#[he and his dad had to figure out how to be family without Faye]

[thatamatuerauthor]

My Fair Luna

Chapter 8

If Emma had known the sheer amount of work that was waiting for her at this new job, she would've thought twice.

But she still would have taken it, if she was honest.

So the grounds needed work, and tasks needed delegating…and room assignments completed and gardening to oversee and meal planning to go over and a new row of houses needed to go up so supplies needed to be ordered and patches of trees felled and kids activities to plan and…

Oh boy

A lot of work needed to be done. It had Emma wondering just what was so important that the boss man and his family had to leave. Because she was starting to feel like they had left all these people high and dry.

Or they had more faith in Rex and Luke than was appropriate. Sorry guys.

Either way, by the time Sunday had rolled around, the time for her to phone in to her parents, Emma was surprised to find herself smack dab in the middle of a construction site as people began directing all their questions towards her about what to do.

It was Luna this and Luna that. Honestly she didn't know what to think about that nickname at first. It didn't really seem to fit in with the whole wolf theme. Until she realized it meant moon, and wolves howl at the moon, and right now all these people were 'howling' at her expecting her to know and/or fix everything.

And here I thought it was because I was pasty white…she grumbled internally.

The first time someone had called her that, she can't quite remember who now that everyone does it, Faye and Jade had practically glared holes into the poor soul's head. She wasn't sure what the big deal was. After all, having a nickname means she's one of them now, right?

When she said it was ok to call her that, everyone relaxed and seemed so happy about it. Further making her feel like she was missing some vital peice if the puzzle that was Camp Lobo. But Jade and Faye seemed particularly thrilled and called her Luna often. She was coming to really enjoy their company.

A tune began playing softly from her pocket, catching several people's attention. Emma pulled her phone from her jeans and answered it without looking. She knew who it was based on the song.

"Hey dad," She greeted, unknowingly perking interest around her as sensitive ears listened in. "What's up?"

"Nothing much, Jo and I were just waiting on your call."

Emma paused. "Right, sorry." She blew out a breath and motioned to the foreman that she was stepping away. "Everything's been so hectic since day one I haven't had a chance to do much but eat and sleep."

"So I take it you got the job?"

"Yeah, that very day in fact." Emma figured her dad would pick up on the oddities like she had. Only he'd understand them better.

"That day?"

"On the spot." Emma smiled as a few workers carrying insulation passed her. "You could tell he was in over his head."

"Bossman was that desperate?"

"He's actually acting boss." That was the kicker, and she knew her dad was thinking the same thing she has because he let out a long hum.

"Did he get permission from Bossman?"

Emma blew out a breath. "Not that I know of."

Her dad hummed again. "You do realize that could make you temporary hire."

"Yeah, I know."

"Do you like it there?"

"I love it, it's absolutely gorgeous. I'll take some pictures of the grounds when I get the chance. You and mom would love it here." She gushed, not realizing the people around her were smiling.

"Ok, camp rat. How's the food? Is it as good as your mom's?"

"Some is, some isn't. But I don't think anyone's gonna top her homemade bread."

"True-"

"Luna can you-" Just as the worker interrupt her a few of the workers around her shushed him.

"Someone calling you?" Her dad asked.

"Yeah, I'm literally in the middle of putting up the inner walls of the new building."

"Oh?"

"Hey man, I'm only overseeing the project and helping the foreman stay on task. Everybody already knows what they're doing."

"Alright, if you need any help give me a call."

"I will. Love you dad." She had already thought of calling him since he was a painter/contractor but the workers here had everything handled.

"Love you too-"

"LOVE YOU BABY!" Her mom yelled into her dad's ear. Not that it bothered him, he's half deaf. But it blared across her phone speaker.

"Love you too mom." Emma lightly rolled her eyes.

"Hey, before you go just…be careful and try not to step on any toes."

"That's the plan." She sighed again.

"Alright, love you baby."

"Love you too, bye."

"Bye."

Line Break

Fay and Jade stood aside and watched as Luna Emma spoke to her parents. The week had gone a lot smoother than they could've hoped. Except for the fact that everyone knows…

Faye was not the only one to apparently recognize her for what she is. On one hand, this made her transition into the pack rather smooth, on the other…they were never going to hear the end of it from Matt when he gets back.

"I think it happened this way for reason." Jade, like Faye, didn't take her eyes off of their Luna.

"And why is that?" Faye asked.

"Think about it. Not only did she come when we needed her the most, but do you think if Alpha Matt had met her earlier that Alpha and Luna would have accepted her?"

Faye frowned. "Why wouldn't they? She is our next Luna. Everyone can tell."

"Strange isn't it?" Jade continued. "That we would be able to recognize her?" Faye glanced at Jade. "You knowing is understandable. But the rest of us should just see a human. So why are we connecting with her so easily?"

Fay had no answers. Now that she thought about it too…it was more than odd. It was unheard of. But there had to be a reason.

"And then there's the timing." Jade pointed out. "She came when we needed her. Almost as if she's proving herself without the pressure of being ridiculed by those in power because she is the highest rank among us."

"You think Alpha Derek and Luna Mae would have rejected her." Faye swallowed thickly, she didn't like the thought.

"Undoubtedly." Jade didn't hesitate to answer.

[lane-ys-world]

Blank 'We Can Never Have Peace' The Series (Season 2)

Fair warning, there are SPOILERS littered throughout. Hell, this entire post is basically telling you what all went on so if that is not what you are looking for please run now and save yourself from my scathing report – hehe.

For clarity I will be referring to the characters as follows:

Aneung – Neung/Aneung

Khun Neung – Khun/ Khun Neung

Piengfah – Fah/ Peingfah

Aneung’s Grandmother – Granny

Khun Neung’s Grandmother - Granmama

Chet – demon/idiot/warden/Chet... (I'm sure I missed a few but, oh well)

It is now the end of an era… that’s a little dramatic to say but if you’ve lived through Blank, alongside the rest of us, then you may understand where I’m coming from with this. This show put us through the ringer and I can’t even complain about it. But there are points of concern, things I can absolutely say I took issue with and one of my main problems throughout this show was an idiot named CHET.

There are few things in the world that have the ability to incite fury within me and the mere mention of that man’s name can set me off like a baking soda volcano with a shook up cola bottle. I have a hatred so deep for that man that I would set my soul on fire if I were told that I would be born into his bloodline… I hate that man so much that I almost broke my computer screen trying to deal with his sheer AUDACITY!

And, look, I get it. Okay? I understand. He isn’t real… but the fact of the matter is there is a Chet in every one of our families. He may not be the dad or the uncle or the brother, hell, he may not even be a he but there is a CHET in all our families and the irritation I feel when I think about that fact makes my skin itch like I just got a vacation sun burn (iykyk).

Alright, now that we’ve gotten the formalities out of the way, let’s get down to business. This second season, blessed as it was, was WAY. TOO. SHORT! Everything felt like we were moving at light speed just to get to the end and the end was… something. And, no, I’m not referring to the beach scene after the hospital. I’m referring to the beach scene AFTER THAT. You know, the one where Anueng and Khun were completely different people. I understood wanting to “age” the characters, to show progression and to give a timeline to their love story. I got all that. But the characters they choose threw me off a little. I accidentally jumped to the end – ‘accidentally’ – and I was worried they’d introduced a new couple without any of us knowing it. I went back through the first part of the episode trying to find them only to figure out that it was the older versions of Aneung and Khun Neung.

It was jarring, to say the least. I feel as though they could have gone about making us aware that time had passed with those two in a different way. Because, and I’m being critical here, they made Aneung’s actor three – if not more – inches taller than she was when we left off and we, the audience, were expected to just accept that that made sense? Where? How? I’m trying to be imaginative here, but how did any of this hit the storyboards, in a room full of people, and everyone went “Oh, it’s been a few years and a 22-year-old woman grew another three inches? Yeah, that tracks…” Excuse the ever loving heck out of me, but WHAT!? I feel as though they could have done some cosmetic changes, put them in different environments, hell, just put “A FEW YEARS LATER” on the screen and carried on with Faye and Yoko to wrap up the story. Instead, I’m sat here wondering if the production company was chemistry testing those two ladies at the end for some other show they plan to produce. What was the purpose of changing the actors? And yes, I’m complaining a lot right now, but that is only because I had really high hopes for this show.

Anyway, let’s dive into the storyline.

So, the story picks up the day after Khun tells Neung to leave in an effort to ‘protect’ her. Life is still hitting her hard and she is now moved back into her family’s palace, sans Sam, sans Granmama, sans Song. She’s in this big estate filled with the memories of all she’s lost all on her own and her heart aches for what could have been. And then she gets a phone call, in the middle of the night, informing her that Neung is out on the town, getting trashed and raising hell. Now, because all of Neung’s family have entrusted her with Neung’s care, Khun cannot just say that they are now in a weird, emotionally charged predicament – of her own making – and just call it quits. She has to get up and go fix what she broke, and it seems all she’s been looking for was the opportunity to do so. But it also seems that Neung took the break up way worse than Khun did and decided that a descent into madness was fitting for how she was feeling and she does not skimp.

She was doing all the bad girl things now that she wasn’t tied down. She was staying out late, drinking and dancing with boys, not to mention not contacting her gran. She was basically a delinquent.

And when she is found, on a school night, in a night club, drunk out of her mind and damn near being felt up by some random college dude, Khun just about loses her mind. She immediately claims ownership and carts Neung out of there – not without some token resistance, of course. When they make it back to the palace, they hash it out, kiss it out and then fall asleep in each other’s arms… only for them to wake up the next morning with Neung having vengeance on the brain. She’s still sour about how Khun ended their relationship and she decides that she can do the same.

She repeats, almost word for word, what Khun said to her. To ‘pretend last night never happened’ and move forward as they were. Khun, not really knowing how far she can push the issue, decided to take a step back from it all and allow Neung the space she seems to crave. We all know that she doesn’t actually want space, she wants a chase, but that is neither here nor there because Neung ends up losing at this game she initiated.

Neung wanted Khun to feel jealous, to understand what life would be like without her there and is instead met with how Khun flirts with people who aren’t her. Khun makes Neung jealous of one of her own friends, the same friend that Neung had been using to try and make Khun jealous. She started a fire fight with no ammunition, hoping she could pick bullets up along the way, and Khun came fully prepared with a military grade arsenal. The poor poppet never really stood a chance.

Now, outside of this one fight, there isn’t really a conflict between them. Their conflict bleeds over from season one. Khun believes Neung is too young to know what she wants and in a few years she will be tossed to the side when Neung finally ‘finds herself.’ Neung is not having it, this time around, and latches on like a barnacle to a turtle shell. She will not be thrown into the depths all on her own a second time. All is well with these two, if you don’t bring Neung’s family drama into consideration. They are living their best secret-love-story lives and it seems nothing can pop their bubble. Until daddy dearest starts popping up and inviting himself into their personal space and nothing is sacred anymore.

This is where my rage begins to boil over. This is where Chet exists… I mean, he inserts himself in almost every other thing Neung does – or tries to do – and makes demands of her like he’s been there this whole time and they should seem normal to her at this point but it is within the family unit that Chet thrives, where he finds power and back up. Chet, on his own, is an annoyance that we can usually ignore or circumvent. Usually Neung lets Khun deal with Chet because she’s been doing it since forever so she knows how to make him go away, but in the family unit Chet has granny’s support. And granny has Neung’s ear. Things are now complicated but they navigate it. When Chet oversteps, Khun brings him back to Earth but when Chet starts to suspect that there is something else going on between Neung and Khun, all bets are off. Chet calls Fah back to Thailand to test the waters, then Chet flat out accuses Khun, and the cats out of the bag because Khun may be a lot of things but a liar isn’t one of them.

But before we get into how things went wrong, let’s go back to why we despise Chet.

Chet spends the majority of this show spewing random, differing degrees of homophobic rhetoric. He doesn’t like Neung’s new college friend because she seems too boyish to him and, according to his two functioning brain cells, apparently this makes her contagious because he wants Neung to stop being friends with her so she doesn’t ‘catch the gay’ from the too boyish friend….

Can you hear my eyes roll all the way into the back of my skull? No?

Alright, how about when Chet decides to bring up Neung’s friend choices in front of her grandmother, who is also a raging homophobe, and they try to gang up on Neung. Because Chet couldn’t convince Neung on his own, he decides to get back up from literally the only person who gives a damn about his opinion in this entire show. Then – because it gets worse – he decides that since Neung and Khun are ‘getting along so well’ now would be a great time to revisit his and Khun’s possible marriage. He proposes. To Khun. In front of Neung. Without consulting either of them. His justification? Khun would make a great stepmother for Neung and they’ve grown up now so the issues that caused Khun to run from the wedding the first time must have gone off into the stratosphere seeing as how HE couldn’t possibly have been the problem.

And when Khun rejects this proposal, shocked Pikachu face!

This is where I believe Chet started suspecting something else was going on with Khun. Maybe he didn’t suspect that she was in love with his daughter – who he’s been aware of for the blink of an eye – but he certainly thinks she is with someone else because that would make much more sense than the fact that she’s just not that into him, I suppose.

When he can’t get Khun to marry him, he inevitably turns his attentions back to Neung which makes the poor baby even more uncomfortable with him. She hasn’t known him all that long and he is talking at her like she has no mind or thoughts of her own. He talks about what he wants for her like his thoughts are blueprints to be followed rather than talking points. He has injected himself into Neung’s life like a bad vaccine and the effects are opposite to what he was hoping because, again, NOBODY LIKES HIS PRESENCE! I don’t know how else I can say this. Chet is that one mosquito you hear just as you’ve settled in bed and you’ve switched off the lights. Just as you think you are at peace, he starts buzzing around, trying to suck the life out you… and then disaster strikes.

Neung and Khun get caught.

Piengfah comes in like a sleeper agent because, as per freaking usual, these parents are not engaged with the raising of their child until it is time to inconvenience said child by throwing their thoughts at her and expecting her to be excited about their hair brain ideas.

Let us all remind ourselves of how we ended up here, shall we?

Piengfah was in love with Khun and got rejected. Chet was in love with Khun but – from what I’ve gathered – said nothing. Fah and Chet make a baby and Khun tells Fah, out of concern, to abort said baby as this may slow down or altogether stop the progression of her life. Fah has the baby but her own mother is not pleased with this development and even worse is the fact that Piengfah refuses to tell her mother who the baby daddy actually is.

Granny decides that Thailand is clearly too much for Fah and sends her overseas to go get her shit together and she raises the baby. Chet is left unaware of the existence of said baby. Chet is set to marry Khun due to an arrangement by Khun’s granmama and Chet’s family. Chet is pleased with this arrangement, Khun is not. She runs from the wedding and effectively cuts off Chet and her gran.

Baby Neung is wrapped in bubble wrap by granny because gods forbid she turns out like her dear darling mother. Jump forward about 20 years and Neung bumps into Khun in the market – INSTA LOVE. Khun and Neung get close, then Khun falls in love. Fah makes a reappearance to rub into Khun’s face that she is Neung’s mother. Chet finally finds out about the daughter he’s had under his nose this whole time.

Chet starts love bombing this poor girl but also he really REALLY wants her to get a DNA test to prove she’s actually his kid. Neung couldn’t care less about what Chet wants and is only concerned about what Khun wants. Chet and Fah become privy to how attached to Khun Neung is and they think they can use this to their advantage but Khun is already off the deep end at this point and she has no intentions of doing things that Neung’s now helicopter parents want when that is clearly not what she wants.

Piengfah realizes that the only way any of this works is if they give Neung some space and Chet thinks space means being a puff of air away from one another. And, lastly, Chet thinks parenting is calling in your child’s grandmother any time she won’t do exactly what you want her to, when you want her to, how you want her to and with no resistance or questioning.

Chet is the most irritating character I have had the pleasure of watching and I watched Khun’s gran make a complete fool of herself and Sam’s betrothed Kirk in GAP the series and in Season 1 of Blank.

Now, because Chet has never been taught how to deal with rejection or situations that he finds averse to his morally skewed compass he doesn’t know how to properly deal with his only child being in love with a woman. And he certainly cannot wrap his brain around that other woman being his ex-fiancé. And his last brain cell is holding on to dear life when it has to process that his child won her over where he couldn’t.

So, like any untrained and untamed animal, he lashes out. At Khun. In her own damned palace. Then he demands that Khun and Neung not come into contact with one another. Gets Piengfah and granny to back him up and they all devise a plan for Neung to go live with Piengfah overseas somewhere and hopefully – and I shit you not – GROW OUT OF BEING GAY. This move only works because they have finally hit Khun where it hurts. She has been fighting with the idea that Neung is too young for her this entire time and now she has three other people telling her that she is not worthy, that she’s too old, that she is sucking the youth out of their “baby” and if she really loves her then she’ll let Neung go and let her make her own choices.

