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heresathreebee · 3 years

Text

That G-D Ring of Yours

High Fidelity’s Robyn Brooks X Female reader

Summary: You seek comfort from your neighbor Rob

Masterlist

There's probably gonna be a part 2

Word count: 2.5k words

Warning(s): +15 | implied cheating, internalized homophobia, heterosexism, author and Rob swearing, no hate to polyamorists but major hate to bad faith players, shameless self insert, no beta, barely edited, long as fuck I'm so sorry

Author's note: I'm having anxiety for no discernable reason and my brain has decided this is ideal fuel for a fic, so please enjoy. EDIT: ha ha yeah still anxious but we're doing stuff about it

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"-- And she just touched my hand by accident and I just felt this– this spark between us…"

It was so sweet how he was talking about it. Or at least it would be were this not your fiancé explaining how he had been seeing another person behind your back. Had you rushed into things with him? Gotten hitched after three months because of familial pressure to settle down and start your family? Quite possibly.

But it didn't make that stabbing in your gut hurt any less.

You had been a little gung-ho from date number 1, but he had been right there with you the whole time. Date number 2 happened the following weekend and then you just kept seeing each other more and more until before you knew it you had been introduced to each other's extended families and announced your engagement on Valentine's Day.

You started to suspect something was amiss on Sunday, when you were braiding your hair on the bed and he had gone to take a shower. He accidentally set his phone screen aside with a text chat still open. Thinking nothing of it (he had already told you he was talking to Mark about getting drinks tonight), you looked at the name and saw it belonged to a woman you had never heard of before. Your immediate reaction was 'she must be a new coworker or a cousin,' but then you glanced again and saw the text conversation mirrored the same kind of ‘sentiments’ he texts you.

The dirt burned into your brain for eternity:

You had looked away then. You were actually not going to say anything at all to him that night– had planned to bring it up after Tuesday dinner with your auntie's family, but something came up. It turns out that Jessabelle also frequented the same Starbucks as you (and she's your age, not a teen like you worried). You can't even find it in you to be mad at her since it seemed like she had no idea who you were when she showed you the picture of her date at a baseball game. You tried not to puke as you asked for her number and to send her that picture "for her contact profile."

You hadn't heard a word your fiance had said since the beginning of the phone call and you cut him off with some excuse you barely remember. You tossed your phone carelessly onto the couch and laid back on the cushions in defeat. What now?

You weren't really a drinker or a smoker, and you didn't exactly have friends who would be supportive right now. You could hear them now, your family too– asking you what you did wrong, telling you to just forgive him or how to get even, or simply saying 'well what do you expect? Boys will be boys.'

Maybe… no, you definitely need to get this off your chest before you do something stupid like pretend to forget about it. You had a bad habit of that because you tend to fall fast and hard. Perhaps your neighbor could give you some advice.

Thank the Lord for fire escapes. Rob lived on the floor beneath you, always playing something good from her huge collection of vinyl records. You've told her at least a hundred times before if she played nothing but Phil Collins for the rest of eternity, you could die happy. You crossed your fingers and hoped you weren't being weird or invading her privacy.

Thankfully, she seemed to be expecting you. She even motioned that the latch was undone and waved you inside. Ok the second wine glass made your face grow hot.

"I'm not interrupting am I?"

Rob gave you a warm smile. "I could hear you pacing around your kitchen for about an hour. Was about to come and get you actually."

She pressed the glass into your hand and you made an effort not to grimace. Rob liked her drinks cheap and strong and she never held back. You tried a sip just to be polite, and she snorted at the face you pulled.

"That's right, you like that sweet stuff. What's it called again?"

"Stella Rosa," you mumbled, grateful when she takes the glass back and hands you a water to replace it.

"Favorite flavor," she asked looking at her phone.

"Uh… the peach and the rosé. They're all pretty good, not gonna lie."

"OK, take this, grab a blanket from the hall closet, and tell me what's going on."

You curled up on Rob's couch and put your feet up. There were piles of records all over the place, empty beer cans and a pizza box or two on the coffee table. Your neighbor tapped away at her phone screen before silencing it and slipping it in her back pocket. She gave you a minute or two to speak up, sipping her drink like you two had all night. Which actually you did as you did not want to see your fiancé right now.

You felt two fingers gently tap your forehead. "Come on, dreamer, tell me what's going on in that head of yours."

You swallow the lump in your throat. "I feel a little over dramatic saying my life is about to fall apart."

Rob raised her eyebrows at you. "Damn, OK."

You rush to correct yourself– explain your weird sentiment in more detail but you end up just vomiting words until your voice is hoarse.

"I mean– like– like it's not falling apart per say or whatever– I… the rest of my life is fine its just my relationship that's screwed. Which I guess I'm more worried about because it's gonna screw up all my other relationships for a while too– dang it, let me start over–"

"Babe! Slow down. Breathe." Rob switched drinks with you and against your better judgement you took a sip. Oddly enough it did calm you down. "So… it's your fiancé, right? What did he do?"

You stared at her trying to unscramble your thoughts. "He… I found out he was kind of... dating another person. After I found out, he tried to explain that he didn't think I would mind–"

Rob barked, "let me guess: he didn't think you were exclusive? Pull the Main Chick, Side Chick schtick? Tried to claim 'polyamory' after he got caught?"

Two and two clicked together at last. "Yeah… yeah, he did!," you scoffed, "and it's not like it didn't ever come up in conversation: we spent our third date talking out our, like, sexualities and fantasies and fetishes and shit. If he was polyamorous, wh- why wouldn't he have brought it up then?"

"That is so fucked."

You took a deeper draft of her wine, coughing before setting it aside. Up until now, you've been numb. Now there's this wave of anger boiling up to the surface and you hear yourself getting louder. Rob doesn't flinch but she does give you this look of empathy unlike anything you've seen before.

"If he– if he would have just asked me, I would have told him it was fine. My family does shit like that all the time: nobody bats an eye! If he really thought I wouldn't mind, he wouldn't have been so freaking sneaky about it. He literally lied, Robyn!"

You whipped around and for a brief moment you knew you looked crazy. "He said he was going out for drinks with his guy friend, but he was making plans to go to a baseball game with a girl I've never heard of! If he really thought I wouldn't mind, or if he 'thought I would understand,' then why would go out of his way to lie about who he was with?"

Someone buzzed Rob's door and she left you on the couch momentarily, coming back quickly with two bottles of your favorite wine. "Damn girl, these are kinda bougie: Peach or Rosé?"

"I--"you choked, "Robyn you didn't have to–"

"Peach it is!" She unscrewed the caps and handed you the whole freaking bottle of white, downing the last of her merlot and getting a fresh glass for you.

You felt a little guilty she had spent money on you. But then again it had been her choice. If she didn't want you there, Rob wouldn't have let you in in the first place. Maybe you were just a tinsy bit worried you shouldn't be here.

You and Rob took a break from talking to put on music and get a little tipsy. It came much easier with the help of the Stella Rosa, though Rob initially complained it was 5.5%, she did get accustomed to the sweetness pretty fast, and after consuming half the bottle, realized it was a little easier to get carried away with a drink like this. She admitted it was her first time trying rosé and now she was hooked. Eventually you started talking again, just spilling your guts out with no filter anymore.

"I really think I just hate myself," you said cuddling the cool glassware. "When I found out, I wasn't even thinking of it as a betrayal of my trust– it felt like I was trying to come to terms with it so I could continue with the relationship. Not because it would make me happy but because… I don't know… it's what everybody else wants me to do. They don't even know about it and I was fully prepared not to tell them even though they'd want me to marry him whether they knew or not."

Rob barked a laugh of surprise. "Doh-K!"

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing…" she said, "keep going."

You stared off into the middle distance and leaned into her side. She was a tiny bit warm despite her lithe figure. Made you want to throw your blanket over her shoulders and share your greater warmth.

So you did (you're not great at acting out your desires but this is nice!)

"It's just easier," the words left your mouth unbidden, "I don't even know what that means, but it's true. I don't want to marry him anymore but I don't want to break it off. Not marrying Fiancé means disappointing my family. It means having to find an entire new man to marry sooner rather than later because I'm already 'behind' and lowering my already low expectations.

"It's not gonna make me happy, but I just think it's easier to keep this wedding going because at least I won't have to find somebody new who might not be as good for me just because I didn't want him. Another man won't make me happy so there's no reason to drop him... except that I don't want him."

Rob's brow furrowed. "Are you saying it's easier for you to please your family than it is to be happy?"

"Yes? I– no, I– … I don't know," you sigh. "I guess you could say my priorities are a little… mismanaged."

"Sure, you could say that." Rob wrapped her arms around your shoulders and you inhaled the scent of her soap and cigarettes. "What if you tried… like… not doing that anymore...? You just said you do whatever your family wants you to do. So, just like do what makes you happy for a change."

It really does sound so simple the way she puts it, doesn't it? Why are you doing this to yourself? You're not dependent on them for money or security or happiness for that matter. So... why has your whole life been centered around pleasing them?

"I think… I think I've never really sat down and thought about what makes me happy," you admitted. "I think it's just been that way forever and I might have been too scared to try anything else."

Rob hummed. "Are you still scared now?"

Are you? You look into her eyes and ask yourself a question that has never crossed your mind with such depth. You used to be scared– but what is it about your happiness that you are so afraid of? OK, let’s start a little simpler: what are things that make you happy?

“I like…” you swallowed, trying to break down the barriers you’ve built years and years ago. “I like… coffee. I like… short skirts. I like… girls– I like… my job. I like… music. I think I’d enjoy camping, you know, some day…”

Your words… these things seemed so arbitrary and trivial. But in your house, these things cause dissent. “My family has an opinion about everything. There’s no right way to live in all of their eyes, but I think I figured out a way to get past it. Keep my head down and do what’s expected of me. Graduate college, get a respectable job, find a man to marry, drop the job and become a mother. Just… don’t make waves. It seemed better because the cousins who didn’t or couldn’t… well they became the butt of every joke at the family dinner. Lisa had one miscarriage so she was a ‘failure’ and Don never dated girls so he was gay and that was ‘bad,’ but grandma Zelda did everything a good Christian woman could do and they still gossiped about her behind her back…

“And I just… I just let their ignorance control me for my entire life.” God, you could cry right now, but somehow it just felt too good to say it outloud. “That.. that is so fucked.”

Robyn snorted, and you turned to her as if you’d forgotten she was there. There it was again, that sympathy. Not pity, she did not burden you with tears of her own or try to be angry for you. She just listened and understood. You twisted the diamond encrusted ring on your finger and stared at her. You felt it, that feeling in your heart. No one else had given you that look, like she could really see you.

“You’re not going back to Fiancé, are you?” Her question was equal parts worrisome and hopeful and you already knew the answer in your heart.

“No.”

And that was it. Decision made. Actually easier than you'd thought. Maybe not down the road but it felt good for now. There's the telling your fiancé it's over, the moving out, the public announcement, the inevitable feeling of failure, your family, god, his family too. Untangling your lives would be long and hard. You're not sure if you have that level of commitment and motivation in you but fuck it. Problems for tomorrow.

You rest your head on Rob's shoulder and hope your not pushing any boundaries. She doesn't stop you though, in fact she snuggles you deeper into her. You get the feeling she's been here before though your not sure which side or how bad it was for her.

"I like you way more in the few times I've met you than any man I've ever dated," you heard yourself say. "I'm sure that means something but I'm too tired to decide anymore. No tonight at least."

Rob chuckled. "I like you too, sugar."

If you made it this far, hi 💛 appreciate you, leave me a comment! Or just comment "💛"

#Rob Brooks x Female reader #high fidelity rob brooks #three bees writing #rob brooks x reader #black reader insert #I just think about her sometimes #🐝🐝🐝✒#angst?

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starlightkenobi · 4 years

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yes yes yes yes yes, and also yes. tHIS REQUEST. FLAWLESS. IMPECCABLE. ANAKIN IS JUST 😩💦, i hope yall enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing this haha

Breaking the Code // Anakin x Reader

rating: mature, only because it’s pretty darn close to smut but nothing really happens

warnings: dom anakin dom anakin dom anakin dom anakin dom anakin

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

“Ani, please, try to be reasonable-” You were cut off by Anakin punching the wall in a short burst of rage.

“It’s outrageous...it’s unfair!” His energy was strong, almost palpable. You tried to soothe him, quell his anger, but you were only met with seething rage.

You two had just returned to your quarters from a particularly frustrating meeting with the council. They had decided to send you both on a mission to protect some citizens from separatist control on this planet in the middle of no where. Despite Anakin’s obnoxious protesting, they refused to take his opinion into account. He wanted to stay closer to home, on the battlefront where it mattered. However, the council said that this Jedi business mattered too, and dismissed you both without a second thought. He was extremely frustrated, because this wasn’t the first time the council had decided to ignore his opinion entirely and send him off wherever they please.

“Ani, listen to me.” He turned to face you. His cheeks were flushed with what you could only assume was anger, and his fists were clenched tightly. He tried to steady his ragged and sharp breaths as he stared at you. Your entire presence calmed him, he had never met anyone else who could do that.

“I know that you feel hurt right now. I understand that.” You took a few slow steps toward him, not wanting to do anything that could reawaken this raging beast in front of you. “And I understand your hatred towards the council. You feel like they don’t listen to you, like you’re invisible to them. You believe that they think they are above you.” His fists clenched impossibly tighter as you spoke. You grabbed both of his hands and took them in yours, caressing them gently with your fingers. “But...that doesn’t mean that you’re worth any less. You are a great Jedi, Anakin. You’ve saved so many people and have done so much for the republic.” His fists finally loosened, allowing you to lace your fingers with his affectionately. “And more than just a great Jedi, you are a great person. I’ve seen how kind and gentle you can be. And you’re so compassionate...” You trailed off when you noticed Anakin unlacing one of his hands from yours. You looked up at him, confused. You were about to say something, but silenced yourself when he brought his hand up to your cheek. His warm touch felt like heaven against your skin. You could feel the warmth flood to you face and you knew that your cheeks were flushed. He ran his thumb gently over your cheek, and then your lips. He pressed down on your bottom lip with his thumb tentatively, as if pondering how it would feel against his own. “Anakin...” You mumbled, breaking the sudden peaceful silence. He was in a trance, staring at you, slowly bringing his face closer to yours. You knew what he wanted to do, and you knew that you wanted it too. You also knew that if he decided to kiss you, you would let him.

Well, you would have let him, had it not been for the loud knock on your door.

You both jumped backwards, pulling away from each other. Still obviously flustered, you cleared your throat, attempting to compose yourself. You met Anakin’s strong gaze once, before taking quick strides away from him and towards your door. You opened it, being met with Obi Wan standing before you. He peered past you and saw Anakin standing awkwardly in your quarters, before giving you a warning gaze. He was worried, you could tell. Worried to leave you two alone for prolonged periods of time. You two had very strong feelings for each other, and he sensed it. “M-master Kenobi...” You stammered, still recovering from your almost kiss with Anakin.

“It’s good to see you.” He smiled at you, before peering over you again and giving Anakin a stern look, as if implying that anything romantic that could have occurred between you two would have been all his fault. “Master Windu has a ship prepared for you both. He wants to make sure that you and Anakin get started on this mission promptly.”

“Understood. Thank you, master.” He gave you a small smile again, before turning and walking away.

“Let’s go, Ani.” You murmured, forcing yourself to not run back into his arms and kiss him passionately. He called out to you, hoping that you would let go and just kiss him already, despite the Jedi code. “Anakin.” You said, sternly. “We have to go.” You turned away, already heading off to the ship.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

You were prepared for almost anything on this mission. What you were not prepared for, was General Grievous bringing the entire separatist fleet down on you. Despite this unwelcome surprise, you and Anakin emerged victorious, with the majority of the separatist droids and ships being destroyed and Grievous fleeing in an escape pod. You supposed that the Jedi council was right about this work being important.

Now, you were back on the ship, ready to go into hyperspace and go back to Coruscant. Despite this ship being on the clunkier side, you still had your own little separate quarters, since you were a Jedi. It was nothing much, a small cot and a bathroom, but it was privacy.

That is, it was privacy until you heard a knock the door. You sighed, having enjoyed the silence. “Come in.”

Your door slid open, and you were met with Anakin standing in your doorway. You sensed that he was nervous when he entered your quarters. “Ani!” You exclaimed, excited to see him despite your exhaustion from the mission.

“Just came to congratulate you on your win today. You did great.” He gave a small smile, quietly fiddling with his hands.

“Hey, it was your win too!” You laughed. “Well...although I did kinda save your ass.” Anakin chuckled, seeming less nervous now that he was actually talking to you.

“Yeah, I guess you kinda did.” He flashed a genuine smile, shutting the door behind him and slowly approaching you.

“Anakin, what are you doing?” He brushed a strand of hair from your face, looking straight into your eyes.

“Just looking at you...” He trailed off, caressing your face. “Even after that intense battle, after all of the fighting and carnage, even when you’re exhausted and worn out from fighting...you still look beautiful.” You were stunned, his sudden boldness had completely startled you and you weren’t sure how to respond.

“Anakin, we’re Jedi. We can’t...we can’t be doing this.” He put one hand on your waist and caressed you softly, bringing his other hand up from your cheek to rest in your hair.

“Why not? I don’t see a problem with this.” He smirked at you suggestively.

“Because...well, because it’s against the code.” You wanted to pull away and do the mature thing, but you couldn’t bring yourself to do it. His hands just felt so nice on you.

“But you want me. I want you. What else is there to say?” You opened your mouth to argue, but no sound came out. You were still completely stunned by how forward he was.

