#(and it’s just like mail trucks or people turning around in our driveway but i like to know)

[star-crossed-lizards]

i love my room it’s perfect for me and it’s just the right size and it’s dim when i want it to be and i have the ac and the tv in here and there’s a bed AND a chair so i even have options. what more could i want

[callsign-joyride]

Slice of Your Pie - Robert "Bob" Floyd

Summary: Bob moves into your neighborhood and you bake him a pie as a welcome gift. He comes over to thank you for it, and doesn't end up leaving your house until morning.

Pairing: Robert "Bob" Floyd x f!reader

Content warnings: Smut (18+, minors DNI), fingering, grinding, unprotected p in v (reader is on birth control), fluff

The nieghborhood that you lived in was small enough that you always knew when someone was moving in. You were enjoying your coffee on your porch when you saw a few trucks pull into the recently sold house right nextdoor. A few people stepped out of the first car, and some good looking guys got out of the moving trucks. You tried to subtly watch as they unloaded things into the house before walking down your driveway to get the mail. As you were checking the stack for anything that might’ve been junk mail, someone tapped you on the shoulder.

“Hey, I’m Bob. My friends are helping me move in, but I wanted to introduce myself before you went back inside,” he said. You smiled and introduced yourself, tucking the mail under one of your arms to shake his hand. You learned that he was in the Navy, and that he loved Star Wars. That fact made you smile, since your pajamas were currently a Princess Leia shirt and athletic shorts. 

“Hurry up, Bob! This couch isn’t gonna unload itself!” Someone yelled.

“That’s Coyote. I gotta go, but it was nice talking to you.”

“Wait, Bob, do you like pie? I can make you one if you want.”

“Sure! Key lime is my favorite.”

“That’s perfect. I have a lime tree in my backyard. Oh, and my lemon tree occasionally hangs over your property so feel free to pick a few lemons whenever.”

“Thanks! I have a really good lemonade recipe so I might have to take you up on that.”

You went back inside and looked at the recipe in your grandmother’s cookbook and realized that you didn’t have the right limes for the pie. Getting them was easy, though, it just took a trip to the grocery store. The good thing was that it was a Saturday, so you had the day off from running your family’s business. It was a bookstore and cafe, and all of the pastries came from your grandmother’s cookbook. There had been talks of turning it into a bar at night, but that was going to be a long process. 

Making the pie only took about forty minutes, but you had to let it cool in the fridge for at least a few hours. All of the moving trucks were gone, now replaced with a few cars in the driveway. You could hear laughter coming from the backyard, and it made you happy, because the last neighbors were close to the end of their lives and didn’t have guests over very often. 

You were able to drop the pie off at around 6, and Bob had mentioned that everyone was getting ready to eat and that it would be the perfect desert. He even invited you to join the cookout, but you had already ordered a pizza and the delivery driver was on their way. You exchanged numbers before you went back to your house so that you could keep talking. Once you had disappeared from ear shot, Fanboy started talking about how hot he thought you were. 

“Don’t make it weird. She probably has a boyfriend or something,” Bob said.

“I don’t think so. She spent her day making you a pie. A day that she could’ve spent with her boyfriend, might I add,” Phoenix said.

“But that’s the neighborly thing to do. Bring the new neighbor a pie or casserole. My mom always did it for our neighbors.”

“Most people aren’t working on Saturdays. I’m just saying that if I didn’t have to work and I had a boyfriend or girlfriend, I’d be spending my day with them. Anyway, let’s try this pie.”

Everyone had a slice of it after they finished with dinner. Even Hangman, who didn’t really like desert to begin with. Rooster thought it was so good that he kept coming back for seconds and thirds, soon passing out on Bob’s couch from all of the food that he ate. Bob waited for mostly everyone to leave before he texted you to see if you were still awake, since it was almost midnight. To his surprise, you responded that you were still awake, and you got too invested in your book so you lost track of time. He was at your door within five minutes, and you had a different set of pajamas on.

“Hey, I wanted to thank you for the pie that you made. My friends and I thought it was delicious.”

“You’re welcome! Would you like to come in for a drink? I was just about to pour myself another glass of wine.”

“Sure.”

Bob followed you inside and took his shoes off by the door. You poured him a glass of wine before sitting on the couch and using your phone to play soft music. As you got to know each other more, you discovered that you had a lot in common, and you were both single. The dim lighting of the living room, combined with the wine and music, made the sexual tension stronger. He told a bad joke, but you started laughing anyways. He used that as his moment to gently kiss you.

You were into it right away, pulling him closer by wrapping your arms around his neck. He groaned into the kiss as he slipped his tongue in your mouth and you started grinding on his hard cock. He broke the kiss for a moment to take his shirt off, and you quickly followed. He put his hands on your tits as you continued to grind on his cock. 

“I’d love to continue this, but can we go to your bed? I’ve never really been a fan of having sex on a couch,” he said. You chuckled and grabbed his hand, leading him upstairs to your bedroom. He laid you on the bed, continuing to kiss you as he took your shorts and underwear off. He rubbed your clit and started to finger you while you were moaning and writhing underneath him.

“God, you’re so wet,” he said. 

“It’s all for you. Holy shit, it feels so good,” you moaned.

Once he figured out that you were ready enough for him, he took his shorts off and threw them by the bed. 

“I don’t have a-,”

“I have an IUD and I’m clean.”

“Okay. You ready?”

You nodded and felt him slowly push himself into you. You moaned in pleasure and pulled him down to kiss you as he started thrusting faster. You could tell that he was close as he started rubbing your clit so that you could both release at around the same time. The fire in your stomach was burning hotter until you finally released, and Bob quickly pulled out before releasing on your stomach. He rolled over and reached for the box of tissues that you kept by your bed before cleaning both of you up.

“Do you want to stay the night?” You asked. He chuckled and nodded his head, cuddling with you until both of you fell asleep. When you woke up the next morning from your alarm going off, Bob was still holding onto you.

“I have to be at work in an hour and a half,” you said.

“Oh, okay. Do you want me to make you something to eat or some coffee?”

“No, I usually have my breakfast at work. Thanks for the offer, though. Do you want to shower together?”

Bob nodded his head and followed you to the bathroom. The shower was intimate, but not sexual, something that you enjoyed.

With your bag over your shoulder, you stepped outside of the house and walked to your car.

“I really enjoyed last night. Maybe we could go out on an actual date next time, though,” you said. Bob started blushing, and he stammered out a “yes” while nodding his head. You chuckled and got into your car to go to work. The day went by quickly as you did multiple things around the little bookstore. Not very many customers came in, but it was a Sunday, so people were usually doing other things. You heard the bell of the door ring as someone walked in, so you finished putting copies of Frankenstein on the shelves before heading to the front of the store.

“Hi, can I help you with anything?” You asked as you walked to the register. Bob was standing there, smiling.

“I didn’t know that you worked here,” he said as he tried not to laugh.

“I own the place, it’s my family’s business.”

“Oh, nice. I guess I’ll have to come by more often, then.”

“Yeah, I guess you will.”

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[bluecollarmcandtf]

Special Delivery

"Babe! He's here!" I yell to my husband. Peaking between the blinds, I study the delivery worker as he comes up the driveway.

His name is Michael, and he's a bit of a local celebrity on our street. Just about every housewife in the neighborhood savors the arrival of his big delivery truck, and none of them hesitate to fetch him water or a snack.

He of course indulges the women, but Michael never wastes time at our house.

"Really!" my husband calls back, "Let me see."

Together we study the shredded delivery guy as he marches towards our front door.

"He always looks angry," my partner notices.

"Only when he's at our house, babe," I remind him, "I can get the door."

"No, I can get it."

We squabble over who's going to greet the delivery man until the doorbell rings and we open it together. I'll admit, we may have appeared a little eager when he finally saw us.

"Package," he grunts, barely looking our way.

"Thank you!" I reply cheerily, "It's a hot day. I can get you some water."

"No," he looks a bit disgusted by the offer.

"You sure?" my husband adds.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Michael's veins bulge, "I wouldn't accept anything from you! Pathetic excuses for men."

After aggressively throwing our package to the floor, he stomps off, back to his delivery truck.

"That was rude," I'm at a lack for words, "I guess you really never know a guy."

I turn to see my husband's pleading eyes.

"Can I?" he asks.

"Definitely."

His irises roll into the back of his head as his consciousness leaves his body. I catch him before he falls and begin dragging his limp frame towards the sofa. I'm a bit of a scrawny guy so I only manage to move him a few feet.