The irony there is not lost on me and I hope it isn’t lost on you either.  

Just as Neung is about to leave for brighter skies with Piengfah, Khun has a ‘come to Jesus’ moment and decides to pour her heart out on live radio, for the whole nation to hear, about how in love she is and how her heart is breaking from having to be separated from the only person she has ever wanted for herself in this life. Neung hears this message and, because the demon and his minions had forced separation between the lovers, she makes a run for it. Hoping against hope that the prison sentence she had been serving for the past few days can finally come to an end when she is, "unexpectedly", hit by a car.

TROPE TIME – she’s in a coma now.

So, because she was on the phone with Neung when the accident happened, Khun is the first to arrive at the hospital… somehow… I mean, the accident happened right in front of Neung’s gran’s house so the warden and the guards should have been the first at the hospital but, I digress. When they do eventually get to the hospital, all they are is enraged at Khun for luring their baby to her possible death, and scared shitless for Neung. They blame Khun for them needing to be scared and then they try and pin the whole accident on her. Khun, like anybody else in life, has a breaking point and this comment pushes her over.

She starts firing back. She asks them why they felt they needed to come between two people who just loved each other. She asks how they can accuse her of being the reason Neung was out on that street when the car came barreling towards her when they were the ones keeping her prisoner. She asks what she’s ever done to deserve their ire. Asks how it can be wrong to love someone. Asks how she can be solely to blame when the only person who ever actually heard Neung, actually listened to Neung, was her? Crickets! Until granny comes in, on her sanctimonious rocket ship, and slaps Khun across the face before telling her to kick rocks.

I’m over it at this point. This whole family can go jump off the nearest bridge.

Khun takes a page out of Neung’s book and refuses to be tossed by the way side. She wears everyone – save Chet, until MUCH later – down with her sheer devotion. She shows up, reads to, talks to, pleads and begs with Neung to just open her eyes. And then she does. She opens her eyes and the first thing she does is make a phone call?

Look, I’m as confused as you at this part but the director, producer and creator all thought this worked so we’re going with it.

Neung wakes up, calls that same radio station in hopes that Khun is listening and confesses as well. Lays their love story bare for the country to hear. And, by some miracle, Khun is listening to the radio station at that exact moment and B-lines is straight for Neung’s room. They hug, they kiss, they hug some more and then Neung is walking out of that hospital with her arms around the woman she loves and her family supporting them all the way. Heavens, how I wish it had just ended there! It would have been sappy, it would have been sickly sweet, but it would have made a world of sense more than switching the actors at the last moment – YES I’M STILL ON THIS!

Like I said in the beginning, I wish the show was longer. I wish we had more time with these characters. I am in love with the chemistry that all the characters have with one another. This cast really sold this plot and Faye and Yoko were the perfect actors for their roles.

The only question I guess I have at the end of all this is does love really have an expiration date like Khun has been stressing this whole time or is the love of the right person infinite and unending like Neung has been saying since the very beginning?

[storiedhistories]

Anonymous asked: Atreus, do you see Freya as a mother?

Send My Muse Anons About Their Relationships // Accepting!  

"Freya's family," he says, as though that explains everything.  "She could have killed me when I went to see her, but I KNEW she wouldn't."  He hadn't answered the question, not really, but it was ..... complicated.  No one could replace his mother, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't care about Freya.

If they'd spent more time together when he was younger, it might be different, but he and his father had had to learn how to be a family without Mother, and while he wouldn't say he didn't still miss her, he didn't NEED her as much as he had before.

But Freya was still very important to him, and he loved her like she was family.

[uozlulu]

As I do with everything I finish, I'm going to write up some ending thoughts. Apologies to those who have been keeping up with my episode reaction posts since I'm probably going to repeat some things here.

For me, the anime was a very solid 6/10 stars. The narrative was good, the characters balanced each other out, and the ending was a satisfying conclusion. The only reason I don’t really rate it higher is because it was hard for me to make a personal connection to it like I did with Trigun or Outlaw Star, which I watched for the first time around the same time I watched Cowboy Bebop for the first time. I would say, for me, the live action series, is a decent 5.25/10, maybe 5.5/10. There was a lot I was not fond of and a lot I really liked.

The first few episodes were very “Oh you redecorated. I don’t like it,” but once we got to episode four, things really improved with each episode. Episode eight was definitely 100% the tone, vibe, and structure I was hoping the whole series would have had. Then, episode nine was kind of a bridge to get us up to speed so we could be ready for episode ten, which I think lost that vibe and style I really liked with episode eight. I still think the change I disliked the most was changing Jet’s past so that he became a single dad who couldn’t be there for his daughter so then the writers could use the daughter as a tool to get the finale where and how they wanted it when there were ways to break the Bebop crew up, bring them back together, and break them up without using the daughter as said tool, but I can understand the want and need to have an easy way to go about it because sometimes things just go that way when you’re writing. I just didn’t like it because it made things feel more generic and it lost some of the qualities I liked the most about Jet from the anime in the process.

Some of the things I really did like was changing Faye’s background so that she had a corrupt mother figure rather than a corrupt boyfriend figure. I liked that I felt like I got a clearer picture of Spike’s backstory this time even if the whole love triangle thing wasn’t really my jam even in the anime. I really, really super liked that we got to see the Bebop crew function as a found family who cares about one another and enjoys each other’s company. I also liked that Julia was able to take control at the end of the series and that she didn’t have to die this time.

That said, I’m kind of on the fence about a season two. I’m open to it but at the same time I don’t feel like it’s going to be a loss if season two doesn’t happen. Everyone’s left with the choice to move forward, move backwards, or remain stationary. We know from the anime, that there’s a theme of you always move forward, and I think we saw that carry on into this ending too. Faye is off to seek out more clues, Jet can’t wallow if he wants to survive, Ed has a bounty for Spike, etc…. It’d be interesting to see what the actual conclusion to the live action storyline will be especially now that it’ll move out of anime canon territory completely, but at the same time, I wonder about the types of changes that will lead to and if they’re going to be Jet’s plot device daughter type changes or Faye was duped by a want for family level of changes. Either way, I did have fun at times watching this and I really enjoyed the guest actors that showed up for their one episode appearance, so, for me, it ended up being worth watching for what it was in the end.

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

Glee OC Masterlist

Name: Aurora Anderson

Story: Somewhere Only We Know

Face claim:  Kaylee Bryant

Love Interest: Sebastian Smythe

AO3 | FFNet | Wattpad

Summary: Aurora had always known that Andersons go to Dalton, she just didn’t think that she would be included in that legacy.  But after the incident at the Sadie Hawkins dance left she and her half-brother in the hospital, their father told them that Aurora would be the first female student in Dalton history, regardless of what she wanted.  Of course the Dalton Brotherhood had always been her family, and being with her closest friends was exactly what she needed, but when a spy shows up in their midst, she knows that her home is going to be changed forever.

Name: Abbie Hudson

Story: Brutal

Face claim: Savannah Lee May

Love Interest: Sam Evans

Name: Betty Fabray

Story: A Family Matter

Face claim:  Sabrina Carpenter

Love Interest: Sam Evans

Summary:  Freshman year of high school was supposed to be the start of the best years of your life, right?  That’s what Betty Fabray thought when she walked through the doors of William McKinley High School for the first time. It’s what she thought when she joined the Cheerios, it’s what she thought when she heard about a singing club, and it’s what she thought when she got accepted to the New Directions.  But then she got slushied, her position on the Cheerios was threatened, and her big sister was kicked out of their house.  Now Betty has no idea what to think, but between Sue Sylvester and Sectionals, no one is giving her time to figure out what she wants, other than to get her sister back.

Name: Christina Hummel

Story: Don’t Stop Believing

Face claim:  Laura Marano

Love Interest: Sam Evans

Summary:  Ever since their mother died, Kurt and Christie Hummel had somehow gotten even closer.  They did everything together; voice and piano lessons, dance classes, working in their dad’s shop, enduring the daily torture that was McKinley High, and, of course, joining glee.  But there was one thing that the twins didn’t agree on: Finn Hudson.  While Kurt saw him as their knight in shining armour, just because he offered them the barest hints of dignity while his friends tormented them, Christie saw him as just as guilty as the rest of his teammates, watching their endless humiliation and letting it happen.  Despite their polarizing opinions, the twins had always been able to look past that - to not let Finn Hudson come between them.  But when Finn joins the glee club, bringing even more jocks and Cheerios with him, their seemingly indestructible bond is going to be put to the test.

Name: Daphne Carter

Story: Anything Goes

Face claim:  Ashleigh Murray

Love Interest: Leon Elliot, Mike Chang, eventual Sam Evans

Summary: Daphne Carter didn’t miss Lima.  She hadn’t been there since she was five, back before she booked her first commercial and suddenly found herself as The Child Star of her generation.  And ten years later, starring on Broadway across from her best friend and dating one of the biggest up and coming rock stars around, Lima didn’t even crossed her mind enough for her to miss it.  But once the drugs and drinking that her parents had always chosen to ignore made her the front page of every gossip rag across the country, something had to be done.  Not for her well being, of course, but because addiction wasn’t profitable.  And that’s how Daphne Carter finds herself being shipped halfway across the country to live with her parents’ childhood friends, and being dragged into the McKinley High Glee Club.

Name: Delilah Puckerman

Story: Wish You Were Me

Face claim:  Vanessa Morgan

Love Interest: Sam Evans

Summary: Delilah Puckerman hadn’t actually wanted to leave her boarding school.  Of course, her expulsion hadn’t been a surprise considering what had happened, but being sent to public school?  Unfair and unnecessary, in her opinion.  But nobody cared what the crazy girl wanted, and she found herself sent off to McKinley High.  She honestly thought that things couldn’t get any worse, until she meets a boy named Noah Puckerman.

Name: Dylan Ayers

Story: Bet On It

Face claim:  Liz Gillies

Love Interest: Brittany Pierce

Name: Eliana Lopez

Story: Get It Right

Face claim:  Victoria Justice

Name: Faye Anderson

Story: Teenage Dream

Face claim:  Vanessa Hudgens

Love Interest: Sam Evans

Summary:  To any outsider, the Anderson twins had it all.  4.0 GPAs at Dalton and Crawford, lead soloists of their respective glee clubs, a big house in Westerville, and a celebrity brother.  They didn’t see behind the curtain; didn’t see the absentee parents, the lonely, empty house, or the brother who only texted a few times a year.  But Faye was happy. She loved her school and her glee club and her brother.  And then Blaine decides to go to public school, and her parents decide to send her to McKinley with him.  And although she loves her twin, and would do anything for him, she can tell that her teenage dream is about to become a teenage nightmare.

Name: Gilbert Hummel

Story: Anthem

Face claim: Casey Cott

Love Interest: Blaine Anderson & Sam Evans

Name: Jason Conwright

Story: All Or Nothing

Face claim:  Ross Lynch

Name: Jeanie Boyer

Story: Loser Like Me

Face claim:  Grace Phipps

Love Interest: Ryder Lynn, eventual Marley Rose

Name: Joy Schuester

Story: By Its Very Definition

Face claim:  Lili Reinhart

Love Interest: Noah Puckerman, Brittany Pierce, Mike Chang, Sebastian Smythe, eventual Sam Evans

Summary:  Joy Schuester knew what glee was - how could she not?  Her dad never shut up about the good old days, his glory years at McKinley High.  He even named her after something his old coach would say - by its very definition, glee is about opening yourself up to joy.  Big whoop, she’d never really cared.  Really she was just interested in cheer, drama club, and dancing around her room while singing along to Taylor Swift. But then her dad takes over the glee club and Joy has no choice but to join.  She expected the showtunes, the divas, and even her dad’s white guy rapping.  She didn’t, however, expect to fall in love, and she definitely didn’t expect to find herself caught in the middle of a war between her coach and her dad.

Name: June Harris

Story: All Rhodes Lead Home

Face claim: Hailee Steinfeld

Love Interest: Jesse St. James

Name: Kendall Pierce

Story: Songs Of The Heart

Face claim:  Meg Donnelly

Love Interest: Mike Chang

Summary: Maybe it was her age.  Maybe it was the special Pierce… intelligence.  Maybe it was just that she was a better person than most students at McKinley High.  But whatever it was, Kendall Pierce didn’t understand why she couldn’t cheer and sing.  She didn’t understand why Quinn Fabray was so insistent that she not join Glee, or why the New Directions were so suspicious of her “intentions”.  She loved to sing and she loved to cheer, it should have been simple.  But when Quinn Fabray suddenly joins the club, with her sister and Santana in tow, Kendall starts to realize that nothing about high school is as simple as it seems.

Name: Lilibeth Anderson

Story: Untitled

Face claim: Olivia Rodrigo

Name: Logan Hayes

Story: Dream Maker

Face claim:  KJ Apa

Name: Luci Meadows

Story: Maybe This Time

Face claim: Maia Mitchell

Name: Marilyn Pillsbury

Story: Life Can Be Beautiful

Face claim:  Madelaine Petsch

Love Interest: Brittany Pierce, eventual Quinn Fabray, possibly Quinn Fabray & Sam Evans

Summary: When Marilyn Pillsbury was ten, her mother died.  When she was twelve, her dad was arrested.  When she was thirteen, she moved in with her aunt Emma.  And when she was fourteen, she started at William McKinley High School.  And she was nothing but the weird guidance counsellor’s weird niece.  But then, after a fateful encounter with three Cheerios in the girls’ bathroom, Lyn finds herself being dragged into the spotlight. She becomes a Cheerio, she’s hot and popular and the school loves her, she’s everything she ever wanted to be.  And when Quinn joins the glee club, Marilyn is right beside her with Brittany and Santana; finally she can do what she really loves without fearing the consequence.  She’s on top of the world, life is beautiful.  And then she finds out that Quinn is pregnant, and she has to make a choice.  Will she seize the opportunity to rise to the very top, or will she stay loyal to the girl who brought her up from the lowest of lows?

Name: May Taylor

Story: All Rhodes Lead Home

Face claim: Hailee Steinfeld

Love Interest: Mike Chang

Name: Paige Callahan

Story: Light Up The World

Face claim: Zendaya

Love Interest: Mike Chang

Name: Robyn Conwright

Story: All Or Nothing

Face claim:  Olivia Holt

Name: Roxie Flores

Story: The Greatest Star

Face claim:  Camila Mendes

Love Interest: Noah Puckerman, Sebastian Smythe, eventual Sam Evans

Summary: Rosalind Flores was used to living in Quinn Fabray’s shadow.  Quinn was the head Cheerio, even though Roxie was the better cheerleader; Quinn got the boys, even though she had a stick up her ass; Quinn had the friends - lackeys, even though she treated them like dirt.  And then Mr. Schuester takes over the Glee Club and Roxie sees a refuge from her life as Quinn’s understudy.  And it’s great.  Sure, Rachel is as obsessed with being number one as Quinn, but Roxie loves to sing and she’s really, genuinely happy.  It’s everything she hoped for; it’s perfect.  And then Quinn Fabray walks into the choir room and Roxie’s sanctuary collapses around her.

Name: Savannah Evans

Story: Rumour Has It

Face claim: Dove Cameron

Love Interest: Valeria Ramírez

Summary: The first thing that the Evans siblings learned when they moved to Lima was that rumours spread much faster than they did back home.  The second thing that they learned was how to lie.  And lie they did.  They were just three siblings; their financial struggles were because of their dad’s job; they absolutely most definitely didn’t have another sister who’d been in the hospital for as long as they’d been in Ohio.  And everyone believed them.  Right up until Rachel Berry sees Sam hugging some blonde girl outside of a motel and drags the entire glee club on a witch hunt that ends with them meeting the Evans siblings in their motel room.  All of the Evans siblings.  Even Savannah, Sam’s twin and best kept secret who, rumour has it, it about to start at McKinley High.

Name: Valeria Ramírez

Story: Rumour Has It

Face claim: Sofia Carson

Love Interest: Savannah Evans

[whaleiumsharkspeare]

I was so inspired by the headcanon made by @letthemsayfuck and expanded upon by @newsies-of-corona about Varian’s season 3 outfit that I had to write a quick one shot about it! It was such a cute idea and I couldn’t get it out of my head, I had to write it down. Hope you enjoy!

