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ibijau · 3 years

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Futures Past pt6 / On AO3

Lan Xichen comes to Yunping City with a secret mission in his heart. Things don't quite go according to plan.

Huang Quiling bowed deeply and thanked Lan Qiren and Jiang Fengmian once more for their help dealing with that gang of fierce corpses, which had escaped from the Burial Mounds of Yiling and made their way to Yunping City. He had explained, when they'd arrived, that he’d asked two Great Sects for their help because it had seemed to him that anything concerning the Burial Mounds required close attention. It had made sense at the moment, but Lan Xichen now realised that above all else Yunping Huang was a very small, very young sect that just didn’t have the manpower to deal with such a threat.

Not that the threat had been too great, in the end. The fierce corpses had been dealt with quite easily, just like in Lan Xichen’s memories. More easily, perhaps, since he’d remembered exactly how and where to strike them for a quick victory. For that reason, young Jiang Cheng had been particularly impressed by his performance, and Nie Huaisang even more so.

Nie Huaisang who shouldn’t have been there.

While his uncle and sect leader Jiang discussed with sect leader Huang about precautions to be taken, and what to do with the remains of those fierce corpses, Lan Xichen allowed his gaze to drift toward Nie Huaisang. The younger boy was standing on his own, near the lined up corpses, observing them with bored curiosity as if he’d never seen fierce corpses before and wasn’t too impressed by the sight.

It might well have been the case. Lan Xichen knew that Nie Mingjue had rarely managed to drag his brother on Night Hunts, and always had to select very easy preys even when he did… not that Nie Huaisang ever did much when he was brought on Night Hunts anyway. Lan Xichen doubted he’d ever so much as subdued a small ghost, at an age when other boys already had killed several monsters and conducted exorcisms.

And yet, as soon as he’d heard about this Night Hunt near Yunping City, Nie Huaisang had begged to come.

Lan Xichen had been so stunned by the request that he'd almost refused on principle. Night Hunts were serious business, even one he knew would go smoothly, and idle observers always brought trouble. Besides, Lan Xichen had big plans for that trip to Yunping City, and knew that agreeing to let Nie Huaisang come meant he’d be put in charge of the other boy, which would disrupt his efforts to find and recruit Meng Yao into Gusu Lan.

The very last thing Lan Xichen wanted was for Nie Huaisang to be following him around while he tried to change that part of history. Partly because he dreaded anything that would bring together those two future enemies, but mostly because Nie Mingjue would never forgive him for taking his precious little brother into the brothel district.

Lan Xichen had wanted to refuse.

He should have refused.

He hadn’t, and even pushed against his uncle’s reluctance when Lan Qiren said, not without wisdom, that it might be a dangerous Night Hunt for someone of such a low level. But Lan Xichen had insisted, knowing as his uncle did not that the fierce corpses would reach the borders of Yunping City already weakened and too disoriented by their long walk to put up much resistance.

Besides, Lan Xichen hadn’t expected Nie Huaisang to do much except stand around and allow others to deal with the threat.

He’d been right. Nie Huaisang had stayed close to Lan Xichen the whole time, having apparently decided that this was the safest place to be.

That, along with the request to come to this Night Hunt, was giving Lan Xichen an impression of progress. That was something he desperately needed, he realised while watching Nie Huaisang wander among their group. The younger boy had proven surprisingly reluctant to the concept of making friends. Or at least, he’d been resisting all of Lan Xichen’s efforts, and showed no interest in the other guest disciples either, while developing an apparent obsession with Su She, of all people.

A mutual obsession, judging by the way they were both always seeking each other. A dangerous obsession, Lan Xichen thought, and so when his uncle had wondered about taking Su She with them, Lan Xichen had been forced to disagree.

They didn’t need a traitor in their midst.

Truly, if Lan Xichen had had the power, he’d have ordered Su She away already, even if it was unfair when he hadn’t yet committed any crimes. Still, since he intended to bring Meng Yao to the Cloud Recesses and keep him there, then Su She couldn't be kept around. It would be better to avoid…

“Lan gongzi, did I do something bad?” Nie Huaisang cried out, suddenly appearing in front of Lan Xichen, startling him. “You’ve been looking at me for a while and you’re frowning… I’m really sorry I wasn’t much use at all, you know! I swear I didn’t mean to drop my sabre like that, and then it would have been dangerous to get it back!”

Lan Xichen smiled, and tried not to wonder if Nie Huaisang had dropped his weapon on purpose.

Tried and failed. It was hard to not suspect Nie Huaisang of secretly scheming every time he cried out about being stupid, every time he failed at some easy task.

“You’ll have to try to train a little harder,” Lan Xichen gently scolded. “You could have gotten hurt. You’re lucky there were others to protect you, but it might not always be the case.”

“I’d never go anywhere dangerous without someone strong,” Nie Huaisang retorted with an insolent grin. “Or anywhere dangerous at all, if I can help it. I thought maybe Night Hunts would be more fun without my brother shouting at me, but in the end this was still scary and boring. I don’t think I’ll try again.”

Only years of good education prevented Lan Xichen from rolling his eyes. “I hope Nie gongzi realises that these things aren’t about having fun,” he said. “It is about helping those in need, and defeating evil before it can cause harm to innocents.”

“Is it?” Nie Huaisang asked, looking sincerely surprised. “I thought that was just something people said. But I guess Lan gongzi is such an honest person, of course you’d really believe that, right?”

Lan Xichen tensed.

It was amazing, really, how Nie Huaisang always found exactly the most awful thing to say, and to make something like ‘honest’ sound like an insult.

“What’s going to happen now?” Nie Huaisang asked, blissfully unaware he’d said anything wrong. “It’s still pretty early in the day, do you think we’ll have a chance to visit Yunping City a bit? It'd be really neat if we could. I even brought my pocket money in case I see something nice.”

So that was why Nie Huaisang had wanted to come, Lan Xichen realised, instantly relaxing. For tourism, and to get a break from lessons. It was such a simple and innocent reason, perfectly fitting the sort of person Nie Huaisang appeared to be, but Lan Xichen had been too taken by his future memories of a ruthless manipulator. Perhaps it hadn’t all been a comedy. Perhaps until his brother’s death, Nie Huaisang had really been just silly. Just an ordinary, lazy teenager whose only agenda was to make as few efforts as possible.

It gave Lan Xichen some comfort. He would have been blind in that future he wanted to avoid, but perhaps that was because for the longest of times there really had been nothing to see.

“We need to do some clean-up first,” Lan Xichen explained, gesturing toward the defeated fierce corpses. “But I’m sure that won’t take too long. We might have the afternoon off at least, if shufu and Jiang zongzhu wish to talk with Huang zongzhu.”

They would, as Lan Xichen already knew. In fact, they had so much to say that the Lan and Jiang wouldn’t start heading home until the following afternoon. It should give Lan Xichen plenty of time to look for Meng Yao and find a way to bring him to Gusu, so he could be prevented from ever joining Lanling Jin.

Somehow.

“Will this take long?” Nie Huaisang asked, glancing toward the city.

“It’ll take less time if you help,” Lan Xichen suggested. “You’re here anyway, so you might as well. And I’m sure your brother will be proud of you if he hears you did your part.”

The advice caused Nie Huaisang to grimace and sigh, as if being asked to participate was the very worst thing he’d ever been ordered to do. In the end, he was more of a hindrance than anything, until Lan Qiren told him to get out of the way. That order he obeyed quite efficiently.

When all the fierce corpses had been purified, their group headed back into town, toward Yunping Huang's home where they had all been invited to stay. It wasn't a very large place, so while Lan Qiren and Jiang Fengmian were offered their own rooms to freshen up, the juniors had to share one room between all of them, Lan and Jiang mixed together.

Several basins were offered to them to clean a bit, as well as some light collations to help them last until the next meal. Some of the boys were more interested in chatting than in getting clean. The Jiang boys in particular seemed quite talkative, blabbering between themselves about their great deeds, talking about how much they'd boast to Wei Wuxian about the great Night Hunt he'd missed out on, and even trying to start conversations with the Lan disciples to comment on their technique.

Even Jiang Cheng, who Lan Xichen remembered from his future as severe and joyless, was chatting with enthusiasm. He also kept glancing toward Lan Xichen, as if wishing to say something but lacking the nerves to actually do it. Lan Xichen found it a little amusing to think that the terrifying future Sandu Shengshou had once been shy, but didn't pay it much mind.

He had a goal to accomplish while in Yunping City, and mingling with peers would have to wait.

It did not take too long for Lan Xichen to clean up and be ready to head out again. As he prepared to do so, he stumbled upon his uncle who asked him whether he’d seen Nie Huaisang. It appeared that while everyone went to rest and freshen up, Nie Huaisang had left the house, and alone at that.

Although he tried his best to look suitably worried, Lan Xichen almost leaped from joy at the news. Nie Huaisang’s mischief gave him the perfect excuse to head out as well… and since none of the other juniors were done cleaning up, since the adults had much to discuss, Lan Xichen had no trouble at all arguing that he could go alone after his friend’s brother. He promised to be careful, and to bring back Nie Huaisang as soon as he found him. He’d have promised anything, really, and only felt mildly guilty for immediately heading in the direction where he thought Meng Shi’s brothel should stand.

Lan Xichen had not often come to Yunping City, in that future he remembered, and the town had not left a very big impression on him. On this present Night Hunt, he’d mostly been worried about supervising other juniors while his uncle discussed politics with the other two sect leaders. Then, on his second visit, Lan Xichen had been a prisoner, weakened and worried that after having been kidnapped by the man he had trusted the most, he might get murdered once he outlived his usefulness as a hostage. In such circumstances, in neither of his visits Lan Xichen had really paid attention to his surroundings. Adding to this the fact that Yunping City would change a good deal in the twenty years to come...

Lan Xichen got lost.

He got immensely lost, and realised, a little late, that he couldn’t ask for direction. He’d never learned the name of the brothel where Meng Shi worked, partly because he’d never thought to ask. Why would he have ever needed that information? Why ask a question that would only have upset his dear friend by reminding him of his origins?

Of course this wouldn’t have been a problem if there had only been one brothel in Yunping City.

There were many more than one brothel in the city, as Lan Xichen discovered when he reached the right neighbourhood. Wrong neighbourhood.

A neighbourhood.

Since it was only afternoon, there wasn’t too much activity going on, aside from the different brothels starting to get ready for the night, or welcoming a few special clients. Walking in the streets, Lan Xichen heard laughter coming from the buildings, and arguments as well. He found himself forced to mostly keep his eyes to the road in front of him, because looking up meant he risked catching a glimpse of a lady or young man in a partly undressed state, arguing from a window with someone in the street or just enjoying some fresh air. But of course, refusing to look up made it virtually impossible to try and recognise the building he was looking for.

After well over a shichen of aimless wandering, Lan Xichen felt himself fall into despair. This plan of his might not have been very well thought out, and he was well and truly lost now. If his uncle came looking for him and found him in such a place…

“Lan gongzi?” a squeaky voice called out, startling him. “What are you doing here?”

Lan Xichen turned, and found himself staring at Nie Huaisang.

It would have been hard to say, between the two of them, who was the most embarrassed one. Nie Huaisang certainly looked quite stunned, but perhaps also a little upset that he had cried out like that instead of escaping unseen. Lan Xichen had a feeling the younger boy wasn’t quite as lost as him.

“I was looking for you,” Lan Xichen explained. “And then I ended up here.”

Nie Huaisang let out a curse. “Damn, I thought I’d been more discreet than that,” he grumbled, confirming Lan Xichen’s suspicion. “Well, cat’s out of the bag, uh? I’m here because I figured I might buy some spring books without anyone breathing down my neck. So, uh, I’m quite well as you see, so you can go back. I’m sure I won’t be very long. Well, I hope. I’ve just got to find what I’m looking for.”

Lan Xichen couldn’t refrain a small smile upon hearing this. He knew, distantly, that Nie Huaisang had eventually become quite well known among guest disciples for having smuggled some spring books into the Cloud Recesses. Apparently, it was a hobby in which he was already quite invested, if he’d dared to venture alone in such a part of an unknown city.

“You really should head back to the Huang sect's home,” Lan Xichen gently scolded. “It’s getting late, and you might get in trouble.”

“I’m in trouble already since you found me,” Nie Huaisang muttered, nervously glancing around. “I’m… I’m not really finding what I want so far, so I’d like… please Lan gongzi, can you pretend you didn’t see me and let me look a little longer?”

“I promised I’d take you back as soon as I found you.”

Lan Xichen paused, and considered the situation. It was obvious that Nie Huaisang wasn’t quite as uncomfortable as him in this place. Maybe if they walked together, Lan Xichen himself would feel more at ease, and even manage to actually look at the buildings surrounding them to try and recognise those that had been near that temple, twenty years in the future.

“Nie gongzi, if you must really stay here, then at the very least I should stay at your side to make sure you don’t get in trouble.”

Nie Huaisang startled so badly at the suggestion that he nearly tripped and fell. His face turned very pale, and he started fidgeting nervously with his sleeve. He hadn’t yet gotten into the habit of always carrying a fan, as he would during the following year, or else Lan Xichen knew Nie Huaisang would have opened such a fan and hidden behind it.

“Lan gongzi! This really isn’t a place for you!” Nie Huaisang squeaked.

“And it is one for you?”

Nie Huaisang grimaced. His face was turning grey with anguish, while his eyes looked red, as if he might cry.

“I’d really rather be alone, it’s too embarrassing if you’re here,” he whined miserable.

“You’re just here for spring books, right?” Lan Xichen asked, worried that the younger boy might have wanted to do more than merely look while in such a neighbourhood. “You’re not here to…”

“No!” Nie Huaisang urgently shouted. “No, I’m just here to… I just wanted to… I was…” He took a deep breath, and wiped his eyes with the back of his hands. “Lan gongzi, believe it or not, but I had no bad intentions at all. But something like this… how could I do it with you around? I just can’t… you’re too… And it’s getting late now, and it’ll be impossible to… ah, I messed this up, I really messed this up!”

He’d burst into tears, sobbing loudly and attracting the attention of a few passerbys. Lan Xichen knew he should have said something, tried to calm the other boy, but the sight of those tears, the tone of his voice, brought back unpleasant memories.

Lan Xichen found himself frozen, and unable to breathe.

Nie Huaisang had sounded, would have sounded the same all those times he’d come crying for help after the death of Nie Mingjue. The same pathetic tears, the same stuttering, all lies, all pretences.

Lan Xichen couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t…

“Lan gongzi?” he heard Nie Huaisang call to him, voice distant, as if coming through a thick wall. “Lan gongzi, are you unwell?”

Lan Xichen didn’t answer.

One needed air to speak, and he still couldn’t breathe.

He was feeling as if he might pass out from the lack of air, when the feeling of a burning hand on his own freezing one pulled him back to the present.

Lan Xichen took a deep, shaky breath, then another, and another, until he found himself in control again. The whole time Nie Huaisang held his hand, still sniffling and crying a few tears. His face was splotched with red, and his nose was runny, when Lan Xichen had always taken him to be the sort of person blessed enough to become more handsome with tears. Perhaps it meant this fit of crying was real, when other ones had been staged.

He couldn’t imagine the man Nie Huaisang would become holding anyone’s hand while they were unwell, nor indeed letting anyone’s discomfort distract from his own antics.

There was comfort to be found in that.

“Sorry, I sometimes have episodes like this,” Lan Xichen explained when he felt capable of speaking again. It hadn’t been the first time his other memories provoked an intense reaction, and he feared it wouldn’t be the last either. “I hope I didn’t worry you too much.”

“It was really scary,” Nie Huaisang said, squeezing his hand tight. “You looked like you were going to faint. Actually, you still don’t look too good.”

Lan Xichen didn’t feel so well, truth be told. He knew from experience he probably would be a little uneasy until he’d slept.

“I can’t leave you here alone,” he still insisted. “It could be dangerous.”

After glancing around at the now busier streets, Nie Huaisang sighed deeply. He let go of Lan Xichen’s hand and quickly wiped a few new tears.

“It’s too late, I don’t think I can do this,” he mumbled, sounding rather more emotional than he should have been about mere spring books. “I’d get in trouble now that the brothels are opening for the night. I’ll just… I don’t know. I really don’t know what I’ll do,” he sighed, and for a second Lan Xichen thought he was going to lose his breath again, until Nie Huaisang spoke again. “I can’t leave you on your own when you’re unwell, anyway. Da-ge would never forgive me. So let’s head back, and like that I can help you if you start feeling bad again.”

At some other time, Lan Xichen might have laughed, or at least smiled at the idea that Nie Huaisang could help him in any way. Whether he was a foolish boy or a scheming avenger, Nie Huaisang wasn’t one to help others.

But it was the other boy’s hand on his own that had called him back to the present, and Nie Huaisang certainly looked sincerely worried.

“Thank you, I think I’d like that,” Lan Xichen said. “I’m really sorry for ruining your fun.”

“It wasn’t much fun anyway,” Nie Huaisang replied as they started walking back toward the local sect. “And anyway, this is important too.”

Lan Xichen said nothing, a certain tiredness slowly creeping up inside him as a consequence of his moment of panic, but he smiled faintly.

Maybe he really was making progress with Nie Huaisang. And as for Meng Yao, there was always the following morning to try and find him.

Nie Huaisang was scolded by Lan Qiren when they returned to the Huang sect's dwellings, promised punishment, and ordered not to wander off again. He looked as if he might cry again, being talked down like this in front of everyone, but he just pinched his lips and nodded along, as if accepting he would be punished this harshly. It was not quite in character for him, since he usually was more the sort to argue and whine to get out of trouble, and he looked utterly depressed, almost as much as he would in a few years upon losing his brother.

If Lan Xichen hadn't been so exhausted by his moment of panic, he would have made a note of it and tried asking the younger boy what was wrong. As it was, he could barely stand anymore and had to excuse himself to go sleep before even having dinner. He thought his uncle looked a little disapproving, aware surely that such a simple Night Hunt shouldn't have tired him so… but Lan Xichen didn't care. All that mattered was sleep, so he could leave that day behind him.

Sleep, however, brought less rest than Lan Xichen would have liked. He had nightmares throughout the night, though he couldn't remember them when he opened his eyes. He thought they'd had to do with Nie Huaisang and Meng Yao, perhaps also with Nie Mingjue, but he couldn't be quite sure.

He didn't want to remember those dreams.

It wasn’t quite dawn when Lan Xichen woke up one final time. He quickly decided that he probably wouldn’t manage to go back to sleep, not when it might bring more nightmares. Instead he got up quietly and got dressed. As he did so his eyes scanned the room he shared with other juniors, and noticed that Nie Huaisang wasn’t present, his bed slept in but currently empty. Lan Xichen, who had wanted to meditate until the other Lan disciples awoke, changed his plans and instead went to look for Nie Huaisang.

