Starting with Alchemist! He saw Firefly for the first time and was like “yoo were you involved in a lab accident too?” Smooth way to start a friendship /lh
He's slightly terrified of Bubble. Learned his lesson. Genuinely does find Firefly sweet though and introduces her to the wonders of chemistry - wouldn’t you know it look at these other cool glow in the dark things! Manages to invent the worlds first glow sticks for her.
I’m envisioning Alchemist as a sort of awkward guy. Maybe on the introverted side, means well but constantly has his foot in his mouth and is insecure about the lasting effects from that one potion.
Wants to do cool magic like Papa and Sorcerer and thinks he's good at it but the thing is. Alchemist is actually just good at natural chemistry. He thinks he's throwing in magic ingredients but congrats u somehow found uranium. Er, most of his experiments are more harmless than that. If he ever discovered his real talent he'd be a fine fine chemist but he insists on the al part not realising. Its cool though. He's still discovered plenty of interesting science experiments.
Firefly thinks he’s sweet too :)
Decided to revamp Yukio a bit. Originally he was supposed to be a non next gen next gen but .... yeah. Explorer is a little tsundere but. He DOES like Spelunker. The ship is kinda based on an old fave TTTE of mine with a similar dynamic jfsekjf Explorer is like “lmao easy pickings Im gonna crush this guy’s heart” and then somehow keeps coming back and its like? Why tho its just some guy who’s obsessed with caves a bit too much I can literally charm and buy my way into anyone else’s life and Archie is like “Spelunker dude we’re friends I’m telling you Explorer is a morally corrupt piece of trash what do you see in him he’s probably cheating on you he’s shifty and has commitment issues” and Spelunker is like “we have a shared farm on Stardew Valley called Strawberry Gorge :)” Yukio. Fine. That's his son now. He got a man and family suck on that Yorkshireboy.
So now I got Alchemist/Firefly, Explorer/Spelunker, lets go 3 for 3 and introduce my final - Bubble/Mouse
and once again I’m not pulling this outta thin air I justify all my crackships 😈
Nearsighted girl and teleport girl. How many times does it take to crash into the same person before it becomes suspiciously non accidental. Maybe Mouse just thinks the bubbles are cool. Maybe Mouse is about to fall off the edge of a goddamn cliff and Bubble manages to control the teleporting to save her. Its win for win. Mouse still refuses glasses.
Funfact her birthname is SmurfMole but some bitchass (probably SmurfSapphire) made fun of her cuz apparently moles are ugly so she started calling herself SmurfMouse bcuz “mice are cute”. Bubble says she’d look cute with glasses and being called Mole. Wait did she say that out loud nvm goodbye there she goes
Mouse is wearing glasses the next day. Then Bubble sees her and she hides them in her pocket again. Its gonna be a slow process until somesmurf invents contacts /lh. But its a start.
Alchemist, Firefly, Bubble, Mouse and Explorer (c) The Smurfs
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When we left Grogu and Din Djarin, sitting at the table in their little cabin on Nevarro, discussing the production being developed by the Nevarro Guild of Entertainments and Educational Programs to Promote the Culture and Achievements of Nevarro, Thanks to High Magistrate Greef Karga. Grogu had just revealed the true name of the Razor Crest...
“Revenge? That’s not the ship’s name. It didn’t even have a name that I recall.” Greef Karga grumbled.
“It was an ST-70, Razor Crest, Model M-111. It was originally called The Jedi’s Revenge. I don’t know who named it that. I certainly didn’t.” Grogu’s dad explained in his quiet, steady voice.
“You’re kidding!” Greef Karga exclaimed. “I’ve known you for years and you never told me that.”
“Didn’t seem important.”
The Mandalorian shrugged and Grogu knew that he needed to help get the interview back on track.
He ran over to the lady and showed her the small silver sphere he carried with him everywhere. At least he tried to. She was just staring at his dad and seemed a little lost. He coo’d loudly to get her attention.
That broke the spell and she looked at Grogu, frowning for an instant and then smiling brightly.
“Oh, look! That’s so cute! What have we here? May I hold it?” Her voice was very sweet and super enthusiastic.
Grogu handed her the flight control knob from the old Razor Crest.
“Is that made of beskar?” The man from The Guild asked when the lady handed it to him, although that was not exactly what Grogu had intended. He was kind of hoping that his dad would take it from her. He wanted to see what she would do if the Mandalorian actually touched her hand. Dang.
“No. Durasteel. It’s the ship’s flight control knob. It’s the only thing left from The Jedi’s Revenge. Grogu plays catch with it.” Din Djarin explained as he signaled Grogu to come over to him.
Grogu could sense that his dad would prefer that he stop helping to the two Guild members with the interview. He must have realized that he was talking more than he had the whole week before Greef Karga approached him about the production.
He trudged over to his dad and then hopped into Din Djarin’s lap, where he could barely see the two Guild members. He sighed.
“Buddy, we’re just here to provide technical support. Yes, the Razor Crest had two forward mounted Mk 3e/W heavy laser canons. They made short work of the Tie fighters and Greef and Cara were safe. Are we done here? I’ve got some maintenance to perform on the N-1.”
