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1863-project · 2 years

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Iron Horse Girl, or How Submas Got My Groove Back - an accidental essay

In 1989, two young parents had their first child. Her brother wouldn’t be born for another four and a half years. She was an odd little girl, not speaking until she could form the full sentence “What’s that?” (usually accompanied by pointing at something), but she showed signs of taking after her parents - she loved to read, she loved to learn, and she loved and was gentle with animals.

And like her father, she loved trains.

She had an engineer hat with her name on it. It was her pride and joy. When she was 3 or so and visiting Strasburg, Pennsylvania, her first real-life experience with steam locomotives, a boy around her age asked her at the playground at Groff’s Grove why she was wearing “a boy’s hat.” She told him that anyone could wear it and left.

The little girl grew a bit older, and she always looked forward to her family’s annual trips to the Strasburg Rail Road. She fell in love with the GG1, the Pennsylvania Railroad’s remarkable electric locomotive of the 1930s, perhaps in part because she related to it - like her, it was unusual, an oddball, but it persevered. The GG1 was still in use in the 1980s, the decade the little girl was born. She never saw one in action - she was a bit too young - but something about it stayed with her, and the engineer hat with her name on it soon had a GG1 pin on it and a GG1 was added to her dad’s collection of HO scale model trains. The model was hers.

In particular, she was fond of the prototype GG1, nicknamed ‘Old Rivets’ because it lacked the Raymond Loewy streamlining all other GG1s would have, because she would see it in Strasburg at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania every year.

(photo source)

Rivets was an oddball amongst oddballs, and she felt drawn to it.

One of those trips to Strasburg was a bit less happy than the other ones - she and her father were in the model train store and her father noticed the old men running the store weren’t particularly interested in helping his elementary school-aged daughter. He loudly told her in front of them that it was because she was a girl - once again, a reminder that she was moving into a space she wasn’t supposed to be in according to some people. But she refused to give up on trains, instead being delighted as a 4-8-4 Northern locomotive, C&O 614, passed through her town two summers in a row on excursion runs. She and her dad would go to see it pass through - not even scrap metal getting into her eye from the NJ Transit chaser locomotive passing by beforehand deterred her from pursuing the thing she loved.

Things got harder after that. A kid at school the little girl would play with because he also liked trains decided one day that trains were “stupid” and he preferred spaceships, and she cried to her dad about it that night, who reassured her that they weren’t. But as the little girl got older, her differences became more obvious to her classmates, and the occasional rejection she was experiencing turned to flat-out bullying. The little girl’s friends waned, and she turned to a new hobby, video games, for comfort. By the end of 5th grade, she was a Nintendo expert, becoming well versed in Mario, Zelda, Banjo-Kazooie...and a newer franchise called Pokemon (in fact, she cried when in 4th grade her elementary school banned Pokemon cards). Having interactive worlds to explore helped her stave off the loneliness somewhat.

In 7th grade, the not-so-little girl, still reeling from 9/11 as she grew up in the shadow of New York City and her father was one gate away from United Flight 93 (he survived), got a Gamecube. Right after, she had her first crush. He wasn’t real, but her feelings were. Super Smash Brothers Melee introduced her to a franchise she was unfamiliar with, Fire Emblem, and they did this by including characters from two different FE games, Marth and Roy, in the game as unlockable characters. She fell for Roy instantly, and that was that. She began writing fanfiction about Melee, her first proper forays into the fandom sphere online, and she started to make internet friends (some of whom she still has now). Things led to other things - Fire Emblem led to fantasy, which led to Lord of the Rings, which led to “wow, I relate to Boromir’s desire to protect his younger brother Faramir because I want to protect my younger brother too,” which led to “oh, Sean Bean was in this thing called Sharpe, hmm.”

By high school, the not-so-little girl had discovered the Napoleonic Wars, and finally she understood her family’s appreciation for history. As her inability to learn math the way it was being taught locked her out of her dream science careers of paleontologist or astronomer, she shifted gears and prepared to become a historian, realizing she had a proper knack for it - she could learn things once and never forget them, she had excellent reading comprehension, and she loved to tell people’s stories and give them a voice. It was the perfect fit for her.

But nearly every spring break, she still went to Strasburg. And a family trip to London in 2004, right when the girl was in the midst of her Napoleonic Wars teaboo phase, brought the Underground into her life - she bought a Mind the Gap shirt that she wore frequently once back. Unbeknownst to her, on that trip, when they took a train from King’s Cross in London to Edinburgh, she was on the former London and North Eastern Railway. Her father had picked this because it was the old route of the Flying Scotsman, a named train that became so famous that one of the locomotives that regularly ran the route was named for it, a Gresley 4-6-2 A1/A3 Pacific. (Flying Scotsman survives today; she’s been restored and runs fairly regularly.) Still on her military history high, she likely unwittingly passed right through a location that would have significance for her later, a small village called Little Bytham.

Although it seemed during this period that her love of trains, now kept secret from her peers because she knew it would incur their harsh judgment and bullying, was on the back burner, it was always there. She started a writing project and picked the year 1863 for the setting because the first part of the London Underground opened that year. Another writing project included references to Richard Trevithick’s Puffing Devil and Catch Me Who Can, the first machines that could arguably be called steam locomotives. And of course, she was still going to Strasburg.

Eventually, the girl became a woman even though she didn’t feel like she could use that word yet because she was still in her teens, and she went to do her undergraduate degree at Gettysburg College - history, with a minor in American Civil War Era Studies. Astoundingly during this time, she didn’t write a single paper on The General, though the best-known film adaptation of that story would play a role in her life a few years later. Her social life was at an all-time low at college due to an emotionally abusive friendship, but she was clinging to another love of hers, baseball, to cope with things. Baseball carried her through a mental breakdown, OCD, and numerous other struggles, and she met a kitten at the worst point of it, who she named Murphy. That kitten arguably saved her life.

But the trains were still there, too, and after a lot of prodding she finally managed to get her friends to the Strasburg Rail Road, not too far a drive from college. In that moment, she was safe. She was on the rails again. After all, in 2009, she’d gotten a diagnosis that made everything make sense: she was autistic. It explained being an oddball, a girl who always seemed to end up in “male” spaces yet didn’t feel like she was performing femininity correctly, the intense and extreme passions for things she cared about...and, of course, the trains. It was a stereotype, but she fell smack dab into it. She kept it on the down low at the time and started to move into online self-advocacy spaces to meet other autistic people.

The young woman escaped the abusive friendship in 2011, after she graduated. After a year and a half of recovery at home, she applied to and got into graduate school back in New York City. She commuted from home for two years, 2013 and 2014, and in doing so quickly and scarily well developed a near encyclopedic knowledge of the New York City subway system, to the point that her entire family started asking her for train directions. She took a sort of pride in her parents affectionately calling her a “mole person.” Somewhere around this time, her dad told her about the tragedy of Penn Station, which she did not take well and still does not take well. The young woman was indulging her love of comedy at the time she started graduate school, and she determined that she would love to do comedy history as her specialized area of research. As she delved deep into it, she discovered Buster Keaton, who, like her, loved baseball and trains. She felt a sort of understanding there, especially watching him operate a locomotive entirely by himself in his film about the American Civil War - about the General, the locomotive stolen by the North and pursued by fellow Confederate locomotive Texas. She felt the tug in her heart. The trains were still there.

2014 outed her as a railfan, though, because she accidentally discovered a children’s show called Chuggington when she was up late one night doing grad school readings. There was an attractive human on the show who was the culmination of traits she looked for in a boyfriend, and so at age 25 she was watching a preschool show about trains so she could see one human character. Initially she was embarrassed to admit it, but her enthusiasm ended up winning out, and before long she was the entire Chuggington tag on Tumblr. To cope with turning 25, a landmark age, she went back to shows she enjoyed as a very small child - rewatching Thomas and Friends from an adult perspective was fun, but it reignited her love for steam locomotives yet again, and a character on Chuggington, Olwin, was modeled after an A4 Pacific, another locomotive designed by Sir Nigel Gresley.

The young woman was thus led to Mallard.

(photo source - Tommy Bray is on the left, with Joe Duddington right next to him)

In 1938, on July 3rd, a 4-6-2 Pacific A4, 4468 Mallard, set a speed record for steam traction, hitting 126 miles per hour down Stoke Bank just south of the village of Little Bytham. Mallard’s record has never been broken. Driven that day by 61-year-old grandfather Joe Duddington and powered by fireman Tommy Bray, she sped into the history books, a blinding blue streak. And the young woman had always had a lead foot herself and loved speed, and she was enthralled. Mallard captivated her completely. Her love for trains was out in the open now, and it would stay that way.

In 2015, she and her dad drove out to Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, to see her dad’s favorite locomotive, Nickel Plate Road 765, on an excursion run. She touched her hand gently to the locomotive’s bumper and felt all those emotions she felt as a little girl rush back into her.

In 2017, she found the friendship jewelry her emotionally abusive friend had made her wear like pet tags denoting ownership and drove south an hour to throw them into the Raritan River. That year, her autistic self-advocacy work culminated in a new project combining two of her passions - the Autistic Gaming Initiative. AGI, as its members came to call it, is an all-autistic video game streaming team working to raise money and awareness for autistic-led advocacy organizations. At the helm - or perhaps more aptly, on the footplate - the young woman began to discover that she had a capacity and capability for leadership that she didn’t know she had. Slowly but surely, and with the help of dedicated friends and supportive family members, she began to stop hating herself, although she still felt the shadows of her past hanging heavily over her head.

Back in 2012, she had a physical to go to grad school in the spring. This physical picked up that she had developed an autoimmune thyroid disorder called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, which had likely been caused by a combination of mold exposure at Gettysburg and the extreme stress of living with her emotionally abusive roommate for two years. As the illness developed, she began to gain weight in odd ways, resulting in her feeling misshapen - no amount of plain exercise seemed to be halting the progression of the weight gain, and she became more and more demoralized about it. The little girl was eventually a young woman nearing her 30s, and she had still never dated due to the childhood bullying and the emotional abuse. The body dysmorphia began to make her feel like she never would, and on top of everything, she had too much emotional baggage and trauma to think about trying. Even as her career aligned perfectly and she finally landed a job as an archivist at a public library at age 29, she still felt like in some ways that she was failing at being human.

A pandemic hit not long after she moved out into her own apartment with an internet friend turned not-abusive roommate. This was, of course, a massive blow to someone who had worked so hard to finally live independently, and she spent 2020 logging her days from home, working on a comedy-related animation project, and confronting her past - being cooped up in a small apartment brought back memories of the emotional abuse, and she was forced to address it. A small comfort was Pokemon, which she had just gotten back into in 2019 via the newest games, Sword and Shield. The game’s two DLCs dropped during the pandemic, and she played them both, giving her a few bright spots in 2020. It was around that time that her roommate, who had played Gen 5, told her about the Battle Subway.

This, of course, fit the young woman’s exact aesthetic, right down to wearing giant swing coats and intensely desiring to fight annoying tourists who kept their backpacks on when standing on the subway, and she dove right in...only to find two characters, Ingo and Emmet, who were weirdly similar to her herself.

Especially Emmet, the weirder, younger one. And I, the young woman, had never felt more seen in my life.

My brain clicked with Emmet instantaneously. I’m not sure I’ve ever looked at a character and realized “holy shit, that’s me” so quickly, but then again, I’d never seen a character who was an autistic-coded subway conductor who swung his arms when he walked and was way too blunt and was clearly having the time of his life doing what he loved and who never lost his enthusiasm for things. I probably fell in love instantly, or at least when the Gotcha! video (what the above gif is from) aired and Emmet couldn’t resist looking up at the camera and smiling. Either way, it was fast - so fast that I didn’t realize it had happened for nearly ten months.

I decided it was time to make up for lost time. I acquired a used 3DS, Omega Ruby, Y, and Sun, with the hopes of managing to snag White and White 2 at some point since my roommate had Black and Black 2. I immediately rushed through the story of Omega Ruby to obtain the Eon Flute so I could start searching the Mirage Islands for Tynamo. I needed to raise an Eelektross, and they weren’t in Gen 8. I tried to hide that I was getting attached, but my roommate saw right through me, and I reluctantly had to admit that yes, I ordered the Submas plushies, and yes, they were going to be in our apartment making those weird faces. But you see, I related to them - they were just like me - and I had to. I just had to. They began filling up my sketchbooks at an alarming rate. I named an Archen after Emmet, but was so shy as I did so that I couldn’t even look at the screen as I did it. And perhaps most notably, I started trying to use their team - and finally felt brave enough to take on battle facilities.

And that team was able to win, and I knew that I wanted to try to breed for a full 6 IV Submas team. I started with Tynamo, and after several days of struggle, the 6 IV baby eel hatched from the egg.

I named him Old Rivets, after my beloved GG1.

After a long time off, I began writing again with some new original characters. I started exploring the concept of a crew running an express steam train in the present day together, and based the engineer on myself - the little girl who was asked all those years ago why she was wearing a “boy’s hat.” I gave her my thyroid disorder and body type with the hopes of working through my body dysmorphia and coming to terms with myself...and then I allowed her to fall in love with the head conductor.

Much like me, Engineer hides her weird body shape under a giant coat most of the time, but eventually she comes to realize that regardless of what she looks like, Conductor loves her, and I started to think that maybe things weren’t impossible for me after all after writing for the two of them for a few months. I even went and bought a vintage conductor hat off of eBay for myself for my birthday, which I now wear a lot more than I should in public.

In late June of 2021, Ingo and Emmet were added to the mobile game Pokemon Masters EX, and in early July, I finally realized that I had been crushing horribly on Emmet for the entire time. (I’m dense, I know.) I finally started using this to explore myself a bit more and understand that I could have the things I didn’t think I deserved because of how I looked and how people treated me in the past, and I began to heal from everything slowly but surely. I allowed myself, in my silly little imagination, to feel things I’d never felt before. I obviously knew it wasn’t real - this was just pretend to work on accepting that I could have it and could be loved - and slowly, quietly, things began to improve. By the end of 2021, I realized that I had burned myself out, and I actually liked myself enough to put effort into myself again, not just into others. I started eating better, exercising more regularly...and my mood improved, and my strength started to come back.

I have a shelf in my bedroom. I call it my Serotonin Shelf. On it is all of my Submas merch; it’s right at the head of my bed. It’s simple: I look at the shelf, and my brain produces the neurotransmitter serotonin.

These two actually gave me what I needed to be myself again. I cannot overstate that. That’s actually what happened here.

In late 2021, my dad and I went on a pandemic-delayed trip to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to see the site of the flood.

On the way there we made a stop at Strasburg.

I reunited with Old Rivets for the first time in ten years, and this time, I was in uniform when I did it.

And this time, I had some friends with me.

(This photo is blurry because the focus is actually 4-8-4 Northern Norfolk and Western 611, the Queen of Steam herself, in the background; she was visiting Strasburg for the season and my dad and I had to go see her.)

