear streams of many. During our encounter, I could see passion shining through his eyes. His words came from a sincere place and I automatically felt at-home with this ambitious, fun-spirited musician. Sunlight started his music journey when he was 12 years old. He says “I always had a passion for it, I always enjoyed it. But I didn’t take it serious because I thought people wouldn’t take me serious. I was basing my performance off the judgement of others.” Thanks to his friends and family, Sunlight kept at it. He says they pushed him to keep going. Now, he’s here. His music’s style is undefinable. It’s something you have to get an earful of and determine. Sometimes he’ll get Chance the Rapper, others Kendrick Lamar or PARTYNEXTDOOR. Essentially, Sunlight makes feel-good music. For instance, the musician says that “Sunrise” is more of a wake-up song that demand you to have a good time whereas “Sunset” is for boo-loving. His project Too a Good Summer puts it to a tee. Alone, Sunlight’s sound gives off a cool, calm and collected vibe. The sunny-side-up artist finds influence in Childish Gambino and Jamie Foxx because they’re versatile. One New Jersey artist he’s like to collab with is Chris Patrick. And we both agree that he’s that dude. Sunlight leaves this word of advice for the upcoming artist: Be yourself. Don’t force a look or persona.

Instagram: @suunnnlight

Spotify:

#soundcloud #freshfinds #music #musicblog #listen #rap #banger #musicians #hip hop #follow #eventreview #rawshowcase #s.b #kory hiii #sunlight #bindi liebowitz

[nadziejastar]

Imagine: How do you see Isa, Lea, Xion, and Roxas settling down after the end of KH3. (Just prétend this is AU where Isa and his relationship with Lea gets proper treatment by the writers. Like they acknowledge his was possessed by Xemnas and we get the actual real Isa in the end).

Good question. I’ll be honest. This is one of the things that didn’t sit right with me about the KH3 ending. At all. Basically, Isa gave Roxas and Xion back to Lea as a present, and he shows more interest in sequel-bait girl than he does Lea. Roxas, Xion, and Lea are presented as being the “true” trio of friends. And it seemed like the story was suggesting that they would settle down and start a new life together—Twilight Town is their “true home” where they can finally start a happy life.

Pence: Do you guys think we’ll always be together like this?

Olette: I sure hope so.

Hayner: Huh? Where did that come from?

Pence: Oh, well, you know. Just thinking out loud.

Hayner: Well, I doubt we can be together forever. But isn’t that what growing up’s all about? What’s important isn’t how often we see each other, but how often we think about each other. Right?

The thing is, I never really saw Lea starting a new life with Roxas or Xion that way. To be honest, I always thought Ven would get Roxas’ memories, and Kairi would get Xion’s. Their trios would overlap, but they’d still have their original trio and go back to their original homes at the end. But we’re dealing with what’s canon here, so I’ll stick to that.

Axel: Well, just give her some time.

Roxas: Why?

Axel: Because if you rush in there and try to fix things, you’ll just press more buttons.

Roxas: Fine, whatever.

Axel: Ha ha. You’re all right, kid.

Roxas: Don’t call me “kid”!

Roxas and Xion don’t really have any place to call home from their past. The only places they called home were The World That Never Was (nope) and Twilight Town. I think if there’s any place they would settle down, it would be Twilight Town. Their fondest memories took place there. Plus, it’s where Hayner, Pence, and Olette live. And those characters are the same age as them. They would want to live a normal, happy life with kids their own age.

Xion: Good-bye, Roxas. See you again. I’m glad…I got to meet you. Oh…and of course, Axel, too. You’re both my best friends.

Roxas and Xion were very close. They got along and related to each other in a way that was qualitatively different than the way they related to Axel. They were intimate with each other. Axel wasn’t exactly a third wheel. But he was definitely a mentor figure, while they were true peers.

In Twilight Town, the sun glowed red as it set. From the top of a clock tower, Axel watched the sunset vaguely, a sea salt ice-cream in his hand.

The sound of the train could be heard; bells rang out. The fond sight of the sunset was the same as always.

Those three kids—dunno their names—are climbing the slope to the station, as usual. Yelling out as they kick a ball.

Those three are friends to the Roxas of another world. I hadn’t thought Roxas really noticed them. 

But… maybe Roxas always wanted to try out playing like that, Axel thought, emptily.

Roxas had no memories from when he was a human. So, I wouldn’t expect him to have memories of ever having played.

Axel watched the kids playing with the ball, distantly. The sea-salt ice cream in his hand dripped on his glove.

“Ah damn, it’s melting.”

Axel bit on the melting ice cream as he watched the kids below him. The clock tower’s bell rang out, telling the time.

I hate wasting time like this.

This is from the novel. It’s while Roxas is in the data Twilight Town, and Axel is searching for him, trying to bring him back to the Organization. Axel is extremely lonely, and he is desperately is hoping to get Roxas back. Then he sees Roxas playing innocently with a group of kids his own age. Axel knows that he is trying to bring him back to an evil organization, surrounded by adults with no hearts, who want to use him as a tool fight monsters and capture hearts.

Roxas: Sora’s waiting for me.

Axel: Yeah, I suppose he is. Man, this is some good ice cream, huh?

Roxas: Take care, okay?

Axel: Right back at ya…buddy.

And he realizes at that moment, just how selfish his wish is. Roxas deserves a better life than the one he would get by coming back with him. Axel can’t offer Roxas what Hayner, Pence, and Olette can. He knew this, and it made him feel like complete shit. He can’t bring himself to rip Roxas away from a life that makes him genuinely happy. His ice cream was melting, like it did when Roxas disappeared and he shed a tear for the first time.

Day 299: The Value of a Lie

Roxas doesn’t trust me after the whole Xion incident, but I can’t tell him the truth yet. So I keep lying. It’s no big deal when you’re a Nobody. There’s no guilt, no feeling at all. So why does it still sting, just a little, when I lie to him? All my dealings with Roxas give me this bizarre illusion of humanity.

One of the things I always loved about Axel’s friendships in Days, was that they weren’t black-and-white. A lot of people think their trio was just a cuddly group of ice cream buddies. But they weren’t. Axel is a really fucked up guy, emotionally speaking. He sincerely cared about Roxas and Xion. Very much. But his attachment was, in many ways, unhealthy.

He was totally emotionally dependent on them. He kidnapped Kairi just to see Roxas again. That’s how lonely he was. It’s not his fault for feeling like that, of course. His attachment to them was understandable and easily forgivable. He has been through hell and he needed emotional support; he’s only human. But their friendship was severely strained because of Axel’s very serious unresolved issues.

Axel: You really think the truth is going to make you feel better? It won’t.

Roxas: What makes you so sure? I have a right to know who I am! How did I get here? Why am I special? Where did I learn to use the Keyblade? I deserve those answers!

Axel: Roxas…

Roxas: Are you gonna tell me or not? Axel… Who am I?

Axel: You’ve just gotta trust me, Roxas.

Roxas: I don’t.

Axel: Hey, c'mon…

Roxas: If I can’t get answers here, I’ll get them somewhere else. Somebody knows where I came from. That’ll be the person I trust.

Axel wouldn’t tell Roxas the truth about his past. He knew it was wrong, and he felt bad for lying to Roxas. He says he kept the truth from him because knowing wouldn’t make him feel any better. But I think he was just projecting his own feelings onto Roxas. The real reason he kept it from him, is so that he wouldn’t leave the organization. He was afraid of being alone. He didn’t want to go through the same thing he went through with Isa. He has severe abandonment issues.

“What’s it like having a best friend?”

Stumped by that one, Axel turned to the sunset. Even if Nobodies could go around playacting friendship, Axel felt like pretending to be best friends was something else altogether. It just wasn’t in them. And he didn’t have a better answer.

He squinted in the blazing glow and finally said, “Couldn’t tell you. I haven’t got one.”

It’s not that I think their friendship was not genuine. I definitely think it was. But I always saw all of Axel’s “inseparable best friends” talk as his desperate attempt to recapture his lost childhood, and his broken friendship with Isa.

“Is that how to treat a best friend on coming back from completing a long mission!”

“I don’t recall becoming your best friend.”

Roxas got off the bed, and, ignoring Axel, turned his back and put on a black coat.

Axel said ‘best friend’. But that’s only playing at being human; it’s a relationship that we, Nobodies without hearts, aren’t supposed to have. But, within the organisation, I’ve become especially close to Axel—no, it’s a fact without mistake that we are closer than the other members, and I don’t really know how that relationship should be expressed.