Grogu grumbled at his dad.
“Buddy, they don’t want to hear about you getting sick because you ate too many sweets.”
His dad took the silver ball back from the man and handed it to Grogu, no doubt to encourage him to stop interrupting.
“Oh, no, we’d love to know about that. Those details are what will make this whole production seem real. Does your son have a sweet tooth?” The Guild lady asked.
Grogu giggled at her question. Those cookies really weren’t sweet at all, but his dad didn’t know the proper names of foods like that. Apparently, Mandalorians didn’t eat a lot of sweets, so cakes, candy, confections, custards, pastries, pies, and frozen treats and their cousins were all unknown to his dad. As Grogu had travelled with the Mandalorian, his dad had simply referred to all of them as ‘sweets’, even the savory ones like gorg pops. It had been a frustration for Grogu because he had some real preferences and his dad often got it all wrong.
“The kid has a whole mouthful of sweet teeth based on his eating habits when he visits my official office.”
Greef Karga was annoyed again. Grogu wished he had a cookie he could offer the High Magistrate. It wasn’t Grogu's fault that the female human liked talking to the two Mandalorians more than him. They just had magnetic personalities, although Grogu could verify that magnets didn’t stick to beskar, which was very disappointing.
“That would make two of you.” Din Djarin commented blandly. “If you didn’t have all that stuff out on your desk, Grogu wouldn’t eat it. Apparently one of the children at the school offered him a container of blue sweet discs and when we were doing loop-d-loops to avoid the Tie fighters, his stomach got a bit upset and he ejected the contents onto his coverall. It took some effort to get the stains out.”
“So that was the maintenance you were doing?!” Greef Karga was outraged.
Grogu would have laughed, but he knew that he shouldn’t. It wouldn’t make the High Magistrate happy and he still wanted access to the desk drawer in his office that held the various bags of sweets and candies.
“Yes. You know Mandalorians stick together. And I never did find out why the children at the school were eating sweets for all of their meals.”
Grogu giggled at that. His dad was a great bounty hunter, but he didn’t always understood that sometimes the story was better than the reality and Grogu liked a good story.
“Eating sweets for their meals? I’ll have to have the instruction droid’s programming checked. That should not be happening. Good. You should have enough details for the script now, correct?”
Greef Karga asked the question in a manner that Grogu understood to be a command. The High Magistrate was getting better at giving orders that didn’t always sound like orders.
“Yes. We do. Come along Agira. If we need additional details, can we call upon you again?” The male Guild member asked.
“Sure, if we’re around. Grogu and I have a trip to Takodana coming up and I’m not sure when we’ll be back.” Din Djarin replied.
“Thanks Mando. We’ll be seeing you when the production is ready for its first showing.” Greef Karga finally smiled at Grogu’s dad.
When the three visitors left their cabin, Grogu complained at his dad about the imaginary trip to Takodana.
“You tell the stories you like and I tell the stories I like. Are you hungry?”
Grogu coo’d and chirped at his dad.
“Blue cookies? As you wish. But, in the right light I can still see that stain. Better eat them slower this time. Okay, buddy?”
Yeah, I kinda have some feelings about this one...
Cole definetly has a couple of things going on...The worst being his addiction to all that sugar that Kai's been making.
He was worried about him when he said that he could "talk" to that technoblade, but things got weird when he started writing code for his BorgPhone.
That first day after he and Lloyd had gorged on all those sweets was pretty bad.
His head was pounding like he'd been out bar-hopping with Kai, though Lloyd seemed like he was in worse shape.
He kinda started to notice some changes a couple of days after Kai left...
He started having more intense sugar cravings that not even Zane's cooking could scratch. He and Lloyd once went into town for sweets and wound up closing the candy store!
The worse part was when Cole started having dreams like he was seeing through Kai's eyes. He could even hear what almost sounded like a voice in the distance.
Now every time he wakes up, he could swear that he can see computer coding dancing just beyond his vision...
Dr. Borg thinks that he might have developed a slight psychic connection to him through the food that was being created through the technoblade.
He had suggested they try digging out their old technoblades to see if they couldn't try and snap Kai out of...whatever was happening, but Pixal told them that the original circuitry was destroyed when they purged the Overlord from the main computer.
Just before they were able to track him down to that little house with the Nindroids, Cole started to realize that he missed how warm Kai was...
Now all that he wants is the person Kai used to be-the one who was always there if they had a nightmare, or just needed someone to hold them, back.
Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Chat Noir is a show about two teenagers who can transform into superheroes, fall in love with each other, save the city of Paris, and all without knowing who their partner is behind the mask. Sounds great right? It is, but there's a giant problem with it. The problem, to me, is simple. It’s the writing. Before you get your pitchforks and torches, hear me out. In this essay I will explain and point out where I believe the flaws are.
Season 1: Oh boy, where to start? Well, how about there is no driving plotline in practically all of season 1. Sure, we need to hash out the world and concepts first, but that shouldn’t take 24 or so episodes! The first three episodes aired are “The Bubbler”, “Mr. Pigeon”, and “Stormy Weather”, in that order here in the U.S. and they tell us plenty of information.