“Anakin...” His lips were so close to yours, and he could have easily kissed you by now. But he wanted to make sure that you really wanted this, so he waited for your permission. You could feel his breath fan over your lips, and you were completely overcome by pure desire. In this lust filled haze, you put both of your hands on either side of his face and pulled him almost close enough to be kissing. Softly, but just loud enough for Anakin to hear, you murmured, “Kiss me.” Neither of you hesitated after that.

You two threw yourself onto each other like starved animals and your lips immediately clashed together. You wanted to touch him everywhere, being so touch starved and excited that you didn’t know where to put your hands. Anakin helped you sort out this dilemma by quickly squeezing your ass and pulling you up, causing you to wrap your legs around his waist and put your hands on his shoulders for support. He slammed you against the wall, kissing you with such force that you couldn’t help but moan into his mouth.

He smirked and chuckled, low in his throat. “Was that for me, kitten?” You almost moaned again at his words.

“Yes, it’s all for you.” You moved one hand from his shoulder up to his face. “I’m all yours, Ani.” He growled when you said that, and he looked like a feral animal.

“That’s right, mine.” He immediately attacked your neck, biting and marking you, claiming you. You moaned even louder now, the feeling of his teeth on your neck almost too much for you to bear. “Awww, kitten. You’re gonna get us caught.” He mumbled into your neck.

“Aniiiii...” You tried to contain your moans, but you couldn’t prevent them form bubbling out of your throat.

“Do you want me to touch you, kitten?” One hand traveled from your ass to your thigh and squeezed firmly.

“Nnnngh...please...” His hand was traveling up your thigh, so close to touching you where you craved him.

Until you heard someone call your name from outside your quarters. “Hey, you alright in there? It’s Rex. I thought I heard some noise and I just wanted to check in, make sure you were alright.” Of course Rex had to check in now. Fuck.

“Yeah, Rex, I’m alright.” You tried to say between heavy pants.

“You sure?” As Rex continued to talk, Anakin squeezed your ass and continued his assault on your neck. You slapped his arm playfully, not wanting him to stop, but also not wanting Rex to just come in and for you both to get caught.

“I’m f-fine, Rex.” You clamped your hand over your mouth to conceal a moan.

“Alright, well, I also wanted to let you know that we’re almost back to Coruscant. We’ll e there in a few minutes.” You sighed, relieved that you would finally get to spend real alone time with Anakin when you got back.

“Thank’s for letting me know.” You waited until you heard his footsteps get farther away and then kissed Anakin passionately. “As soon as we get back to Coruscant, I want you in my quarters.” Anakin laughed and kissed you again.

“Someone’s a little impatient.” Anakin snickered.

“Yeah, well I have you to thank for that.” You said sarcastically. Your hand brushed against his cheek affectionately. “I really am happy to be doing this with you. I don’t care that it’s against the code. If we have these feelings...then why ignore them, you know?” Anakin smiled and kissed your nose, making you giggle.

“Yeah, I do.” This could destroy your entire life if this got out, that you two were more than just friends. But you felt so safe and loved in his arms, and as long as you could keep this a secret, you were never going to give that up.

#anakin skywalker #anakin x reader #smut #anakin smut #star wars #fanfic #the clone wars #obi wan kenobi

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princewelcomematt · 3 years

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Alternative ending? Alternative ending.

So! Sam and Eileen start an organization for beginner-level hunters. Sam reconnects with Eileen right away, glad to have her back. They both bring all the reoccurring characters back to talk to them about updated monsters they have been uncovering - mutants, that are combined and evolved from what they were used to ten years ago. The world is changing and they have to change with it. (We see people like Charlie and Donna on the Bunker now, who disappeared in 15x18 without a trace).

The B plot is Dean getting Cas back, and he figures out that if he takes Cas' grace from him remotely it'll make him human. If only angels and demons can exist in the Empty, then the Empty would hypothetically reject a human and it would probably be GLAD to be rid of Cas, all considering.

So he figures out a spell and gathers all the ingredients and successfully summons a small glass vial full of grace, but Cas is nowhere to be found. Dean goes back to the Hunter's Bunker, heartbroken.

Unbeknownst to him, when the empty rejects Cas because he's human and not an angel, it drops him on the other side of Kansas, so Cas has to walk back and it takes like a week. Realistically, payphones don't exist anymore and so he's like Fuck It. I Will Journey.

So Cas shows up by surprise a week later and says "hello Dean" and Dean is like holy shit! And they have a conversation about how Cas "wanted to thank Dean for the rescue, because he knew it was Dean and he'll go now, goodbye" (because he doesn't want to be a bother but he does have a HUGE inferiority complex) and Dean is like HEY NO NO WAIT- Cas didn't give him any time to react to his confession when he was DYING and they got all the time they need now, and maybe,, he could try this whole,, guy thing,,,. Because Cas is his best friend and that's kinda the goal in dating, right? He's getting too old for one night stands. And also Cas changed his life and helped him learn about himself by being literally THE most compassionate and generous person he's ever met and the only one who deserves the title of a literal angel and he... always had a thing for hot nerds.

Cas gets insulted because he's not a nerd and Dean kisses him and laughs and Cas snorts and says "maybe this won't work out after all" and Dean says "oh gimme a break I'm not used to kissing people with permanent 9'oclock shadow" and Cas rolls his eyes in the way he does with his entire little body and they kiss again and Sam comes in on them and says JESUS, FINALLY ITS BEEN SO AWKWARD FOR LIKE NINE YEARS and Dean yells "HELL- A LITTLE PRIVACY?" and Cas looks vacantly pleased.

Sam and Eileen continue as the major organizers of the new Hunters Foundation along with new Hunters coming in every day to learn about how to protect each other and it's not just Sam and Dean anymore. They update their tech and start physical training programs too. Cas and Dean are hunting partners and it's implied both brothers get married by an overhead shot of matching wedding rings, and Sam has a little boy and he names him Gabriel.

One day, Sam and Dean are on a hunt, a silly casual easy one, and Dean gets impaled on a stake. He's dying and says his long goodbyes to Sam and Sam lets him call Cas and they all have their own ways to close their books, but Dean is relieved because honestly he's kinda tired... It's been like fifteen years since they abandoned God and ended the end of everything, and he's been doing this a while, may as well go out to some vampire mimes, right?

And he makes it to heaven!!! He's there for all of three seconds before Cas comes around the corner and they both laugh and Dean says "couldn't stay away, huh?" And Cas grumbles "My impulse control was dulled by years of living with you" and they hold hands and see Jack!!! They talk about how he's reshaped everything in heaven and he hopes they like it and that he loves them and thanks them for everything and says that he's sorry to Cas about not having a hand in his rescue, God wasn't allowed to touch the Empty and that's something he's trying to fix for the future.

And then Sam is there and Eileen is there after fifteen more years of very fulfilling life and THEN they all get in the Impala that's in Car Heaven but Dean lets Sam drive for the first time and slaps Cas on the ass as he bends to get in the backseat. They drive into the sunset to Carry On My Wayward Son, leaving a legacy of young hunters and rescued would-be victims behind.

What do you think?

#original post #supernatural #spn #castiel #destiel

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stringergames · 3 years

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Downtime Roleplay 2 - Graveside Manners

Post Episode 4 - One Must Die

Set right after the climactic end of episode 4. Fox and Magpie have an emotional conversation. They are joined by Farthen for an arduous task.

Spoiler warnings: revolves around major events from episode 4 of Edge of Night

Content warnings (contains spoilers): major character death; trauma; implied ptsd; references to violence; references to interparty conflict; dissociation; self-harm (scratching); grave digging & burial; references to injury (broken ribs, smoke inhilation, slashing damage, shooting); discussions of death; rats; swearing

Fox fiddles with the note in his hands, trying to pretend he hadn't heard Magpie's words. He deserved some privacy, he'd want privacy, wouldn't he? Fuck.

He crumples the note into his pocket and makes his way over to where Magpie is still bent over Jem.

"Hey, uh, Cre- I mean, Magpie? I think... I mean, do you wanna... you did everything you could, y'know? It wasn't your fault."

Magpie leans back from the body, and sits heavily on the floor, real tears mixing with and encapsulating the pewter smoke still pouring from his eyes. He looks down at his shaking hands, palms up, and whispers quietly, "It's never enough."

Fox kneels down next to Magpie and tentatively puts a hand on his shoulder. "You got her up again, like, a hundred times. If it wasn't for you, she wouldn't have even got out the door. Don't blame yourself because I dropped her, or Tiny shot her, or the house is made of knives."

Magpie flinches at the touch, and moves away fractionally. "I was supposed to be able to bring them back, I was supposed to be able to save them."

His eyes are unfocused, and it doesn't look like he quite registers Fox fully. He pats briefly at his tabard, but doesn't seem to find what he’s looking for. Magpie brings his knees up and hides his face in his hands, flinching away as soon as his hands touch his face, and opts for keeping them resting in his lap, one hand curled within the other, dragging his nails across the skin.

Fox takes his hand away from Magpie's shoulder, seems to consider his options for a second, and then flicks Magpie between the eyes.

"I know the present sucks right now, mate, but it seems like the past sucks more." He flicks Magpie again, this time on the forehead. "Now if you wanna talk about it, I'll listen, but just wrecking your hands ain't a good option. They're good hands, Magpie. Very useful, whatever you may think."

Magpie blinks, and looks up at Fox. He goes to rub his forehead where he was flicked, hesitates, and puts his hand back down. The tears on his lashes crystallise, and then melt away again.

"You –" He stops, hesitates, and looks around, before casting his eyes back to his hands. "I have good hands?"

Fox smiles, and moves back a little to give Magpie some space. "Yeah, you do! Like, the smoke blood stuff? Weird, but good! Useful, anyway, I don't want to make assumptions, but like... you, the magic you do, it's good stuff. You're a good lad to have around."

Magpie gives Fox a tiny, hesitant smile. "It is strange isn't it? I've never met another cleric whose magic does this, but..." He looks at Jem's body, and then the floor. "If it means I can help, even a bit, it's worth it, right?"

Fox looks away for a second. "Strange... can be good," he says quietly, before turning back to Magpie. "And you are helping. Loads. I mean, you got me and Princess to... well, you were right. We did need each other to get out."

"It certainly took all of us to get as far as we did. Against something like that... I wouldn't have lasted more than a few seconds." He sighs, and looks at Jem. "I just wish –" His hoarse voice gets caught on the sentence, and he doesn't try again.

Fox is quiet for a moment, struggling for words. Then he stands.

"We should do something for her. I don't know. I... I think I'll see if Tiny left that shovel out here. Are you... are you gonna be alright?"

"I'll manage." Magpie gives him another small smile. "I always do..." He hesitates, and then quietly adds, "Thank you for snapping me out of it there." He stands to join Fox, and changes the subject. "Are you really a Lord? None that I've ever met would sully their hands digging a grave themselves, not even for their own families."

Fox smiles back, and gives Magpie a small nod, though not to his questions. "I mean, what is a Lord really? I have a top hat. I have a deed to a fancy rat-filled house and a seal. My invitation to that party said 'Lord' on it. Do I have the, uh, titles or lands or family to go with it? ...Maybe not."

Magpie nods sagely. "Ah, of course. Well, ‘fancy rat-filled house’ certainly sounds familiar. I'll keep in mind the many wonderful things you have Lord Ripley, I'm sure the rest of it has no bearing on your status really."

He gives him a cheeky grin, a little overshadowed by the tear tracks still half-frozen down his face, and a tension that it hadn't been obvious he was holding around Fox leaves him.

"The elitism of the aristocracy these days is shameful, truly," says Fox, affecting a bad posh accent. "Imagine, believing one has to have lineage or money or be wearing trousers to be considered a Lord."

He snickers, and nudges his elbow into Magpie's arm, before going to look for the shovel.

"Wearing trou–?" He manages to elicit a small laugh from Magpie, who follows him, and helps find the shovel. "We can take turns, I don't think either of us have the digging capacity of Farthen, and good as it was of him to do the others, it doesn't feel right here."

"Yep, yep, good call!" Fox says quickly. He tentatively starts his turn digging, almost as if shovelling is a somewhat new concept. "I'm gonna have to think of a new nickname for you."

"New nickname? What's my current one?" Magpie tilts his head curiously.

"It's – y'know what, you don't want to know," Fox says, shaking his head. "I'll find you a better one."

Magpie sits near Fox to await his turn digging. "It's been a long time since I was last given a nickname. I'll be curious to see what you come up with."

He looks up at Fox and gives him a gentle smile.

Fox chews his lip, weighing his next words carefully. "I noticed that Jem was calling you, uh, Feathers. What did you think of that?"

Magpie considers it before he responds. "I didn't mind it, it's certainly amusing."

"I could keep it up," Fox says, keeping his eyes on the shovel. "Just for now, even. Nice legacy, I guess."

"I suppose... that sounds nice, as long as I'm still called Magpie sometimes. It's good to keep something to remember people by. Even if it's something as simple as a given name."

"You got it. Feathers it is, except when you're Magpie."

"Except when I'm Magpie." He smiles, and nods his agreement, standing up to take over from Fox. "Want to swap out?"

Fox gratefully passes him the shovel. "Cheers, Feathers."

Magpie smiles. "You may not be a Lord, but you dig like one. One could be forgiven for thinking you'd never dug a hole in your life."

Fox grins back, sheepishly. "It may be a... somewhat new concept to me. Do you dig a lot of holes yourself?"

"Not any more." Magpie starts shovelling, screwing up his face as the pain from his ribs shoots through his body, but making practiced work of digging the hole.

"If I was the sort of person who got easily embarrassed, the fact the guy with the broken ribs can dig better than me would really be making me blush." Fox sits down on the ground, and leans back on his elbows, watching Magpie work. "Fortunately, I'm not that sort of person."

Magpie chuckles slightly, and winces. “I’m glad you’re not, this is difficult enough without having to soothe your ego as well. I’ve had a lot of practice, I’m sure, given the time, you’d get plenty good enough at it too.”

"I kinda hope I don't get a lot of opportunities for practise, honestly. No offence. Let me know when you'd like me to tap back in, though."

Magpie nods. "I will, thank you. I hope there's not much more of this we have to do either. Burying someone is... never easy, even if you didn't know them well."

"It's my first time. Overall, not just digging myself." Fox chews at his lip. "From what you said back there, and your expertise with the shovel... I'm guessing it's not yours."

Magpie stays silent and focuses on digging for a few moments, not looking Fox's way.

"...It's not my first, no. I doubt it'll be my last." He breathes a heavy sigh, and tries to lighten his tone a little. "Though I have to clarify, most of my digging abilities came from farm work, rather than graves."

Fox decides to follow Magpie's lead, and not pry further. "Farm work? Glad to hear it, not sure I can totally picture you on a farm though, Feathers."

"Well, people are often full of surprises." He digs a few more spadefuls, and then continues. "It was a different time though. A different me."

"People are," Fox acknowledges, rapping his own knuckles jokingly. "Shouldn't have made any assumptions, sorry about that. Whoever you are now is fine by me." He stands up again. "Want a break?"

Farthen comes over to where Magpie and Fox are digging the grave for Jem. He says nothing, but holds out his hand for the shovel the others are using. He has tears in his eyes and lets one slowly fall, soaking into his fur.

"She was bloody annoying and arrogant, but… She didn't deserve to die. I should have tucked her legs in or something."

Magpie nods his thanks to Farthen, handing him the shovel and stepping out of the gradually deepening hole.

"No, she didn't. Don't blame yourself for this one, Farthen. I don't think it was the blades that got her. The smoke seems a more likely culprit. You can't control how you breathe when you're unconscious, she would have been inhaling it too much. I should have tried to get her up sooner, I thought I was keeping her stable."

"I guess you’re right, I suppose, but you did more than any of us could, the amount of times you got her back up." He chuckles. "Honestly though, how many times can you fall in the same trap?"

"Twice, at least," Fox replies. "Let's try and keep that the group record."

“Deal.”

Magpie nods a silent agreement, and sits at the side of the grave gingerly, hand over his ribs, watching Farthen dig.

Fox hovers at the edge of the grave, unsure of what to do with himself.

"Y'know, Tiny," he says hesitantly. "I reckon you almost did her a favour, really. If I'm ever about to die of smoke inhilation, you feel free to shoot me. It's a bad way to go."

“I’m not trying to make a habit of shooting people… well, people I know anyway."

"Glad to hear it. It was rough down there, though.”

“Didn't have any other choice, did we?"

"You do what you have to to survive." Fox glances down at the grave. "It's just sad it couldn't work out that way for all of us."

“Death waits for all of us, but when it is time, death waits for none,” Farthen says.

Magpie makes a quiet noise of derision, and stands up, moving to occupy himself with checking the contents of the basket.

"Things that deep are above my paygrade, I'm afraid," Fox says.

Written by Rowan E. Madden, Nick Drew & Nathan Godding

Edited by Rowan E. Madden

Edge of Night is a dnd 5e actual play podcast, brought to you by Stringer Games. It is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts & Acast.

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nelvana · 4 years

Text

In which they arrive at the guild

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which they travel to another continent Previous: In which the lake guardians arrive at the town

Damien was not pleased to be woken so early in the morning. He turned over and tried to just go back to sleep, but the rays of dawn seemed to just perfectly slice through his eyelids, forcing him to eventually give up and just get up.