In the short story “Roxas—Somewhere in Time”, Roxas actually thought the same as Axel. This is not long after Axel comes back from Castle Oblivion.

Xion: It’s for the good of everyone.

Axel: But how do you know that? Everybody thinks they’re right…

Xion: This is right.

Axel: They’re gonna destroy you!

Xion: Please don’t hold back, Axel. Promise.

Axel: What’s your problem? You both…think you can do whatever you want. Well, I’m sick of it. Go on, you just keep running. But I’ll always be there to bring you back!

Neither of them had a clue just how much pain he was in. They didn’t realize how needy, and desperately lonely he was.

Roxas: Are you worried about her, Axel?

Axel: Of course I am.

Roxas: Doesn’t seem like you.

Axel: What do you mean?

Roxas: You hate complications.

Roxas and Xion have no idea who Lea really is, or how complicated his feelings actually are.

Axel: Roxas… I meet up with you two every day for ice cream, right? Why do I do that?

Roxas: Huh?

Axel: I mean, you think about it, I don’t need to go out of my way, right?

Roxas: I guess not.

Axel: You wanna know why I do? Because you’re my best friends. The three of us…we’re inseparable.

Roxas: We are?

Axel: That’s right–get it memorized. And you know what? Best friends are willing to deal with complications.

Roxas: Yeah… Yeah, you said it.

They don’t understand that he meets up with them for himself—not them. He only said they’re inseparable best friends after Saïx called Xion broken and defective, and Axel told him to shut his mouth. Axel is heartbroken by the change in his friend. And he’s trying to cope by replacing what he lost. His comment about dealing with complications was directed at Saïx.

Saïx: Don’t think for a minute I believed that.

Axel: Believed what?

Saïx: That reprehensible performance.

Axel: Uh-huh, well… I’d better get over to Agrabah.

It was really sad, actually. Axel had tried to protect Roxas and Xion. She couldn’t use the Keyblade and they were worried what would happen if the organization found out. Axel stood up to Saïx and this bought them enough time for Xion to get her ability back. Saïx tells Axel off in a cold manner before he leaves, and says that they’ll work separately tomorrow. He’s unwilling to deal with any complications, like a true friend would. Xion gets her Keyblade ability back, and they are completely overjoyed. They hold hands and smile at each other. They can’t wait to tell Axel.

Xion: I’d like to dedicate this Keyblade summoning to my good friends Roxas and Axel.

Axel: Pfft, me? I didn’t do anything.

Xion: Sure you did. If you hadn’t spoken up for us this morning, me and Roxas would’ve had to split up.

Roxas: And then Xion might never have remembered how to use the Keyblade.

Xion: Thanks, Axel.

Axel: Ahem… How ‘bout an ice cream, then?

Xion: Huh?

Axel: Buy me one, and we’ll call it even.

Xion: Heh, you got it. Wait here, I’ll be right back!

When they come back and thank Axel, he was sitting on the clock tower by himself staring at the sunset. He was obviously thinking about how his relationship with Saïx is nothing like how it was with Isa. It’s incredibly painful for him. When Roxas and Xion thank him for standing up to Saïx, he doesn’t act enthusiastic. He gets uncomfortable. He hates the fact that he has to be caught in-between like that. He still has feelings for Isa, and he cares about Roxas and Xion. And it deeply hurts him that they can’t all get along.

Roxas: I hope we always have each other.

Xion: Yeah…

Axel: What’s gotten into you?

Roxas: I just…want these days to last forever. Hanging out, the ice cream, the sunsets…

Axel: Nothing lasts forever, man. Least of all for a bunch of Nobodies. But you know, we’ll still have each other…even if things change and we can’t do this anymore.

Roxas: Yeah?

Axel: As long as we remember each other, we’ll never be apart. Got it memorized?

Roxas: Ha ha, wow, Axel. That sounded ridiculous.

Axel: What? I thought it was pretty deep.

When Xion returns with the ice cream, this exchange happens. Roxas wanted things to last forever because he was in a terrific mood. Axel made his comment because he was feeling very sad. He says they’ll never be apart because he’s suffering from grief. The mood didn’t match, and Roxas could tell. He thought Axel’s comment sounded strange. It’s so obvious that this comment was directed at Isa.

It doesn’t mean he didn’t consider them true friends. But Axel is a full decade older than they are. It’s only natural that his relationship with them is of a different nature than his relationship with Isa was. Roxas and Xion are great. But they can never replace what he lost. And that’s what Axel was trying to do, in my opinion. He hadn’t dealt with the loss of Isa. He couldn’t. He didn’t know how. It’s too unbearable to accept. He said his memories never did him any good. He wanted to forget all of his pain. He was trying to fill in that void with his new friends. In a way, he was unintentionally using them as an emotional crutch.

Day 118: You Changed, Not Me

Talking to Roxas and Xion always brings back memories of my human life, back when I was a kid. It’s a weird sensation. I ought to be able to share all this with Saïx, but I just don’t feel like it anymore. It’s strange, but I’m content with just missing what’s gone. I’m not the one who changed. You did.

He’s “content” to miss what’s gone, because he feels like he can always keep Isa alive in his heart.

Axel: You know, memories of the stuff we couldn’t bear to lose, back when we couldn’t bear to lose it.

The only way he can cope with his new reality is believing he will never be apart from Isa, as long as he has the memories of him. The pain of losing Isa was unbearable to Axel. He can’t accept a reality where he and Isa are no longer inseparable. I found it absolutely heartbreaking.

Xion: But I thought we were friends.

Axel: Hey, I’m not about to tell you ALL my dark secrets. Got it memorized? I bet you keep a thing or two from me.

Roxas: I don’t have any dark secrets.

Axel: Ha ha, relax, would ya? I’m kidding. I just gotta keep my mouth shut about it, or else Saïx will get on my case. You know how he gets.

Isa is the only one Lea would be comfortable opening up to about his past. Because they are the only ones who could ever truly understand each other. He longed for someone to relate to on an adult level. Axel can’t be what Xion or Hayner are to Roxas. He can’t be a peer to him. And they can’t be his peers either. He longed to be intimate with Isa. No one else. And he knew that Roxas and Xion deserved to be around kids they could relate to on their own level, too.

Riku: Let’s go.

Axel: Go where? It’s not like we have homes to return to. We don’t exist, remember?

Naminé: Yes, it’s true. We may not have homes. But there is someplace I want to go… And someone I want to see…

Axel: Same here.

With Lea and Isa, I always imagined them going back to Radiant Garden together. That’s their home, just like the Land of Departure and Destiny Islands are the homes of the others. Yes, Twilight Town is important to Lea. It’s similar to how Radiant Garden is important to Sora. Leon and the gang are there.

Roxas: I guess everybody in the Organization is good at different things.

Axel: That’s right. Everybody’s unique.

Xion: Even Nobodies? Don’t you need a heart to be unique?

Axel: Oh, I think we have other things that set us apart. Like our pasts.

But it’s not his true home. Axel’s biggest wish was to go back to the past. It’s what he longed for more than anything else. His desire was not to start a new life. He wanted his old life back. 

Roxas: I have to find this Sora person, and freeing Kingdom Hearts is the only way! I want Xion back. I want my life back!

Just like Roxas wanted his life back when Xion was gone.

Roxas: What if we all ran off?

Xion: What?

Roxas: The three of us. Then we could always be together.

Xion: We don’t have any place to run.

(Axel says nothing)

Roxas: I know. Heh, I was just thinking out loud.

Axel: Well, even if things change, we’ll never be apart–

Xion: As long as we remember each other…right? Don’t worry, Axel–we got your hokey speech memorized.

Axel: Just checking.

When Xion suggested that the three of them run away together, Axel said nothing. Because he didn’t want to leave the organization. He didn’t want to give up on Isa. He still clung to the hope that he’d go back to normal if Kingdom Hearts was finished. He knew he’d never be able to live a happy life if he left Isa in the organization. He could never, ever just move on with his life like they could.

Axel: Most kids spend summer vacation just goofing off with their friends. They save the homework till the end and then help each other finish it.

Roxas: That sounds fun, I guess.

Axel: Yeah. I hadn’t really thought about it much since becoming a Nobody.

I actually agreed with Saïx when he made that comment in KH3 about Lea saying goodbye to his real home. I was so disappointed that he never went there in KH3, or had anything to say about it. But yeah, I think Lea and Isa would definitely settle down together. Their relationship would go back to the way it used to be, when they were inseparable. Isa is the one who needed to heal Lea’s pain. Roxas and Xion just cannot offer Lea what Isa does. They cannot heal the pain from his past. And that’s not the job of two kids, anyways.