The plot of all three episodes, and almost all of the rest of them are the same. There are two plots in each episode, Plot A, a problem arises or it’s the story of how someone becomes an Akuma. Plot B is the Akuma fight with our Superheroes. After Plot B ends, Plot A is usually resolved, and whatever happens is never spoken of again. Rinse and repeat. The only episodes that stray from this formula are “Evillustrator” and “Origins”. In “Evillustrator” we get practically nothing about Nathaniel and the focus of Plot A is Chloe and Sabrina.
And for “Origins”, while we never really spoke about what happened, we didn’t forget everything.
Ladybug tells us in “Antibug” that Chat and her are partners, even though they don’t really show it. Ladybug claims she needs Chat, but fighting wise, Ladybug always manages to take down the villain when Chat gets controlled by the villian/taken out of the fight. Plus, Ladybug is the only one who can purify the akuma and repair the damage. Chat just seems to be there for moral support and to use Cataclysm when Ladybug needs it.
Season 1 Plot Points: I remember three, count them, THREE plot points that moved the story along. Nothing important happens until “Princess Fragrance”, where the audience sees Master Fu for the first time, and then the old man disappears from the spotlight until “Volpina”, where Marinette meets him again, and we all find out he is the Guardian. Then “Origins” is finally released and we see that he gave out the Miraculous to our protagonists, and gave them no training. Seriously who thought that was a good idea?
Season 2: We finally inch along in the story more, as new characters, potiens, kwamis and miraculous, and new holders are introduced. Hawkmoth’s identity is revealed/confirmed, and both heroes and villain are thrown off the identity trial.
Power shifts to Ladybug as she knows who the guardian is first, gets to pick new holders, and gets to learn about the zodiac miraculous. Chat Noir gets left in the dark, and slowly starts turning into the sidekick some people view him as. He finally meets the guardian, but Marinette seems to spend the most time with him, so the scale is still tipped in her favor.
Season 2 Character Developments:
It turns out that season 2 is our character development season, with a bit of worldbuilding involved. We learn more about their classmates, including Alya, who we should’ve learned more about sooner, and get introduced to new characters, one of which keeps making cameos. It’s good to focus on other things aside from just Ladybug, Chat Noir, Marinette, and Adrien. It helps make the world three-dimensional and broadens the edge of the Miraculous world.
Season 2 Plot Points:
I’ll be honest, I don’t remember there being any important to the overarching story plot points in season 2, other than the 2 parter season finale, Lila, and maybe the temporary holders.
The finale 2 parter is the closest they get to catching Hawkmoth, but he escapes with the aid of the Peacock miraculous holder. They practically go back to square 1 except the fights will get harder. Also, we finally see what happened to Lila Rossi.
Season 3:
Oh boy, the most recent season. And the cringe and second hand embarrassment I experienced here, oh the writing staff in some of those episodes had it out for Marinette.
“Animaestro”: She crawls around on the floor, wastes food, and teams up with Chloe of all people to ruin Kagami’s outfit! Marinette should have been doing the job she signed up for, not embarrassing her parents’ business by doing those ridiculous things. And then she gets rewarded by being given Astuc’s ticket and gets to sit next to Adrien.
“Weredad”: I get she panicked, but did she have to say she was in love with Chat Noir? What happened to not wanting to lie to a friend? You live there for Pete's sakes, it’s not unusual for you to be on your balcony!
“Party Crasher”: Marinette abandons her friends to try and party with the boys, eventually using a disguise to get in. Marinette you’re no better then the boys!
“Stormy Weather 2”: Was just lazy, enough said.
“Feast”: It’s sweet that Fu wanted to protect them, but he ran like a coward and was willing to abandon Paris to Hawkmoth’s cruelty.
“Reflekdoll”: Alya! Marinette clearly doesn’t want Adrien there, but you just ignore her and pull him along anyway! What if he wanted to spend that extra hour with Nino and you made him feel like he had to help Marinette out? And I‘m not forgetting the fact you ignored Juleka’s panic attack and wish to be a model, and didn’t apologize! Also, they should’ve let Mister Bug figure out how to use the lucky charm. That would’ve been a great way to show that the two are equal, not that Marinette is great at wielding the Ladybug and Cat miraculous.
“Ikari Gozen”: Marinette, you tried to leave Kagami when you saw she was your partner in the friendship game, badmouthed her Alya, and tried to make you lose on purpose, all because you were jealous of Kagami being close to Adrien, who also doesn’t have many close friends. And Kagami, Longg literally said he was going to tell you the plan, but you just decide to transform without listening to him.
“Desperada”: Marinette picking Adrien to be Jagged’s guitarist was dumb, did you even know if the boy could play? Marinette, you can’t focus around Adrien, why did you give him a miraculous!? And Adrien, why did you accept it, you’re Chat Noir!?
“Ladybug”: Are you kidding me Chat!? Ladybug has never shown interest in you before, why on earth would you think that’s normal!? Also, Marinette getting expelled like that? Did anyone on staff do their research about expelling someone?! I’m pretty sure that’s not how you do that!