Not too far away, he could see Tsuki rationing out breakfast for that morning. Alex, the ever earl riser, was nearby her, watching over her shoulder, but seemed to be letting her work on her own for the most part. Nelvana was with them as well, though she leaned tiredly against Alex’s shoulder, watching with lidded eyes. Damien felt a pang of pity; from what he gathered, Nelvana’s sleep was never the best to begin with, and Dusknoir joining the group had definitely halted any progress of a good night’s rest, considering he was what antagonized her in her nightmares.

Speaking of Dusknoir, Damien scanned over the group to find him next, and spotted him a bit off from the rest of the group, with Edgar talking to him again. Everyone else was still asleep, and seeing as the other three were occupied, evidently one of the two ghost-types in that conversation must have split off on purpose for some privacy. Despite that, Damien could see from where he was that Edgar was beginning to get restless again. He sighed. Edgar was trying so terribly hard to get Dusknoir to improve, but from what Damien could gather, it was like talking to a wall. Usually Edgar would rejoin everyone else, tenser than before he left, and without much progress made from what Damien could tell from Dusknoir’s attitude.

Sighing again, Damien got up and wandered over to the other two ghost-type pokemon. Already his ears rang with the conversation he had attempted to have with Dusknoir the day before, but he pushed that aside when he noted that there was again no glow from Edgar’s eye sockets.

“Alright, time out,” Damien spoke up, placing his hands together to make the shape of a “T” as he approached. “Edgar, how about you help the others with breakfast or somethin’? I can take things from here.”

Edgar jolted and spun back around to face the gengar at the sound of his voice, his red eye returning to his face at the sight of his friend, “oh, Damien! Good morning!” he greeted, though there was something hollow to his voice that wrenched at Damien’s heart. “Er, what do you mean? Dusknoir and I were just chatting…”

“Yeah, and it’s stressing you out. Whatever you were talking to him about, I’m sure I can help with it for a bit,” Damien replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “You’re usually talking to him about being a better person, right? I have a bit of experience with that. Just… Just go say hi to Nel or somethin’, I’m sure she could use a nice morning conversation.”

“I…” Edgar paused, hesitating. “You sure?”

“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t.”

“…okay, talk to you later Dusknoir!”

Despite his hesitance to leave, Edgar seemed quite hasty to go once given the excuse. He floated over to the other three that were awake and immediately seemed to spark a much more cheerful and comfortable conversation with them. Damien watched his friend go, allowing himself to smile a bit…

Dusknoir scoffed, “I’m just someone you can swap out people to have a conversation with?”

“In your case, kinda, yeah,” Damien responded, finding his smile leaving just as soon as it arrived. “So, what was it exactly that you two were talking about?”

Dusknoir straightened up at this question, though it took him a moment to properly form an answer.

“I am interested in… being included more,” he told him.

“Included more?” Damien repeated, “like what? You wanna talk more in conversations? We tried that and you would shut everyone down. What changed?”

“I have begun to see the beauties of this timeline,” Dusknoir admitted, “and… I believe that I have begun to feel lonely. Your group is close in a way I have never quite seen before.”

“You’re lonely?” Damien questioned, stopping himself from allowing anger to rise in his voice. “Okay, so… you’ve never had any friends then?”

“I have had alliances, though I suppose those would not be the same as friends,” Dusknoir answered.

“Do you care about us then?”

“Excuse me?”

“Do you care about us?”

Dusknoir hesitated. It wasn’t for long, but long enough for Damien to clue in that this may have been the point in the conversation where Edgar had grown irritated. He decided not to wait for Dusknoir’s answer.

“Look, being lonely is… understandable. But you’re not going to suddenly get to be buddy-buddy with everyone if you don’t even care,” Damien snapped, “do you even regret anything you did before to hurt us, our friends? Or are you just looking to benefit from being with our group without being in it?”

“I did my job, I did what was right,” Dusknoir rumbled, narrowing his eye.

“First part right, second part wrong,” Damien growled back, “I’m not going to waste my time with you if you aren’t actually looking to do the right thing. You’re a murderer, and you regret nothing. You don’t care who’s lives you’ve affected, you just want to make yourself feel better,” he said, “Let me tell you something, you are never going to get any of us to actually like you if you don’t make an effort to mend the past. You’ve scarred our friends and we will stand by them. If you want to make friends, you need to improve yourself. And the first step to that is admitting you made a mistake and working to make things right.”

He pointed a finger at Dusknoir as he finished, pointing a finger at him accusatorily. To his surprise, Dusknoir leaned away from him, his glare faded into a much more wide-eyed expression. Clearly, Dusknoir hadn’t expected that. Good, Damien thought, he needed someone to call him out properly. Edgar has been being too soft about this.

“I’m going to eat. Don’t come back to me unless you’re actually trying to improve and are looking for advice,” Damien grumbled, turning and leaving Dusknoir behind as he went to rejoin the others.

Damien felt like throwing up.

He arrived with the others chatting pleasantly, giving those who were still sleeping a few extra minutes to sleep in because of the day before. They couldn’t wait too long though, the guild couldn’t be too far away by now, and everyone was anticipating arriving there today.

Drapion’s Guild was located in Northshine City, as Keahi reminded everyone once zie had woken up. Judging by zir estimation, they would be within the day’s travel to get there. The hope at this point was to finish up business at the guild before the end of the day, and teleport back to the base to begin making their way to Gull Village the next day.

Fortunately, there were no longer any dungeons in the way, which allowed for smooth travels through the mountains to get the Northshine City. Keahi eagerly chattered the entire way, excitement at finally seeing the guild bubbling up after all this time until zie was talking non-stop, only pausing every so often for someone to comment or ask a question before zie would get rambling again.

“It was my dream for so long to make a team, but I had expected it would be a long time before I would ever get to travel up to see the guild! This is going to be amazing!” Keahi exclaimed.

“City implies a larger populous, yes?” Tsuki asked, dipping her head over to the conversation.

“Oh yeah, right. Yeah, there will be a whole lot more ‘mons out here,” Keahi responded, “we’ll try to go straight for the guild here right now though, exploring the city can wait for another time, once we’re more ready for that.”

“Giratina ‘ll probably have to stay quiet while we’re out there,” Alex commented, brushing a hand over his bag.

“Ah, that’s a good point. We could run into a psychic-type that can sense them, and that might cause some troubles,” Ceebee agreed, “sorry about that, Giratina. I’ll block you off until we’re in the clear.”

“That’s completely understandable, thank you for explaining first,” Giratina replied, voice muffled slightly from the rock still being inside Alex’s bag.

“See you later, Giratina!” Edgar chirped.

Moments later, those who could sense him noted his presence leave. Ceebee furrowed her brows slightly, but soon relaxed again slightly. It was getting challenging to maintain all these psychic shields and now a bridge; she hoped to get some more rest soon, elsewise she’d have to prioritize where her powers were going differently.

As the sun slowly made its crawl across the sky, the group continued on their journey. Eventually Keahi ran out of steam to endlessly ramble, and some other conversations peppered in throughout Team Galaxy, and Damien. Dusknoir remained silent, as usual, though his gaze wasn’t as strong on everyone’s backs as usual, as if he was too distracted in his own thoughts to just watch and study them.

It well into the afternoon when they spotted buildings dotted out in the distance; the first sign of civilization the majority of them had seen in nearly a week. Not that that alone was enough to terribly excite everyone, but knowing that this was their destination and that it was in sight, was enough. This encouraged a few in the group to sprint ahead for awhile, but the town was still far out of sprinting distance, and the others caught up once those who had run ahead paused for a break after wearing themselves out.

After a bit over another half hour, Northshine City was finally within their reach. Even still at a distance they could view the populous, which was at least three times the size of Pokemon Square at just a glance. Various pokemon were scattered between houses, walking together or chatting amongst each other out of the way of where other were trying to get to. Numerous large buildings were scattered about, streets and alleyways around and in between them. Instead of having just stands for shops almost like a marketplace like there was back at Pokemon Square, there were many buildings for establishments, more like the café that Spinda and Gulpin ran, though still bigger.

“Arceus, I didn’t think I’d see a city like this here…” Damien gasped, eyes wide as he scanned the area. “Didn’t realize pokemon would be building places like this. Er, no offense.”

Keahi laughed, “none taken! I guess humans are a bit bigger than us, from what I’ve heard, so that would make sense to have bigger cities,” zie told him, “this is definitely the biggest on this continent though. Most other towns are more like Pokemon Square.”

“What about other continents?” Ceebee asked, flying lower towards the ground to stay closer to her friends.

“Mm… I heard there’s some consideration for a new town being built out on the Grass Continent, and those plans are to make that pretty big. They actually already have the biggest city in the world, Jubilee City. That’s why they’re thinking of making a new town, I think, to space out the population more,” Keahi explained.

“That would make sense. Do you think those in a position to do so around this continent would consider the same?” Tsuki replied, fur bristling slightly as they continued weaving their way through the crowds in the streets.

“I think they have, but we don’t have enough money to get the resources for it.” Keahi frowned.

“Maybe we should make a donation,” Alex murmured, only partially listening to the conversation, judging by how his own gaze darted here and there. “It would be hard for those not in teams to make it from here to Pokemon Square like we’ve done.”

“Hey, who do you think lives out there?” Edgar asked, gesturing out to a large building in the distance, outside of the city.

Keahi bounced up to try getting a better look, finally earning zim a lift from Edgar so zie could properly see what Edgar was referring to. After a moment’s thought, zir face lit up with recognition.

“Oh! That’s Team A.C.T.’s base! Wow, it’s really neat to actually see, I had only heard descriptions and… and images…” zie trailed off, excitement dying back as zir mind caught up to zim. “Yeah,” zie mumbled.

“Wonder if they’re there now?” Ceebee mused, lifting a hand to block the sun out of her eyes as she looked out to the base as well. “We haven’t seen them since the meteor.”

“Probably,” Tsuki replied, “they had only been out here to help with the meteor. If not here, they are working elsewhere.”

“Don’t care either way,” Alex huffed, hunching his shoulders. “Screw ‘em.”

Damien blinked, “what? I thought you guys liked Team A.C.T.? Alakazam made the teleport gem ‘n everything for you all…”

“They tried hunting us down when we got to Ninetales,” Nelvana told him quietly, “Alakazam knew you were lying about all that though.”

“Oh.” Damien’s face paled with realization.

Keahi only let out a small hum, frowning to zirself as zie stared out over the stones that made up the streets, until finally zie spotted another large building, not quite as far away as Team A.C.T.’s base was from them. Zir eyes sparkled all over again, smile returning.

“There! That’s the guild!” zie exclaimed, “c’mon!”

Eager to leave where the previous conversation was going and the bustling streets of the city behind, the others hurried along with Keahi as they went over to the guild. It was spaced away slightly from the main part of the city, but was still an easy walk to get to.

The guild itself was a large, dome-shaped building with a couple smaller sections connected to its sides and a spiralling tower climbing out from the back. Tall flags flew beside the front gate, and several plants and other smaller structures like fences stood around the outside of the building. The walls around the outside were a sun faded purple, other cool colors drawn in to give what once must have been a spectacular gradient. If one squinted, one could make the connection between the design and the species of drapion, but it was not done in such a way to be obvious or distracting, like some other buildings built in the image of a single pokemon could be.

As they made their final steps up towards the front doors to the guild, Nelvana felt a chill go down her spine and the familiar feeling of someone staring at her. Anxiety prickled up as she felt this wasn’t a friendly stare, and she began to quickly search the area around them for someone who would be watching. Finally, she spotted a mandibuzz towards her right, perched on a post and staring down at them all. A team badge was attached to a sash wrapped around their neck, similarly to how Keahi wore zir own, but that didn’t calm Nelvana at all.

She nudged Alex to get his attention, trying to discreetly gesture over to the mandibuzz despite having stared back at them for a few moments prior. He glanced over, appearing much less unnerved by the situation.

“Hm? Oh, looks like some sort of guard,” he commented quietly, “makes sense, a place like this would need one.”

Not long after Alex finished speaking, the mandibuzz spread open their wings and swooped down in front of the group. Those who hadn’t noticed this pokemon before jolted slightly from being startled, though Nelvana, despite knowing that the mandibuzz had been there and might come down, jumped as well and more than anyone else.

“Greetings Team Galaxy,” Mandibuzz greeted warmly, a smile stretching across her beak.

Keahi blinked, “you know who we are?”

Mandibuzz chuckled, “I’d be terrible at my job if I couldn’t identify visitors!” she responded, “and, your team name has certainly made the rounds around here. So, what brings you out here then? And… with your guests,” she continued, glancing over at Damien and Dusknoir as she finished speaking.

“We’re here to speak to the Guildmaster,” Keahi told Mandibuzz, zir voice growing more somber. “It’s really important, we think there’s still something going on with the world’s balance,” zie explained, “and… Damien and Dusknoir are with us to help too.”

“I see.” Mandibuzz’s own more jovial nature quieted down at this as well. “Very well, I believe Guildmaster Drapion is not terribly busy right now, he should be in his office. You’re welcome to go inside, I must stay in here, but someone in there should be able to help show you the way there.”

Keahi nodded, “thank you!”

Nelvana swallowed her breath, thankful for what appeared to be the end of the conversation so that they could just go inside. Before Mandibuzz flew back to her perch, however, her gaze landed on the cubone again, who flinched back again. Mandibuzz blinked in confusion, before something seemed to click in her eyes.

“Oh, my apologies if I startled you there!” she told Nelvana, “I guess old instincts die hard sometimes, I forget about that.”

“I-Instincts?” Nelvana stammered out, “what do you mean?”

“Oh, Nel, are you nervous?” Keahi asked, glancing back at zir partner. “it’s alright! But yeah, Mandibuzz is probably right there, her species used to hunt cubones. It’s all good now, but I guess there are still some instincts about it.”

Mandibuzz nodded, “I prolly stared at you in particular for too long too. Sorry ‘bout that.”

“But… I’m not…” Nelvana trailed off; though many at this point knew about her being human, it still felt strange to openly admit, especially now.

Damien opened his mouth as if to speak, but stopped himself before any noise came out and remained silent.

“Well, either way, sorry if I spooked you there a bit. I can assure you I wouldn’t hurt you,” Mandibuzz assured Nelvana, “and considering some of your team’s feats, you could probably beat me!” she added with a laugh.

Nelvana nodded, and despite her earlier anxiety, seemed to find herself more easily relaxing again, though that was replaced slightly with embarrassment. Did she really have enough cubone instincts to get that worked up over a mandibuzz?

“Thanks,” she replied, deciding it would be best to say something properly in this interaction. “And sorry for, uh, being scared of you…? That wasn’t really fair of me, you’re just here keeping an eye on things.”

“No worries! I’ve been told I’m a bit intimidatin’ anyway, you aren’t the first to get a bit scared, cubone or otherwise,” Mandibuzz replied, “now then, you all should get to the Guildmaster before he gets too busy, and I should get back to my post. It was nice to meet you!”

“Thanks again!” Keahi chirped, leading the way for the group to enter the guild.

The first room they entered was an expansive space with a large desk across from them with a gumshoos busy with their head in some paperwork. There were a few chairs and benches against the walls, empty save for a few pokemon reading or talking to one another as they waited. On the walls were some posters, and a long list of teams listed by rank. A cofagrigus was leaning against the wall that would be closest to Mandibuzz outside, and they seemed to be fiddling with something on the wall itself. Before Team Galaxy could get too far into the guild, Cofagrigus stopped them, approaching with a curious gaze.

“Excuse me, but you are Team Galaxy, yes?” Cofagrigus asked, looking over the group. “Oh, and Gengar,” they added in a much less enthusiastic voice, and Damien shrank a bit under their gaze. “’Buzz let you in, so I suppose she trusts you enough with the team, so I will as well. Now then, a team all the way from Pokemon Square is… unexpected, to say the least. What brings you all out here?”

“We want to talk to Guildmaster Drapion,” Keahi told him, repeating what zie had told Mandibuzz, or just ‘Buzz, from outside.

Cofagrigus paused for a few seconds to reflect this over, and then nodded.

“Very well, I see that this is important. I will show you to the Guildmaster,” he responded.

“Thank you!” Keahi replied, beaming back at Cofagrigus.

Looking the group over one last time, Cofagrigus turned towards the wall he had been facing before. He stuck one of his ghostly hands through it, there was a faint knock from the other side, as well as what sounded to be Mandibuzz’s voice, and then he pulled his arm back through. Without a word towards this, he began heading down one of the hallways. Gumshoos lifted their head momentarily to nod at the group as they passed by, though Cofagrigus didn’t notice in time to nod or wave back to his coworker.

Trying to take in their surroundings as much as possible as they were swiftly led through the hallways of the guild, the group filed two by two to fit through the corridors and turned their heads to take a look at the various windows, closed doors, pictures that would show up. Some were labelled, but only the shorter ones could be read with the pace they had to keep to follow Cofagrigus properly. He wasn’t particularly fast, his species wasn’t built for that, but he glided right over the floor at what was most likely sped up compared to how he would usually walk.

Eventually though, he stopped in front of a door with more intricate carvings in the doorway, as well as a sign labelling the room ahead as the Guildmaster’s chambers. Politely, Cofagrigus knocked on the door first.

“It’s me, Guildmaster,” Cofagrigus announced through the door. “Team Galaxy has come here wishing to speak with you.”

Some shuffling around was heard from beyond the wood that stood between them and the room ahead, but it was only a few seconds after Cofagrigus had spoken that the door was opened by Drapion himself. He smiled pleasantly, and blinked over at the large group that was behind the coffin pokemon.

“And guests,” Cofagrigus added, easily judging Drapion’s mildly surprised expression.