Given how these two have helped me heal and remember who I actually am, you can probably understand that the Legends: Arceus spoilers hit me extremely hard. I went and read the datamined text from the entire game to see if Ingo would be okay. The game leaves it up in the air - you, the player character, and he are both brought back from the present day to do things in the past, but from what I could find it’s unclear if either of you gets to return home. And to make matters worse, Ingo can’t remember who he is, including that he has a twin brother. It ripped my heart out as someone who adores the two of them, as someone who has a younger brother, as someone who lost her own identity once...as someone who found herself again because of these two fictional characters. If they’re considered permanently separated, I don’t know what I’ll do. I need closure on this. I need to thank them both for everything they’ve done for me...for giving me myself back.

And thank you especially, Emmet, for giving me my smile back.

#about me #I like trains #Submas #this became a fucking essay I'm so sorry #holy shit I didn't think it would get this long but I wrote this over hours #I just had a lot of emotions to deal with

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vaduart · 4 years

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I made this design of Ellie’s backpack. I love that spaceship pin 🤧

sticker available on my redbubble store

spaceship only here

#the last of us part 2 #tlou2 #ellie williams #ellie backpack #the last of us #the last of us fanart #the last of us 2 #digital art #my store #stickers #merchandise #art #artist on tumblr #design #endure and survive

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summerstardust · 4 years

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Did You Miss Me? Part 6

Dhawan!Master x Reader - Previous Missy x Reader

Summary: The reader and The Master adjust to a normal human life together and ignore the negative possibilities of the future. Did You Miss Me? Masterlist

Warnings: alcohol consumption, leading up to smut but no actual smut

Word Count: 2786

You woke up smothered in The Master’s arms, your face was against his chest and his chest hair slightly tickled your nose. You breathed in his scent of burning firewood and mint and shifted closer to his body. You kept your eyes closed and blissfully relished in running your hands over his body.

“Good morning, love.” His morning voice was so beautiful, deep and dark but filled with so much love for you.

“Mornin’” You nuzzled even closer to The Master, trying to make this domestic moment last as much as possible.

“Sleepy aren’t we?” You could hear the smirk in his voice, but you didn’t care. You were going to enjoy this moment for as long as possible.

“Don’t judge my sleep schedule, Time boi!” He laughed at that, his laugh reverberating through his chest and into yours. The pair of you spent a few more minutes entangled around each other before The Master asked, “Are you hungry? I can make us something.”

You looked up at him who was staring down at you with warm chocolate eyes and you responded joyfully, “I would like that.” The Master burst into a sweet smile and kissed you on the nose. He was going to move away, but you reached up and kissed all around his face until he was giggling at your actions. You and The Master finally released each other from your tight grips, allowing the both of you to escape the warm confines of your bed. The Master walked straight to your small kitchen in his purple boxers, which you didn’t notice the night before. You waited back a bit, and looked for a top to put on before following your newly returned love. You finally found the top you threw out of tiredness and was about to put it on until you saw The Master’s shirt thrown in the corner of your room. You quickly dropped your own shirt and delicately gathered up his and wrapped it around your body.

When you entered the kitchen, The Master had already started cooking for the pair of you. You quickly moved to gather up some dishes and utensils to offer some help before he could complain that he wanted to do everything for you by himself. You ordered the dishes on your small kitchen table and prepared for the food The Master was cooking, but as you waited, you hugged him from behind as he had done the night before. Once he finished everything, the two of you moved to the table with the food and began eating.

You were halfway through your meal when The Master suddenly asked,“Wait! Don’t you have school?” You giggled at his worried face. You knew that he questioned the effectiveness of Human schooling, or at least he did as Missy, but you were happy to know that he continued to care about your interests.

“No, it's a Saturday. So we can spend more time together and I will be able to help you plan out your new Human persona.” You moved to refill your tea cup.

“You don’t have to help me, Y/N.” You could sense that The Master was going to continue and ramble about how he didn’t want to get you involved, and you interrupted him to not hear his self isolating rant.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Master. I’m going to help you. We already have one part of your persona, also known as my new boyfriend. Now, what were you previously?”

“MI6 agent and shopkeep, as you know. I was a caretaker at a hospital on a spaceship, prime minister, a professor at the end of the Universe.”

“Hold on! You were prime minister?!”

“Yes, my name was Harold Saxon. Don’t you remember?”

“I mean, kind of, but I was really young then, I wasn't really focused on politics. But didn’t you kill the president of the United States?”

“Of course that’s what you remember!”

“Of course! You know me and my gen z opinions on corrupt politics.”

“So what do you think I should do?”

“If we go to the store we can look at what people are advertising for on the bulletin or go online and look for available jobs.”

You had to go to the store anyway, because it would cause too large of an output to have the TARDIS gather food for you, so there you could look for what people were advertising for. The two of you walked because there was a shop close by and you thought that it would be nicer to spend as much time with your newly returned love for as long as possible. The two of you didn’t talk on the journey, but The Master would constantly look over to you longingly as you led him to the store, but the two of you didn’t talk until you reached the bulletin board just inside the shop.

“You could be a substitute teacher. You mentioned that you were a professor once.” Your eyes moved over the board again, but this occupation seemed like the most logical. There were the obvious options available, like dog walking, cat sitting, and babysitting, however those options would not be acceptable for The Master. The image of The Master babysitting would be a hilarious sight, though. The only other mostly suitable job offer was that of an assistant at a local bookstore.

“Yes, but I didn’t really teach. I just tried to reconstruct a primitive human spaceship. And why would I stoop so low as to be a substitute teacher?”

“Well, you didn’t hear this idea from me, but an accident could befall a teacher at the school. Then you and your history of being a great substitute would allow you to rise up the ranks of the school and become a regular teacher there. Then you would be able to influence the next generation.” You smirked at The Master, who stood shocked but impressed. You quickly turned back to the board, your face falling. “Actually, maybe you shouldn't be a substitute teacher.” You ripped the number of the bookshop off the flyer and handed it to The Master, but he swiped your hand away.

“No, no, no, I think you are right, my love, I should weave my way into this school.” His smirk grew as he planned for the future, grabbing hold of your hand once again.

“What have I done?” You spoke to yourself, disappointed in the ideas you put into The Master’s twisted mind. The Master responded to you anyway.

“Something brilliant, dearie!” He pecked your cheek with a kiss before hauling you off into the rest of the store to do the shopping.

After going through the shop once, your cart was already full, and The Master continually asked how the pair of you were going to take all of these groceries home. You would always explain that this store knew you well, and they are perfectly okay with you taking the store’s grocery cart home, then bring it back the next time you went to the store or immediately after packing all of your stuff away. This is one of the reasons you always went here instead of places on your university. It was just considerate that the store would offer all of the students some more help. The Master was sceptical, however, or he was judging Human food choices.

“Is all of this necessary?” The Master eventually spoke up again.

“For a couple weeks worth of food for the pair of us, yes.”

“Well, I don’t eat as much as you. How much do Humans eat?” His tone was confused as he picked up and looked at the nutrition facts and ingredients of some of the foods in your cart.

“A decent amount, my love.” As soon as The Master placed the current food he was focused on back down, you sped off to go through the store once more, just to check that you had everything. The Master quickly ran after you, glaring. You ignored his glare and told him that you had everything you needed, and if he wanted anything, he should get it now. The Master rolled his eyes, but left you to go find something. You waited near the self checkout section for him and whatever he was searching for. But you didn’t have to wait long because The Master came trudging up next to you holding a couple bottles of wine and several bars of mint flavoured chocolate. You smiled at his selections, but told him to put everything in the cart before getting in line to check out.When the pair of you were next in line, The Master moved to the chip and pin machine saying,“Let me.”

“I can pay for everything.” You were going through your items and were unaware of The Master’s facial expression.

“Please. Let me.” You looked up from what you were doing and saw his intense face. You didn’t know what he was thinking, but you didn’t want to cause a scene, so you nodded to him and finished checking out all of your items. The Master then pulled out his TCE and fiddled with the knobs and buttons before scanning the chip and pin machine which quickly registered that everything was paid for. He smiled at you, putting his TCE back in his pocket and pushing the cart out of the store for you.

“See. I can handle it.” He eventually spoke on your way back to your apartment.

“You didn’t have to do that.” You said solemnly. You didn’t know what he was thinking, but you thanked him even though you disagreed with his actions.

“I wanted to, though.” He didn’t know how to tell you that he did this because he wanted to take care of you. It was easy for him to demand and declare things of people he could use or people he didn’t like, but because he cared for you so much he was unable to explain himself. You were the one person that stayed with him through so many things, and The Master didn’t know how to handle it. He could only think of rudimentary servicelike actions to offer you, like cooking or buying items you needed. But words were too daunting right now.

You and The Master carted your groceries up to your room and you began to put everything away within your cabinets and refrigerator. The Master pulled his TCE out again and teleported the cart back to the store, then he joined you in putting everything away. Once everything was clean and in its place, The Master asked “So what do Humans do on a Saturday night?”

“Party and get drunk and try to hookup.”

“Are you serious?” The Master moved his arms to where they were folded across his chest in a skeptical act.

“Very. Saturday night is party night. How do you not know that from all of the times I would hang out with Bill?” You missed Bill and your friendship, but you also loved joking about said friendship because The Master was always jealous.

“Don’t mention her.” The Master uncrossed his arms and moved until he was standing face to face with you and looking you in the eye. You could only smirk because you knew that you would win this.

“Why? Jealous?” You leaned forward to where your noses touched.

“Obviously.” The Master shot back at you and you continued to smirk.

“Awww, poor jealous baby!” You moved to where you were holding The Master’s face in your hands and you covered his face in pecks and kisses. “Let’s have a nice wine night in and watch a cool show!” You walked to get the bottles then off to the living room so you could get comfortable. “Get the glasses will you.” The Master hated how you could still make him jealous, but he would let it pass because this was basically his first day fully back in your life. He quickly got two glasses and followed you. The two of you made your way through a bottle and a show The Master needed to catch up on. You were getting drunk faster than The Master, but he was trying to drink more to make it more equal, but he wanted to tell you something before the pair of you were too drunk.

“I have something to tell you, Y/N” You looked up at him, scared that this bliss was going to end. He looked very serious, but still happy. You thought that it was one of his tricks and he was going to tell you something serious.

“You’re going to leave, aren’t you?”

“What! No!” He paused and regained his composure despite how much he hated how that was your first thought, “No, my love, I’m not leaving, I just need to tell you something that I should have long ago.” He paused again to hold your hands in his large ones.

“My real name is ---” The phone starting to ring interrupted his declaration.

“I should get that.” You began to move to answer it, but The Master pulled back down beside him, meaning you wouldn’t be able to answer the phone before the answering machine went off. You still hadn’t changed the message from the one Missy had recorded.

“Why hello, lovely Human! You seem to be calling at an inconvenient time, turns out the owner of this home is in the middle of a very private act” she audibly gasped before laughing and the younger version of you yelled at Missy to put the phone down. The recording of Missy continued to laugh at the younger you’s shocked attitude before saying, “Do whatever it is you Humans do on this primitive device.” The Master smiled at you as you hid your face in embarrassment.

“We should probably change that. Don’t you think?”

“You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad?” The Master rubbed the pad of his thumb across your cheek bone and leant into you, but the person calling began to leave their message, ruining your moment.

“Hi! Y/N, it's me Graham. Yaz and Ryan said that you haven’t been answering your calls or texts. We are all worried about you. We want to make sure that you are safe. But there’s also a problem with The Doctor. We know that you know her more than we do, so we were just wondering if you could help us. She’s really distracted, something about her home planet and The Master. Please just talk to us, Y/N, we need your help.” You looked away from The Master before stating, “I need another drink.”

“Or we can move on to the hookup part of this Human Saturday night ritual … I’m positive that that will also make you forget about that message. It will probably be even more effective than alcohol.” The Master was trying and that’s all that matters. You could see that he was trying to be good for you and to take care of you. You wanted him to reassure you, but you still enjoyed everything he was doing for you now. And you couldn’t imagine what he was going through,

“You should be happy that I love you because that was an awful chat up line.” The Master’s mouth fell open in shock at your uncomplimentary comment, but quickly turned into a smirk when it finally registered in his brain that you said those three little words.

“You love me?”

“Of course! Wanna go to bed?” The Master smiled again, he just wanted to be with you. He finished off the last of the wine bottle then got up from where he was seated on your couch and picked you up, carrying you with your legs wrapped around his waist. He threw you onto your bed, then kissed up your body until he reached your lips.

“Well, this is going to be a bit different…” The Master joked.

“I’m sure that we can learn and manage just fine.” You giggled at The Master but reached up and stroked his check affectionately and reasuredly. The Master smiled down upon your form beneath him. He could never understand what you found so appealing in him, but he would be damned if he ever let you leave his life. He wished that he could tell you how deeply he felt for you, but for the moment, he would have to settle for showing you. The Master leaped forward and recaptured your lips. The two of you then began a night of passion, your love for each other drowning out the sound of a soft beeping alarm emanating from the TARDIS console.

#doctor who #doctor who imagine #doctor who x reader #the master #the master imagine #the master x reader #dhawan!master #dhawan!master x reader #dhawan!master imagine #fanfiction #personal post #request #anon #series #sacha dhawan

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rigelmejo · 3 years

Text

Re-reading hanshe with less word lookup is going well. I'm in section 10 already. I mean that's a long way to go with 209 sections. But if I'm doing 5 a day like rn that's 40 days to read instead of months like before, so with for increased reading speed. If I get up to 10 chapters a day that's 20 days to finish reading this fic which is under a month. Anyway we'll see.

Mostly I'm curious if when I hit 1/3 in, which is where I've read to before, if extensive reading no longer becomes possible because I don't have enough already-studied words for those parts afterward.

It’s interesting rereading because I can also start to tell which words/hanzi throw me off the most. There’s a number of new words I guess/remember quite easily, due to hanzi I remember easily. There’s also a number of 4-hanzi phrases I figure out easily because their hanzi are familiar and similar phrases I’ve already learned. however, STILL the words for suspicious, doubt, hesitate ALL trip me up! If I want to read fast I just guess which one the word means based on context! The hanzi for those 3 words just looks TOO similar to me especially with meanings that to me are also quite similar (if you doubt something you may be suspicious, if you doubt something or are suspicious you may hesitate, so the words are quite similar in meaning in my head).

怀疑 Huáiyí - doubt, suspect, be skeptical

犹豫 yóuyù - to hesitate

犹疑 yóuyí - to hesitate

(you will notice the bottom word uses a hanzi from hesitate, then a second hanzi from doubt, and it makes me confused as all hell as a result whenever I see any of these 3 words because I see hanzi from another similar word and then get lost about which means which).