He didn’t have to go very far. Yunping Huang’s home wasn’t large, and there weren’t many places a guest might wander off. After checking at the door with the Huang disciple on watch duty, Lan Xichen learned that Nie Huaisang had indeed tried to go out only to be denied, and had been directed to the courtyard if he didn’t want to go back to bed. That was where Lan Xichen found the younger boy, sitting on a bench among some potted plants, restlessly moving his legs in small jerky movements and chewing on the skin around his nails hard enough to draw blood.

Lan Xichen walked closer, making sure to step a little harder than he normally would so Nie Huaisang would hear him coming. Even like this, Nie Huaisang appeared startled when he noticed he wasn’t alone anymore, and went completely still for a moment. He quickly recovered though, and without getting up bowed to Lan Xichen.

“Good morning, Lan gongzi. You’re up early, are you still unwell?”

“I’m much better. Thank you again for helping me yesterday. May I ask why you are up so early? I never took you for a morning person.”

“Well, I am, actually,” Nie Huaisang said, wringing his hands. “Early mornings are good for bird watching, you know. And I’m a night person too, because, well, there’s a lot of birds in the evening too. It’s the middle of the day I don’t like so much.”

Lan Xichen smiled, pleased that Nie Huaisang, for once, would speak to him so freely. He gestured at the bench. “May I sit with you?”

“You’re not scolding me for being awake when I shouldn’t be?”

“I’m awake too, how could I scold you?”

That answer appeared to satisfy Nie Huaisang, who motioned for Lan Xichen to sit.

"I really should be sleeping, I know that," Nie Huaisang said, words shooting out of his mouth at high speed. "I tried, but I couldn't. And then I wanted to go for a walk, but I was told I can't, because the city has a curfew on because of those fierce corpses and also to avoid smugglers, and what if I got in trouble, or someone attacked me because I look like I have money, and also your uncle said I'm punished so I wouldn't be able to go out anyway. But I'm really bored, and I really need to go into Yunping, it's very necessary."

Nie Huaisang paused to take a breath, then resumed speaking at a more resonable speed.

"Lan gongzi, do you think you might help me go out? I have something really important I have to do, you see. I think I'll be in huge trouble if I don't do it. And if you help me…"

"What is it you need to do?"

"Can't say," Nie Huaisang muttered, instantly closing off.

"Then you have to understand I can't…"

"I can't say what it is, but I can say it's important," Nie Huaisang corrected, starting to chew on his nails again. "It's very important, and I'll owe you a favour if you help me. Please, Lan gongzi? I swear I won't do anything bad, please believe me!"

His hands clenching on the fabric over his knees, Lan Xichen felt on the verge of another attack of breathlessness. If only Nie Huaisang had come to him in that horrible future, if he'd asked his help then…

Before panic could really seize him, Nie Huaisang grabbed the hem of his sleeve and pulled on it like a child demanding attention.

"Please Lan gongzi, please help me and I'll do anything you want!"

"Anything?" Lan Xichen asked in a voice he barely recognised, as if he'd already started struggling to breathe. Nie Huaisang didn't appear to notice, and nodded eagerly.

If Lan Xichen had slept better, if he hadn't had so much on his mind, he might have told Nie Huaisang that his help didn't need to be bought, or invoked a friendship that didn't exist yet between them. But he was only half awake still, and there was in fact one thing he wanted from Nie Huaisang, something which had caused him immense distress and worry for weeks now.

"What if I asked that you distance yourself from Su She?"

Instantly Nie Huaisang let go of his sleeve and jumped to his feet, his face twisting into a mask of contempt.

"Then I guess I'll just do this on my own, if you're going to be like that! I can't believe… well, maybe I can,” Nie Huaisang laughed darkly. “In the end, Lan gongzi is no better than others, eh? You hold just the same ideas as the rests! It's fine. I don't need your help, if you only give it upon such a condition!"

Lan Xichen stood up as well, and grabbed Nie Huaisang by the wrist to stop him from leaving.

"I didn't mean that," he lied, terrified he might have ruined all his efforts already. Terrified, also, by the apparent strength of Nie Huaisang’s attachment to Su She. "I was just trying to tease you, but I'm not very good at it. I thought…” He hesitated, looking for a decent excuse only to panic again. “Isn't it common to tease people on their crush?"

"My what?" Nie Huaisang sputtered, so shocked he stopped struggling to free himself. "He's not… I'm not… I don't think? I mean, I do like him a lot, I guess..."

Seeing the other boy's growing confusion, Lan Xichen winced. From watching other boys his age make friends, he had assumed it was normal to tease on such a matter, and that the accepted reaction was always to vehemently deny having a crush on anyone, let alone on another boy. He had hoped that the unexpected accusation would confuse Nie Huaisang enough to make him forget his anger.

If instead, after having forced the encounter with Su She, he ended up causing a romance between the two…

"Huaisang, I swear I'll help you sneak outside if you forget I said anything," Lan Xichen pleaded. "I was just… I'm still a little tired and I said nonsense, please forget it."

Nie Huaisang kept silent a moment more, still thinking over that matter, before turning his attention back to Lan Xichen. It seemed to the older boy that something had changed in Nie Huaisang, who now stood a little stiffer and watched him with even less warmth than before.

“I’ll take Lan gongzi’s offer,” he said coldly. “The second offer, to be clear. But I have to say, I don’t think you should make jokes. You’re really not good at this.”

On that matter, at least, they could agree, Lan Xichen thought as they both sat again, and silently waited for a more reasonable hour to head into Yunping City. He was starting to realise that making friends was a much harder endeavour than he’d ever expected.

Lan Xichen had never tried to make anyone like him, be it in this life or the other one he remembered. His uncle had always taught him that only inferior men needed to go out of their way to obtain the good will of others, while men of true quality would let their actions speak for them and find peers of equal rank in that manner. Lan Xichen strove to be polite to people regardless of rank or affection, because being disrespectful to others was also the mark of an inferior man, but he had never tried to cross the distance between himself and others, convinced that friendship would bloom naturally where it was meant to do so.

Looking back on it, Lan Xichen realised that the man he would have become only ever had two friends, and very few people that could be described as more than acquaintances. Three friends, if one included his younger brother… but it left something of a sour taste in Lan Xichen’s mouth to think that he needed to include Lan Wangji in such a list. Most people, he was aware, didn't need to count family among their list of friends.

What bothered him the most, though, was that his future self hadn’t even minded. After everything that had happened, he had counted himself lucky to even have a friend like Jin Guangyao, and had been willing to close his eyes to anything that might have displeased him about the other man. Lan Xichen had convinced himself that he didn’t need to become close to others, all because becoming close to others meant exposing himself to the pain of losing them, should they die.

He hadn't been very good at dealing with loss.

Lan Xichen didn’t want that part of his future, either, he realised. Being an accomplice to crimes was awful, certainly, but this bothered him as well. He had no interest in becoming that lonely man who hid everything behind a smile of empty warmth.

Sadly, that meant he needed to learn to make friends

Judging by the side glares Nie Huaisang was throwing his way now and again, and the way the younger boy kept moving aside so there was as much space as possible between them, as if Lan Xichen's very proximity were now intolerable to him, making friends wasn't going to be easy.

#xisang #nie huaisang #lan xichen #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #jau writes #double time travel #this one is a bit long oops lxc had a lot of thoughts ok #It would have been longer but I decided to cut it in two already so... yeah

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ladyeliot · 3 years

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“Your stupid spider”

Superhero vs Villain!Reader Prompts

Request: Anonymous: Hello there! Could you write a Superhero vs Villain, where the reader is Peter Parker's best friend but also his enemy? You can use #3 if you want. By the way I love your stories and your writing. Lots of love.

Prompt #3: Truce?

Pairing: Superhero!Peter Parker x Villain!Fem!Reader

Summary: Peter Parker is your best friend, and Spider-man is your enemy. You finally discover that they are the same person.

Warnings: Violence.

Word count: 2446

A/N: Sorry for my spelling and grammatical mistakes, English is not my native language, I am learning.

"If you are really interested in how I discovered the identity of my greatest enemy, please read on."

You. An ordinary girl, born in Brooklyn to a single parent family who had moved into a small flat in the Queens area with her mother. No drugs, no alcohol, no tobacco, your obsession was pancakes and syrup. You didn't do any chores, and you didn't sneak out of the housework. After school you went home with your friends to do your homework. You liked reading, and you listened to music with headphones so as not to disturb the neighbours. In short, a teenager that many parents wish they had.

However, your persona wasn't all rosy, just because Y/N was like that, didn't mean your alter ego was too. You had a secret, everyone has secrets, you might think, but it wasn't just any secret, it was "The Secret", and no one knew it. That's why you could say it was the best kept secret in Queens, or at least that's what you thought until he came along. Spider-man.

Everything went smoothly, it took you a while to assume your powers, your teleportation, but when you got it you enjoyed your solitude in your night outings. You discovered the reality of New York City, the nocturnal and dark atmosphere of being hidden in the shadows, that is to say, you had fun as only you knew how to do. Nevertheless, since the arrival of that Spider-man, your fun was over. That man had in mind to destroy the true essence of the city and that was something you could not allow.

Your first meeting was at the top of Rockefeller Center, a night like any other after the end of one of the most intrepid police chases in Midtown West. There you were, watching the chase unfold, and there he arrived. Remarkably, due to the concealment of your costumes, neither of you could figure out who the other was, and your voice-impersonation skills helped you never get caught. All in all, that was one of many encounters you would have in the wake of Spider-Man's popularity. But still, your life went on.

"Are you telling me you're going to stand me up this afternoon for helping your aunt bake a cake?" you asked Peter between complaints. "You know we have to study for the chemistry test on Friday. And that I'm nothing without you in chemistry."

Although you tried to show him the most apologetic face in the whole world, Peter was not immune to it.

"Sorry Y/N," he closed his locker after grabbing his books. "I promised May last week, it's very important for her to give a good welcome to the new neighbours."

You rolled your eyes but finally came to terms with your defeat.

"Okay Parker," you gave him a little push. "But you've been letting me down in the afternoons for three days now. You'll make it up to me."

You winked and Peter's cheeks quickly turned pink, he gave you a shy smile and nodded goodbye. He was adorable. It was actually good to be free in the afternoons, since Spider-Man had gotten in your way, you had a complex relationship, playing cat and mouse, trying to hinder each other's actions, and it was interesting that week.

Like the previous days, after finishing your chores at home, you put on your black suit and disappeared. Your power was complex, you didn't fully understand it yet and you knew it would take a while, but you weren't scared. You could teleport to a specific place, teleport to another person or object, and even open portals to other places. But these superpowers had played tricks on you, sometimes you appeared in places you didn't recognise and then didn't know how to get back, or you had to return home by taking public transport. Everything has its drawbacks.

Dusk was falling over the island of Manhattan, it was a busy spring evening in New York, big businessmen were leaving their offices, dog walkers were wandering into Central Park and a group of elementary school students were leaving the Museum of Arts and Design. You caught your gaze on the broad clock of a prominent building and instantly there he was, coming from 8th Avenue.

You smiled, you were in the mood for fun and what better way than to open a portal right in front of him to get rid of Spider-man and send him a few blocks further south.

"Woah!" he exclaimed, stepping into the portal and disappearing, not for long.

You started laughing, he always fell into your trap and yet he was still funny to you.

"Hello Miss Holes!"

Within two minutes it landed next to you throwing a spider web which you dodged opening a new portal.

"Too slow, stupid spider," you said with a grin hidden under your mask. "And too predictable to be the mascot of the Avengers.

The two of you began a small battle on top of that building, as if choreographed.

"Hey!" he exclaimed somewhat offended, dodging a new portal. "I'm not the Avengers' mascot."

"Then why is it your turn to do the dirty work?" you ran off, shaking off his cobwebs.

"What...?" began Spider-man somewhat confusedly pausing over the rooftop antenna. "What dirty work?"

You let out a small laugh and in an instant you teleported to his side.

"You know," you began to lower your tone."Robbing old ladies, selling drugs in the neighbourhood - oh, you even helped a woman yesterday who didn't know where to find the underground," you squinted. "Spidey, you're so bored that the most exciting thing in your life is meeting me."

You were so lost for words that you didn't see it coming. In that instant a spider web, a bit slimy for your taste, wrapped around your mouth like a gag silencing your every word. You quickly tried to get rid of it with little luck.

"Thank goodness!" exclaimed your opponent alejándose de ti. "Much better. Sorry about that, but we'll be doing us both a favour."

You touched solid ground again, and raised your hands in the direction of the satellite dish, teleporting it in the direction of Spider-man, who quickly dodged it. From that moment on, your rage intensified, increasing the tension of the fight, which usually ended without a clear winner, only exhaustion won out.

"Woah! That was a close one!" he exclaimed, leaping ten metres above you.

Your throat squeaked, but no sound escaped because of the gag. You tried to get rid of it by teleporting it away, but it wasn't possible. At that moment you would have made it disappear forever if you could, but finally you stopped throwing objects at it, to disappear from there yourself.

It wasn't being a good day for you, maybe it also had to do with the fact that you were sure that your best friend didn't have to make any cake with his aunt May, nor did he have to accompany her to dance classes or anything like that, they were all excuses and you didn't know why he was making them.

In milliseconds you were back in your room, rummaging through your things to get rid of that gag and remove the mask from your costume. Nothing was any good. You had no idea what that spider's web was made of, but nothing could break it.

In desperation you tried again to teleport it, but you were unable to concentrate all your attention on it. You had only one hope left, Peter, he would surely know how to get rid of her, although you would owe him a lot more explanations. You closed your eyes, instantly you were inside his room, luckily he wasn't there, nor was he inside the house, everything was silent. So you assumed that he was not baking a cake with his aunt.

A couple of hours passed, just enough time to come up with a plan before Peter arrived.You had taken a handful of sheets of paper, you knew that when he came in he would be scared and might scream, so you summarised your story as best you could on those sheets of paper.

You heard the front door close, Peter was talking to May and heading towards his room. You took the sheets of paper and positioned yourself in the middle of the room, waiting for him to come in, as if it was the movie "love actually". It was an embarrassing situation. You watched as the doorknob turned and there he appeared.

It took a few moments for his eyes to settle on you, but at that very moment both of them widened like saucers.

"How the hell...!"

You quickly raised your hand, trying not to make your friend squeal or panic, and pointed hurriedly to the sheets of paper you were holding.

Peter closed the door behind him with a stunned look on his face.

"Please don't shout," he began, reading the posters in a trembling voice. "I'm not going to hurt you."

You dropped a sheet of paper on the floor.

"It's me, Y/N," Peter's voice dimmed, and it took him a while to react. "WHAT?!!!!"

You quickly raised your arms again in a way to stop him from screaming.

" Whoa, whoa, whoa!" exclaimed Peter again. "What are you saying?!"

Dejaste que los carteles se cayeran al suelo y saltaste sobre él intentando cubrir su boca con tus manos. En aquellos momentos estabas segura de que su tía May entraría en la habitación en segundos debido al ruido. Peter seguía gritando cosas inentendibles bajo tus manos, con sus ojos castaños abiertos como platos mirándote. Decidiste destaparle la boca, ya que no servía para nada y volviste a por los folios para ponérselos nuevamente frente a él.

“¡Esto es una locura!” se llevó las manos a la cara, pero continuó leyendo los folios. “Spider-man me ha lanzado una de sus telarañas,” cambiaste de folio. “Y no puedo deshacerme de ella, tienes que ayudarme.”

Peter stood still watching you, his eyes were red with nervousness and his nostrils flared every time he took in and released air from his lungs. You knew it was going to be a shock to your friend, but you didn't understand how it was affecting him so much. You raised your arms, quickly pointed to the spider web gagging your mouth, you needed to get rid of it and then you would give him all the explanations he needed.

A blushing Peter slowly approached you, stepped around you and in an instant you felt no more pressure. At last you could rest, your jaw and mouth were sore, but it was no surprise to you, what was surprising was that your friend had got rid of the restraint in a second.

Puzzled, you turned to him, who was still in shock and looked a little frightened. He carefully brought his hands to the top of your mask and slowly lifted it, exposing your face.

"I can explain," you said calmly. "I..."

"Oh my god," Peter interrupted you, sitting up in his bed.

"Listen," you shook your head and sat down next to him. "I understand your reaction, it's crazy, I should have explained it to you a lot sooner, but- Wait, how did you get that obnoxious fabric off me so fast?"

Peter put his hands to his head and sighed.

"It's synthetic spider silk," he explained without looking at you. "It's got the gigapascals augmented, with its web you can hold even a car in the air, but-"

"Wait," you stared at him.

Your mind worked fast enough to grasp enough information and connect it in a couple of seconds. You slowly rose slowly from his side and looked at him with a frown.

"What?!" you exclaimed this time. "That's impossible!"

"Yes!" exclaimed Peter getting up and holding his hands to his head. "That's what I was thinking! It's impossible!"

At that instant the door to the room opened revealing a smiling May.

"Peter yo - Hey Y/N!" she greeted with a frown. "I didn't know you were here. Are you staying for dinner?"

"Hi, May. No, no," you said quickly in a bit of a daze. "Thank you very much, but my mother's expecting me for dinner."

"Okay," she smiled looking you up and down. "Nice suit!" your cheeks took on a ruddy colour. "Peter, dinner in half an hour."

"Thank you May," Peter replied a little shyly.

His aunt closed the door again.

"That's why you were always making excuses for me in the evenings!" you reproached him."And the Stark scholarship! How could I have been so blind?" "And the Stark scholarship! How could I have been so blind?"

"I know, I know," said Peter, as he paced around his room next to you. "By the way, your powers - they're awesome!"

You motioned for him to lower his voice again. This situation was crazy, you didn't know whether to be relieved, to teleport, or to teleport him to a place far away. You leaned your back against the wall, closing your eyes so you could think clearly.He was your best friend, had you been hating your best friend all this time?He was your best friend, had you been hating your best friend all this time? He was your best friend, had you been hating your best friend all this time? Peter stood in front of you.

"Hey..." he whispered caressing your cheek, the place where your spider web had passed. "If I'd known... If you'd stayed a little longer I'd have taken it off."

You crossed your arms over your chest and looked up at him arching an eyebrow. "This is too much."

You looked straight into those brown eyes, they had been a weakness for you since fifth grade. Besides, his gaze accompanied with the caress of his fingers on your cheek lowered your defences.

"Please stay for dinner. If you want, we can study chemistry later," Peter said almost pleadingly.

"Really?" you asked in confusion. "You want to study chemistry after everything that just happened?"

"Truce?" Peter arched a somewhat hopeful eyebrow.

"You're one of a kind, you stupid spider," you said, unable to hide a grin.

"You stupid spider."

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quazartranslates · 3 years

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Welcome to the Nightmare Game - CH119

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

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Chapter 119: The Dream of the Holy Nun (IX)

After seeing the Lord, the four people stayed in the Lord’s castle, waiting for the night of the new moon to come.