"Could I help you with that, sir?" I hear a deep voice ask.

Michael is back, only this time, he's smiling brilliantly and posing with his arms on his waist like he's some cheesy superhero.

"Thank you!" I cry as Michael effortlessly picks up my husband and gently lays him across the couch.

"Just doing my job, sir," he reports with a mockingly deep voice, "It's a good thing your hubbie is unconscious right now. I wouldn't want him seeing what I'm about to do to you."

"Stop goofing around, babe," I chuckle.

"I'm not goofing around," my husband exaggerates through Michael's voice, "I'm the big, strong delivery guy. I wear tight shirts and put on a show while I deliver your mail!"

He pairs each word with a new flexing pose.

"Now, about that glass of water, sir," Michael purrs, stepping so close to me that I almost fall back, "This boy is thirsty, and only you have what I need to quench it."

I almost collapse, but my husband quickly grabs me and cradles me in Michael's bulging arms.

A couple hours later, after we'd thoroughly explored our delivery man's body, we got dressed and went out to the park. My husband found the skimpiest outfit to stretch over Michael's ridiculously defined muscles.

"People are staring," I whisper.

"Let them stare," Michael loudly announces, "I don't care if they see me. I'm just a bottom slut out on a stroll with his boyfriend."

I can't help but chuckle as my husband laughs with Michael's mouth. I doubt such words have ever escaped the delivery man's lips.

"Michael?" a confused voice calls behind us.

Turning we find a group of similarly athletic men tossing a football around.

"I thought you were working?" the worried athlete asks, "And what are you wearing?"

"I wear whatever he wants," Michael throws a heavy arm around me, "If you'll excuse me, he doesn't like it when I go too long without physical contact."

My husband turns and plants a big smooch on my lips with Michael's mouth, pulling away only to whisper, "Slap my ass! I think that'll really blow their minds."

We continue our passionate display of affection for awhile while I aggressively grope Michael's muscle butt beneath his tiny shorts. His former friends eventually leave the park, muttering insults his way. Meanwhile I lose myself further in the paradise that is our delivery man's homophobic mouth.

My date with Michael has been fun, but I'm ultimately much happier to return home to my husband, leaving the delivery man scantily clad and confused in the middle of the park.

I doubt he'll get fired. Guys like him can usually talk their way out of consequences, so maybe he'll be a little more respectful the next time he delivers us a package.

[collecting-stories]

Cardigan - Rafe Cameron

Request: heyy for the ts anthology, can u do one for cardigan with rafe? love ur writing🤍 

TS Anthology Series | Outer Banks Masterlist

_ . ◦ ⭐︎:*.☾.*:⭐︎◦∙._

The summer you turned thirteen was the same summer your dad showed up again. Driving the same lemon of a car that he’d pulled out of the driveway in when you were six, he looked like he hadn’t aged. Or maybe you just didn’t remember him all that well because his face felt the same but you were different. When you missed your best friend’s birthday, a trip to the gymnastics gym on the mainland and a towering cake with fondant replicas of all her favorite things, she was rightly pissed.  

Thirteen felt monumental, like the movie the two of you had snuck onto your mom’s Verizon bill, and you had both made a pact that you would be there for each other no matter what. That promise included birthdays and, more seriously, dads who showed up after seven years of radio silence because they didn’t want to “miss anything else”. But you didn’t mention your dad because hers was so great and you felt a little like you were floating on an island and no one could understand you enough to reach it. But then you missed her birthday and she swore not to speak to you and that felt more crushing than the dad thing until her brother stepped in. Always the one playing referee in when you fought, Rafe was a few years older and, in your mind, a lot smarter.  

It felt pretty important that an older boy would make the time to talk to you, especially when he had to know that his sister was avoiding you at all costs. He’d just gotten his permit and, like any good brother, showed up in the car he wasn’t supposed to drive with a minor in the passenger seat, to take you around the island for the afternoon.  

“My mom said she thinks we’re gonna move.” You mentioned, less casually than you would’ve hoped. The windows in the truck were rolled down and you had your legs up, feet placed precariously on the window ledge. There was a particularly nasty bruise on your knee from falling off your skateboard three days ago and a few short hairs you’d missed shaving. You were relatively new to both shaving and skateboarding so there were bound to be mistakes, you just wished they were less visible.  

“Off the island?” Rafe asked, concern etched into his tone. You assumed the concern was for his sister, what would Sarah do if you moved? Who would put up with all her antics?

You shook your head, “to the cut.”

“Why?”

“She can’t afford the house on her own anymore and my dad has been lousy with child support.” You repeated back all the things she had said to you. Why she didn’t take him to court like the other kid in your grade with divorced parents was beyond you. Rose told her that it was the only way to ensure he paid what he was supposed to but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to hold him accountable.  

Can’t believe you’re gonna be a pogue.” He said it like it meant something worse than you moving to the mainland.

“It’s not forever. My grandma’s house is there, we’re gonna stay with her until we can get back up on our feet.” You shrugged, “at least my dad’ll stay away then.”

But you dad wasn’t the only one who kept their distance. It felt like the distinction over your mother’s life choices held a greater impact on your friends than they had let on. A year into pogue life and Rafe seemed to disappear almost completely. It had always been an odd kind of friendship in the first place but you’d thought that it could’ve withstood a change in address.  

Sarah kept in touch, unbothered by labels or mailing addresses. She’d been to your grandma’s a hundred times before you moved and she continued to go there to see you after. The two of you played in the backyard, doing tricks on the trampoline until gossiping about kids at school became more important than cartwheels. You’d lay there whispering as if someone might overhear, telling each other stories from the week that you were separated. Rafe always came to pick her up, staying in the car and honking the horn for her but never coming over to see you.  

It felt a little lonely even though you technically retained most of your friends.  

-

In tenth grade you got the role of Eponine in the teen camp production of Les Miserables that the local theatre was putting on. You were technically sharing the role with another girl your age but you couldn’t help being excited nonetheless. The boy playing Marius was in two of your classes, a senior who had lofty city dreams and a nice smile. He flirted almost constantly with you, brushing your hair back, telling you how pretty you were, inviting you out after practice. You told Sarah you were “pretty sure” you were on your way to having your first real boyfriend.  

But maybe the ominous casting of Eponine over your life should’ve been hint enough that things weren’t destined to work out that way. The boy who played Marius had an actual girlfriend, home from vacationing with her family in time to watch her boyfriend on stage, and you were supposed to accept that he was just “connecting to the character” when he was with you. Either way, your On My Own struck a different chord in you and after the show was over you didn’t join the other cast members in the lobby to greet people.  

“So when you get to New York...do I get to leak all those videos of you and Sarah doing your Genie in a Bottle routine?” Rafe asked, pulling a chair next to you at the makeup table. Yours was halfway off but you’d stopped scrubbing at your face to stare at yourself in the mirror. Self-pity was a powerful procrastinator.

“You’re supposed to be in the lobby.” You pointed out, ignoring his comment, “I look like a ghost raccoon that just climbed out of a dumpster.  

“Now there’s an analogy.” He laughed and picked up the cotton pads you had sitting on the counter, soaking one in micellar water and turning your head to face him.  

You bit your bottom lip as you tried to keep your composure. It’d been a while since you and Rafe had been alone and last time he was just your best friend’s cute older brother. Too old for you and way out of your league but you were fifteen now and seventeen didn’t feel so far away.  

But Sarah was your best friend and she would be mortified if she found out that you had even entertained the idea of her brother, let alone had serious thoughts about it.  

“I’m sorry,” you said as he swiped the cotton pad over your cheek.

“What for?”  

“I know we’re all supposed to go out tonight for dinner but I kinda just wanna go home.” You replied.  

“Sarah might’ve let it slip about-”

You groaned, “don’t even say his name.” You weren’t sure if it was embarrassment at having let yourself totally believe he liked you but hearing Rafe bring it up made you feel even worse.

“Hey, you’re so much better than that loser,” He insisted, “I’ll beat the crap outta him though, just say the word.”

-

It was that same year, just as school was ending, that you turned sixteen. A short stay in the cut at your grandma’s house had helped your mom get back on her feet. A new job, better than the one that let her go, afforded a moderately sized house back on Figure Eight and a birthday with all the friends that had left the two of you behind.  