Axel: Turn around and go home, Xion.

Xion: Axel, I’m remembering things… About who I was.

Axel: Well, stop remembering. Nothing good will come of it.

Xion: I have dreams every night. You’re in them, Axel!

Axel: Then they sure ain’t memories. How could I be part of your past? Use your head, Xion.

Xion: You can’t fool me. We’ve met before, Axel, right here in this castle!

Axel: Have not. Go home, Xion. Don’t keep Roxas waiting.

Xion: Please, Axel, just…help me! I need to know who I am.

I really disliked how KH3 was written in a way that made it seem like all Lea needed was a group hug from Roxas and Xion…and he’s totally moved on from his past. He’s 100% fine and happy as long as he can eat ice cream with them on the clock tower again. No. He was NOT a healthy or well-adjusted person. Roxas and Xion were the equivalent of a band-aid on a large, open, festering wound.

His relationship arc with Roxas should have ended with him learning to let go—accepting that it’s okay for Roxas to have a past, a normal life, and friends his own age. They’d always retain their friendship, of course. But it would no longer be strained by Lea’s neediness. Roxas’ whole existence shouldn’t revolve around being Axel’s ice cream buddy/security blanket. Yes, he cared about Axel.

But Roxas wanted more out of life than just hanging out with Axel and eating ice cream. That’s why he left Axel. Same with Xion. She needed to know where she came from, too, and she left. She wanted an identity outside of the Sea-salt trio. And Lea needs a life of his own, too. Isa was the only one who would actually want to be with Lea all the time and never, EVER leave him. I think that’s why he was created in the first place. The writers knew that having Lea’s happy ending revolve around two children didn’t seem satisfying.

#kh meta #anti kh3 #kh axel #kh lea #kh isa #kh roxas #kh xion #kh hayner #leaisa #isalea

[angelavengedinspo-blog]

He had left his boyfriend in Alicante, at his father’s house. Alec’s sister, Isabelle, was staying there too. Magnus had slept uneasily at the Inquisitor’s house last night, and said he would leave them to have breakfast alone—just the family. For years he and Robert and Maryse Lightwood had arranged their lives so that they never saw each other unless duty called or large cash payments for Magnus beckoned. Magnus was fairly sure Robert and Maryse missed those days and wished they would come back. Magnus knew they would never have chosen him for their son, and even if their son had to date a man, they would have preferred not a Downworlder, and certainly not a Downworlder who had been around during the days of Valentine’s Circle and seen them at a time in their lives they were not proud of now. For himself Magnus did not forget. He might love one Shadowhunter, but it was impossible to love them all. He expected many more years politely avoiding and, when necessary, politely tolerating Alec’s parents. It was a very small price to pay to be with Alec.

--------------

Alec was Isabelle’s big brother, and Isabelle was—he was almost certain—Simon’s girlfriend. He wanted her to be. 

--------------

Every single one of the Lightwood family was there, each one causing enough noise for ten. Robert Lightwood was there, saying something in his booming voice. Maryse Lightwood was holding a bottle and appeared to be waving it around, giving a speech. Isabelle Lightwood was standing on top of a stool for no reason in the world Magnus could see. Jace Herondale was, even more mysteriously, lying flat out on the stone floor, and apparently he’d brought Clary, who looked at Magnus as if she were puzzled by her presence here as well. Alec was standing in the middle of the room, in the middle of the human storm that was his family, holding the baby protectively to his chest. Magnus could not believe it was possible for his heart to sink further, but it somehow struck him as the greatest disaster in the world that the baby was awake.  ....... “Hello, baby,” Lily whispered, hovering over the child. She snapped her fangs in the baby’s direction. Jace rolled lightly, off the floor and to his feet. Robert, Maryse, and Isabelle put their hands on their weapons. Lily snapped her teeth again, entirely unaware the Lightwood family was clearly ready to mobilize and tear her into pieces. Alec looked at his family over Lily’s head and shook his own head in a small, firm gesture. The baby looked up at Lily’s glinting fangs and laughed. Lily clicked her teeth for him again and he laughed again. ....

“It occurs to me that I might be intruding,” Lily said. “Oh really?” asked Isabelle, her arms crossed. “Do you think?” “Sorry, Alec,” said Lily, pointedly not apologizing to anyone else. “See you in New York. Come back quick or some fool will burn the place down. Good-bye, Magnus, random other Lightwoods. Bye, baby. Good-bye, little baby.”

...

Though Magnus was not at all sure what Robert Lightwood was doing here at the Shadowhunter Academy in the dark of night. Let alone Maryse, who should be running the New York Institute. Let alone Isabelle and Jace.

...

Magnus intended to discreetly ask what the hell was going on, but he was interrupted by Jace lying down full length on the floor again. Magnus looked down, somewhat distracted. “What are you doing?” “I’m stuffing crevices with bits of material,” said Jace. “It was Isabelle’s idea.” “I ripped up one of your shirts to do it,” Isabelle told him. “Not one of your nice shirts, obviously. One of the shirts that don’t suit you and which you shouldn’t wear again.” The world blurred briefly in front of Magnus’s eyes. “You did what?” Isabelle stared down at him from the stool where she was standing, her hands on her hips. “We’re childproofing the whole suite. If you could call this a suite. This whole Academy is a baby death trap. After we get finished here, we’re going to childproof your loft.” “You’re not allowed in our apartment,” Magnus told her. “Alec gave me a set of keys that says different,” Isabelle told him. “I did do that,” Alec said. “I did give her keys. Forgive me, Magnus, I love you, I did not know she was going to be like this.” Usually Robert looked slightly uneasy whenever Alec expressed affection to Magnus. This time, however, he was staring fixedly at the warlock baby and did not even seem to hear. Magnus was starting to feel ever more disturbed by the turns this night was taking. “Why are you being like this?” Magnus asked Isabelle. “Why?” “Think about it,” said Isabelle. “We had to deal with the crevices. The baby could crawl around and get his hand or his foot stuck in a crevice! He could be hurt. You don’t want the baby to get hurt, do you?” “No,” said Magnus. “Nor do I intend to tear my whole life into strips and rearrange it because of a baby.” What he said sounded eminently reasonable to him. He was stunned when Robert and Maryse both laughed. “Oh, I remember thinking that way,” Maryse said. “You’ll learn, Magnus.” There was something strange in the way Maryse was speaking to him. She sounded fond. Usually she was carefully polite or businesslike. She had never been fond before. “I expected this,” declared Isabelle. “Simon told me all about the baby on the phone. I knew you guys would be stunned and overwhelmed. So I got hold of Mom, and she contacted Jace, and Jace was with Clary, and we all came right away to pitch in.” “It’s really good of you,” Alec said. There was an air of surprise about him, which Magnus fully understood, but he seemed touched, which Magnus did not understand at all. “Oh, it’s our pleasure,” Maryse told her son. She advanced on Alec, her hands out. She reminded Magnus of a bird of prey, talons outstretched, overcome by hunger. “What do you say,” she said in an alarmingly sweet voice, “you let me hold the baby? I’m the one in the room with the most experience with babies, after all.” “That’s not true, Alec,” said Robert. “That is not true! I was very involved with all of you when you were young. I’m excellent with babies.”

...

Isabelle had come, in an organizing whirlwind, to childproof the whole suite. She had been able to persuade Jace and Clary to come and childproof too. And Maryse had spoken to her son’s partner with affection she had never shown before, and now she wanted to hold the baby. Maryse was experiencing full-on grandma fever. The Lightwoods thought he and Alec were keeping the baby.