New Threads

It had been a couple weeks since Rapunzel had returned to Corona, and things were starting to return to normal after the Saporian attack had been quelled. Well, almost normal. Thanks to the attack, Frederic and Ariana were not currently fit to rule since their memories hadn’t yet been restored, and as a result, Rapunzel was now the acting queen of Corona. The people of the kingdom were grateful to have their beloved princess back, and Rapunzel was happy to be back as well, even if there was a certain empty spot in the castle that was hard to ignore. Coming back to Corona after losing a friend was hard, but even though she’d lost one friend, Rapunzel was happy to have gained back another one. Now that Varian had turned over a new leaf and was back on the right side of history, he and Rapunzel had managed to start laying down the bricks of their rebuilt friendship. He was a lot happier now that his father was free, and he was almost never not by his side, stuck to him like glue. Rapunzel was happy for him. She’d truly felt awful that she had let him down all those months ago after being unable to save his father, and watching Varian go down that dark road, feeling so lost and broken, had been difficult. Rapunzel never, ever broke a promise, so finally being able to keep hers had been a wonderful feeling. But even though Rapunzel still cared greatly for Varian and had forgiven him for his misdeeds, it didn’t mean that the kingdom had. Varian had never exactly been a very popular boy, not very well-liked in his village, and now he was reviled even more. True, Varian had helped save the kingdom from the Saporians, but not everyone in Corona was as quick to forgive as their princess. Varian couldn’t hardly go anywhere alone without having insults and sometimes objects hurled his way, so he hadn’t been around much since Rapunzel came back. As a result, if Rapunzel wanted to see him, she had to go visit Varian in his own home. Today was one of those days. Rapunzel journeyed happily to Old Corona, hoping to see her young friend. As she walked through the village, the people who had come back after being displaced smiled and waved at their beloved princess. She returned their greetings, happy to see her subjects out and about. She climbed the familiar steps of Varian’s home and knocked on the door.

“Oh, Princess!” Quirin greeted, opening the door.

“Hello, Quirin!” Rapunzel smiled. “How are you?”

“I’m doing much better, thanks to you.”

“That’s great to hear. I’m really glad I could help,” said Rapunzel. “Is Varian home?”

“Yes, he’s home,” Quirin replied. “He’s in his lab. You can go on in.”

“Thank you!”

“Thank you, Princess,” said Quirin as he stepped aside to let Rapunzel in. She smiled as she walked past him and went over to Varian’s lab. She stood outside the door for a moment, listening to the familiar sounds of Varian’s tinkering. She closed her eyes briefly, remembering her friend of before. But he was still her friend, and hearing the usual cacophony of his lab helped her remember that. She pushed open the door and went inside. Looking around, she spotted him in the corner working on some new machine she hadn’t seen before.

“Hi, Varian!” she said brightly. He looked up suddenly from his work.

“Oh, Rapunzel! Hi!” he looked at her with a smile on his face.

“What are you working on?” she asked as she peered at his machine in curiosity.

“Oh, this?” he stepped aside to give her a better view. “This is my newest invention. It’s a machine that’s designed to reverse the effects of the Saporian memory wand and restore your parents’ memories, since I, well...” he trailed off, his smile fading. After a moment, he sighed softly. “I’m sorry, Rapunzel.”

“It’s...well, it’s not really okay, but I trust that you’ll figure something out. You’re a smart guy. You can fix this,” she assured him.

“Thanks. For...for trusting me,” said Varian quietly. “I-I know I don’t really deserve your trust, but-“

“Varian,” Rapunzel gently interrupted. He looked up at her. “I know you feel sorry about everything. And the fact that you’re working to help me already shows me that you’re worthy of being trusted.” He gave her a little smile.

“Thanks.” He loosened up a little after previously feeling a bit tense. “So, uh, what are you doing here?”

“I just thought I’d come and check up on you, see how you’re doing,” Rapunzel replied. “Do you need any help with your machine?”

“Actually,” said Varian, his eyes brightening. “If you could pass me my tools when I need them, that’d be great.”

“You got it!” Rapunzel said cheerfully, handing him a screwdriver.

Rapunzel spent the rest of the afternoon in the lab with Varian, helping him out with his machine, watching him work, and listening to him explaining its function with rapt attention. He also talked a lot about the past couple weeks that he’d been reunited with his dad. He spoke excitedly about how happy he was to be back and how much he missed the simple things they used to do together, like having dinner in the evening, but how glad he was to get to do them again. Rapunzel loved listening to Varian talk about the things that he was passionate about, and hearing his sweet laughter again after so long was a pleasant and beautiful sound. Watching him work and hearing him talk, it made Rapunzel feel like nothing had changed. But things had changed, even in very subtle ways, and there were many indicators about just how much time had passed. As Rapunzel watched Varian tinker away on his machine, she noticed that he wasn’t quite so little anymore. Granted, he was still a “little guy”, as Eugene had called him, but Varian had grown. He was taller than he had been the last time she’d seen him all those months ago before she left. It was evident in where he now stood in comparison to Rapunzel and in the way she noticed him absentmindedly tugging on the sleeves of his faded blue shirt every now and then, as if trying to bring them down further on his arms. It could have also been a subconscious desire to cover his hands, since he was now working with his hands exposed because the black gloves he used to wear had melted off while Rapunzel was in her trance. Looking at him, she could tell why he always wore those gloves, since working without them had left behind tiny cuts on his hands from the lack of protection from his alchemy and metalwork. Really, he had simply started to outgrow his outfit. Even though Rapunzel could tell that Varian was a little bit skinnier now as a result of eating nothing but the prison food for months on end, she still noticed that his old blue shirt was starting to be too small. The way Varian shifted his feet around while standing and talking indicated that his shoes were too small as well. And even if his clothes fit him perfectly, the patched sleeve of his shirt and the old, worn fabric were signs enough that he was in need of a new outfit.

Surely he must be uncomfortable she thought as she watched him working. Then, realization struck her and her heart sank as she thought about why Varian was still putting up with clothes that weren’t exactly fit to be worn anymore. Not everyone in the kingdom had forgiven Varian yet. There were still some people who were harboring fresh wounds and weren’t ready to extend him a helping hand yet. He couldn’t even walk around without his dad nearby for fear of being harassed in some way. Even if Varian wanted to go out shopping and buy himself some new clothes, he couldn’t do it without facing persecution from the citizens who were still angry with him. But not everyone was upset. Rapunzel saw in him a good heart and she knew he had changed for real, and when she saw that a friend was in need, well, she couldn’t just sit idly by without trying to help. So when it was time to leave and she told Varian goodbye, she headed straight back to the castle with newfound determination and an idea burning in the back of her mind.

“Hey, Sunshine!” Eugene greeted warmly when she arrived back home. “How was your visit to Old Corona? Is Varian doing okay?”

“It was good,” she replied. “It was really good to see him. He’s doing a lot better. He’s back to inventing and doing alchemy.”

“That’s great to hear,” he said. “I’m glad the little guy is starting to become more like his old self.”

“I am too.” She smiled at the thought. But then she remembered what she’d been so fired up about. “Oh! I have to go see the royal seamstress,” Rapunzel said as she began walking off towards the beauty room where the seamstress worked.

“You planning on getting some new threads?” Eugene called after her.

“Something like that.”

Rapunzel entered the quarters where the seamstress worked, sewing up new clothes for the royal family. She looked around through the curtains of dresses and suits that hung all around.

“Faye?” she called.

There was a ruffling sound and a bundle of fabric was suddenly tossed through the air and a short woman with pins in her mouth poked her head out from behind some more rolls of fabric.

“Oh! Your highness!” said Faye, the seamstress. She took the pins out of her mouth and pushed them into the mini pincushion she wore on her wrist. “How can I help you? Is there something wrong with your dress?”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. Just as beautiful as ever! But I have a special request for you,” replied the princess. She took out her journal with a new painting on one of the pages and showed it to Faye. “Do you think you could make me something like this?”

Faye studied the picture Rapunzel had made, looking over all the details and specifications.

“Absolutely, Princess! I’ll get started right away.”

“Thank you, Faye!” Rapunzel said cheerfully. “I know it’ll be just great!”

***

A few days later, Rapunzel once again made the trek to Old Corona, this time with a package in her hands. She had a skip in her step as she thought about her little surprise. When she made it to Varian’s house, she entered his lab enthusiastically.

“Hi, Varian!” she announced, her voice bright.

“Oh, Rapunzel! I’m glad to see you,” said Varian. “I wanted to tell you more about my progress with the new machine.”

As he spoke, Rapunzel glanced down and noticed his hands.

“Hey, new gloves!” she observed.

“Oh, yeah,” said Varian, looking down. He was wearing a pair of new alchemy gloves, dark brown this time, with little pressure gauges on them. “Dad bought these for me the other day when he went into town. I had mentioned that it was harder doing my alchemy without gloves, and I guess he was worried that I would burn myself or something. But I’m glad to have them, it feels more normal. Anyway, I’m not quite finished with the machine yet, I’m still working out the kinks,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “But in the meantime, I’ve been working on some potions that I think could help with restoring your parents’ memories. I’ve just gotta test them.”

“Sounds like you’ve been busy,” Rapunzel said.

“Yeah,” Varian agreed, laughing lightly. “So, what brings you here so soon after your last visit? Not that I’m not happy to see you,” he added quickly.

“Do I need a reason to come visit?” Rapunzel teased.

“I don’t know. Do you?”

“Maybe I just wanted to come say hi! But actually I do have a reason.” She brought the package out from behind her back and held it in front of her so Varian could see it. “I have something for you!”

“For me?” Varian looked down at the package in her hands in surprise. “W-why would you get me something?”

“Can’t I just be nice?”

“Of course, you’re always nice. But, why me?”

“Because I thought you could use it.”

“What is it?” Varian asked.

“You are seriously missing the point of a surprise,” Rapunzel replied. She pushed the package into his hands. “Just open it and see for yourself.”

Varian set the package down on a nearby table and used the sharp edge of one of his tools to open it up. He peered inside and his eyes went wide.

“Wait, Rapunzel, really? This is for me?”

“Of course! I hope you like it. I designed it myself and I had the royal seamstress sew it up based on my pattern. What do you think?” she asked. Varian lifted the carefully folded clothes from the box and held it up to himself.

“I, wow, I don’t know what to say.”

“Well, go on!” Rapunzel said, making a shooing motion with her hand. “Go try them on! Let’s see how it fits.”

Varian picked up the box and left his lab, going up the steps of his house and to his room. A few minutes later, Rapunzel could hear footsteps coming down the stairs and Varian came back into the lab, and Rapunzel smiled at his appearance. Instead of his old blue shirt with the patched sleeve and his pants with frayed edges, he was now wearing a new dark maroon vest with gold buttons going down either side, and underneath that was a beige long-sleeved shirt with a collar. He also had a new pair of pants and a belt, plus a new shorter tan apron that tied at the waist rather than higher up on his chest like his old one. He even had a new pair of boots, with a thicker toe on them to protect his feet better from broken glass or just the usual chronic clumsiness that Varian seemed to suffer from. Rapunzel’s eyes lit up when she saw him.

“Hey, you look great!” she complimented him warmly. She got up and looked him over. “That’s a nice color on you, and it looks like it fits you better than your old shirt. Hmm, except for the sleeves,” she noticed, seeing how the cuffs almost covered his fingers. “But that’s okay, we’ll just get you some sleeve garters to wear and it’ll help with that. How do your boots feel?”

“Rapunzel, I...I can’t accept this,” said Varian softly.

“Why not? Should I have gotten you blue instead? You seem to like blue.”

“No, it’s not that.” He paused briefly. “I just don’t deserve something like this.”

“Varian, why would you say that?”

“Rapunzel, just look at everything I’ve done. I-I stole the sundrop flower, I kidnapped the queen, I tried to hurt you, worse, even. I took over the kingdom, I erased your parents’ memories. Why would you want to be nice to me after everything I did? You saved my life, you saved my dad’s life. That’s more than I could ever ask for. Why would you keep on giving me things? I don’t deserve your gifts,” said Varian sadly, nervously rubbing at the too-long sleeve of his right arm. Rapunzel put her hands on his shoulders so he’d look at her.

“Varian, it’s true, you did a lot of things that hurt me. But I can see that you’re sorry for them, and you’re working to make up for them. I know you have a good heart and that you really are a good person. You had a pretty...rough patch, let’s say. But don’t think for one second that you’re any less valuable as a person because of it. You still deserve to be treated with kindness because I can see that you still want to give kindness to others, and you’re a human being just like everyone else. That means you make mistakes just like everyone else, and it means you deserve to be treated kindly just like everyone else. I know you’re mad at yourself and that takes time to get over, but please don’t think that you’re unworthy of love or friendship because of your past. What you need to focus on is the present. Don’t talk badly about one of my friends,” she said earnestly.

Friends. Varian’s eyes lit up at the word and he gave her a smile. He liked the sound of that. He took a step back and turned around to look at himself in a mirror in his lab. He smiled at his reflection, turning to look at himself from different angles.

“So, what do you think?” Rapunzel asked eagerly.

“I think...it looks good.”

“So you like it?

“Of course I like it.” He ran his hands over the fabric softly. He’d never had such fine clothes before. “And you’re right. This is a nice color,” he laughed lightly. He looked up at Rapunzel.

“Thank you, Princess.”

“You’re welcome, Varian,” she replied with a smile. She gave him a hug and she stuck around to listen to him talking about his further progress with his machine. When it was time to say goodbye, she waved and headed back to the castle. And for the rest of the day whenever Varian caught a glimpse of his reflection, he couldn’t help but smile.

***

Not too long after, Rapunzel decided to raise her kingdom’s spirits by bringing them together for a community project, namely to help rebuild the castle’s throne room after the Saporian attack had damaged it. Several members of the kingdom had volunteered to come, and Rapunzel was both surprised and delighted to see that Varian was one of them. Finally shaking off his fears of traveling to the capital city alone, he showed up at the castle with a backpack full of tools, ready to help.

“Hello, Varian! It’s good to see you out and about,” she said.

“Thanks. It’s good to be out and about. I know I’m a big part of why the throne room is damaged, and I’m sorry about that. But I’m ready to get to work rebuilding,” he replied.

“Well, thank you. I appreciate it. We can use all the help we can get.”

At that moment, Eugene entered the room and spotted Rapunzel talking to Varian. He looked him over in surprise.

“Varian! I like the new outfit! You’re looking sharp, buddy.”

“Thanks,” Varian replied with a smile. “New outfit, new day, new me.”

And it was true. The new, special clothes looked good on Varian, and not just because the color was nice. It was a different, more mature look and it reflected Varian’s growth, in more ways than one. It was still perfect for alchemy and inventing, he hadn’t lost that part of himself. He was still the same sweet boy he’d always been, but he was changed. He really was a new person, still with all his same quirks, but now he was bigger and stronger, and not just in size. His return to kindness had ushered in a new change, and change looked good.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

[tree-choose-pot]

Knock Knock, Anybody Home?

A big part of the reason I was excited about this trip was the chance to visit friends and family.  And as many can attest, I’m good at inviting myself over, often without much notice.  Covid-19 has put a bit of a damper on visits and public gatherings, but just about everyone we’ve crossed paths with has been open to a small gathering.  We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our friendly stopovers on our otherwise ‘road to nowhere.’

Our first visit was during our trial run to the California central coast.  We visited by brother and a friend I met in the laundry room in college. She is a traveler too and is always up for figuring out a get-together.  My kids adored her little girl and now ask to FaceTime with baby Faye.   My family stopped by our campsite, where the kids showed Uncles how to make a fire, and my family said “this looks fun... for maybe a week, not a year!”

Then, after officially packing up the RolyPoly but before pulling it out of the California storage lot, we flew to Arizona in June and rescued our good friends from quarantine, as they thanked us for being a good excuse—an out of town visitor—to all get together for a pool party, walks, and a moms’ night out.  I played golf with my Tucson golf buddy, we visited the kids’ favorite babysitter who is excitedly pregnant with her first, stopped to see our old neighbor, and went for a moonlit walk with a couple who always adored our kids, which turned into a lightning show, which lit the mountain on fire, which turned into one of Tucson’s worst-ever fires!  Yikes.  We really feel at home in Tucson, and were all very happy to see our friends.  We then had a 2nd special visit with Anina’s longest friend (they hung out as newborns in Tucson), when he and his dad were visiting grandparents at a summer lake home in Minnesota near where we were camping.  Such a treat!

Friends with these gals since we all had newborns.  We now each have a boy and a girl, and still go to each other for venting and advice.

BFFs on a SUP in MN.

When we changed our routing away from Covid- and protest-ridden Seattle and the closed borders of B.C. Canada, we found ourselves in Boise and called up an Air Force family that had retired the same time as Bill and had moved closer to family.  We had a fantastic catching up session and found they were also struggling with the decision of where to call home.  They invited us to a family 4th of July BBQ, complete with front yard fireworks, and we all loved every minute.  