“Battle of the Miraculous”: Chloe, how stupid are you?
I also have some complaints about “Chameleon”, like, what were Marinette’s friends and classmates thinking?! A napkin can’t gorge out an eye Max! And for goodness’s sake, wouldn’t Jagged Stone’s pet being rescued off a runway be on international news?! Their brain cells were gone that episode.
Season 3 Plot Points:
Master Fu’s memory is erased, leaving the two kids on their own. This will drive them closer together or farther apart as Ladybug will have more responsibility and need to keep more secrets as Guardian. Hawkmoth and Mayura have the translated Grimoire and they have fixed the broach.
Season 3 Character Developments:
The characters we really focus on the most beside Adrien and Marinette are the love rivals. That’s right, Luka and Kagami. Adrien appears to have started dating Kagami and Marinette is hanging out with Luka more, so more knowledge about them is needed. Other characters star in some episodes too, such as Max and Markov in Startrain. Turns out his mother drives trains and wants to be an astronaut. Also Markov is baby.
It turns out Juleka wants to be a model, did this happen because she can be in pictures now, and she enjoys it a lot? Where did this even come from? Regardless, it’s nice to see Juleka coming out of her shell a bit. Also the cheek kiss from Rose was cute and I don’t care that Relfekta called Rose her bestie, that Hawkmoth talking. Also Juleka is the second person, Lila’s the first, to be akumatized three times as the same Akuma.
Speaking of Lila, she shows up in the first episode, and it turns out everyone is still wrapped around her finger over her ridiculous lies. Sure, their class is accomplished, but really? Fans of Jagged Stone know he has a crocodile, right? Or that paper napkins can’t gorge someone’s eye out, especially glasses-wearing Max? She threatens Marinette in the bathroom, declares them to be at war, then does nothing to turn people against Marinette until “Ladybug”. Sure, she violated Adrien’s space and privacy, and got Nathalie and Gorilla in trouble, but that was never specifically against Marinette. We learn she doesn’t want to take the easy way out, instead she lays out this giant trap that would’ve come crashing down if Damocles had actually done his job by listening to both sides, calling Lila’s mother, watching the security footage, basic stuff right? It shows that Lila can be kinda clever, but her kingdom is a stack of cards waiting to crash down at the right push.
We get Master Fu's backstory, like how he lost the Peacock and Butterfly miraculous, plus the Grimoire. Also, he gets a lady friend, who we never really bring up again except at the end of the season.
And Choe. Chloe, Chloe, Chloe. We in the fandom had high hopes for her. From her not believing what Lila’s ‘selling’ to her becoming a better person. That all crashed and burned in the episodes “Miraculer”, “and “Battle of the Miraculous”. Turns out Chloe doesn’t even remember Lila, despite being upset that ‘Jagged wrote a song about Lila and not her’ in “Volpina”. Having Audrey around does not help Chloe’s case, as she tries imitating her in order for her mother to love her, which is really messed up.
The fandom:
Pitchforks down people! This is not, I repeat, not an insult to the fandom. I enjoy reading fanfics, including salt and fix-it fics. I just find it sad that the fandom has better writing than the actual show. It's kinda depressing that people who write for fun are writing better than the people doing it for a job. For example, when Chloe gets the redemption arc the show was building towards. Astruc said in a tweet that Chloe turned out to be not redeemable, which some people have translated as they couldn’t figure out how to redeem her so they didn’t.
Plot:
Astruc and staff need to actually make strides towards the end goal. The way they write the show now, there seems to be no goal that they are actually working towards. The episodes that will move the story along are few and far between, and as of now, they aren’t any closer to their goal as compared to the beginning.
Contradictions:
There are contradictions in the episodes, for example in “Queen Wasp”, it’s stated that only cataclysm can break a miraculous. But then Alix’s watch turns out to be a miraculous, and suddenly a contradiction is revealed. The Ladybug and Cat miraculous are supposed to be the most powerful of all, right? Well, some of the other miraculous have stronger powers then those of the Cat and Ladybug. The Rabbit can travel through time and the Monkey disrupts others’ power, rendering them useless. Why have the Ladybug and Cat miraculous, the ones the bad guy is desperately trying to steal, out in the open when you could use the other miraculous just as well? You could just use Venom on the Akuma and easily get their akumatized item. Boom, battle over in seconds. Sure, you would still need the Ladybug to purify the akuma and erase any possible damage, but at least the Cat miraculous could be safe in the Miracle Box. It’s like they have no idea what was going to happen in future episodes, and when they make a contradiction, Astruc will just brush it off as a mistake, and the show will just carry on as if nothing happened.
Conclusion:
Miraculous Ladybug is a great show, but the writing is subpar. There are episodes that are really great, and there are episodes that are bad, and make me want to stop watching from second-hand embarrassment. In all honesty, I’m still here for the fanfiction.