From the Lord's mouth, they learned some information about the new moon: from a certain year, every night of the new moon, the residents in the Holy City had to fall asleep before midnight, whether they fell asleep naturally or relied on sleeping draughts. If someone didn't fall asleep before the clock struck zero, or woke up before dawn, the person would disappear, vanishing forever.

The residents in the Holy City called it "the disaster of the new moon".

The cause of the disaster of the new moon was still unclear. Many people had explored this strange monthly phenomenon with curiosity. Some even deliberately stayed awake after midnight, and then left some creepy notes…

In the castle’s library, according to the requirements given by Qi Leren and others, the attendants collected the data about the night of the new moon together, and the group sat at the table to peruse the data separately. Even Ning Zhou’s big black bird stopped to comb its feathers honestly without making any noise.

Su He looked through a note and said, "This diary is interesting. You can have a look."

Qi Leren took the notebook handed by Su He. Fortunately, the lingua franca of the Nightmare World was Chinese (although he didn't know whether this came from automatic translation by the system), so he could read the Nightmare World’s words. For some time now, he had become accustomed to the NPCs who looked like Westerners speaking Chinese skillfully.

"...I have prepared everything I need, such as paper, pen, oil lamp, stick, and cloak, and told my parents that I have drunk my sleeping draught and can sleep through the night. It's twenty-three o'clock in the evening, with one hour left before midnight. I am very excited and uneasy because I don't know what I will see in an hour. If everything is normal after midnight, I will put on my cloak and go out for a night tour. If something is wrong... I have locked the doors and windows anyway, and there will be no danger."

After reading this, Qi Leren had already seen the unfortunate ending.

Dr. Lu also leaned over and said, "He’s dead."

Qi Leren turned the notebook to the next page, and the handwriting on parchment became hastily messy:

"The zero hour is here! God, I actually stayed up after zero on the night of the new moon. Now I'm a little nervous. But everything around me is normal. Just now, I stood by the window and looked down. The Holy City is dark, and even the kerosene street lamps on the main road have gone out. This is normal. After all, no one needs street lamps on this night. It's so quiet, there's no sound around, only the rustle of the quill pen writing on paper, and I can already hear my heart beat faster and faster. Is this the disaster of the new moon? It’s not the same as I imagined.

"I seem to hear footsteps outside… An illusion? (A splotch of ink) Just now I walked softly to the door and listened carefully. There were really footsteps!!! There’s something on the stairs?! There was the sound of the floorboard creaking, a strange loud noise which must have been made by stepping on the loose board on the stairs! Oh, my God. Did something sneak into my house?! Mom and Dad are asleep in the master bedroom. They can't hear me. God, what should I do? What to do!! Will it come in? God, what should I do? What should I do?"

The owner of the notebook had been completely panicked, and he was becoming more and more untidy and messy.

"Will it see the light of my room through the door? I'd better blow out the oil lamp, yes, blow it out, and then drink the sleeping draught. I must sleep."

The image of a terrified young man appeared in Qi Leren's mind. He imagined how he was horrified to notice the strange footsteps of an unknown monster wandering outside the door. He had lost his innocent curiosity to fear, but fear itself did not let him go.

Qi Leren turned the page. A line of words full of fear and despair occupied most of parchment, and the last half word was even written outside the lines. It was untidy, distorted and collapsed, and the fear of the unknown completely defeated the young man who wrote the last sentence in the dark.

"It’s knocking at the door."

This notebook was only a few hundred words, but it was unnerving. From curiosity to panic to despair, he was like a frightened bird in the dark, and the sudden knock on the door had completely defeated him…

Su He waited patiently for them to finish reading this note, and then said: "From the content of the text, there will be some incredible changes after midnight on the night of the new moon."

Qi Leren closed the notebook and returned it to Su He: "Maybe it’s a demon?"

He knew more than them, because he had experienced the night of the new moon in the Nightmare Game. In the game, he got the task inexplicably and walked into the Holy City. However, the NPCs didn't show curiosity towards him and he wasn't taken to see the Lord. Instead, he spent the night in a pub in the Holy City and learned the story of the disaster of the new moon through the guests in the pub. Naturally, he chose to stay up late when the night the new moon arrived, and walked into the streets of the Holy City after the zero hour.

And then he died in an ordinary way to a demon’s attack.

"It’s most likely demons. Maybe the demons appear on the night of the new moon, and then attack any humans who haven't fallen asleep. But why does this happen only on the new moon? Where do these demons usually lurk? Why attack people who have not fallen asleep?" Su He raised several questions in one breath.

Qi Leren was speechless to these questions and peeked at Ning Zhou, who was reading the documents: "This question is handed over to the professional exorcist of the Holy See to answer."

Ning Zhou raised his head to Su He’s slightly smiling eyes, the two people looked at each other for three seconds, and then their eyes turned away.

"Wait until the night of the moon," Ning Zhou said and continued to read the stack of data.

Su He smiled silently and said faintly, "All right."

That's it? Don't you want to continue analyzing it? Qi Leren looked at their busy Ning Zhou and Su He blankly, and was suddenly pulled aside by Dr. Lu. Qi Leren thought that he’d found some clues. Instead, Dr. Lu just dragged him to the corner and asked mysteriously: "Do you think that Su He and your good-friend-who-lives-with-you-but-still-has-a-purely-platonic-relationship-with-you are a little angry?"

Wasn’t this too long of a descriptor? Qi Leren suddenly felt the malice from his friend: "It's okay. Ning Zhou just doesn't like to talk very much. He doesn't talk to you much either."

Dr. Lu said definitively: "No, this is totally different, the aura, there is a subtle aura between them."

"What aura?" Qi Leren was not ashamed to ask.

Dr. Lu said seriously: "Asura’s field*."

*{E/N: A situation of dispute between a present and past lover}

"What?" Qi Leren remembered that this seemed to mean describing a tragic battlefield, but it was obviously not appropriate to use it here.

"Forget it, I'm going to the bathroom." Dr. Lu gave him a supercilious look as he walked out of the library with his hands in his pockets.

Qi Leren, who didn't get an answer, was still thinking about what "Asura’s field" meant. He suddenly heard Ning Zhou and Su He call his name at the same time: "Leren, look at this." "Qi Leren, here."

The two men, each occupying one side of the table, looked at each other then both looked at the Qi Leren by the door.

In a moment’s lightning strike, Qi Leren learned something without need for a teacher.

Was this what Asura’s field meant? When two good friends put forward the same request at the same time and it wasn’t clear which side should be prioritized; this subtle, strange, and even slightly embarrassing atmosphere. This is what it meant.

It was really confusing, but he didn't know what he was panicking about.

"I... I need to go to the bathroom, you can exchange what you’ve found with each other first." At the same time, Qi Leren learned a little skill of how to deal with this scene without need for a teacher, and pretended to walk out of the library calmly.

Anyway, go to the bathroom first.

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Editor’s Notes: EDITED: Thank you to the anonymous person who explained the Asura’s field line!

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#Welcome to the Nightmare Game #欢迎来到噩梦游戏 #danmei

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cherripeach · 3 years

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Chapter 2

Little Match Maker

Summary: Your life motto is "I have the power of god and anime on my side, don't mess with me," and you stand by that with your life. No human, magician, or random creature could ever stop your firm belief in it.

However, getting transported to this world that seemed to turn your already bad luck worse was not what you wanted to be in your life story, but you made the most of it.Making friends, enemies, and disasters, you were in your prime in this world, and so you decided to help as many people as you could flourish, at least what you believed to be.

Prologue 3-5: I wanna take a nap

Chapter Summary: Was everyone in this school an evil bratty child or was it just you?

Warnings: jokes about death(I think) and committing crimes and curse words, some sex jokes (but not the bad ones; middle school boys comments and stuff)

Words: 3.4k

Relationships: Pending twst x reader

Two boys-you assumed-were chasing after the cat, and while neither of them seemed to be very athletic, the cat really was not either. The cat kept bumping into its own fire and having to turn away, or trying to blast fire at the two chasing him and almost tripping both himself and the other two boys. The cat did end up getting chased into a corner after almost tripping the two boys, and the smaller of the two raised up a pen or pencil looking object and screamed the words “Off with your head.” The only thing that passed through your mind was that you need to get out of here.

After the boy screamed, a red light appeared from the top of the pen and was soon directed straight toward the cat. The cat horror-struck backed up as far as he could and even climbed a few inches up the wall to move away from the beam of light heading toward it. The beam smacked the cat into the wall and caused him to fall from his position onto his butt and falter in any movement. Once the light cleared, there was an obvious difference in the cat’s appearance. A red and white collar had shown up around his neck, and the cat still dazed to notice it screamed out, “Nughab! The heck is this thing?”

You mumbled out, “Kinky…”

“Law of the Queen of Hearts Number 23: ‘One shall never bring a cat into a festival.’ You being a cat means you’ve broken the rule. I shall have you leave at once,” Here we have another member of the crowd who also thought the creature was a cat, but apparently, this disappointed child also has the numbers of the rules for something memorized, and that threw you off. He straightened himself once he noticed that the cat was caught within the collar and put his pen away in his coat that you just noticed everyone was wearing.

You surveyed yourself to see what you were wearing and realized that it was the same thing, only leading your mind to one conclusion: “This has to be some kind of cult…” you mumbled the phrase so that anyone close by could not question your thought process, but this school and world just happened to get worse and weirder the more you looked around.

“...I'ma burn this collar right up and... ehhh I can’t use my fire!” You caught the rest of the cat’s declaration, and both him and you were in absolute awe for what the collar had apparently accomplished.

“Hmph!” The disappointed child straightened his back even more and tilted his face up toward the ceiling a little, “You won’t be using any magic until I remove the collar. Just like an ordinary cat”.

“Whh-what? I’m not some pet!” The cat was having none of it. He was clawing at the collar on his neck and pulling it as much as he could just sitting in place next to the wall in his time out corner.

“Don’t worry, I’d never keep a pet like you,” the kid really just can’t help himself can he, “I’ll take it off anyway when you get thrown out.” He turned away from the cat and began to walk back to the center of the room where the sus headmaster in the top hat who for a weird second kinda reminded you of Willy Wonka stood and fumed over the past events.

Once the kid began walking, the other male chasing the cat spoke up, “Wow, as wonderful as ever. Any and all magic gets sealed by your Unique Magic, Riddle,” the male even threw his arms out to match his display of amazement only to pull them pack in a second later to place one hand on his chin while the other held his elbow to his chest to allow the male to mutter some words to himself. The taller male then pivoted around and sauntered to follow the smaller male. Both of them held this formal air covered in arrogance, and you wanted nothing to do with either of them.

The end of their conversation must have halted the top hat headmaster because he straightened himself up and glanced at the crowd only pausing his eye movement when they reached you. He kept both of his eyes on you while he strode over to your wall. Your day could apparently get worse.

“You must do something about this! It is your familiar!” the man made hand gestures to point at you in his furry, and you decided that maybe now is the time you should speak up.

“Sir, with all due respect, stop assuming things,” this man was worse than some teenagers and teachers you have met, so you shut him up, “Please tell me when I told you that he was my familiar,” your flicked your hands and continued, “whatever that is, because I am clearly lost.”

“So it’s not yours?” The man put his hand to his chin and closed his eyes either to calm himself down or figure everything out.

“Yep. Never seen it before it asked me to strip” Please let this man listen for once.

“Ah, um You did.” He cleared his throat, “Anyway, let's get it out of the school. We won't turn you into a stew. For I am gracious. Someone help, please.”

Several of the students crowded around the cat until finally two came out holding the cat who was yelling the entire time. He was a little too desperate to just stay in this school.

You broke off from the masked man’s lecture for a second until another voice joined the conversation.

“That’s not different from usual, is it?” You were lost as one of the taller of the five males from earlier spoke up. He was a half furry, but you had no clue what that was called again and you would rather not know.

“What?” The sun graced everyone with its presence, “Did nobody tell him about the ceremony?” His features turned into a sorrowful, sour look from his normal bright and upbeat feature; he even glanced around at all of the others who surrounded the masked male. You noticed that all of them were the five from earlier, not including the tablet.

“If you are going to complain, you should’ve done it yourself.” Another one of the tall gang of the five males spoke up; however, this one was the exact opposite of the half furry. He was incredibly put together and more breathtaking than anyone you have ever been in the same room in. The male must be the ruler of self care, even if he did give you arrogant vibes.

“Hmm. But I don’t really know anything about the guy.” The sun appeared guilty at his statement.

The people which you forgot about broke out into chatter about a man who was named something like ‘Malaus Drakconia’ or something like that, but you had no clue who he actually was or how to actually spell his name. All of the chatter stopped when another male, much smaller than most of the five males, strolled into the room through the double doors.

“I was correct. I thought he might come but ‘Malaus’ really didn't. It seems the invitation "never arrived" again.” The small male shook his head and sighed gently after entering the room.

The males in the middle all exchanged glances before two emerged: the two from before; the ones that were chasing after the cat.

“My deepest apologies. I promise, we didn't intend to exclude you.” The taller male closed his eyes and appeared apologetic.

“His aura makes it hard to approach him,” The shorter male just can’t stop himself.

You just had to butt in because no one was taking this seriously; you walked up from your wall to meet with the group in the middle, “Yo, dude that’s really not right. I mean what has he ever done wrong to ya?” Some teenagers just weren’t for you, and so you apologized to the new face that entered. “Tell the dude he has my condolences or something.”

The short new face just stared through your soul for the next couple of minutes, not blinking, but he finally did cough and twist away from you to face a group of students. “It’s not your fault child, but it is all right.” He took about three steps. “Members of the Diasomnia Dormitory can come with me… I hope this doesn't upset him.”

You in your brilliance decided to cup your mouth and scream out to the male leading the first group out, “Tell the dude that if he needs someone to talk to, I’m freeee! I hope he feels better!”

You even heard a slight chuckle from the group. And slowly all the groups left; most making eye contact with you, but you just carried on trying to think of how expensive the clothes you had one were; you rubbed the sleeve and found out that they were made of a fabric resembling silk.

Crowley, from what you remembered, sauntered up to you once the room was clear and both of you began to conjure in your head and make a conversation about what was going to happen:

“While I normally would have you leave this school, I do not know where you are from. Would you mind stepping up to the mirror to find out. There is no need to worry. The Dark Mirror will send you directly back from whence you came. Enter the Gate, and picture your home clearly in your mind... “ The male pushed you to the mirror again, and you thought of your home for as long as you could. You even heard him mumble words back and forth with the mirror when you were lost in thought.

However, a surprised noise came out of the man’s mouth and your mind buffered to process everything because both Crowley’s and the mirror’s gaze, if you would even call it that, were stuck on you.

“This is the first time this has ever happened since I became headmaster, what should I do?” You held contact with his weird mask eyes for as long as you could before you swerved your gaze to the mirror. “Are you positive that is where you are from? And that you have never heard of Twisted Wonderland, Night Raven College, anything?” He was moving closer to you at an extremely fast rate causing you to discreetly walk back to your wall.

“Yeah, sir, why would I ever lie about that? All of this seems like a weird movie for me.” You just could not believe how little this “headmaster” or whatever believed you.

“Our best option is to go to the Library and do some research. Come and join me.” Headmaster Crowley twirled around making his cloak follow his mystical movements like some fairy or evil villain and started to make his way out of the room.

You just as confused as before followed after him, wondering if anything in this world would ever make sense.

~~~~

After around an hour of scouring through books in the odd library you were in earlier, you and the headmaster both decided to take a break.

“Can you please believe me now?” You slumped in a chair and groaned as loud as you could for as late as it was and even massaged your forehead, just hoping the man would get your point.

“You are correct. There is nothing about your hometown anywhere…” The male halted his speech and glanced back at the books, “There is also a possibility you are from another world.”

“What a nice thing to say to the tired, lost teenager,” and you stopped your speech to turn to him and point at him, “That you are in charge of.” You could not believe this man, and so you deflated while he carried on with his speech.

“Did you have anything on you when you came here?”

You just shook your head and rolled your eyes out of his view.

“Do you have any identification, like a license for a magic car, name on a shoe... You appear to be empty-handed?”

Another shake and a hand placed back on your forehead, and you noticed that he was probably going to go back into one of his speeches when he stood up taller and paused speaking for a second.

“This is concerning…..My graciousness is limitless! I am a model for all educators.We had better be on our way. Let's head to the dormitory. It may be a bit old but there is a certain charm to it.” Apparently, you were going to stay in a dormitory. Always a new surprise with this man.

And you two were off again through the halls and outside to your new stay in this world, but from how terrible the place was on the outside, this was not a luxury resort.

It was a four or more story house accompanied by a broken gate guarding the house, spider webs on all of the molded dead trees, broken shutters, even broken window, and to top it off just an overall haunted vibe to the place. This was where smart, sane people in life would avoid; this was just the trap for those characters in haunted movies, and you were just hoping to find a peaceful place to sleep in it tonight.

Crowley must have caught your staring at the dorm and ushered you inside, “Right, right. Please come inside.”

You can confidently say that the inside of the dorm was incredibly worse than the outside; the streets might be a better option if you took into account all of the health hazards in just this room alone.

Crowley did not seem to agree, “Staying here will at least keep you out of the rain.”

You hoped to interject, “Isn’t there somewhere el-”

“I'm going back to do more research. Make yourselves at home. Don't go wandering around the school! Goodbye!” This man was going to be the death of you or the reason you commit murder.

The lounge area was terrible: almost everything was broken and covered in dust, including the walls, ceiling, and floor. This area was not fit for a person to live in, and even if you tried your best it might never be.

But of course with your luck streak, Crowley saying that it would rain had to come true. “Are you kidding me now!” You threw your hands up in the air and then grabbed your head and tried not to commit arson. “Nothing is ever going to go my way here, will it?”

Thunderstruck.

“At least you are on my side…” You gazed out the cracked window expecting it to break soon.

The thunderstorm caused more problems in your new dorm than it should have. The building would shake, as would the windows, and it allowed more damage than before. However, it appears that you are not alone with a caterwaul screech from behind you.

“Hyyyi! It’s really coming down!” And located on your broken couch was the cat from before. He was apparently a gift from someone, who probably was laughing at you, for you with how often he was popping up.

“What are you doing here?” You probed in an apathetic tone as you both deadpanned and glared at the cat.

“Gyhaha! You've got this stupid look on your face like a spider being attacked by a water gun! I'll have no trouble sneaking back into school. Come on, come on. If you think getting thrown out is gonna make me give up on getting in, you've got another thing coming!” The cat gabbed just as long as the headmaster.

Your day could somehow get worse, “Honestly, I don’t care. Please don’t cause problems or I’ll kick you out.”

“Hmph. You wouldn’t understand, but I’m a genius who is destined to be a great magician! I've been waiting for the Ebony Carriage to come pick me up. But... But...Hmph! The Dark Mirror just doesn't have an eye for this.So that's why I came here on my own. Not letting me in would be a loss for the world, humans just don't get it.” This cat might be annoying, but the sob story does make you pity him a little. That is if he started acting kinder and not like an annoying pretentious kid.

Now that you look at him, he resembled a small child disappointed that they did not get what they wanted, but you had sympathy for him. He never mentioned a family or had anyone who cared about around him. He seemed lonely. He wanted to get into school which honestly you don’t know why anyone would want to go to school, but people had their priorities.

A water droplet hit the cat, “Nyaa! So cold! The roof is leaking!”

Another drop.

“Fgyaa! It keeps coming! My adorable ear fire is gonna go out at this rate!” He pulled down his ears closer to his eyes and met your gaze.

“Fine, fine. I’ll get a bucket..” You uttered going to look around the building and ignored any more retorts the cat came up with.

You exited the living room and entered a hallway with a flight of stairs going up, and the rest of the house mirrored the living room and outside by how disgusting and hazardous it is. There was even a gigantic spider web spreading the top of the hallway, and the wallpaper was coming off and covered in mold.

“This is a great time for the first kill in a horror movie,” in this situation talking to yourself helped calm you down.

That is until three ghosts appear. All of different sizes and heights, and they look incredibly familiar like from a movie or something.

“Hihihihi…. Ihihihihi…We haven't had a guest in so long...I'm itching for some action. Ihihihihi!” Frozen in your spot, you watched as the ghosts chuckled and floated closer to you.

“Um, sorry, but like…. What?” You became more disoriented as the day went on., and this topped the cake.

The cat was not on your wavelength and followed you out of the living room and into the hallway only to freeze at the sight of the three ghosts.

“Gyaaaaaaaa!!!! G-g-g-g-ghoooooooooooootts!!” The cat bawled before he darted to cling onto your cloak.

The shortest ghost found amusement out of the cat’s reaction, “The people living here got scared of us and left…”

So did the largest ghost, “We’ve been looking for more ghost pals. How about you guys?”

“Dudesss, chill down. We are not here to hurt you.” You tried to placate both the ghosts and the cat clinging onto you, but nothing ever went your way.

The cat leaped out from behind you looking as ferocious as a duckling, “Grim, the Great Magician, isn't scared of some ghosts!!!” and blew fire at the wall, “Punahhh ~ ~ ~ nnn!!”

The ghosts were having fun with the cat as the tall one asked “Where are you aiming?” and the largest one ran around the hallway area chanting “Over here, over here!”

Apparently Grim-the cat- was actually taking this seriously or did not like getting teased, “Shoot! Stop disappearing!” He continued to blast fire in all directions, most not even where the ghosts were.

You were not going to put up with his attitude so you made a deal with him wanting him to either shut up or do his job right, “Grim or whatever, either you get a move on and listen to me or I’ll tell the headmaster that you are here so that a red collar can be placed on you again and get you kicked out on the streets.”

“Ughhhh, buttt.. I’m a genius.” Grim ran around the area but paused as another ghost came up behind him. “Bunch of cowards ganging up on us! Fine,” Grim circled around to face you, “tell me where the ghosts are!”

“To your left!” Helping Grim would never be easy, but you somehow made it work.

“I hit it! Alright, let’s get them all outta here!” Like a child, he bounced over the fact that he did something right.

And like a child you could not wait to take a nap.