“Oh, now isn’t this a pleasant surprise!” Drapion hummed, “greetings, Team Galaxy and others. As you already know, I am Guildmaster Drapion. It is great to finally get to see you, come in, come in!”

Stepping aside, Drapion gestured for the group to enter his room. A large, dark oak desk stood towards the back of the room, but still relatively close to the center. Even from the view that they were at just as they entered, they could see the detailed map installed inside the top of the desk, protected by a layer of glass. Carvings of various gods decorated the front of this piece of furniture, and the feet of it were clawed over crystal orbs. Despite its elegant appearance based off its build, the top of the desk was littered with small items, papers scattered across the surface. Aside from the desk, this room carried another list of the teams, two windows by the side walls, a couple tapestries, and a masterpiece of a painting by the back. A tall filing cabinet stood off to the side, and the rug covering the floor could be seen to be beginning to unravel from use.

Keahi beamed as they entered around, giddy with energy as zie hurried into the room first. Wanting to leave a good impression on the Guildmaster, however, zie buried most of this for the moment, opting to silently bounce in place instead. The rest of the group followed in with awe, excitement, and mild anxiety to be in such an important place for the team, but even with just a glance it was evident that Keahi carried the strongest of any of these feelings.

Drapion smiled warmly as the group entered, and stepped back over to his desk once they had entered. He moved in front of the desk, rather than going to stand behind it again. Cofagrigus entered the room as well, but he turned his attention away from the rest of the group to rummage through the filing cabinet at some documents.

“Cofagrigus is a good worker here,” Drapion hummed, glancing over to the mentioned ghost-type momentarily as he spoke. “Him and his partner, Mandibuzz, make good work at keeping track of any outlaws, as well as helping me look through potential recruits. They’re a good team, glad to have them.”

Cofagrigus let out a grunt of acknowledgement, though Ceebee managed to glimpse a more flustered expression from the pokemon at these compliments from the corner of her eye. She chuckled to herself, but opted not to bring it up.

“He looks through all of the application forms?” Damien asked hesitantly.

“Mhmm. Makes sure that no one suspicious is trying to make a team.” Drapion winked. “And he helps with disbanding teams as well. Has a memory like an arena trap; much better than my own.”

Damien gulped, “oh.”

“If your old team, Team Meanies is what you’re getting to, yes, he did go through that, as did I. Your team caused quite the ruckus out in Pokemon Square,” Drapion told him, “you made the right choice breaking it off. I assume that the fact that you’re here with the very ones you attempted to condemn means that you learned your lesson, good. And in that case, I don’t feel like hammering down that lesson for you again. You’re fine.”

“What are the rules about disbanding a team?” Edgar asked, “could he ever make another one if he wanted to?”

Cofagrigus scoffed, “he could try. He’d have to go through the application process again though, and make a pretty good case for me to let him after what he pulled before. Same goes for your old teammates.”

“Don’t worry too much about that though. You’re young, and as long as you learn and improve, you’ll be alright. You may have a bit of trouble leading a team again, but you can always join another if that’s what you want,” Drapion assured Damien, bringing back a softer smile. “Fortunately, your damage was small enough and seems to have been repaired; we aren’t looking to arrest you if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Damien let out a breath he didn’t know that he was holding, and Edgar, who was positioned closest to him, gave him a gentle pat on the back.

“If any of you cause any other problems though…” Cofagrigus muttered under his breath, going unheard by most.

Drapion sighed, “Anyway, I don’t suppose you’re here just to visit then, or to confirm if Gengar is in the clear from his past. It isn’t that unusual for a team stationed that far out to eventually want to come out here, but when they come directly for me, it’s usually important. So, what is it?”

“Er, well, you see… We believe that the world’s balance is in danger again. That it didn’t get fully fixed with just breaking the meteor,” Keahi told him, “and we were hoping to… to see if you all at the guild knew anything more about what’s going on.”

Blinking, Drapion leaned back against his desk, rubbing his forehead with one of his clawed hands. He glanced back at Cofagrigus, who had actually looked away from his own work and back at the others at this statement, red eyes wide.

“I must admit… we had been coming to the same conclusion,” Drapion replied, wearily. “We, unfortunately, do not know much on the situation. However, we have begun getting reports of more powerful dungeons, pokemon being randomly teleported dozens of feet from where they were before, leaves hanging suspended in the air after falling from trees… Other guilds have reported similar incidents, though they have all been small so far with nothing to link them together. Psychic-types and similar pokemon have begun sensing something dangerous; something I’m sure Absol from your group picked up by now,” he explained, “I’m afraid that if you were hoping to get a lead, we don’t have that much right now.”

“We do have a lead though; we were just looking for more information!” Edgar blurted out, earning a glance from Alex, who sighed afterwards.

“It is to our knowledge that this is being caused by Palkia beginning to go primal. After this stop, we plan on going out to the Grass Continent to make our way to Dialga and hopefully get more help from them,” Alex explained, “as Edgar said, we were hoping to see if perhaps you knew anything more; maybe a better way to get out to Palkia?”

“Palkia…” Drapion repeated, leaning back on the desk again. “Where did you get that from?”

Glancing back at Ceebee, who nodded, Alex brought out the stone that could house Giratina’s spirit. Ceebee’s antennae twitched slightly, and then the legendary’s presence returned, prompting Cofagrigus to approach more and eye the rock slightly.

“…We are at the guild,” Giratina observed quietly.

“Yes, we are, sorry. I know we told you we would wait until after… but we need you to explain to the Guildmaster here about the situation with Palkia more; you can handle it better than us,” Ceebee told them.

“Who is this?” Cofagrigus questioned, his gaze shifting up to look at the celebi.

“Promise not to freak out,” Alex insisted first, “Ceebee can sense that they’re a trustworthy source.”

Cofagrigus blinked slowly, “I promise then.”

“Needing us to promise that doesn’t spring forth confidence, but I shall promise as well,” Drapion said.

“I am Giratina,” Giratina told them, “I do apologize if that unnerves you here, but I assure you both that I am only here to provide as much assistance as I can… from here.”

“That is a secure spot your spirit is in, hm?” Cofagrigus commented, “I will trust that a mythical such as yourself would know how to handle this, though I question the idea of bringing this exact god as an ally.”

“Better than an enemy!” Ceebee pointed out, “Their more direct connection to Palkia is what brought us to this lead, and they’ve promised several times to be willing to help, and none of us, especially myself and Tsuki, have sensed anything yet.”

Drapion chuckled to himself, “you certainly are an interesting team… Very well then, Giratina, would you please tell us what you know about the situation?”

Giratina obliged, repeating a more condensed version of the information they had previously relayed to Team Galaxy, Damien, and Dusknoir. Being more of a summary than anything else, plus that they didn’t have to relay their own past as well to gain trust, it only took a few minutes to explain what they knew to Drapion and Cofagrigus. Feeling awkward about the current situation and not wishing to be sensed by any psychic-types around the guild, Giratina departed from the stone soon after finishing their explanation.

“…I see,” Drapion finally responded, “that does certainly add up with what little we already knew. There are other documented cases of legendaries causing problems similar to this in such a way, but never to this scale. Your plan is to beat Palkia to wear the excess energy from being primal out of them then?”

Keahi nodded, “yeah. We’re going to try and get Dialga’s help though.”

Drapion let out another sigh, this one more drawn out, “Cofagrigus, none of our platinum teams are around for this, right?”

“None of them that serve a better chance here. Team Galaxy seems to have the best connection to what is going on,” Cofagrigus answered, and though his statement was firm and to the point, there was almost a reluctance to admit such a fact behind his voice.

“We can handle this! We just need a little help, is all,” Keahi insisted.

“That’s why we came here,” Alex added.

“Alright. I understand then. You have proven yourselves to be an incredibly capable team before, so I will trust your judgement,” Drapion said, “we will take up your request for help though. Currently, we’ve already sent most of our other higher ranked teams for investigation or rescue work for the problems I mentioned before, but there are certainly plenty of useful supplies we can send you all with. I’m sure that after the journey here, you will need to restock on some items, correct?”

Damien nodded, “yeah, we packed a lot, but…”

“Any extra help is welcome, I understand.” Drapion nodded. “Cofagrigus, the closest harbor south on the map is by Gull Village, correct?”

“That would be correct,” Cofagrigus answered.

“Perfect. Now, would you mind bringing Sableye here to help our group here down to the item bank? Quickly relay to em the situation, ey should know what items would be best,” Drapion instructed.

“Anything after that, or may I return back to my work?” Cofagrigus responded, opening the coffin that made up his body slightly to stuff some of the papers he had gathered into it.

“That will be all, unless you know where Togekiss went to. I’ll want to speak to her too about this, and see about getting some teleport gems for our friends’ trip out to Gull Village,” Drapion told him.

“Those actually got moved down to the lower sections of the item bank, I believe. I’ll tell Sableye to check for those too,” Cofagrigus added.

“Perfect! Thank you! Now, there is no time to waste! I’ll be seeing you all later, but for now, follow Cofagrigus out to wherever Sableye is at now!” Drapion said, returned to smiling again. “It was great to meet you all, I hope there will be a better chance to give you a tour of the guild someday soon.”

“Thank you too!” Keahi replied, bouncing on zir talons in place. “We’ll definitely be back here sometime once all this is over, for a proper visit!”

Drapion chuckled warmly, “I look forward to it. Good luck then with the item bank!”

Waving for everyone to follow him again, Cofagrigus directed everyone back out into the hallways. He began getting them to retrace their steps, though as he spotted a heliolisk nearby, he directed them to find Sableye instead. Heliolisk skittered off, while everyone waited back in the entry room once more.

The feeling from naming this particular sableye did not remind Nelvana of anything bad, which she was thankful for considering her knowledge of how any other encounter went with that species had gone, though in a way that familiarity with the species made it strange to hear Sableye, disconnected from it all. She could tell and Alex and Ceebee were thinking similarly by their own expressions, and though she didn’t look back at Dusknoir, she wondered if he felt the same way; he would have been more familiar with each of his army by name, most likely.

After what felt like far too long, Heliolisk returned with the aforementioned Sableye. Ey sported a dark vest and bowtie, and eir jewels glittered in the sunlight as ey walked over. Cofagrigus quietly explained to em what was going on, and then moved over to continue his own work, leaving Sableye in charge of the group. Ey looked them over, and unlike most of the staff, did not react much to Damien, and more so to Dusknoir, scowling towards the larger ghost-type.

“You shall all refer to me as simply Sableye, my pronouns are ey, em, eir,” ey told them, arms crossed behind eir back with a straight and tall posture. “Follow me and I shall take you down to my domain; the banks.”

“Oh hey! You have neopronouns too!” Keahi exclaimed, “I go by zie, zim, zir!” zie told em.

Sableye nodded, smiling for a brief moment before turning to lead them down the halls again without another word. Ey led them over to a different hallway, and quickly to large metal doors in the wall. Pressing a single button on the wall opened these doors, revealing a metal box. Ey gestured for everyone to enter.

“Wow, is this an elevator?” Damien, the only one who recognized the contraption, spoke up. “I didn’t think these were still made.”

“Yes, it is an elevator. Incredibly useful in getting down to lower floors without walking up and down stairs,” Sableye replied, “I’m surprised you knew what it was. You are right in that they are rare. I believe we may be the only location on this continent to use it. Much research has gone into history, you would be surprised what useful inventions have been lost to time,” ey continued, “now then, the doors won’t stay open forever, come on in.”

Obediently, the group crammed their way into the smaller space. It was larger than it had appeared at first, but it was evident that it would have been hard to fit in any more pokemon if they have had to. Pressing another button inside, the elevator began its descent.

“So, I must ask, you are that very ‘Master Dusknoir’ are you not?” Sableye began once the elevator had started moving, not turning eir head to look back at the pokemon ey spoke to, continuing to face the wall ahead.

Dusknoir blinked, “you have heard of me?”

Sableye scoffed, “most others here won’t put two and two together about who you are, but I certainly did. Hard to forget that other sableye that was brought here to the prison, shrieking about you over and over.”

“Other sableye?” Dusknoir repeated, his eye narrowing.

“Oh right, you didn’t even know about this,” Alex chimed in, rolling his eyes. “One of your minions snuck in the time portal to try to kill us. We arrested them, and sent them to prison here.”

“Very good that you did,” Sableye continued, “he’s a disgrace to our kind, and it unnerves me that you had more of them where you’re from. If it were my choice, I would arrest you right here for bringing them up that way. Ghost-types and dark-types get enough flack as it is, we don’t need more bad examples setting any sense of professionalism back.”

“I… I had not been aware that one of them had gotten back here,” Dusknoir said.

“That just makes you even worse at your terrible job,” Sableye sneered, “to give you some credit though, that was a slippery little fiend. I don’t usually work around the prison, hate it out there, but I was the only one that was able to calm them down and get them in the cage,” ey added, “I have no clue why you’re here, Dusknoir, and so long as you don’t cause any trouble, I don’t care. But I assure you that if you start any trouble like I know you did in that forsaken timeline, I will be back on prison duty to make sure you get the perfect cell,” ey growled, “pokemon like you disgust me.”

The rest of the elevator ride passed in relative silence. Not that there was much of it left, as soon after Sableye finished their rant, the doors slid open again to a new section of the guild. A few Kangaskhan Statues stood within eyesight from exiting the elevator, but that was pretty much the only familiar thing about such a location. Other storage compartments were built in the walls, extending out as far as the eye could see. Above were tracks carrying carts down the corridors above anyone walking by.

“You are looking for more dungeoneering supplies, yes?” Sableye asked, “what sort of team are you? Do you like using orbs or seeds, or should we save space in your bags with other items?” ey continued without much of a pause to even answer the first question.

“We don’t really use orbs, sometimes seeds but not that often,” Nelvana told em.

Sableye nodded, “that makes my job easier. You’ll be looking for food and other basic travel supplies, and I’ll give you some time if there are any TMs you’ve been looking to use. Cofagrigus said you plan on fighting Palkia, I’ve been working here long enough to know which seeds will be useful, and some other items you’ll need,” ey said, “you have two bags I see, that should be enough for what I have in mind. Come with me.”

Quickly and efficiently, Sableye took the group around the item bank. Ey located items with ease, despite the numerous storage places. Some, but not all, the compartments were labelled, but Sableye rarely needed to look them over to find what ey needed. Despite that, everything was evidently incredibly well organized, and it was probably only because of how much there was that not everything was labelled.

Eventually, the group was restocked and ready to keep going again, both bags now fuller than ever for the remaining journey ahead. After double checking with Sableye, ey brought them all back to the elevator and up to the top floor again. Ey brought them back to Cofagrigus before leaving emself, who referred them to the Guildmaster again, who was apparently outside now. He did not follow them back out, leaving the group temporarily to their own devices again.

Returning back outside to what was by now the early evening, the group quickly spotted Drapion not far from the guild, chatting with a togekiss beside him. As they approached, they could pick up parts of the conversation.

“What about Team Endeavor?” Togekiss asked Drapion quietly.

Drapion sighed, “no one has heard from them in years.”

“And yet you keep them as the diamond rank team,” Togekiss pointed out.

“They’re just hard to get in contact with,” Drapion insisted, “we would know if something happened to them.”

“I know you won’t like this… but Team A.C.T.?” Togekiss suggested.

Drapion shook his head, “you know why that’s a bad idea.”

“These are kids though!” Togekiss hissed, “are we really going to send them out to fight gods alone?”

“Guildmaster Drapion?” Keahi greeted hesitantly, “are we interrupting something?”

“What?” Drapion hastily turned to look at the group. “Oh, no, you aren’t interrupting anything, don’t worry! So, did you get everything you needed from Sableye?”

“We should, yes. Ey was very thorough in eir work,” Tsuki answered, her gaze shifting over to the two full bags.

Drapion smiled, “yes, we do try to hire the best of the best! Sableye and eir partner, Purugly, are our two main bank workers. I swear most would get lost where they work, but they’re perfected it to an art!” he told them proudly, “now then, this is my partner, and assistant guildmaster, Togekiss!”

Togekiss smiled at the group as well, nodding over to them in greeting, “hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you all!” she hummed.

“Yeah! I’ve heard of you!” Keahi chirped, eyes lighting up again.

“I’d sure hope so!” Drapion chuckled, “despite her dislike of publicity, she truly keeps this guild together, and it would be a shame if she never got any credit for her work.”

“Oh please, you do more of the work than I do, I’m just your assistant now,” Togekiss snorted a laugh.

“’Just my assistant’, please, don’t be so modest,” Drapion teased, “anyway, anyway! That’s besides the point. Right here I have some teleport gems we keep on hand for this sort of fast travel, works for three pokemon at a time to any location, on this continent only, I’m afraid, so long as the holder knows its location. If you’d like, though, we could set you up with a room here for the night. You could rest up here, see the guild a bit more, and then head back to work,” he offered.

“That sounds like a great offer, but we should probably head to Gull Village tonight,” Alex replied, “wouldn’t want to get delayed, right?” he added, glancing over at his teammates.

Keahi let out a defeated sigh, “no yeah, you’re right. We’d probably get caught up in meeting new pokemon and seeing all the sights if we stayed here for too much longer,” zie admitted.

“But hey, we can always come back here later. It would feel a lot better when we aren’t feeling so rushed,” Nelvana chimed in, placing a hand on her partner’s back to reassure zim.

“I understand,” Drapion sighed, “very well then, you should all get into groups of three, and one group of two, and then I’ll give you the gems to use.”

“We should have Nel, Ceebee, and Damien in separate groups,” Tsuki instructed, “they’re the ones that have been to Gull Village before, and would be best suited to use the gems.”