Sixteen felt a little more important than thirteen had, especially because, for two whole weeks, time suspended and you were technically only a year younger than Rafe. You still hadn’t told Sarah that you liked her brother, though she did seem a little suspicious when the crush on your co-star dissipated almost overnight. The boys of the past had no hold over your growing infatuation with Rafe. Maybe it was foolish but you couldn’t help thinking that maybe it wasn’t.  

Especially not when he showed up at your house the same way he had when you were thirteen, though this time he had his actual license and not just a permit. He told you it was birthday drive around the island, that he was in charge of stalling you while Sarah set up a surprise party at your house.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to tell me that it’s a surprise.” You teased, sipping at the iced coffee that Rafe had brought you when he picked you up. You swished the ice around once before sipping again.  

“It’s a party either way.” Rafe replied, shrugging his shoulder.  

“So, we’re just driving around until she texts you?” You asked. Rafe turned into the Island Club, circling the parking lot once and then turning back around.  

“I’m yours until Sarah says otherwise.” He said, the words erupting butterflies in your stomach. You could practically feel yourself heat up thinking about what those words could mean if he wasn’t just your best friend’s brother.  

“Well...then do you wanna go to the beach?” You suggested, “Jaxon showed me this really cool spot on the south side that’s practically hidden.”

“Jaxon?” Rafe sounded judgmental when he said the other boy’s name, whether he meant to or not.  

“Yea, we’ve been on a couple dates. You know him, he took me to prom,” you supplied, thinking of the way Rafe had sulked on the staircase while you and Sarah had gotten your pictures taken on the front lawn of Tanney Hill. The last picture in the bunch, despite his sulkiness, was of you and Rafe. You’d asked and he had obliged, coming down onto the porch to take a picture with you before everyone left for the dance.  

It was your favorite picture, even more than the countless ones of you and Sarah or the few of you and Jaxon. He was just a place holder anyway, someone to take your mind off the thing you couldn’t have. Not that it was working, especially when you were driving around with Rafe at the moment.  

“I remember him.” Rafe replied, “so this special part of the beach?”

“It’s so pretty.” You confirmed, “Sarah and I went there a couple weeks ago but she only ever wants to sunbathe.”  

“Don’t say it like you’re surprised.” He said, pulling his car off to the side of the road when you told him to.  

You were out of the car first, letting the door fall shut behind you as you headed up the wooden ramp to the beach. The drop off at the top was a little steeper here than anywhere else, the beach mostly desolate. You stopped at the top of the walkway, turning back to wait for Rafe. He was standing at the bottom of the ramp staring up at you.  

“Are you coming up or what?” You called.  

“Yeah,” he nodded, walking up the path to you.  

“I know Sarah’s planning a big birthday for me, but I’d much rather have this...” you admitted, “just like, coming out to the beach with you...”  

“Oh yeah?” He asked, grinning down at you.  

“Don’t tell Sarah,” you joked, “she’ll be mad-”

“Why, cause I’m your favorite Cameron?”

Maybe it was being sixteen or maybe it was that you were feeling particularly bold, out here on the beach with just Rafe, no threat of prying eyes to interrupt you. Either way, you had been thinking about telling him for a while now and it felt like the time...even if getting rejected ran the risk of ruining your birthday.  

“I know I’m just Sarah’s best friend but...I really like you Rafe.” You said, “and I know it’s like a million to one that you like me back but I just felt like I would explode if I didn’t tell you.” You waited a beat for him to say something and when he didn’t you kept talking, “Sorry, I know this is so weird-”

“It’s not weird.” Rafe cut you off, “I’m just shocked that you seriously think I only see you as Sarah’s best friend.” His tone was teasing as he brushed a piece of hair behind your ear and cupped your cheek. “You’re so much more than that.”

-

It was Sarah who told you, days before your eighteenth birthday. She’d seen Rafe with someone else when her family took a weekend trip out to Chapel Hill to see a game. There was a girl there, hanging all over her brother. He swore she was just a friend, told Sarah not to tell you, but Sarah wasn’t dumb and she wouldn’t help her brother cover up an indiscretion. So she told you flat out that her brother was cheating on you.  

When Sarah first found out that you and Rafe were dating, she had been as mad as her thirteenth birthday. How could you go behind her back and date her brother? The anger dissipated slowly, over the course of the summer it became clear that were not going to leave her in the dust for Rafe. She wasn’t wholly supportive of the relationship but she was supportive of you and if Rafe was who you wanted to be with than she’d be happy for you.  

But if she had to choose, it would always be you over Rafe.  

“I didn’t want to tell you, I really thought about not saying anything but...you deserve to know.” It was the justification she used as your face fell, all the giddiness from planning your eighteenth birthday fading in the blink of an eye.  

“He cheated?” And it felt like a punch to the gut. “Are you sure?”

“He said she was just a friend but...I don’t hang on my friends like that.” Sarah remarked.  

You fiddled with the phone in your lap, Sarah’s comments turning over in your head. You could refute them, tell her that you’d just talked to him the night before and he told you how excited he was to see you, how much he loved you. He’d used the word love...that had to mean something right? You could call him, ask him straight away if he was actually cheating, but you suspected that he would only lie to you. And if he wasn’t cheating, if he did tell the truth, would you believe him? Sarah was your best friend and once she had planted the seeds of doubt in you, they seemed to flourish there.  

You didn’t say anything else about it to Sarah that night and when Rafe called to talk, like he always did, you pretended that everything was fine. But that could only last for so long. A week before your party, on the same special part of the beach that Rafe had first kissed you, things ended. Rafe had sworn to Sarah that the girl at school was just a friend but he couldn’t lie to you, and he didn’t try to either.  

“It was a mistake,” he insisted, as if it was the type of thing you could brush off.  

“But you still made it.” You replied.  

“I didn’t mean to.” Rafe didn’t have any good reasons for why he had cheated on, only that he had and that, since you now knew, he was apologetic. “I don’t even talk to that girl anymore. She meant nothing to me.”

“Obviously she meant more than we did.”  

Rafe had been it for you for a long time. He seemed so out of your league and you had thought a million times that you would’ve done anything for him. He was the ideal for everything that you wanted and for a while, when you had it, had him, it had felt like a dream. But now you were waking up to reality and it wasn’t a sunset on the beach.  

“I love you.” He said it like it was something you were neglecting to remember.  

“Not enough.”  

[snusbandxknifewife]

Not me seeing this post:

And starting an entirely new Jurdan AU based on it lmao. Rated E for “Excessive Mentioning Of Sex Toys”

~~~

Dun dun.

Jude looks up as the front door of her father’s business, Lawn & Order, opens. The bell, added by her eldest sister in an effort to annoy their father, has been going off all day. Work is piling up on the receptionist desk and she curses to herself, knowing that more paperwork means less time outside.

A USPS delivery man walks in, hauling a hand truck nearly overflowing with boxes. Sweat drips down his face, pooling at his collar as Jude decides that maybe a little time in the AC isn’t too bad on a day as hot as this one.

“Sign here,” the obviously exhausted man says as he turns a clipboard towards her.

Funny, Madoc didn’t tell her they’d be getting a delivery today.

Still, she shrugs and absentmindedly signs the clipboard as the man unloads the hand truck with a dramatic groan. She should get up and help him, and, on any other day, she probably would. But today is for licking wounds and pouting.

The clock ticks quietly as Jude considers how she has to file papers and phone customers and clean the shop, just to go home for family dinner where her sister will undoubtedly be moaning about her cheating ass of an ex.

Not sure why she’s surprised, considering he cheated on JUDE with HER.

Taryn and Locke had been a thing officially for only three months, but they’d been sleeping together behind Jude’s back for much longer than that. The very idea makes her skin crawl and she would much rather spend her valuable time cutting someone’s lawn with nail clippers instead of playing nice with her poor heartbroken witch of a twin.

“Have a good one!” Jude clocks back into reality as the USPS man walks out the door, taking his hand truck with him and leaving her to the quiet of the AC unit and the court room tv playing in the corner.

Sighing, she gets up from her leather stool and walks around the counter to pick up the boxes. They look innocent enough, simple white USPS priority mail boxes that she expects to contain samples of seeds or maybe replacement weed whacking string trimmers. She could use some of those, the weed whacker she takes in her truck hasn’t been working as well as usual and Mrs. Mitsgunmins is kind of an asshole about precision.

She lets out a groan as she picks up the top two. The boxes are a lot heavier than she thought they’d be. Puzzled, she sets the two boxes on the counter, leaving behind the other two as she goes on a hunt for some scissors. Making it almost to her father’s office, she cusses audibly as she remembers the hunting knife she keeps in her boot.

It’s been a long fucking day.

Jude hums along to a commercial as she walks back to the counter, pulling out her knife along the way and slicing the tape of the top box. With a whistle, she opens the box and frowns at finding a bunch of little cardboard boxes stuffed inside. What the hell did Madoc order?

Her whistling stops in horror as she picks up one of the packages and spins it around, only to find bold neon print plastered along the front: XXX RECHARGEABLE NIPPLE CLAMPS

“WHAT THE FUCK?” Jude screeches at the top of her lungs as she drops the box and jumps back. Why the hell does her father need some hundred-or-so sets of rechargeable nipple clamps? Why do nipple clamps even need to be charged in the first place?

Taking a moment to steel herself, Jude moves towards the second box—staying as far away from the nipple clamps as possible—and reads the label for an explanation.

Ohhhh, these are for next door. The delivery man must’ve mixed up the addresses.

Letting out a sigh of relief, she pushes the nipple clamps back into their box and closes the lid, checking the other labels and seeing that all four boxes are meant for next door and thanking her lucky stars that Madoc didn’t suddenly decide to get his kink on.

Looking out across the driveway to the innocuous white building beside Lawn & Order, she rolls her eyes. The Sinful Serpent—complete with its shimmering golden apple sign—has been the bane of her father’s existence since it opened a year ago. Every day she has to hear about how he hates sharing space with some gross sex shop. While adult stores aren’t really Jude’s thing, she hasn’t cared too much because she hasn’t had to interact with the store or owner.

Until, she supposes, today.

She stacks the boxes back up and picks them all up with a grunt, thankful for the workout routine that her work provides as she curses the delivery man for taking his hand truck with him.

Only one car is in the parking lot of the sex shop and she celebrates the fact that nobody will see her going into the store. The last thing she needs is people recognizing her workplace on her shirt and bothering her or her dad. It’s already bad enough listening to old men ogle her when she goes to do landscaping work.

The front door is hooked up to an electronic bell that sounds like the twinkle of magic. As she pushes her way into the Sinful Serpent, she lets out a sound of surprise. Whatever she expected a sex shop to look like, this certainly isn’t it.

The entire store is decorated to look like a forest at twilight, with displays cut into bookshelves that look like giant trees and murals depicting faeries dancing through delicate nature landscapes wrapping around the walls. The lighting is low, except for where spotlights illuminate the wares. Over along one wall, by where the lingerie and exotic dancing costumes are, is a stage with a pole, the whole area bathed in blue light and covered in decor like coral. Between the entrance and exit door, the area for the registers resembles a castle.

“Give me a moment,” a voice calls out from within the castle. “I’ve got to check your ID.”

Jude panics, the very suggestion that she might be a customer in a store like this sending her brain into red alert. “I’m not here to shop!”

“The hell you here for then? Last I checked we didn’t have a gloryhole.”

She all but screams, short circuiting at being faced with a worse option than shopping at a store like this. As she tries to think of what to say, a young man pops up from behind the counter and surveys her, his kohl-lined eyes narrowed as he tries to figure out what her deal is.

He’s dressed in all black, his button up shirt undone halfway down his chest, exposing edges of tattoos that she doesn’t study enough to identify. His bottom lip and septum are pierced, as are his ears—which appear to have been elfed, because they end in sharp points. When he crosses his arms in front of his chest, his fingers are covered in glittering rings.

And he’s grinning at her.

“I uh, um,” she shakes her head, and then remembers the heavy boxes she’s hauled all the way over. “I work next door and, uh, the mailman,” she trails off again, her cheeks flaming as she lowers her voice and mutters, “I think he mixed up our addresses.”

His smile widens and his eyes look dangerous as he tilts his head. “And why would you think that?”

She glares at him and he chuckles lowly.

“We didn’t order these.”

“Can you be sure?” He asks, raising one painted nail to tap thoughtfully against his chin. “A landscaping company and adult entertainment store must have some overlap. Ropes and chains come to mind.”

“We don’t need rechargeable nipple clamps!”

“Everybody needs rechargeable nipple clamps,” he counters, his smirk replaced by reverent intensity.

She lets out a frustrated noise and slams the boxes on the counter, her back cracking in protest. “I don’t!”

“Woah! Stow the seriosity, Sunshine,” he lifts his hands in mock surrender. “I’m just playing with you.”

Grinding her teeth and digging her nails into her palms, she does her very best to keep from choking him out as he leans across the counter, his falling shirt collar exposing a necklace with a snake pendant hanging at his sternum.

She goes to spin on her heel and leave, but stops when a door—hidden behind a painting of a faun and nymph doing unspeakable things—opens, revealing a pretty young woman with blue hair pulled up into a messy bun.

“Cardan I can’t find the damn nipple clamps. I thought they were supposed to be delivered today?”

“Don’t worry, Nic,” the young man calls back with a smile. “Sunshine here brought them over.”

Jude, bristling at the title, misses how the woman momentarily blanches when she lays eyes on her. Quickly recovering and putting on a stony face, she walks over to the castle counter and inspects the opened box.

“You look familiar,” she observes and Jude zeroes in on her carefully cool tone. “Don’t you work at that coffee shop downtown? Bean There, Done That?”

“You’re thinking of my twin, Taryn.” Jude bites her tongue, doing her beat to avoid sounding annoyed at being confused with that backstabbing little—

“Sunshine here is our neighbor, Nicasia,” Cardan cheerfully announces. “She got our order and was kind enough to haul it over.”

“My name is Jude,” she grumbles.

He ignores her, leaning in conspiratorially and stage whispering in Nicasia’s ear. “She has insisted that she doesn’t need rechargeable nipple clamps, so surely they must belong to us.”

“Everyone needs rechargeable nipple clamps,” Nicasia whispers back.

“That’s what I said!”

Jude, rooted in place from the pure horror of listening to this conversation, watches as Cardan picks up a pair of scissors and opens a second box; pulling out a pair of fuzzy pink handcuffs and grinning when he notices her watching him. Nicasia raises a perfectly groomed brow at the situation before grabbing the box of nipple clamps and heading to restock the shelves.

Once again, he leans forward, fingers spinning the handcuffs around as he smirks at her. “Now that the packages are handled, what can I do you for?”

Jude frowns, sure that he misspoke. It’s then that her phone goes off and she celebrates any excuse to get the fuck out.

Emergency situation at Dr. Wullworth’s. Need you to take over cutting at the Collethes. -Madoc

“I’m good, I’ve got a lawn to trim,” she says, turning off her phone and tucking it back into her pocket.

“Awe, Sunshine, you ain’t gotta clean up for me.”

She tilts her head in confusion before shrugging and turning to leave.

“Gotta go out the other door, Sunshine,” he sighs, almost like he’s disappointed. Weird.

Jude still tries the door, but it won’t open from this side, so she grabs ahold of her pride and walks around the castle counter, moving as quickly as she can and keeping her head down to avoid getting any further education.

“Bye,” she waves her hand awkwardly as she hits the exit door.

“Bye, Sunshine.”

~~~~~

Mostly setup for the AU. Yes all the last names are keysmashes. Yes I did go on early 2 bed’s website and choose random buttons until I found a sex toy that seemed a little odd. (The nipple clamps are rechargeable because they vibrate.) Big thanks to the discord server for helping me with ideas!

Tag list: @cardan-greenbriar-tcp @hizqueen4life @slightlyrebelliouswriter23 @thewickedkings @aelin-queen-of-terrasen @cheekycheekycheeks @queen-of-glass @b00kworm @doingmyrainbow @andromeddea @jurdanhell @thesirenwashere @illyrianwitchling @courtofjurdan @clockworkgraystairs @st00pid231 @booksandlewks @fateandluminary

Let me know if you want to be tagged!

[amyfevernight]

Ed-Sona 5: An Ed is Born

decided to do an ed-sona of my favorite episode, “An Ed is Born”. Very long, seven pages.