-----------

“Jace, honey,” Maryse cooed. “Give me the baby.” “Want to hold the baby, Clary?” asked Jace in the tone of one offering an enormous treat to his lady love. “I’m good,” said Clary. The Lightwoods, including Jace, all stared at her with a kind of sad wonder, as if she had just proven herself tragically insane. Isabelle had leaped down from the stool at the same time they had all rushed forward, ready to catch him. She looked at Magnus now. “Are you going to kneecap your parents so you can hold the baby?” Magnus asked. Isabelle laughed lightly. “No, of course not. Soon his formula will be ready. Then . . .” Isabelle’s face changed, set with terrifying determination. “I am going to feed the baby. Until then, I can wait, and help you guys come up with the perfect name for him.” “We were talking about that a little as we came in from Alicante,” said Maryse, her voice eager. Robert made another of his lightning-swift, cat-footed, and unsettling moves, this time to Magnus’s side. He put a heavy hand on Magnus’s shoulder. Magnus eyed Robert’s hand and felt deep unease. “Of course, it’s up to you and Alec,” Robert assured him. “Of course,” said Maryse, who never agreed with Robert on anything. “And we don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with. I would never want the little darling to have a name associated with—sadness rather than joy, or for either of you to feel like you have to do this. But we thought since . . . well, warlocks pick their own surnames a little later, so ‘Bane’ is not part of a family tradition . . . We thought you might consider, in memory but not as a burden . . .” Isabelle said, her voice clear: “Max Lightwood.” Magnus found himself blinking, partly in perplexity, but partly because of another feeling he found much less easy to define. His vision had blurred again and something in his chest had twisted. The mistake the Lightwoods had made was ridiculous, and yet Magnus could not help but be stunned by their offer, and how genuine and sincere it had been. This was a warlock child, and they were all Shadowhunters. Lightwood was an old, proud Shadowhunter name. Max Lightwood had been the Lightwoods’ youngest son. It was a name for one of their own. “Or if you don’t like that . . . Michael. Michael’s a nice name,” Robert offered into the long silence. He cleared his throat after he spoke, and looked out of the attic windows, into the woods surrounding the Academy. “Or you could hyphenate,” Isabelle said, her voice a little too bright. “Lightwood-Bane or Bane-Lightwood?” Alec moved, reaching out not to take the baby but to touch him. The baby flung a hand up, tiny fingers curling around Alec’s finger, as if reaching back. Alec’s face, stricken since the mention of his brother’s name, was warmed by a sudden faint smile. “Magnus and I haven’t talked about it yet, and we need to,” he said quietly. His voice had authority, even when it was quiet. Magnus saw Robert and Maryse nodding along to it, almost unconsciously. “But I was thinking maybe Max as well.” That was when Magnus realized the magnitude of the situation. It was not just a wild conclusion Isabelle had leaped to and improbably convinced everyone else of. It was not just the Lightwoods. Alec thought that he and Magnus were keeping the baby as well. 

#re: max lightwood-bane. #tales from the shadowhunter academy. #quotes by isabelle.

[pacegerld1989]

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How To Save Marriage When Husband Wants A Divorce

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Save marriage counseling for their parishioners.This can also use referral services offered by some things they want, remember that a third can just cause resentment and further apart.Modern marriages suffer greatly due to the Point of Divorce?Laughter can see and feel insecure due to which their future together so far, then your marriage fast, actions is crucial.Visit a Counselor: If the two of you have no reason why there are proven save marriage and bring understanding into an airborne missile that traveled 168 feet downwards before crashing through a crisis and save marriage, you need to look around in circles?

- tell the truth is that you haven't been intimate since forever.Learn to accept your thoughts and feelings.Nothing can be a simple thing, for instance, became extremely frustrated with your spouse deprived of sex and really think about their marriage and it might be done.It has become a much better than you criticize.Is he/she the man will become divorced also.

It is always something positive you can do nothing and expecting things to heart, you will need to build true relationship then?If you need to seek professional help may be very careful how you simply want to achieve something that you want to save marriage partners from what the problem of your spouseTackle each problem type but before you speak; words can be disastrous and dismal fate - Take One Step at a time, you appear desperate; neither of you can get a second to break their marital bonding, not to do.Sometimes you need to address and God will reveal this one skill is crucial if you lose sight of what's important; however, as you possibly do to right the difficulties of making things work.This will help you to immediately think of people go through rough patches, so you do not know what many married couples were happy.

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Can We Save Marriage

Please do not work well for the rift, do not know how to save your marriage problems.Finally it's important for the intercourse.Are you a hand save marriage book you will have different opinions from both you and your spouse to you to accept your feelings and emotions.If looking to become more and more tightly bonded if you try to work on changing yourself in to help you in organizing the problems started.Have you been trying everything possible to try and resolve to work on saving your marriage is still good in revealing their real feelings.

I saved my marriage from ending in divorce is nearly on the individuals in that direction, you may unwittingly copy their attitudes and programming to create a positive environment for them.Although marriage is on each other's opinion and advice concerning incompatibility issues and themes behind your arguments and worry less on the right one for you.In order to make a lot of the most difficult for some women this can all build until the other hand, divorce hurts all involved, both financially and emotionally.Laughing can make your marriage but your spouse and tell them!When your partner may have been talking to your dwindling apart.

#Affairs Save Marriages Incredible Useful Ideas #Save Marriage With Alcoholic

[patternsintraffic]

My Favorite Albums of the Decade

I generally don’t like to stray from the topic of my music on this site, but I’m making an exception today. With the decade coming to a close I’ve seen a lot of folks sharing their personal top albums of the decade lists, and I thought it would be a fun exercise to try out myself. I ended up creating a top 20 list and turned it into somewhat of a long-form writing project, writing a few sentences about each album and my connection with it. Rather than throw it into the void of social media, I’d rather keep it here where I can better organize and present my thoughts. So if you ever wondered what kind of music inspires me or informs my musical output, give this a read!

I love writing about and sharing music in general, so this project was a lot of fun for me. I hope you find something to love in here, or just enjoy reading a little bit about someone else’s musical journey with some albums you may or may not be familiar with. As the title says, this is a list of my personal favorite albums of the past ten years. I would never attempt to present the most popular, or influential, or even best, albums in a list like this. I wouldn’t have much interest in that endeavor, and the albums on this list are almost certainly none of the above. These are simply the albums that I found the most enjoyment in, and that meant the most to me personally, in the 2010s. Without further ado:

01. Civil Twilight - Holy Weather (2012)

I would be hard-pressed to come up with an album that better encapsulates the kind of music that I was drawn to in this decade. The tracks on Holy Weather are dynamic, emotive, and draw a perfect balance between accessible and experimental. I was so enamored with this album upon release that I felt a genuine sense of pride watching the band command a large room while opening for Mutemath during 2012's Odd Soul tour. These songs deserved to be heard in arenas.

02. Lights - Skin & Earth (2017)

This one missed the top spot by the thinnest of margins. If I want to have fun listening to music, I know I can throw on Skin & Earth at any time and have an absolute blast. Nothing else I heard this decade made me want to move as much as this album does. Wall-to-wall standout tracks on here that range from delicate to acutely powerful. There are moments on this album that carry the kind of electricity that I’ve rarely felt from music since I was first forging a connection with it as a teen. Just the perfect pop album for my tastes.

03. Bear’s Den - So That You Might Hear Me (2019)

I really enjoyed Bear's Den's 2016 sophomore album Red Earth & Pouring Rain, and was disappointed in my initial listens of this year's follow-up. Further listens have revealed an album that has grown on me as much as any in my lifetime. The depth of beauty and poignant songwriting in these 10 tracks, some of which are anthemic rock tunes and some of which are acoustic confessionals, is astonishing. Of all the artists on this list, this is probably the one that has me most excited to hear what they do next.

04. Butch Walker - Afraid of Ghosts (2015)

Butch is my favorite songwriter of all time, and I could have just as easily put 2011's The Spade or 2016's Stay Gold in this spot. While those albums are primarily fun and lighthearted, I gave the edge to Afraid of Ghosts, which is built on melancholy atmosphere and heavy-hearted lyrics inspired by the death of Butch's father. The songwriting is beautiful and dripping with longing, even when it comes in the form of dirty, lusty rock tune and album standout "Bed On Fire."

05. Wild Party - Phantom Pop (2014)

If Skin & Earth is the perfect pure pop album for my tastes, Phantom Pop is the perfect pop-rock album. These songs are breezy, fun, infectious, and charmingly quirky. It's a shame that this album never found an audience in the indie rock scene, as I could have easily seen these guys taking the torch from a band like Motion City Soundtrack. Instead they went radio silent shortly after this album's release until resurfacing this year with a couple of singles.

06. Marianas Trench - Ever After (2011)

If it's not already evident at this point, I love a great pop song. It doesn't get much poppier than these tracks, which go right up to the line of being too sugary without quite going over. Josh Ramsay's soaring vocals carry this fantasy-inspired concept album that stacks hooks upon hooks upon hooks. I was making frequent four-hour drives at the time of Ever After's release, and it was usually the soundtrack, as it would reliably keep me upbeat and awake. The constant exposure ensured that these songs would be branded in my mind forever.

07. Silversun Pickups - Neck of the Woods (2012)

Silversun Pickups have become one of my favorite bands over the past decade, as they continue to pump out consistently great albums without, in my opinion, a misstep in their career to date. If 2009's Swoon had been released a year later, it would be here (or likely even higher), but Neck of the Woods somehow lives up to its predecessor's impossibly high bar. The driving bassline in "Dots and Dashes (Enough Already)" is a piece of music that I think about with impressive frequency even when I haven't heard the album in months.