“Great point there, Tsuki! Alright, who wants to be in my group?” Ceebee cheered.

Keahi and Alex, already standing close to Nelvana, glued themselves to their partner’s side. Tsuki stepped over to stand by Ceebee, and Edgar hovered between Ceebee and Damien for a bit before piecing together that Dusknoir would have to be in Damien’s group, and going over to support his fellow ghost-type pokemon there.

Nodding at the groups, Drapion brought out the first of the teleport games that he had. Like the one that Xatu presented them with what felt like ages ago, it was green in color, though much smaller than the previous one they had used. Drapion handed the first one to Nelvana.

“You should use them one at a time, to ensure that the energy goes off right,” Drapion said.

Nelvana nodded back, and focused on the item like she had once before for Sky Tower. It wasn’t long before the three of them vanished from sight. Drapion handed out the next gem, repeating the process with Ceebee and then with Damien as well.

He watched them all disappear silently, feeling a tightness in his throat and nerves in his belly. Distantly, he was aware of Togekiss stepping up beside him and placing a gentle wing on his shoulders.

“Good luck. Please.”

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which they travel to another continent Previous: In which the lake guardians arrive at the town

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firebunnylover · 7 years

Text

Hannah Watches LOSH - Lightning Storm

Lightning Storm

The opening to this episode is the Legion on a mission to rescue several ships from a Space Squid. It is… not going well.

Everyone except Bouncy – who is on the cruiser – gets caught by the squid. Although we do get more Triplicate Girl, and our first mission-appearance of Colossal Boy.

Oh, about that Superman… someone just joined the party, so they probably did watch for a bit.

Their leader tells Wave to distract it and Esper to ready a mind blast. As soon as Esper does her part, the others go in, making the squid let the ships and other captives go.

When Superman tries to help, he nearly gets hit by one of the weapons used by one of the other team.

But when Lightning Lad manages to help, he’s thanked.

Esper delivers another psychic attack, and when the Legion goes to attack, this happens.

That is disgusting. RIP Space Squid.

Aww, Sparky doesn’t want his nerd teammate to embarrass him in front of the cool kids.

Still Superman goes over to thank them.

The leader says that they can clean up the mess. To which Superman goes “Oh! Right!” Gosh what a boy scout.

Later, we see that Colossal Boy has departed the rest of the team, and Superman thanks him for helping earlier. Although Lightning Lad comments they looked like dumb kids during the mission. What a sour puss.

However Bouncy questions who the others were.

However, Lightning Lad’s thoughts clearly contrast Triplicate Girls’ thoughts.

I love how the girls are all gathered together. It’s like they started a poly-relationship.

Actually, can the whole legion be poly-romantic? That takes a lot of trouble out of shipping.

Of course, Lightning Lad goes straight into Tsudere denial mode.

When Saturn Girl says they’ll see soon on Lightning Lad’s fan-crush on the other group, he angrily asks if she’s now clairvoyant. She answers she just has good eyes, as she noticed their ship at the Dinner the Legion was just heading to.

My observant queen.

How are Jupiter burgers different from other burgers? TELL MEEEE

While the rest of the group is enjoying the meal, Lightning Lad is is clearly pining to talk to the other team. Saturn Girl tells him in a slightly annoyed tone to just go over an talk.

Superman is adorable when eating his burger. Look at how happy he is. He deserves to be happy.

Now the beginning of this next scene is actually capable of giving me second hand embarrassment. I dunno why, it just does. Maybe the expectation Lighting Lad is about to goof this up somehow?

While it seems like at first the other group has no interest in him at all, the leader does talk to him just as he’s getting ready to go, telling him he did a good job earlier. He then introduces himself as Tyr, and the others besides Wave and Esper are Hunter and RonKar, and says they are the Light Speed Vanguard.

WHAT A DORK

He’s so star-struck he has to be reminded to introduce himself.

And then Hunter comments he seems a little old for the other Legionnaires.

Bouncy I love u.

But a moment for Lighting Lad’s face at this.

OMG WHAT A LOSER

Regardless, the LSV give him their card.

What a happy fanboy.

But then returning to HQ, we see that the place is filled with people who don’t seem to be regulars at the place. Making Lighting Lad ask Brainy on what’s going on.

Who answers that a recent memo said Bouncing Boy is holding seminars for people who will be auditioning soon.

Aww my nerd son attempted a joke. Too bad it wasn’t received very well.

But turns out Lightning Lad has his own fanboy! Peter aka Porcupine Pete!

He attempts to demonstrate his powers, but it doesn’t go smoothly.

Da booty tho.

Peter apologizes, but Lighting Lad still walks off.

Rude, you go back and spend time with your fanboy.

Afterwards, Lightning Lad is seen alone and the card given to hip appears to be able to make a portal. Which he walks into with no questions.

Wow what if that turned out to be a death trap?

But the design of the place he walks into is pretty cool to look at.

But I think there’s something even better to look at.

THAT’S RIGHT

HE’S BACK

OUR TRASH LORD

OKAY THE FACT THAT HE’S THERE IS PLENTY OF REASON TO SUSPECT SOMETHING IS WRONG.

Nice call back to Champions, and a nice reminder Lighting Lad does not have many positive feelings towards Mekt right now.

Honey, it was a bit more than just a mistake.

When he claims to have moved on to better things, Lighting Lad’s brain clicks and he asks if he’s really with the LSV. Again, another bad sign.

Lightning Lad, he has been constantly on a more positive side of a relationship than you. This really isn’t that surprising.

But aww, sweet older brother. Saying he’s perfect

When Lighting Lad says he’s already in the Legion, Mekt says the Legion is for kids.

Back on the trash baby list.

However, Tyr tells Lightning Lad to hang for a while before making any decisions. And then Lightning Lad calls up the Legion.

Bouncy seems horrified Lightning Lad might be leaving, especially since he helped start the Legion.

That’s one reason?

When Lightning Lad hangs up, Saturn Girl tells the others that she has a bad feeling about the LSV, admitting that she tried to read their minds. However she held back on telling the others earlier because of feeling guilty, since she tries to reads minds only when she is given permission (or if the situation is very serious). But she couldn’t get through because Esper was shielding them.

PUPPY WANTS TO STAKE OUT.

Also, when I first saw this episode, I thought he said “steak out”, which made no sense to me but I found kinda funny since he’s part-carnivor.

Switching back to the LSV, Mekt is talking to Lightning Lad, saying it’s just like old times, which Lightning Lad agrees to.

And then Esper goes ahead and reads Lightning Lad’s mind. Major red flag.

OH **** YOU AGAIN

TINY CHILDREN

... and backgrounds with details but are too dark...

AAAAAAAH

When Esper finishes, Tyr tells her to give LL privacy. When he realizes she was just reading his mind, Sparky is not happy.

Outside the LSV’s ship, Timber Wolf and Superman are staking them out, with the cruiser cloaked. No sign of takeout though. Probably haven’t been waiting that long.

However, I guess either checkers is either a lost game in the 31st century, or Timber Wolf has never really played any games. Given he questions Superman on what checkers is when waiting.

And then questions what Kansas is. Which is a bit more on an alarming side.

However, they don’t have to kill time as LSV gets a move on, heading to a transport that’s being attacked by Sand Raiders.

And the LSV seem to have a good handle on the situation.

Dat eyeliner.

However, the raiders start to pull out… to get the big guns out.

Tyr suggests Lighting Lad to take care of it by himself, and he goes off to do so. Oh trash baby.

He gets knocked down, but then Superman and Timber Wolf intervene. Lightning Lad is not happy about it.

What a loser.

Big brother behavior~

And we get some glorious interaction between Superman and Mekt

Mm, the Superman we had in the first episode would be a little more inclined to believing people can change.

When the LSV start walking off, Lightning Lad asks what Superman and TimberWolf are doing in the same place. Although Superman is 100% honest, Lighting Lad still tells them to leave. Prick.

Superman then leaves, commenting that Mekt was right on people changing.

Oof. Not a good thing to get salt from Superman.

However, before the LSV leaves, they bill the guys they just saved. Who are taking decontamination stuff to a colony, and it sounds urgent.

This puts the LSV in a new light for Lightning Lad.

Especially when Tyr tells him “Whoever said we were heroes? This is business.”

Oof. Not what the trash baby needs.

When Lightning Lad tries to get the LSV to go help out at several places, Mekt turns him down, saying there’s no credit.

But all I could focus on is Dem Legs.

UNF

Also, bonus points for having him examine his nails. He might be considering gloves like his brother now.

However the brothers are interrupted by Tyr, saying the captain of the transport is refusing to pay. And says it’s time to collect.

Finally returning to the Legion HQ, Bouncy is talking to the try-outies, getting them ready. I love him.

However, when demonstrating with one of the applicants, Breath Boy – who can hold his breath for an extended period of time – Superman calls him because they got a distress call.

Upon arriving to the transport with the decontamination units, the Legion sees the LSV ship.

But Saturn Girl quickly finds out what’s going on.

Inside, the LSV are taking the decontamination units. Wow. What pricks.

But dem legs tho. And the way he’s sitting is proof of Mekt being a cat.

Tyr tells Lightning Lad to take care of the captain, but Sparky’s conscious wins out.

Mekt tries to get Lightning Lad to calm down, but Lightning Lad is having none of it.

Triplicate Girl outside comments she can’t believe Lightning Lad got mixed up with hijackers, just when Lightning Lad is knocked out of the transport.

Superman goes out to catch him, holding him bridal style.

Good thing Brainy wasn’t there.

Wow he can admit that.

So, judging from what Lightning Lad said, there was still some hope holding out that his brother CAN do something good, and a long time ago, did look up to him. Oof. This hurts me.

AND WE GET A CONFIRMATION ON WHERE THE POWERS CAME FROM

While the brothers have a go at each other, Hunter throws flares at Superman and Saturn Girl, who are both saved by our beloved Puppy, who then lunges at Hunter. While Superman takes Tyr on and Saturn Girl fights Esper, after being attacked by a mind blast.

Back with the brothers.

I don’t think that face implies anything good.

At what point are we talking about? Recently? Past? AAAAA

Like the touch of Bouncy watching the fight before switching channels and seeing the LSV ship coming head on.

While Wave and Ron Karr fire a few shots at the cruiser, turns out Bouncy has a lot of tricks up his sleeves.

Aww, poor white TG

Meanwhile, SG tries helping TW but gets ambushed by Esper. However, she manages to catch esper off guard and knocks her out.

Timber Wolf starts to get cornered by Hunter, but Saturn Girl manages to turn the table with making Hunter see Glorgs, which I assume are the equivalent of Furbies.

What a pure friendship.

Superman and Tyr seem pretty even in strength, and when both are starting to wear down. However, when Tyr takes out a gun-like weapon (it does not look 100% like a gun, so im refraining from calling it that) Superman uses his heat vision to blow it up, causing a smoke screen and then proceeds to beat him.

With the Ships’ fight, the Legion manages to sneak up on the LSV.

But back to the brothers.

Oof. They were really going for it.

But a moment to appreciate one of the frames of Mekt.

Edited to show the best part better.

ASS

Okay, how heavy was that metal thing?

As soon as Mekt is gone, Superman comes to help Lightning Lad get the metal thing off, saying they have a delivery to make.

Take this out of context and it looks like two boyfriends getting back together.

After seeing the rest of the LSV tied up, we go to the ship, where Triplicate Girl is gushing about Bouncy during the fight, to which Superman says they make a good team.

Giving us the first hint at BB/TG

Awwwww~

However, Lightning Lad isn’t doing to well and Saturn Girl goes to talk to him, giving us a good moment between them.

After that incredibly touching moment, we see there’s still one applicant in the HQ, even after closing hours. Then we exit out the episode.

So final thoughts on the episode overall and the character

Well, obviously I love it because of my Trash Lord. But don’t worry, I’ll gush on him towards the end of this section.

This episode does have its plus and minuses, both of which I will discuss.

In terms of world building, we now know some places are still being colonized in Space, given the guy who is delivering the decontamination units mentions colonies. Honestly, knowing there are still places left unexplored is pretty cool for me as it invites multiple possibilities with different places and beings.

We get far more character development than last episode. In terms of discussing the characters, I’m saving the brothers for last because it’s that good.

Superman is once again not the central character of this episode. But we see that he does have doubts about some people doing good.

Let’s go over a list of people he trusted in the show.

Dr. Londo. Who turned out to be abusive and manipulative.

Alexis. Who tried to kill his friends.

Zyx. Who proved to be very dangerous.

But when Mekt says he’s with the LSV, he is immediately suspicious. Now there is the fact Saturn Girl said that they were up to something, but given everything that has happened, this is a big sign of change in his trust in others. And that he needs a vacation.

And he makes a jab at Lighting Lad as well when it seems Lightning Lad has switched sides. But, he easily goes out to save him when he gets blasted. Showing he still trust Lighting Lad to do what’s right.

We finally get more development with Saturn Girl in this episode. We see once again she’s incredibly observant of people, and doesn’t need to read minds to figure out what people feel or think a fair amount of the time, but does teases Lightning Lad when he’s being tsundere as hell. We also see she knows there are lines not to cross regarding privacy of others’ thoughts. But she can still cave to the temptation of reading others minds without permission, and she held back information because she felt bad about doing it. Yes, give her flaws. Make her more realistic.

But we also see more of the comforting side of her again that she had shown Superman and Timberwolf, but this time to Lightning Lad. Nice to see.

Bouncing Boy is an absolute JOY. He’s so nice to the hopeful applicants for the auditions, even though everyone else seems to have doubts about most of them.

While at the diner, we see a love of food , and I I can relate. Immediately. I am on the heavy side, and was much heavier when younger. And he’s not constantly eating, unlike some other portrayals of fat people I have seen. Heck, we’ve only seen him eat three times before. The fair, at Clark’s home, and the popcorn while watching a movie. He does get food in Q12, but he doesn’t eat that because eyeballs. He is more than just his love of food.

A fat person being portrayed positively is something I enjoy to see. Hence one reason why I love Steven Universe, which has several fat/heavy characters. Plus seeing him goof around is fun to watch as well

And we see he’s very good at maneuvering the ship, most of it being improvisation.

Which makes something in episode 2 make more sense. Him taking offense on B5 insisting on him to use a system to help fly it. He is very good at piloting, so with Brainy trying to make him use a console, it does seem like an insult to his skills.

Timber Wolf returns, but unlike Phantoms, he seems to be coping much better with being with the Legion. The people in this episode he seems to automatically trust are Saturn Girl – unquestionable because she was the one who helped him first, and Superman. And we see that his relationship with Saturn Girl has developed from the second episode, but not in a romantic sense, which is rare to see, outside brother and sister relationships. It’s platonic. Which is so good.

But then there’s the “What’s Checkers?” moment and “What’s Kansas?”. Now this seemed funny to me as a kid, but now, it’s worrisome as hell. We still don’t know if Timber Wolf spent his entire childhood with his father. If he did, then those two questions imply a lack of education on certain things. Things that can be considered trivial in the 31st century. Which further implies his father isolating him from the outside world.

But it is possible that Kansas and Checkers are things that are just not common knowledge to most people in the 31st century. We’ll get more insight into Timber Wolf’s past next episode and in the second season, but still, things to worry about.

And we FINALLY get development with Triplicate Girl. Which the lack of in the last episode she was in was a major let down. And the three parts of her aren’t all the same, the vary in their behaviors, as evident when White throws up from motion sickness. And the fact they don’t go back into one being after the fight means she’s comfortable being split up.

She’s like a reverse Garnet.

She is the all-together version of the three duplicates of her, but the whole version is the original version. While Garnet is the sum of two people, Sapphire and Ruby who were their own persons before fusing. But Triplicate Girl is comfortable with splitting her three personas up, and equally as comfortable with becoming one again. Garnet always wants to be fused. Ruby and Sapphire love each other so much. And both choices are perfectly fine. As long as they are comfortable about it and do so in a healthy manner, anyway.

They immediately saw the LSV as stuck-ups, which is not too far from their true nature. And their expressions the three of her when Saturn Girl began teasing Lightning Lad? They were ready to join in on the teasing. Plus we see her as the copilot(s) of the Legion Cruiser, and going on how amazing Bouncing Boy was with his maneuvers. Perhaps Bouncy can teach her a few things?

Wished that we could have seen more varying behavior between the three personas, but thankfully, the comic the show got did.

We saw Brainy, but he didn’t do much this episode, and we don’t even see him that long. Now in the original airing order of this episodes, this wouldn’t stand out. But knowing what happens in the next episode in the production order, it gives us a different picture. Which we will discuss in the next episode review to avoid spoiling.

But we see that now he’s attempting to make jokes, although he’s not that great at it. Just keep practicing, baby.

We also get our first non-regular legionnaire appearance on a mission. I really wished we had more like this. I love having many characters that vary. The guest character we got was Colossal Boy. Like Brainy, nothing much to say on him. Sadly.

But then we have Porcupine Pete, aka Peter. He has an appearance shorter than both of the two characters I just mentioned, but the writers managed to give him personality in that short amount of time. We see he looks up to Lightning Lad and is a huge fanboy, possibly rivaling Brainy’s own crush. And he can confront the object of his affections. But Pete messes up on his attempt to impress him. Real bad. And you can’t help but feel sorry for him.

Lightning Lad doesn’t deserve him.

And for our villains. The LSV makes far more interesting villains than the F5. The LSV manages to have more than one girl on the team, but we don’t see much interaction between them, unlike the Legion.