===

[Sojiro is crawling along the sidewalk, sniffing as he goes. He crawls over Mishima.] Mishima: "Hiya, Sojiro! What'cha doing there, guy?" Sojiro: "Silence! I must brood." [Sojiro follows the trail to Kamoshida's house, which he enters, still crawling. He comes to the basement steps and falls down them. He looks through a keyhole into Kamoshida's room. Inside, Kamoshida has his bathtub filled with water and Morgana wearing a diving mask is floating in it.] Madarame: [worried] "Kamoshida, this is so wrong! Sojiro's sure to discover his cat is missing!" [Sojiro enters.] Kamoshida: [to Morgana while he holds a hula hoop] "Here we go! Jump! You there, upsy-daisy!" [Sojiro sees Kamoshida with Morgana and gets mad.] Kamoshida: "Uhh...I think you have to go home now..." Madarame: "Please excuse Kamoshida, he meant-" Sojiro: [motioning for Madarame to stop, then, pleasantly] "Let me understand this. I suppose disgracing me is okay to you, Suguru-boy. Walking off with my cat like a fine howdy-do?" Kamoshida: "It was his idea, Sojiro. As he wanted to be the best cat he could be! Bless his cute little face." [Kamoshida suddenly notices Junya outside of his window, pushing a crate.] Sojiro: "Is that so, Suguru-boy?" [angry] YOU HAVE SQUEEZED AN ORANGE RIND IN THE EYE OF SOJIRO! RETURN THE CAT, OR I WILL-" [Sojiro gets hit by a crate flying down the stairs. The impact sends Sojiro flying out the basement window.] Kamoshida: "That concludes our lessons for today! Ta Ta! Same time tomorrow!" [Morgana exits by virtue of a ski pole leading to a window.] Junya: [coming down the stairs] "Hey guys, look at what my brother sent me! That big lug." Madarame: "Your brother sent you this?" Kamoshida: "I think his brother sent it to him, Madarame." Junya: "Check it out! I bet it's a car or something." Madarame: [reading the crate's label] "Why, this seems to be addressed to a 'Pipsqueak,' Junya. A pet name for his baby brother, I assume?" [Kamoshida and Madarame giggle.] Junya: "Yeah, so? That means head honcho in our house. Why else would he send me the key to a new truck?" [Junya holds up a pacifier. Kamoshida and Madarame laugh.] Junya: [realizing] "This is baby stuff! What's he think I am, a two year old?!" [He pulls out a rattle and shakes it.] Kamoshida: "Cool." [Junya chucks the rattle offscreen. Kamoshida runs after it.] Junya: [turning to the chuckling Madarame] "What are you lookin' at?" Madarame: [still giggling] "I'm sorry, Junya, but don't you think it's rather amusing that your brother still thinks of you as his baby brother?" Junya: [angry] "No! I HATE being a baby brother!" Madarame: [rolling his eyes] "OK, then." Kamoshida: [grabbing his friends] "Listen." [He shakes the rattle.] Junya: [getting an idea] "Hold your horses! I'll just show him how big I've gotten. Kamoshida, take me to the mailbox, pronto!" [Junya seals himself in the crate and Kamoshida carries him upstairs] Kamoshida: "Gotcha, Junya! Whoa, right over my head." Madarame: "Wouldn't it be easier just to mail a letter describing yourself, Junya?" [Kamoshida loses his balance on the top of the stairs and falls down with the crate crashing back down into the basement, bursting Junya out] "Why, if I were you, I'd write a book, a biography of sorts." Junya: "You don't get out much, do ya?" Kamoshida: "If I were me, I would make a home movie." Junya: "Kamoshida, that's it! We'll make a home movie! Madarame, you're the cameraman." Madarame: "But Junya, we don't have a-" Junya: "I'll be the exec. producer, exec. director, exec. writer and of course, the star." [In the background, Kamoshida reaches for something in his dryer] Madarame: "We can't shoot a movie without-" Junya: "Kamoshida can be...Kamoshida. We'll show my brother that Junya's all grown up!" Madarame: "You're forgetting something, Junya! We need a-" Kamoshida: [pulling a camcorder from his dryer and tossing it to Madarame] "Camera, static free." Madarame: "Why do you keep a camera in your dryer, Kamoshida?" Kamoshida: [oblivious] "What?" Junya: "There you have it." Madarame: "Well, we do have a camera." Junya: "Let's make a movie!" Kamoshida: "Can I lick the bowl?" Madarame: [trying to work the camera] "Kamoshida, do you have a manual for this?" Kamoshida: "Somewhere." === [Madarame is recording. A chair is sitting in Junya's driveway. Bags of money surround it.] Junya: [flying in out of nowhere onto the chair, wearing a mustache] "Hiya, bro! What's up? It's me, Junya, all grown up and livin' the life. Who'd have thought, huh? Check out my mustache." Madarame: "OK, cut. Uhh, we'll need to get a close up, Junya." Junya: "Um, how was that?"

[Madarame has moved in close.] Junya: "This thing's giving me a rash." Madarame: "Action!" Junya: "Looks like I inherited your genes for the face fur, huh bro? And you know what?"

[Madarame is back to his first position.] Junya: "Now?" Madarame: "Action." Junya: "And you know what? I'm loaded. Been investing for years; real estates, stocks, bonds. I've even bought me a couple of planets! Yep, already own Saturn and Pluto." [Madarame turns the camera on Kamoshida, who is sticking yen signs on trash bags.] Madarame: [sarcastic] "Oh, come now, Junya." Kamoshida: "Boy, being rich really stinks." [He throws one of the bags towards Junya's pile.] Junya: [turning the camera back to him] "What the heck are you doing?! Don't film that!" Madarame: [as Junya's mustache falls off] "Sorry, Junya; the planet baron story threw me off." Junya: "Cut, cut! How's my brother supposed to think I'm cool when you guys keep–" [Kamoshida shakes his head. It sounds like the rattle.] ===

[The three are walking along the sidewalk.] Madarame: "Action." Junya: "Unlike myself, the old neighborhood's still the same as you left it, bro. Hey, did I tell ya? I'm mayor now! Right, Kamoshida?" Kamoshida: [seeing Ren ride past] "Hi, Ren!" Junya: [stopping at a hydrant] "See that loser? That's Ren." [Ren appears behind Junya.] "He's the neighborhood dork. I have to slap him around every now and then, just to remind him who's boss." Madarame: "Junya..." Ren: "Neighborhood dork, huh?" [He wedgies Junya, pulling the underwear over the back of his bike.] "Hey, Madara-Dork! You getting this?" Junya: [trying to act cool] "He collects underwear and gives it to the poor." [Ren rides off, dragging Junya's underwear along. Junya grabs the hydrant to keep from being pulled off.] "Pretty stupid, huh bro?" [The tension becomes too great, and Junya is pulled away from the hydrant.] "Help!"

Junya: [being dragged] "SLOW DOWN, REN! I WAS JUST KIDDING! STOP! PLEASE!" [Junya's underwear snaps and he bounces on the road before landing in a heap.] Kamoshida: "Look at him bounce, Junya's brother!" Madarame: [worried] "Junya, are you all right?!"

Kamoshida: [offering Junya the rattle] "Boy, Junya! You deserve a shake for that." [Junya grabs the rattle from Kamoshida and throws it to the ground. He leaps on it in an attempt to destroy it, but instead slips on it and falls over.] Madarame: [sarcastic] "I must say, if I were your brother, I'd be very impressed." ===

[The filming has moved to the park. Madarame searches for his actors.] Madarame: [scared] "Junya, where are you?" Junya: "Over here, Spielberg." Madarame: [filming him] "There you are." Ryuji: "Race you to the swings, Ann!" Junya: "Hey, bro! Remember how you used to own the playground? Well, it's mine now. Check this out." Ann: "Outta the way, horse head! We wanna play on the swings!" Junya: "You know the drill: Cough up some dough, then swing." Ann: [outraged] "What'd you say?!" Madarame: "Ok, cut! Hold your positions please."