Anyway, the hanzi I confuse for other hanzi/being part of other words, seem to be the ‘already learned’ words I am clicking the most. Because I’ve seen the word or hanzi many times but STILL the sound has not stuck in my mind so yet again I’m looking up the pronunciation. Like 绸缎 chouduan (silk) and chan (getting tangled/wrapped/involved with with someone/thing) 缠. I see the silk side radical and the enclosure on both (though the enclosures are different), and because they look pretty similar EVERY time I see chou as in silk I want to read it as ‘chan’. About 80% of the time I see that word I have to re-check the pronunciation. Reading extensively is actually helping slightly, in that I think my brain is making more of an effort to remember the pronunciation since I’m trying to be less likely to look something up again so its just got less chances to retain the info. This is the first time in like 6+ months of encountering the word chouduan that the pronunciation is FINALLY sticking in my brain.

Words that have familiar hanzi are much less of a struggle, even when new, and I wonder if my comprehension really is close to 98%? I didn’t measure this fic hanshe, just some novels I had (zhenhun was 95%, dmbj 1 and saye were 98%). But I can tell that if I don’t care about sound, I’m not running into many ‘incomprehensible in context’ words at all, and usually a word or less per paragraph that I full on can’t pronounce or make a good guess for a pronunciation I remember (and those words aren’t necessarily the new ones - so fucking often that word is just youyi huaiyi or youyu ToT lol). My point is... my ability to read aloud has improved, I can actually read quite a bit more hanzi aloud on sight than several months ago. I am practicing reading aloud a little since I have terrible ‘read aloud flow’ right now lol.

Also? Realizing if I read aloud I am almost guaranteed to say every 了 as de by instinct first. I bet thats 1 part that pleco app always reads 的 as di, so I overcorrected in my head with ‘it actually sounds like de in many situations BE aware’ and then now when I see le I just automatically switch into ‘overcorrect di mode’ lol. Another part is I think it might reflect my speaking comfort level a little. Le is not terribly difficult to use for beginner appropriate conversation tasks (like saying “i went to the store” etc) but in conversations idk why I rarely use it or rarely make a mental note when i do use it, so like when I type i am well aware its something i write without then realize i skipped and put back in. So its interesting to me when reading and inner-vocalizing or speaking aloud, my brain is actually still doing the same thing as my writing pattern - skipping the word then only adding it back in if i realize i skipped it.

---

Hanshe getting easier over time also speaks to the difficulty of priest novels like? While i love them and will trudge through? The language in hanshe used to be peak too much for me it would take me 1.5 to 2 hours to finish a chapter. And priest wasn't even doable. Then eventually I could read tianyake in 1-2 hour chapters then eventually in 20-30 min. Eventually I could read hanshe again in 10-20 minute chapters. But like - however difficult hanshe is, priests writing is harder to read. Priest just has more unknown words per page for me.

I am wondering when priest’s writing will go from doable to a bit easier than just doable, the way hanshe did. Probably a long way off (and I’m aiming for zhenhun and modu, I suspect sha po lang and can ci pin will take much longer as they’re genres I don’t read).

On the topic of genres: I may read tangstory’s 2 novels that are sequels - one historical court, one republican era. Those are two genres I don’t read, but I do watch shows in those genres so learning some of the genre words would fall in line with things I would LIKE to eventually read. Tangstory’s stories are on the shorter side (much shorter than hanshe or zhenhun dang) and show as like 35 sections in my reader app (compared to 209 ToT). They have lovely english translations if I do need clarification or just want to read them later, and again those genres are ones I should get more familiar with.

Other options for reading for more genres: Qi Ye for more historical/court vibe language, and Tian Ya Ke when I’m ready again for its wuxia language - but both of these require me braving a full priest story which. I don’t want to start anything right now that will take more than 2 months to read. Upside is these both have nice translations to refer to, downside is I need to be able to read priest easier to tackle them. And if I’m reading priest easier I may go right for Zhenhun (both because its a goal novel of mine to read and because I know a lot more supernatural/modern words).

For detective novels, I’d like to branch out into maybe SCI Mystery (seems closer to my reading level except for the detective terms which I should learn), Ding Mo novels (like the one Love me if You Dare is based on) since Ding Mo has been recced to me and the reading level isn’t too high, PoYun (but the reading level IS around MoDu and I can TELL - but I think it opens with more vocabulary I should learn and am unfamiliar with as far as detective stories/police/action and weaponry words).

I want to branch into something easier as a first sci fi novel, but I can’t think of any I want to read except C语言修仙 and 残次品. On a guess, I’d say the first novel is probably easier if ONLY because its 2 print books instead of 4 ToT. Also Can Ci Pin has gratuitous variety of names and I think as a cultivator novel maybe Cyuyanxiuxian will have more of a modern-like one country setting with less new terms to learn (versus Can Ci Pin with new planets, names, spaceships and tech, mech suits, mutant and disease terminology, govt terms, etc).

#september #september progress #if u read the rant notes like this and u are not me then congrats ur ability to sift through a mess is <3 #these are mostly notes on the learning process #in case one day into japanese i wonder how reading skills progress #i'll be encouraged knowing this is how the process went before in another language #or if i hit another plateau in chinese. these kinds of posts help me figure out #what worked last time or what weak spots i neglected that i could work on still

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space-life · 3 years

Text

Some things about Space Life

Space Life is a science fiction webcomic set in an indefinite future on a small spaceship traveling the cosmos. On board the spaceship we find Tom, an astronaut we always see with a suit and helmet and AL, the voice of an artificial intelligence. Welcome to spaceship Beagle 5. Sit back and enjoy following Tom and AL on an extravagant adventure among the stars. Try to find countless references to famous and little-known jewels from scifi, nerd and pop culture.

Some things about Space Life

The Beagle 5 spaceship takes its name from the HMS Beagle ship. The HMS Beagle on her second voyage hosted the then young naturalist Charles Darwin on board, whose work made the Beagle one of the most famous ships in history. Number 5 is a tribute to Eagle 5 (which also has a certain similarity with the name Beagle) spaceship of Spaceballs (A 1987 american science fiction comedy film co-written, produced and directed by Mel Brooks).

AL is a tribute to Alan Turing. Philosopher, mathematician and cryptographer. The test that bears his name is still considered today a valid tool to ascertain whether a machine is able to compete with human intelligence.

AL also remembers HAL 9000, the supercomputer aboard the spacecraft Discovery in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Arthur C. Clarke's book of the same name. In 2003, the American Film Institute placed HAL 9000 in 13th place on its list of the 50 Best Movie Villains of All Time. What surprises will AL have in store for us?

The work break raises the question about the future of work and about human-machine interaction. For further information see Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari and Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom

The game of chess proposed by Tom in "Origin" is a tribute to the great chess challenges between man and computer. Chess and computers have gone hand in hand since the dawn of information technology. Between the end of the 40s and the beginning of the 50s the first articles appeared (with signatures of illustrious scientists such as Claude Shannon, Norbert Wiener and above all the aforementioned Alan Turing) that designed algorithms capable of playing. Memorable were the challenges between Kasparov and IBM's Deep Blue.

In "Spoiler" Tom says he wants to start reading "War and Peace". The reference is to the Peanuts character Snoopy who loves War and Peace, but in order not to get tired he reads no more than one word a day.

After the Apollo 1 fire, Snoopy became the official mascot of the Apollo program's aerospace security, testing and rebuilding.

The Apollo 10 lunar module was named "Snoopy" and the command module "Charlie Brown".

The Silver Snoopy award is a special NASA award in the form of a silver pin engraved with Snoopy with a space helmet. It is given to an astronaut who works in the space program who has gone above and beyond on the pursuit of quality and safety.

In "Cultural evolution" we refer to the cultural evolution in animals. In recent decades, a burgeoning literature has documented the cultural transmission of behavior through social learning in numerous vertebrate and invertebrate species. A meaning of "cultural evolution in animals" refers to these findings and I present an overview of the key findings. I will then address the other meaning of the term focused on cultural changes within a lineage. Such changes in humans, described as "cumulative cultural evolution", have been spectacular, but relatively little attention has yet been paid to the subject in non-human animals, other than claiming that the process is unique to humans. A variety of evidence, including controlled experiments and field observations, has begun to challenge this view and in some behavioral domains, particularly birdsong, cultural evolution has been studied for many years. The scifi reference is to "Planet of the Apes" and compared to the bears to the short story "Bears Discover Fire" by American science fiction author Terry Bisson.

"Time" is set in the vicinity of the black hole M87 . It's the central black hole of the giant elliptical galaxy Galaxy Virgo A, encoded as "M87" (the largest galaxy in the "near" universe, located 56 million light years from us , in the Cluster of the Virgin). It has a mass approximately 6.6 billion times that of the Sun.

That the time be one illusion is a mantra of many modern theoretical physicists. In the equations of the "loop quantum gravity model", with which Carlo Rovelli, Lee Smolin and others try to unify Einstein's general relativity and quantum mechanics, time disappears. What exists at the fundamental level are only "atoms of space". The universe and its history are nothing more than ways in which these "space atoms" are arranged. (Rovelli's Book)

Tom's answer - "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so"- is a quote from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams.

Have fun finding references and quotes in the next few episodes! feel free to write your ideas in the comments.

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shadowthrone-ammanas · 4 years

Note

i dare you to write a drabble involving the Awful Pride Outfit

Thank you for the request! Happy super-duper early pride month everybody!

Pride Outfit

Hat Kid had first noticed it in the Metro, people carrying around little multi-coloured striped flags or pins. She’d seen such things a few times before but now suddenly there were a lot more of them. At the same time, the owls and penguins at Dead Bird Studio started carrying around such things too. They weren’t random colours either, lots of the patterns she saw were the same, the most common being a rainbow. They had to mean something, right?

“They’re pride flags,” Mu explained when Hat Kid finally asked during one of their hangout sessions on Hat Kid’s ship, playing video games. She had one too; a bracelet with rainbow colours. “It’s officially pride month so everyone’s wearing them now either to show support or to show their sexuality and stuff.”

“What’s pride month?”

“Hmmm… I guess you’re an alien so you don’t know,” Mu paused the game, turning her head to look at Hat Kid. “Basically, a long time ago people were assholes and oppressed anyone who was lesbian, gay, bi, trans, etcetera; you know, people who were different from what was considered ‘the norm’. So people started pride month as like a protest to that. These days it’s mostly about celebrating that that’s not a thing anymore.”

That was a perfectly valid reason to celebrate but… “Why would anyone ever care about that kind of stuff to begin with?” Hat Kid had never once encountered anyone who cared about that kind of thing on any of the planets she’d visited. She never would’ve thought anyone would care, let alone be mean about it. And apparently there’d been enough of them to oppress an entire group of people, how was that a thing?

Mu shrugged. “I don’t know. Not even the Mafia care about that kind of thing and they’re the worst. So, I don’t understand either, it’s literally the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard.”

“Well uh… can you tell me what all the different colour patterns mean then?” Hat Kid wanted in on this whole pride month thing mostly because she liked the colours but also celebrations were fun, especially when the cause being celebrated was a good one.

Mu groaned. “There are like a million of them. But fine, I can teach you the most common ones I guess.”

Hat Kid wasn’t sure what pride flags would represent her. She was still just a kid and it wasn’t something she’d ever thought about before, she’d been focused on much more important things such as learning how to fly a spaceship. So instead, she went for a hodge-podge of as many different pride flags as she could fit on a single outfit. It was more fun that way anyway.

She made it herself, using the sewing machine aboard the ship, using the most vibrant fabric she could possibly find. She of course also had to have hair to match; she made a whole new magic paintbrush to make her hair bright neon rainbow coloured. She made a whole new top hat too, two different flag colours on each half, the strip larger than normal to display a third set of colours. She even painted her shoes which would eventually rub off but whatever. And then to top it all off she put all the pride pins she’d found at one of the stores in the Metro onto the hat and a few on the cape, making it even more colourful.

She hopped in front of the mirror to look at herself. All the deep vibrant and neon colours made the outfit even more obnoxious that the outfit she’d dubbed ‘the Obnoxious’. She loved it. She simply had to show it to all her friends.

She went in search of Mu first and found her in the break room of Cooking Cat’s studio. She stood up as Hat Kid walked in.

“What the peck are you wearing?” she asked before Hat Kid could say ‘hi’.

“My pride outfit, you like it?” Hat Kid did a little twirl. “I made it myself.”

“No kidding since no one in their right mind would make such a thing. It looks like a pecking colour wheel threw up on you. It’s hideous. If you’re planning on wearing that to the pride parade, I’m not going with you anymore because I prefer it when my eyes aren’t bleeding.”

Hat Kid giggled. She’d expected such a reaction. Dressing tacky and obnoxious was fun in part because of such reactions. But also, she was just weird and liked such things, peck anyone who wanted to judge her for it.

The door behind her opened again and in came Cooking Cat. Naturally her eyes locked onto Hat Kid. “Oh my goodness dear, what are you wearing?” She sounded a bit concerned.

“It’s my pride outfit. I made it all by myself. You like it?” Hat Kid did another twirl to make sure Cooking Cat saw all the colours on the cape too.

“It’s uh… lovely,” she forced out with a smile.

Mu scoffed. “Don’t lie, it’s supposed to be hideous. She wants to give everyone who looks at her a headache.”

“It’s not meant to hideous. It’s meant to have as many different pride colours on it as possible because I want to support everybody and because more colours equals more fun.”

“And that is a noble goal,” Cooking Cat said, patting her on the shoulder. “You do you hon, okay? And don’t you be mean to her about it Mu, let her do her thing.”

Mu scoffed again but otherwise didn’t reply.

“I’m going to go show all my other friends now too. So see you guys later.” Hat Kid gave them a smile and a little wave before leaving. She couldn’t wait to see how everyone else would react to it. And she was totally going to wear it to the pride parade three days from now, it’s what she’d made it for after all. Really when Mu had told her about the parade, she should’ve expected Hat Kid to do something like this, it was her own fault she hadn’t.

For this request event.

#My Writing #ahit #A hat in time #pride month #Hat Kid & Mustache Girl #Background Mama Cooking Cat

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thewildwaffle · 4 years

Text

Abduction - Chapter 27

Would you look at that? Got it posted on time! Thanks for the motivation everyone! especially @cyberstrikebeast - you don’t need to hunt me down, we good! :D I’m not sure if I’ll get another chapter out before the new year, I will for sure be writing in it since I’m taking time off work, but we’ll see how it goes!

First Chapter Previous Next

“For the sake of sanity, ”Simmo hissed, “would you hurry it up!”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Mike whispered back, “am I taking too long? Would you like to do this instead?”

Simmo sighed and clicked her mandibles faintly.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Mike grumbled under his breath as he turned back to the task at hand.

The task was, to be honest, one that 7-year-old Mike would have absolutely loved. They needed to find where Jeb was being held. To do that, they needed a computer that could grant them access to confidential information. To get to a computer that had the right authorization, they needed to break into an information control room. The ship was currently in what Mike referred to as “night mode,” so the control room would be empty. However, that didn’t mean it was easy to get to. Hence the high security in the corridor.