We then were lone travelers traversing the mountains and Great Plains.  We met up with the above mentioned Tucson friend in central Minnesota, than timed our arrival in Door County, WI for the Sawicki family reunion I already blogged about.  After that we had our Campbell family reunion in Michigan, with Bill’s 2 brothers traveling up also to join in the fun.  Uncle D and Aunt C gives both kids plenty of love, attention, and fun gifts/activities whenever we visit!  Uncle C and his new wife are pet lovers and silly with the kids, and Uncle S spent 2 nights in the RolyPoly with us, which the kids just loved!   It was nice to spend a good chunk of time in Fremont, MI, to not only relax with family but also explore the town.   Our Michigan nephews are getting old, as one was about to start college, one high school, and one who lived with us a few years ago was also visiting from Texas.  Anina spent some time trying to figure out the odd behavior of teenagers.   

We also had wonderful visits with Bill’s two good high school friends, and his cousin’s ‘farm-tastic’ family.  They invited us to a barrel racing event they were hosting at their farm.  It was a fundraiser organized by his cousin’s daughter on her 16th birthday!  She and her brother are accomplished rodeo athletes (probably not the right term) and I’d say they’re great event planners too.  Anina and Benji were treated to a ride on one of the family’s race horses!  We just might like to come back for another Michigan summer!  

Watching his 11 year old ‘1st cousin once removed’ prepare the rodeo arena in Ravenna, MI.

Just two brothers playing ball with an up-an-coming star.

On our way out of Michigan, we visited some good friends from our Bogota days in their downtown Grand Rapids condo.  They’ve continued living and working abroad and have just returned for this crazy stateside 2020. The kids played with a basket of unique toys from around the world while we enjoyed a meal, memories, and conversation.

Our next stop turned into an unexpected stay-over in an Indiana front yard.  Bill’s good long-time friend invited us, as long as we brought her favorite breadsticks from Fremont, MI.  This family has a 5 yo boy and 8 yo girl, and a dog and a golf cart.   The kids were the friendliest, most fun playmates!  We just had to stay the night on their lawn.  We enjoyed wine and dinner around their fire pit, and after breakfast the next morning Anina did a little zoom school with her new kindergarten friend.  He lost his tooth sitting right next to her, which was super memorable for Anina too.

In New York and New Jersey, my over-age-65 family welcomed us despite Covid.  I deem our risk for infection to be low, but we were extra careful leading up to our visits.  I definitely still had some paranoia thanks to the “YOU’LL be OK, but you’re going to kill Grandma” paraphernalia.  We spent my Uncle’s birthday at a Long Island petting zoo (his wish!), and had many hours of fun playing with my cousins’ old trains, games, beanie babies, and legos.  My grandmother is hearing less and seeing less and constantly worrying that the children are going to fall, choke on something, or just implode for no reason, but I think we infused some joy into her quarantined life.   I’m sure glad we didn’t give her Covid, as I need all the future guardian angel grandparents I can get.   In New Jersey, we celebrated Anina’s birthday with my uncle’s homemade spaghetti and meatballs, and enjoyed some ‘comforts of home’ for a week or so, such as laundry, cable TV, and yard work!

These two know how to keep the kids’ attention!

Anina (heart) Cheeca.

Treated to ice cream by my dad’s cousin at Cape May’s Sunset Beach.

Unfortunately, we bypassed our many friends in the DC area, as I needed a break from pandemic visit anxiety.  So we started exploring the southeast for a potential home town.  We were welcomed by my mom’s cousin, aunt, and uncle (my grandfather’s brother), who all follow our travels on Facebook and are helping raise a 3 year old granddaughter.  My kids were pleased to have a kid day, with bubbles, cupcakes and a little girl’s room full of toys.  They live in Murrels Inlet, SC and began filling us in on alligators, flooding, and the slower pace of life (they’re New Yorkers)!

I’m sure I forgot to mention somebody, and I may add photos as I find them, but to sum it all up, we have loved our visits with familiar faces; it has been a very special part of our trip.  We are learning during this pandemic the importance of physical presence with other people.  Virtual visits are nice but I’ve always preferred real visits.  That’s right... I’ll drive 3,000 miles to see you!

[ansgar-martinsson]

The Best Intentions - Part 7

“You know, Joline, you remind me of someone,” Ansgar chuckled, lifting his fingers to wave languidly at the passing jogger. He laughed harder when said jogger did a double take and turned his head quickly away. “Someone I knew in America.”

“Really?” Joline replied. “I remind you of an American woman?”

He nodded. “You are very American in your demeanor, but in only the good ways.”

“In the good ways, huh?”

“Yes,” Ansgar bowed his head slightly. “In the good ways.”

“As opposed to like… the bad ways?”

Ansgar inhaled, his eyes widening. “Oh, there are many, many bad ways, believe me.”

“Like what?”

Ansgar snorted. “Like…,” he blinked, pulling down his lower lip in a slight cringe, “a bizarre obsession with American football and baseball, a love for tiger-piss beer, a craving for over processed foods, hyper-consumerism and and an overt label consciousness,” he frowned, still considering. “Not to mention a need to be considered independent paired with a constant demand to be pampered, kowtowed to, and fawned upon, and a tendency to be offended by the slightest thing and then post a crusade on Facebook about it. That sort of thing.”

She sucked air through her teeth. “Yeah, bad ways. I get it. So, who was she? This American in the good ways who I remind you of.”

“Her name is Kay. Kay Browntree. She’s in the construction business, a flooring contractor. Has her own business, very ambitious. But she has her boots on the ground for all of her work. Very hands-on. Grout under the fingernails and all that. I liked that about her.”

“A girlfriend?”

Ansgar sighed. “A potentiality that never came to fruition, I’m afraid. I was in Chicago on a project, she was one of my subcontractors. Unfortunately, I had to move on to another project across the country.”

“Why do I remind you of her?”

Ansgar lifted his eyes in thought. He crossed his legs as he twisted to face her, one arm draped languidly in his lap, the other remained perched atop the back of the bench. “Many reasons, I suppose. Kay makes me laugh – a rare thing indeed. She’s carefree. She gives zero shits about who I am, about my bank account or about appearances or personal hierarchies or societal proprieties. She speaks her mind, damn the consequences. She’s honest, transparent, hard-working, and driven. There’s nothing false about her. What I see is what I get. Much like you.”

In short, nothing like Faye. Nothing at all like Faye.

“Oh,” she intoned. “Tell me more.”

He laughed again, but his face softened. He reached toward her and brushed a lock of her dark hair away from her eye, drawing the soft strands gently between finger and thumb. “I see… I see a soft sophistication to you– a knowledge of art, a taste for luxury, an appreciation of the beauty in machinery and an admiration of the finer things. I see an innate grace in the way you move – in the way you shook out your hair when you took off your helmet, for example.” He shrugged. “She’s a lot like you in those ways as well.”

Her eyes widened, just that little bit, Ansgar noted, a microexpression of self-conscious surprise, a shiver at his touch. She shifted further on the bench, crossing one leg beneath the other, her booted foot dangling off the edge of the bench. She leaned against the back, her elbow hooked around the wood slat, her hand dangling just near her breast.

Ansgar couldn’t help but look.

And she caught him looking. She peered down at her own chest, and knowingly lifted her eyes back to him, her hand open in an indicative gesture. “Oh, I get it. Really, it’s just that she’s got great tits like mine.”

Ansgar choked, his eyes gone wide, his mouth formed into a hollow ‘o’. He recovered quickly, flipping a sardonic yet appreciative quirk of an eyebrow. “Noooo,” he crooned. “Yours are far better.”

It was her turn to choke. She sat bold upright, staring incredulously at him. “Excusemewhat?”

He formed his features into a comical ‘oops’ face, his eyebrows shot high, his lips puckered, his hand covering his mouth in a gesture of mock delicate prudishness. “Oh, did I say that out loud? Well. Hmmmmm.” His lips curled in a wicked half-grin. “That must mean that I find you sexy as well.”

“We’re doing brilliantly at keeping our partnership purely professional.” She dipped her head back to follow a bird in flight. “Nice alliteration.” “Thanks. It pops out sometimes.” She shifted on the bench, bending the knee under her to bring up to her chest. She tugged her foot as close to her bum, hugging her arms around it. Her other foot swung underneath the bench, her toes scraping an even tempo against the gravel. “Dad’s influence.” Ansgar saw her zealousness turn inward. The curse of loss taught him the same trick. He nearly opened his mouth to say something when she beat him to it. “He was American, you know,” she dropped in conversationally, without truly pausing to ask. “Got my guts, gumption, glory and grin from him.” A faux smile appeared, behind closed lips and a pensive look. “And my alliteration.” “But your surname… Lindberg, is Swedish, yes?” “My mother’s surname. My parents were… unconventional, never married, never lived in the same country. Scandalous!” She jazzhanded past that tidbit expecting outrage and judgement. When none came, she lifted her eyes to her companion. “Do you really want to hear all this? Or will you be reading the backs of your eyelids in sixty seconds?” Despite himself, Ansgar was intrigued by her. “Feel free to tell me as much or as little as you would like.” Jo’s eyes followed as a family of four chattered by, disrupting the atmosphere with all their ruckus. The baby cried, the toddler whined, the mother yelled and the father talked over all of them. “I’ll abbreviate. Dad worked for Zim International, that shipping company–” “I’m familiar with them. I held several contracts with them importing bamboo from Asia." "Oh, figures… all you executive types know each other.” He chuckled at the generalization, not at all offended by the stereotype. “I grew up here, near Gamla stan… until seventeen. I moved to America to go to uni, Norfolk it was, in Virginia. I stayed on there, graduated, worked, travelled…”

“And,” he flipped his hand, palm up in her direction, looking for another handout of information, “what made you move back here?”

Joline looked at him for a long moment, considering for as long as it took to make a decision on how much she should tell, how much was appropriate. She inhaled slowly, reciting the mantra on her arm over and over in her head.

Live life when you have it. Live life when you have it. Live life when you have it.

And so, she did. “I love my family; I needed them. I missed so much, my mother, my brother… He got married and had kids while I was away. I’d never met my sister-in-law. I didn’t meet my nephews until much later. My mother got sick. I missed so much. And then my marriage fell apart while I was living in Florida.”

“You’re married?”

“Was. Right out of uni. We were young and stupid and playing grown-ups, but we weren’t compatible. It was a mistake, one I’m glad to have made only so I don’t repeat it,” she sighed, playing at a rueful smile. “When there was no affection left in it, we went our separate ways. He went off to DC, and the offer for the Globe workshop fell in my lap. The Globe led me back here, put me in the running for the Opera House, and here I am.”

“I’m… I’m sorry,” he couldn’t find any other words to say. His thumb tucked in against his palm to follow that familiar track to the gold band on his ring finger. He didn’t spin it this time, only tapped it, reminding himself it was still there.

She smiled sadly, but there were no hard feelings of resentment or sadness in her features. “No need to apologize.  Sometimes two people aren’t meant to be together. That’s not always tragic or the end of the world.” She stretched out her legs again, unraveling from the coil she’d put herself into. “I loved him once and I remember that. A part of me, my younger self, the overgrown teenager self, still loves Steven… always will. But she’s not all of me and I’m not quite her anymore. I don’t know if it happened suddenly or over time, but one day I just knew. I needed my family… and they needed me.”

Ansgar nodded. “Family, yes…,” he he paused for a moment in thought, his lips pursed. His eyes focused on nothing in particular… a boat in the distance… as the impact of Joline’s story washed over him.

He thought of his own losses. His own journey, the ways in which he’d shed skin after skin, identity over identity over the past few years. The way in which he’d, as Faye had put it, gone soft. Soft in Faye’s estimation, however, was still as prickly as The Iron Throne to the rest of the world. He thought of Magnus, of Rebecka, and of their child. Their children, now, plural. Thought of the way they had welcomed him back into their home, into their arms, into their world – no questions asked, no consternation about him being for all intents and purposes dead for a year and a half.

And to know Joline had lived that, or something like it as well gave him the sense of a kindred pull to her spirit. A knowledge. An understanding, and the weight of it, the warmth of it settled upon him like a blanket.

“Family is everything, isn’t it?” he finished his thought at last. “I mean, when you come down to it, no matter what sort of shit you get into, no matter how much you hurt them, no matter what pain you endure, no matter how long you’re… you’re gone, no matter how much you change, no matter how hard you try to disappear, it’s your family that… that….”

The sound of a screaming child from just to his right yanked him from his reverie. He shook his head, blinking hard, and gave a breathy chuckle, smiling ruefully up at Joline. He sighed. “Well,” he shrugged, “let’s just say it’s a good job you had your family to come home to.”

He pressed his hands to the bench and shifted forward to stand, but she stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Ansgar.”

“What!?” he snapped, but his eyes softened in almost immediate apology. Live life when you have it, right?  “Look, Joline,” he sighed. I’m just going to come right out and say it. I think you’ve sussed by this point that I am rather… intrigued by you. Even more now that we’ve had this talk.”

“Yeah, I think I get that.” She smiled. “And I kind of want to jump your bones, too, so what’s the problem?”

“Complications,” he said, “albeit minor ones.” His lips curved in a melancholy smile. He stayed perched on the end of the bench, his knees spread wide, and he bent forward, elbows rest on his thighs. He clasped his hands together between, his thumbs working one against the other. “Things we should lay out on the table before we continue.”

“With our partnership? You’re not having second thoughts or…?”

“No! Of course not,” Ansgar sat upright. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

“But,” she stood then and rest her hands on her hips. “What are you talking about, then? I mean… how can we even think of anything personal when we’re working together?”

“I’m very good at compartmentalizing,” Ansgar declared. “We simply need limits… understandings. I’ve done it before.”

She frowned, cocking her hip. “Done what before?”

“Worked closely with someone,” he took a long breath, his jaw jut forward. “Someone with whom I’d engaged in another sort of relationship.” He stood, then, and stepped nearer, peering down at her, his eyes hooded and intent. “I would like to know if you can do the same.”

She narrowed her eyes, tilting her head and matching his gaze with her own. “I can, I think,” she said slowly. “But, first, I need to know who.”

“Who? What do you mean, who?”

“Who was the someone you worked with? Who were you working with and fucking at the same time?”

He blinked, and his breath caught in his chest at the blunt force of her question. He kept his mask in place, however, his muscles barely moving, his eyes not wavering at all as he said slowly, evenly, “Faye Valentine-Martinsson. My former VP of Security. My wife.”

She lifted her chin, ever so slightly, and her right eye twitched. “Your… wife,” she intoned. She shook her head, her breath hissing from her flared nostrils. “Damn. That ring on your finger you keep playing with…. I should have known.”

“Joline…” Ansgar grasped her arm. “You don’t understand….”

She slapped his hand off, stepping quickly back. “You know, I thought for a minute that maybe you weren’t like that… how silly of me, how stupid! How…ah, fuck all of this… all of it!”  She turned and ran, bolting down the gravel path, her boots kicking up small white rocks in her wake.

“Joline! Wait!” He pelted after her, quickly and easily catching up to her to run beside her. “Joline! Joline!”

…Joline… Joline! Please don’t take him just because you can.

“Leave me the hell alone!”

She increased her speed, but again, he matched, overtaking her. He passed her, cut her off, and quickly turned around, He caught her as she caromed into him, clutching her hard by both of her arms. “Stop,” he commanded. “For fuck’s sake, stop!”

“Let me go, Martinsson!” She writhed, grunting and growling against him, her leathers creaking against his.

“Hey!” He held her fast with an arm around her back. “Come on now! Listen!”

“You can’t…do this,” she seethed. “I won’t… I won’t be that… that woman!”

“What… oof! Ohhhh, fuck!” He groaned, bending over but keeping his grip on her. She’d turned in his arms and threw her elbow sharply backwards into his ribs. “Christ! What… what woman?”

“The other woman!” She gnarled, her teeth grit. “Won’t be your fucking mistress!” She kicked backwards, landing the heavy wooden heel of her boot squarely in the middle of his shin.

“Jesus fuck!” He howled and split his legs wide to avoid more blows. Likewise, he craned his neck to avoid her fists that flew at his face. “You… won’t be! You’re not…. ouch, damn you! Stop hitting me!”

“Fine! Then I’ll do this!” She lifted her foot and slammed it down hard upon his toes. “Fuck! Off!”

“Aargh! Stop that! That fucking hurts!” Ansgar released her, but swiftly whirled her back to face him. He grasped her by the head, one massive hand on either side, and he stilled her. First with a small shake, and then with his gaze, penetrating and sharp. Then with his voice, firm and commanding. “Joline! She left me! I. Am. Not. Married. Anymore!”