[Madarame positions the two new additions to the cast.] Madarame: "Ready, now. Oh, Ryuji, a little closer if you will. Fine. And cue set-" [Ann punches the camera and knocks it out of Madarame's hands. It falls on the ground and begins recording.] Madarame: [hurrying to pick it up] "Oh, dear." Ann: "Kamoshida! Get your stupid friends out of the way!" [Madarame picks up the camera and begins filming again.] Junya: "No use pleading for mercy, Ann. Kamoshida obeys only his supreme leader. That's me, bro." Kamoshida: "OK, Ann!" [Kamoshida grabs Junya.] Junya: "Umm...Kamoshida here is showing Ann what I'll do to her if she doesn't take a hiKE!!!" [Kamoshida throws Junya onto the swing-set pole. Junya's body elongates and wraps around it.] Kamoshida: "There you go, darling! Swing to your heart's content." Madarame: "Okay, people! A big smile for Junya's brother!" [Ann, pleased, complies with the director's request.] ===

[The three are on the street again. Madarame and Junya are on the sidewalk, despondently trying to think of something that will save the movie. Kamoshida is playing with the camcorder.] Kamoshida: "Hello, my name is Kamoshida." [He licks the camera's lens.] Junya: "Running out of ideas, Madarame. Think of something that'll make me look good." Madarame: [seeing Kamoshida] "Kamoshida, you be careful with that!" [no longer caring] "Oh, what do I care? It's his camera." Kamoshida: "Man the helms! Dive! Dive!" [Kamoshida swallows the camera. The screen goes black.] Madarame: "Kamoshida, what have you done? Open it! Open it!" [Kamoshida opens his mouth. The camera is positioned in his garbage filled stomach at such an angle that we can see Madarame, wearing surgical gloves.] "You should know better than to eat the camera. Just think what it will do to your digestive tract!" [Madarame reaches inside and takes the camera out.] Kamoshida: "Boy, I can't wait to see that part, Madarame." Madarame: "Yes, well, let's not and say we did, Kamoshida." Junya: "Come on, come on! I've got an impression to make here, remember?" [The three hear Kawakami humming. They look across the street and see her painting her nails.] Madarame: "Oh, my." Junya: [sweating on camera] "Hey look, it's my girlfriend, painting her nails for me. I think I'll go give her the pleasure of my company." [Junya approaches her gingerly. He sits on the curb a few feet away and slowly eases himself over to her side. He tries to put his arm around her; at this point, Kawakami notices him, and knocks him into a fire hydrant. Kawakami then notices the camera.] Kawakami: "Umm...Madarame, are you guys, like, making a movie or something?" Madarame: [tongue tied] "Kawakami...umm." Kamoshida: [focusing on the soaking Junya] "Not to worry, Junya's brother. I'll just dry him off!" Mishima: [appearing out of nowhere and snatching the camera] "Hey, buddy, what'cha got there? Is that a video camera?" Madarame: "Mishima, please! We're trying to make a movie." Mishima: "Back off! Hahahahahaha!" [He runs away.] Madarame: "Mishima, please!" Junya: [diving at Mishima] "Why, you little-!" Mishima: "Hahahaha–" [He gets hammered.] ===

[Madarame has the camera back. He focuses on Junya, who has finished burying Mishima. Junya sets down his shovel on Mishima's head and talks to the camera.] Junya: "He scares the birds away; what can I tell ya? Shall we continue with my charmed life?" [He looks offscreen.] "Well, what do you know? It's our international jet-setter, Sojiro." [Kamoshida comes onscreen, dressed in one of Sojiro's shirts, which has been pulled over his normal clothes. Kamoshida shakes the rattle.] Junya: "Hey, Sojiro! Tell my brother how important I am." [Junya notices the rattle and tosses it away.] Kamoshida: "I forget." [The rattle comes down offscreen and hits the real Sojiro, who is raking leaves, on the head. The three turn to see him shake his fist angrily.] Sojiro: "JUNYA-BOY!"

[Sojiro is chasing them. The camera catches only Kamoshida’s, Madarame’s and Junya's pounding feet with Sojiro chasing them down with a rake.] Sojiro: "Come back, cat thief!" Kamoshida, Madarame and Junya: "RUN AWAY!" ===

[The three have moved to the junkyard.] Madarame: "No backs to the camera please; it's rude, you know." Junya: "Shut up and roll. Remember this place, bro? The junkyard, your old hangout. All the kids are chicken to come here." [Kamoshida is shown looking around, scared. He clutches his rattle for protection.] Junya: "See? What'd I tell ya? But not me." Kamoshida: "Show yourself, mutant scamp laborer!" [He bangs on a wrecked car with the rattle.] Junya: "Yeah, uh...Kamoshida's just fixing my old car. It's not quite ready yet. Moving right along. You'll never guess what I'm building. It's an ultimate hard-boiled-egg-boiler. I've got big bucks invested in this gold mine." [Madarame cuts the camera. He starts again seconds later, from another angle.] Junya: "What?" Madarame: "Go on." Junya: "By simply tossing your-" [Madarame cuts the camera again. He moves to a new angle.] Junya: "–the combustion soon-" Madarame: "Look natural; stay with me." [Cuts again, new angle] Junya: "–uhh, thus rendering the egg-" [Madarame cuts the camera again and moves back to his original angle.] Junya: "–for all to enjoy." Madarame: "I'm creating dynamics, Junya." Junya: "Don't get arty on me, Madarame." [Junya opens the door to his boiler to show off the inside. He doesn't look in, and so doesn't see that Ohya, Lala and Chihaya are inside. Madarame and Kamoshida begin to shake.] Junya: "What are you doing?" Madarame: "C-C-CROSSROAD GIRLS!!!" Ohya, Lala and Chihaya: "Hiya, Junya!" [The Crossroad Girls pull Junya into the boiler. Kamoshida and Madarame try to pull him out.]

[Junya is half inside and half outside the hard-boiled-egg-boiler.] Kamoshida: "I gotcha, Junya!" Madarame: "Pull, Kamoshida!" Junya: "Get me out!" [Junya, covered in kiss marks, finally comes free, and he slams into the camera.] Kamoshida, Madarame and Junya: "RUN AWAY!" [Madarame picks up the camera and films as he runs. He turns around and takes a shot of the Crossroad Girls, who are waving at them.] Ohya: "We know where you live!" [Madarame tucks the camera into his arm so he can run better. The three' running feet are shown again.] Junya: "HELP ME! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" ===

[The filming has moved to Junya's room. Junya, clean of all kiss marks, lies on his bed, looking every bit the emperor, while cardboard cutouts mill about in his room.] Junya: "Hiya, bro! So anyways, here I am, all nice and safe in my cozy bachelor pad where all the losers show up to get my autograph. Yep, I'm that big, bro." [A bunch of the cardboard cutouts walk around, all being pulled by toy-trains.] Junya: "Look, it's Ren. The usual spot there, dork?" [He signs his name, then speaks for Ren, affecting an unnatural tone] "Sweet, Junya! You're cool, man." Madarame: [sure the charade won't fool anyone] "Oh, please." Junya: "And there's Mishima. Sign your shirt there, curly?" [Junya signs it. At that point, Kamoshida comes by, sprinkling cat food on the ground.] Kamoshida: "He’s hungry again, Junya!" [Junya grabs Kamoshida's neck.] Junya: [through gritted teeth] "So feed him over there!" [Sojiro is shown coming into the house in the background. He is sniffing the floor, following a trail.] Junya: "So, bro; as you can see, I'm a big shot now. No more beatin' up little Junya, hey, big brother?" [Sojiro stands beside Junya, waiting for the con-man to notice him.] Madarame: "Junya! Sojiro!" Junya: "Sojiro? Did I forget to sign Sojiro? There ya go, stretch." [Junya signs Sojiro's face. Sojiro looks miffed, but then becomes enraged.] Sojiro: [angry] "YOU HAVE VANDALIZED MY FACE, AND YOU HAVE-" [A duplicate of Sojiro comes by. Sojiro picks it up, revealing it to be a cardboard statue carried by Morgana.] Sojiro: "AND YOU HAVE STOLEN MY CAT YET AGAIN?!" [seeing Madarame filming] "Are you stealing my soul with your film box?!" Madarame: [nervous] "Why, of course not, Sojiro! What gave you that impression?" Sojiro: "That’s it! I’ve had enough!" Junya: "Wait, we can work this out!" [Punching sounds are heard and Junya is thrown into a wall, destroying some of the cardboard kids as he smashes through them. Morgana runs amuck.] Sojiro: "Return the cat!" Kamoshida: [running off] "WAAAAAAHHHH!" Sojiro: "RETURN HIM!" [Sojiro storms toward Kamoshida and Junya. Meanwhile, Morgana goes berserk and runs towards Madarame.] Madarame: "Shoo! Go away! Don't touch me!" [Madarame gets knocked over, and the camera falls to the floor. The rest of the scene is filmed from this angle.] Sojiro: "Stop, I must punish you!" Junya: "Mommy!" Madarame: "I think your brother's got the picture, Junya." Junya: "AAAAAAHHHHH!" [The camera's batteries die and the camera shuts off, effectively ending the movie.]