And what a fun security system it was too! Obviously, it must seem impossibly daunting to most- otherwise, the Burnti would never have installed it, but to Mike, it was straight out of his childhood games where he’d imagine he was a secret agent and had to infiltrate the bad guys’ lair. There were lasers to avoid and everything. He could see them, dimly, but they were definitely there. When they’d arrived, he’d had to stop Simmo from walking right into them. She stayed behind as he carefully wove under, over, and around the beams of light, quietly humming the Mission Impossible theme song, much to Simmo’s annoyance.

Currently, he was standing in front of the gate that blocked the hall. He’d climbed up to where it looked like there was a locking mechanism. No luck there. He was stumped for a moment until he noticed the small colored pins inset along the wall. He picked at them, poked at them, twisted, pulled. It was clear they were mechanized. If he tried hard enough, they probably could be moved by hand.

“Do you know if there’s some sort of pattern or whatever for these pins? Like, do I need to match up the blues, or…” He trailed off. He forgot she wouldn’t be much help with this. Simmo, and apparently all Montauk are colorblind. Seeing in color was something only a handful of species could do, or at least, only a handful of species in the Galactic Confederation. Maybe more could see color in the Burnti Empire. That might explain why there’s some sort of color-coding something on this stupid gate.

It took a bit, but eventually, he was able to figure out how the pins were supposed to move when the locks were engaged or disengaged. Moving the first pin out was hard - they were so small! Thankfully, due to the fact that he hadn’t had access to any clippers or files, his nails had grown long enough to pick out the pins so he could work them along their grooves and out of the way. Once he moved a few, it became easier to move the rest.

He grabbed one of the horizontal bars and pulled. It budged, but just barely. He tried again. It rose maybe two inches. Dang, this was heavier than it looked. It didn’t help either that he didn’t have much room to lift - there were two lasers he had to avoid right behind him. Mike turned around and leaned against the gate, trying to figure out the best move.

“Don’t look at me,” Simmo grumbled. “Even if there weren’t all these light sensors, I wouldn’t be much help lifting that thing. Why do you think I brought you along?”

Mike turned back to the gate. “And here I thought it was for my winning personality,” he sighed. He widened his stance and carefully squatted down to the level of the bar he needed. He’d taken a weight-lifting class once in school. He’d been pretty good at it then, and he did his best to keep good form- not that he had much choice. One wrong move and he’d set off the sensors. He grabbed the bar, locked his elbows and lifted with his legs.

Oh boy. If they got out of this, he was going to hit the gym, get back in shape!

The gate lifted enough that he could shuffle his knee under it and give his arms a break. He lifted again and repeated with his shoulders. He carefully stepped over a beam of light on the other side to try to give himself a better stance as he lowered the gate back down. The angle was a bit awkward and it slipped halfway down and slammed loudly against the floor.

Both Mike and Simmo winced involuntarily. Simmo glanced down the hall they had come before turning back to glare at Mike.

He sighed and pretended to brush it off by continuing the rest of the way over the lasers. He was glad Simmo couldn’t see his hands or legs shake, or hear how fast his heart was beating.

He was able to maneuver the rest of the way without incident. A little stumbling, and a lot of shaking, sure, but he made it.

He let himself take a bit of a breather at the other end, shaking his legs so they’d stop feeling like jelly. “Wow,” he muttered to himself. “Always wanted to do that. Always thought it’d be more fun. Life and death situations seem to suck the fun out of everything.”

He entered the code on the panel like Simmo showed him. The laser light show sensors turned off. Mike’s mind was starting to wander as he thought of what the differences there must be between his and Simmo’s - and whoever designed these things, eyes. Why could he see the beams that were supposed to be invisible? Was it with the cones or rods in the eyes? Was it because of how the brain processed the light? He didn’t get very far in thinking though. A loud clang nearly made him jump out of his skin. The gate was raising. That was the loudest gate he’d ever heard. Why did everything always so loud when you were trying to be quiet? After getting over his initial scare, he cringed as it continued its way up loudly. He really hoped no one else was nearby. They would get caught all because of a stupid gate that desperately needed some WD40. Or whatever the Burnti used.

Simmo quickly made her way over and entered the command to restart the security protocols. Mike wasn’t keen on the idea of having the dang gate move around again, but Simmo assured him it was necessary to maintain their cover while they were in the control room. Thankfully, the mechanism that moved the gate was a lot quieter going down than it was going up.

The control room itself was not exactly what Mike had been expecting. As soon as they opened the door, he anticipated seeing a few cramped desks or tables covered with computers and monitors, star maps, electrical displays, the works. Instead, it was a rather spacious room with large decorative tapestries with several inlets and nooks along the walls. In the middle of the room was an impressively large, round computer console. A few steps away was a set of shelves storing everything from datapads, books, what looked like scrolls, and cylinder can things of various sizes and colors.

“So,” Mike drew out the word as he walked in and looked around and up. This place had a vaulted ceiling? On a spaceship? Classy. “Is this like some sort of library, or…?”

“A what?” Simmo marched immediately towards the computer console. She opened up the holographic display and began entering information.

“You know, a library,” Mike circled the room, checking out the inlets and tapestries. “A place where people keep lots of books and movies and old magazines or whatever. You can read there, or study, or research things?”

Simmo didn’t answer. She was now moving through the readouts on the display and scrolling through what didn’t seem important. Mike ran a hand over one of the tapestries. It swayed with his touch. Behind it, there was a small nook tucked away. Nice. He grabbed the tapestry again to steady it. It was huge - it hung all the way from the ceiling to the floor, and it was beautiful. He wasn’t sure the shapes on it meant anything, they were a little abstract and there were symbols he couldn’t read, but it was beautiful nonetheless. He stared at it a while longer, admiring the handiwork and skill that had gone into its creation before walked back to where Simmo was still looking up where Jeb was being held.

“Any luck?”

“He was put in the brig two levels up from us and in the rear of the ship.”

“Okay. Great! That was fast,” Mike nodded and headed toward the door. “Let’s go get him, let’s… Simmo?”

Simmo didn’t move from her spot. Her antenna flicked slightly, but she kept searching the hologram.

“Uh, Simmo, we’re on a bit of a time crunch here, let’s get a move on.”

“And how do you plan on getting out of here without a ship?”

Mike stopped. “I thought we’re taking yours.” He paused for a moment, waiting for a response. Simmo just continued swiping and searching the computer. “Do you… not know where yours is?”

“It’s been missing for about a partec now. It was supposed to be moved to bay 9 after it was done with some repairs, but it never showed up. Rozar told me to not worry about it, that the repairs were probably just taking longer than expected. Thing is, he never checked into it further. Every time I try to do so myself, I never have clearance.”

Mike’s stomach dropped. That didn’t sound good. They had to find the Junk Lego, it had to be somewhere.

He stepped over to Simmo to help her look. He couldn’t really read many of the symbols on the display but moving felt like something he could do. He needed something to do, needed some way to help. Before he could get far, however, he heard the loud gate outside the corridor being raised again.

“Simmo, someone’s coming! We know where they’re keeping Jeb, let’s get out of here! We’ll figure out where your ship is later.”

But Simmo didn’t move from her spot. Files and reports continued coming up and she kept sifting through each one at incredible speed. Mike stepped closer to her, sizing up how best to grab her and pull her along in a way that wouldn’t end up with him getting cut up by her sharp hands. Suddenly, the screen froze. Mike glanced at the topmost file on display. He still couldn’t read it, and for several tense moments, Simmo couldn’t stop reading it.

“Simmo,” Mike ground out. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears and all this standing around business was beginning to feel torturous. They had to hide!

“My ship,” Simmo whispered without taking her eyes off the display. “It’s gone.”

The loud clanging noises of the gate stopped. Shoot. Mike looked back at Simmo. She must have heard it, even with the control room door being closed. She was still fixated on the screen.

“Simmo!” Mike hissed through his teeth. The voices were right outside the door now, muffled and talking quietly, but getting closer.

Mike slapped at the screen’s controls, shutting it down and all but tackled Simmo and dragged her behind the tapestry. Just in time too - the tapestry was still moving and swaying a bit when the door slid open. Thankfully, the new arrivals were too deep in their conversation to notice. Mike didn’t dare look around to see who it was, but he could swear he recognized the voice of one of the speakers.

“This is not what my people were told,” a silvery voice entered the room. “We’ve waited long enough. The Burnti aren’t the only ones with whom we can make deals.”

“We’ll have the truminium soon now that the Galactic Confederation out of our way.”

Mike shrunk back farther. He knew that second voice. Commander Rozar had one of those very distinct voices.

“That’s been partecs now. You’ve sure been taking your time since,” the silvery voice countered. “Having too much time with your galactic streamings about your little prizes, perhaps?”

Mike tentatively inched to the edge to get a look, being careful to not be seen. Sure enough, there was that grand, feathered sloth jerk himself, talking to an alien Mike had never seen before. She looked very catlike. Larger than a booka, but larger and with a much longer torso with thick spotted gray fur and long antenna-like whiskers all over her body. She was standing on her hind legs, or maybe standing was too generous a term. It was more like she was balancing on her back legs. It’s long, thick tail helped to keep her balanced.

Mike ducked back behind the tapestry. ”What ith that?” he lisped to try to avoid being overheard.

Simmo leaned over to peer around the corner. “Priso. They’re not with the Burnti. They’re from some coalition near the Green Mallak nebula.” “Ok. That doesthn’t help. I have no idea what any of that ith.”

Simmo made some sort of gesture that Mike had to assume was Montauk sign language for ‘shut up.’

Rozar and the priso hadn’t yet noticed they weren’t alone. The priso had said something which caused Rozar to flatten the feathers at the back of his head cooly. “If you’re going to be keeping up with your delightful attitude, you can always spend another cycle or two in a cell.”

The priso shot him an icy glare. “Your diplomacy leaves much to be desired.”

“And what, do tell, are you going to do about it? Complain about me to your superiors? I’m sure they’d applaud the lengths I’ve gone to not outright strangle you.” The priso’s fur ruffled. “Is that a threat?”

“No,” Rozar said calmly, “a statement. Though I’m sure many of your superiors wouldn’t mind if it were. I’m surprised you don’t hear more of them.”

The priso’s ears went flat against her skull, the same with its whisker-like antenna. She bared her teeth and let out a low growl.

“Oh do calm down, Sitran my dear,” Rozar sighed. “That’s what got you in trouble before.” He turned to the computer console and pulled up the display. Mike tensed. He hoped that whatever Simmo had been looking at before wasn’t still there, or if it was, it wouldn’t tip Rozar off that something was wrong. Thankfully, the display had reset itself when they closed it down in their rush.

“Ah, here we are,” Rozar looks closely at the display before turning toward a set of shelves. Picking up a datapad, he activated the display and handed it to the angry priso. “Perhaps this will help allay some ill will. This datapad should include the pertinent communications we’ve had with Earth. Or at least with the governments that have been expressing an interest.”

Sitran took it and began scrolling through with a paw. Her ears came forward and the offended expression on her face melted away into a mix of curiosity and wonder. “These are just the ones that...” she continued to scroll. “How many governments does Earth have?!”

Rozar stepped back toward the main computer console chuckling lightly. “My understanding is that humans just wandered around their planet. When they got too far from each other, they started doing their own things, made their own cultures, formed new languages, and even their widespread appearances changed in some cases to adapt to new environments. In short, there are enough for everyone to share.”

Mike felt a mix of confusion, alarm, and anger. He wished he could just step out there and wipe that smug look right off Rozar’s face. Like he knew anything important about humans! What was that jerk planning?

Rozar,still very much unaware of Mike and Simmo’s presence, was very much enjoying showing off his human-related knowledge.

“There’s a file with everything you need near the top. Several files actually. I’d recommend reviewing the health and safety files thoroughly. There are things you wouldn’t think would pose a health hazard. You wouldn’t want to get something in your paw broken during a customary human hand greeting.”

Simmo leaned into Mike’s ear, “Please tell me that’s not a real thing.”

Mike turned back to her and thought for a moment. “Uh, handshake? I think he’s talking about handshake-th. That’th tho dumb. They don’t hurt”

Simmo didn’t look comforted in the slightest.

The priso was still looking through the files, fascinated. Her wide eyes were darting across the screen. “I thought most of this was just rumor. Humans sure don’t mess around, do they?”

“Oh no. They certainly do,” Rozar corrected. “That’s part of the problem with working with them. But I imagine that if the Galactic Confederation has been successful at integrating them, then it’s obviously manageable. The rewards vastly outweigh the risks, as you can see in the next file.”

Simmo leaned into Mike’s ear again. “I want a copy of that datapad.”

Mike pushed her face away from his and peeked back out.

“You’ll want to read through the behavioral files as well,” Rozar had now moved over near Sitran and was pointing out the folder in question. “We’ve tried to log as much information as extensively as we can, but it’s very much an ongoing endeavor. Our own humans have been exceptionally-”

The door slid open again. Mike jumped back a bit out of habit to avoid detection. He didn’t really need to, the new arrivals, a pair of yellow guards immediately rushed in and saluted Rozar.

“Commander,” the shorter of the pair rushed, she sounded like she was out of breath, “We have apprehended a ship, sir.”

“The escaped prisoners?”

“No sir, a Galactic Confederation ship.” That got Rozar’s full attention.

Rozar ignored a quirked look from Sitran. “Come again? A Galactic Confederation ship?”

“Yes sir, we were in pursuit of the escaped prisoners and they came out of nowhere sir. By the time we had them, the prisoners had gone to hyperspeed.” “A diversion perhaps?” Sitran mused.

“Quite possible. Two of the three missing prisoners were Confederation officers, I believe.” Rozar’s tail swayed dramatically from side to side, red and purple feathers brushed lightly on the floor. “They helped them get away and let themselves be captured. We’ll know for sure after we’ve interrogated them. And then we’ll make an example of them for the rest of the meddlesome Confederation fools.”

The guards suddenly looked rather sheepish. “Ah, yes, about that,” the second, taller guard started. Rozar snapped his head towards him, which only disconcerted the guard more. “Their ship is still in docking bay 4, but they themselves… aren’t.”

Rozar stared at the pair of them silently for what seemed like forever. Mike leaned out a bit more from behind the tapestry.

“They aren’t… what?” Rozar nearly spat.

The guards shifted uncomfortably. “They… aren’t on their ship anymore. Ah, a few moments after the air seal locks disengaged, three of them rushed the doors and were able to break through the ranks. They, ah, well they are now loose aboard the Arum Bloom, sir.”

Silence.

“They... broke the ranks?”

“Ah, yes… sir. The guards were not prepared for them to leave their ship like that, or leave willingly at all. Several have had to be taken to the infirmary. Two granims have serious concussions and are in critical condi-.”

“How many?”

“Uh, sir?”

“How many Galactic Confederation soldiers are now running amok on my ship?”

The first guard paused nervously. The second piped up, “From the reports we’ve received, there are three, sir.”