Written for @klarosummerbingo Klarosummer Bingo prompt: Hiking in Peru
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The rough scrape of the scales against the rock’s facing made Caroline wince, too terrified to scream. Everyone was dead. The unnaturally strong hand that suddenly covered her mouth reminded her that some people apparently started out that way. Despite her terror, she glared at the unfairly attractive creature, still trying to figure out how she went from hiking in Peru with a tour group to learning that the world was actually one giant supernatural clusterfuck.
Yesterday, she’d been drinking chilcanos at a tiny bar hidden in the San Blas area of Cusco, waiting on the rest of her tour group to arrive. “Impressive for a tourist,” the accented stranger sitting next to her said, eyeing her drink. “I would’ve expected someone like you to order a mojito, love.”
“Not that it’s your business, but I drink like the locals when I travel,” she replied, not bothering to hide the slight edge to her voice. She allowed herself to study him briefly, flicking her gaze appreciatively over a strong jawline, well-defined chest and intense gray eyes. Pity — had he kept his mouth shut, she’d have been interested in some hot vacation sex.
He smirked, flashing unexpected dimples that she was certain had swayed far too many before her. “I didn’t mean to offend. When one has been around as long as I have, you develop a certain sense about people.” He smoothly held her hand, lightly brushing his lips across her knuckles as he said, “I’m Klaus.”
“Caroline,” she replied a bit stiffly, doing her best to fight the shiver that went down her spine from the touch of his lips. “And feel free to keep to yourself whatever you’re sensing about me.” She busied herself with another sip of her cocktail, savoring the delicious lime and doing her best to ignore the smirking shadow beside her.
Misinterpreting her brushoff as a challenge, he signaled the bartender for another round, studying her closely. “Of course, sweetheart. Then I will certainly keep to myself that from the delightful lilt of your voice, I would hazard a guess that you originate from the southern United States, perhaps South Carolina or Virginia? You also appear to carry yourself with a great deal of confidence, and I surmise a certain amount of stubbornness that at times lands you in trouble. However, I suspect you possess a great deal of charm and honeyed words to smooth over any feathers you may ruffle.”
Woah. Blue eyes wide, she downed the rest of her drink, wordlessly scrambling for the fresh one the bartender had set in front of her. How the hell did he read her so well? “So, you’re like a mysterious grifter scamming dumb American tourists in bars,” she asked, the sarcasm heavy as she added, “Nice work if you can get it, I guess.”
“Something like that,” Klaus replied with an enigmatic smile.
And that’s where she thought they’d part ways, leaving her a little curious about what might’ve been...
But instead, her once-in-a-lifetime hiking in Peru adventure took an unexpected turn when a flash of brilliant green scales unexpectedly slithered out of a twisting gorge and ate their scruffy tour guide. She’d barely managed to hide behind a clump of giant ferns when the leviathan reared back, sweeping the screaming tourists into its enormous mouth. Curved fangs. Sinister hissing. Was that seriously a giant snake?
A streak of movement caught her eye, and she let out a small gasp as she watched in disbelief as Klaus seemingly appeared out of nowhere, his handsome features morphing into something monstrous, complete with deadly-looking fangs. He attacked the creature, displaying incredible strength as he managed to claw a gaping hole into the snake’s flesh, spilling sickly-sweet blood that caused it to let out a terrifying screech that echoed throughout the valley.
When it was clear the creature wouldn’t die easily, Klaus retreated, tossing Caroline over his shoulder and flashing them up the steep mountainside where they currently were hiding in a narrow gap between the rock facing.
Caroline barely kept the hysterics under control as she whispered, “Seriously?! Giant snakes are a thing?” She gestured toward Klaus, noting that gold had bled into his gray eyes, not entirely sure what to make of it. “And whatever you are, I guess.”
“Hybrid. A vampire-werewolf. One of the originators of both species,” he murmured, a note of pride entering his voice. “And that was the Yacumama, the giant serpent of Peruvian folklore. I honestly thought it to be nothing more than myth. Rest assured, I’ll be having words with that troublesome demon shaman when this is over.”
She blinked in surprise, not entirely sure what to do with that information. What the hell do you even say to that? She blurted out the first thing that came to mind: “How is this my life?! I just wanted an adventure; but one of those safe, glossy magazine-type adventure where the biggest actual danger would be running out of anti-frizz serum, and now I’m going to die in this dirty cave and I never even got to have hot vacation sex!”
The gold in Klaus’ gaze brightened, and she couldn’t help but wonder if maybe that hot vacation sex was still a possibility...
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To all my wonderful followers, happy *Galentine’s day!
You know what, I originally thought of doing a couple Valentine’s day fics for our favorite couples from FT. However, mid-sentence and several paragraphs into the Nalu one I had a much better idea.
I miss Parks and Rec. So here’s a tribute to Galentine’s day, full of joy, love, and talking about boys—of course. 😉
(Oh, what do you know. It turned into a Nalu fic anyways).
Lucy pulled herself out of the tub with a yawn. Even though she’d been up for an hour, going about her normal every-day routine, she felt like she could collapse back into bed and sleep the whole day away. Maybe it was the fact that today, if she went out, she’d see everyone looking so happy. Couples would be holding hands, going on dates, buying each other gifts. And, as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, wrapped in her pink towel, she hated to admit it but she hated being alone.