~~~~~

um like exams such so there was that, but thanks for reading and I hope you have a nice day! Next chapter should be out around Monday or so.. maybe.

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst grim #twst crowley #dire crowley #twst #disney twst #twst x reader

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shellygurumi · 4 years

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anonymous said:

TeamWin prompt: jealous Win and oblivious Team

Team was real attractive, he had a sweet smile and round cheeks, nice hair and a good body. He had more admirers than he realized, too. Of course, Team was used to being shipped with Pharm at the start of the year and showing up on the Cute Boy Page, but since that was the only thing Manaow paid attention to, he never heard about his fans once Pharm and Dean started going out. Manaow just didn’t talk about it.

But Team had an easygoing look about him, his tie was never put on right, his shirt always open. He was one of the best freshmen on the swim team and people came to the stands to watch him every time they could. Team was totally oblivious to this fact. He thought, because he wasn’t adorable like Pharm or sexy like Dean, no one paid him any mind. Little did he know, there were girls and a few guys with crushes on him.

One day, after swim practice was done, Team and the others were milling about talking by the side of the pool. A small group of onlookers had come down from the stands to see them, all giggling and gently shoving each other to get closer. This wasn’t really out of the ordinary, when all the guys were together and wearing nothing but swim trunks and maybe their team jackets, people always got shy. A girl in the group shyly approached Team.

“Hi...” She said, then immediately looked down, blushing when Team looked over at her.

“Hello,” he lifted his hands in a wai to her. She squealed. Team looked over at the other guys and they all shrugged. “Can I help you?”

“Um... um...” She lifted a bag which was filled with snacks. “I brought you snacks!”

There were so many in the bag, Team just assumed it was for everyone and he was just the closest person to approach. “Oh, thank you!” He smiled warmly at her and accepted the bag of snacks. Opening it up, he pulled out a bag of potato chips and beamed. “Oh! These are my favorite!” He thought it was just a coincidence.

The girl blushed darkly and giggled. Her friends gave her little shoves and they all squealed. “Enjoy them, Team! Uh... Su Su na!” Then she ran away, leaving Team turning to his teammates and shrugging. He looked back into the bag and offered it to the others.

“Oh no, those are definitely for you,” one guy said, laughing.

“What do you mean?” Team tipped his head, confused.

An arm suddenly appeared around Team’s shoulders and he looked over to see Win standing there, lacking his usual carefree smile.

“Looks like someone has a crush on you.” Win said, his voice teasing, but it didn’t match his expression.

“On me?” Team pointed to himself, still confused.

Win nodded in the direction that the girls ran off. “Yeah, why else would they buy you snacks?”

Team looked down at the bag, over to his friends, then back to Win. “For everyone?”

“She just gave them to you,” another teammate said, laughing. “She has a crush.”

“Oh...” Team’s brows furrowed, as if none of it made any sense. “Someone has a crush on me? But why?”

Win brought his lips to Team’s ear and spoke in a voice only he could hear, “Because you’re good looking.”

It sent a shiver down Team’s spine, which he would claim was just the cold air on his wet skin. It wasn’t, though, and Win knew that.

“Should I tell her you’re taken?” Win asked, now his grin returned.

“Hia!” Team turned his head to glare at Win and shoved him away. No one else heard what Win said and the other boys assumed he was just teasing Team, like he always did. Team glanced at Win, glanced away, and back again a few times. “I’m gonna go change.” Then he stalked off, his feet slapping against the wet ground the whole way to the locker room.

Win licked his lips as he watched Team go and sighed. Dean approached and the other boys on the swim team ran off to go get showered and dressed as well. Dean leaned an elbow on Win’s shoulder.

“You’re getting more obvious.”

Win shrugged his unburdened shoulder. “He’s too much fun to tease. Besides...” He looked up at Dean. “I don’t get to be all lovey dovey like you and Pharm all the time. Gotta make sure he remembers he’s mine.”

Dean smiled and shook his head. “So it’s official then?”

“Mmm...” Win hummed and seemed to consider that question. Or, perhaps, just considered whether he would answer it. He stepped away from Dean and spun around, grinning at his old friend. “Not telling.” Spinning back, he sauntered off to the locker room.

(also on AO3)

#teamwin #winteam #until we meet again #uwma #until we meet again the series #uwma the series #michelle writes bl #my uwma fics

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mobius-prime · 4 years

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143. Sonic Super Special #12 - Sonic & Knuckles

Turnabout Heroes

Writers: Ken Penders and Karl Bollers Pencils: James Fry and Andrew Pepoy Colors: Josh and Aimee Ray

So this issue is a bit strange. As you can see, Zonic is up there being all sideways and whatnot, and while he doesn't actually appear in the first story, nonetheless we're invited by him to turn the book sideways to read it, as it's all rotated clockwise. We open to Sonic waking up confused in the hospital, with Dr. Quack and his friends standing over him. They ask him if he remembers anything, and he proceeds to give them a quick rundown of his life story, which seems like a strange thing to do until they hold a mirror in front of him - and, shockingly, he sees Knuckles' face! Meanwhile in Echidnaopolis a similar situation is happening with Knuckles, waking up to Julie-Su and his father and describing himself only to see Sonic's face in the mirror. Now what could have caused such a bizarre thing to occur?

Now I know what you're thinking. What the hell is original Robotnik doing up there? Well, essentially, this story exists in a really bizarre gray area in the timeline. Depending on where you look for the answer, it takes place anywhere in between StH#71 to KtE#29, which as you might have noticed, is a huge timeframe. No matter where you try to fit it in that gap, it doesn't make sense for a variety of reasons, ranging from Julie-Su's location during the plot, to Knuckles even having reunited with his father in the first place, to Sonic's growing knowledge of the new Robotnik's plans. Once Ian Flynn took over later in the comic, his opinion was that this issue couldn't have even taken place at all due to the discrepancies, but regardless, we'll be covering it and just pretending that somehow it makes sense.

The two body-swapped heroes decide they need to go to each other's homes and try to work out what has happened, so Sonic, in Knuckles' body, hops aboard a shuttle to the Floating Island with the other Freedom Fighters, while Knuckles, in Sonic's body, hops aboard a shuttle of his own with Julie-Su to Mobotropolis. However, before either of them get far, they're both shot down, Sonic's shuttle by a legion of swatbots (which look significantly upgraded from regular swatbots, but not quite like shadow-bots, though no one acknowledges their new intimidating design), and Knuckles' by the Dark Legion. Knuckles, climbing out of his downed shuttle and seeing Sonic's going down, realizes he can't glide as normal due to the body-swap, and instead picks up Julie-Su and uses Sonic's speed to race to Sonic's rescue. Everyone groups up just in time to face the combined threat of two evil fighting forces.

WhaaAAaaAAaat? You mean to say ROBOTNIK is BACK? Come on, Sonic, you've seen several different false comebacks by now, you shouldn't even be fazed at this point. Robotnik and Dimitri give the group an ultimatum - Sonic and Knuckles must surrender immediately, or else they will never swap their minds back into the proper bodies, and they'll also kill all their friends. Well that's a choice all right! Sonic and Knuckles allow themselves to be teleported to… uh… whatever facility their enemies happen to be in. Honestly, my assumption would have been that it was the orbital platform from Robotnik's comeback or something, but Sonic didn't give any indication that he'd ever seen it before when he and the others went up there to investigate the Robians' disappearance, so who knows where they actually are right now.

Sonic and Knuckles are forced to agree to go along for the moment, and are quickly teleported into the island's Chaos Chamber, with the Master Emerald (still containing a frozen Mammoth Mogul) inside. Knuckles is loathe to hand over the emerald since removing it will cause the island to fall, whilst Sonic is mostly just irritated at the idea of Knuckles getting to be in his totally awesome body forever. Robotnik and Dimitri watch a video feed of the two from their base, but just as Sonic and Knuckles touch the emerald the screen goes to static. Robotnik and Dimitri, suspecting treachery, immediately hit the button to bring the two back, and are surprised to see them holding the emerald after all. They gleefully instruct them to insert it into their Chaos-Cannon, and activate it for a test run on the Great Forest…

Who knows how the hell they faked such a large gemstone on such short notice - hell, maybe the Brotherhood made a fake copy for just such an occasion and hid it within the chamber somewhere - but the two heroes get to work beating their enemies up. Knuckles goes for Dimitri, who vanishes in a puff of smoke, and Sonic punches Robotnik only for Robotnik to explode violently, revealing himself to be a robotic duplicate. Gee, I'm sure that means that he was just a fake, and not a literal robot version of Robotnik himself, right? Sonic and Knuckles cheerfully walk out upon their victory, amiably arguing over whether it's cooler to be a hedgehog or echidna.

Zone Wars: Giant Robotno

Writers: Dan Slott and Karl Bollers Pencils: James Fry and Nelson Ribeiro Colors: Josh and Aimee Ray

We're back to the present now, with a story that actually fits into the timeline. Sonic is taking a day off to relax and get away from freedom fighting, fishing in a pond in the forest, when suddenly a shuttle emerges from an energy portal in front of him. A strangely-dressed being within informs him that she is Sally from another zone and needs his help, but Zonic then arrives and warns Sonic that this version of Sally, called Sallactor, is evil and trying to deceive him. He calls in the rest of her zone's Freedom Fighters, the Sonicaman: Chaos Ninja Team, who are basically dressed like Super Sentai heroes (fittingly, they're from the Sentai-Zone). Zonic is surprised to see Sonic sigh and walk away from the action, as the others defeat Sallactor and drag her back to their own zone, and Sonic says he's getting sick of all this inter-zone action, that he has a hard enough time keeping track of his own zone's shenanigans. He challenges Zonic, asking how he keeps track of it all and accusing him of using others to get what he wants.

Manipulative little bastard. Sonic goes along reluctantly, and finds himself in a city full of panicking Overlanders all running away from a gigantic, mutated Bunnie, fittingly called Rabbot-zilla. Of course, as soon as Sonic tries to turn around for answers, Zonic pops out of existence.

Sonic uses his super-speed to melt the asphalt under Rabbot-zilla's feet, gluing her to the ground, and this zone's version of Robotnik, who is of course just named Julian Kintobor and wears a white coat instead of red, runs up to thank him. He explains that he tried to stop her from rampaging with a robo-virus, presumably explaining her half-roboticized state, and points to a frozen, robotic Uncle Chuck looming over a different part of the city to show its prior effectiveness. He guiltily continues to recount how he had a hand in this entire disaster…

So to be clear, Knothole Island was clearly inhabited by sapient Mobians. Those aren't ordinary animals being mutated - they're wearing gloves and shoes the same as any other Mobian from Mobius Prime. This guy knowingly detonated an atomic bomb on an inhabited island, and he's trying to pretend like it was all an accident? Sorry, Kintobor, but I don't believe you one bit. He then built giant juggernauts which basically attempted to reenact Pacific Rim against the mutated creatures, but there just wasn't enough energy to power them, as the two halves of the split Chaos Emerald used in the experiment were left on the island inhabited by the mutants. Sonic decides to go along with his plan, using his own speed on a treadmill installed in one of the doctor's Jaegers, the Giant Robotno, a name which pretty much describes how I feel about this whole thing. Clearly Sonic isn't too thrilled about working with him, however.

He blasts off, using the robot's rocket feet to fly to Knothole Island, where he encounters all his friends as mutated monsters. He has no choice but to fight them in order to search for the emeralds, and happens to spot this zone's version of himself, mutated as well, with one of the emerald halves affixed to his chest. However, at that moment he's attacked by his mutated father, also with an emerald half in his chest, and tries to shove him away and block himself from being hit at the same time, clenching his fist as he does so.

Horrified, Sonic flies away from his dead father, as the mutant Sonic approaches and cries in grief. That's right! Sonic was accidentally forced to kill an alternate zone version of his own father to save everyone. That is brutal. Later that night, Sonic stands quietly and sadly next to Kintobor as he celebrates the acquisition of the emerald, saying he can finally protect his city properly, when Zonic shows back up to check on Sonic.

Zonic congratulates Sonic on a job well done as he drops him off back in his home zone, but Sonic angrily confronts him about having known all along that he would have had to kill his own father (albeit from a different zone) to save everyone, accusing him of not understanding how it feels to him right now. In response, Zonic simply takes off his helmet.

Is anyone surprised? Anyone? Did anyone not see it coming that the hedgehog-sized being named Zonic who constantly involves himself with, well, himself, was an alternate version of Sonic? He vanishes, leaving Sonic with even more questions, but alas, we'll have to delay those for now, as it's time to jump into the comic's adaptation of Sonic Adventure!

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #sonic super special 12 #writer: ken penders #writer: karl bollers #writer: dan slott #pencils: james fry #pencils: andrew pepoy #pencils: nelson ribeiro #colors: joshua d ray #colors: aimee r ray

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chasholidays · 6 years

Note

Holiday prompt: "We're both in the same small claims court and I got into a huge fight with the person suing me but you stepped in to hold me back before security got there" Bellarke, please, but you can choose which of them does which role. Thank you for all your writing!

Sometimes, Clarke thinks she’s not really suited to being a foster parent.

It’s not like she’s bad at it, in most ways. She’s responsible, a good provider, and she knows that Madi is happy, which is obviously the most important thing. If nothing else, Madi is better off with her than she was before, and that’s not nothing.

But Clarke isn’t always the best role model, which is why she’s spending her morning in small claims court, scowling at everything. On the one hand, she might have–very slightly–overreacted to Katie F.’s mom at the soccer game a few weeks ago; on the other, she doesn’t think that it was really so bad that she deserves to get sued for it.

Madi thought it was hilarious, but not in a way she wanted to emulate. So at least there’s that.

She’s on her phone, texting Wells about how unfair it is while he just copy/pastes the same reply–in her defense, you nearly bit her–when Bellamy sits down next to her and says, “So, what are you in for?”

Bellamy is one of those people Clarke likes and always wants to see more of. Part of that is completely shallow; he’s probably the single most attractive guy she’s ever met in her entire life, and she’s never against more eye candy in her life. But he’s also smart and funny and if she had time these days to have crushes, she’d probably have one on him.

Instead, between work and Madi, she sees Bellamy maybe once every two months, when she drags herself out to socialize with her larger friend group.

So at least small claims court has one thing going for it.

“I might have gotten in a fight at one of Madi’s soccer games.”

Bellamy lets out an actual cackle. “Holy shit, of course you did. What happened?”

“Her kid fouled Madi and didn’t get a red card, she said Madi started it, the ref and her mom sided with her, and I might have gotten–carried away.”

“You don’t say.” He shakes his head, smiling. “She’s seriously suing you?”

“I’m still getting used to soccer mom culture. I think it was supposed to be an empty threat to show me she was serious, and I told her to go ahead, so then she had to or else she’d lose credibility in front of the other moms.”

“Yeah, that all checks out. I was wondering how you’d do with other parents.”

Bellamy teaches high school, at the school where Madi will be next year, no less, so of course he has a lot of opinions on parents. The fact that he’s always told her she seems to be doing a good job has been a comfort to her, honestly.

“It’s been mixed.”

“Clearly.”

She elbows him. “Shut up. What are you doing here?”

“Remember that sketchy guy I decided to rent my spare bedroom to?”

“The one who always smelled like weed and never seemed to be home? Don’t tell me that went wrong.”

“Yeah, we’re all shocked. He broke his lease, so I’m looking forward to finding out if he actually shows up. I’m not convinced it was even worth it to bring to court, but it’s summer vacation, what else am I doing?”

“So, you’re bored enough to go to small claims court?”

“Everyone needs a hobby.” He shifts a little, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “So, how’s Madi doing? Aside from getting fouled in soccer.”

“Good, I think. She’s looking forward to starting high school in the fall, but I think less because she thinks it’s going to be good and more because she was ready to be done with middle school.”

“Yeah, I don’t blame her. Middle school sucks. She’s coming to Arcadia, right?”