Rozar stepped away from the computer console and began pacing slowly, sharp claws clacking against his jaw. Mike slipped a bit back behind his hiding spot as Rozar walked by. The Burnti Fleet Commander had his eyes closed, sure, but he still felt dangerous. Mike could feel the anger and tension building up. He was pretty sure everyone in the room could. Even Simmo, who had barely moved from her hiding spot at all, scooted almost imperceptibly closer to Mike’s side.

“Three.” Rozar sighed deeply. “Three soldiers were able to ‘break your ranks,’ injure several guards, and avoid capture?” Rozar stopped in front of the guards, his feathers puffed out a bit as he arched his neck to look down at the guards. “Please illuminate to me how, by all that is bright and shining, three soldiers were able to, thus far, elude you all.”

Mike did not envy the guards’ position. He knew it was silly, they were Burnti- his captors- but part of him even felt a little bad for them.

One of them, the second one, managed to gather a bit more courage and straighten up. “Two of them were human sir.”

Mike gasped. Simmo glowered at him.

No one must have heard, thankfully, because the guard continued, “We had scanned their ship as we brought them aboard, but something was interfering with the scan. Before we could completely set up for boarding protocols, two humans and a booka attacked and got away.”

“Well, Commander,” Sitran drawled out dramatically, “It seems you certainly are busy. I can make sure my superiors take this,” he closed the display of the datapad, “as a gift of good faith for the truminium trade, shall I?”

Rozar made a sound that was a mix between a grunt and a growl.

Sitran walked toward the door. The two guards hesitated, unsure if they should try to stop her or not.

“I’ll just see myself out then,” Sitran stepped around them and toward the door, calling back smugly, “Don’t worry, I remember where my ship is, unless of course it’s been moved or stolen in all the commotion lately.”

Mike ducked back to hiding as Rozar stormed by. He was definitely growling now. After a moment, he heard the blips and hums of the computer console as he pulled up the report readouts the guards had brought him. More reports were sent in as the search for the intruders went on.

Simmo quietly thunked her head against the wall. “They are never going to leave. We need to get out of here,” she hissed under her breath.

“There are humans,” Mike whispered back. “They’ve probably come to rescue us!”

“Two humans. Two humans came. Oh, and a booka. Great.” Simmo started to roll her eyes but stopped herself once she realized what she was doing. “Against everyone else aboard the Arum Bloom? They’re idiots for coming at all.”

Mike sighed and leaned to spy on what the other occupants in the room were doing, but before he could, Simmo grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

“Now look here you little monster,” her face was right in Mike’s again, “don’t you go getting any stupid ideas. We’re getting out of here as soon as we can. I agreed to take you, Wenona, and for some reason, Jebannuck, but I draw the line there. We are not risking our plans to save more humans on a doomed mission.”

Mike smiled. “Aw, Simmo, you said our plan. Like we’re a team,” he teased. Simmo hissed quietly and pushed him back. It’d been a soft push, sure, but as Mike stepped back from it, he tripped over his other foot and stumbled back, landing on his butt past the tapestry.

He froze. He felt like he could feel every. Single. Heartbeat.

Frewan.

He turned his head to the middle of the room. Maybe Rozar hadn’t seen. Maybe he’d had his back turned and didn’t notice.

Yeah, no such luck.

Rozar stared back at him, surprise coloring his wide golden eyes.

After a few tense heartbeats, the two guards finally snapped out of their shock and pulled their blasters, leveling them right at Mike.

Before any of them could react further, the control room door opened again. A huge hairy mass raced towards Mike. Booming barks felt like they were shaking the entire room.

“No one shoot!” a familiar voice commanded. “Put your weapons down!”

Mike had his hands full of massive, hairy, very excited dog. By the time he was able to sit back up and wipe the slobber off his face, Wenona had disarmed the guards and was handing their weapons to Jebannuck. She kept her blaster pointed directly at Rozar, but carefully, her eyes wandered to where Mike was trying to settle down Carson.

“Oh, Mike,” her voice bounced cheerily, “I’m glad you’re still alive. Because I’m about ready to kill you.” She dropped the smile. “Where have you been?!”

“Uh,” Mike stood back up, “with Simmo.” He motioned for her to step out from behind the tapestry. She was hesitant, but as soon as Mike had acknowledged her, Carson started sniffing. Then growling. Mike stroked the dog’s head. “It’s ok boy, she’s a friend.” Which earned a simultaneous scoff from Simmo and a quiet “Well…” from Jebannuck.

Simmo cautiously took a step out from behind the tapestry. Carson sniffed eagerly at her while Mike held his collar.

“What is that thing?!”

“That’s Carson,” Mike scratched the dog’s ears. “He’s our unofficial pet until we can get him home to his real owners back on Earth.”

Simmo’s antenna were flat against her head and her mandibles clicked quietly, but she didn’t stop the canine and instead stood stiffly, waiting for it to be over. When Carson was done, he huffed loudly and stood resolutely between Simmo and Mike.

“Simmo,” Rozar’s voice broke the tense silence, “I assume I’m to hold you responsible for at least most of this mess.”

“Quite likely.”

Rozar looked like he was trying to kill Simmo just by glaring at her. He looked like he might say more, but Jebannuck spoke first. “Simmo, are you the one who opened the cells?”

Simmo tilted her head stiffly. “Yeah, whatever. You’re welcome.”

Jebannuck stared at her. “You opened the entire cell block. There were more than just prisoners in there. You almost got me killed.”

“If I’d known it was your cell block, believe me, I would have found another distraction.”

Mike waved them both down. “Okay, fine, it’s fine. I mean, now we don’t need to break Jebannuck out.” Simmo made a long grunting noise and looked away. Mike looked at her, but shook his head and chose to ignore whatever she meant by that. They were together now, and they had to act quickly. “Simmo, you said something earlier about your ship?”

Simmo looked to Rozar who gave the smallest hint of a grin.

“It’s gone.” Simmo clenched her sharp claws. Mike, Jeb, and Wenona glanced at each other. Simmo only had eyes for Rozar Silence. Finally, Wenona, still aiming a blaster at his chest, took a warning step closer.

Rozar sighed. “The parts were useful. Plus,” he sneered, “we didn’t want you getting any bright ideas. Apparently, I was right to be concerned.”

“So we steal another ship. We get out of here,” Wenona said matter-of-factly.

Jebannuck shook his head. “That may be impossible. They’ll have increased guard duty since the last prisoners did that.” “We can take them, we have the blasters.”

“We don’t need to.” Mike jumped in. “There’s a ship, a Galactic Confederation ship.” He nodded at Rozar. “I overheard them earlier.”

“Yeah,” Simmo scoffed, “with its crew now wandering somewhere on the ship.”

Rozar chuckled. Wenona readjusted her aim on him that had been slipping during the conversation. “So what will you do now? Will you steal their ship and save yourselves, or will you get yourselves captured by trying to find them?”

“Shut up, Rozar, no one asked you.” Wenona gave him her iconic glare.

“Shoot him,” Simmo growled. “We don’t need him overhearing our plans so he can stop us once we leave.”

“And give the Burnti a reason to go to war against the Galactic Confederation?” Jebannuck countered. “He’s not just some guard, he’s a fleet commander, and we wouldn’t be doing it in self-defense!”

Wenona sighed and looked back at Jeb. “We can’t just leave him either.”

Rozar used the momentary distraction and dove behind the computer console. Wenona shot a blast which barely missed him as he went, brushing over the feather tips of his tail. Carson barked wildly, pulling Mike who was still holding his collar with him a few steps before Mike could regain footing.

The entire control room erupted with noise and no small amount of panic. The guards, even without weapons, rushed them in order to protect their commander. Wenona swore and tried to move to get another shot at Rozar, but her limp slowed her down. Jeb was able to shoot one of the guards, but the other crashed into Wenona and both of them fell to the floor.

Carson was still barking wildly but was now trying to pull Mike along to defend Wenona. He let go of the dog’s collar and yelled to Jeb to throw him one of the spare blasters. The guard that had attacked Wenona screamed as Carson bit its arm.

A loud tonal beep blared from speakers that must have been installed in the walls or ceiling. Rozar’s voice echoed in the room, outside in the hall, and Mike assumed, everywhere in the ship, “This is Fleet Commander Rozar. Humans have escaped. Armed and dangerous. Kill on sight.”

Mike felt like a bucket of ice water had just been dumped on him. We need to go. We need to go! WE NEED TO GO! He wasn’t sure if he had yelled any of that as he rushed forward and pulled Carson off the alien guard who quickly scrambled away holding its arm tightly to try to stop the purple blood from where they’d been bitten.

Simmo picked up one of the dropped blasters and tried a few more shots towards the computer console at Rozar as Jeb helped Wenona to her feet. She stumbled and gasped in pain.

“For my ship!” Simmo roared as she blasted away at the console. “For my crew!” She rushed the side to get a better angle. Mike couldn’t see if she got him or not as he struggled to pull Carson towards the door. He wished he had some sort of leash to help guide the dog away from the now-cowering guard and toward the door.

“Carson, come!” The dog grudgingly let Mike pull him along.

Jebannuck was trying to pick up Wenona who was almost bent over with pain.

“What’s wrong?” Mike yelled. “What happened?”

“No time, hold this,” Jeb handed him an extra blaster so he could lift Wenona over his shoulder, using his now free hand to hold her in place as he ran to the door. “Simmo,” he shouted back, “We’re leaving! NOW!”

The montauk was already at his side. She frowned as they headed for the door, “What’s wrong with her?”

Jebannuck didn’t answer immediately. He led the way down the corridor and paused at the next turn. “Did either of you happen to overhear where the Confederation ship is being held?”

Mike thought back for a moment, trying to remember. “Docking bay 4,” He turned to Simmo. “Do you know where that is?”

Simmo paused then nodded and took the lead down the corridor.

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

#abduction #humans are weird #humans are space orcs #aliens #space #jebannuck #mike #wenona #simmo #montauk #burnti #original writing #writeblr #novel #oh my gosh this took forever to write!#just need to get it written

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slurrmp · 4 years

Text

festive prompts are now open | 25.11 - 25.12 requested by my writing wifu @myghostmonument

28. “ are - are those supposed to go on the tree? ”

It had started to snow in Sheffield. The first snow of the season and you couldn’t have been more excited. You weren’t used to the cold or the snow, in fact the only Christmas’ that you were used to were the scorching hot ones that would involve swimming in the pool in the backyard, while you waited for the Christmas lunch to be served and then to quite literally go to sleep on the couch because it’s too hot and you’re too full to do anything else.

This was probably one of the coolest things you had ever witnessed this entire year. Well, you could say that was a lie, considering the whole entire year you had stuck by the Doctor and the others. To think, visiting your best friend on the other side of the world and during that very fateful day would have led you to meeting the strangest and most amazing person in the whole entire universe.

It must have been the adrenaline and the excitement of it all that by the time you had all made it back to Sheffield, you had forgotten that you had to actually go home at some point. Taking out the plane ticket you had sadly looked at Yaz and then pouted, until the ticket was pulled out of your hand.

“Oi!” You exclaimed taking a step towards the Doctor, the sun making you squint as you tried to grab back the ticket - before she proceeded to rip it in half. A slight squeak escaped your lips then. “I spent like 900 bucks on that!” But you couldn’t help but take a step backwards, when the Time Lord shot you an almost manic look, that you were a little worried.

“You won’t ever have to fly commercial again, [y/n] !” She beamed excitedly as she proceeded to dump the pieces of your ripped plane ticket into your open palm. True the TARDIS was probably more amazing than the person that was flying it, but you still couldn’t help the stress that would lay at the bottom of your stomach whenever you traveled, considering you wasted almost $1000 on a plane ticket you would never use.

Yaz had wanted to spend this weeks adventure at home. It was snowing and everyone was getting a bit restless being stuck in the TARDIS together. For a spaceship with infinite rooms, it sure did like putting the bunch of you together often. You could tell that the Doctor was disgusted by that idea, the slight scrunch of her nose when Yaz spoke was the only indication that the Doctor couldn’t really stay in one spot for too long. But it didn’t take her long to reluctantly agreed, which meant that the gang would split up. Graham said he was going home just to be by himself for a little while and Ryan ended up meeting up with friends he hadn’t seen in almost year - for them it had only been a couple of weeks.

While Yaz, you and the Doctor all went back to Yaz’s place. Najia suggested that they start decorating the tree that her and Yaz’s dad had just put up. The Doctor’s face lit up like she was a kid in a lollie store. “Oh excellent!” The Doctor beamed as she flopped down onto the couch, seeming a lot more relaxed around the normal environment. “I’m a champion at Christmas tree decorating.” She continued. “Won the national title tin the Outer Rim three years in a row actually!” You couldn’t help but scoff slightly at her story. The blonde turned to you and she pouted. “It’s true! Got the trophy’s to prove it.”

You had gotten used to the weird and quirky stories that she would come out with. But you hadn’t really gotten used to the weird physical items that she would come out with. You and Yaz stared as the Doctor appeared back in the doorway a few hours later, she bounded towards the tree and dumped a box of what ... honest to god looked like grenades. You two stared at each other, before you turned to face the Doctor again. “Uh Doc?” You called and the blonde Time Lord didn’t turn around, just hummed slightly in acknowledgement - while placing one of the three white looking grenade things on the branches. “Are - Are those supposed to go on the tree?”

This time the traveler did turn around, her tongue poking out the corner of her lips, before they pulled into a massive grin. “Course!” She exclaimed all but throwing one of the ‘ornament’ onto the couch, you and Yaz couldn’t help but flinch. The Doctor frowned slightly, before she looked down and her brows rose and her mouth pulled into an O expression. “Ah, I can see why you would be concerned.”

“You think!” Yaz butted in, but the Doctor just bounded over the couch, with one of the things in her hands.

“No, no, don’t worry!” The Doctor then reached out, grabbed onto your wrist and shoved the ornament into your hand. “Look.” Pulling the small pin that was on top out, the room suddenly exploded into multiple colours, patterns and what appeared to be actual video played on the ceiling and the walls. Christmas colours and completely random colours also flooded the living room.

“Oh wow.” You mumbled stepping closer to the Time Lord and holding the thing out towards her. You couldn’t take your eyes off the footage that was being played above you ... a man wearing a bow tie and with ridiculous hair beamed brightly at what you ... assumed was the camera. It was then that you suddenly heard the ambient noise that seemed to be from the footage and ... festive music filling the living room. “What is it?”

“They’re like grenades, but they are so much more friendly and well, keepable really. These are the trophy's!” She seemed so incredibly proud, she didn’t realise how close she was standing near you and neither did you to be honest. “Christmas - it’s not just a holiday, a tradition to Humans, but it’s an actual planet - a place where so much joy and love is spread.” Her hands were doing that thing they did when she was enthusiastic about something. “They made these ornaments to hold the memories of a special time. The footage of time gone by to help those remember, while the colours represent the communities and then -” The Doctor trailed off as the green and red flooded the room once more. “Then there’s the red and green, Earth’s symbol for Christmas.”