The least developed of the LSV is sadly Wave, one of the two women on the team. She never speaks in this episode. We see her laughing with the others at the diner, but that’s it in verbal communication, and we can’t tell if it’s her own laughter being heard. But we do see her motioning to Ron Karr with her hair when they were about to attack the Legion Cruiser. This does leave room for the people watching to speculate.

Maybe she can’t talk at all. If so, then the staff could have taken advantage of this. How? Let’s look at Sandman from ROTG.

Sandy can’t talk, but he uses his sands to do charades. Wave could have done something similar with her hair. That would have been amazing to watch.

Hunter has an accent, which I think is based off an Australian one, but I’m not reliable in distinguishing accents. He also seems to be the oldest, and has experienced with using different weapons. He also has experience fighting fauna from different places in space, as we hear him talking about fighting another space squid elsewhere. Putting the fight with Timber Wolf in an interesting perspective. Nothing else to add.

Then we have Ron Karr, who shares the same voice actor as Timber Wolf, Shawn Harrison. His power in the comics was originally flattening his body, however in the show he is a shapeshifter. I guess the original source’s power can be considered shape shifting to an extent, but I can see how this change can bother the comic fans.

Another power change of a comic character that comes to mind is Negasonic Teenage Warhead, also known as Ellie Phimister.

Originally, her power is telepathy and precognition. However, in the Deadpool movie, her powers have been massively changed to better suit her name. In the deleted scene, when she teases Deadpool, we do get a slight nod to her original power as she tells him she can predict the future.

I thought that the film handled her very well, including the power change. But that’s just my opinion.

I’m not sure why the staffdecided to change Ron Karr’s power. Unless they already were planning season 2, where he plays a more prominent role. Or they just wanted to do more with him, because flattening himself doesn’t let them do much.

Talking about his powers aside, he also pilots the LSV ship, but still gets owned by Bouncy’s skills. I can’t tell what age he is, although for the longest time I figured he was the youngest. Now I’m not sure.

Moving on, there is Esper, the second female member of the LSV.

It is clear she is the foil to Saturn Girl. Esper does not have any respect for privacy. Which is very alarming. She just went ahead and read Lightning Lad’s mind. And didn’t feel guilt afterwards. It’s unlikely she draws the line on when not to use her powers on others without permission. Esper does not think about another person’s consent. That makes her a very dangerous person. Even if she is supposed to be on the same team. And she does not offer the same comfort Saturn Girl does.

One thing I need to get off my chest however with her is her outfit. It is very obviously Egyptian-based. And she does not seem Egyptian. As I mentioned last time, I’m not Egyptian-descent, but this still bothers me. Much more than last time given that it’s far more obvious than the Head of the Council of Zerok (I found out that’s the proper spelling from the story boards).

… And as I’m writing this, the reboot of The Mummy is coming out in theaters.

*painfully heaves in the corner*

But most of the character designers of this episode are not white people (after doing a lot of searching on the names in credits). And Triplicate Girl herself was intended to have darker skin, but her skin was lightened in the final products, sadly. So, could Esper have had a less-white appearance in early product, and only her outfit was spared in post-production? Perhaps.

We won’t know what went down unless someone asks one of the people who was involved with development for this show.

Oh, and if you are looking for an alternative movie to “The Mummy” reboot film, or you saw it and you need treatment to recover from that, I have the perfect solution/treatment.

1999′s The Mummy.

Now to talk about Tyr.

He’s a smooth talker. Very good at convincing Lightning Lad to come and stay. Which is not easy, given his ego, and dislike for his brother. He seems like a natural leader. And I like his design too.

But my favorite thing about him is his voice actor.

Not sure on who he is? Here’s a little hint.

youtube

THAT’S RIGHT. HIS VOICE ACTOR IS KHARY PAYTON, THE SAME PERSON WHO DID CYBORG FROM TEEN TITANS.

KHARY’S CYBORG IS ONE OF THE MOST ENJOYABLE CHARACTERS OF ALL TIME. SO KNOWING THAT HE WORKED ON THIS SHOW EVEN A LITTLE BIT BRINGS A LOT OF JOY TO ME.

However, the ultimate downside is that Tyr is nowhere near as expressive as Cyborg, voice acting included. They are different characters, but one of the things that made Khary’s Cyborg enjoyable is the ablility to flex between joyful Boo-Yahs and very serious dialogue. We know he has the talent. But it’s not used to its full extent.

With that said, this does remind me one of the show’s biggest weakness. The ultimate comparison to Teen Titans’ original run.

Teen Titans had more development with its characters, more expressive animation, and a longer run that Legion of SuperHeroes. When Teen Titans finished season 5, many people were looking for a substitute. And given that LOSH is another DC comics, the comparison was going to happen. That’s something that the staff had to be aware of during production.

Good news is that now, we can say that LOSH is better than the current Teen Titans Go.

And now, our favorite brothers in this show.

If you want an image to sum up their fight in simple terms, here.

But to delve into more detail, we’ll first look at Lightning Lad.

So this is the first time we see him having idols to look up at, and does seem embarrassed by the Legion’s far more childish approaches to things. Even though he can also be childish at times. And we see his more aggressive/jerk side again, more than usual, matching the first episode’s personality again. The best examples are when he’s with Porcupine Pete – walking off is not a good way to console a fan, and when he tells Superman and Timber Wolf to leave him alone.

Does that mean he’s regressed in character development? No. His jerk personality was never fully addressed in other episodes. His ego was in Champions though. Which is something else entirely.

He does apologize to Saturn Girl for his behavior towards his teammates at the end though, and did seem to be expecting consequences of some sort for being with the LSV and how he told Superman to go.

He was very lucky Superman and Saturn Girl were ready to forgive him. However, I won’t be surprised if the others make him do some sort of re-initiation thing as punishment.

We also see he tends to have ideals on what heroes are like, neither of which the Legion or LSV live up to, for different reasons. But sees the LSV as far worse.

But we finally see part of the event that gave him his powers, and got a mention of it from Mekt.

The Lightning Beast attack. Which was him, his sister Ayla – who we finally see, and Mekt, being attacked by a creature far bigger than them, and was not friendly.

It was traumatic enough to turn Mekt’s hair white.

First thing to discuss is how deep that trauma affected him, regarding the previous episode.

Zyx messing with a large monster with powers, and was established previously that they are dangerous and will attack people. Sounds immediately familiar to Lightning Lad’s own story, doesn’t it?

And after they put Comet and Cupid back in their exhibit, Lighting Lad gets really mad. It wasn’t going to help the current situation then, but now that we know he’s seen that situation before, we can deduct something else.

He’s mad because it could have been a repeat of whatever happened back then. Making his reaction much more understandable.

At this point, we don’t know the full story of what happened though. Around this episode’s original air date, when I first watched it, I had looked Lighting Lad up on Wikipedia, and read more on the Lightning Beast attack, which gave all three siblings their powers. And found out that Lightning Lad’s sister, Ayla, who was also a legionnaire in the comics.

Which now begs the question – where is she in the show?

When I first watched this and did research, I figured she was simply not shown yet, or probably had not yet joined the legion, and was still living at home.

But now, it seems a bit more obvious that wasn’t simply the case. Neither brothers mention her at any point in this episode or Champions. Implying whatever situation she’s in, it wasn’t easy for them to talk about.

Back to Lightning Lad.

Regarding the relationship with his brother… it takes an unfortunate turn for the worse.

He clearly doesn’t trust Mekt when he first sees him in this episode, regarding the incident in Champions. And doesn’t see him as a very generous person. It doesn’t stop him from staying with the LSV though. And we see during the fight with the sand raiders, he still cares enough to help Mekt. And does admit he held out some hope that he would do something right, but that hope has ceased.

But during the final fight, it seems like whatever positive feelings has been cast aside. And expects Mekt to take advantage and deliver the final blow. But his expression when Mekt leaves suggest he’s saddened by the turn the relationship has gone.

Oof.

And now for our favorite piece of trash.

First thing. Get rid of the purple pants, Mekt. They don’t look good on you. Everything else of his costume is good though. And eyeliner is on point, and Dem Legs are as fine as ever.

And I like the touch of detail in parts of the episode where his lightning was a slightly different color from Lightning Lad’s. Sadly this detail is not kept consistent in the episode.

And now his role as a villain. Perfect. I completely can see him as a villain in this episode. And I certainly did when I first watched this. Hence making me dislike him.

In the original comics, Mekt was the leader of the LSV, called Lightning Lord, but no one calls him that, and Tyr seems to be the leader. Not sure why the change, but maybe it has something to do with the self-esteem issues we saw in Champions?

We see his selfish side shine through as he’s part of the LSV for financial reasons. But he’s not portrayed as a typical greedy villain, thank god. He also shows his powers in use in this episode, which we did not see last time, implying he has figured out how to use them effectively against people.

Once again, he’s the more positive person of the brothers’ relationship, but even that seems to change at the end of this episode.

He’s the one who wants Lightning Lad to join the team the most. Even calls him perfect for it. And when they are on the ship together, Mekt calls it like old times, and when we get a closer look at them, right when Esper is about to read Lightning Lad’s mind, he’s smiling.

He didn’t offer Lightning Lad a spot for any manipulative reasons. He genuinely wants his brother there just to spend time together.

When Lightning Lad refuses to help steal the decontamination units, Mekt tries to talk to him. Although it doesn’t work. Mekt gets mad and charges up to zap him, but then lowers his fist for a bit.

He zaps him a few moments later though.

During the fight, he comments he got more power from the Lightning Beast. How does he know that? I WANT DETAILS!

But I want to discuss a moment during the fight that stood out to me. When Lightning Lad is starting to corner him and seemed ready to deliver some serious blows, Mekt says something that I’m really curious about.

“Wait! I saved your life! Isn’t that worth something?”

At what point of time is he talking about? The Lightning Beast attack? He is shown trying to beat it with a stick to give Ayla and Garth time to run. But that happened so long ago, it wouldn’t make sense to bring it up at this point.

He doesn’t do anything in Champions to save him. And nothing in the fight against the sand raiders.

That leaves us with one other option.

Remember that when Lightning Lad turns on the LSV, he doesn’t zap Mekt, giving him no reason to zap his brother.

Except Lightning Lad zapped Tyr, who immediately tells him “You’re gonna wish you hadn’t done that.” So… shouldn’t Tyr been the one to hit him instead of Mekt?

Putting Mekt’s statement and the situation together paints us a new image.

Tyr has no emotional connections to Lightning Lad. He’s chill with having him on board, but isn’t desperate to keep him.

Tyr was possibly going to do something to Lightning Lad that would have been fatal, but Mekt intervened. Yeah, Lightning Lad got blasted out of the transport, but relatively speaking, he was unharmed.

This serves as more evidence Mekt does legitimately care for his brother.

But Lightning Lad states he doesn’t owe him for that. This is also a good point. Just because a person does something good, it doesn’t mean you automatically owe them.

But at the end of the fight, he’s overpowering Garth. All on his own ability.

Calling back to Champions now, remember he resorted to making a deal with the F5 in disguise to get first place. He bested Lightning Lad via cheating then.

But now, he’s not pulling any dirty tricks, and he still comes out on top. He’s coming in first, all on his own.

That is probably like getting high for him.

AND HE LOVES IT.

Which is toxic for their relationship, decreasing the positivity he had for it.

His remark towards Lightning Lad when asked what he’s waiting for when his brother is vulnerable is that he likes it better when he owes him, but warns him if he gets in his way again.

I know Lightning Lad at this point won’t hesitate if he must do something fatal to Mekt, even if somewhere deep in his heart he still wants to love him, and expects Mekt to be the same in regards of a fight. But it’s not as clear on Mekt’s end. He leaves a threat hanging over Lightning Lad’s head, but he had the chance to kill him.

So while he’s not as positive on the relationship in the end as he was in the beginning, he’s still the more positive one than Lightning Lad.

That’s all for now, but for the next episode, I fully intend to stream it on my twitch channel. Haven’t decided on exact date or time yet. Will let you guys know eventually

In the meantime, I’m just going to be curled up in a ball while I cry about these two brothers.

#losh #Hannah Watches LOSH #LIGHTNING LAD #MEKT RANZZ #LIGHTNING LORD #saturn girl #legion of superheroes

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50cyg · 7 years

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Taiyama Week 2017, Day 8: Freebie! Rant about whatever you like.

Anime Romance Tropes, DATri and Taiyama

So, we have all noticed by now that Digimon Adventure Tri is using a lot of popular Anime Tropes in its films. So, I thought it would be really fun to point out the popular Anime Romance Tropes which Taichi and Yamato have partaken in thus far, and in addition, make some predictions as to what Anime Romance Tropes we are likely to see these two partake in during the last two movies.

So far there have been two really major ones that just about every Japanese review of the films noticed, as well as most westerners.

The first is the classic "Ferris Wheel Date" and it's even been lampshaded in Saikai. That's why Mimi looked so excited and started taking pictures of them (Shipper on Deck Trope). Basically, a ferris wheel ride is supposed to give the couple privacy to talk about their feelings. In romantic shows, this may lead to a first kiss situation.

here is a link to the classic trope: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FerrisWheelDateMoment

The second one, which really caused a whole lot of buzz, is the Kabe-don in Ketsui. Kabe-don translates to wall slam (kabe-wall, don- the sound that hitting a wall makes). You’ve likely seen this happening in many Yaoi/shoujo mangas for a while, but it only really gained major popularity around 2014. It's considered a possessive gesture. During a Kabe-don, the bad-ass hero/ more dominant figure will slam his hand (or both hands) against the wall to block the heroine/ submissive figure and prevent her/him from moving away, effectively cornering her/him in place. Then he will lean in closer and the proximity between the two of them creates a sense of intimacy. It can be done flirtatiously, but more often it is done out of intense feelings or anger/frustration/jealousy on the hero's part and he will usually confront the heroine/submissive figure about the relationship between them in some form. There are two common outcomes to a kabe-don: either there can be a tender exchange in which the two will become an official couple/kiss/ anything on that line or the heroine/ submissive figure will slap the hero's arm and run away.

examples:

http://www.heartofmanga.com/kabe-don-common-shoujo-manga-tropes/

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%A3%81%E3%83%89%E3%83%B3

http://kotaku.com/manga-trope-appears-in-noodle-commercial-confuses-some-1600201827

and the wikipedia anime glossary defines it as such:

Kabe-don (壁ドン?)

In Japanese, kabe is wall, and don is the sound of slapping against a wall. Literally, kabe-don describes the act of fiercely slapping a wall. One meaning is slapping a wall as a protest which occurs in collective housing like a condominium when the next room makes noise.[24] Another meaning is when a man forces a woman against a wall with one hand or a man leans against a wall and makes a slapping sound, leaving the woman nowhere to go. This has become popular nowadays as a "clever move of confession"

In other words, Yamato and Taichi played that trope so straight, it was just about the straightest thing in Digimon so far. You will even notice that the camera play in that scene makes Yamato appear much taller compared to Taichi than he actually is. Usually, Yamato is only a couple of cm taller than Taichi, but during that scene, even though Yamato was leaning down, Taichi was looking up at him and the angling during that scene made him look like he was at least one head taller than Taichi. The camera work on the close up shots of their faces is meant to emphasize that Taichi is looking up at him by angling the shot of Taichi’s face upwards and angling Yamato’s shot downwards - probably to maintain the classically ideal height difference between male/female or seme/uke in Japan (the One Head Taller Trope).

I’d now like to take a moment to point out that this effectively makes Toei look like a Yamachi shipper, since they play Taichi out to be the uke during this scene and this amuses me to no end. However, I will also argue that they play Yamato out almost as if he wants to be the uke in the relationship, since he obviously wants Taichi to take charge of situations and is also very quick to obey orders from him in Tri, like when he immediately goes to check on the Digimon when Taichi asks him to. So, in short, I think Tri could very well be playing their relationship out to be exactly what many of us headcanon it to be, a relationship where neither is truly dominant

So, the Kabe-don and the Ferris-Wheel Date are the two most recognizable Anime Romance Tropes these two play out, (they are the biggest and most recognizable anime romance tropes of recent years) but there have also been others, that are slightly less obvious and played slightly less straight but still present.

The first is Yamato's Tsundere behavior, which the Wikipedia glossary defines as:

Tsundere (ツンデレ?)

A character personality which is usually stern, cold or hostile to the person they like, while occasionally letting slip the warm and loving feelings hidden inside due to being shy, nervous, insecure or simply unable to help acting badly in front of the person they like. It is an portmanteau of the Japanese terms tsuntsun (ツンツン?), meaning to be stern or hostile, and deredere (デレデレ?), meaning to be "lovey dovey".[7]

It's lightly implied that Yamato is a Tsundere in Boku ni Totte with the line “Even if my method is wrong, I’m still concerned about you - I just can’t help it” and in Loss, during his conversation with Agumon when he tells him he acts the way he does because he expects too much of Taichi. In other words, his violent behaviour stems from warm, caring feelings that he simply isn't good with expressing which is very tsundere. Then you also have the fact that he is called out by Mimi for being a Tsundere twice, that’s basically the writers slapping us across the face. Sometimes, actually pretty often, his tsundere-ness even plays straight around Taichi: Yamato gets angry, starts fights, storms out with rage, calls Taichi bastard out of frustration (in Saiaki, during the harmonica scene, Yamato says "Taichi no Yatsu" which can I think be translated to either "Taichi, that guy" or "Taichi, that bastard". Yatsu is a slightly/not slightly rude - sometimes vulgar - way to say guy and can also mean bastard) and looks grumpy when Koushiro shows agumon pictures of Taichi. But then, he smiles at Taichi every time Taichi isn't looking (Honorable mention to the Longing Look Trope we likely got during the airport scene) and sometimes when Taichi is looking and they want to make up, gives him a ride on the Vespa (twice?) and the crown jewel: his mad blush during Confessions when he was clearly upset, but wanted to support Taichi. Of course, Taichi isn't the only one Yamato displays Tsundere behaviour towards, for example, he was stern with reprimanding Meiko, but it was because he was worried for her. He is also like that with Gabumon and Takeru to a degree, like when he tells Gabumon to shut up (which is a slightly violent way to phrase yourself). However, this sort of behavior definitely takes a few levels up when Taichi is involved.