… and then, with a growl, he pulled roughly on her, drawing her firmly to him where he silenced her, at last, with his lips.

Joline grunted, her eyes slammed shut, not unexpectedly, but for the control she lost in the situation. All her fight instincts took flight, leaving her defenseless to Ansgar’s kiss. She opened to him, having lost her protestations, denials, angry outbursts of sexual frustration, and let his lips do the caressing, manipulating the last of her vigor.

His tongue swept across her parted lips, a brush against her lower lip, to test her, to make sure she wouldn’t bite as hard as she kicked. Instead she moaned as he tipped her head back to deepen the kiss. Boldly, encouraged by the heady auditory approval, Ansgar plundered her mouth with as much possessive greed as she had entered his office… and his life.

Joline hiked up on her booted toes to erase the last bit of distance between them, wanting for be consumed by the torrential heat blazing off of him. The tangle of tongues sent the sweetest torture of sensation straight to her core, her body heavy with need. One of his hands dug into her hair to hold her captive against his mouth, the other pressed into the small of her back, tipping her hips against his. Dull fingernails scraped along his scalp when she took hold of his curls.

Lust played an undeniable force around them like gravity held them to the Earth’s surface. Slaves to it, but masters of it within their sphere of two. Their friendly jogger, his sights on Ansgar, now making his fifth lap past them, cut his losses and kept going to beat off his own arousal at the picture the two made, a smash of leather, denim and desire.

Ansgar was the one to end the meld of lips and teeth and tongues, regrettably. He knew that if they went on as they were he’d tear her clothes from her body and take her right on the spot, the wandering curious gazes be damned.

Joline herself felt ready to jump into her arms, coil her long legs around him and search out the closest surface to fuck against. He tasted of coffee, sex, danger and she already felt the addictive streams pouring through her body, her pores itching for his fingers and mouth as a balm.

His breath panted against her lips, swollen and pink from the pressure of their passionate kiss and the burn of his goatee. But—Fuck! She was a vision! His influence on her for all to see, he was almost… enchanted by it. He dragged his thumb across her lip, “You’re delicious. I simply cannot wait to taste what other flavors you’re hiding.”

Joline kept her eyes closed, concentrating on the bursts of heated breath spreading over her abused lips and the vibrations from his lips to hers. “God-fucking-damn it, Martinsson!” Only her voice had dropped to a seductive purr instead of the angry tones from moments ago.

He dropped his mouth to her ear, his tongue rasped at the fleshy lobe just once before her murmured, “Search out other art on your skin.”

The five ink decorated skin spots hidden beneath her clothes tingled, sending out a honing signal for him to lock in on. Joline pried her eyes open as he lifted his face to peer into hers. The brassed off woman had been somewhat tamed by temptation, he could see it in the flush of arousal and the relaxed scowl. “If this is what ���intrigued’gets me, I’m fucked if I ever pique your interest,” she quipped in a delayed response to his comment that led to the heated argument and equally as heated kiss.

The pride and arrogance displayed on him in the forming of a Cheshire grin. “You’re fucked either way, as soon as I get you alone,” he replied confidently.

“I was half hoping you’d be shit at the kissing bit,” she groused. Her hands and the rest of her trembled in her heightened arousal, her libido blaring red to near overload.

He smirked, his fingers playing in her hair once more, wondering at her natural color, “Should I apologize or thank you for the backhanded compliment?”

She sighed dejectedly, “Which drawer have you shoved me into then?” Her words adopted a combative tone but she was still pressed salaciously against him.

The slight didn’t faze him as it would anyone else. He recovered within the blink of an eye, “Joline, I didn’t mean you and you know that’s not what I meant by compartmentalizing.”

She pressed her shaking hands to his chest applying the slightest of pressure to extricate herself from his intoxicating embrace. It didn’t help, she wobbled like a newborn faun, her legs unsure after his seductive kiss. “I just need to know where I fit in your cupboard of playthings. One night stand? Fuckbuddy? Lover? Experiment? Trying me on to see if I fit? Mistress?” She hissed the last word.

Defensively, Ansgar grabbed her arms again, nailing her with his piercing gaze, rooting her to the spot. “I told you. My wife left me,” he ground out between clenched teeth. “You can’t be a mistress when there’s no spouse to cheat.”

She couldn’t explain her petulance. They’d only just met, she had no room to make demands on him. But she felt so strongly about being labeled… “I’m not a homewrecker. I don’t go after other women’s men. That’s not me. I’m not that woman! I won’t be!”

Exasperation colored his sigh of impatience as he dropped his chin to his chest. Women infuriated him at times, tested his limits and busted his balls. Getting laid shouldn’t be this difficult, especially when he reduced the woman to a quivering mess clearly affected by his kiss alone, as he’d done with Joline. “Christ, Joline, you’re not!”

“You’re wearing her ring… still. The one that you promised to love, honor, in sickness and all that rot, yes? It’s still on your finger where she placed it. So are you married or not?” She then crossed her arms under her breasts as if to shield herself from the truth or defend herself from crushing disappointment when he dismissed this thing as not worth the aggravation.

Ansgar’s eyes shifted back and forth between hers, assessing her stake in this. “Why is this so important to you?”

The traffic in the distance had faded, the boats on the water muted, the fragrant breeze that smelled of licorice stuck, even the humans in the ceased to exist. All of that stripped away to leave two souls trying to find common ground to explore their attraction for one another.

“Because when you take me to bed, Ansgar, I want you fucking me. I don’t want you fucking the memory of your wife or ex-wife or whoever she is. I don’t want agendas or schedules or any other person involved.” She stepped into his space again, tucked her forefinger into the belt buckle and tugged him against her until their bodies clashed together, breast to chest, stomach to abdomen, center to groin.

She purred, “Pleasure… adult animal magnetism… orgasms for hours.” Joline nuzzled her hips against his, not quite a graze but something akin to it, a promise of so much more. “Dirty, filthy, raw sex – between two people and we’re the only two people in that room. I want sweat. I want sticky heat. I want shortness of breath. I want my body clamped around your cock.” She bit his lower lip, raking her teeth over the sensitive flesh. “I want the neighbors needing a smoke when we’re sated and too blitzed to fuck again. You can have me when I can have you. You can fuck me when that ring isn’t on your finger.”

[lgcdasom]

HELLO EVERYONE !   ✖  ◞   guess whooooo -  it’s faye, the typist behind both lgcjiao & lgcmiyoung, and i am so excited to introduce y’all to my last muse here at legacy. i tried hard to make this girl different than my other two muses, but also still wanted to have some fun with her. so here we are - introducing lee dasom, the 23 year old newly signed trainee. she basically joined not knowing wtf she was getting sucked into. i’ve placed some little bits of information about her under the cut, but you can fully read up on her on the ABOUT page. and while her plots page is still under construction, i would love to get some interactions going for her. so please give this a LIKE if you’re down to plot and i’ll slide into your dms. there will be a follow up post after this for the events, so keep your eyes peeled for that as well!

CONTACT ME : here, on twitter under foxglves​, or on discord at 𝙁𝘼𝙔𝙀.#7009

so pre - dasom: dasom’s mom grew up in the states, born to a trophy wife/socialite mother & a father who passed away when she was young. she came from a pretty wealthy family, grew up with top-notch education, etc. she moves to sk to attend university and there she meets dasom’s father.

cont. without her mother’s approval, dasom’s mom and dad get married quickly after meeting each other. friends and family think they’ll fail, think her father is a deadbeat with no aspirations. but then out pops dasom and she’s suddenly the peacemaker of the family lmao

1997 and up: dasom is an only child, born to a musician father and a mother who taught at a small university. they never really struggled much, her grandmother was always quick to send money their way after dasom came into the picture. she grew up getting anything she asked within reason, but she never really acted like a spoiled brat

dasom’s father is basically a musical genius, and loves to teach his daughter everything he knows. he teaches her the guitar, how to write lyrics, and how to sing songs with him. they basically do it for fun and dasom keeps up the hobby, but she finds her interests later in life.

her father starts up a band named geunal when she’s about 13, and dasom loves to listen to them play. she grows rather close with the other members in the years they’re together and thinks of them like family.

random fact: she worked in a thrift shop in high school, quit when she graduated and had to focus on university/her dance team.

she joins satellite, a competitive dance team, in 2016 and fleshes out her love for dance there. she meets most of her good friends while in the group and still talks to them years later.

goes to university and graduates with a degree in dance.

TW DEATH/ACCIDENT (2018) her grandmother arranges geunal a gig at a musical festival in the states, and it’s literally one of the best things to happen to them. they’re all excited, but dasom decides to fly down a day after everyone else because of a dance competition. unfortunately, there is a plane crash that ends up taking the lives of both of her parents and a band member. dasom takes their passing pretty hard, and immense guilt overtakes her. END TW

after her parents’ deaths, dasom drops dancing because she associates it with her guilt, quits the team and decides to pack up and move in with her grandmother in the states (2019) for awhile. there she just really focuses on herself and her grief and also gives her grandmother comfort during this time.

random fact: she brought her dog, soju, over with her to the states but he’s staying over there until dasom gets her footing back in seoul

dasom arrives back in sk at the end of 2019, and is ready to start her life back up. she’s used some money from her parents’ life insurance/selling the house to rent an apartment. also gets a job as a bartender to make some extra money while she’s trying to figure out what to do with a dance degree she wants nothing to do with. 

random fact: as a trainee, her lease hasn’t ended yet so she still technically has the apartment even as a trainee. she stays at the dorms during the week usually, but finds herself at the apartment on the weekends.

she avoids dancing at all costs, but she’s back with her regular group of friends - hanging out and TW ALCOHOL MENTION drinking her problems away at times. END TW

new years comes and a bet is placed - dasom vs some other friend ( possible connection? ), who will get into legacy? she’s drunk when she agrees, but she figures what the hell bc she won’t get in anyway.

jan 2020 - she auditions by singing and playing a bit of the drums. gets in and she’s at a loss bc now wtf is she supposed to do

random fact: she started practicing drums in high school! 

she has no idea what to expect when training begins and she hates it. she sticks around solely for curiosity but right when she’s about to call it quits, she finds hope. the announcement of the subsidiaries gives her the hope that maybe she can make her father proud by becoming a producer, or even joining a band. 

OOC NOTE: i have no idea what path i’m putting her on in the future, i’m just letting this muse lead me and see where it takes us!

PERSONALITY NOTES: overall, dasom is pretty laid-back. she’s not overly serious or critical in anyway, and is rather confident in her musically abilities. dancing is still a sore spot for her, which is awkward as a trainee, but she mainly just half asses it in the dancing classes and pushes through it. 

cont. she loves to party but she’s really a homebody; you’re not hanging with her on the weekends with her crew if you aren’t close/relatively familiar. she’s still dealing with a lot of grief but she feels like she should be over it. she allowed herself an entire year to mourn, and she feels like she should be back to normal now. but it’s not obviously and it’s taking a toll on her mentally. but she doesn’t really share this with anyone.

cont. her cousin is @lgcallie​ btw!! she will literally beat ur ass if you mess with her. seriously. 

cont. her attitude as a trainee is she really keeps to herself? can come off cold or standoffish but she’s very loving when you get close to her. she loves to laugh and have fun, will basically enjoy anyone who isn’t a complete asshole or dimwit. 

yay that’s it ;; thank you so much for reading all of this if you did, here’s a heart ♡

[briiqht]

;   hello out there, it’s me! a nic, here to bring you my two lovely babies theo & faye.  below the cut, i have intros + info for both of my darlings.  please let me know if you’re interested in plotting by liking this, and i’ll message you via ims accordingly! i am in the discord chat, but gcs make me nervous  (  especially ones on discord  )  so i don’t know if i’ll be using it much personally unless i’m directly mentioned. ;;;; hopefully that’s not too much of a bother!

──THE HARVEST HAS BEGUN!   did you hear? the high council invited THEO YORKE  a RESIDENT OF BIELEFIELD representing the SHADOW GRACED lineage. they might resemble JUNG JAEWON. they’re known for being an UNAWARE BLOOD KISSED within their community, while noted as TALENTED all the while being ALOOF. according to the council it’s noted that HE appears to be TWENTY FIVE years old and look about TWENTY FIVE. they’re INDIFFERENT to be in bielefeld.  they intend to work as a DJ @ THE TRESOR NIGHTCLUB in the town until the harvest ends.

born in south korea but was quickly adopted out to parents based in london.  (  yes, he has an accent.  )  his parents are the yorkes who are … still in london!! they’re a pretty progressive and modern thinking couple who both bestowed that line of thinking on theo.  they really supported their son when he was younger with all that he wanted to do.  even though he was adopted and knew it from a young age, he never really felt like his parents weren’t .. his parents? he was with them since he was a baby after all.

they’re a mixed race family, which got some looks from others that they didn’t pay any mind to.  mom is black, dad is white.  they’re a family, colour of skin does not matter in this house.

theo doesn’t have any other siblings, adopted or otherwise so he was the pampered only child.  his parents, as stated, were always supportive of theo’s pursuits and that included music.  he always wanted to perform in front of others, but hasn’t had a stroke of luck in that department yet.  he likes to travel and do small gigs though, which is how he found himself in bielefield for the time being.  while he’s trying to look for places to perform, he’s also working as a dj at the local nightclub just for some extra cash.

as theo was adopted, he has no idea about his shadow graced lineage.  whenever he was around a supernatural being before and heard thoughts that weren’t his own, he brushed them off as headaches or possibly dehydration .. something, anything to explain away the weird things that would happen around him.  

this of course doesn’t explain the capability of precognition, but his adoptive parents always thought he was just .. gifted.  they know nothing of the supernatural aside from the things that theo went through, so while they understand and support him, they didn’t know how to help him with this in particular.

since moving to bielefield recently for work, his power has exponentially started to affect him and he’s not really sure why.  but it’s definitely because of all the supernatural creatures that are converging in one spot.

──THE HARVEST HAS BEGUN!   did you hear? the high council invited FAYE ROWLAND  a VISITOR OF BIELEFIELD representing the ANGEL lineage. they might resemble LILY COLLINS. they’re known for being a HEAVEN SENT ( ANGEL OF LIFE ) within their community, while noted as ATTENTIVE all the while being MELANCHOLIC. according to the council it’s noted that SHE appears to be AROUND FIVE HUNDRED years old and look about THIRTY. they’re UNHAPPY to be in bielefeld.  they intend to work as an ADVICE COLUMNIST in the town until the harvest ends.

currently a relatively young heaven sent angel.  the angel of life lives hers like a phoenix, constantly living and dying and being reborn from the ashes.  she’s cursed to repeat the cycle that she watches over with a keen eye.  though she’s an ever constant presence, this incarnation of herself is still quite young in heaven’s eyes; a mere 500 years give or take a few.

faye has a lot to prove in order to live up to her role as the angel of life, considering all her past selves have done great things with the cycle itself.  as faye is still young, she’s truthfully a little naive, but generally wants the best for all life on earth whether that be human, animal, or the earth on which she walks.

as the angel of life, many expected her to take on a role as a doctor, or perhaps a veterinarian but she chose to become an advice columnist instead.  she figures that guiding others through their path of life without taking them on as a charge is still part of her duties as an angel, and there are a lot of people lost on their road.  she borders on thinking of potentially becoming a psychologist or psychiatrist, but prefers instead helping people one on one through her advice column for now.

if she happens to take on a charge which is .. quite frankly, a little rare considering she devotes almost all of her time to them, it’s usually from birth as she guides them through the life cycle until their death.

has a tendency towards melancholy.  faye is rather empathetic, and her heart is too big for her bones  -  it leads her to feel the sadness the world feels because she sees it all with the wide eyed naivety that only the young can have.

a little torn about living on earth for the time being.  she misses heaven, misses the warmth of being in the clouds and close to the sun  -  misses the way she could always wear her wings with pride,  it definitely feeds into her melancholy, however  -  there are parts of her that really do enjoy being bound to earth for a time.  she likes being close to the people of earth and finds it easier to learn about them in this way.  now that she’s here, she’s trying to live like them.

[siderealxmelody]

John's Backstory

@wayward-roleplays

@candy-addicted-angel

@cheryl1967

@chloejanedecker1

@ofmultiplevoices

@waywardlightbearer

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@tohavelost

@archangelhuntress

John Winchester was born to Millie and Henry Claymoore. John changed the name to Winchester after Mary died. He didn't want the authorities on his tail.

He didn't trust police.

He had it rough as a kid, after his father left his mother took him and went home to Maine.

They stayed with his maternal grandparents and she became a typist.

As he grew up though he became more and more rebellious.

One night he'd been drinking with friends in an abandoned barn. Cops had come to the property tipped off for a disturbance.