It was true, as soon as the pin was pulled, a wave of happiness and joy had spread throughout the whole room, filling you with what could only be described as the Christmas spirit. “That’s ... amazing.” Yaz mumbled as she stood back slightly - suddenly watching what was going on between the two of you.

You grinned and let your gaze lift from the trophy, only to catch the Doctor’s hazel gaze. Your grin started to shrink as you noticed how close you two really were, but you swallowed and didn’t even flinch. “They’re ...” you trailed off, getting lost in her gaze once more. “They’re amazing.”

The Doctor beamed. “And to make them even better...” She pulled the trophy from your grasp, soft hands brushing over the backs of yours. The Doctor pushed the pin back in and the room suddenly fell quiet and that warm feeling was gone ... but not completely vanished. “You can relive it over and over again.”

#doctor who #the doctor x reader #13th doctor x reader #thirteenth doctor x reader #thirteen x reader #doctor who imagines #christmas prompts #* & SPYRO WRITES.#that ending is so bad.#but if i kept going ... i would have written like a thousand more words.#aNYWAY.#bitch is back bc of that TRAILER.

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abundantchewtoys · 4 years

Text

Homestuck^2 re: Chapter 3 “How Are Your Feelings” p96-118

So, the next chapter appears to be about an attempted feelings jam.

I think it might be too early yet for the pursuing crew, so maybe we'll have a look at Karkat and Meenah?

Though if there's ever a way for the pursuing crew or Dirk's crew to meet up with the new teens, I'm fully expecting Vrissy to have a "mom?" moment re: Kanaya or Rosebot.

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Page 96

OOoooh!! Okay, so I was wrong.

Hah, that does look like something Jake would do - build a fleet of wildy different space ships.

Plus, it's an emerald pirate ship... In pursuit of a great white whale- I mean shark. Hah!

So yeah... It's been three years since Rose and Kanaya were together. :/

I suspect the crew is made up out of Dave, Karkat, Jade (perhaps possessed) and Roxy. But that'd mean Jane had the run of Earth C for all this time, and Calliope is back there in a worsening political climate.

Hmmm... Maybe Roxy would have chosen to bring their partner along though. Even though Callie is upset by the presence of her other self. In any case, I wonder what they look like! Whether they're still a deadringer for Dave.

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Page 97

Pfff, what an exhaust pipe. I love the visual pun.

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Page 98

Woooww, this reminds me of Problem Sleuth / Midnight Crew visuals! So purple though. Whose room is this, Roxy's? (It might be closer to violet than purple.)

Ooh boy, Calliope's about to take over the narrative. So she hasn't let poor Jade out of her grasp, or at least not definitely.

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Page 99

D'aaaaahh, she's a frickin devil now. PFfffffffff, this is Dave and Karkat's room! Glad to see Davekat's still canon.

I bet this might be a recurring occurence, Jade/Calliope coming in at the most impossible hours bearing ominous tidings.

Hihih, so she's taken over the command box only for now. I suppose it's a clever way to show she could still take over the narrative is she was so inclined.

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Page 100

Dave is more upset with Karkat than Jade, pffff.

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Page 101

Ooooh, new outfits! Wait, Calliope made herself a new outfit. :/ She's getting comfortable in that new body.

Karkat has a Time shirt for a pyjama, hahah. I'm pretty sure he fell on his sweater, which probably still bears the Cancer sign.

Cool to have a squinting version of Dave's sprite. Now all we still need is one with his eyes wide open, but this is a start.

I'd start wondering if Calliope's starting to be a bit lonely, reaching out to Karkat and Dave like this with her message. And yup, she does it all the time. Dave's blasé about it.

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Page 102

Welp! Jade's doing the Possesion 180-degree turn of the head now.

Return of the gross, oil-slick coffee machine from the meteor, maybe? :P

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Page 103

Oh cool, at first glance Roxy's appearance is that jarring. Maybe her coup is a little shorter than before, but not as short as she wore it during the Meat epilogues, near the end. Guess she might be working through some of the same things as Candy Roxy and understanding she doesn't have to go all non-binary if that isn't where her heart is up at in.

Also, cool shades! Though, of course, a Heart is a bit of a faux pas perhaps, giving who they're chasing. :P

So Jade at least spent the first part of the voyage more silent. But as her powers grow, she has more control over Jade's body. :/

Cool, Dave has Karkat's shirt as part of his jammies. Roxy just went with a full on hoodie. At least I think it's her jammies, she's reading at the kitchen table but it's probably still night.

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Page 104

Pfff. Welp. Yes Roxy, mirroring what you think your ancestors were doing ends up looking dumber when you actually meet them in person.

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Page 105

ooooh, okay, so her hair is back to mirroring Dave's coupe. Roxy's hair is a bird pass it on. I love the sprite art, also of the kitchen itself.

Cool to have a comparison is size between meteor and this ship. Though with even less to explore, I can see how things might have grown dull around here. Also confirmation of Roxy's pronoun change, still a thing.

And I have a feeling Dave and Kanaya are in for a feelings jam.

Blaperile has a point, maybe Calliope commands the attention of the narrative, but she commands the narrative itself, so she can make the story follow Dave instead, as he goes to find Kanaya.

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Page 106

Cool, even the inside looks like a pirate ship. Jake's quite taken with matters of appearances, practicalities be damned! :P

I suppose alchemizing a spaceship and a sailing boat would result in still a viable means to cross the void, the physics behind alchemization would ensure it.

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Page 107

That appears to be a different hairstyle or hood. ... Is she wearing a grieving gown?

Maybe she's contemplating how she's ended up here, having to deal with another clown coming between her and her loved ones. I wonder how much harm she's wishing to heap onto Dirk, I mean.

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Page 108

Aww, that rose in her hood.

And yup, Dave has it pinned down: they keep finding themselves either literally or figuratively chasing through the void, with no idea what's coming. You know, remembering how Dave saw the meteor as his first real home, I get the idea he might be the most in his element here. But he knows it's not a healthy pastime.

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Page 109

She's wearing a ribbon much like Rose used to wear.

What story could Rose have reserved for reading to grubs, and what are the odds Vrissy knows the story as well, having been raised by Rose?

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Page 110

It is on point for both Kanaya to read too much into Rose's story, as well as Rose putting all that symbolism in it on purpose.

... Aww, she's really hurting. But through the hurt she's started to wonder, perhaps in an attempt to limit her pain, whether she isn't being manipulated into feeling like this. At this point, it could really be either.

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Page 111

Wow. Okay, Dave's really opening up here to Kanaya. It was actually a relationship I didn't really see evolving due to both of their inherent awkwardness.

But that's Dave for you. If you find a place in his heart, he'll die before he lets you go into harm's way alone.

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Page 113

Turntable gesture! And okay, yes, via Dave it's shown Roxy's back to identifying male after the past few years.

Yes, his and Karkat shit has definitely changed, for one, Karkat almost unabashedly acknowledges they're matesprits back there in the kitchen.

And it's Kanaya who does the title drop after all, not Dave like I was starting to think.

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Page 114

Awww, yeah, Dave is really the only one left of the old B1 crew in a normal state of mind. Here's to hoping his brush with Davebot doesn't leave him in a state like Callie.

And yes, Dirk has shown his true colours, and Dave is feeling like a runt for ever thinking he could be different from his Bro. :/ Poor guy, I feel for him.

Meanwhile, he innocently hopes that Dirk's influence was the only thing causing Jane and Jake not being good leaders for Earth. Too bad we know the alternative is far from good.

Though he's also oversimplifying, since he himself said that Earth C society wasn't sustainable in the long run, they just sped things up.

Aww, he admits to feeling more in his element out here. Yeah, I very much understand that. It's easier to deal with fewer people in your social circles, a lot of the time.

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Page 116

Ah, the other side of the coin. Dave and Kanaya are bonding over Rose. Karkat and Roxy are kind of related as well through Dave.

Oooooh, so Calliope DID come along. Brave of her, with how "Jade" unnerves her so.

Karkat's right, the people that left weren't really so close to him as to others, he mostly here to support Dave! But of course we know he really would be good at leading at least a rebellion. Though it wouldn't really feel fulfilling either.

I wonder what's in store for Karkat, in fact, if it isn't to be a leader.

"KARKAT: I LITERALLY FOUGHT PEOPLE FOR CONTROL OF THE TEAM, AND WHAT ENDED UP HAPPENING WAS LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY FRIENDS BESIDES KANAYA DIED. KARKAT: ACTUALLY, SHE DID DIE! KARKAT: FUCK! KARKAT: I’M ZERO FOR ZERO! ROXY: ur kinda an intense dude anybody ever tell u that KARKAT: NO."

Best interaction. Is Roxy really going to help Karkat deal with something here? :P

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Page 117

Hah! Yes, well, I guess Karkat already has his win state the way he wants it! Though he's still feeling conflicted about it on some level, but that's just the type of person he is.

Roxy's REALLY gunning to make pancakes, hahah. Guess a part of her really is good at the whole caring thing.

---

I definitely like the pacing of the chapters so far. Good combo of visuals and conversation.

#homestuck #homestuck^2 #reaction #homestuck^2 chapter 3 #roxy lalonde #dave strider #kanaya maryam #karkat vantas #alternate calliope #liveblogging homestuck

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sasuhinasno1fan · 5 years

Text

A night with my Japanese class crush

Inspired by these prompts I found here. I love college/university aus, there the ones I tend to default to since I'm in college myself. College

Lance knocked on the door again, hoping someone would answer. This wasn’t happening. He was not locked out of his own dorm room because he forgot his keys in the room when he went to go grab dinner and study. Except, well, he was. He knew Hunk wasn’t there. His high school sweetheart went to a college a few hours from theirs and her extremely over protective brother wasn’t going to be on campus for the weekend. His other suitemates though, James Griffin and Lotor Daibazaal, the assholes, had to of gone out for the night. The most annoying thing was they all hung their keys up on hook by the door, so they knew he didn’t have his keys yet they still locked the door. He groaned, dropping on the door and sliding down to the floor. It was cold outside and he just wanted to go back into his room and put his fuzzy shark onesie on and drink hot chocolate and fall asleep listening to the new Alexander Jean CD he finally got.

Part of him wondered if he’d get in trouble for falling asleep in the dorms’ lounge but he knew the last time someone had done that, they woke up with dicks and curse words drawn on their face. Lance was not risking that. He tried to think, was anyone he knew on campus still awake? Allura? No, she had early morning practise, so she’d be asleep with her earbuds in and he didn’t really know he roommate too well. Adam? He was the RA for a whole other building and if he remembered correctly, his favourite TA was on duty tonight so he couldn’t have guests. Pidge? No to that too, they lived with their brother and Matt loved annoying him by flirting with him and he didn’t have the mental compacity to put up with him right then.

In his frustration, Lance picked up his Japanese text book and threw it down the hall, where it hit the door on the other side. He heard the door opening as he threw his face into his hands.

“What the hell? Lance?”

He looked up and froze when he saw the person at the end of the hall. Shit.

“Keith!” he cried, shooting up and stared the other male. “What, what are you doing here? I thought you lived in Montgomery.”

“I do, but my brother lives here and he’s busy and asked me to watch his cat.”

“Huh?” Cat? Pets weren’t allowed in the building? And what brother? And why was Keith even here?

Keith and Lance were in the same Japanese class. He had noticed him on their first day. There class was set up so the desks were in a circle and Keith was opposite Lance. the first thing he had noticed was his hair was a bit of a mullet but other than the tragic hairstyle, Keith was really good looking. Like drop dead gorgeous, with his dark eyes and obvious muscles. Back when the weather had been hotter, Keith came to class with his bangs clipped back and his hair tied into a messy bun and Lance felt his heart stop. No one should look that good. Didn’t help that he’d been in a tank top and it took everything in him not to get lost during the lesson because he kept staring at Keith. Whenever they stood next to each other when the teach would have them practise writing characters, Lance would control himself not to blush. God, literally last week, they were paired to do a practise conversation and Keith asked him if he was free on Saturday and Lance melted a little before remembering it was a practise conversation.

“What are you doing out here? And throwing your textbook out that hall?”

“Huh?” Lance realised Keith was talking to him. “I left my keys in my room by accident and even though my other roommates so my keys on the hook by the door, they still locked it.”

“I can call security for you?” Keith offered, holding out Lance’s textbook.

“Thanks, but Hunk used the suite’s free passes when he kept forgetting his keys, hence why we hang them up by the door now.”

“Oh. Are any of your roommates coming back?”

Lance shook his head. “Hunk’s gone to see his girlfriend for the weekend and I know my asshole roommates left for the night. Everyone else I know isn’t the best option to stay the night with.”

“Did you want to stay the night with me?”

“What?”

“My brother went to grab something from the student store and his therapy cat keeps meowing if he’s not in the room, so I’m keeping her occupied.” Keith explained.

“That’s what that noise was?” Lance said, thinking back to the times he was so sure he heard a cat meowing. Then he remembered something else. “Wait, the guy who carries the spaceship bag is your brother? I though he was a pre-vet student.”

“Shiro a pre-vet major? No, Shiro studying to be a teacher. He’ll be back soon and my roommate dropped out halfway through the semester so I’ve got a dingle. You can sleep on the extra bed and we can come back the next day to make sure your roommates are back.”

A whole night with Keith, alone? Lance would not make it through the night.

“I, I don’t have anything to wear. I needed a shower.” Lance tried to excuse.

“Most of Shiro’s hand-me-downs I use as pyjamas. I have extra towels too.”

Lance struggled to find another excuse. He didn’t want one because a whole night with Keith, yes please, but it was also Keith.

“Sure.” He agreed in the end.

“Cool, come on. we can wait in Shiro’s room till he gets back.”

Lance slowly followed Keith into the room, which he realised was one of the random singles on the floor. While one wall was taken mostly by a bed, the other had a large cat tree and a steady incline of perches, including a bridge that lead to the dresser. Tangled up in a teasing rope toy was a black cat, with a few patches of white.

“That’s Kuro, Shiro’s therapy cat.” Keith explained as he gently nudged her side, moving when she twisted in attempt to sink her claws into his foot.

“Oh. Ok. Medical issues?”

“Mostly. He has really bad anxiety after this accident he had. He’s much better than he was when he first got her but I guess you can say she’s overprotective. She doesn’t like having him out of her sight.”

“I see.”

The door opened and the guy Lance and Hunk were always so sure was a pre-vet student came in, unzipping his jacket. Most of his black hair was hidden by a beanie, but his white dyed fringe was still in his face.

“Oh, hello?”

“Shiro, this is Lance. He lives across the hall.”

Shiro’s grey eyes lit up with recognition. “Right. You live with Lotor right?”

“Unfortunately.” Lance said. It was no secret he didn’t like Lotor or James.

“Yeah, he makes it a habit to complain about me bringing Kuro to class.” Shiro said.

“I’m sure he does.”