Speaking of Yamato giving Taichi rides on his Vespa, there is also the trope where you give your lover a ride on your bicycle (I don’t think it has an official name), except in this case the bicycle is a Vespa 😝

Finally, we have my personal favourite, the classic “Person A is potentially severely injured due to sudden danger (in this case falling debris) and Person B calls out their name with great amounts of concern” Trope (I do not know if this Trope has a name). I love that scene in Confession, I can't believe I forgot to include it in my favourite moments post.

So those are the Tropes we’ve gotten so far, let me know if I missed any 😊

Now moving on to the Anime Romance Tropes we might see, or that I’d like to see, in future instalments (most of these I don’t think have official names).

“Getting locked in a closed space together” Trope - although the ferris wheel kinda covers this one already I could see us getting it again. For example, if Taichi and Yamato get trapped somewhere due to events (like in a building surrounded by enemies, or a ton of debris falls and blocks their path, etc).

“Characters aren't entirely sure if they are in a relationship or not and it takes some kind of catalyst for them both to acknowledge it” Trope – this may very well be exactly what is playing out in Tri right now

“Person A gets injured saving Person B” Trope - I want to see this one play out so badly and I'm honestly not sure which character I'd rather see get injured and I could see them doing either or. On the one hand if Taichi gets injured we could have an homage to episode 51 where Yamato cradles him in his arms 😃 on the other hand it could be Yamato getting injured that gets Taichi to get 100% proactive again.

“Person A is injured and Person B has to patch them up” Trope – I don’t personally want to see this one play out between Taichi and Yamato (because I’d much rather see it play out between Jyou and Taichi) but if Yamato and Taichi get separated from the rest of the group and one of them gets injured it could happen

Headbutt of Love - I love the idea of seeing these two press their foreheads together as a sign of affection, maybe this could happen after they’ve defeated the enemy and they are just sitting next to each other all relieved and then suddenly they lean in close to each other and press their foreheads together all the while smiling cause they know the battle is over and they succeeded by working together ^^

Hand Holding Trope – we better see this trope again or I will be very sour

The Power of Love Trope – I want to see this play out so badly, I want to see a confession trigger their new evolutions

No Romantic Resolution Trope – this is the trope I think we are most likely to get in the final movie between these two

What Tropes do you guys want to see these two partake in next?

I also want to point out I think these two could fit the Battle Couple Trope, but I’m still debating it http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BattleCouple

#taiyamaweek #taiyama #taichi x yamato

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a-monthly-rumbelling · 7 years

Text

The Golds' Re-Wedding: Movie Night

Submitted by @darcyfarrow2005

For @a-monthly-rumbelling, may I present a three-story series of fluff, sentiment and comedy. His parents are planning to renew their wedding vows; Gideon is determined the day will go perfectly. Rated K.

Prelude to May 11

“What’s that circle represent?”

“Hmm?” Concentrating on the bell pepper she was slicing, Belle didn’t dare look up, lest her knife slip. She’d had too many kitchen accidents to allow distractions to interfere with safety.

“That one.” Gideon pointed at a red, otherwise unidentified, circle drawn around a date on the calendar. “May 11.” From the corner of his eye, Gid noticed a shy but satisfied smile appear on his father’s lips. He’d come to recognize that smile, over the ten months he’d lived in peace and quiet and steadily growing affection in his parents’ house. Gid had come to call that embarrassed little smile of his father’s “the Belle Grin,” because it popped up whenever Rumple was thinking romantic thoughts (there was another smile, a crooked one that was accompanied by red in the cheeks, that Gid had learned meant it was best to give his parents privacy). Whenever the Belle Grin appeared, Gid could easily prod a story from his father, one that made the three-hundred-year old sorcerer sound like a teenager besotted with his first crush.

“May 11,” his parents said simultaneously, then they flashed quick grins at each other before Belle returned her attention to the pepper and Rumple returned his to the tomato he was chopping.

Gid suggested, “Okay, let’s have it.”

Rumple submerged the Belle Grin long enough to put on the Father Face. “First, did you finish setting the table?”

Gid gave him the Put Upon Son Face. “Yes, Dad.”

“And squeezed the oranges?”

“Yes, Dad.” He held up a hand in a stop sign. “And buttered the toast and cracked the eggs. So: the May 11 story.”

Satisfied that his son’s chores were finished, Rumple began the tale. “May 11 was the day your mother and I married. Ten p.m., Sunday, May 11, 2014, to be precise.”

“Ohhh.” This was going to be a good one. Gid settled onto a barstool and poured himself a glass of orange juice. “Why ten p.m.? Don’t most people get married in the daytime?”

Belle shrugged. “We’re not most people.”

Gid lifted his shoulders in a shrug that mirrored hers. “That goes without saying.”

“I wanted a moonlight ceremony, in the woods. It seemed more romantic. More mysterious.”

“Of course.” Gid had figured that out about his mother, early on: she adored a mystery, whether it was something as trivial as a riddle or as complex as her husband.

“At the well,” Rumple added.

“Yes. We married at the well.” Belle didn’t have to explain what “the well” was: she’d referred to it often enough in other stories. “Archie officiated.”

“Your grandfather walked your mom down the aisle. So to speak.” Rumple tried to be generous whenever he referred or spoke to Moe; Gid had been told enough of their history to understand that it took major effort for either man to express kindness toward the other, and he appreciated the fact that the men were trying, for Gid’s sake.

“We wrote our own vows. I remember every word.” Belle set her knife down and recited her own vows, leaving it to Rumple to recite his.

“Wow.” Gid had to clear his throat. “Wish I could’ve been there to see it.”

“Maybe you could,” Belle said thoughtfully, and Rumple caught on right away: “That’s a good idea, Belle.” He lowered his head, busying himself with scooping tomato bits into a bowl. He was ashamed, Gid realized; he was remembering all the wrongs he’d done, before and after the wedding. Though his family had forgiven him a dozen times over, he was still struggling to put the past behind him. “I’d like to do that,” Rumple said softly. “Give you the wedding you deserve.”

“I wouldn’t change a thing,” Belle insisted. “We wouldn’t be who we are now.” Gid understood that her reassurance wasn’t about just the wedding; she meant her entire past with Rumple.

They’d come to this same resolution when they’d discussed the possibility of reversing Gid’s age. Though he would have loved to experience a childhood with his parents, Gid had come to the conclusion that he liked the man he’d become, despite the torment the Black Fairy had put him through. Though he could see some disappointment in his mother’s face, and he regretted denying her the chance to hold her newborn, as Nature had granted her the right to, Gid had made the difficult decision to decline his father’s offer to magically regress him to infancy.

“Well, perhaps this time you’d like a cake and punch and a few guests,” Rumple suggested.

Belle considered. “A little music and dancing would be nice. But still, at ten o'clock, at the well.” She waggled her finger at her son. “The pan’s hot enough. Bring the eggs over, Giddy. It’s omelet time.” She cocked her head at Rumple. “You know, I would like to have a maid of honor this time.”

“And a best man.” Rumple winked at Gid. “You look sharp in Armani, my boy.”

“Sure thing, Dad. I’d be honored.” As Gid poured the eggs into the skillet, he made a silent vow to himself and his parents: as best man, he’d made certain their re-wedding day would be perfect. Even if he had to put every troublemaker in town under a sleeping curse.

Though it had been nearly a year, the town remembered the Hooded One full well. They’d come to know him since then as a playful and naive young man, with his mother’s inquisitiveness and his father’s persistence, and whenever he appeared in Granny’s for a hamburger, or the park for a ride on the swing, they’d greet him warmly and ask “How’s it going” as if he’d lived in Storybrooke all his life. But they did remember… .

So when he popped into the sheriff’s office, his hands folded before him, peering steadily at Emma and Hook, and he spoke their names in a quiet but firm tone, Emma shuddered, remembering the Hooded One had once threatened to kill her, and Hook murmured, “By Poseidon’s beard, lad, when you do that you look just like your father. Give or take two feet in height.”

Gid ignored the implied insult. “May 11.”

“What’s May 11?” Emma asked.

“My parents have a celebration planned, a very special celebration. I don’t want it interrupted. So whatever car-upending giants or ice-casting sorceresses or heart-stealing witches appear, you deal with them. You have magic enough, Ms. Jones, to dispatch whatever threats come along, and you know your way around the library well enough to research your own questions, Captain Jones. And if you and your parents can’t handle it alone, call Regina. Leave my parents out of it.”

“Lad’s inherited his father’s bossiness,” Hook muttered.

As the Joneses’ eyebrows drew down, Gid backpedaled, calling to mind the manners Belle had so carefully been teaching him. “Let me start over again. On May 11, my folks are having a special celebration. It would mean a lot to them, and I’d take it as a personal favor, if you’d help me to make sure we’re not interrupted that day. Please.”

The Joneses visibly relaxed. “I’d be glad to help out,” Emma said. “Keeping the peace is what we do. But it just so happens we’re going to be gone for the first two weeks in May.”

“A second honeymoon. We’re going to sail up to Nantucket.” Hook slipped his arm around Emma’s waist. “Just the two of us. Away from the car-upending giants and whatnot.”

“My father will be acting sheriff,” Emma said. “I’ll pass along your request to him.”

“And the-?” Gid waved his hand in the air.

“Oh. If any magic problems pop up-”

“Aren’t they all magic problems?” Hook mused. “When was the last time we issued a traffic ticket or picked up a pickpocket?”

“Regina’s going to take care of it.” Emma finished. “With Zelena as backup. Kinda. Sorta.”

“I see.” Gid caught his breath. He’d known all along he’d have to make his request to the mayor too, but he dreaded it nonetheless. “Thank you for speaking to your father for me.” He decided to work up to Regina by starting with less scary folk. “Bon voyage.” He snapped his fingers and vanished.

Blue had always felt a guilty about her failure to protect him from the Black Fairy, so when he arrived at the convent she ushered him into the kitchen, served him cookies and milk (he refrained from reminding her he was old enough for canapes and scotch) and eagerly asked what she could do for him. But her small smile wavered when he explained the situation. After three centuries of enmity, she was still struggling with the information that Rumplestiltskin had been fated to become a Savior, and it still made her uncomfortable to think of the kind and caring Belle married to the—well, she wasn’t sure whether to call him the “Dark One” any more. But Gideon made the request personal, and she could see nothing wrong in it, nor could she deny him anything. “Of course. The sisters and I will make certain the town is protected and your parents’ wedding is uninterrupted.” She pushed the platter of warm cookies closer to him. “Now, have another cookie, child.”

Granny, though she was quite fond of him personally, never had warmed up to Rumple, so she gave him attitude: “Boy, I wouldn’t trust your father farther than I can throw Tiny, so his ‘special celebration’ is safe from me. If my diner was on fire, I wouldn’t ask him to spit on it to put it out.”

Leroy, likewise, gave him pushback: “Me, ask him for help? There’s always a price with him, even with stuff that doesn’t belong to him. He still won’t give back our beer steins.”

Gideon ignored the snide remarks. He knew what his father had once been, and he knew what his father was now. Most of the town, having learned of Rumple’s past and having observed the changes that he had struggled to make, were willing to give the no-longer-Dark One a second chance—especially when they’d discovered that his light magic was just as potent as the dark had been and that the price for his favors had been marked down.

He decided to meet Regina in her office, where she would feel a little more obligated to accept a citizen’s request. He dressed in one of the (too many) tailored suits his father had bought him and he waited in the lobby as the mayor’s assistant announced him. Belle would have been proud of him, had she known the lengths he’d taken this week to be polite and patient, but he refrained from telling her; protecting the sanctity of her wedding day was part of his gift to her.

“Gideon.” Regina lifted her gaze from a stack of paperwork, but she continued to hold her pen as a signal to him that she wanted this meeting to be kept short. He remained standing as a sign that he would get right to the point. “What can I do for you?”

“Madame Mayor,” he dipped his head in greeting. “Good afternoon. I came to ask-” he almost said favor, but she would take that as his father’s word, and enough stiffness remained between her and Rumple that he’d best steer clear of such reminders. “I came to ask your assistance. As not just the mayor but as one of the most powerful magic wielders in this land. Please.”

The corners of her mouth lifted; she liked being in the power position. “Let’s hear it.”

“On May 11, my parents are going to have a celebration.”

“And they want me to come.” She flipped through the pages of her desk calendar. “What time?”

“Yes, we’d be honored if you could come, but there’s a little more to it. You see, it seems to always happen that just when my parents most need some peace and quiet, that’s when some jerk raises cain, and it’s always some magic user, so the town comes running to Dad and Mom for help.”

Regina nibbled on the top of her pen. “I suppose we have, on occasion, in an emergency… .”

“Well, I’m asking, please, on May 11, if some magic havoc kicks up, would you take care of it? Let my parents have the day to themselves?”

She huffed. “I’ll have you know, Master Gold, we’ve never disturbed your parents’ peace unless it was absolutely necessary.”

“Oh, I understand, and I’m sure they’re grateful for that. It’s just that on this particular day, I was really hoping it wouldn’t be absolutely necessary. You see, they’re reaffirming their wedding vows. It would be the best gift anyone could give them, to have that day go perfect. I may be worried for nothing; we haven’t had a magic invasion here in months. But just in case, would you—keep an eye on things? Nip trouble in the bud? I’ve asked Blue to help too, but I think you’re more alert to everything going on in town.”

“Nothing happens in this town that I don’t know about,” she assured him. “Even a wedding.” As his mouth fell open, she explained, “Nothing magic about that. I overheard Belle ask Ruby to be her maid of honor.”

Gid closed his mouth. It was to the Golds’ advantage that Regina knew all the goings-on.

“As mayor of this town, the safety of our citizens is my first concern, so I’d protect Storybrooke without your asking.” She gave him a genuine smile. “But I’ll do everything I can to make sure your parents’ ceremony goes smoothly. And Gideon, I think it’s considerate of you to look out for them.”

“Thank you, Madame Mayor.”

Buoyed, he visited several other potential rabble-rousers in town. For those who had granted Rumple their forgiveness, Gid offered a deal: “Let my parents have peace and quiet on May 11, and I’ll owe you a favor.” It was a deal too good to pass up, the townsfolk said.

But foresight had never been a talent in this town… .

——————————————————————————-

Movie Night

May prompt: Movie Night. Family Night at the Golds’ becomes something memorable as Gideon offers a special pre-wedding gift. Rated K.

“Eyes closed now. This way. Careful, Mom, you’re about to walk into the dining table. Turn left now. Maybe it would be easier if I just poofed us into the living room.”

“No, no,” Belle broke in. “You know how I feel about the unnecessary use of magic.” She kept walking, her hand clamped firmly over her eyes, her feet shuffling so she wouldn’t stumble over something.

Beside her, Rumple also shuffled with his eyes screwed closed and one hand outstretched for obstacles. “I agree with your mother. Remember, Gid, even the slightest output of magic has a cost. Besides, this is more fun.”

“All right.” One hand on each of his parents’ shoulders, Gideon steered them toward the left. “We’ve got about ten feet to go yet… . A little to your left, Mom… . Okay, here, feel that? That’s the couch behind you. Sit down now.”

“It’s times like these, my cane would handy,” Rumple remarked as he reached out to grab the armrest. He lowered himself gingerly before grasping Belle’s elbow and assisting her down to the cushions. “There, are you comfortable, sweetheart?”

“I’m fine.” Belle sniffed. “But I smell popcorn. Cheddar cheese popcorn.”

“Your favorite.” Gideon set a warm bowl onto her lap. “And there are sodas on the coffee table.”

“Movie Night!” Belle exclaimed. “Did I lose track? Is it Friday already?”

“No, this is a special occasion. You can open your eyes now.” He’d decorated the darkened room with pine cones, fronds, electric candles and gold streamers. A film screen had been erected against the television wall. In the center of the room he’d set up an accent table containing a strange contraption.

“Oh, Gid, it’s lovely,” Belle admired. “And it smells so good.” She stuffed her hand into the popcorn and grabbed a fistful of crunchy clouds. “Mmmm.” She nodded at the coffee table. “You remembered my root beer.”

“And Dad’s Dr. Pepper.” Gideon was proud of himself.

Rumple stood to walk around the accent table to examine the contraption upon it. “So that’s what you wanted that old microscope for. And this looks like the movie projector I had in the backroom. But it was broken and I couldn’t get replacement parts for it.”

“Ebay,” Gid shrugged. “It’s fixed now. I connected the projector with the microscope and added a miniature sound system so I could show you something special.”

“You have a real knack with mechanics.” Rumple leaned in to peer at the colorful square of cloth that stretched between the microscope’s glass slides. “What is this? It looks like a snippet from a tapestry.”

“It is. Have a seat now, Dad. I have a special movie to show you.” Gideon straightened his back in pride. “Dad, Mom, you remember a couple of weeks ago when I spent the night over at Jefferson’s?”

“Yeah.” Belle squinted suspiciously. “You told us he was teaching you some card tricks.”