His friends had scattered leaving him alone.

Lucky for them it had been only one cop who had showed up. He tried to help John up, but John was high and drunk. He remembered everything that lead up to that night.

How his mother and he constantly fought, how he hated how overprotective she was.

How his grandparents looked at his mother as if it was her fault that her husband had left them.

How he kept having odd thoughts about the boys in his groups. Thoughts that weren't pure, that would have been beaten out of him had his grandfather known.

But that night in the barn, the cop had been so nice. He had had the most beautiful blue eyes.

He remember staring into them as the cop questioned him. He remembers the way the cop had stiffened when his hands had gone to his belt.

How John had tugged him closer. How the cop had gave him a hard look before he leaned down to wipe the spit from his lips.

John had been taken that night to the jails to sober up before he was allowed home.

He met up with the cop a few times after that, his name had been Arthur Wells, he had been 15 years older than him and had tried to set him on a straight and narrow path. In a twisted kind of way he'd been the father figure that a young John had craved.

However, John hadn't really cared to listen, he was just excited to explore whatever he was feeling for this man. When Arthur died in the line of duty some 2 months later -John left, he didn't go for funeral and he certainly didn't tell his mother.

He did odd jobs before he finally made it to Kansas. He liked being a mechanic, using his hands kept his mind occupied.

He had always been attracted to both genders, so when Mary Campbell walked into his shop asking for someone to look at her dad's car, he didn't hesitate.

They fell in love and soon married. Mary insisted that he send a letter to his family up in main to tell them the news at the very least.

He grudgingly obliged. They were happy, almost comically so. They didn't fight, they didn't feel stifled by each other, everything was perfect.

They had twins on their first try. Maary insisted they be named for someone important in each of their lives. John decided to name his son Henry hoping he'd turn out better than his namesake.

Mary decided to name their daughter Lucille after an aunt she lost when she was a teenager.

John settled into life as a family man. Henry, Lucille, and Dean became his whole world. He loved coming home to ask about their days.

He was fascinated with what Henry and Lucille were learning in school. He loved to see Dean slowly understand the world around him.

Though raising children by herself was not something Mary liked. She wished she had gotten a degree or was out experiencing life. She loved her children of course but sometimes she felt stifled by them.

A sentiment that John hated. They were blessed to have such healthy children, if they were such a burden she could just leave.

He would be fine raising them. They both knew John would do a terrible job raising them without her. And with Mary's parents dying within weeks of each other in freak animal attacks, John was all she had.

When Dean was 4 they decided to try once more for a child. Maybe having another child would spark their marriage again and remember their love for each other.

Nine months late Sam Claymoore was born, he was healthy and beautiful. His parents were smitten with him.

They were right, Sam made them remember what they were striving for - a happy family, stability in times when there wasn't any.

Their family finally felt complete now. As the months ticked down to Christmas and New Years John and Mary grew more and more excited to have their first Christmas with little Sammy.

Christmas came and it was a joyous, Henry and Lucille now 7 got new toys and stickers for being such big helpers with Sam and Dean.

Dean got some race cars and a plastic guitar to play with. John finally felt the balance in his marriage and life was back. He could be normal, he could be content with this.

A few days after Christmas on New Year's Eve Lucille stepped outside to get the mail for her parents.

John had turned away to tend to a crying Dean when he heard Henry scream. He turned around to see a car swerving on the street and hit a tree.

His baby girl lay on the ground near the driveway motionless.

John rushed toward his daughter but he knew it was too late.

Later when the cops showed up they would remark that the driver was dead though he appeared to be under no undo influence.

It never made sense to John till later why a sober man would run over a child.

Still they called the ambulance and went to the hospital. John didn't think he ever felt himself break apart like when the doctors told him his baby girl couldn't be saved.

John's and Mary's relationship after that was strained, he blamed himself for Lucille's death as did she.

John didn't hate her for it, he agreed but he was too much of a coward to pull a trigger on himself, or leave his family.

No matter what he wouldn't abandoned them like his father had did him.

So he stayed out later and later, finding strange men to take out his energy on and with.

He wondered as he stumbled home if Mary knew or cared what he was doing. She wasn't much better, falling asleep using pills most nights.

Henry was quiet, he didn't talk much and had long since stopped asking if Lucille was an angel now.

Even Sam and Dean were quiet and kept to themselves.

As the years went by Mary took some small time work - designing jewelry and sewing, something that was just hers.

True to his word John never left his family. He had bought his own auto shop and was able to make double what he was doing before.

Still, there was no joy in the house anymore. Till one day when John's maternal uncle, Adam showed up on their door.

John had always loved the man, he had indulged John's rebelliousness nature and penchant for alcohol, drugs, and the more racier magazines.

John insisted Adam stay the week. While John could tell Mary hated him for bringing a stranger into her house she obliged Adam.

Adam was personable and brought a much needed playfulness back to the home. He enjoyed spending time with 10 year old Dean and 6 year old Sam. Both were bright inquisitive boys. He even managed to get Henry to smile once or twice during dinner.

On his last night he sat Mary and John down and told them to try to be a family again. They would never replace Lucille but her siblings shouldn't have to suffer for her absence.

They took the words to heart and decided to give their marriage another shot. They took it slow, talking and understanding each other.

John finally confessed his shameful secret to which Mary. She tearfully expressed her love for him. She didn't quite understand the inclination or urge, but at the very least she loved him. That was enough.

Adam was born a year later, named for the uncle that had helped bring his family back together.

Mary and John were on a kind of high and welcomed another baby a year later, a girl - Millie-Mae. She was very different from her older sister as a baby. She was sensitive, anxious, and, curious. Lucille had been a whirlwind, screaming, throwing tantrums, causing general chaos.

Six months later Mary died.

John was shocked and horrified, he changed their name to Winchester and forced the children to leave almost immediately.

He soon fell into hunting realizing that it wasn't a simple gas fire that had killed his wife.

He was sad to see Henry go three years later, but he kept tabs on him. Occasionally moving through the towns or cities he knew Henry was in.

He was heartbroken when Henry cut him off after he had been told by his in laws they were retired hunters who knew John. Who had asked specifically what kind of man Henry was before they had allowed him to marry their daughter.

None of his relationships with his children had worked out. Dean was happy with his little family. He hadn't heard from Sam in 10 years. Hell, Adam and Millie-Mae probably thought of Bobby more as their father than him.

Still when Dean had gotten hurt, and Faye tore into him for walking way he had an idea.

He called the demonic spawn to make a deal. His soul for Dean's life. The thing gleefully agreed.

John remembered the torture, the pain of being cut open over and over again. Of all the other horrible, terrible things they did to his soul. All the ways they defiled and dirtied him.

When the gates opened and that demon spawn had died, he found himself in his body again.

He dissapeared, his family didn't need him. He decided to head north to Redwater a town in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains.

It was a notorious hotbed for supernatural activity so the hunter gossip went. John had vowed to himself if he avenged Mary's death he would tackle Redwater next.

So he did, he put up wards, demanded taxes from every witch that lived there - there were so many he gave them their own quarter - Alexandria.

He sets up strict boundaries around the town and forced the townspeople to come to terms with their plight. He promised they would be protected but they had to do whatever they wanted.

Those who wished to leave could, but he wouldn't come to save them.

He showed them witches, the exorcising of a demon, the killing of a feral werewolf....

No one left. They elected him a mayor and pledged to do whatever he wanted.

He took the name Negan to shed his old identity. He had found the name in one of his grandmother's old books. It meant strong. He liked that, he would be strong. Nothing would break him. He set up a points system. He didn't trust the outside world.

He ordered the town to figure out a way to generate their own food and water. He would go on patrols and keep the supernatural out.

He started with the Witches, burning their quarter down. Those who helped became known as Saviors. Those who didn't wish to fight were given tasks and a number of points associated with them.

Those prettier girls and boys of age who didn't wish to work or join his Saviors could wish to apply to be his husband or wife. It depended on his good they were in bed with him.

He told the people that he would raise an army, and then he would lead a crusade to rid their country of monsters.

But he remembered his new name, he didn't need anyone in this town, not really. All he needed was his bat Lucille and some beer and he could take on anything - including the apocalypse.

[storiedhistories]

Anonymous asked: Atreus - Has your father ever told you of his first wife? What of his daughter?

Send My Muse Anons About Their Relationships // Accepting!

The question comes as something of a surprise.  He thought back to the time after they had scattered Mother's ashes, after the two of them had finally started to figure out how to be a FAMILY without her. His father had told him that he was a god, the first time he had really said much about his past.

Atreus knew that it was......painful for his dad to talk about his time in his homeland, but there had been one night, when they'd been staying warm around the fire, enjoying a moment of companionable silence, that his father had spoken first, telling him more about what had happened to bring him to this land.  He wasn't naïve enough to believe his dad had told him everything about his past, but he had mentioned, at least briefly, that he had had a family before, that it was their deaths had started the killing spree that had led him to kill his own father.

"He didn't tell me much, but I know that his first wife's name was Lysandra....., and that I had a sister named Calliope."  His father had sounded so sad when he talked about them, and Atreus had been able to FEEL his regret.  The sadness and pain that had washed over him as his dad had talked...., it was different than how he felt when Kratos talked about Faye.  

"I hope he'll tell me more someday."  He didn't want to make his father sad, or force him to relive his past if he didn't want to....., but he wanted to know more about his dad, so he could TALK to him, the way they'd finally started to be able to.

[statusquoergo]

tl;dr: WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Buckle up, everyone, this is one hell of a ride.

Open on Harvey entering the living room just as Donna’s getting off the phone with her father, plus two cups of coffee to set us up for this delightfully domestic exchange:

“Is that for me?” “Why, yes it is. A handsome coffee for my handsome man.” “What do you want?” “Why do I have to want something to give you a compliment?” “You don’t, but you do. You know you’re not the only one who can do that.” “You heard me on the phone with my father, didn’t you?” “Okay, you’re the only one who can do that.”

So…here’s the thing about this. Harvey and Donna have known each other for nineteen-ish years. They’ve been dating for, at most, a few weeks. Every single time they’ve talked about their relationship status, it’s been in glowing terms; “I’m finally where I’m supposed to be,” “We both are” (s09e01), “She’s the most important person in my life” (s09e02), etc. Now Donna is gearing up to propose an activity that’s important to her that she knows Harvey won’t want to do—she wants to tell her father that they’re a couple—and her lead-in is…preparing him a cup of coffee and calling him handsome. If she’s trying to butter him up, that’s some pretty weak sauce, and if not…

Harvey responding to such a gesture by asking what she wants is a red flag all on its own (he’s suspicious when she does things for him, even something as small as a cup of coffee), but since he heard her on the phone, I’m gonna give this one a pass. The real problem lies where it always does on this show: Lack of communication. Harvey and Donna have been incredibly close friends for nineteen years and she knows how important family is to him; this is a serious thing that she knows she’s going to get some resistance to, she should be able to ask him to mend fences with her father without making it some kind of game. Instead she resorts to a tactic more reminiscent of a teenager easing the way for a bad report card than a romantic partner seeking a personal favor, and I know that being a couple is different from being friends, but they’ve known each other for so long, she should have a better sense of how to handle this kind of thing. (Then again, this is Donna of “accost Harvey in the dead of night and kiss him to figure out my romantic uncertainty even though I know he has a girlfriend and is terrified of becoming unfaithful” fame, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.)

Lest you think I’m making mountains out of molehills, the conversation ends with her dismissal to “Put [his] big boy pants on and find [them] a restaurant, or [her] father won’t be the only Paulsen [he has] to worry about.” So. Like. The “partnership” aspect of this partnership is really coming along.

We’re afforded the opportunity to wash our hands of this unpleasantness with a mostly-good exchange between Faye and Katrina, during which Faye requests her to adapt a new code of conduct for the firm and my only little nitpick is that Faye declares that she made the right decision in assigning the task to Katrina after Katrina says she’ll only do it if Faye accepts her draft “wholesale or not at all,” which just seems like a weird thing for Faye to want her to demand. Then Alex has an eight-years-ago flashback to flesh out that whole “Tommy Bratton framed him for covering up a murder conspiracy at Danbury” thing from Season 7 as some guy named Craig, who was apparently a coworker of Alex’s during his time at Bratton Gould, shows up in the present day to put the screws to him to accept an offer already on the table in Specter Litt Wheeler Williams’ case against Panasonic (Panasonic, really?) in exchange for not letting Alex’s involvement “get out.” Alex seems surprised by this development, but it sure does explain those stoical looks he’s been putting on at random foreshadowy intervals this season.

I think the next scene is supposed to be some kind of comic relief as Louis storms into a conference room and lets loose a generic and expletive-laden rant against the bewildered man and woman seated at the table; they inform him that they’re Susan’s parents, and he quickly backpedals with some “this is how not to behave” bullshit and tells them his name is Alex Williams. This would be hideously inappropriate behavior even if they were opposing counsel on whatever case he thought he was handling; the moment Louis opened with “Alright, you sons of bitches,” I was sure it was another one of his delusional episodes, but no, apparently he’s just got terrible business etiquette. Not to worry, though, because all of this is just a means to segue into Louis moaning to Gretchen that he needs her back because his current temp, Norma’s granddaughter Norma III, is grossly incompetent.

Back to the A plot. Donna and her father are out to breakfast where she giddily divulges her relationship status, and Mr. James Paulsen greets the news a little more tepidly than she was expecting. She prompts him to voice his misgivings, and he says that from everything she’s told him over the years, Harvey sounds like a pretty selfish guy. (Which of course begs the question of what she’s been telling him, but I don’t think we’re going to dwell on that. Also James has met him; he can form his own firsthand opinion.) In another example of truly stellar communication skills, Donna exclaims that she told Harvey her father would be happy for her when she told him about them (point of order, she said he would be happy for them), and he asks if they can start the breakfast over. She mutters a petulant “Sure, Dad. Sure,” and that’s all we’re going to get of that for now.

Flashback alert: It seems that the History of Craig is that he really, really wanted the Masterson account that Bratton gave to Alex (to frame him for covering up the conspiracy) and they had a falling out when Alex didn’t tell him about it. In the present day, Alex asks Samantha to take the deal in the Panasonic case because Craig is his friend, but she immediately figures out that this is about the Masterson thing (which he thought “had gone away,” so maybe all those thousand yard stares were about something else) and tells him to tell Rosalie the whole story.

Faye shows up in Donna’s office for a little plot integration, calling to attention the fact that it’s “a clear conflict” for “two of the five members of management [to] have undue influence over each other”; as Harvey is a senior partner, his vote is more important than Donna’s (which is exactly what I said), but if he wants to give up his vote, that’s fine with her as long as they’re not both going to have one. Far be it from me to laud Suits for not being sexist, but this is a decent, if probably accidental, little sidestep; as COO, Donna is less important to the firm than Harvey the senior partner, but Faye’s problem isn’t that Donna has a voice at the managerial table, it’s that two of the managers are dating and their impartiality is potentially compromised. We’ve even seen an example of this play out already when Harvey sided with Donna against Louis when he tried to fire Benjamin; they talked it out, yeah, but it happened once and it could easily happen again. Good for Faye.

Donna, it may not surprise you to learn, does not so much share this perspective. Harvey pops in to ask her how breakfast with her father went and she takes the opportunity to wildly misplace her anger as she bemoans the fact that she wants a relationship with someone who gets along with her father, and then bitches at Harvey for not telling his mother about them yet. She closes out with the denouement that if he’s really willing to put her first, he’ll fix his relationship with her father, and if he can’t, her father might be right that they shouldn’t be together.

What is this, the fourth time so far in this episode alone that a lack of communication has caused major problems for these people? I’m getting sick of this trope, guys, what else you got?

I’m already regretting that question as Louis accosts Katrina in the women’s restroom (yes, the women’s restroom) to demand that she include a rider in the new code of conduct putting personnel reassignments under the purview of the name partners. Katrina quite correctly points out that this belongs in the bylaws, but promises she’ll think about it.

Suits continues its developing trend of trying to cram as many returning guest stars as possible into this season as Harvey calls Lily to tell her that, one, Donna was the “very special person” credited with their reconciliation back in Season 6; two, they’re seeing each other; and three, “[he hasn’t] exactly told her yet, but she’s the one.” Lily congratulates him, having learned about Donna from Marcus; seems they’re both big fans, how cute. Harvey admits that he and Donna’s father have bad blood, and Lily tells him to make a gesture to demonstrate his generous heart.

Back up a second.