“Lotor and his other roommate locked Lance out so he’s gonna spend the night with me.” Keith said, picking up his jacket from Shiro’s bed.

“Alright.” Shiro pulled out two bowls of instant ramen and gave whatever was left in the bag to Keith. “I’ll see you around Lance.”

“You too.” Lance said following Keith out the door and back into the cold air.

“Are you hungry?” Keith asked, his words slightly muffled with his scarf around his mouth.

“Um a little.” Lance admitted. “I can just grab something from the vending machine when we get to Montgomery.”

“No need, I have food in my room. I hope you don’t mind ramen.”

“Consists of most of my diet.” Lance admitted.

They soon reached the building and Keith tapped his student ID to the card reader, pulling the door open when it let out a beep. He led Lance up two flights of stairs and down the hall where a door covered in a Sherlock door poster hung, making the door look like the door for apartment 221B. According to the old marking on the door jam, it was actually room 221.

“Wow.”

“Yeah, I had gotten the poster for Christmas before I started college and when I saw what my room was, I knew I had to bring it.” Keith unlocked his door and let Lance walk in first before he followed him. one side of the room looked unoccupied while the other was obviously lived in. the bed was covered in red and black sheets, the blanket shoved near the end of the bed, almost covering the large hippo plush. The desk was pushed against the end of the bed and held a large monitor for the desk top computer. Most of the wall was covered in posters of different anime or space related. On the chest of the drawers, acrylic stands and figurines were spread out, picture frames placed in free spaces around them.

Lance dropped his things on the empty bed and glanced over at the pictures. There was one with Keith and an older guy. He almost looked like Shiro but Lance could tell that he resembled Keith more. Another picture held a woman in army fatigues who looked more like Keith. There was one with Shiro and Keith along with a dog, who looked like more fur than anything. He looked over at Keith as he dropped his jacket onto the chair, taking the bag to the microwave that sat on top of the mini fridge. He turned on the kettle sitting on top of it and pulled out the other bowls of ramen.

“You said you didn’t like beef ramen, right?” Lance looked confused, unsure how Keith even knew that. “You mentioned it in class one day, around the food section?”

He had mentioned that, but that had been during a practise conversation that Lance knew he hadn’t been paired with Keith for.

“Um yeah. Don’t really like the taste of it.”

“I have soy sauce udon, is that ok?” Lance nodded and watched Keith pull a container out from the fridge and put it in the microwave. He picked up a mug that seemed to hold all the cutlery Keith owned and held it out for Lance.

Lance smiled at the sight of Studio Ghibli themes chopsticks as he took the Kiki’s Delivery Service ones.

“I didn’t realise you were such an otaku Keith.”

“Have you seen my bookbag?”

He had. It was covered in pins from different animes and the bag itself was Kingdom Hearts themed. “I prefer my pins on an itabag.”

“Oh I have itabags, I just don’t use bags on campus except for my bookbag so there’s no point in bringing them.”

Lance couldn’t help but laugh. He was still nervous about staying the night in Keith’s dorm, especially with his crush on him but he was learning a lot about Keith. It was slowly becoming easier to relax around him. The microwave went off and Keith pulled out the container, a cloud of steam erupting when Keith opened it and offered it to Lance.

“Seafood dumplings. I was going to finish these tonight so feel free.”

“Is it ok?” Lance asked. With Keith’s nod, Lance picked one up between his chopsticks and took a small bite. “These are good.”

“There’s this kinda unknown dim sum place not far from here. It’s pretty good.”

“Sounds like fun. I should check it out.”

The kettle went off next and Keith went to fill the bowls with hot water, keeping the lids down with a chopstick each before sitting next to Lance on the bed. He took Lance’s chopsticks from his hands and used it to pick up his own dumpling.

And there went Lance’s blood pressure, shooting up at the thought of using the same utensils as Keith.

‘Congratulations Lance, you’ve become a complete child with a crush.’

“Were you studying Japanese?” Keith asked.

“Hmm?” Then Lance remembered it had been his Japanese textbook he threw at Shiro’s door. “Yeah. The kanji is really hard.”

“Yeah. I get confused with some of them. I’m not looking forward to when we have to start using them in our writing.”

“I’m still more worried about speaking part of it. When I get nervous, my mind starts switching Spanish and Japanese.”

“Oh yeah, I remember the midterm exam, the speaking portion. You recovered really well though. If you want, I can help you practise your speaking.” Keith offered.

“Oh, you don’t have to.”

“I want to.”

Lance couldn’t really answer after that. He wanted to. Keith didn’t have to but he wanted to.

“Sure. If it’s ok with you. Man, you are really doing a lot for me. Letting me stay the night, feeding me, helping me study.”

“I’m sure you can figure out some way to repay me.” Keith said, his voice sounding flirtatious, making Lance’s heart stop again.

‘He isn’t allowed to do this. I’m dying, why is he doing this?’

“You ok?”

“Yep, sure, totally fine.” Lance rushed out. Then Keith gave him this smile. God, he really wasn’t allowed to smile like that!

“Here, I think the ramen is ready.” Lance took his chopsticks back, and stuffed a dumpling into his mouth, trying to organize his thoughts. “Did you want to watch a movie?”

“Sure, you can choose.”

Keith handed Lance his bowl, which he started to dig into then woke his computer up. He put a DVD into the drive and skipped to the main menu.

“Ohh, Kingsman! I love that movie. The second one was really good.” Lance said as he saw the main menu.

“It’s one of my favourite ones. I remember Shiro saw it with his boyfriend and they said Eggsy had gotten married to a blonde chick and my mind went to Roxy.”

“I know, I watched it on the plane ride home but I was half asleep and the person next to me was watching it and was like ‘I can’t believe they shoved those two together! That was one of the stories good points, that Roxy and Eggsy were only best friends, never even hinted to be in a relationship. I was glad we were both wrong.”

“I know. But I guess it speaks to how Eggsy values relationships. He liked Roxy only as a friend and they stayed that way the whole time and even though he only wanted to have sex with the princess, he was able to hold a relationship with her, something he never wanted to risk, even for his job.”

“I kinda hope I can have a relationship like that.” Lance said.

“I’m sure you’ll have no problem.” Keith said, in that same flirtatious voice.

Oh god, Lance didn’t know if he was trying to say something. That was a tomorrow issue. For now, he was going to enjoy watching this movie and ramen with Keith.

#klance au month #college au #pinning lance

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reyhaninwonderland · 5 years

Text

I’m back!

On our third day of Disney, we traveled the world!… kind of.

We went to Epcot that day and it was epic! (except for the fact that I didn’t wear the birthday pin that day, so i didn’t get any special treatment.. I regret that decision terribly)

This day was a lot more chill than our first two days, maybe because Epcot doesn’t have as many rides and there were more adults here. I looked forward to Epcot a lot and it did not disappoint! When i was here back in 2003, I was too little to appreciate the countries. Now, as an adult (ahem! believe it or not i am adulting), I’ll be able to look at each country with a better understanding and appreciation.

But before we went country hopping.. we went on a couple rides, like Soarin’, Nemo & Friends, and Mission:Space.

We loved Soarin’. It was AWESOME.

And also:

We were cheesing so hard when we met Pluto! 😀

We met Disney Pals!

This… was the happiest 10 minutes of my life. It was a whole bunch of squealing and fangirling.

Coincidently in our time in Epcot, Epcot’s International Flower & Garden Festival was happening. It actually just started the day before we were here, so that was very convenient for us, to be able to see the very cool decorations and artwork.

It was throughout the park in all the countries! The amount of detail (again, we were so into the detail) put into every single character was incredible.

Wow.

So we started off in Mexico!

I was so happy to see so many things in Mexico related to Coco! I love that movie. We ended up having lunch in Mexico, yummy. 🙂

We didn’t spend much time in Norway next, but I thought this was very nicely done. I do like Frozen, but the Frozen related attractions had a very long wait! I bet lots of kids want to see Anna and Elsa here. (I’m excited for Frozen II! It’s coming out soon!)

Next stop: China. Where i met:

Fa Mulan. On international women’s day too, how iconic is that? She is so beautiful. Ugh i love her. Mulan is one of my favorite movies of all time. “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You” goes hard.

Our next country was Germany. We actually spent quite some time in Germany. We got caught up in this one store that was selling beautiful glassware.

Of course, when in Germany, we waited in line to meet the OG princess!

The very first one that started it all ❤ Snow White (my mom’s favorite princess actually). This girl was literally Snow White.. like as if she walked right out of the Snow White movie and just came to life. She talked just like her too! Her makeup was flawless. And she said the dwarves are going to bake us a cake at the castle so it’s gotta happen now.

Italy gave me major Lady and the Tramp vibes. They’re so cute! Love this classic as well 😀 made me want some spaghetti 😛

After Italy was America.

………….

After America, was Japan, my ultimate favorite! 😦

Oh Japan, I miss you so. This brings me back to Hakone 😦

I did talk Japanese there with a couple of people! It was good practice for me. Some of the employees there even recognized my mouse ears because i got it in Disneyland Tokyo! One girl even told me that my Japanese was pretty good and my pronunciation was good, so at least I know I’m getting somewhere! My heart.. だいすき ❤

After we left Japan, we went to our people in Morocco ;D haha

It reminded me a lot of Turkey, our cultures are so similar. I love the design in the buildings here. One of the photographers told us that the Prince of Morocco came here when the park was still being built and designed Morocco himself because he wanted it to be similar to the country. I thought that was a very interesting fact! It made me appreciate this part of the park even more.

We met Princess Jasmine too! It was a little awkward because when we approached her, we said “As-salāmu ʿalaykum”… and she had no idea what we said. But it’s ok! We talked a bit about the genie and the magic carpet!

Bonjour! We arrived in France!

I feel like I am most similar to Belle out of all the princesses because we both like to read and we stop paying attention to our surroundings when we’re immersed in a story! We’re too caught up in our characters’ lives! We met Belle by chance, she was just walking and then stood nearby where we were sitting! Lucky us 😀

In United Kingdom, we saw these tea cups and i thought that was cute! I wouldn’t mind having this on our own lawn haha.

It was so nice talking to the employees here because they all had a English accent. I could just melt.

Finally, our last location: Canada.

I’ve been to Canada before! I like how they did the mini Niagara Falls here. By the time we reached Canada, the sun was starting to set so it looked very beautiful with the sunset.

Before the night came to an end, we of course went on the ride Spaceship Earth! I actually remember that ride when I first went on it.

At 9 o’clock, the show Illuminations: Reflections of Earth started.

It was a sweet show. It wasn’t Magic Kingdom level, but it was still a good one!

That night, we ended going to Disney Springs (used to be called Downtown Disney back in the day), but we went so late, everywhere was closed!

So we went back to our hotel and called it a night xx

Bye from me and my bestie, Mickey ❤ Disney Diary 4 is coming soon xx

Disney Diary 3: All Around the World in Epcot I'm back! On our third day of Disney, we traveled the world!... kind of. We went to Epcot that day and it was epic!

#canada #china #countries #disney #disney world #epcot #france #garden #germany #goofy #italy #japan #mexico #mickey mouse #minnie mouse #morocco #norway #pluto #princess #united kingdom

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lyndsaybones · 6 years

Text

You Only Love Me When You’re Losing Me 2/3

Part 1

The trip home from the manicured neighborhoods of Arcadia will be a long one, for many reasons. Coast to coast flights on the Bureau’s tab are measured in economy of the dime, not time. It'll be well past midnight by the time they reach their own beds.

They’re Mulder and Scully again, although they still look like Rob and Laura. She admitted that the sweater sets came from her own mother’s closet. He’d simply walked into a department store and bought what was on the mannequins.

The jokes about being married were like grenades. He couldn’t stop. He just kept pulling the pins and lobbing them one after another. And she took the hits, over and over and over. She’d be safer if she just left him.

He chances a fleeting look her way, expecting to find her sleeping. But she is awake, that telltale eyebrow lifted as she works through some impregnable knot in her mind.

There is something broken between them, he knows this. A cord was severed and now the ends are too short to meet again. He misses her. She’s right in front of him, but he misses her desperately.

Kissing her that night, her lips tasting like vodka and stale cigarettes, was a mistake. He knew it the moment he did it. She looked up at him and with just a few words, completely separated his soul from his body and left him standing in his doorway like a gutted carcas on a hook.

There is a lot they don’t discuss. A lot that they should.

“It’s real, you know,” she says, out of nowhere.

He’s almost startled to have her start a conversation.

“What is?”

She holds up her hand, flashing the wedding ring at him. Platinum, a marquis cut stone, one carat at least. Several, smaller stones around it. It’s probably worth five grand. He fancied himself an ametuer gemologist for a brief moment a lifetime ago with Diana. He bought her a half carat princess cut on on a white gold band. She hardly ever wore it, even after the wedding. She took it with her when she left.

Scully drops her hand and looks down at the ring for a moment, her brows knit in contemplation.

“Strange,” she says softly. “A ring without a wedding and a marriage with no vows. Who'd've thought Walter Skinner would be the one to hand me a wedding ring.”

It makes him squirm, to hear her talk like this. He grinds his molars and swallows back the acid rising in his throat. She slides the ring off of her finger and deposits it in her pocket.

Those weren’t vows he made that day in his fateful hallway? Didn’t he carry her like a bride through the bowels of a spaceship? Didn’t he kiss her back to life?

“Is this the part where we hire lawyers and fight over who gets the Le Creuset cookware?” he deflects.

She looks up with an unreadable expression, those wide eyes searching his face like a map.

“That’s more your area of expertise.”

It happens so fast he almost doesn’t feel it. Until he does, of course. By then she’s already turned away and left him to figuratively bleed out.

Another 10 hours together including the layover in Denver and she doesn’t say another word.

The weekend slips by and he does not call her. Doesn't show up at her door. Monday comes and they deal with it the way they deal with everything. They pretend it didn’t happen.

#My writing #msr #angst #post one son

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cybertronsjewelalexis · 5 years

Note

Here's a nightmare: Unicron attacking Earth and pulling in everyone you love. The minicon try to protect you and your human friends, by are easily overpowered. The Autobots work on evacuations, but they can't save everyone, and some can't even save themselves. And Starscream, he chooses to get you to safety on a spaceship instead of looking after himself; once you're on board, he fights back the attacks before he too is struck down. You don't know who else made it. You could be all that's left.

[[ Phew Anon this was a doozy to write. Huge drabble under the read more! ]]

The young woman sat atop the Autobot’s Earth base, a place she had called home for such a large portion of her life. The bright, warm light of the Sun soaking into her pastel skin. Alexis had never felt so calm, so at ease. There was nothing wrong with the world in those moments, but that would change.

The cresting of a shadow caught her attention, her gaze shifting upwards towards the blinding light of the Sun and just as she turned her head, her eyes caught sight of pure evil. The omnipotent planet eater, Unicron, was looming into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Time seemed to freeze for her, the world around her continuing forth as Unicron raised his hand, sending his mindless drones forward to destroy resistance on the planet’s surface. Her tear filled eyes could only watch in horror as the town she grew up in, the town she called home was reduced to rubble in moments. “Mom? D-Dad?” She called out helplessly, reaching a hand towards the smoking ruins.