“She is. I assume you won’t have her for a couple years.”

“Yeah, not until she’s a junior.” He clears his throat. “But I’ll look out for her, obviously.”

“Obviously. How is your summer going? I feel like I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

“You haven’t,” he says, grinning. “I get it, you’re busy. But we miss you.”

“I miss you guys too. Madi wants to have a cookout soon, so look forward to that.”

“You’re sounding sarcastic, but that sounds awesome.” He clears his throat, like he’s about to say something else, but the clerk calls, “Blake vs. Murphy,” before he can.

“Sounds like you’re up.”

“Sounds like.” He stands and stretches. “Good to see you, good luck with getting sued.”

“Good luck suing. Talk to you soon?”

“Definitely.”

She watches him go, feeling a little hopeful in spite of herself. When she decided to take Madi in, he’d had a boyfriend, and she had sort of assumed that he’d never be a romantic option. The two of them broke up, but she had Madi after that, and she didn’t see much of him. She did think they might have been flirting, and that was definitely an encouraging interaction. If she asks him out, he might say yes, and that’s something to be excited about.

A boyfriend would be nice.

Given she’s in small claims court, the good mood can’t and won’t last, but she’s not expecting it to shrivel up and die quite as quickly as it does. But that’s how the world works: one nice chance encounter with a guy she likes turns quickly into a less chance and much less nice encounter with the woman who’s suing her.

“I didn’t think you’d show up,” says Mrs. Fuller.

She has a first name, Clarke knows that. Clarke’s heard it, even–Melissa or Rebecca or something, an ordinary name that her friends shorten to Mel or Becky.

Clarke has been told to call her Mrs. Fuller, which means that Clarke will call her Mrs. Fuller until the day she dies. Which is, perhaps, another reason for her to not be a parent.

But Mrs. Fuller started it.

“Well, I wanted to make sure we resolved the issue,” says Clarke, bright. “And this was how you wanted to resolve it. I’m just trying to be accommodating.” Killing with kindness isn’t exactly her forte, but it seems worth a shot. “How’s the emotional distress?” she adds.

She’s only human.

Mrs. Fuller huffs and calls someone to complain about what a hassle the whole thing is–like it wasn’t her idea to sue Clarke for not even actually biting her in the middle of a fight she started–while Clarke googles what to do when you’re in small claims court. Which she already researched extensively, but every little bit helps.

As she expected, the mediator is less than impressed with the case. Emotional distress is one of those things that’s tricky to prove, and while Clarke was the one who escalated, she was far from the only participant. The fact that no official charges of assault were pressed also helps, and the moderator definitely tells Mrs. Fuller to let it go.

Which she doesn’t, so Clarke has to spend an additional ten minutes in front of a judge, who tells them they should maybe just avoid each other at soccer games from now on and dismisses the case.

It would be the perfect ending if, as they were walking out, Mrs. Fuller didn’t say, “Maybe if your child wasn’t such a bad seed, you wouldn’t need to be brawling.”

This, Clarke knows, is the root cause of her problems as a parent, the issue that will keep her from ever getting along with women like Mrs. Fuller. It’s not that she doesn’t fit in; she knows she does. She’s an upper-class white woman from a good family, and if these women knew her as Abby Griffin’s daughter, they’d like her. But they know her as the woman who got her orphan foster child into their school district, into their childrens’ honors courses and social circles. There’s already a strong culture of my child is the most precious and no one else’s matters as muchwith zero awareness that everyone feels that way about their children, but Madi’s position as an outsider makes her more of a target for ire.

These people think Clarke’s daughter doesn’t matter, and that is, ultimately, going to be why she’ll never stop fighting with them.

“What was that?” she asks, mostly to give Mrs. Fuller a chance to reconsider the statement.

“If your girl hadn’t been so close to Katie then maybe Katie wouldn’t have accidentally hit her. This is a common problem for less experienced players, and since it’s her first season–”

“My daughter,” says Clarke. “Madi is my daughter.”

“I didn’t think that was even finalized.”

“And?”

“And I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. I doubt she’ll last much longer.”

It devolves pretty rapidly from there. On a base logic level, Clarke knows that getting into a fistfight in a small claims court where it’s just been decided that she doesn’t have to pay for pissing this woman off is incredibly stupid, but on a much baser, instinctual level, this woman is saying bad things about her daughter, and Clarke hates her.

So it’s a really good thing Bellamy is still around to help out.

She doesn’t know it’s him at first, just a firm hand on her arm disconnected from any individual person, and she half-whirls to yell at him before she realizes what’s happening. Bellamy’s not actually looking at her, his eyes fixed on Mrs. Fuller, but he’s allied with Clarke even as he’s also holding her back.

“Hey, Mrs. Fuller, right?” he asks, and she frowns.

“Mr. Blake?”

“Nice to see you, hope Aaron and Katie are doing well. I just need to grab Clarke, sorry. We had a lunch date when we were done here.” He turns his attention to her, concern written all over his face, although she doubts anyone else would be able to tell. “You ready?”

It is, in all ways, a better choice than trying to fight this woman. “Yeah, all set.”

Bellamy shifts his hand to her lower back, guiding her out, and not to be shallow or anything, but she’s seen Mr. Fuller, and Bellamy is about fifty thousand times hotter than he is, so she’s hoping Mrs. Fuller is feeling really jealous right now.

“I didn’t know she had another kid,” Bellamy remarks, once they’re alone. “That’s something to look forward to.”

“The kid honestly isn’t that bad,” Clarke says. “Most of them aren’t. I assume they’ll grow up shitty but for now their parents are still trying to teach them to do as they say, not as they do.”

“That’s something.” He clears his throat. “I’d say sorry for stepping in there, but I figure you’re happy you didn’t get arrested for assaulting someone in a courthouse.”

“Yeah, appreciated.” She glances at him sidelong. “Did your case really take that long?”

“No, we were done pretty quickly. I was waiting for you.”

She has to smile. “You were worried I was going to start throwing punches?”

“That too. I did want to ask if you wanted to grab lunch, though.”

“Yeah?”

He huffs a laugh. “I know you’re busy, but, uh–I’ve been missing you, honestly. I was thinking we could try to see more of each other.”

“Like a lunch date?”

“For a start. Or it can just be a lunch date,” he adds. “Doesn’t have to go anywhere.”

“That seems like kind of a waste.” She sways closer into his side, and when he drops his hand from her back to his side, she takes it. “I’m kind of busy these days, but if you don’t mind a weird schedule and a kid–”

“I can live with a weird schedule and a kid. Maybe just try not to get sued during the school year,” he teases. “I can’t actually come bail you out every time.”

“One time!”

“So far. I know these parents, remember? I doubt this is going to be an isolated incident.”

It’s true, and depressing, and not what Clarke wants to be thinking about right this minute, when she’s holding hands with a cute guy she likes, on her way to a date, with the promise of more dates to come.

So she just knocks their shoulders together. “What I’m hearing is that you think I need backup.”

“Definitely.”

“And you’re volunteering.”

He grins. “It would be my pleasure, yeah.”

“How was court?” Madi asks when she gets home.

“Good. I didn’t have to pay any money, that was cool. And I think I got a boyfriend.”

“You found a boyfriend at small claims court?”

“It’s Bellamy, so I already knew him. He just became my boyfriend at small claims court.”

“You know you’re like the opposite of a role model, right?”

“I know. You know that too, right?”

“For sure.”

Clarke grins, leans over to kiss the top of her head. “So we’re good, right?”

Madi smiles. “Yeah, we’re awesome.”

Clarke has to agree.

#miriadeltherogue

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maxwellyjordan · 6 years

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A “view” from the courtroom: Down to the last few matches

Extreme heat has descended on Washington, and outside the Supreme Court building there is a long line of tourists and others seeking seats to the courtroom, or perhaps just entry into the building and its hearty air conditioning.

Earlier this morning, a friend spotted Justice Neil Gorsuch arriving for work and being let out of an SUV in the company of a small dog. The justice and the dog got out in front of the Library of Congress’ Jefferson Building on First Street Northeast, evidently to allow for a short “constitutional” walk to the court building.

Chief Justice Roberts announces opinions in two partisan-gerrymandering cases (Art Lien)

Today is the last time this term there will be courtroom admissions to the Supreme Court Bar, and groups of lawyers to be admitted are again overflowing into the public gallery. The groups come from the U.S. Department of Justice, Georgetown University Law Center, and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass. WPI does not appear to have a law school, so this group of alumni being sworn into the bar today must have received their law degrees elsewhere.

The bar admittees will be sworn in at the end of today’s session by Clerk of the Court Scott Harris, who is wrapping up a term that includes last fall’s introduction of electronic filing of briefs in paid cases. The change has widely been considered a success.

Ten o’clock arrives and the justices are running a little late. Perhaps they have been glued to the World Cup soccer match between Sweden and South Korea this morning. (We wonder whether any justice would request to be kept apprised on the bench of World Cup scores, the way some justices used to receive notes from their law clerks about important baseball scores during afternoon arguments.)

When the justices do take the bench at nearly two minutes past ten, it is the first full bench in a couple of weeks.

Justice Anthony Kennedy has returned after missing both of last week’s opinion days. It turns out that he was in New York City celebrating graduations of a grandchild of his on each of those days. At the Packer School in Brooklyn, according to parents who tweeted about the appearance, Kennedy was the speaker and referred to several countries where democracy is struggling, saying that the world is watching to see whether America’s freedom is working.

Kennedy even made it into the pages of the New York Post, a newspaper founded by Alexander Hamilton, the subject of the justice’s favorite hip-hop musical. The paper referred to Kennedy as “the judge” and quoted a witness who saw the justice and his family entourage at a celebratory meal in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn as saying, “Judge Kennedy even stood up during his meal to compliment the live jazz band playing, and got their contact information for a soiree later this summer.”

Before any summer soirees, the justices still have business to finish. Chief Justice John Roberts announces that Justice Sonia Sotomayor has the opinion in Rosales-Mireles v. United States. Sotomayor removes her glasses to read a brief summary of the decision, which holds that a miscalculation of the U.S. sentencing guidelines that is plain and affects a defendant’s substantial rights calls for a federal appeals court to exercise its discretion under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and vacate the sentence in the ordinary case.

The court has determined that petitioner Florencio Rosales-Mireles’ case is such an ordinary case, and that failing to correct an error in his sentencing will “seriously affect the fairness, integrity, and public reputation of judicial proceedings.”

Justice Clarence Thomas has filed a dissent, joined by Justice Samuel Alito.

Justice Stephen Breyer is up next with another sentencing guidelines opinion, in Chavez-Meza v. United States. The decision is about how much explaining a sentencing judge must provide when lowering the sentence of a convicted criminal who applied for a reduction based on changes in the guidelines.

Breyer stumbles over the word “methamphetamine” from his opinion, saying “meta-phetime.” In explaining that the court is rejecting Chavez-Meza’s argument that judges must say more when the reduced sentence was not “proportionate” to the old one, Breyer says, “We are not aware of any such legal requirement, and given the logarithmic nature of the guidelines’ sentencing table, we believe many judges in many contexts would be hard pressed to know just what ‘disproportionate’ means.”

He adds, as an aside, “Or maybe, like me, what ‘logarithmic’ means,” and gets a laugh.

Kennedy has filed a dissent, joined by Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan. Gorsuch took no part in the case.

Chavez-Meza was the case in which the government’s side was argued in April by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The word “logarithmic” was not uttered during the argument. In case Rosenstein is too busy to be looking for the outcome online, one of the 40 or 50 Justice Department lawyers in attendance today will surely inform him that he won.

Kennedy is next with Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, Florida, a ruling breathlessly awaited by hosts of Supreme Court podcasts all over the world. This case involves petitioner Fane Lozman, who sued his Florida city for First Amendment retaliation after his 2006 arrest at a city council meeting.

Kennedy explains that Lozman’s case addresses the intersection of principles that define lawful arrests and principles that prohibit the government from retaliating against a person for exercising his right to free speech. But he quickly notes that Lozman did not sue the officer who arrested him, but the city, and there is a presumption that the officer acted with probable cause.

The question of whether a retaliatory arrest must be governed by one line of the Supreme Court’s precedents or another “must await a different case,” Kennedy says. Instead, the court holds that the existence of probable cause does not bar Lozman’s First Amendment retaliation claim under the circumstances of his case, and it remands the case for further proceedings.

Thomas has filed a dissent.

The chief justice announces that “I have the opinion in Number 16-1161, Gill v. Whitford.” The political-gerrymandering case from Wisconsin is the oldest pending case of the term and was considered potentially one of the most consequential. Most “logarithmic” or other mathematical tables suggested that Roberts would be writing the opinion, because he was the only justice who had not yet written a majority opinion from October’s nine-case sitting.

It becomes pretty clear fairly quickly that the court has found a lack of standing among the plaintiffs who challenged Wisconsin’s state legislative remap.

The fundamental problem with the plaintiffs’ case as presented on this record, Roberts says, is that “it is a case about group political interests, not individual legal rights.”

The case is remanded to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin to allow the individual plaintiffs to prove they live in “packed” or “cracked” voting districts.

Every justice has signed on to most of the chief justice’s opinion, with the exception that Thomas and Gorsuch decline to join Part III, which orders the remand. Thomas files an opinion along that line concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, joined by Gorsuch. Kagan has also filed a concurring opinion, joined by Ginsburg, Breyer and Sotomayor.

Roberts next announces that the court has a per curiam decision in Benisek v. Lamone, the other political redistricting case of the term. The court has affirmed the U.S. District Court for Maryland, which had denied an effort by Republican voters in a Maryland district to get a preliminary injunction blocking the 6th Congressional district.

“The balance of equities tilted against” the preliminary injunction, Roberts says in summarizing the per curiam. There were no dissents.

With that, Roberts turns to Marshal Pamela Talkin, who with her voice back at full strength announces that the court will be in recess until Thursday at ten o’clock. Barring any overriding interest in a Denmark-Australia World Cup match that will be ending around that time, we expect that the justices will make it to the bench on time.

The post A “view” from the courtroom: Down to the last few matches appeared first on SCOTUSblog.

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#law #justice

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gretchensinister · 6 years

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Burgess Wilderness Recreation Area Part 22/?

And so continues the story I began for the Black as Pitch Halloween event. It’s the kind of story I’m sure you know well. Five college kids, a cabin, and a state park that just doesn’t get many visitors any more… (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12) (Part 13) (Part 14) (Part 15) (Part 16) (Part 17) (Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20) (Part 21)

Luc turned the truck onto the rural highway. Katherine sighed, and Tooth actually leaned back in her seat.

“But we can’t be sure we’re safe yet,” she said, and the others nodded.

“However,” Luc said, “in everything we found, the strange attacks never occurred very far from the natural features that form the boundaries of the official park.”

“Well,” Tooth said, then paused for several long moments. “I’m glad to hear that, but I’m not going to trust it. What’s out there is…I don’t think it’s so simple.”

“Right,” said Luc. “Right. Well, there’s nothing stopping us from speeding now.” He pressed on the gas and they widened the distance between themselves and the park.

***

When they finally got to Mary’s Market, Tooth started shaking, her teeth chattering like a jackhammer.

Katherine turned around. “Do you want to go into town instead?” she asked.

“We—we can’t!” Tooth said. “I—I—I need to call the police, and—and if we go into town it will look sus-suspicious, and everything is going to look suspicious anyway because everyone is dead and I can’t explain who killed them, it’s impossible to explain.” She took a few huge breaths, trying to stop herself from crying, and only partially succeeded.

“Okay. Okay,” Katherine said. “No one is going to think that it’s suspicious that you wanted to go into town. In town there’s the park office. That’s where you’re supposed to go for help. There’s the police station. It’s way more obvious to go to town than to a random store. In fact, if anyone asks, you can tell them that’s what I said.”

“I need to—I need to—” Tooth hung her head and groaned. “This is a nightmare.”

“I’m making a decision,” Luc said. “We’re going back to the park office. Any phone calls that you need to make, you can make from there.”

The tires crunched on the gravel as Luc pointed them again towards the main road.

It was the best decision of his life.

The truck moved fast enough that none of them heard the unearthly scream that emanated from the depths of the park.

***

Tooth managed to get out of the truck and enter the park office on her own when they got there. Katherine grimaced at the piles of papers they’d left behind, but ushered Tooth to the chair behind the desk anyway, and then pushed it toward the outlet at the side of the room.

With fumbling hands, Tooth unzipped her backpack and took out her phone charger. Her phone she retrieved from her pocket, and though it took her a few tries for her to put everything together, she managed it eventually, and the little battery shape appeared on the screen. She sighed and leaned back against the chair. “I guess I’ll have to wait a few minutes for my phone to be ready,” she said. “It doesn’t usually go dead so quickly. Maybe I wasn’t charging it like I thought I was.”

“Or maybe that’s just how these things go,” Katherine said. “I mean…”

“Ha,” Tooth said. “Like a movie. Yeah. I know what you mean. We had plenty of those conversations when there were still—when there were still people around for me to talk to.” She stared off at nothing, her phone sliding unnoticed into a precarious angle.

“Um, I was…I was going to make some coffee, but I think we all need something better than what the office machine can provide, so I’ll just step out to the café for a bit.” Luc looked from Katherine to Tooth. “Is there anything in particular you want?”

“Um, a latte,” Katherine said, shaking herself and blinking. “Riti?”

“I…just a large black coffee,” she said. “The biggest one they have.” She certainly sounded like she needed it.

“All right, got it,” said Luc. “I’ll…see if I can get some food, too. I guess they’d be serving lunch now.”

“Oh god. It’s still so early,” Tooth said, then resumed staring at the wall.

“I’ll see you soon,” Luc said to Katherine, and left.

The phone shone out its tiny red light, unblinking.

“So…is there anything you’d rather say to just me?”

Tooth turned to Katherine and blinked slowly. “I…I don’t want to say anything more than once.”

“But you’re going to have to,” Katherine said. “And I think you know that.”

Tooth looked down at her phone. “I suppose it’s charged enough for me to turn it on,” she said. “I still don’t know what to say.”

“You could try telling me,” Katherine said.

Tooth slowly shook her head. “Don’t want to. You’re…there’s not any risk for you. You’re local. You don’t have four deaths to explain.” She shook her head again. “My experiences…they’re dangerous for me to tell. They’re unbelievable.”

“Okay,” Katherine said. “I…may understand a bit more than you assume.”

“Well, if you do, you’re going to have to tell me first.”

“That’s fair,” Katherine said. “And I can do more than that. I can show you what we found. It’s all still here, anyway.”

Tooth leaned over and set her phone down carefully. “Okay,” she said. “What did you find?”

“I’m afraid I don’t have all the yarn and notecards,” Katherine said, “but I have enough newsclippings to make up for it, I think.”

***

When Luc came back Katherine was still explaining what they’d found, and after passing out the coffee, he helped with a comment or two.