[steviemae]

you’re back // sp

requested by anonymous: can i request one where you are Fangs’ childhood best friend but moved away in middle school. and when you can back you realized that Fangs was now part of the South side serpents. so, to hang with him, you would have to hang with all of them which fangs didn’t particularly like because he doesn’t want you to get wrapped up in their serpent business. however, you don’t listen and end up falling for sweet pea. (but in the end fangs supports you two being together)

You and Fangs met while you walked to Pop’s, which was right down the street from your house, to get you a milkshake. Your mother had given you some money to get one as a reward for your good grades that year. As you walked, you noticed the boy walking with his head down. Child you always hated seeing other kids upset so you walked over to him to make sure he was okay. You ended up using the money to buy him a milkshake instead of yourself. When you came home empty handed your mom asked what happened and you told her you bought one for someone who needed to be cheered up. He was your best friend ever since. And moving away from him was probably the most traumatic thing that had ever happened to you, or so your dramatic twelve year old mind thought.

“We’re what?” you asked not believing a word that just came out of your dad’s mouth.

“We’re moving back to Riverdale, sweetheart. I thought you would be happy about that considering you made sure to tell us everyday how much you hated it here.” your dad joked.

“Well, i didn’t think it would get me anywhere.” you said surprised.

“We’re not moving until the end of summer. It gives your mother and i time to close a deal on a house. We’ll be moved in right before school starts.” you dad explained. You nodded trying to contain your excitement to move back to Riverdale as you walked upstairs to your room.

About a month and a half later, you were packing up everything in your room to put into a moving truck that would be sent to your new house in Riverdale. As you packed everything away, you wondered if anyone was going to recognize you. You wondered if the same people you were friends with would jump at the chance to befriend you again. All of these scenarios and questions played through your head the entire time, building up the anxious feeling you didn’t think you’d ever have going back to such a familiar place. You hoped everything went well. Transferring in the middle of High School was hard considering everyone already had their friend groups all sorted out. You were diving in as the new girl despite having lived there before.

--

“Good luck, dear. I’m sure once everyone realizes who you are it’ll be fine.” your mom assured.

‘I hope they remember me.” you sighed. You grabbed your bag and headed out of the house to your car, heading straight for Riverdale High.

When you arrived, you went to the office to get your schedule and locker assignments. Everyone else got theirs in the mail and kept their old locker assignments from Freshman year, so thankfully it wasn’t a long wait. The secretary smiled at you and handed you everything you’d need and you set out to wander through the hallways by yourself, trying to keep your head down as to not gain attention from everyone.

You managed to get to your locker without anyone saying anything to you. You decided to put your bag away and head to the lounge, hoping to god you’d see a familiar face when you walked in and that the encounter wouldn’t be awkward.

You took a deep breath before you walked in, spotting literally everyone you used to be friends with, including Fangs, sitting around the lounge. You stood awkwardly in the doorway taking in how much everyone has changed over the last four years.

“Hi, stranger. You must be new. I’m Veronica Lodge.” a dark haired girl introduced as she got up from her spot and walked up to you. You heard a small giggle from behind the girl as Betty Cooper stepped around her and smiled widely at you.

“Betty Cooper. Still keeping up with the ponytail, i see.” you said as she pulled you in for a hug.

“It’s my brand.” she joked.

“Hi, i’m Y/n. Nice to meet you, Veronica.” you introduced when you finally pulled away from Betty. Everyone in the lounge had noticed now and were all slightly shocked to see you standing in the doorway. Fangs was actually in shock and not able to move from his seat until you locked eyes with him.

“You’re back.” he whispered pinching his arm dramatically to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, making you laugh.

You opened your arms wide, “you gonna come hug me or what?” you raised an eyebrow at him. A second later he was rushing over to you, wrapping his arms tightly around your waist and spinning you around like he always did.

Throughout the day, you caught up with quite a few people and of course, rekindled quite a few friendships. By the time school was finally over, you were exhausted. You trudged out the door and to your car when you spotted Fangs straddling a motorcycle in a leather jacket. That’s new. You thought. He turned his head as a taller guy he was talking to nodded your way. You smiled softly and waved at Fangs which he returned only he was waving you over.

“Never pegged you as a leather guy,” you said when you reached him, “or a motorcycle guy, though i guess things change over the span of four years.” you joked. You met eyes with the tall one who pointed you out ot Fangs and smiled at him and whispered a quick hi.

“I guess i should tell you before it gets blown out of proportion.” Fangs said, letting out a sigh and brushing a hand through his hair, “i’m a Serpent.”

“Okay.” you shrugged.

“That’s it?” he asked.

“That’s it,” you chuckled, “you know FP used to babysit me a lot when i was younger and he’s a Serpent. The leader if i remember correctly. I don’t care.”

“Well that was easy. You were shitting bricks trying to figure out how you were going to tell her.” the tall one laughed, “I’m Sweet Pea, Fangs’ best friend.”

“So you’re my replacement.” you raised and eyebrow.

“I wouldn’t say replacement, he’s a filler.” Fangs joked.

“Ouch.” Sweet Pea clutched his chest jokingly while you and Fangs laughed, “We’re having a bonfire in Tent City friday night. You should come.” Sweet Pea offered.

“Mmm i don’t think so.” Fangs answered before you could get a word out, “look, i’m glad you’re cool with me being a Serpent, but i don’t really want you to get tied up in anything.” he explained.

“I get it, Fangs. I won’t come if you don’t want me to.” you answered. You grabbed your phone out of your bag and checked the time, “i gotta get going. Mom and i are going shopping for things for the house so i’ll catch you guys later.” you waved as you walked away heading for your car.

You didn’t want to admit this to Fangs, but him not wanting you around his Serpent friend kind of hurt a little. You did understand where he was coming from with not wanting to get you involved in any of that, but in that moment you knew your friendship with Fangs was going to be limited and conditional and that’s what hurt you the most.

--

As you sat in the passenger seat listening to your mom talk about what she wanted to do with the house, you tried your best to not let the situation with Fangs put a damper on your mood.

“You should invite Fangs for dinner soon. We miss him almost as much as you did, you know.” your mom said. Fangs was like the son they never had and he looked to them as his parents too. You were so happy that your parents loved your best friend as much as you did.

“Sure mom. I’ll ask him at school tomorrow.”

She pulled into the driveway and you got out, helping her carry everything you guys bought, into the house. Dropping the last bag onto the counter you told her you were going to go for a walk.

As you walked, you found yourself walking down you old street, past Pop’s and right to the house you used to live in. It looked run down and covered in graffiti which made you a little sad to see. You walked up the stairs of the porch and through the front door, looking at everything that was left behind. You wondered if anyone ever bought it after you guys moved away, but judging by the furniture you guys left, you’d guess not.

“y/n, is it?” you jumped when you heard a deep voice behind you. You turned around and saw Sweet Pea standing in the doorway.

“Jesus, how can someone so large sneak up that easily on people!” you exclaimed.

“With lots of practice.” he chuckled, “what’re you doing here?” he asked.

“I was walking and found myself here.” you said looking around the living room, “i used to live here actually.”

“Sorry it looks like a dump now. During the riot, the Ghoulies either trashed or torched everything we had.” Sweet Pea apologized.

“Judging by the snake tattoo on your neck, you’re not a Ghoulie. Don’t apologize for things you didn’t do or had no control over.” you turned and walked up the stairs, wanting to see your old room. You heard Sweet Pea following behind you but didn’t say anything. When you walked through the doorway, you noticed that right by your old bed was the words Serpent Slut in black spray paint. You let out a scoffed laughed as you walked over to the bay window and sat down.

“Serpent Slut, huh? Is that common terminology nowadays?” you asked Sweet Pea who stood leaning against the door frame.

“Up until the Ghoulies disappeared it was, but  it's not really a thing anymore.”

“Who are the Ghoulies?” you asked. You have never heard of them before, even when you were living in Riverdale years ago.

“Our rivals. They were behind all of the drugs floating around through the Southside. They got arrested about a year ago because of us and when they got out, they wanted blood. Things got bad around here for a while. You moved back at the right time. Everything’s calmed down a bit.”

“How long have you known Fangs?” you asked.

“Our whole lives.” he answered nonchalantly.

“Why haven’t i met you before then?”

“Fangs never wanted you around us. He wanted nothing more than to protect you from the dark shit that happened in the Southside. Trust me, we knew all about you, but he didn’t want you to get caught up in our shit so he kept everything a secret.”

“Damn, sorry i called you my replacement.” you laughed.