Familiar allies filled her eyes as they breached the smoke, guns raised and battle cry rallying against Unicron. Her eyes were drawn to two particular bots on the front lines, “HotShot! Dirt Boss!” She had no idea why the two of them were on Earth, last she knew they were on Velocitron. The familiar screeching of a fighter jet plane filled her ears as the red and white Seeker screamed across the sky, canons raised and firing in the air at Unicron. Her heart lifted, if only for a moment. “Starscream!” She called out, jumping to her feet as the bot drones began to circle in around her.

She rushed inside, her feet finding place on her armory slab. The red dress she wore melting away to her Cybertronian themed battle armor. Alexis raced outside of the Autobot base, prepared to go down fighting with her Autobot allies, only for the scene outside to be something much more ominous.

The skies were like coal and embers, dark and unforgiving. How long had she been inside? It only felt like moments! She cursed under her breathe, calling out to anybody who might hear her. “Optimus?! Starscream?! HotShot!! Anyone!?”

Her cries fell on deaf ears, nobody could hear her desperate pleas. She used her rocket boosters to propel herself up into the air, to see HotShot and Dirt Boss, struggling against some of the drones of Unicron. Her gaze shifted to the sky, his maroon shaded optics glooming over the sunset as she dared to rush forward to the two familiar bots. “HotShot!! Dirt Boss!”

“Alexis! Run!! Get out of here!” HotShot responded, turning to fire his weapons. “Git outta here ‘sis! It’s not safe!” Dirt Boss added, and as the woman dared to slow her run, a blinding light came hurtling towards them. “Guys run!!!” She tried to shout as a warning, but the words would never reach their targets. The two ‘Bots were consumed by the flames of a projectile.

She collapsed to her knees, her eyes streaming tears. Her voice cracking as she desperately called out their names. She couldn’t lose them. They were like her brothers!! Hopelessness filled her chest, until the screeches of a jet engine filled her ears. Her head lifted upwards to be greeted by Starscream, “Climb aboard, I’m getting you out of here!”

She weakly crawled into his grasp, letting the Seeker guide her through a blurred battlefield. She cradled against his chestplate, she could almost swear she felt his spark beat, if it were even possible. He guided her through Unicron’s drones safely, bringing her to one of the last remaining Autobot escape pods on Earth. He placed her at the edge, and as she crawled in, an explosion near the pod knocked her onto the ground. Starscream closed the door to the pod, met with Alexis’ face as she banged against the glass.

“Starscream! What are you doing?! You have to get out of here too!”

“I’m going to hold them off until you’re in orbit! I’ll meet you there.”

She felt tears well in her eyes, “You promise me that!”

The Seeker averted his gaze, but agreed. “I promise.”

Alexis was suddenly thrust down onto the ground as the escape pod thrusters engaged, the entire ship shaking as it struggled to leave the Earth’s gravitational pull. She could only watch helplessly out of the glass window as Starscream defended himself. The shaking of the ship’s hull made her instinctively activate the protective helmet that her suit had stored. Once the glass shield covered her face, and the ship had left the Earth’s atmosphere, the shaking stopping. She turned to look back at the place she called home.

Earth was destroyed. The continents overridden with fire and smoke, Unicron’s omnipotent power beginning to consume the planet before him. Alexis tapped the comm device on her helmet, knowing that Starscream was still down there. “Starscream!! Do you copy!?” She called out desperately. A silent static radio channel responded.

Her emerald eyes widened as she desperately tried to pin point here launch trajectory. Everything blended together, she didn’t know where he was. Her gaze wandered to the Earth’s lonely orbit around her, there was nothing with her among the clutches of Earth’s orbit. Alexis looked back towards Earth, her hands beating against the hull that separated her from everything she ever loved. Throat shaking and voice broken as she wanted nothing more than to be there on that destroyed home of hers. She would rather die than be the only one left alive.

A hand firmly grasped onto the Mars pendant around her neck as she looked at the door to the Autobot escape pod. She could see the opening mechanism, her free hand aimlessly drifting towards the hatch as eyes wandered back to the window looking over the planet. She could see Unicron finishing the destruction of Earth, and with tears streaming down her cheeks, Alexis opened the hatch.

Her small organic body was rapidly pulled out of the escape pod from the decompression. Alexis released her grip on the Mars Pendant, the necklace breaking apart from her neck and tumbling to the infinite unknown. Her body drifting towards the black hole Unicron had created to consume the planet, the gravitational pull increasing on her body as she drifted further and further away from the necklace she released. Her eyes focusing on that lone green sliver of reflection in the sky as the lights went black around her.

#[[ ❀ Drabble Prompt ]]#[[ ❀ Answered Asks ]]#[[ ❀ Anons ]]

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nonasuch · 6 years

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not an announcement (yet)

This is not an official announcement that I am doing a thing, because I have to finish getting a bunch of social media stuff lined up and finish some graphic design things and so on. But in the next week or so I *will* be making an offical announcement about the thing I am doing, which is opening a vintage store, just outside DC on the Maryland side. In August. Which I will be co-running and stocking half of.

Before I make that official announcement, though, I wanted to ask y’all, especially those of you who live in the DC area, about some of the stuff I want this store to do, and whether there’s anything you’d like us to do that I haven’t thought of.

So. A few questions, if you don’t mind answering, as a theoretical future customer:

What eras would you most like us to stock clothes from?

Would you be interested in vintage repro and vintage-style modern clothes, along with true vintage?

What price range would you like us to aim for?

We’re going to stock plus-size. Would you rather we have more daywear, or more special-occasion stuff?

If we have events, would you attend?

What kind of events would you most like to see? Theme nights for different decades? Movie nights? Goth night? Hair & makeup demos? Live music? Craft workshops?

What kinds of non-vintage goods would you most like us to stock?

If we have enamel pins from indie artists, would you be more likely to buy them from us than online?

I’m really excited (and nervous) about this.

Doing so many cons this past year has shown me that I belong to a much bigger tribe than I thought I did, that there are so many other women who love the same set of strange things that I love: spaceships and dragons and clothes and books and spooky jewelry and potentially haunted antique malls and cartoons and cosplay and and and. I want to build a space that reflects that, and welcomes it.

(also, I made a pinterest moodboard because that’s how I start new projects. )

(and a logo.)

#i'm doing the thing!#but this is still not the Official Announcement #and I really would love it if you would message me with any thoughts you have #especially if you're in the dc area #and ESPECIALLY if you'd like us to host you for an event #or if you make the sorts of things we would like to stock

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barpurplewrites · 6 years

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What once was...

{{So this was written for @a-monthly-rumbelling Smut prompt. It contains very little smut, (My smut Muse has departed for sunnier climes I’m expecting her back once the UK thaws), and its not entirely RumBelle.

It’s RushBelle dreaming of their past lives as RumBelle.

Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking either.}}

-x-x-x-x-

Dreaming was one thing, but this felt so very real.

-x-x-x-

It was the smell that reached him first. The delicious aroma of a good strong coffee, rich dark and brimming with caffeine. His skin sparkled in the light as he reached out to wrap his hands around the china cup that contained the blissful liquid. Some distant part of his mind noted that his skin didn’t look quite right, neither did his fingernails, but he dismissed that in favour of his prize. The first sip was closer to heaven than he ever expected to get. His groan of contentment was sinful.

“I take it I brewed it correctly?”

He cradled the cup to his chest, so he could inhale the steam as he spoke.

“It’s perfect Belle.”

The name felt both familiar and wrong on his tongue, but those perfect eyes and that smile, those he knew as well as his own. Belle swung her hips as she moved closer, a teasing pout on her lips.

“From the sounds you were making, a woman could be forgiven for thinking this coffee was the true love of your life.”

He’d never put a cup down so quickly in his life, he didn’t even mind the small amount that slopped into the saucer. His scaled fingers wrapped around Belle’s waist and her gently pulled her into his lap. She was still playing coy and pouting, but there was a twinkle in her eyes that reassured him this was all a game. He took her delicate, but work roughened hand in his clawed fingers.

“Sweetheart, coffee is a mere fleeting pleasure, how can it compare to smile that lights my mornings,” – he pressed a kiss to the palm of her hand, - “the companionship that brightens my days,” – she smothered a giggle as he kissed the inside of her elbow, - “the intelligence that eclipses every scholar in the realm,” – her hand found its way into his hair as he nuzzled at her neck, - “and a passion that makes my sleepless nights an orgy of debauchery.”

He barred his teeth in a playful snarl as Belle tugged his head back by his hair. She traced a teasing fingernail along his neck.

“That passion doesn’t have to be kept just for night time,” – his head lolled forward as she eased her grip, - “Unless you need more of your darling coffee.”

With the hand around her waist he pulled her in close, so he could rub their noses together; “Belle, why would I want hot bean juice when I can have you?”

She shrieked in surprise as in one smooth move her hoisted her in his arms and bounced to his feet. He made to stride to their bedroom, but Belle wagged a finger in front of his face; “Bedroom is for night time. This room is for day time. Take me on the dining table.”

She’d given voice to one of his most secret fantasies.

“Oh Belle, you wonder. Belle”

He plundered her mouth for a kiss and was met with the passionate ferocity that he had loved instantly about her.

“Isabel! Izzy! Wake up!”

Izzy sat bolt up right and snapped her eyes open in time to see Nick jump back. You would have thought after all the time they had worked together he would be ready for her electric shock wake ups. God knows she’d fallen asleep across enough desks in his company, at least with the consoles on Destiny she didn’t have to worry about having keyboard face, or paper stuck to her cheek with drool.

“Wazztup?”

Rush raked his hand through his hair and cleared his throat; “You were talking in your sleep. Good dream was it?”

Izzy shifted in her chair, painfully aware of the dampness in her knickers that was proof of just how good a dream she’d been having. She so wasn’t going to tell her boss she’d been dreaming about him, sort of, they had both been in that odd-looking castle, but they hadn’t quite been themselves, had they? Nick was waiting for an answer, so she grasped at the only safe for work element of her dream.

“Yeah, it was about coffee.”

Not a total lie, well done Izzy.

Rush grinned at her; “Aha, prophetic. I was just about to head down to the mess and collect our first ration of Destiny grown coffee-a-like,” - Izzy paused in rubbing the sleep from her eyes to pull a face, - “Don’t be like that, Rivers tells me it is at least as good as any dime store’s cheapest instant.”

Izzy yawned and dropped her chin into her hands; “I’ll take week old truck stop, as long as it’s got caffeine in it.”

“TJ assures me it has loads of that, hence why we’re on short rations until we readjust.”

Izzy snorted; TJ had been shocked when she’d found out just how much coffee her and Rush were used to drinking in a day. Their withdrawal freak-outs were something of a legend on the ship, she was surprised that their weren’t taking their first taste of Destiny Java in the med-bay hooked up to every monitoring device TJ could find.

She yawned again which made Rush wave a hand at her; “I’ll be as quick as I can.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

Rush dipped a clumsy curtsy that for some reason reminded Izzy of her dream. He turned on his heel and left quickly. Izzy’s eyes lingered on his backside as he walked out of the control room, for a crazy instant she wondered what he would look like in leather trousers. She squirmed in her seat again as a flush of heat raced to her face.

“Okay. Stop lusting after the sexy Scotsman and focus, Izzy.”

She reread the last passage of the file she had been translating before she fell asleep.

“The path to Ascension has taken its first steps in the lives that have been lived before. Who once was met, will be met again and again, until as one they rise to the next plane together.”

Izzy looked at the door Rush had walked through and bit her lip. If she’d read that anywhere else she would have dismissed it as hippy nonsense, but she was living on a spaceship, a few million lightyears from Earth, that had been built by a race of people who humans had worshiped as gods. She was living that Arthur C Clarke quote that Eli liked to use.

Was it possible she had met and loved Rush in another life?

-x-x-x-

Once he’d left the control room Rush had taken a quick detour into one of the bathrooms. After checking that the room was empty he’d pulled his shirts free of his belt and leaned his bare back against the cold bulkhead. His hissed through his teeth as the cold metal hit his heated skin. Fucking hell! Izzy fuelled the dreams he had when he finally gave into sleep, but his frenzied imagination was nothing compared to hearing the woman herself in the grip of an erotic dream. He didn’t believe for a moment that she’d been dreaming about coffee. True he’d had some very intense dreams about a Grande Americano, but he didn’t think he’d ever moaned and whimpered like that.

Fuck; she’d called him sweetheart.

And now his brain wasn’t fighting for blood flow with his other head he realised that when she’d said that she’d sounded Scottish, she’d sounded like him. Just like she had when she’d been dreaming and called his name.

Except she hadn’t called his name, she’d said Belle, a diminutive of her own name. Why the fuck had he thought she’d been talking to him? She never called herself Belle, she was always Izzy, or Doctor French. He frowned, for reasons he couldn’t pin down at the moment the name Belle felt like it belonged to him.

Okay, that was a little crazy even for him.

He threw himself away from the wall and tucked his shirts back in. The last not-entirely-appropriate dream he’d had about Izzy she had sounded Scottish, and he, well he’d sounded Australian. He’d not told a soul about that dream, the only person he might have mentioned it to as idle chat was Izzy herself, and considering the staring role she’d had and the content of the dream he’d walk over hot coals before he told her about it.

He ran his hand over the bulkhead; “What game are you playing with us now, hey Destiny?”

He didn’t get an immediate answer. He never expected one from the ship, she’d reveal her secrets in her own time. He blew out a sigh as he patted the wall and headed at a jog toward the mess. He’d promised Izzy something close to coffee and he didn’t want to keep her waiting.

-x-x-x-

“Woah! Where’s the fire!”

Eli rolled his eyes as Rush didn’t even break stride after barrelling into him. There was a grunt from the mad scientist that he was choosing to interpret as an apology. He threw a quizzical look at Greer and asked; “Did I really just see Rush running to the mess?”

Greer nodded; “Yup. He must be fetching coffee for Izzy.”

“Rush doesn’t fetch anything for anyone. Ever.”

“He does for Izzy. Even back on Icarus, right from her first day now I think about it.”

Eli looked thoughtful for a second; “Those two ever, I mean are they, y’know?”

Greer chuckled; “Not as far as we know. You want in on the betting?”

“You run a book on anything. How longs it been going?”

“Since Izzy’s first day on Icarus.”

Eli shook his head; “Nah, if they haven’t yet, they ain’t gonna.”

They dodged to one side as Rush walked by his gaze concentrated on the two cups of almost coffee in his hands. Eli had never seen that level of concentration on Rush’s face unless he was in front of a whiteboard or a console.

“On second thoughts, I put a week’s still rations on them being together within the month.”

#a monthly rumbelling #smut prompt #rumbelle fic #rushbelle #not that smuty

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