“Well, he did, I didn’t lie; but there was a little more to it than that. He, uh—don’t get mad, now, Dad; you’re going to love what we did. He made a portal and we took a quick trip to Mount Olympus.”

Belle gasped and even the normally unflappable Rumple sputtered. “You—Olympus-the gods—he took you—how?”

“I know us ordinary folk aren’t allowed there, but we had invitation. See, I found an old, very old, prayer book, and I prayed to Hera.”

“The goddess of marriage,” Rumple explained to Belle.

“Yeah. I told her about your wedding plans, and all the crap you’d been through, and how sucky it was that your marriage didn’t get a fair shake the first time around, and how all of us, the whole town really, need for the rotten stuff to stop. We really just need some rest. And it felt like someone was actually listening so I kept talking, and the whole story spilled out, everything: the Ogres’ War, your mom dying, Mom, your dad acting like a jerk—and I told her the Savior thing and how Fiona robbed you of that—and I wasn’t even halfway into that story when I heard a voice come out of the clouds. It was so clear and sharp, I knew it was real. It said to me, 'Yes.’

"I didn’t know what that meant. I hadn’t asked for anything yet. So I continued with the story, telling her about Hordor and Zoso and Blue and the last portal bean, and she interrupted me again, and she said, 'Yes.’ I guess it was rude of me, but I was confused, so I said, 'What do you mean, "Yes”? “Yes” what?’ And she said, 'Yes, you may come to me.’ So I did. Jefferson and I.“

"You went to Olympus?” Belle breathed.

“Not exactly. It was more like a waystation, I guess. We couldn’t see much; lots of fog. But she was-” he whistled. “She was beautiful. Sitting there on a golden throne. Tall, her hair all piled up on her head, held up with a tiara, white swishy robes and jeweled bracelets on her arms. She looked old and young at the same time. Her voice was like—she sounded just like Lauren Bacall and she looked like Audrey Hepburn. Her eyes were like stars. I felt so small in her presence, I nearly dropped to my knees but I couldn’t budge, I was that petrified. Same with Jefferson. He just stood there gaping like a fish out of water. Anyway, I got mad at myself, that here I had the chance to talk to her and I couldn’t get a word out. But she said, 'Gideon Gold, I know your story. I am the protector of marriage and family. I have no tolerance for those who would put asunder what Fate has joined together. The Black Fairy, the Blue Fairy, Zelena, Cora, and Hook have all interfered with the family that was meant to be. The Fates likewise have no patience with those who tamper with their plans for their selected ones.’

"I just stood there shaking, worried that I’d started something that was going to end awful. She was so stern and stiff, I thought she might throw the book at all of us. But then she surprised me, because she said, 'I am sorry, Gideon, for the wrong that has been done to you, your brother and your parents. I am more the sorry that I cannot reverse any of it. But, angry as the Moirai are with Fiona, they have granted your small request, abnormal though it be. They think that doing so would be a suitable way of thanking your mother for persuading your father to return the Shears of Destiny—unused.’” Gideon knew how close he’d come to having his own fate altered; it had been just one of many apologies the former Dark One had made, and one that Gideon had accepted readily, since Rumple had changed his mind about using the Shears.

Gideon now flicked a switch on his gadget. “This is what she gave me. Courtesy of the Fates, a piece of the original tapestry that was created for us.” A beam of light streamed from the projector onto the screen, and Gideon sat down beside his mother, reaching into her bowl for some popcorn.

The light shone bright white at first, then bounced, and a hazy black-and-white image appeared, off-center. Gid couldn’t make out the contents of the first image, but it soon clarified and filled with color, and then he could see a king-sized bed in a room that he recognized as the master bedroom upstairs. Propped up by pillows (and with a book beside her) lay Belle.Gathered around the bed were Ruby, another woman, a small man and a sweating Rumplestiltskin, his hair matted, his sleeves rolled up, an apron protecting his silk shirt. He was panting in an oddly infectious rhythm; Gid found himself panting along too. “Breathe, Belle, breathe,” he urged as he dabbed at her damp forehead with his handkerchief.

“You’re doing fine,” the small man crooned. “Everything’s normal.”

“That’s Doc Miner,” Belle whispered to Gideon. “He’s the town OB/GYN.”

“One of the dwarfs,” Rumple added.

“That woman with him,” Gid squinted to make the figure out. “That’s your friend Nova, isn’t it?”

“She helps out with deliveries.”

“Ready now, Belle: push!” Doc’s back blocked their view—not that Gid wanted to see the actual delivery anyway. Suddenly Doc straightened, there was a wail, he handed a squirming bundle to Nova, who carried it off, and then he bent down again. “Now the afterbirth. Good job, Belle. You have a healthy baby boy.”

“His name is Gideon.” Belle dropped back into the pillows, her voice cracking.

Rumple nodded. “Gideon Gold.” He stroked Belle’s hair back from her face. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

“Sore and tired. But excited to begin this new chapter in our lives.”

“Good job, Belle.” Nova carried over the blanketed newborn and lay him in his mom’s arms. “Gideon Gold, meet your mama.”

The picture wavered, then dissolved into another: a shadow, rocking slowly in a chair and turned toward a window through which a soft night breeze wafted. Another figure entered the darkened room and set a hand on the shadow’s back. The quiet was briefly broken by a snuffling as a tiny, sleeping form lifted its head from the shadow’s shoulder. The standing figure patted the little one’s back and the little head dropped down again, forehead pressed to parent’s shoulder.

The scene went hazy, and when the haze cleared, a baby came into view. Poised on his hands and knees, the infant scowled as he began to rock back and forth on the plush carpet. Kneeling above him, his mother and his father traded encouragements: “Go, son, go!” “You can do it, Gid!” “Lift your knee, lift it!” “Come to Papa, Gideon!”

Grunting, the baby rocked furiously but couldn’t seem to catch onto the process. Finally, frustrated, he let himself drop onto his butt and he wailed with frustration. Hands scooped him up and cuddled him against warm, sweet-smelling softness. Something deep in him stirred: this softness represented his first memory of life. He forgot his disappointment and snuggled into his mama’s arms. She chuckled. “It’s okay, sweet boy. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

From far above, a deeper voice pondered the situation. “I think I know what’s wrong.” Knees thumped to the carpet. “Watch this, son. Watch me.” Gid’s eyes widened as his big, strong papa rocked back and forth on his hands and knees, then lifted his right hand from the carpet, then lifted his left knee. Gid gurgled as Papa scooted across the room, stopped at the crib and scooted back, panting. Mama and baby clapped their hands as Papa raised up to accept their applause with a bow. When Papa wheeled about on his knees for a return trip, Gid pushed himself out of Mama’s lap and followed. “He’s doing it, Rumple! Look!”

Papa kept moving but glanced back over his shoulder. “Come on, Gid. We’ve got places to go and people to see, my boy.”

Studiously, Gid raised and planted one knee after the other until he’d caught up with Papa. “So now we know his learning strategy: monkey see, monkey do,” Belle surmised.

Rumple gave a worried smile. “In that case, I think we’re in a lot of trouble, Belle.”

The scene faded into another: Gid, thumping a spoon on the tray of his high chair, as Belle and Rumple skittered around the kitchen, gathering ingredients and utensils. Belle pulled the lid off a soup can, set the lid down on the kitchen table, then swung around to pour the condensed soup into a pan. She was stirring and Rumple was tossing a salad when a wail broke through their conversation. They both spun around and reached for the baby; Belle got there first, detaching him from the high chair and whisking him into her arms. “Gid, Gid, what’s wrong, sweetie? Oh my god, Rumple, he’s bleeding!”

Rumple grabbed his son’s index finger and inspected it. “He must’ve picked up the lid.”

“Fix it, Rumple!” Belle wiggled her fingers to show what she meant.

Rumple held the finger high in the air to slow the bleeding. “Magic? Not the hospital?”

“No time for hospitals. Yes, magic!”

A soft glow of purple light surrounded the wounded finger. Gid instantly stopped crying; with his free hand, he tried to catch the light. In just a moment the light vanished, leaving the finger completely healed, but also leaving Rumple tight-lipped. “That was the first time I ever let him see my magic.”

“It was necessary.” Belle kissed the finger, then stroked her husband’s back. “It was bound to happen sooner or later. We were just hoping it would be later.”

“I suppose,” Rumple said thoughtfully, “he needs to know that his papa’s different from the other papas. Which makes him different from the other kids.”

“Different, but not weird. And there are a few others like him; he’s not alone. We’ll teach him, Rumple. We’ll help him find his place in the world.”

Rumple sighed. “At least, if he’s a sorcerer too, we’ve got sixteen or so years before we have to deal with that.”

“It’ll be okay.” Belle kissed the baby’s wet cheek. “Won’t it, sweet boy? You’ll go easy on your papa, won’t you?”

The baby patted his mother’s cheek in reply.

“GIDEON! Gideon Gold, get your little butt down here!”

The frazzled parents stared up into the oak tree, where their child teetered on a limb, reaching out for a robin’s nest. His hand shaking, Rumple sent a fist of magic to clutch the boy’s shirt and lift him, wiggling, to Belle’s arms. Gid made a pouty face and blew a raspberry at his papa, who slumped slowly to the ground. Closing his eyes, Rumple rested his forehead against the tree and moaned.

Belle couldn’t help but get in a little dig. “I thought you said we had sixteen years.”

Rumple ran a hand through his hair and came away with strands of gray. “I’m going bald, Belle. He’s only three years old and he’s got me losing my hair. He’ll have me in a straight jacket by the time he starts school.”

She giggled. “You’re being melodramatic, sweetheart. We’ll find our way. Won’t we, Giddy?”

The kitchen door slammed and feet stomped up the stairs. “You sit right there and think about what you did. No, I said sit. You know the rules, Gideon. Five minutes in the naughty corner.” The door to the nursery was yanked shut.

Belle snapped off her vacuum cleaner and came out into the hallway to join her red-faced husband. “I take it the lesson didn’t go well.”

“Oh, he learned to ride without any difficulty. Then he wanted to go faster, so he-” Rumple waggled his fingers.

“Oh. Did he get hurt?”

“He’s fine, but we’re now the proud owners of the world’s first rocket-driven tricycle.”

Belle raised an eyebrow. “Keyword: 'proud’?”

“Yeah,” Rumple admitted. “I hate to say it, but that kid’s powers are going to rival mine. So yeah, proud.”

“I’m proud of him too.”

A shadow, rocking slowly in a chair and turned toward a window through which a soft night breeze wafted. Another figure entered the darkened room and set a hand on the shadow’s back. The quiet was briefly broken by the stirring of a small sleeping form perched on the rocker’s lap. The standing figure patted the little one’s back and the little head dropped down again, forehead pressed to parent’s shoulder.

“He’s going to have a pretty good shiner,” observed the standing parent.

“He’s too little to be getting into fights already.” There were tears in the seated parent’s voice.

“At least he didn’t use his magic against the other kid. He’s got a lot of self-control for a six-year-old. You’ve given him that. If he’d inherited my temper… .”

“You’ve been a good example to him, Rumple. A calm, steady and dependable example.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

“What are we going to do about this? Should we talk to the teacher?”

“Bae used to get into fights. So did I, until I learned to run fast.” A sigh. “I don’t know, Belle. Maybe we should see if he can work it out for himself before we intervene. Or maybe we should ask the teacher to keep on eye on things. I don’t know. On the one hand, we want him to learn to stand up for himself; adults won’t always be there to protect him.”

“On the other, he is just a little boy. He needs to feel safe. How can he concentrate in school if he has to look over his shoulder all the time?”

“I never figured it out, how to deal with bullies. When I was powerless, I hid from them or ran away. When I had power, I became a bully myself. Where’s the balance? What’s the smart way for a small child to protect himself and his pride?”

“I had my bullies too. Girls can be vicious, even against a duchess. I don’t have the answer either. But we don’t have to figure this out alone.”

“Archie?”

“Why not Archie? We aren’t failures as parents if we ask for advice.”

“Yeah… .I suppose he’d have some advice for me too—how to resist the temptation to dig up my cane and pay that kid’s father a visit.”

“You know, there’s a karate school downstairs from Archie’s office. We could stop off there first… .”

“Papa, I’m eight years old now.”

“There, snuggle down and I’ll adjust your blankets. So what’s this about being eight?”

“Well, Neal’s eight and he doesn’t get tucked in any more. And I’ve got an orange belt in karate.”

“Oh. I see.”

“But Papa, eight’s not too old for bedtime stories, is it?”

“Steady, steady, keep your focus; picture in your mind where you want it to go. Think about how happy you’ll feel when that shirt drops into the laundry hamper.”

“It’s going, it’s going there, Papa! Look, Mom! It’s flying! In the hamper, shirt!”

“It went in! Good job, Giddy!”

“Now, son, close the lid of the hamper. See it in your mind, see it closing, gently now—good. You did it, son.”

“So, Papa—when are you going to teach me fireballs?”

“Mama? Remember your promised me five dollars for every 'A’ on my report card?”

“Certainly. And your parents always keep their promises.”

“Well, there’s a set of drums for sale at Hamlin’s, so… could we make a deal?”

“Drums?!”

“Mom, you know I’m responsible, right?”

“Yes, Gid. You’ve done well with your responsibilities. Why?”

“I mean, I help out at the shop and the library and I do my chores here, and I keep my grades up, and my karate. I’ve got a lot of responsibilities, for a kid my age, but I haven’t screwed up too often, have I?”

“You’ve done well, Giddy. We’re proud of you.”

“Well, here’s the thing: sixteen is the legal age to get a job.”

“Oh. Your allowance—”

“It’s good, Mom. It’s not the money; it's—don’t be hurt, okay? I’d rather not work at the shop and the library any more; I want to get a real job. Where I can be my own man, you know? Not the boss’ kid. Mom? Are you crying?”

“It’s okay, Gid. I’m just crying because I’m proud of you.”

“Well, that doesn’t make sense. The crying part, I mean, not the proud part.”

“Give me a minute, then we’ll break the news to your father.”

“You promised if I passed my test I could start driving alone.”

“Yes. Yes, we did.”

“You’re not going to back out on a deal, are you, Dad?”

“No, son. I’d never do that.”

“I think we’re stuck. Give him the keys, Rumple.”

“Thanks, Dad! I’ll be back in an hour, I promise. I’m just going over Granny’s for a burger.”

As their son clattered down the stairs, the front door banging behind him, Belle speculated, “Rumple, his magic can fix broken tail lights, knocked-down mail boxes, dented fenders—how are we going to know if he gets into an accident?”

“We have to trust him, sweetheart.”

“I do, but… .”

“Besides, we have two secret weapons: traffic cameras—”

“And?”

“My grandson is the sheriff.”

“Mom, can we talk? Privately?”

“Your dad’s at a Chamber meeting. Come on in, Gid. Here, chop these carrots while we talk. What’s up?”

“I have some good news and some bad news.”

“Oh?”

“And I’m going to need some help telling Dad.”

“Oh… .”

“The good news is I got accepted into Stanford.”

“Oh, Gid, that’s wonderful! I’m so proud of you! It’s everything you dreamed of!”

“And after that, if I keep my grades up, MIT!”

“Gid! I’m so happy for you, I’m practically delirious!”

“So, Mom, here’s the bad news: I got into Stanford. How do I tell Dad I’m moving 2700 miles away?”

Belle elbowed her husband, who was whistling shrilly between his teeth. Other parents seated in the bleachers around them turned to glare, snicker and snort at the proud father, who’d risen to his feet. “Honey, you’re embarrassing him. Simple clapping would suffice.”

“I don’t care,” Rumple huffed. “My son just graduated summa cum laude from Stanford-and without the use of magic. I’ve earned the right to cheer.”

“Yes, you have.” Belle stood up beside him, planted her fingers in her mouth and whistled. “Yay, Gideon!”

Rumple winked at her. “He sees us. Look, he’s waving. We did a good job, Belle.”

“We did a very good job, Rumple.”

The images blanked out, leaving an empty white light beaming onto the film screen. Gideon set aside his soda, snapped off the machine and settled back down onto the couch, his arm around his mom’s shaking shoulders. Belle turned her face into his chest and sobbed. As Gideon stroked her hair, Rumple reached over and squeezed her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Gid.” Rumple had turned pale. “What you could have had, if I hadn’t been so short-sighted, so fixated on magic solutions. To you too, Belle, what I stole from you. If I would have just talked to you, asked them”-he waved toward the street; Gideon realized he was referring to the community-“for help.”

“It was my fault too. I was blinded by self-righteousness.” Belle’s voice grew small. “And wanting them to include me as a hero. You were robbed too, Rumple, because of my pride.”

“Mom, Dad, I’m happy now; that’s what matters. I have a pretty good future to look forward to.” When Belle had regained her poise and accepted a handkerchief from Rumple, Gideon suggested, “It’s not entirely too late.”

“You aren’t saying you want me to—” Rumple summoned a bit of magic to his fingers.

“No. I still feel the same about that: I don’t want to be de-aged. I am who I am because of what I went through. And I’m proud of what I am now. I love the life we have now.” He reached into his jeans pocket and produced a wrinkled sheet of paper, which he gave to Belle. “But it’s not too late for everything. Mom and Dad, I’ve been accepted into Northern Maine Community College for the fall semester.”

“Oh, Gideon!” Belle plastered his face with kisses, until she was pushed forward and crushed against his chest when her husband threw himself at Gideon in a bear hug. “Mmmph! Mm'out!”

“Sorry, sweetheart. We didn’t mean to squish you.”

#darcyfarrow2005 #a monthly rumbelling #may #submission

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