One, tiny, fleeting thought crossed her mind. Natsu. She remembered, not long ago, he had done something that no normal friend would do. She could still see the colorful tree floating down the river, past her window. It had been like a fairytale. No, no, no. Natsu’s just a friend! She shook her head, and carefully stepped out of the bathroom to pick out her clothes for the day. She paused in the doorway, glancing around as if almost expecting Natsu to jump out around the corner. She hated that. He always had a way of making her totally lose co—
There was a sudden crack as the door burst down. “LUCY!”
“Erza!?” Lucy shrieked. Her red-headed friend was wearing a dress, and her hair was up, which was rather unusual. Erza must have a date today. But… why is she in my house?! “What are you doing here?!”
“Get dressed, quickly! We’re going out.”
“W-what?!”
“Levy got a table at a nice restaurant. All the girls who don’t have a date for valentine’s day are invited!”
“How do you know I don’t have a date?” Lucy snorted, trying to sound offended.
Erza paused, narrowing her eyes, “Do you?”
“No,” Lucy sighed.
“Let’s go! Get dressed!”
***
The restaurant where Levy had gotten a table was really nice. When they arrived, Erza practically dragging the blonde, Lucy was glad that she had changed into one of her nicer dresses. The waiter led them to a large, circular table. Levy was already there. Her hair was tied up in a pretty pony-tail, and she was wearing a little black dress.
“Levy!” Lucy said, offering her friend a hug. The script mage grinned.
“I’m glad you’re here, Lucy.”
“What’s this all about? We’ve never done this before.” She remembered how last year Levy had come over and they had gorged on ice cream while reading books and telling each other jokes. They may have talked about boys too.
“It’s time to be sophisticated about Valentine’s Day,” Levy said, and then she glanced over at Cana with a frown. The brunette had already finished off several mimosas. “We don’t need to cry over boys. We don’t need boys. We’re going to have a perfectly fun day, all on our own!”
“This is a great idea!” Lucy beamed, sitting down next to her friend. The waiter brought her a mimosa, and brought the party several appetizers. Their table was soon filled out. Juvia and Wendy arrived, along with Mirajane, Lisanna, and Evergreen. Juvia was already crying into her mimosa.
“Hey, Juvia!” Lisanna said, rubbing her friend’s shoulder. “It’s alright. Today’s supposed to be happy.”
“Juvia knows. Juvia knows today was the day Gray-sama would have…”
“Juvia,” Lucy sighed, “It’s alright. Maybe someday Gray will finally come to his senses.”
“Almost all of us are in the same situation, aren’t we?” Those words came from Mirajane, and they were thoughtful, almost as if she was only thinking aloud, but everyone heard it and all eyes were on the young woman.
“What do you mean?” Wendy asked.
“Well, Juvia’s waiting on Gray. Levy, you’re waiting for Gajeel, aren’t you?” Levy’s whole face turned tomato-red, and she seemed to slowly sink in her chair, speechless. “Erza’s waiting for Jellal.” Erza’s cheeks turned pink and she looked away, but she muttered a half-hearted,
“I won’t deny it.”
“I suppose, you all know I’m fond of Laxus,” Mira placed a hand on her own chest before gesturing to Evergreen. “Evergreen and Elfman, right?”
“What?!” Evergreen narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, “N-no! That’s ridiculous. Me and that… moron?! Impossible!”
“And Lucy and Natsu.”
“Natsu!?” Lucy choked on her drink. “W-what?! No. Natsu and I are just friends.”
Mirajane laughed a little, “That’s what we’re all thinking, isn’t it? ‘No, we’re just friends.’”
“Not Juvia!” Juvia said, her expression still somber.
“Okay, okay!” Levy said, standing, “We have to cheer this girls’ party up! And since we all know our secrets—”
“I told you Elfman and I are… not…”
“—Let’s try and think on the bright side of things. Juvia, tell us about the first moment you knew you liked Gray.”
“The first moment?” Juvia stared off into the distance with a dreamy smile. “It was when we first fought. Gray-sama took off his shirt.” Of course he did. “Juvia knew she couldn’t fight him…”
“What about you, Levy?” Lucy giggled, leaning closer to her friend. She had known about Levy’s crush for a long time, but she had never heard about when her friend had first developed the crush. Levy’s cheeks turned bright red.
“During Laxus’ stupid game,” she whispered, clutching her champagne flute with both hands, like it was her lifeline. “Gajeel shielded me from Laxus’ lightning. He took a hit to protect me. And since then he’s been nothing but sweet to me.” Lucy beamed.
“Awww!”
“What about you, Erza?” Wendy asked, propping her chin against the palm of her hand. “You and Jellal.”
“I think…” Erza frowned, and then downed her entire mimosa, “Maybe when we were little. Maybe I’ve always liked him like that…. Maybe I’ve always…” She trailed off and shook her head. “That’s all I’m sharing.”
“Evergreen!!!” Lisanna sang, “Tell us how you like our brother.”
“We want to know what he did to gain your attention.”