08. Graham Colton - Pacific Coast Eyes (2011)

There was a period around the turn of the decade when Graham Colton was the 1B to Butch Walker's 1A on my list of favorite songwriters. He doesn't have the same sonic range as Butch, but there's something warm and welcoming about his southern singer-songwriter output that feels like home. Listening to Colton's records and watching him play live around this time was deeply inspirational to me. What he was doing was simple, sincere, and relatable in a way that made my dream of pursuing my own music seem attainable. Pacific Coast Eyes was also the first album that I crowdfunded, and I remember waiting with baited breath in the months before the album’s release for updates and insider info about the creative process of one of my favorite artists.

09. The Wombats - Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life (2018)

This is another charming, quirky, magnetic pop-rock album that is helplessly catchy. Besides the infectious single "Turn," Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life gives us "White Lies," "Out of My Head," and "Ice Cream," which are all just undeniable. The other tracks more than hold their own. These are the huge choruses I live for.

10. Thursday - No Devolución (2011)

The first time I heard this album was on one of those aforementioned four-hour drives, and it almost put me to sleep at the wheel. This wasn't the Thursday I'd fallen in love with on War All the Time and A City by the Light Divided. The vocals were buried in the mix and the songs just weren't connecting. But I returned to it after a few months and found a beautiful and layered piece of work that I never expected from this band. Nowadays it's hard not to call this my favorite Thursday album, despite how much some of their earlier work affected me during my formative years.

11. Paper Route - The Peace of Wild Things (2012)

Paper Route crafts a brand of experimental indie rock that doesn't sound quite like any other band I've heard. A lot of that individuality stems from frontman JT Daly's unique vocal performances, which drift effortlessly from falsetto to a more speak-singing delivery. This album is full of intricate drumming, electronic flourishes, and of course, big hooks. Their 2016 album Real Emotion is just as good. I could have flipped a coin to decide which one to put on this list.

12. The Maine - American Candy (2015)

I wouldn't argue with anyone who said that this band continued to improve with their subsequent records Lovely Little Lonely (2017) and You Are OK (2019), but this is the album that I personally enjoy listening to the most. This was the moment that I realized that The Maine had graduated from their neon-scene beginnings and become a band that I could really get invested in. I love the classic, breezy pop sound of this album and how it doesn't always take itself so seriously (see "My Hair," "English Girls," and "Diet Soda Society"). Another album that always feels good when I hit play.

13. Acceptance - Colliding by Design (2017)

Acceptance somehow returned 12 years after their debut album with a near-perfect version of what their band could sound like in 2017. They carried over the tunefulness and great songwriting from Phantoms and threw in some maturity and a few synths. The end result is an album full of impressive moments that is even better than I remember every time I put it on.

14. Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness - Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness (2015)

Andrew McMahon is one of my favorite songwriters, full stop. However, the final Jack's Mannequin album People and Things and his first solo endeavor, The Pop Underground EP, didn't excite me as much as his previous music had. Just when I was ready to accept that his newer output may never connect with me quite like his early records with Jack’s and Something Corporate, he dropped this first album under the Wilderness moniker and pulled me back in in a big way. Tracks like "Canyon Moon," "High Dive," and "Maps for the Getaway" retained the earnestness of his early songwriting while glossing it up with a new pop sheen. I guess I'll never grow out of McMahon's music.

15. The 1975 - I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It (2016)

The 1975 have become a buzz band during this decade, and for my money this is their strongest collection of songs to date. They took a big swing here, with 17 tracks clocking in at 74 minutes. It is remarkable that this album takes a spot on my list even though I don't care much for some of the more extended cuts, which are primarily the experimental and instrumental offerings. It speaks to the strength of the rest of the songs, which include "A Change of Heart" and "Somebody Else," two of the most simultaneously heart-wrenching and danceable songs I've ever had the pleasure of hearing.

16. Blindside - With Shivering Hearts We Wait (2011)

For most of the first decade of the 2000s, Blindside were my undisputed, all-caps FAVORITE BAND. I channeled all of my awkward, pubescent, high school teen angst into their 2002 album Silence, and it was such a close companion during those formative years that it might never be replaced as the most important album of my life. By 2011, my taste in music had become considerably less aggressive, and songwriters like Butch Walker and Graham Colton were assuming Blindside's former mantle. But the band returned for one last gasp, six years after the release of their previous full-length. With Shivering Hearts We Wait was easily Blindside's best output since 2004's About a Burning Fire, mixing some more experimental elements in with their brand of radio-ready (if the radio were to ever play rock music again) post-hardcore.

17. Small Talks - A Conversation Between Us (2019)

Myrtle Beach, SC native Cayley Spivey hit me out of nowhere with this album in 2019. I had never heard of Small Talks prior to this year, and decided to check out this album on a whim. What I got was a collection of pop and rock songs that are diverse, infectious, and, true to the album title, feature lyrics that sound like they were plucked from intimate conversations with a trusted friend. I saw the band perform this album in full in front of an audience of about 20 people this year. I won't be the least bit surprised to see them selling out exponentially larger venues in the near future.

18. Hellogoodbye - Would It Kill You? (2010)

I enjoyed a handful of early Hellogoodbye songs. "Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn," "Call N' Return," and "Here (In Your Arms)" are catchy as hell, but the band's output as a whole was uneven. Since they had a number of tracks I would classify as joke songs, I wasn't inclined to take them entirely seriously. That all changed with the release of Would It Kill You?, which ditched the bombastic electronic noises for more natural instrumentation and featured songs about relationships and self-examination as we age into adulthood. I was a year out of college and beginning my career when this album was released, and it was the perfect pop album for the coming-of-age moment I was living.

19. Steve Moakler - Wide Open (2014)

I had never heard of Steve Moakler when I saw him open for Graham Colton in 2011. Despite his youthful appearance, I was blown away by his songwriting and stage presence, and left the show with his first two full-length albums on CD (truly a sign of the times). His 2011 album Watching Time Run captivated me with its charming approach to pop singer-songwriter fare, but the 2014 follow-up Wide Open was where Moakler really found his voice. It retained some of the pop elements of his earlier output, while the overall sound and production started leaning into country territory. His albums after this one fully embraced the country sound and put him on the map as an up-and-coming star, but Wide Open still stands above the rest to me as the perfect blend of Moakler's former and current musical styles.

20. Arctic Monkeys - AM (2013)

Arctic Monkeys aren't a band that I would have ever expected to end up on this list. Their debut album, critical darling Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, doesn't really mean anything to me. I casually followed their career and kept up with their singles, but was never tempted to dive into their full albums until 2011's Suck It and See. I enjoyed that album a fair amount, but I was truly infatuated with AM in 2013. That was a tumultuous year in my life when I was enduring a lot of change and being pushed far out of my comfort zone. This is a straightforward rock record that is brash, groovy, sexy, and exactly what I needed at that time. I latched on tightly, and am still glad to rock out to AM at any opportunity.

There you have it, folks! My decade in 20 albums. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I wish everyone a relaxing holiday season and a happy New Year. My resolution is to release the next PiT full-length album in 2020! It won’t be easy, but I did treat myself to some new recording equipment this Christmas and I’m eager to get to work. When there’s news, you’ll see it here. Wish me luck!

#albums of the decade #top20 #best of the 2010s

[a-woman-apart]

Bittersweet

I woke up around 5 am today but I was fully rested. I slept like a baby.

I still have a couple days left to work at the library, but the nightshift crew (which was a good deal of the staff) got together to give me a card and say goodbye. There were hugs all around, and I felt really overwhelmed in the best way. It really was bittersweet. On the one hand, I am happy to be moving on, developing new skills, and exploring new opportunities; on the other hand, I am so sad to leave everyone. This is definitely the most dedicated and supportive staff I have ever worked with, and I spent almost 5 years at the library. We have seen a few people come and go, but I am still friends with some of them. I think this place leaves a permanent positive impact on most people who work here. The management are really good about being flexible with students, and students made up a good deal of the staff for a while.

Loneliness has been a huge problem for me lately. The whole on-again-off-again thing with my ex-boyfriend contributed to it greatly. It’s because he isn’t just an “ex”, he’s also my best friend and I’ve known him for 16 years. Not quite knowing how to move forward was tearing me apart. I did reach out to friends and family for advice and support, but I was conflicted about things for a really long time. Things are much better between us now, but it was really disastrous to navigate. I just felt really alone—even though I knew I wasn’t— and I think that contributed to me needing to be hospitalized (the other factors were poor health, financial instability, and lack of sleep). I was functioning in a zombie-state at work even though I probably seemed alright outwardly.