By the time they finished, Tooth had loosened up just a bit, and had even started to drink her coffee rather than just hold it.

“You were right,” she said. “There is something in the woods. It took my friends one by one. First it took Jackie. Then, when we tried to leave in the van, it took Nick. Then, when we were walking out, it took Bunny. Um, Edmund, that’s the name he signed. And then it took Sandy when we were so close to getting out.” She swallowed hard. “It’s so…it’s so stupid that I survived. Because it almost…I mean, Nick and Jackie were hooking up, and she was the first to die, and Nick was on the football team and he was next. And Bunny…Bunny doesn’t fit I guess, unless…what was it in that movie? Unless he was the nerd. The scholar. And then Sandy…Sandy would get the stoner label, and screw that, honestly. But he was the only one of us who smoked, really. And then there’s me. The final girl. It shouldn’t have worked that way. It makes me feel like nothing that happened was real.”

“I get that,” Katherine said, “but bizarre as it is, I have to think it was some kind of coincidence. A lot of other campers and random people died over the course of the park’s history. None of them—or it seems like none of them—died in a way that goes along with that horror movie order.” She paused. “Did you clearly see the…attacker?”

“I saw enough,” Tooth said. “It was humanoid, but it wasn’t human.” She folded her legs back under her on the chair.

“Humanoid,” Katherine said. “That fits with what happened to the girl Sarah. Before she disappeared, she mentioned talking to someone, not something. Everyone just assumed later that she’d been talking to a person.”

“You believe me,” Tooth said, as if that was the most unbelievable thing she’d said so far that day.

“We do,” said Luc, “but we’ve done our research, and we’ve been to the park.”

“You’re going to have to tell the cops something different,” Katherine said.

“But what?” Tooth said. “Jackie and Nick were taken in the dark, so, sure, I can say we didn’t see who attacked us. But then…the van…I didn’t tell you this yet, but…we drove the van on the path from the parking lot to the cabins. We knew we weren’t supposed to, but we figured nobody would know and if we got in trouble it wouldn’t be a big deal. But I guess it was. Anyway. When we were driving away from the cabin, something…something ripped out the rear axle of the van. Like, it was completely covered in vines. It was obviously…obviously unnatural. I can’t explain it in a normal way.”

“So don’t explain it at all,” Katherine said. “You were trying to drive away after one person in your group got attacked. All right, makes sense. But then it turned out your car had been sabotaged, and then also your other friend was attacked when you couldn’t drive anymore. It was dark and you were scared. I don’t see why you should have stayed to figure out exactly what was wrong with the car before running back to the cabin.”

“But we would have seen it when we walked out,” Tooth said.

“Sure,” Katherine said. “But why stop for it? You were trying to get away.”

“Well. All right. So far so good. But then what about Bunny? He was taken right in front of me and Sandy when we were climbing over a fallen tree.”

“You were still scared,” Katherine said. “You and Sandy climbed over first. You heard Bunny get attacked on the other side, out of your sight. Then you ran. Both of you, and you…you outpaced Sandy. When you ran into us, he wasn’t behind you, and you assumed the worst. We took you back here to get you out of danger right away.”

Tooth gave a single laugh. “Yeah,” she said. “I can see how that would work. It’s close to the truth and it makes way more sense.” She gave a lopsided smile to Katherine. “You should write stories.”

“I do,” said Katherine. “Don’t most women? Anyway, are you feeling ready to call?”

Tooth was silent for several long moments. “Yeah,” she finally said. “Yeah. There’s nothing that…that would get better if I delayed more.”

She powered up her phone, grimacing at the ordinary cheeriness of the start-up noise.

“Calling the local number would probably be best,” Luc said. “Leave it to the police to decide how much fuss they want to make.”

***

The police came quickly, but without sirens. And, thankfully, they were inclined to believe Tooth’s story, or at least believe it in the way that Tooth needed them to. Mysterious attackers murdering a bunch of college kids for no apparent reason was bizarre and horrible, but Burgess, like many rural areas, had been wounded enough by meth and other drugs that something this bizarre and horrible seemed like it had to happen sometime. At least, that was what the younger deputy opined. The older of the pair simply recorded her statement with stoic formality, and called one of the doctors at the local urgent care facility to come out and examine Tooth for any signs of injury.

They didn’t seem at all inclined to believe that Tooth had anything to do with the attacks, despite her being foreign-looking. Maybe she’d been too paranoid about that, Tooth thought. When they saw her, what did they see? Her brown skin, yes, but this was the really horrible thing, but she had to acknowledge it because it was true, she was not so very brown as she could be, and in any case, she wasn’t black. She had just that much apparent harmlessness. Also, when they looked at her, they would see a petite college girl, appearing very young. Since Katherine had helped give descriptions of her friends, it didn’t make sense for her to have been able to do anything to harm them. The thought of her taking down Nick? It was a laughable idea.

The cops were, however, quick to assure her that her friends might not actually be dead. Even if she had heard them scream, that didn’t have to mean anything. They might well have been kidnapped. They’d start an investigation immediately. At this assurance, Tooth had started crying disconsolately, and completely genuinely. She made sure not to say anything while she was crying, though. She’d given her story, close enough to the truth as it was, and she wouldn’t spoil things now. She was so close to being out of danger. All she had to do was keep it together long enough for the cops to leave—with enough yeses to whatever instructions they had, and then…and then…she could call her parents and hide for the rest of spring break. She could ask them what to tell the university, and they would have some kind of reply. She would at least be able to count on them to make any of the phone calls that still needed to be made.

The cops were obviously uncomfortable with her crying, and pretty clearly wanted to leave and start investigating her friends’ disappearances. Or, at least, the younger one was like that. The older one just looked grim, as if he knew, despite any rational objections to the conclusion, that her friends were well and truly dead.

Not a great bedside manner, no matter what he really thinks, Tooth thought, as her sobs started to peter out.

She was trying to figure out how to best ask if she could call her parents when the doctor from the urgent care arrived. To Tooth’s great relief, the doctor was a youngish woman, and it was with no particular fear that she accompanied her to the small office bathroom for a brief exam. She barely noted the old man who came in behind the doctor, except to think that if he was looking for a campsite he really ought to go somewhere else.

***

Katherine paid quite a lot of attention to him, however, because it was Brick that had followed the doctor through the door. He hooked his thumbs behind his suspenders and slowly looked around the room. Katherine fixed him with a fierce glare, hoping to convey to him that his casual country-bumpkin act wasn’t going to work on her today. She knew that he knew something.

But Brick paid her no mind until he had looked around the entire room, until he had seen the piles of paper and the open boxes. Once he had done so, he met Katherine’s gaze and gave her a wink.

Rage boiled through Katherine. Whatever Brick thought was happening, it certainly wasn’t a winking matter. She knew at least some of this had to be conveyed on her face, but he paid no obvious attention to her, instead taking a few steps toward the cops.

“Mr. Ombric, there’s been an incident at the park,” the younger cop said. “Have you been out there between noon on Saturday and now?”

“I’m afraid I haven’t,” Brick said. “What kind of incident are we talking about?”

Though it was clear the younger cop was eager to answer, the older one beat him to it. “Five campers went out to a cabin around 12:45 pm on Saturday the 2nd. Katherine Oak and Luc Alecson went to assess the park road for storm damage this morning, and they found both what they were expecting—downed trees—and what they weren’t: One of the campers, Riti Khan, on foot, alleging that her four friends were attacked and murdered over the course of the last twenty-four hours. Now, as we have not been able to investigate the scene of these alleged attacks, we cannot say with confidence whether these attacks were fatal or not. However, given the evident distress of Miss Khan, I think it is clear that something did happen out there.” The cop frowned, apparently struggling with what to say next. “I was going to give you a call as soon as we finished getting the girl’s statement.”

The younger cop gave him a sharp look.

Katherine could understand why. Why would they bother calling Brick? For all that he had been always here in the office, it wasn’t his park. At least not on paper. But in practice… And of course…of course the town cops would have to be involved somehow. They always had to be if a death wasn’t in one of the few approved places, like a hospital. They would have to see that there was something off about the deaths in the park. Maybe the other cop just hadn’t been working in Burgess long enough to have dealt with one of these incidents before. After all, it had been years.

The older cop, perhaps sensing his partner’s look, turned to give him one of his own. Asking him to keep quiet, at least for now, and maybe a promise to explain things later. Or maybe not. Katherine knew expressions weren’t usually that readable. Regardless, the tension in the room didn’t ease. It was incredible how much menace seemed to flow from Brick’s mild, grey-bearded, country patrician form.

Katherine hoped she was imagining that. But, had there ever been survivors before? She couldn’t say for sure, but she thought maybe not. And if that was true, did Brick want to keep it that way?

If she’d been alone, she would have shaken herself to get rid of that thought. This was a weird situation, yes, but Brick was…Brick was…

She’d been going for normal, but Brick wasn’t normal. Brick was the one that had stopped locals from getting eaten by a monster in the woods for decades. That wasn’t anything average.

Brick nodded at her and turned back to the two cops. “I’ll be happy to help you in any way I can. Do you need me to answer any more questions?”

“Not as yet,” the younger cop said.

“You should come down to the station later this afternoon so we can talk a little bit more,” the older cop said.

The younger cop only pressed his lips together at this—probably still thinking that was just going to be a waste of time.

A few minutes later, the cops had said their farewells and left the office. Brick focused on Luc and Katherine again, but before he could say anything, Riti and the doctor left the bathroom. The doctor took her leave of them as well.

“I’m not injured,” Tooth said to Katherine and Luc. “But I knew that already.” She noticed that Brick was still here, and her expression became puzzled.

“You must be Miss Khan,” Brick said, holding out his hand. “My name’s Mr. Ombric, but you can call me Brick, everyone does. And unless I miss my guess, Katherine—and Luc, too—told you a few things about me.”

Tooth’s eyes widened. “Yes,” she said slowly. “You’ve been the head of the park for a long time.” She took his outstretched hand tentatively.

“That’s right,” Brick said. “And as such, I’ve become familiar with the things that make the park unique.”

Tooth frowned deeply. “I don’t want to hear any of this beating around the bush. If you know what makes this park ‘unique,’ you also have to know what my last twenty-four hours have been like. So if you have something to tell me, or, honestly, whatever, can you just get on with it?”

Brick smiled. “You’re a tough cookie. But you’d have to be, now wouldn’t you?”

Tooth only glared at him and kept her mouth shut tightly.

Something in Brick shifted, and while Katherine wouldn’t say that he’d removed his mask, she would say that he’d at least removed part of his costume. “I expect you have questions about how all of this is going to proceed,” he said. “And you may think you understand some things you actually don’t. So, I’d appreciate it if you would accompany me on a little walk and talk.” He glanced up at Luc and Katherine. “You can accompany me, too, to offer her your protection, if you like. And I daresay I’ve got a few things to say that you ought to hear, too.”

Tooth sighed. “Sure. Why not?”

#blackaspitch #katherine #nightlight #toothiana #ombric #rise of the guardians #rotg #fic #if you like it consider reblogging #I live and breathe for comments

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tamerajedwards · 3 years

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UNDER THE BANANA TREES

Many of you don't know I used to be a missionary in the 1980's. I was held up at gunpoint in San Salvador, El Salvador in 1984 during the cilvil war that was going on there. This is a story I wrote for one of my courses at Drake University. The picture is of some of the good military men that protected me and some of the others that I traveled with. Under the Banana TreesBy Tamera Edwards (c)2013 “Any situation can turn into terror. The most ordinary errand can go bad. Among Americans in El Salvador there is an epidemic apprehension of danger in the apparently benign.” -Joan Didion “Salvador” The sun beat hot and warm upon my face under the El Salvadorian sky. My heart was beating loud within my chest and I could feel it pulsating. Three militia men dressed in fatigues paced back and forth in front of us wearing their Rambo style ammunition like a badge of honor as they stared us down. They say that right before you die your life passes before your eyes. I think that could be true. A million things went through my mind that day in April of 1984. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be held up at gun point at the age of 19. I was invincible and just out of high school. Nobody dies at the age of 19 in a foreign country doing Gods’ work right? I had just gotten married 4 months prior to my trip to San Salvador, El Salvador. I was co-leading of a team of students being sent out by Youth with a Mission (YWAM) an interdenominational missions group based out of Tyler, Texas. There were 17 of us headed on a yellow school bus traveling through Mexico, Guatemala and then on to El Salvador. We had obtained a 2 week visa to enter the country. Our mission was to pass out Bibles, food and clothing to refugees in the countryside on the outskirts of San Salvador. I was really excited about this trip because we were chartering new territory. I had been on a mission trip a year earlier to Mexico and Guatemala and this one would take us further south into El Salvador and we would be working with needy families in the mountains. The calling was great and I was ready to go. I love this kind of humanitarian work. I have always had a sense of adventure and had learned to travel light, eat strange foods, sleep on hard floors and be in strange surroundings and conditions.I remember thinking at the time; I am too young to die. What will my parents think when they find out I have been murdered? Then suddenly I was flooded with anger, why had my coworkers brought camouflaged army canteens on the bus? They knew better. Our instructions were specific to not bring anything that looked like we were with the U.S. Army or any other armed services. This included camouflage backpacks, sleeping bags, clothing and canteens. When we were pulled over in our bus that was struggling to get through the mountains, the first thing the militia men found were the army canteens and began scolding us in their native tongue. “How could my friends be so stupid?” I thought. “Now we are all in danger.” We were all asked to get off the bus and line up against it. I didn’t know much Spanish, just enough to get by. Our one interpreter wasn’t saying much and we knew what the men meant when they motioned to line up against the bus so we remained silent. More questions were still running through my mind. I should have done some research myself to know what was going on politically in El Salvador at the time. The red flags were popping up everywhere. Check points along the way and barbed wire fences were a pretty good indication of the unrest in the area. But I trusted the people in authority above me. What I didn’t know was who were the right winged people, left winged people, police and guerillas and how much danger were we really in? Who was really in charge of protecting us as missionaries and Americans? In my heart I was led by my faith and I believed that God was truly protecting me and perhaps it was good at the time that that mindset protected me from what I now know. The men continued pacing back and forth staring us down. They talked amongst themselves which made me even more nervous. I continued to think, “Oh, God in heaven please don’t let them kill us. This can’t be really happening.” Time seemed to stand still until they finally made a decision on what to do with us. “Déjà para ir! Subir al autobus!” Translation, ‘Let’s go! Get on the bus!” We had one translator with us. Marilyn had lived in Peru for awhile and knew how to speak fluent Spanish. I thank God she was with us. Where we were going I had no idea. All I knew at that moment was that we were still alive but not headed to our destination.The militia men sat in the front of our bus and pointed us in the direction they wanted to take us. We headed further up the mountain and I feared for our already well travelled school bus that had broken down a couple of times back in the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca in Mexico. I didn’t think we would make it out of that mountain range. We had gotten lost and we were off schedule. The hot, humid tropic air blew on my face and through my hair through the open bus windows as we made our way up the winding mountainside. I had more time to think. Maybe too much time to think. What I didn’t know then that I know now 30 years later was what serious danger we really were in. From 1980 to 1992 El Salvador was in the midst of a civil war. It still baffles me how we were able to obtain a visa to enter the country. Between Sept. 16, 1980 and Sept. 15, 1981 nearly 7,000 political murders were committed. Nine hundred twenty-two killed by security forces, 952 by left terrorists, 136 by right winged terrorists and 4,889 by unknown assailants. (Didion J. p 15-16) We were entering a politically unstable country. Men, women and children were being randomly murdered and left by the roadside. Vultures would eat their eyes and private parts first. Didion who was also in El Salvador during the 1980’s writes of a horrific moment in her book Salvador of an event printed in the media during the early 80’s, “Una Madre y sus dos hijos fueron asesinados con arma contante (corvo) por ocho sujetos desconocidos el lunes en la noche”: a mother and her two sons hacked to death in their beds by eight desconocidos unknown men.” (Didion J. p.15) Many of the assailants left people disfigured so they could not be identified and sometimes would leave a cross carved into their chest. It was even unknown if police could be trusted because they would cruise the streets with guns pointed out of their windows. The U.S. embassy sent a body count weekly to Washington D.C. The killings were often unexplained and it was not known who to blame. Churches in El Salvador were not neutral ground or a place of safety as they were in America. Archbishop Romera was murdered while saying mass at the Divine Providence Hospital in El Salvador. The day of his funeral 30 people were murdered on the steps of the church and another 20 killed in another location nearby. These events that were occurring we had no idea about. It wasn’t until all these years later that I would find out what was really happening. I am pretty sure I would not have made this trip into such a dangerous country.I remember playing with the hem of the soft pink crinkled dress my mom had made me for this trip. It traveled well and the cotton was perfect in the hot tropical weather. I thought to myself, “Gosh I love this dress! But would I die in this dress?” The thoughts were endless as we made our way through the dense tropical terrain. Finally we arrived to a place in the clearing. There was a cement building and we were asked to get off the bus and follow the men. The odd thing about buildings in Central America is that often times they would have cement floors and walls but no roofs. This was the case with this building. There were probably a couple of reasons for this, I can only guess that it was they may have run out of funds or the weather was generally nice and they didn’t need to have a ceiling. I found this quite humorous. We were asked to enter and sit at the tables and for the next couple of hours we sat and waited. There was nothing else to do but look up at the banana trees that seem to be watching over us. I remember saying a prayer which I am sure the others were doing. After the militia had seemed to have enough of sitting there staring at us they finally motion for us to head back to our bus. No longer captive under the banana trees we were free! As soon as our old yellow school bus carried us back down the mountain we asked Marilyn what the military men wanted with us any way. She answered, “You’re not gonna believe it, they said they wanted a little more time to look at the beautiful American women.”

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serastepsforward · 5 years

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First Practice

I get a sense that my current telepathic abilities are much like someone yelling into a phone receiver, trying to repeat phrases and grow in volume while the listener on the other end could hear me just fine the first time. Need to ease into my feelings. UPDATE: not long after typing this I received an email from Su Walker telling me a shirt I ordered was in the mail. She ended the message saying “Wear your shirt with ease. :-)”

In the early morning hours of March 2nd, I was reading Inviting ET in bed and my post-cannabis thoughts were taking me out of focus. For years I’ve smoked nightly as a habit before bed, recently I’ve been noticeably weaning myself off the more I study these teachings. My alcohol intake has slowed down too. (Now to work on all the electronics...)

My distracted thoughts were leading me down an all-too-familiar path of decreasing light, approaching a sudden spiral of dysphoria and shame and confusion. Soon doubts crept in over my ‘validity as a woman’ and insecurity took control, afraid that ETs or Sasquatch wouldn’t have a reference for something like an Earth Human’s trans identity. Just as I began slipping off into this spiral, a clear and pronounced voice I understood to be female spoke in my mind: “I/We Understand.” Even though those first words were telepathically blended, the phrase was completely comprehensible, spoken in a voice distinct from my inner monologue. The voice resonated inside my head but felt as if it was coming from someplace to the left of me; I was reading in bed laying on my stomach propped up on my elbows. I smiled and felt immediate joy, it was not long after that I fell asleep with contentment in my heart.