“I told you! Elfman and I are not a thing! B-besides! We haven’t heard from Lisanna. Don’t you have a crush on anyone, Lisanna?!”
“I… I don’t really have a crush on anyone,” Lisanna said, swirling her drink, “But… I suppose once upon a time I had imagined that Natsu and I… that’s all in the past I guess…” The voices in the restaurant faded away and all Lucy could see was Lisanna’s dreamy expression. Some sort of anger boiled up in her heart. Jealousy. Lisanna and Natsu had so much history. If Lucy waited longer… if Lucy didn’t act on her feelings… what could happen between the two of them?! The jealousy, the fear, brought about a promise. The next time I see him, I’m going to kiss him. She faced her emotions head-on, and swore it on her own life. She had to do this. For her sanity. And it was Valentine’s day, after all.
“Lucy, it’s your turn.” Everyone was looking at her expectantly. What? She had to tell them when she first realized that she liked Natsu Dragneel. It seemed impossible, since she couldn’t even pick out the moment herself, since she was only just coming to terms with the idea that she actually liked him.
“I… I don’t know… maybe…”
“LUCY!” The doors of the restaurant burst open and Natsu Dragneel, with flaming fists, rushed in. “There you are! I got a job. Are you coming, or what?”
Next time I see him… It was now or never. Lucy stood, and crossed the room to meet him. Now or never.
(So much shit under the cut. I should just write the fic.)
You know those random ideas that just... Invade your thoughts? Well, let’s go. I started this one week ago, and just now came back to this.
First of all, disclaimer: I have seen a fic in AO3, I’ve since lost it, where the author made Tarsus IV a settlement on Mars eons before humans really existed. Jim was one of the surviving Martians.
This is sort of, but not really like that. Vaguely like that. This is more of uh... “What if Tarsus IV was Olduvai?”
Olduvai is the fourth of Tarsus colonies on Mars;
One of the other three is also research, although specifically Energy Research (Tarsus II aka Argent) and the other two are residential colonies (Tarsus I aka Lazarus, and Tarsus III aka Titan);
Yes, John Grimm still quite hates it, and yes, he’s a marine;
Yes, Samantha Grimm spent the last ten years up there, since the twins were 18;
Everything happens mostly the same? But instead of taking the Ark back to Earth, the mutants break out of the facility and start advancing towards the other colonies. What is the atmosphere again? The mutants don’t need to breathe, not exactly;
The ones remaining are Sarge, Reaper, and Destroyer, so they suit up, each going to a different colony (With the Praetor Suit?), killing off whatever mutant they do find along the way;
Tarsus I received the name of Lazarus after the biblical character and meant a second chance for humans. A second home. The original Ark was discovered there and led to the other end in Nevada. A transportation system was created by the responsible engineer, based on the Ark, and is the most common method of traveling between the colonies, although suits were also created to allow travel outside the contained environments of the colonies.
Tarsus II was the first research facility, established after UAC’s discovery of an element/compound (or both) not too different from silver, but a far better energy conduit than anything on Earth. The facility was named Argent after the French word for silver, silver coin, etc.
Tarsus III was the second residential colony, far larger than Lazarus, and it received the name Titan due to such fact. it still isn’t as populated as Lazarus, but it certainly could, and likely would surpass it.
Tarsus IV was established after a scan starting from Argent discovered the remnants of what seemed to be buildings in a gorge not too different from the one in Tanzania and as such was named after the location, Olduvai, but the initial diggings destabilized the area and, in 2036, a landslide killed its two head researchers and almost took their two children as well.
A well-known, albeit secretive physicist is the head of the Argent facility. He’s known simply as Spock. People gave up trying to get his real name at that point (20 something years old? Maybe still a Vulcan, who knows, that could still work);
J.T. Kirk is a 13-year-old boy living in Lazarus with his father George, a shuttle pilot between Mars and Earth. His mother is still on Earth for the time being;
Pavel Chekov, 5 years old, is in Titan with his family.
Nyota Uhura, 11 years old, is also in Titan, the other residential colony and wants to participate in the archeological research in Olduvai.