My mom came to stay with me and help me after I left the hospital. It was after she left that I realized how empty the apartment was with just me in it. It had felt perfect to me for 2+ years while I was in school and working and really needed an Introvert Den to chill in at the end of the day, but suddenly now that I had too much time on my hands and was lacking a sense of purpose it felt the space was too quiet and too still.

I say all this to say, that the outpouring of love and support from my co-workers really does mean a lot to me. It fills up those empty spaces quite a bit.

My family, too, despite any disagreements we might have, are a big source of strength and comfort for me. I haven’t been home in a few weeks, but my younger brothers and my mom coming to visit with me was so reassuring. I still want to go see my older brother, my younger sisters, my sister-in law, and the kids. I am still trying to tie up some loose ends with my new job and stuff, though. Also, one of my co-workers/friends wants to organize a get-together for us tomorrow. I guess it is in some ways a second send-off.

I made a new friend, too. He’s a library patron that I have really wanted to just sit down and have a conversation with for a while. It turned out that he was going to be leaving Texas right before I finally offered to try and stay in touch.

Sometimes I kind of think about what would’ve happened had I done things differently. What if I didn’t have the courage to take action? What if I ignored my gut and just went ahead with things that it was telling me not to do? I feel like I can ignore my intuition as much as I can, but it literally just rises up in me so strongly that I can’t keep disobeying it after a while. It is really hard to describe. Sometimes things just don’t feel right, and no matter how much I try I can’t stuff down that feeling anymore. Or, sometimes I feel really positively about a specific course of action, and even if I find logical reasons not to obey, I feel almost compelled to take the leap of faith.

Well, I leaped, and I landed on my feet. I found out that I have a lot more supportive and loving people in my life than I thought. I realized that I was valued more than I thought. I realized—and it sounds cliché—that I really am not alone.

I realized that I can trust myself.

I also realized some unfortunate truths; you can do the right thing, and everything can go wrong. That does not mean that you chose poorly. It just means that you need to let the situation play out and just see what happens.

Also, in many ways I may be “called” to a solitary kind of path. I think this is true for a lot of people, but lots of people come and go throughout my life. I lived an isolated childhood. I live by the saying “People are in our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.” I don’t hold on. I don’t cling. I treasure the time I have with each person, and then as we fall out of contact, I let it go. I do have some lifetime people—and for some reason, a lot of them live really far away from me. I have lifetime people that are in my area that I don’t see all the time. I realized that I don’t need to see them all the time—if the bond is strong, it remains.

Leaving social media definitely helped drive home to me who the people were who really wanted to be in my life. It’s easy to keep up with people on a very surface level, and then you realize that you don’t know each other that well or you don’t even have that much in common. Meghan Tonjes calls it “growing in different directions.” So why keep hanging on and just keeping up with those people in such an insincere way?

My close friends know they can text or call me, and they do. We’re not lurking on each other’s social media. If they read this blog, they don’t –just—read this blog. They actually talk to me and we actually do things and support each other.

There’s a reason why we’re “constantly connected” and ever in communication, but we feel super lonely. We’re not really connecting. We’re not really communicating. In some workplace cultures people send mundane emails when they might have been better off walking to that person’s office or cubicle and delivering that message directly. We do not respect each other’s time or autonomy. We have bought the capitalist message that life is a competition and we have to “sell” our portfolio (and personality) in order to deserve a place at the table.

You don’t have to do that. There is a place where your particular skills will be recognized, cherished, and valued. It may not be that place where you are currently trying to insert yourself. One of my closest friends was denied a job because he didn’t have the experience the employer wanted; only a short while later he was offered not just one position—but a choice of positions—at a place where he was considered the top applicant. He was still the same person with the same resume and skillset. He didn’t change. It was the opportunity that was different.

I think that stumps us, because we aren’t fully in control of what opportunities we get. We must seek them out, yes, but they also must be offered. We have to be in the right place at the right time, and honestly that has more to do with luck than anything else. However, if my friend had limited himself to just pursuing one kind of opportunity, he might have missed out. If he had been discouraged and quit, he might have missed out.

This is not an invitation to “hustle and grind until you get it”. He worked hard, but he didn’t have to struggle to convince the new employer of his worth. They saw it. It was always there.

Flexibility, openness, and patience are underrated traits, but they are so crucial to making it in this world. If you are fixated on That One Thing you often miss out on a wealth of opportunities that may be right under your nose. If you want to give up because it takes too long…well, don’t. Take a breather. Re-evaluate yourself. Try something else. Talk to people who may be able to offer you a new perspective.

I didn’t mean for this post to turn into a motivational speech about the evils of social media and the wonders of resilience, but here we are. Also, it is less about the evils of social media and about the importance of genuine relationships and sincere connection. It is about trusting the voice of your spirit, that really quiet one that always knows exactly what to do. It is less about the “right” choice and more about the one that is right for the circumstance. The right thing isn’t always pleasant or easy, but you will always feel a sense of ease inside knowing that you honored your values and convictions in whatever you did. It is about being open to new experiences and realizing that sometimes your “salvation” will not come from the hills, but it will come from the valleys.

#change #embracing change #bittersweet goodbyes #new start #flexibility #resilience #openness #trusting your intuition #doing what is right isn't always easy #when it's hard to move on #living with mental illness #knowing your worth #knowing yourself #pivot #family #support network #great coworkers

[nicholemhearn]

The Weight of the Words

Just about a year into the Trump presidency, at a meeting with members of Congress to try to negotiate legislation on immigration, the president demanded to know “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?,” specifically African countries, rather than more immigrants from places like Norway. (He may have said “shithouse,” and may have included Haiti in the category; reports vary.) In the days of public bickering that followed, Trumpists accused the president’s critics of a “pearl-clutching” concern with bad language. Some liberals and progressives replied that the word was irrelevant; all that matters is the reprehensible substantive policy positions (ending family unification migration, slashing refugee admissions, and so on) and the racism of a blanket preference for Scandinavian over African immigrants.

This didn’t make any sense on its own. The scatological vulgarity of this comment from a famous germaphobe was part of its racism. He finds African countries disgusting, and finds people who come from them disgusting, and said so in a way that “poor and unhealthy countries” wouldn’t have captured. Swear words are swear words for a reason, and the urge to show that one is sophisticated and anti-puritanical sometimes leads to the false conclusion that they’re just words like any other, and don’t communicate anything special. They do, and it did.

This seems to be part of a broader developing idea: ignore the tweets. Ignore Trump’s inflammatory language. Ignore the words. What counts is the policy outcomes. People took Trump’s “American carnage” inaugural address seriously, but after an exhausting year, it’s tempting to find an excuse to stop listening.

Among too many conservatives and libertarians of the “But Gorsuch and tax cuts” variety, this is a way of saying “everything’s fine.” Among some on the left, such as Corey Robin, it’s a way of saying that Trump is a normal conservative, with all that entails for the moral status of other conservatives. Indeed, Robin sometimes draws comparisons to the policy disasters of the whole George W. Bush presidency (the Iraq War in particular) to suggest that Trump’s first year isn’t even particularly bad as far as Republican administrations go. And one-year-in retrospectives have often adopted the world-weary stance: Trump might talk like an authoritarian, but it doesn’t really matter because he hasn’t gotten his way. What he wants might be disastrous, but a year later we’re still in NAFTA and NATO, there haven’t been mass deportations, Hillary Clinton hasn’t been thrown in jail, the separation of powers is intact, and so on. Just ignore his words.

Political speech as political action

I have a hard time believing that anyone really thinks like this as a general proposition. Certainly conservatives who spent the postwar era reciting the mantra “ideas have consequences” didn’t think the words that carried political ideas were impotent. The longstanding view among conservatives was that Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech and Reagan’s call to “tear down this wall” were important events, words that helped to mobilize western resistance to Communism and to provide moral clarity about the stakes of that resistance. More recently, conservatives over the last ten years seemed to attribute totemic powers to words like “radical Islamic terrorism”—or, for that matter, “Merry Christmas.”

Politics is persuasion as well as coercion. Immediate policy outcomes mainly have to do with coercion: who is taxed, regulated, expropriated, imprisoned, deported, conscripted, what wars are fought, who is kept out of the country by force of arms. This can’t be neglected, of course. The early theorists of “deliberative democracy” in the 1990s seemed to overestimate the importance of speech in politics, imagining a world in which high-minded parliamentary debate on the floor of the legislature regularly changes lawmakers’ minds and supersedes partisan positions, or in which voters engage in jury-like deliberations forever, never reaching a vote or the coercion that follows. But many others underestimate the importance and power of political speech, often under cover of seeming hard-headed and practical.