A couple nights later I read the generously gifted P’nti Telepathy Primer before bed. As I was laying on my back in bed I felt a ping on my right temple, from the same direction as the voice from before. This direction seemed to be out my window and up, from the top of a group of very tall trees in our neighborhood. I realized I had been subconsciously looking toward these treetops during previous days when I’d be outside getting the mail or the newspaper, maybe returning home from a drive. These glances began occurring around the time I began more honestly looking into teachings of Sasquatch/ETs.

The next morning I was texted by an old friend who moved to Oregon many years ago who told me I had been in her dream the previous night. I’m going to call her in a couple of hours to talk about it. UPDATE: We spoke on the phone for about 40 minutes catching up and talking about how important and real it is to communicate through our heart space. She was right there with me the whole time about it all, how we could lift the world’s ailments once if grow enough of the light through love and service and compassion. She was unfamiliar with specific stories of the Sasquatch People when I brought them up but she was not phased all by the mention of them. She works as a counselor and life coach and said “I live in Oregon! Don’t worry, I’ve heard a lot of crazy things!” but she firmly believed whenever someone spoke of an out-of-the-ordinary visual manifestation, their experience was intended as a lesson in love. She told me what I was telling her sounded like the Sasquatch People were nothing to fear, just people who were far more in touch with the gifts of the Earth. I did not mention ETs, but she did mention a unicorn. My role in her dream was loving, friendly, supportive. Happy to see her and reconnect!

Across these initial days I feel great love and comfort and occasionally receive small awakenings of insight. I decided March 4th to go out into my backyard and meditate/practice telepathy. I hadn’t deliberately meditated in almost a year! As I sunk in, I was hit with waves of emotion. I began to weep apologetically, sorry for my (and my people’s) lack of discipline. I couldn’t help but sob and apologize for how misguided we’ve become and how far we’ve strayed. The apology then turned into gratitude. I felt so thankful for everything that our unseen friends have chosen to share with us and I felt thankful for reconnecting with this path toward light. The tears kept flowing but the emotion had shifted. My eyes were closed during these initial waves. I opened them and gazed up into the early evening sky.

As advised, I tried out a few strong “Hello the Clouds!” toward the sky above the Tall Trees and very quickly I begin seeing small twinkling lights scattered around my peripheral vision. This being my first real attempt, I smiled but was admittedly a little skeptical. Could those have simply been the spots one sees when they are lightheaded or stand up too quickly? I thought, I am not lightheaded. I am not standing up. Yet I see these twinkles in my periphery when I think about/address them. I see one blink in and out above a treetop. I try out a “Blink Blink!” and immediately another light blinks in & out over a treetop right next to the first one! These were not planes. These were not stars obscured by clouds. These were small but purposeful lights, completely visible and present in my periphery, generally vanishing once focused on but these treetop blinkers would linger for just a few affirming moments even after I would focus on them. I let out a laugh and a big smile. “Wow.” Above the Tall Trees I can see/sense shimmers in the shapes of ovals or discs. I stare lovingly into these shapes, trying to thank them to the best of my abilities. I feel an immense love from the shimmers.

(Throughout these instances I do my best to keep an open heart and my mind right, to not doubt any interaction or exchange as it could be hurtful to those listening. I remember reading in the Primer that if you feel doubts or thoughts analyzing your situation, you need to keep those out of your conversation.)

These next details I felt more unsure of: after I saw the second blink, I quickly heard a great whooping come from beneath the Tall Trees. It sounded to my mind like a woman whooping in her backyard, possibly screaming at something? It was difficult to determine the emotional context of her voice. My first thoughts were “Oh No I just called a UFO into the airspace above this woman’s yard or something” but I’m not sure her whoopings were in response to that. It did sound initially like someone seeing something that scared them or someone who had just been covered in a scalding hot liquid, a kind of sudden, surprised “WHOOOOOOOO WHOOOOOO WHOOOOOO!” I then heard what sounded like words and phrases after that but I could not make them out. I still wonder if it was connected to my friends or if it was somebody just screaming in their own backyard. After the whooping subsided I could hear a series of long, high pitch whining tones coming from my left (out over the valley to the North) which I could not mentally place. One can hear so many different sounds from various yards and the echo of the freeway from our deck so I wasn’t feeling as strongly about these sounds at the time as I felt toward the visuals. I think I tend to doubt subtle audio/visual cues because I’ve been conditioned to believe they are imagined and I just have a “very strong imagination.” Despite this conditioning throughout my life I’ve noticed such cues on a near-daily basis. Perhaps I allowed residual fear to distort these calls into more “rationalized explanations.” Funny how our own reasoning can be the true distortion.

Throughout the session there were little dropped-object sounds and rustlings going on around me. At certain points I could almost hear a faint breathing. When I finally make the intention of wrapping up, I’m still smiling with tears on my face. A butterfly visits me and goes up into the tree I am sitting under. Another winged friend comes close to my face as I am saying good bye and thank you to everyone who was listening before gently moving along. I walk to my back door to find it has been locked, my folks thought I had gone out with a friend for coffee. When let back inside, I was told that the dogs had barked like crazy at “nothing out front” (toward the Tall Trees) while I was gone. My mom figured since the dogs were barking so much, I must’ve had visiting friends who picked me up. I didn’t feel as though too much time had passed but my parents made it sound like I had been gone for a bit and a clock revealed it to be anywhere between 40 minutes to a little under an hour. Next time I’ll make a better note of the times! I asked my mom if at any point she had heard a woman shouting from across the street, she said she had not.

Over dinner my family had decided to watch Rachel Maddow and I felt comfortably dazed. My usual rises of political anger were kept at bay and I just sat and enjoyed my food. It didn’t hurt that the news was mostly good and it felt like some justice was finally being delivered; Governor Inslee of Washington was also interviewed and gave off a wonderful energy regarding his care for the Earth. There are six lightbulbs in that room spaced across the ceiling, eventually the lightbulb above my seat began to flicker slowly. This will often happen for a few seconds before righting itself, so nobody paid much attention. The flickering went on for a good 15-20 seconds and we each addressed it so I got up and walked over to the fader to reset the light. The flickering ceased as soon as i lifted my hand toward the fader. Moments like this are fun to chuckle at and laugh off with friends and family but this night I couldn’t help but feel like it was a communication. Later in the night several other friends contacted me through text, unprompted and unrelated. I wondered if they had been subconsciously pinged? I still have So Much to Learn.

Yesterday March 5th I decided to “take a break” from any sort of sit-down session (after only trying it once!) to recharge myself. My nightly activations were definitely being felt and I wanted to take care and pace myself. I had received a realization later in the night of my first session that there are still so many out there in need of help preparing for first contact and that, while time was ticking, this was in no way a threatening deadline or “doomsday clock.” There was merely a sense of great urgency regarding the practice of telepathy and the need to share it with as many as are open to it. I keep thinking of that scene in The Matrix when Neo first wakes up and is rapidly overwhelmed to the point of vomiting and losing consciousness. I feel in my heart that such a reaction is to be expected and is probably quite common. Seeing as we can’t all be vomiting when the time comes for an in-person meeting to arise, I decided to do my best to start sharing my knowledge with anyone who will listen. We can be a strong, perhaps even wise people when we bring new knowledge into our heart space. We’ll definitely need to shift away from our heads if we want to keep people from losing their lunch!

love and light ♥

#shimmer #lights #ufo #sasquatch #telepathy

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vwildmage · 7 years

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Trollhunters Gem AU - School?

Needless to say, the Gem AU is going to differ greatly from the canon story where anything school related comes into play (pun not intended, but it is fitting since the whole Romeo & Juliet rehearsals and the play itself aren’t going to have any part at all in what the gems are doing)

- In the absence of mandatory school attendance, Jim and Toby are able to spend nearly all of their time focusing on training and learning. I say ‘nearly’ because there would be some time spent searching for a more permanent residence in or near the town, since at first they wouldn’t be permitted to make a home in Trollmarket. And even once they find a nearby gem structure that fits their needs, they still run into similar issues the canon SU team face, with corrupted Gems wandering into town and causing a ruckus. And Jim might sense another gem structure further away from town when he goes on his occasional flights, and the team would take time to investigate.

- Jim and Toby have walked through town, to observe the local humans and to see if they could figure out which ones might be one of those “Changeling” things Blinky warned them about. They can’t, of course, but they do learn about the school, and in all their infinite wisdom, they decide to sneak in.

- The first attempt at sneaking into the building, they were both shapeshifted to look like some form of animal. Jim was either a bird or a squirrel, and he was quickly chased out. Toby took the shape of a very fluffy cat and managed to charm his way into a few classrooms before he too was chased off with a broom.

- The next few attempts involved them shapeshifting to look like some form of authority and pretending that some sort of crisis was going on and they needed to be there. No one was fooled for more than a few seconds.

- Their final attempt was just them walking in, in their normal forms, and just acting like they belonged. They weren’t expecting that one to actually work, so when it did, they didn’t have a plan ready and had to make things up as they went. Once the bells rang for class to begin, they noticed all of the students filing into classrooms while school staff made warnings about being caught in the halls during class time, so they wandered into the nearest room and took seats near the back, hoping to go unnoticed.

- The room they enter happens to be Strickler’s class, and he does notice them. Not only that, he recognizes that they aren’t human. He isn’t entirely sure what they are, but he intends to find out, so instead of calling attention to them and risking scaring them off, he carries on as if nothing’s out of the ordinary.

- At the end of the class, Toby manages to escape with the crowd, but Strickler addresses Jim directly, and once everyone else has left he acknowledges that Jim isn’t human. He isn’t hostile or accusatory about it though, he’s just curious. Jim is sheepish about being caught, but since Strickler is being so calm and reasonable about it, he isn’t too upset. When Jim walks out of the room, Strickler takes note of his gem, and after viewing security footage from earlier that day he’s able to piece together what Jim is. (I’m not sure how much information of Gems the Gumm-Gumms and Changelings would have kept, but if they have any then Strickler turns to that once he’s gathered data he could on those extra ‘students’)

- At this point in the day most of the school has heard of Jim and Toby the ‘transfer students.’ They get some odd looks for their strange behavior, but they get away with it because they are masters of fake-it-til-you-make-it. They’re just wandering about now that the classes are over, and they follow a group of kids outside. Jim observes as Steve and his friends keep Eli trapped in a locker and mock him. Jim decides on the spot that he doesn’t like Steve, and he steps forward to intervene. Steve barely has the time to demand what Jim wants before he’s abruptly shoved out of the way. Jim opens the locker unchallenged (Steve’s friends backed away in shock when he was shoved) and he strikes up a friendly conversation with Eli, who is slightly confused but happy to be out. Steve lunges forward to attack Jim, but Jim just shoves a hand against his face and holds him at arms length without even breaking conversation. (the perks of being a Gem. he may look scrawny but he could fling you into the sun)

- Of course they don’t go back to the school the next day. Everyone is left wonder who the heck they were. (Maybe later on they decide to sneak in again just for fun, and to mess with people coughStevecough but they certainly aren’t going to waste time attending a human school every day)

(you’ll notice I left Claire out of this post. There’s a reason for that, but I’ll get to that at a later date)

#Trollhunters #Trollhunters Gem AU #TH Gem AU #my writing #I think I might make a different post detailing more of Eli's place in this AU #but I'll get to the Claire thing first

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1upmushrooms · 7 years

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“Fazbears: 1985″: The Stupid Ass Thieves Guild.

“Monday. Monday, Monday, Monday.” Porter muttered as he laid stretched out in his bed.

The old strategy of staying up late in a gambit to exhaust himself to sleep was causing several problems he didn’t need at the moment. This new idea was only one out of several tricks he’d been trying in order to finally fall asleep naturally. Thankfully, this strategy seemed to work wonders.

“Monday...mon....mmmzz.” Porter slurred, his mind finally being put into sleep mode as Saturday night began turning into Sunday morning.

When he finally woke back up, it certainly wasn’t by choice. Indeed it was instead due to noisy neighbors caroling to each house...well, each house besides his.

“Fuckin’ people singing in the morning.” He muttered, thankful that they skipped his house.

Getting out of bed, Porter begun what he now defined as his morning ritual. The steps were fairly normal.

Step One. He’d do a good ten minute exercise routine of his choice, some days it’d be a jog in place, other days it’d be pull ups, it all depended on his mood really.

Step Two. He’d have his clothes laid out on his bed and then enter the bathroom for a brief shower.

Step Three. He’d put on his clothes, as neatly as he possibly could. Back in Chicago, people he knew would often claim that the one way to figure out he was stressed out would be if he didn’t have enough patience to straighten out his attire.

Step four. He’d make sure no one was watching him, yes even when he was alone, and he’d crouch under his bed to pull out a heavy box titled “Nostalgic Shit”. Upon opening the box, Porter would find about at least $5,134.00′s worth of bills in there. Fazbear’s pay was ok when it came strictly to paying bills, but he still needed something for food, gasoline, emergencies, etc. To make sure not even a single dollar was missing, Porter would count every bill, twice.

Step Five. He’d then write the number down in a book that was also in the box. If he needed to take money out, Porter would subtract his withdrawal and then write the remaining amount in the book. Once all that was done, Porter would put everything back in the box, close it, and shove it back under his bed.

Final Step. He’d prepare a small breakfast, the most common being an egg and a cup of coffee, and then finally he’d do another exercise routine of his choice.

As the routine was being performed the phone rang, more than once. Porter didn’t pay attention to the total number of rings, hell he didn’t even realize it was ringing at first, but he was sure someone had tried calling him three times. At least that was his estimate.

Porter sat down in his chair and, after finishing his last drop of coffee, picked up the receiver.

“This is Porter.” He greeted, sitting the mug on an obligatory desk coaster.

“Hello AGGH,” Scott groaned, “Ugh, hello hello! You, errg, you there Porter?”

“What happened to you?” Porter asked, a bit surprised to hear Scott in pain.

“Fazbear’s got robbed the other night and uh, I was the, ow, unlucky guard who got hit.”

“Did you try to hit them?”

“I didn’t get the chance I mean, agh, they-they ganged up on me before I even knew they were in the building. I didn’t even hear them crash in.”

“They?”

“I mean, it was one person but I didn’t-couldn’t tell if it was a guy or a girl because they were uh, dressed up in black and all.”

“How hard did they hurt you?”

“I’m not too damaged, I think. I, the reason I called was because Francis put me on night shift again and, I, I, I wanted to know if you can take my place. I’m really not fit-”

“No problem.”

“R-really? No problem at all?”

“Yeah.” Porter before getting suspicious, “Why did you think I’d say no?”

“I, I was scared you’d say something, like, ‘No way am I coming in on my day off to do this stupid thing’ or something similar.”

“Oh.” He said, “Right.”

Scott had a point, that sounded almost exactly like something he’d say, if there were a few curse words peppered in of course.

“If you don’t mind me asking uh, wh-why are you so cool with filling in for me? I mean uh, no offence, you don’t really seem like the guy who’d do nice stuff like that for nothing.”

“I have my reasons.”

For starters, Porter had actually grown fond of Scott since they first met so he was far more willing to do him an occasional favor than say, Jake or any of the new guys. However, the sheer awkwardness that reveal would inevitably cause convinced him to go with reason B.

“For example, have there been robberies going on before I joined this place?” He asked.

“Y-yeah. At least two from like, I think, months apart.” Scott said reluctantly.

“You remember anything unique about them?”

“Not really uh, well...oh wow.” Scott realized, “I just now remembered. The other robbers were like, really good lock pickers. Like, they’d manage to pick it with no effort and they’d creak it open as noiseless as possible.”

“I’m starting to think these robberies are all connected.” Porter said, “Either it’s the same guy or...waittaminute.”

“What?”

“The guy I caught.” Porter said, “He said something about being told by someone that it was easy to steal cash from Fazbear’s. I think someone’s sending these guys to the pizzeria. My thief just slid by me and immediately headed for the manager’s office, which ended badly for him. Your thief quickly took you out first before getting the cash.”

“That’s interesting.” Scott admitted, “But it all still sounds like, coincidental man.”

“Did your thief have a gun on you?”

“Um yeah, they-”

“Mine didn’t.”

“...Ok, that’s a bit weird I’ll give you that but come on.”

“Even if we accept that it can’t be a group doing this, aren’t you open to the idea that it’s one guy who’s obviously learned from his past mistakes?”

“Yeah.” Scott admitted, “This has been the weirdest conversation I’ve had so far in my life.”

“Well then you clearly didn’t have the talk with your parents.” Porter snarked, “But seriously, I think it’d be best if I fill in for you after all. I have a feeling that our ‘friend’ will show up tonight and you really don’t sound like you can handle another night of that right now.”

“Thanks Porter. Alright, I’ll tell Fr-”

“Don’t bother. Let it be a surprise.”

“I can’t do that.”

“That’s what he does.”

“Because he’s a manager, not some security guard.”

“Well, find Jessie and tell her then.” Porter snapped, “However, I don’t want you telling either of them what we’ve been talking about.”

“Why not?”

“...Well, what if it turns out you’re right?” Porter lied, “Wouldn’t want to look stupid would we?”

“Umm, I guess?”

“Ok.” Porter said, “Just tell Jessie that I’m filling in for you tonight and if a thief comes around, well they’ll get a surprise of their own.”

“Sounds like a plan! Tell me what happened tomorrow will you?”

“If anything happened, I’ll be sure to do that.”

Soon they said their farewells and Porter was back to silently sitting in his chair, wondering just what in the hell he had gotten himself into and lamenting that it was all too familiar to a guy like him.

--------

When Porter strolled up to Fazbears at 11:50 PM, he was unsure as to who he wanted to see exit the building, Jessie or Francis. He relaxed himself a little when he saw an olive skinned hand open the door.

“Hey there!” Jessie greeted happily as she exited the pizzeria.

“Jessica.” Porter greeted with a little wave.

“Well, it’s all ready for ya.” She said as Porter walked through door, “Hope you don’t get into too much trouble, heh.”

Porter gave a nod as he headed into the security office and signed in. He didn’t even notice that she was outside the security office door.

“Hey, Porter.”

He had just put on his security belt when he turned around to face her.

“I really appreciate you coming in tonight.” She said, “Scott really needed to heal and I was afraid Francis-”

“It’s not a big deal.” Porter said,��“I did what anyone would do.”

“No.” Jessie said seriously, “No one here would anyway. You were quite literally the last person he turned to.”

That was a bit unexpected, though maybe not entirely shocking.

“The last? I knew Jake turned you down but what about Andy?”

“Was ‘sick’.”

“Morris?”

“Had to take care of his children.”

“Not even Tristan?”

“Didn’t even have to ask him. Just by the way he greeted me I knew that guy was drunk off his ass.”

“Fuck.” Porter cursed in disbelief.