Harvey and Donna have been friends for nineteen years. They spent about eighteen years and eleven months of that time going out of their way to clarify that they weren’t a couple and/or that they knew they were better off as friends. A big emotional event abruptly convinced Harvey that he wants to be with her. Three-ish weeks later, their relationship has hardly been smooth sailing, and now, on the heels of yet another miscommunication-laden spat, out of fucking nowhere, Donna is “the one,” and apparently has been for at least a little while.

What the fuck is going on?

No, I’m serious. This relationship, rife with conflict, has shot along at lightning speed. They’re apparently spending more nights together than not, but as far as I can tell, they’ve been on one date (which started off super awkwardly, by the way), and suddenly she’s Harvey’s soulmate. His bossy, confrontational, unforthcoming soulmate. Am I really supposed to believe that this, this is what Harvey’s been looking for all his life? Or is it just that pounds upon pounds of external pressure have convinced him that it should be?

Food for thought.

Oncoming B plot: Eight years ago, Alex told Rosalie about the Masterson thing while it was going on, but apparently he never got around to the kompromat part, because back in the present day, he’s finally coming clean about all of it, including Craig’s current attempt to blackmail him. Rosalie is not a fan of either the original event or the fact that he took so long to tell her about it, which, yeah, that’s fair.

Part II

[typingdyslexiaisathing]

Cowboy Bebop ficlet

// Figured I would post an OLD ficlet I did way back when. This is done before Faye and Ed and Ein join up on the Bebop. With my OC for this verse. Read below if you want to enjoy some old school bounty hunters. //

I was pretty sure Spike knew I was watching him do his shirtless training of hot. So I just laid on the stairs to watch him with my head resting on my arms. Enjoying how he moved so fluidly as he punched and kicked at air. And I had my music on besides so it made such even more entrancing. I didn't have it on as loud as I tended to though. So I could hear him when he shot a question my way. "Don't you have something to do, Jo?" I shook my head to pop one of the earbuds out. So he knew I could hear him. "No. I got all the tinkering done a while ago. Jet is making more food too." Spike pauses in his routine with one leg up in the air. Turning his head to look at me. And God is it ever hot how he can stay all poised with a foot all the way up like that. So I just stared at him. And he gave a snort of a noise to look back out the window of the ship. "I get the feeling I'm being sized up for something. Or are you just enjoying me half clothed?" I really wish he hadn't asked. Since I was not one to lie to a team mate. Even if it made me blush. "Every person has a type, you dork. And you happen to be my type." Spike freezes after his punch to look very surprised. So I continue for his benefit. "Tall. Toned. Funny. Smooth talker. Skilled. If you didn't smoke so much I'd have tried to kiss you already." Spike whirls his head around to look at me with his eyes wide. And if he didn't look stunned I'd eat my sneakers. "Are you serious?! Jet told me you were- Geez Jo!" I chuckle as my toes curl a bit in my sneakers. "Center yourself, tadpole of the tai chi. I'm not gonna run over and jump your fine ass. I'm just gonna enjoy the view." Spike shakes his head to then run a hand through his hair. Looking very flustered as I watch his muscles flex. ***** Spike looked so dead serious I couldn't look away from him. Both his hands resting near my head as he cornered me against the wall. And his eyes stayed locked on mine. That one brown eye a lighter color than the other. And I was so captivated I could barely breathe. His words were so low I almost didn't catch them. "Why is it that even when I'm looking at the past, you keep filtering through my eyes? I've been dreaming the same dream for so long. Now it's changing. And it's unsettling on how it's making me forget things. Things I know I need to hold onto, yet they are things I have wanted to leave behind." Spike clenches his hands into fists as he keeps me there with his gaze. And I am wondering all sorts of things. But he just keeps talking like he didn't stop for a breath. "I'd think they sent you to keep tabs on me. But then you do things that make me think otherwise. How you don't ask me questions. How you keep putting yourself between me and whatever is trying to kill us. And how you keep watching over me when I fall asleep on the couch. You've had all the time in the universe to kill me if they had sent you. So tell me Joanna. Who are you really? Because I am not going to keep letting you close if I don't know where you fit into this waking dream." I give Spike a huff of irritation that notes my confusion. My own questions giving him a bit more inkling into my bafflement at his actions and his words. "Why do I have to be someone specific, Spike? Can't I just be myself?" Spike went so still I would think he was stone. But I keep going anyways. "The way you talk, it makes me think we're in some secret spy movie. Like the really old ones with double agents and super villains. And that makes me wonder about you for a change. I've been fine with just knowing you are good at karate and bad with bounty hunting. I've been totally okay with you and Jet and myself going from one day to the next just cruising around the solar system. I didn't need to know more than what you both told me. That Jet used to be a cop and that you used to be on Mars. The only thing that has ever mattered to me is if I can feel safe around you. Safe as in you won't throw me into a storage room and rip my clothes off. And you proved that I can relax and just be. You never asked me before about who I used to be. And even though I wonder why you're asking now, I will tell you." Spike nods to then relax a little. Using those arms he has braced against the wall to corral me more like he's just leaning. So he sighs a bit to then ask me his questions. "Who are you?" I sigh to cross my arms. Closing my eyes as I answer. "My full name is Margaret Joanna Adelha Mathilde." Spike blinks to then chuckle a little. "That is a mouthful. Hence why you just answer to Jo." I nod for him to ask the next question. "Are you really from Earth?" I nod again to add in, "The town I was born was called Saugatuck. It was in the state of Michigan in the United States of America. At least back then it was. I haven't checked to see if it is still there." Spike looks confused to then lean in to get in my face more. And his question is really quiet. "Care to explain that?" So I open my eyes to gaze into those brown eyes. And I shiver a little when I reply. "Here's the big plot twist. I was born in 1998. And got put into a freezer when there was a big accident on a space shuttle." Spike goes as wide eyed as possible. Looking very stunned as I sigh and lean my head back against the wall. "Mom and dad apparently had me put in cryogenic freeze after the doctors told them I was a goner. And since they were just testing those damn things out, there was a need for test subjects to see if they worked. So I got shoved into an ice tray. I woke up a few years ago after one of the hospital directors got replaced with some new hot shot senator. He decided saving all those poor helpless victims and rehabilitating them would be a genius political move or something. The end result is I got thawed out along with a dozen other people that had been on the shuttle. By the time the police got their noses into the senator's closet to see about skeletons, I was already on my way to a clinic on Mars. So they had no recourse but to let me go on my merry way when the project buckled. Left it so I didn't have to pay all those bills from the upkeep of my ice tray and the rehab. But it also left me without any help to start a new life." Spike frowns to then move away from the wall and give me my space back. His sigh clearly saying he gets the rest. "Hence why Jet got a call from his old friend who is still an active police officer. He was called in to pick you up from the clinic and keep tabs on you until they could build a case against the senator. And Jet got an extra pair of hands in the bargain. Someone who literally had nothing else to fall back on." I chuckle to roll my eyes at Spike. "We both know Jet isn't the type to leave some helpless gal who literally only has a hospital gown go it alone. He'd sooner light his bonsai on fire." Spike smirks for me to chuckle a bit. His hand reaching into his hair to rub at his head as I continue. "Jet made it clear that if I ever found a better option, I could take it and I would owe him nothing. But I honestly have never looked for anything else. Why would I? I have a home here, skills to build on as I figure out what has changed in the time I was on ice, and at least two people I call family." Spike stills to look at me with a questioning glance. So I wave a hand at him to make my point. "I did say I feel safe around you, Spike. I don't extend that kind of faith in anyone unless they have earned it. You may not trust me with whatever skeletons you keep in back storage. But I know you won't hurt me willingly or hang me out by a noose. Heck, you tend to cover me whenever something is gonna blow up. Figuratively and literally. Just like I do for you. Isn't that enough for you?" Spike spends a really long moment just staring at me. His eyes so focused I want to tell him to blink. But then he turns away to keep rubbing a hand to his head. And he sighs so hard I'd think he was going to deflate. "What a headache. No wonder you're so old fashioned." I snort to roll my eyes. But then Spike tells me something that has me go stock still. "I used to be deep in the Red Dragon Syndicate. And ever since they declared me killed that night, I only see the past or the present. Like a waking dream. My left eye only sees the past, the right eye only sees the present." Spike turns back around for me to have something in my head click into place. My shoulders tensing as I stay leaning against the wall. "Huh. So that's why your eyes are different. One of them is fake. Right?" Spike doesn't answer. Which is a confirmation in my book. So I give a long sigh all my own. "Guess that fits the theme of this rag tag group. Jet doesn't lead the life of a cop anymore. You don't lead the life of a syndicate member. And I don't have any life to go back to either. It's an in between for all three of us. Maybe we should rename this boat Limbo." Spike smiles at my pun even if it doesn't reach his eyes. Which has me rub at my arms a bit for him to walk back over. His hands coming to rest on my shoulders as I shiver again. "Guess you really are a super spy then. With fancy shooting and gadgets and Jeet Kun Doe. We should replace your tie with a bow tie or something." Spike gives a soft chuckle before I look up into those brown eyes. And we end up spending a moment just staring at each other. Until I ask him my last question. "Was it worth it? Leaving the monsters to chase a beautiful angel?" Spike goes so quiet I know he's holding his breath. So I remind him, "All the spy movies have some gorgeous lady in the plot. So it's not too much of a leap to think you left for a chance at being with a good woman." I reach up to place my fingertips to Spike's face and wait. My eyes tearing up as he takes a breath. And his answer is but a faded whisper. "She was worth it all and more. And will always be the dream I linger in the most." Having Spike say that sounds so fitting even if that answer hurts me. But I smile as those tears fall. Giving him a chuckle as he grips my shoulders a bit harder. And I say the one thing I didn't want to say. "Then keep dreaming, Spike. I wouldn't wake you from that for any reason. Keep dreaming that good dream for as long as you can." Spike nods before he pulls me in to hug me close. My hands lowering to rest at his heart as he all but crushes me. And his words are quiet but so full of strength. "You would have been just as worth it, Jo. A girl like you is worth more than you think. Demons and dragons tend to know only violence and struggle. They never know peace or hope for quieter days. And you remind me of such wants. Just like she did. It's why I felt so confused. Every time you remind me of what that felt like, I see her standing behind you. Like a mirage." I chuckle a bit to wrap my arms around his waist. Soaking in this contact even if his hug is cracking my ribs. "Maybe one day we will find her so you can make those old dreams come true. I would help you track her down if you want." ***** I gave a prayer that I knew I would regret once the dust had settled. But I gave it anyway before I opened my eyes. Then I centered the gun and took aim. And for once my mind went blank. No thought. No emotion. Just purpose. And it was all I needed to take that shot. So I pulled the trigger once my aim was sure. And the gun fired for the thug who had been strangling Jet to fall. The bullet punching a good hole through the center of his head for it to exit out the back in a shower of gore. Then I moved to aim at the guy charging at Spike with a very large sword. And I took aim to shoot again. The gun going off for the bullet to rip right through the thugs temple. The spray out the other end washing over the wall like speckling paint. Spike grabbed the now very dead sword guy to use him as a shield against the incoming bullets from the gunman up in the rafters. And I took aim at him next to fire. His neck soon half gone for him to fall over and writhe. I then heard the bullets sing around me when the second gunman decided to get rid of me. Jet shouting for me to take cover as I ducked down. But I wasn't going to just stop. My hand reaching for the grenade we brought that didn't work anymore. So I tossed it over to where the gunman was hiding. His yelp of fear soon leading to him jumping away from his hiding place. And I took aim and fired to punch a hole through his ugly sunglasses. The left side of them nothing but shrapnel as he went down in a heap. And I heard Spike's shouted warning a bit too late. The last goon having come up behind me to grab me by my hair and yank me backwards. I hissed in air to try and get free of the grip this goon had on my hair. Which ended with a very sharp dagger punching through my open palm. I gave a hard scream as the agony ripped into me. The goon grinning for Jet and Spike to get it in gear. So I took the gun and pointed it into the goon's mouth. His shout muffled for me to pull the trigger. And the boom going off so close to my ear left me in a bad state of total silence. Like Jet had put his hands over my ears. The blood and gore from my now dead assailant soon dribbling down my shoulder. And I was so done I just shoved the dead body away from me to then stumble away. Sliding down to crouch against the one wall and breathe. I didn't want to look down at my hand. I didn't want to feel the bits of blood that were sliding down my back from killing someone. And I sure couldn't hear anything other than a muted ringing. But then I felt someone grab me by my hair again. And I was so out of it I dropped the gun when I got yanked to my feet. The ringleader soon grinning at me to then tug me over and out into the open. His other arm coming around my neck to pin me in a headlock. And I was in too much of a daze to really process anything. I could finally start to hear Jet and Spike as they gave a few shouts at the ringleader. But he made his point by squeezing his hold on me. Cutting off my air for me to choke. So Spike went quiet even as Jet fumed more. But such was helping me get my bearings for every second that passed. And I was able to shake off the daze once the ringleader was in the middle of making his demands. So I went for broke and wrenched the dagger out of my hand. And stuck it right into his groin. Making him bellow as he let me go. So I scrambled away for Spike to take the shot. The ringleader falling down as Jet ran over to grab me. His arms keeping me from just falling flat on my face as he took my weight. And I felt so relieved once he did I went totally limp. Only now registering I had also gotten shot earlier. My left hip doing some serious complaining even as Jet moved us into a side hallway. I could tell Jet was really worried, since I was more of a rag doll than a conscious team mate. So I coughed and moaned for Jet to hear. Having him calm down a bit even as he looked my very bleeding hand over. His words as ever gruff and barked. "Now you know why I told you to stay on the ship, Jo. This isn't the place for rookies to be asking to get run the Hell over. Side note. You did fantastic. Now don't move your fingers on this hand. That poker was a big one." I stay completely still except to breathe. Jet ripping one of my pant legs off to make a bandage for my hand. While Spike finally walks over to check on us. His gun still up for him to look down at us. "All dead. With the data chip the ringleader had being slightly stained. But it looks undamaged and they never said we had to bring him in alive. How's Jo?" Jet gives a grunt to finish tying the bandage on my hand. "Either she's in shock or too tired to make a peep. Her left hand is very bad. And they shot her in the hip. Her ears are also bleeding slightly. In short, she's the most mangled of the three of us. Unless you got hit and I can't tell." Spike nods to hold up an arm. A long gash dripping ever so slightly. "Sword guy got a few swings in when he charged at me. Jo will have to sew my jacket when she has the time." Jet gives a huff of a laugh to then shake his head. "You expect her to sew that for you? Her left hand has a hole the size of a-" I give a loud cough that makes Jet stop mid sentence. And my words are very tired when Spike reaches over to place a hand to my head. "I don't wanna know..." ***** Sewing this jacket was taking quite a bit of time. Since my left hand was not cooperating at all. Which meant having to do everything one handed. But I was a very patient person by nature. I just took my time as I sat on the couch. Jet in the kitchen to make bell peppers and beef, with actual beef this time. Along with rice and mushrooms and several other vegetables. I had insisted we use my portion of the reward money to get some food for us. Jet and Spike not complaining when I said so. So here we were. On our way to Mars. Spike doing his Jeet Kun Do in front of me. Jet cooking us something to eat. While I sat and sewed with one hand. The television on for us to listen in on that corny bounty hunter channel. Both of the casters that hosted the show doing their usual greeting with the fake Texan accents. And Spike stopped after a bit to listen in when the announcers said they had big congratulations to give out. Jet poking his head out to hear as I stopped sewing to turn the volume up. The one guy smiling bright as he spoke. "It would seem that big fish we have had on our listings finally got himself caught! And none too soon it would seem! Reports from the police have confirmed this big fish was up to some mighty bad stuff!" The blonde gal confirming to point where they had a mug shot of said big fish up on our screen. "Too true! It turns out this big fish was going to vandalize a whole space port! Just blow the whole thing to smithereens! So it's a good thing he got caught!" The first announcer nods to add in, "Or in this case, killed. Apparently, three bounty hunters cornered him to do away with him and his whole gang. They sure put up a nasty fight though. However, we were told that the bad fish were the only casualties. And that all three bounty hunters are on the mend. Add in they got back the stolen data chip to hand it over to the police, and it was a good day all around." The blonde smiles brightly to then point where three more pictures are placed on screen. And both Jet and Spike go wide eyed when it is our pictures shown. Mine in the middle for the blonde to smile and continue the narrative. "These are our heroes of the day, y'all. The crew of the Bebop. Two veteran cowboys and even a cowgirl to boot! Just look at that pretty red headed gal!" The first announcer chuckles as Spike sits down next to me on the couch. And I can safely say we all are stunned as the narrative continues. "According to our sources, it was the cowgirl who was the sharp shooting ace on this fishing trip. A good old fashioned Annie Oakley. However, she did end up with several bad injuries that may be a bit of a rodeo to tackle. But we fellow cowboys will wish this crew good luck and safe trails. Next up on our broadcast is the latest top ten most wanted rascals. So stayed tuned as we break for a commercial." Jet walks out to start growling a bit in agitation. Spike looking very thoughtful as I mute the television. So all we hear is Jet. "I told them not to release our names to the media! Dammit all, now I'm gonna have to call them and give them a piece of my mind!" But I simply shrug a shoulder to go back to my sewing. Spike catching on to wave a hand in the air. "I don't think it hurts anyone, Jet. Especially when we get some positive praise for Jo out of it. And she deserves it in my book. I mean think about it. We were in over our heads with us going it just the two of us against all those thugs. And Jo realized that to cover our asses. And I believe that deserves some ten minutes of fame. And a dinner that isn't burned. So go make sure it doesn't and we can regroup as we eat." Jet gives a humph before he nods. His robotic hand soon patting me on the head in appreciation before he heads back into the kitchen. Leaving me with Spike as we sit on the couch. My fingers on my only working hand threading the needle through the material. But then Spike reaches over to place his hand over mine. Stopping me from continuing for me to look up at him. Neither one of us blinks as the moment lengthens. Until Spike gives me that rare warm smile that reaches his eyes. "Thank you, Joanna. I know you aren't the kind of person who can hurt people willingly. So thank you for the rescue. And I'm sorry it came to you having to kill so many people to accomplish that." I shiver all over as Spike laces his fingers into mine. His grip strong and grounding as he continues. "I never wanted for you to become like us. So used to the violence of our work that you don't think twice about pulling the trigger. It was why I didn't want to teach you my Jeet Kun Do. And I know Jet was even more opposed to you having to learn how to use a gun. We both are aware that in order for you to be safe it was needed to teach you all that. But Jet was Hell bent on never putting you in a position to need to. So I will apologize for doing so with that job. We never should have taken it to begin with. The pay off be damned. No amount of money is worth putting you through Hell. I'm sorry, Jo. For all of it." I take a moment before I say anything. My hand it Spike's tightening as I give a long sigh. "It is better I killed those men than let them kill us, Spike. You heard what they were planning. They would have blown up a whole space port. Hundred of people would have died. Fathers. Mothers. Daughters. Sons. All dead and floating among the debris. All because a few criminals decided those lives meant nothing. So I can say it was worth the pain and the guilt I'm going to suffer. Because it means that people got to live. Families can plan for futures instead of funerals. And that is a reward unto itself." Spike doesn't say anything as I shiver a little. Then Spike gently tugs me forwards to wrap his arms around me. Hugging me tight as I let the jacket fall to the floor. His hold on me as strong as steel. And I am so very glad for such. I all but collapse into his hold. So Spike shifts us so we're laying on the couch. Hugging me tight as tears roll down my face. Spike closing his own eyes as we lay there. And I take deep breaths against his front, just to savor his scent in my lungs. Every intake of air a mixture of sweat and cigarettes and the warmth of a living person soaking my senses. And I thank God for that. ***** I wasn't sure when it was I fell asleep sitting next to Jet by the helm. But I woke up in a different place entirely. Jet carrying me bridal style to the couch as he grumbled about something. And even though I was curious, I chose to stay quiet. Acting as if I was still out like a light. Which in itself was tempting to go back to. But then Jet set me down to place his hand to my head. And it was clear he was worried when he started talking at me. "Jo. Wake up. Hey. Joanna. Damn, you're burning up." I opened one eye to see Jet was frowning at me. And I figured that him using that particular frown meant something bad. So I gave a groan of noise to then close that eye again. "What? I was enjoying the nap. Seriously, Jet. What did you wake me up for?" Jet makes a grumbled noise to then move his hand from my head to my wrist. His fingers pressed into my pulse for me to note that such means very bad indeed. "Because you were shivering non stop while you were out. Yet you are roasting hot. Must've gotten an infection from one of those wounds." Jet takes his other hand to check over the wrap job on my hand with the hole through it. And sure enough, it bleeds the moment his robotic fingers brush against it. Making me hiss in air for his frown to deepen. Jet keeping his eyes to my hand as he grumbles more. "Yep. This opened up again. At this rate we may need to get you a new hand. Or one like mine." I can't say the idea of chopping my hand off for a replacement is a good one in my mind. But I take a moment to make him think I'm considering that option. "I'd rather keep what I got. Even if it doesn't work very well." Jet chuckles to shake his head. But he does still look worried. "Then to the clinic it is. I already adjusted course while you were out. Spike is getting you a change of clothes from your room. We'll be seeing a trusted doctor that has a brother on the police force. So I know he's trustworthy to not overcharge us." I give a nod for Jet to lace his arms under me. Lifting me up with ease as I lean my head to his shoulder. Spike at the door to have my duffel bag with him. "We just docked and have some guy asking for you. Says he's here to escort us to his brother's clinic.How is she?" Jet gives a huff of worry in answer. "Bad enough."