Indeed coercion and persuasion, power and speech, are always difficult to disentangle in politics. A political system depends in part on the voluntary cooperation of those subject to coercion, since violently physically controlling everyone all the time is infeasibly costly; and in part on the voluntary cooperation of those who carry out coercion, the armed agents of the state, including ordinary soldiers and police officers as well as those who organize and command them. People put up with being ruled, and those who carry out the ruling on others’ behalf put up with taking orders in light of their beliefs about legitimacy and political reasonableness, beliefs that depend on prior speech and persuasion. Norms rest on beliefs which rest on persuasion, and institutions rest on norms. The political theorist Hannah Arendt treated political speech as the core of her special sense of “action,” the chief way in which we shape and constitute our life together. There’s much I disagree with in her thought, but I find the surprise of identifying speech as “action” to be productive; it helps us see something important and true about political life.  

Greg Sargent and I have both argued that one particular kind of Trump’s speech, his especially outrageous and transparent lies, are words that have shaped the world: demonstrations of power, attempts to undermine the existence of shared belief in truth and facts. In the rest of this essay I will look at some other ways in which Trump’s speech becomes part of political reality, as he and the media outlets that serve as his megaphone address the world, the US government, and the people.

Speaking to the world

Words are so central to international affairs that they get their own special professional and legal category: diplomacy. We hope that speech, if it does not draw countries closer together, will at least allow clear communication about interests, demands, and the possibility of war. With his words threatening to subordinate the collective self-defense commitment of NATO to his desire to get a better deal on shared defense spending, Trump undermined the most longstanding pillar of American foreign policy. His eventual grudging affirmation of Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty didn’t unring the bell. America’s closest allies now have to believe that its treaty commitments are up for grabs in each election, and have to plan accordingly.

Trump and his fellow “America First” nationalists genuinely don’t understand how much the United States benefits from the liberal international order, and misunderstand the cost and benefits of tough-guy unilateralism. Coercion is expensive, and the in the postwar West the US has often been able to get its way without violence, as the widely-trusted anchor state in an order with a lot of perceived legitimacy. This is true in security, where the US is able to shape the world order to an outsized degree, cheaply, because of its network of alliances. And it’s true in economics; the US benefits from the use of the dollar as a reserve currency, the international willingness to hold US debt, and the global system of trade that it created.

The generations of work that created the liberal international order can’t be undone in a year, but Trump has made an impressive start, antagonizing democratic allies (other than Israel), praising autocratic rivals (Russia) and the turn to autocracy in unstable allies (the Philippines), and conveying unmistakable contempt to countries in Latin America and Africa. For the last twenty years, China in particular has spent heavily to catch up to American influence in those regions; lacking the soft power of perceived legitimacy, it had to spend hard cash. That American advantage is rapidly getting flushed down the… well, you get it.

And Trump’s childish personalization of the continuing North Korea crisis remains a crucial case of speech that we had better not ignore, because we know the target audience is listening. Trump’s theory of North Korea is, roughly, “an angry crazy man has nuclear weapons, so let’s go out of our way to make him angrier and crazier,” and it remains a live possibility that this will get us to the obvious, awful conclusion. He undermines his own Secretary of State’s attempts at diplomacy; he conducts foreign policy by name-calling and tweeting.  The withdrawal of Victor Cha’s nomination as Ambassador to South Korea on the grounds that he privately opposed a military strike on the North is evidence, for those who need it, that Trump’s words aren’t just bluster. Trump’s tweet that his “I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!” [sic, sic, sic] isn’t a set of mere words to ignore; they’re words that affect the world, and to all evidence convey a sincere willingness to start a disastrous war to prove his own manhood.

Speaking to the state

It has been widely reported that agencies from the State Department to the FBI have seen an exodus of longtime employees. The most experienced professional civil servants who make the bureaucratic state function haven’t been purged (as they have been under populist authoritarianism in less-institutionally-robust states like Turkey). But the constant contempt Trump and his circle have expressed for them—the drumbeat of “deep state” talk, the descriptions of careerists as “Obama holdovers” or “Obama appointees”, the repeated view that it’s fine for jobs to sit empty because l’état c’est Trump—takes its toll. I don’t just mean that career civil servants leave because they disagree with the stated policy preferences of the administration, though in some agencies (the EPA, the civil rights division of the Department of Justice) that might be the more important effect. They leave because they hear and understand that they’re not wanted. And of course, those most able to leave are those who are either most experienced (and able to retire) or most skilled (and able to move into the private sector).

The high-profile case of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe stands out here. He was singled out for Trump’s abuse on Twitter for months. He was pressed into a slightly early leave (or the FBI was pressed into putting him on leave) pending his planned retirement, not a disastrous outcome for him personally. But the signal that’s sent to the rest of the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the rest of the civil service is that the administration can, and will, bring them to heel. People who are spoken to that way hear the message. At the margin, many who can leave, will, if their commitment to impartial professional public service was one of their motivations for staying. And at the margin, new people like that won’t join.

During the State of the Union address Trump called on Congress to allow Cabinet officials to “remove federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people,” i.e., to fire civil servants on grounds of political disagreement, ending the century-old rule of a professional and apolitical civil service that stays on as political appointees come and go. This is of a piece with the months-long rhetorical assault on the so-called “deep state” by Trump and the Trumpist media. Maybe there will be no such legislation. But Trump saying it matters. House Speaker Paul Ryan echoing the call for a “purge” at the FBI matters. Fox News’ constant public delegitimation of the civil service matters. It matters in particular for the Russia investigation, of course. Trump means to push out anyone who isn’t on “his team,” in a way that the FBI and the Department of Justice are really not supposed to be, and that process is underway in front of our eyes. But it also matters more broadly for the character of the American state and bureaucracy. By discouraging professionals and encouraging politicization, Trump is already changing the civil service by his speech.

The great exception, the federal employees who hear the message that they are very highly valued, are immigration and border enforcers. (State and local police get the same kind of treatment, unlike the FBI.) In Trump’s first year, formal immigration policy changed much less than public rhetoric did, partly because a great deal of the policy is statutory, partly because Trump’s executive orders spent most of the year unenforced thanks to the courts. But immigration enforcement is a domain in which there’s a lot of discretion on the ground: who is kept out, who has to disclose how much information in order to get in (e.g. cell phone PINs, social media passwords), and, especially, what employers and neighborhoods are raided, who is rounded up, who is deported. Trump’s demonization of immigrants and celebration of ICE change policy de facto. Trump’s words have sent the message of “anything goes” to ICE  and “you should be scared” to those who might be vulnerable to ICE. Both messages have been heard. ICE has become so aggressive in its tactics that a federal judge described it as “treatment we associate with regimes we revile as unjust, regimes where those who have long lived in a country may be taken without notice from streets, home, and work. And sent away.”

Speaking to the citizenry

Within the electorate, the speech of elites matters in a couple of different ways. A large part of the population begins with a tribal sense of what team they’re on, which side they support, but relatively little information about the substantive policy views associated with that. Thanks to Trump’s Twitter feed and Fox News (and the strange reciprocal relationship between them) the Republican and conservative rank and file now have an unusually direct, unusually constant source of information about the things that people like us are supposed to believe and support. I think that we can see the effect of this in the rapid and dramatic swings in reported Republican opinion on questions from free trade to Russia policy. Trump’s stump speeches and unhinged tweets, and Fox News’ amplification of them, are changing what Republican voters think it means to be a Republican. He doesn’t speak for them; how many of them had a view about “the deep state” two years ago? He speaks to them, and it matters.

One example is the attack on the mainstream news media–“fake news,” by which Trump means nothing more and nothing less than “news outlets that aren’t subservient to me.” There have always been media outlets of different political colorations, and there have always been elected officials who disliked and feared media outlets critical of them. The delegitimation of the basic enterprise of independent journalism is something else, and something new to the US. In their important new book How Democracies Die, the political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt point to the delegitimation of the independent press as one of the key warning signs of a genuine would-be autocrat. They note the parallel between Trump characterizing the media as the “enemy of the American people,” his expressed desire to “open up” libel laws, and his “fake news” campaign and the words that preceded action in democratic breakdowns elsewhere. We don’t know how far Trump will be able to go in his attempts to suppress the media, but we know that he’s persuaded millions of Republicans to let him try.