Hikaru Sulu, 17, is training to be a pilot (under Geroge? Possibly);
Montgomery Scott, in his early thirties (??), is the chief engineer for the entirety of Tarsus colonies. This poor man has a lot of work;
(oh god I almost equated Scotty to Pinky, god no, thanks but no thanks)
Sarge went to Lazarus, Destroyer to Argent and Reaper to Titan;
Needless to say, Reaper is the first to question Sarge’s orders of simply clearing out the residential colonies, no matter who they find there;
He cleared Tarsus III of mutants and searched for survivors, finding Hikaru, Nyota, and Pavel;
He contacts Spock and sends the kids over to Argent through the internal transport system;
Spock is needless to say not “happy” ("does he even emote?"), but thankfully Hikaru is there and he’s actually good with kids;
(11-yo Uhura still sticks to Spock anyway, but she’s okay and a damn smart kid)
Reaps try to contact the other two, as well as Sam still in Olduvai. She’s the only one to respond, so he tells her to go to Argent, as it’s still apparently safe;
He starts to make his way to Argent, the closest colony to Titan, and he finds that the mutants already broke in;
And he may or may not be panicking, he just sent three kids and his sister into this place with also god knows how many scientists in it;
Way too many were actually killed, but even more turned, so he locates Destroyer and starts working on clearing the place of mutants;
Destroyer ends up dying all the same too (Maybe I’ll figure out a way to keep him alive? I like him a lot)
The events in Argent lead him to get the C24 injected all the same;
Reaper still has to locate Sarge, so he finishes what he started, locates Sam and Spock (and therefore the kids) and leaves for Lazarus after he’s sure they’ll be safe;
Sam is relieved that her very ill-thought-out plan didn’t end up turning her brother (and really condemning Earth in the process);
Nearly as soon as he arrives, a very startled, dirty Scotty jumps out of cover, with an Argent plasma weapon in hand, not even really relaxing after seeing it’s another person and not a mutant;
After convincing him that he’s not a threat to him (and checking his neck - as well as being checked by Scotty), he has Scotty give him a layout of the colony;
The Scotsman then warns him that another marine had come in, ordering him to seal the colony off and saying that he would clean out the place;
Scotty was a bit wary of Sarge, he didn’t “look right in the head”;
And rather than stay put (and alone), Scotty tags along Reaper, with the goal of reaching the transporter;
Doesn’t take long for the two to find a clearly shocked JT, protecting a five-year-old kid.
(Y’all didn’t think I’d forget Kevin Riley, did you?? With this, we have 9 survivors... ;D)
Too many bodies, as the other colonies had, but there is also a lot more of structural destruction from the BFG;
Reaps has Scotty take the two kids to the transporter while he deals with Sarge and whatever mutant is left;
(If I were to write this, and you know I will, this feels like a good place to have that first-person sequence...)
Their encounter and this last battle occur mostly the same...
... Except a very tired, angry and desperate 13-year-old James Tiberius Kirk is the one to fire the final shot against Sarge, with the gun he stole while Scotty was distracted.
The two eventually make their way to the transporter, and back in Argent, three out of the five oldest people in there are ready to scold him for running off, but John doesn’t let them.
“You didn’t have to do any of that, you know?”
“Yeah well, I felt like doing it.”
“And you just do things without thinking of consequences?” The kid nods. John laughs. “Thanks, kid.”
They have to return to Lazarus to access the Ark, but Scotty says he can just modify the transporter system to be used for longer distances. He did develop the system, he can make ‘her’ do what needs to be done.
Ten years pass. Spock looks the same, Sam notes as she sits down beside him. He notes the same about her, but he is interrupted before he can say her name. She introduces herself as Christine Chapel, this time. They make small talk until another person sits by Spock’s other side.
John Grimm also looks just the same as he did on Mars. He introduces himself as Leonard McCoy, doctor, with a small smile. The fact that neither of them seems to have aged doesn’t escape Spock. They ask about the others fairly quickly.
Hikaru did become a pilot, and Pavel, still glued to his side, became a bit of a genius child and is on his way to becoming a navigator.
Nyota still has a great interest in archeology, but her focus shifted into linguistics very quickly. Spock has been tutoring her on certain relevant topics.
Scotty has been working as an engineer for the global government in its early unification process and has since taken Riley in as sort of an adoptive child.
JT - now introducing himself as James, sometimes Jim - has just signed up into the space program, wanting to go out to space proper this time, further than Mars. Spock’s not sure how he managed to find that desire.
“Kid just does things without thinking of consequences," John- Leonard notes. “But it’s a good thing we signed up as well, someone’s gotta keep an eye on him.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sweet mother of Jesus this is gigantic. Imma just tag whoever may enjoy this.
There were fairy tales about this kind of thing, they realized. The kind of stuff you read to kids when they were really little, still developing that whole moral compass. Reema had run with a caravan through Del Bar for a season, and they’d put on a play like that for a week or two. Two children alone out in the woods coming across a house made of candy, and gorging themselves sick. Turned out the house belonged to a witch--flaw of the narrative, Reema guessed, that the screenplay never really addressed why she built her house out of sweets, because it really didn’t strike them as stable building material--and she traps the kids, and makes to cook and eat one of them.
Anyway, the kids decapitate her with an axe. It was a minor change to the original script--the original death by fire had tested alright for the first few go-arounds, but most Del Bar plays seem to end with at least one decapitation by axe. It’d been such fun though! Reema’d played the witch, and with practice they’d really nailed the cackle.
Still, this house definitely wasn’t made of candy, and Reema definitely didn’t have an axe handy.
They paused once in the doorway, brushing damp hair out of their face. It was hard to hear over the roar of the storm outside, but for a moment they lingered, listening for any sound from within. Glancing down, they didn’t see any shoes by the door.
“Uh... anybody home?” they called. They took one hesitant step inside, and, hearing nothing, slowly lowered their traveling pack.
Just until the storm passed, they told themselves. And in any case, if the owner of the house was out in this weather, they’d probably found somewhere to hunker down too. Soon as it was fit to travel again, Reema would be off, and with any luck reach town by nightfall.