[backtomylakearearootsstory]

S1E13

Saturday mid-morning. Malachi and Quincy are out and about running errands.

“Hey I have a few bills to pay”

“Oh sure dad!”

Malachi sat in the truck wearing a sleeveless Nike t-shirt with a dark pair of cargo khaki shorts with a pair of Keds shoes wondering how his father, who wore a button down and a pair of blue jeans was managing not to break a sweat.

“Dad, it’s hot outside! How are you not sweating?”

“Son, I’m from the deep south where we have a head index of 90 plus in the morning. Your boxers will be stuck to your ass at 7:00 am from the humidity during the summer months. By 10:00 am, the heat index is more than 100 degrees! This ain’t nothing for me.”

They went to pay a few bills prior to going to the grocery store.

“Your mom has a cousin who lives in Long Beach who’s coming to visit. She’s gonna bring her kids”

“Yea, mom said something about that”

“She’d be grandma’s niece?”

“Yes, your mom’s first cousin”

He picked up a block of cheddar cheese, two bags of shredded cheese, and a can of salsa. “I hope they like nachos. Doesn’t costs too much and it’s an easy fix”

“Son, grab a couple of packs of ground beef for me”

After placing the ground beef in the basket, they went to the produce section to grab some fixings such as sour cream, lettuce, pico, and tomatoes.

“Essentially, we are reconnecting with family and being introduced to some through all this”

“Right!”

Malachi then asked about Quincy’s family. He had seen them more than he had seen his mother’s family. It was usually during the summer. They would make at least one trip per summer to California for vacationing. He had not seen his aunt or his uncle in about three years. He had not seen his grandparents since he was about 6 years old; however, he did not consider them strangers. On the other hand, he was clueless when it came to his father’s cousins.

“My mom was born and raised in Mississippi. My dad is from a town in Louisiana called Jennings, it’s about a half an hour east of Lake Charles. He went to Jackson State University on an athletic scholarship. He majored in Management, got a job at a beverage plant and eventually worked his way up to being a sales supervisor. Mama worked in the hotel industry. We weren’t dirt poor, but more or less low middle class. There were five of us; I have three sisters and one brother. I have three siblings that are older than me. Me and my baby sister are the last two.”

“Do you still talk?”

“Yes, and I’d always make the effort to get a trip in down there when I was on duty. We don’t talk as much as I’d like, but we’re not estranged”

After checking out, they headed to the house to clean up. When they got there, they saw Deja and Clarissa sitting on the sofa reading something on Clarissa’s phone.  “Did y’all forget that we got company coming over?”

“Yeah, and the house is a mess”

Deja make getting ready for company a difficult task. “You know how stressed out you get when you have to clean house” Quincy reminded her.

“I know, I’m on it. Clarissa, wanna help?”

“Well since I’m here….. I’ll grab a broom”

The children were then sent off to their rooms to clean as well as clean the bathrooms.

“Can one of y’all straighten out the guestroom?” Quincy asked, “I’m fixing to get in the kitchen and help your mama”

While cleaning Aundrea was talking with Malachi and QJ, “She has four kids, they’re spending the night tonight, and we’re going to be on the floor in the den. Better, get the air mattress out. Just giving you a heads up”

The kids were cleaning while Deja and Quincy were getting the food ready. Hours passed by when Yvonne, Azalea and Anita arrived. Faye arrived shortly after 5:00 pm. 5:15 pm to be exact.

Faye can be described as dark brown, about 5’8, with a pixie cut.  She sported a pink sundress with matching earrings.

“Hello”

Deja then called for the kids to come in.

She then had her kids introduce themselves. Two daughters and two sons. The youngest son was around QJs age. Her older son had just turned 14 and her daughters were 11 and 12.

“This is my youngest one”

“Darius”, the young boy said, shaking QJs hand.

The oldest son introduced himself as “Ian”

The 12 yr. old “Ramona” and the 11 year old revealed her name to be “Alexis”

“Dominic” Azalea’s son said.

After introductions, Deja informed Faye that Yvonne had mentioned her in a conversation.

“All good I hope?”

“Nothing bad, stated that you lived in Long Beach and that you’re our mother’s first cousin”

“Yes, my mom is your aunt Clarisse.”

“So tell us about you?”

“My mom and your mom are like three years apart in age, your mom moved out here early on in life. My mom was 35 when she moved, so I was 10 yrs. old. We lived a rough life for a while, she never married and I unfortunately did not have a relationship with my dad growing up. She went to school later in life and became a therapist. She began applying everywhere, and having our cousins in Sacramento was a big help. She stayed in Sacramento until she could get on her feet and then we settled in Long Beach. I graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School. I went to a technical school and obtained a certification. I’m currently working for a cable company out here. My kids go to an online k-12 school. I initially had them in public school, but I took them out due to teachers wanting to penalize anything and everything.”

Yvonne chimed in. “Zero Tolerance, was a trap”

“Amen” Faye responded followed by a hi-five.

“well you guys hungry?” Deja asked

“we have a little food fixed, not much, but you know? Last minute.”

While they were eating. Deja asked Faye if she was married.

“No divorced. Been six years, I found out that my husband had been seeing another woman for half of our marriage.”

“Damn!” Quincy exclaimed

“Yeah, imagine my surprise to find out that he has a child around the same age as my 11 year old.”

“We have joint custody and I’ve never withheld the kids from him, we co-parent alright, though I’ll admit that it took me a while to get there”.

Anita then asked about the homeschooling situation

“I took my kids out of public school due to what I felt like was unfair treatment. My sons couldn’t even play tag with their friends without administration throwing a bitch fit about it. They do okay with the k-12 academy I found. It’s a free online school. I’ve networked with some other parents who have enrolled their children. We do a field trip at the end of the school year.”

 “That’s neat, what do you do for the cable company?”

“I work in IT, enough about me, what about you?”

“Well I’m an attorney; I’ve been with the firm for a little less than a year”

They continued talking over nachos and wine when Clarissa and Azalea confirmed that they were both professors and Deja informed about her status as a high school English teacher. As they asked more about her father, she revealed that her mother informed her that she was conceived through a one night stand and that she met her father when she was 15 years old doing a trip down to Louisiana. While they were conversing, Azalea asked, “Hey, where’s mama”

“Aunt Helen?” Faye asked, “I have yet to meet her and we’ve been living here for so long. My mom has told me some of the stories. I know that our grandmother had a drinking problem. She’s sorry about what happened”

“What do you mean?” Deja asked

“Well let’s just say, there is a reason that the family is somewhat estranged now. Our grandmother’s alcoholism got in the way of her being the parent that she could have been. I’ll leave it at that for tonight”

The children were sitting on the porch when QJ and Darius decided to go play video games.  The adolescents stayed on the porch and finished eating prior to watching TV

“Hey can we have some more?” Darius asked.

“Of course”

“Eat in the kitchen” Faye interjected.

QJ laughed and said, “My mama is the same way”.

They later played video games for about two hours before getting the sleeping bags out.

“Can Darius sleep in here tonight?”

Deja agreed, figuring that they would probably fall asleep playing video games.

After Clarissa, Anita, Azalea, and Yvonne left. She got the air mattress out and some blankets. The older children decided to sleep in the den on the air mattress watching movies on Netflix.

Faye, Deja, and Quincy went to bed. Before calling it a night, she Deja advised that they not stay up too late as they were going to get out and do something tomorrow morning.

TO BE CONTINUED WITH EPISODE 14

[ili-akkaman]

Around the corner, chapter 13

ff.net

Pairing: Eren-Mikasa

Summary:  His life is settled and he lives without worries, taking everything for granted. She, on the contrary, worries too much. But everything changes after a blow in the nose and other adventures that remind them both what it is to have a family.

"You know her parents died when she was a child, right?" the girl asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, but it's no big deal..."

"Eren, don't talk shit you don't know about. Mikasa's parents were murdered in front of her when she was twelve; since then she's not the same."

Historia's voice, despite being high-pitched, sounded quite deep now, with the clear intention of adding severity to their conversation.

Eren swallowed, realizing what he had said.

"I'm sorry..."

"No. She's more sorry; that's for sure. It was then that Mikasa changed completely; she didn't use to be like she is now. She was more ... Friendly. Nicer, if that's the right word. But she has the same big heart, even if it doesn't look like it. I think that's the result of losing your parents in such a horrible way, right?"

Eren cleared his throat.

"And what happened?"

"Nothing is clear yet. I just know that Captain Levi has still not been able to find the murderer's whereabouts, after years of searching."

"Who's Captain Levi?"

"Her older brother. He's the police chief here in Shiganshina. He was still studying at the academy when that happened, and he was away from home that night. Fortunately, he was of legal age and could take care of her, or these guys from the Social Services office would have come to take her away. Mikasa didn't have a great time, and the press was not much help either. The local news, radio stations and Shiganshina press harassed her even inside her own home, just to get information from her, so much that she had to leave school for a few months ..."

"Wait," Eren interrupted, somewhat puzzled. "Why did the press have to get into that? What happened to his parents so that it became so chaotic?"

Historia shrugged.

"Dad says he could see the crime scene, the Ackermans' throats were slit. You've never seen anything like that in Shiganshina for years. They don't understand how Mikasa is still alive, but she saw everything and she only told her brother and my dad about it when Dad was the Captain and Levi just a cadet. And probably Sasha, but Sasha will never say anything; though that's understandable, because she's her best friend."

Eren stuttered, trying to find the right words. His eyes had flooded with tears at the cruel image on his mind.

"How is it that something like this happened? Who could commit such a cold-hearted act?"

The blond girl shrugged again.

"Nobody knows. They say they were thieves who wanted to steal bank accounts together with Samuel Ackerman's family jewelry, but that's impossible, since the murderers took nothing after committing the crime. They were a wealthy family, if you ask me, and Mikasa was almost a spoiled child. The Ackermans have always been famous in Shiganshina. I think Annie hated her for that; Mikasa was good at everything, always top of class, and Annie could never get over it. Besides ... Well, you're well aware that her father has never been the best administrator, not even when he won that lottery, a few weeks after the Ackermans' deaths; and then they moved to Trost. Annie ..."

"Annie never got along with her father." Eren commented in a low voice. Historia nodded.

"I guess that's why. The point is that they weren't murdered by thieves; whoever did it, must have a much darker reason. And that's what Levi has been trying to figure out for years, but he hasn't been able to find any clue; at least not in this city. My dad tried to help him before he retired, but he couldn't do much. It's as if ... As if he were facing the perfect killer."

Both were silent for a few seconds. The turquoise eyes met the dark-haired girl's silver gaze; but Mikasa looked away from him quickly, and Eren had to chase away the tear from his right eye.

He couldn't erase from his mind the view of a dead couple lying on the floor, while a girl stared with horror at her parent's corpses.

For a moment, he imagined that he might have been in Mikasa's place, having to see his mother and father die. Carla ...

She had always been there and he took everything for granted, believing that he would always have her with him. And Grisha; He was not the best father, but he was his father.

And Faye ...

What would become of him without hearing his little sister's high-pitched and infectious laughter?

Now he understood that even if it had been a thousand years, Mikasa had no reason to smile. That must be a deep and large wound to close so fast.

Eren's head was spinning around and he didn't know if it was because of all the information he got from Historia, or just because of all the drinks he had already drunk.

"And what happened then? Why the hell is she working as a babysitter now, coming from a wealthy family?" He asked a while later, confused. He could feel anger again, though he didn't know exactly why.

"Well, there's a black sheep in every family, and this was no exception. According to what Dad said, Mikasa's paternal uncle collected all his brother's bank accounts in his nephews' names, leaving them with nothing. He mortgaged the Ackerman's old house and Levi had to quit from police academy for a year to work and be able to maintain his sister. It was hard. Mikasa never spoke, never said anything, but her silence was enough to let me know that she wasn't having a good time."

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