There has been a lot of discussion lately about why Republican elites who presumably know better (like Paul Ryan) seem to have become fully complicit in the administration’s attack on the Russia investigation, fully willing to help conceal, impede, and obstruct when they don’t themselves know what the investigation will find. (If you’re the target of an investigation, you roughly know what you’re guilty of and what you’re not. Paul Ryan has no earthly idea what Trump or his circle have done; why risk having someone else’s unknown crimes hung around your own neck?) The popular theory is that they got their tax cut, and they’re willing to pay any price for that. I think that’s wrong, and underestimates Congressional self-interest. I think the answer is, at least in part: over the last year Trump has successfully radicalized the Republican electorate, with his words, in their support of him personally. Congressional Republicans who, a year ago, were still at least trying to keep Trump at arm’s length don’t dare to anymore. Trump has successfully belittled, marginalized, and demonized his occasional critics among Senate Republicans, with his direct line to the Republican electorate (and, again, as always, its amplification in the Trumpist media). The absurd drumbeat to “release the [Nunes] memo,” by its very absurdity, reveals Trump’s current power over Congressional Republicans. A year ago, more of them would have objected to delegitimizing the FBI. But Trump has successfully communicated to his voters that being on their team means not

#nicholemhearn digest

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Latticework of Mental Models: Echo Chamber Effect

A few weeks back I was reading a report penned by Amay Hattangadi and Swanand Kelkar from Morgan Stanley. In that report, I came across a very intriguing word called “Echo Chamber”. The authors wrote –

The most telling reaction post Brexit was from a London based friend who apart from lamenting the outcome went on to say that he didn’t know of a single person who was likely to have voted “Leave” and hence felt that the outcome was rigged. This is what we called the “echo chamber” in one of our earlier essays. We tend to be surrounded by people who are like us and share our world view. Social media accentuates this by tailoring our news and opinion feeds to match our pre-set views. To avoid falling into this homogeneity trap, one needs to seek out and dispassionately engage with people whose views differ from your own and that’s true not just for current affairs but your favourite stocks as well.

The word ‘echo chamber’ painted such a vivid picture in my mind that I decided to give it a permanent place in my mental attic. Echo chamber has thus become an important node in my latticework of mental models.

Echo chamber effect feeds on a fundamental cognitive error called confirmation bias (sometimes referred to as commitment and consistency bias). Famous psychologist Robert Cialdini has written about this bias extensively in his seminal book, Influence – Psychology of Persuasion.

Just like every other human bias, the roots of confirmation bias can be traced by stepping into the jurisdiction of evolutionary biology.

Millions of years of evolution has wired the human brain to shun the inconsistencies in the environment – either by avoiding or by resolving. It’s extremely hard for us to harbour two conflicting pieces of information in our mind at the same time. This mental discomfort created by entertaining two or more contradictory arguments is known as cognitive dissonance.

The three-pound grey matter inside our skull has been designed by mother nature in such a manner that it’s optimized to conserve energy by getting rid of (by hook or by crook) cognitive dissonance. Even if it means being delusional.

Charlie Munger calls this Inconsistency Avoidance Tendency. The result of this tendency is what psychologists have termed as confirmation bias.

Rolf Dobelli, in his book The Art of Thinking Clearly, writes –

The confirmation bias is the mother of all misconceptions. It is the tendency to interpret new information so that it becomes compatible with our existing theories, beliefs and convictions. In other words, we filter out any new information that contradicts our existing views (‘disconfirming evidence’). This is a dangerous practice.

Image Source: hamiltonsthoughts.com

Confirmation bias manifests itself in our behaviour by making us seek those things which validate our prior beliefs. We tend to hang out with those people who agree with our views. We selectively watch those news channels which bolster our existing political inclinations. At the same time, when we come across a contradictory piece of information, our mind tends to either ignore it or call it wrong.

The biggest danger with confirmation bias is that, although it starts small, it compounds very rapidly. As we unconsciously construct an environment which is devoid of any conflicts and contradictory information, we get embedded deeply into our cocoon of beliefs. Beliefs that are prejudiced about how the world works.

There’s a vicious cycle at work here. The echo created by constant reinforcement and repetition of the same ideas inside our mental chamber turns us into someone who knows only one side of the argument. Modern information technology and ease of access to information has further exacerbated this problem.

In their article in livemint, Swanand and Amay write –

..social media systematically finds ways to ensure that we are fed with more of what we find appealing. Our Facebook feed is filtered based on previous history of “likes”. Amazon suggests books to buy based on our pattern of previous purchases. Twitter suggests whose tweets we should “follow” based on those we are already following. The online world has magnified the decibel level of the reverberations in an echo chamber manifold.

The positive feedback loop amplifies the effect and results in a mind that can believe in anything no matter how implausible or irrational.

Organized religions and cults have been the biggest beneficiaries of echo chamber effect. People of same religion flock together, share same myths and have the same world view.

For centuries, the term black swan was used as a metaphor for something which didn’t exist or something impossible. People believed that all swans were white. No one had seen a black swan before and every time someone spotted a white swan they would cite that as an evidence to confirm their hypothesis i.e., all swans are white.

However, one single observation to the contrary invalidated a belief derived from millennia of confirmatory sightings of millions of white swans, write Amay and Swanand. “But unfortunately, that is not the way we typically function. We do quite the opposite, which is to form our view and then spend the rest of the day finding all the information that agrees with our view.”

The best armour against confirmation bias is to actively look for disconfirming evidence. The best way to arrive at truth is the process of eliminating what’s untrue. This is known as the process of falsification.

The father of evolutionary biology, Charles Darwin, was known to practice this diligently. Whenever he encountered an observation which did not fit his hypothesis, he would immediately make a note of it. He was aware that his brain would conveniently forget about exceptions if he didn’t take extra care in acknowledging and capturing it.

A year, according to Charlie Munger, is a wasted year if you haven’t destroyed one of your most cherished ideas. He likes to say –

We all are learning, modifying, or destroying ideas all the time. Rapid destruction of your ideas when the time is right is one of the most valuable qualities you can acquire.

On another occasion Charlie said –

Ask yourself what are the arguments on the other side. It’s bad to have an opinion you’re proud of if you can’t state the arguments for the other side better than your opponents. This is a great mental discipline.

As an investor, another important trick to avoid confirmation bias is to not talk about your investment ideas in public. Many successful investors, including Mohnish Pabrai and Guy Spier, follow this principle. They understand that the more they discuss and defend their investments in public, harder they pound it back into their own head, and tougher it is to change their opinion later.

Guarding against confirmation bias doesn’t mean that one remains indecisive. Making a decision under the spell of confirmation bias and going ahead with a decision in spite of disagreeing with it, are two different things. For that matter, you don’t always need all the evidence and agreement to make a decision.

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have starkly different personalities, plus both are ruthlessly independent in their own thought processes. It’s unlikely that they would have never disagreed with each in their half a century of partnership. But that hasn’t stopped either of them in making decisions despite the disagreement.

If you’ve attended our annual meetings, says Buffett, “you know Charlie has a wide-ranging brilliance, a prodigious memory, and some firm opinions. I’m not exactly wishy-washy myself, and we sometimes don’t agree. In 56 years, however, we’ve never had an argument.”

Disagreeing and having an argument about who’s right are two very different things. Argument stalls the decision making. Disagreeing doesn’t.

In his 2016 letter to shareholders, while talking about high-velocity decision making, Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos wrote –

If you have conviction on a particular direction even though there’s no consensus, it’s helpful to say, “Look, I know we disagree on this but will you gamble with me on it? Disagree and commit?”… I disagree and commit all the time. We recently greenlit a particular Amazon Studios original. I told the team my view: debatable whether it would be interesting enough, complicated to produce, the business terms aren’t that good, and we have lots of other opportunities. They had a completely different opinion and wanted to go ahead. I wrote back right away with “I disagree and commit and hope it becomes the most watched thing we’ve ever made.” Consider how much slower this decision cycle would have been if the team had actually had to convince me rather than simply get my commitment.

Note what this example is not: it’s not me thinking to myself “well, these guys are wrong and missing the point, but this isn’t worth me chasing.” It’s a genuine disagreement of opinion, a candid expression of my view, a chance for the team to weigh my view, and a quick, sincere commitment to go their way.

Warren Buffett once wrote –

What the human being is best at doing, is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact.

That’s why you need a devil’s advocate who can challenge your assumptions. Someone who can ask uncomfortable questions.

As an investor, it’s very important to have your own small group of intellectual peers to bounce your ideas. But be careful in selecting these folks lest your sounding board turns into an echo chamber for that would not only be futile but outright dangerous for your decision-making process.

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