“I know.” Jessie said, “And to think I hired those guys so situations like tonight would be easier to take care of. That’s why I was so grateful you offered to take Scott’s place. Seriously, thank you so much.”

Porter stood there for a few seconds and then gave a thumbs up.

“As long as I’m getting paid.” Porter said, sitting down in front of the monitors. “Just curious, was Francis ok with me filling in for Scott?”

“He doesn’t know.” Jessie said with a smirk.

“Oh my.” Porter said, “When will you tell him?”

“I’ll let that fucker find out for himself.” She said deviously, “See you tomorrow Porter, and thanks again!”

Porter waved goodbye as Jessie exited the place and locked the door behind her, leaving Porter the only one there.

“Let the waiting game begin.”

For about two hours Porter sat at his post, watching the monitors for anything even seemingly out of the ordinary. Part of him hoped there wouldn’t be a visit from the stupid ass thieve’s guild. The other part couldn’t wait to deal with this asswipe.

Sure enough, as the clock turned to 2:00 AM Porter heard the familiar barely audible sound of the door creaking open. He immediately rose from the chair and silently leaned next to the door of the office.

“Go who’s back fuckface?” A gruff voice snarled as he barged into the room.

His smug face contorted into confusion as he saw no one at all. That face of confusion then contorted into one of terror as Porter grabbed the thief by the neck and slammed him up against the lockers.

“Expecting someone else?” Porter asked, loosening his grip just a little so the thug could breathe easier.

“Yo-You-You weren’t su-su...” He sputtered frantically.

“I’m the fill in guy for the last one you beat the shit out of.”

Just by the shape of this man, Porter could tell it was a different guy. He was much bigger and taller than the pipsqueak he dealt with last time. Not that being big meant this guy was good at his job.

“Quick question.” Porter said, “Did someone tell you this place was easy to steal from?”

“Yeah.” The man said darkly with a smirk, “His name was ‘Fuck U. Prick’.”

“Ha ha.” Porter said with a very flat delivery.

Just then a balled up fist got plunged into the thief’s stomach, causing him to gasp for air.

“It’s ok that you got confused. I probably didn’t ask you the right question.” Porter said, “How bout this? I know that someone’s been ordering people like you to rob this place. Tell me why.”

“I just heard that this was an easy way to grab cash from simple word of mouth buddy.” The man said, “And your paranoid ass ain’t gonna change the facts.”

For five straight seconds Porter stared blankly at the thief as he removed his hand, and then gave him a quick knee to the groin. Once the thief doubled over, Porter then grabbed the guy by the head and repeatedly slammed it against the lockers.

“STOP STOP!” The thief pleaded, “I’LL TALK I SWEAR TO GOD JUST PLEASE FUCKING STOP!”

Within a few seconds, Porter’s hand was now back on the man’s throat and he was propped back up at the locker. Before he talked, Porter noticed something had dropped out of the thief’s pocket. It was a silver door key that matched the one given to the Fazbear staff. How convenient.

“Some guy contacted me on Friday, telling me that there was a shitload of money here waiting for me to grab on Saturday night.” The thief said dejectedly, “He told me to take out that one guard and I’d be able to get all the money in the manager’s safe. That’s all.”

“Why’d you come back if that was all?”

“The guy on the phone said that it’d be easy to rob on Sunday too. A total cake walk he said, since it’d be the same guy guarding.” The thief explained, “I mean let’s be honest, that pussy was probably gonna be even easier to deal with since I roughed him up the first time.”

Just then Porter had a sudden urge to snap this guy’s neck right then and there. Fortunately, common sense convinced him to do otherwise.

“The guy didn’t give his name did he?” Porter asked, already knowing the answer.

“What do you think?” The man grunted, “You didn’t really assume he’d be that stupid did you?”

“Weren’t you even a little suspicious about this guy who claimed that a pizzeria was loaded with cash and easy to steal?”

“I can’t afford to be suspicious.” The thief said viciously, “I’m always having to pull these kinds of jobs for cash. Heh, this is the only time I got caught to-”

“Listen up.” Porter warned, “When you’re down at the station tonight, you use your phone call to get in touch with your contact. Tell him that he better not send anymore of you assholes here, or else I’m gonna start treating you guys a whole lot nastier. Ok?”

The thief nodded in defeat as Porter threw him to the floor. He then picked up the phone as the thief moaned in pain.

-------

“Some luck you have.” Jessie said shakily, watching the police escort the thief out of the building.

Porter had told her everything at this point, from the theory he had, to the thief’s story, to even the silver key the thief had. It would’ve been somewhat hard to believe, had she not heard the thief admit everything to the police.

“You must’ve at least been worried this guy would get the jump over you or something.” She added.

“I was a security guard back in Chicago for a while remember? I’ve dealt with worse.” Porter said, “I tried not to wreck too much stuff this time around.”

That caused Jessie to laugh as she turned to Porter.

“A few more dents on an already dented locker is much better than a broken chair, I’ll give you that.” She said, “Now I’m even happier that you filled in. I can’t, I can’t even imagine what would’ve happened had Scott been working here.”

“It was still unprofessional for Scott to have someone else fill in without telling me.”

Neither of them really wanted to deal with Francis tonight, Jessie especially. But Porter reminded her that he was still the manager and that he deserved to know. Granted, that wasn’t the reason Porter wanted Francis over here but still...

“I’m sorry sweetheart.” Jessie said sarcastically, “You clearly haven’t been told what just happened here so I’ll fill you in. We nearly got robbed by the same guy who robbed us last time, the same robber who already beat the shit out of Scott, and instead of thanking Porter for being here to stop another robbery you’re taking the piss out of Scott for not telling you?!”

“I deserve to be told who’s filling in for who.” Francis snapped, “And you should’ve informed me.”

“Like you informed me about the malfunctioning camera’s right?”

That shut Francis up for a while as he angrily muttered to himself. Jessie headed to the door as Porter followed her.

“I can’t promise anything.” Porter said, “But I think these guys are gonna stop hitting us for a long time.”

“You really are a godsend, Porter.” Jessie said with a smile before leaving the pizzeria.

For the first time in a while, Porter looked almost flattered. It didn’t last though as he quickly walked back into the security office where Francis was pacing around.

“And you!” Francis said pointedly, “Why didn’t you tell either of us this idea you had today?! We could’ve used that information to he-”

“I don’t trust managers. Not when it comes to situations like these.”

“Is that so?” He asked with a scoff as he continued to pace.

“Do you remember that bar and grille in Kansas City my Dad used to own?”

“Ha, which one?”

“Fair enough. It was called like, the ‘Shallow Swallow’ or something equally stupid. Anyway, a while back there was this shady ass manager named Rick who realized ‘Hey, the building for this bar has been sought after by some really rich fuckers. If I can sell the place, we’d be swimming in green rivers.’”

“Rick was a bit of a dumbass wasn’t he?” Francis asked.

“Dumb or not he tried his hardest to fuck shit up so the bar would have to be sold. Didn’t work out well for him.”

“Your father sure made an example out of him.” Francis said with a laugh, “What’s your point, Porter?”

“I dunno, the way you’ve been running things around here so far....it’s almost like you want this place to shut down.”

Francis screeched to a halt as he turned to face Porter. Just then a thin smile was on his lips.

“The thing about friendly threats Porter,” He said, “Is that they only work with you’re sporting a grin.”

Just then he walked straight up to Porter’s face with an icy stare.

“This isn’t your Father’s business. This is mine, and I’ll do whatever I want with it.”

“It just became my Dad’s business when I got on board.” Porter reminded him, “He wouldn’t be too happy if I lost my job because of you-”.

His little speech was cut off by Francis’ howl of laughter.

“If you think your Daddy’s gonna send his pals over to beat me up because of your job, you really don’t know your Dad the way I do.”

“Ok, call him up. You’re so confident that he’ll take this well, pick up the phone and tell him.”

Just then, Francis’ shit eating grin faded and an angry scowl took its place.

“The thing about bluffs Francis,” Porter said, “Is that they only work when you don’t immediately back down the first time someone calls them.”

“Fine.” He said bitterly, “I got the message, alright? There won’t be anymore robberies around here. But don’t you ever get confrontational with me again, you got it?”

“Fair enough.” Porter said as he walked towards the monitors.

Francis then walked towards the door before stopping.

“One more thing, no more of this ‘Francis’ shit.” He demanded, “From now on, you refer to me as ‘Mr. Afton’.”

#fnaf #Fazbears 1985 au #Good to be back

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victorgimenezorturo-blog · 6 years

Photo

Nice picture, huh? For those who don’t know this is NYU Stern, one of the best business school in the world. I still don’t know why I chose to go to a business school, but it was probably because I thought: no better way to make money than going to a business school. Right? I mean, I guess maybe I’ll just be a sellout and work for Morgan Stanely, and send money back home to my grandmother. Anyways, that’s beside the point. This is the beginning of the journey: orientation day (I don’t really like to take photos of myself or have other people take photos with me in it, so bear with me). It was like any other ordinary orientation I would assume here in the states. You had a group of upperclassmen (I assume) and faculty members who greeted us. We all walked into a huge room whose walls were barren white and seat fixed to replicate that of a Socratic seminar. "Welcome Class of 2015" we all heard as we sat there. Me, excited but nervous--so nervous I thought I could puke at any second. But, I held my composure. HOWEVER, what really irked me was the number of obnoxious kids that I was soon to call my peers/colleagues Talking about what they did over the summer--internships, trip to their beach houses. I just sat there in silence. To be honest, I didn't even give a shit. That's really the type of person I am. But neither you guys care about the actual orientation, nor do I. What really happened, that's still important to me till this day, was meeting my group of friends (best friends/diamonds in the rough, if you will). It started out pretty awkwardly as I and a tall lanky boy named Joseph started talking because we were the odd ones out who haven't spoken a word to anyone else. We stuck by each others side after going on with orientation day and turned out we almost had the same schedule. Then Lucy and Alex came by as we were heading into the same socractic-esque room again so the Dean of First Years could speak to us for an hour. It was quite the conversation though, as they were also the oddballs out. By that I mean not as ostenatious as the others. Finally, Leo came around toward the end--very quiet kid who is also pretty wild. It was us 5 against the school at that point, and the same people who got me through my sticky situation.

Bonita foto, ¿eh? Para los que no lo sepan, NYU Stern es una de las mejores escuelas de negocios del mundo. Todavía no sé por qué elegí ir a una escuela de negocios, pero probablemente fue porque pensé: no hay mejor manera de ganar dinero que ir a una escuela de negocios. ¿verdad? Quiero decir, creo que tal vez trabajo para Morgan Stanely, y le envíe dinero a mi abuela. De todos modos, eso está fuera del punto. Este es el comienzo del aventura: día de orientación (realmente no me gusta tomar fotos mías o hacer que otras personas se tomen fotos conmigo, así que tengan paciencia conmigo). Era como cualquier otra orientación ordinaria que asumiría aquí en los Estados Unidos. Tuviste un grupo de estudiantes de último año (supongo) y miembros de la facultad que nos saludo. Entramos todos en una gran sala, cuyas paredes eran de color blanco estéril y el asiento fijo replico un seminario socrático. "Clase de Bienvenida de 2015", todos escuchamos mientras estábamos allí sentados. Yo, emocionado pero nervioso, tan nervioso que pensé que podría vomitar en cualquier momento. Pero, mantuve mi compostura. SIN EMBARGO, lo que realmente me molestó fue la cantidad de niños odiosos. Hablando de lo que hicieron durante el verano: pasantías, viaje a sus casas de playa. Me quedé allí en silencio. Para ser honesto, ni siquiera me importa. Ese es realmente el tipo de persona que soy. Pero ninguno de ustedes se preocupa por la orientación real, ni yo tampoco. Lo que realmente sucedió, eso sigue siendo importante para mí hasta este día, fue conocer a mi grupo de amigos (mejores amigos / diamantes en bruto, si se quiere). Comenzó de manera bastante incómoda cuando yo y un chico larguirucho llamado Joseph empezamos a hablar porque éramos los extraños que no hemos hablado con nadie más. Nos pegamos al lado de cada uno después de seguir con el día de orientación y resultó que casi teníamos el mismo horario. Entonces Lucy y Alex llegaron cuando nos dirigíamos a la misma habitación de estilo socractic para que el decano de los primeros años pudiera hablarnos durante una hora. Sin embargo, fue toda una conversación, ya que también fueron los bichos raros. Con eso quiero decir que no es tan ostentoso como los demás. Finalmente, Leo vino hacia el final, un niño muy tranquilo que también es bastante salvaje. Fuimos nosotros 5 en contra de la escuela en ese momento, y las mismas personas que me ayudaron a superar mi difícil situación.

NOT MINE (LINK: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2018/01/16/gmat-score-for-nyu-stern)

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mobius-prime · 4 years

Text

168. Sonic the Hedgehog #100

So you remember what I said last issue about the SA2 issue seeming like it was just thrown in there last minute, with an almost flippant disregard for how it should affect canon? How it seemed like the writers were just eager to get it out of the way so that they could get back to the story they were already in the middle of? This and the next issue support my theory. This is the big 1-0-0 - the comic has finally hit triple digits, and as such you'd expect this issue to be something truly amazing, really special and bombastic in the same way that Endgame was. And yet… all things considered, despite the cover page, it's fairly ordinary. In fact, the next issue is a lot more game-changing, making me think that with the addition of Sonic Adventure 2 into the mix, the team simply pushed their next few planned issues forward one, making the issue that was initially planned as the hundredth issue into the hundred-and-first. It definitely ends up giving this issue and the next very strange vibes, as they try to make this one seem incredibly epic when it just… isn't. But that's no reason to complain, after all - there's still some very important events to cover in this issue, so let's move into it!

Reunion

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Ron Lim Colors: Stephanie Vozzo

We're finally getting the chance to see what Eggman's big plan is for the Overlanders. With the help of Snively, he's upgraded his systems (because remember, he's still a robot himself) so that he's capable of roboticizing anyone with a single touch…

Well that's not good… Sally, Rotor, and Tails, meanwhile, have just managed to learn of the location of the Sword of Acorns from Uma when Kodos shows up to attack them. Sally evades his blows and races off, determined to get to the sword before Kodos. At the same time, Nate leaves Knothole, telling Mina that he intends to warn the Overlanders about the deadly radiation that permeates Robotropolis before it kills them, and Sonic, Bunnie, and Antoine catch up to Tails and Rotor in time to hear about Sally going after the sword, and are disturbed to see Uma lying dead nearby, thinking that Kodos killed her. Sonic races off to catch up with Sally before it's too late, as she reaches the fissure in the forest where Uma told her the sword is hidden. However, Kodos is still hot on her tail…

Sonic stands frozen in shock, almost unaware that behind him, Bunnie, Antoine, and Tails have begun to fight with Kodos, ultimately knocking him out. Together the entire group approaches the edge of the cliff, staring down towards the darkness into which Sally has fallen, believing her to be dead from the fall. Sonic quietly states his intention to go down and retrieve her body, but before he can find a way down, a blinding flash of light emits from the crevasse. At the same time, Nate enters Robotropolis and is quickly captured, with Eggman gloating about his plan to now use Nate as bait to lure Sonic in before trapping him inside with his energy dome. But back in the forest…

Well, that's intense.

Sonic and Sally finally find themselves face to face for the first time in nearly two months, and don't know quite what to say to each other. They don't get very far beyond slightly strained greetings before Mina shows up, causing Sally to turn away to hide her feelings as Mina informs Sonic that Nate has gone to Robotropolis. And so, everyone in the group set out to rescue him before anything bad happens to him. Meanwhile, Eggman has Nate brought to him to ask him a question of a scientific nature…

Aw yeah Uncle Chuck! Sonic rushes further into the city while Chuck escorts Nate to a slightly safer location for the time being, and soon the three meet up, with an overjoyed Sonic hugging his uncle tightly. Everyone else, at the same time, has headed to a different part of the city, where they know the roboticized Mobians are all being kept hidden from the Overlanders' eyes.

Both groups meet up, and crowds of terrified Overlanders scatter, believing that they're being invaded by the Mobians. Nate realizes that the energy dome is still keeping everyone trapped, so he splits off secretly from the group to find a way to lower it. The crowd reaches the edge of the dome, realizing they're unable to leave, and a holographic image of Eggman begins to gloat, but then the dome suddenly dissipates, leaving everyone free to escape. But what of Nate? Sonic thinks everything is fine, not yet realizing that he's missing…

Oh… oh no…

Welcome to the Dark Side

Writer/Pencils: Ken Penders Colors: Frank G.

This story for some reason begins with a brief recap of Dimitri's entire life story, including his previous tangles with Knuckles and the loss of his powers to Mammoth Mogul. We then open with Lien-Da rudely retrieving Julie-Su from her cell on board the Dark Legion's battleship. Man, how long has it been since we've even seen Julie-Su? She was captured back in Sonic Super Special #14, so that makes fourteen issues of no Julie-Su, which if you ask me is a cardinal sin. Back on the bridge, Dimitri expresses surprise at Knuckles' appearance, claiming that he figured Knuckles was sealed away into an alternate dimension along with the rest of his island (oh, so that's what the orange energy blast did). Lien-Da then returns with Julie-Su, who is overjoyed to see Knuckles.

Oh… well that is quite an offer, Dimitri. One I wouldn't have expected you to make. Julie-Su is outraged, but Dimitri chides her for it, reminding her that she was once one of them as well. Knuckles, feeling he has no choice for the sake of his own people, agrees, and soon another energy beam fired from the ship's quantum cannon has opened a tear in between dimensions, bringing the Floating Island back. But along with the Floating Island comes a couple of characters we haven't seen in quite some time… namely, Tobor and Kragok! If you'll recall, time in the Twilight Zone moves much more slowly than in this dimension, and so they appear to be still locked in their fight from when they fell into the other zone in the first place. Tobor is initially overjoyed to be back, hoping he can finally enjoy his life with his family, but is then horrified to find that his benefactors are none other than the Dark Legion. Kragok tackles him midair, and Tobor, making up his mind, decides that if he has to die to defeat the Legion, then so be it. He grabs a now-terrified Kragok, and directs their fall… straight into the quantum cannon.

This is quite bittersweet. No one really wanted poor Tobor to die, especially not after the hard life he had, but after hundreds of years, he's finally reunited with his father for good. As they walk off into the afterlife together, Knuckles, now resigned to the fact that he's a Dark Legionnaire, asks Dimitri if there are other ways for him to save his family and friends from danger. Dimitri gives some stock villain response about how his people have followed a "different path" from that of Knuckles' family line, and when Knuckles tentatively agrees that maybe he should try something new, Dimitri welcomes him to "the dark side," which is definitely not something that someone evil would ever say! Yeah, Dimitri seems trustworthy for sure! Go Knuckles!

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #sth 100 #writer: karl bollers #writer: ken penders #pencils: ron lim #pencils: ken penders #colors: stephanie vozzo #colors: frank gagliardo

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