“No worries.” you and Sweet Pea sat in silence in your old room for a bit watching as the sun set slowly. Before it got really dark you told Sweet Pea you better start walking home before you find yourself lost.

“I’ll walk you home.” he offered.

“That’s alright. Thank you though.”

“I wasn’t asking.” he said as he walked ahead of you and out of the house. You rolled your eyes but found a smile creeping on your face as you followed him out. The walk back to your house was filled with more of you and Sweet Pea trying to get to know each other. The two of you clicked instantly, and conversation just kind of came easy with you two. It felt nice to talk to Sweet Pea. he’d answer any questions about the Southside and the Serpents that you knew Fangs would completely ignore or blow over. You could see a lovely friendship blossoming between you and Sweet Pea, maybe even more.

After Sweet Pea had walked you home and made sure you were through the door, he turned around and headed back to Tent City where he was of course bombarded with questions from Fangs who had saw the two of you walking past Pop’s together.

“What did i tell you, Sweet Pea. i don’t want her getting into any of this. Things may be chill now but who the hell knows what’s going to happen next. Why were you even with her?” Fangs ranted.

“I saw her walk into that abandoned house down the street from Pop’s while i was on the way to meet you and Topaz. I followed her in to make sure she wasn’t gonna fall through or some homeless person didn’t attack her. You’re welcome, by the way.”

“That used to be her house.” Fangs informed

“Yeah, i know. She told me.”

“Are you guys friends now or something?” Fangs asked.

“I’d fucking like to be,” Sweet Pea exclaimed, “look i get you want to keep her away from all the bad things that could possibly happen, but you forbidding her and us from even talking to each other or being friends is only going to push her away from you and quite frankly, i don’t want to see either of you hurt like that. She’s kind of upset with you anyway and feels like things with you two are conditional. She just wants her best friend back, Fangs.”

“You like her, don’t you.” Fangs said.

“Kind of.”

[prorevenge]

Become the worst neighbor and HOA Board member ever? Lose your "job" and HOA

Let me start by saying NEVER purchase a house in a HOA, it is a complete mess that should be regulated and illegal. If I knew about HOA's when I bought my first home I would have never purchased my first home in one.

Me and my wife purchased our first home when we were 24 and 25. We spent months looking at houses and areas and tried to find a "forever" home in a good district for potential future kids etc. We finally found a perfect one at a decent price.

At first everything was great, super nice neighborhood and decent neighbors. Well a few months after buying the house we rented an RV to go on a trip and parked it in the driveway for the 3 days leading up to the trip to pack it and for me to learn how half the things in it worked.

Well this is when we learned that HOAs are absolutely crazy and our neighbor was on the board of our local HOA. Within an hour of it being parked he got home and stormed over demanding we remove it from "his" neighborhood or he would have it towed and fine us for every hour it was there.

Myself being the average and normal person told him kindly to fuck off and get out of my driveway and told him if he returns I'll call the cops because he was screaming like a madman inches from my face.

About 3 hours later a big rig tow truck shows up and he walked up like he was a god and handed me a plain envelope with a letter inside that pretty much said "by order of the HOA this RV is to be towed" and a fine of $1,500 for violating their rules.

While Mr Crazy Board Member might not listen to reason the tow truck guy they found wasn't so fond of entering my driveway and towing a vehicle when I told him if he comes on the property I'll call the cops. Once the tow truck driver decided he's done being involved in this mess and left neighbor goes even more crazy and storms off.

I call my friend to get his Dad's number because he's an attorney to ask him about this insane letter and fine I just received and to ask him some legal advice. After speaking to his father he told me to come down, write him a $500 check and bring along all the papers I received when purchasing the home and the current letter I just received.

The next day he had a very friendly letter sent to my neighbor and the HOA board. Basically telling my neighbor to fuck himself in legal terms and to leave us and our property alone.

I then continued to receive fines of $1,500 a day in plain envelopes not postmarked stuffed into my mailbox that I then turned over to my friend's father and each time he sent another set of letters and contacted USPS to report the incidents. Turns out putting mail into people's mailbox is a crime, who knew.

Well we decide to go on our week long trip across the state and mildly forget about it all. Kind of upset I had to spend $500 to have an attorney send letters but that's what they do.

Fast forward to us returning from the trip and the RV back in our driveway for 2 days so we can unload/clean then return it. Again each day more envelopes stuffed into our mailbox and more visits to our attorney and more letters sent and more incidents reported to USPS.

Well here's where the fun really begins, turns out Mr Crazy finally gives me a "summons" to appear before the board. My attorney said this is crazy illegal because what they've done is use what looks like an actual legal document improperly to "summon" me to the board.

Another $500 to the attorney and we wait for the date they made (a Tuesday at 10AM). They attempt to keep my attorney out of the room on some "board privacy" rule but quickly shut the hell up when he begins going over their own rules that they are violating to them.

Deep in this HOA book are some very nicely worded rules and stuff outlining about what makes board members ineligible, and how they cannot serve if they commit certain infractions. Well guess what Mr Crazy neighbor has done? Committed several of them, all documented.

Also the cherry on top is that if 51% of the HOA members vote to dissolve the HOA, it all goes away. Well it happens my wife worked part time from home during this mess and had all the free time in the world to begin a "Disband the HOA" campaign.

Over the course of the next 2 months she went around and really began to get to know our neighborhood really well. Turns out a lot of people dislike the HOA and the power hungry seniors who act like dictators that run it.

The HOA attempted to stall everything by holding no meetings (another HOA violation) and began their own campaign trying to change HOA rules to keep from being ousted and a fairly racist flyer and letter to everyone explaining the "dangers" of not having an HOA and all the bad people (blacks and Mexicans) that will move in and take over/sell drugs etc. That our houses would become much less valuable and everything else they could try.

Turns out it's extremely fun to use someone's own rules against them. The neighborhood even started a fund that paid us back what it cost us to get the attorney started and the continued costs he had.

A few weeks after their failed fear campaign and being forced to hold a meeting a vote was called by using their own rules. The HOA was no more and all remaining funds were to be dispersed back to the home owners and members equally (this never happened, turns out somehow the HOA used all their funds in the course of the last two months).

About half the former board members sold their homes and moved, including Mr Crazy Neighbor. I've spent 3 hours trying to find old news articles because it was reported on mostly due to the racist letters by the HOA but it was too long ago to find anything.

Moral of the whole mess, don't buy a home in an HOA and if you do.. plan to hire an attorney.

(source) (story by doggologgopoo)

[vyraxhaalas]

Hello, my old Tumblr blog. Haven’t used you in a while. But Twitter is getting increasingly difficult to look at with the way my mental state’s been lately, and I want to write about something that I definitely would not be able to fit within 280 characters.

I’m quiet and Tired™ almost all the time anyway, so I don’t know how obvious it’s been, but something pretty traumatic happened to me in November. I’m still getting hit with aftershocks and probably will be for a while.

The gist: I was in my first car accident in November, it affected me deeply, and things haven’t yet been sorted out.

I don’t expect anyone to read the ten-thousand-character write-up I spent this morning getting out of my head, but if you want to, here it is:

So.

It's mid-November. Daylight hours are short now, so I've been habitually leaving work as early as possible so I can avoid rush-hour freeway traffic in the dark. But I can't do that today. A bunch of work has gotten piled up—I don't know how; other people were supposed to be handling some of the stuff, but it didn't get handled—and it needs to get done today. So I stay an hour overtime to make sure we meet our deadlines. It's dark when I leave, and it's started to rain. This will be the first night this year, actually, in which I’ve had to drive home in the dark.

My usual route home involves getting on I-405 and then almost immediately getting off it again to get onto WA-520. Soon after my lane joins WA-520, it turns into an HOV lane. I'm a single driver; I need to get out of the lane. And I don't have very long to do it before the HOV lane starts and I could be fined for being in it.

Changing lanes is the worst part of driving. Doing it in the dark, in the rain, during rush hour, and on a freeway is about the worst it gets. I turn on my blinker before I even move to leave my lane, and I leave it on while I check and double-check and triple-check that the lane I'm trying to get into is clear. It looks clear. I start to change lanes. I take half a second to check my blind spot one last time as I make the transition. I look back out in front of me and realize traffic is suddenly at a dead stop. I slam on my brakes. I am not fast enough.

At 5:52 p.m. on November 19, 2019, I lose the ability to say I'm a driver who's never been involved in a car accident as the front of my '05 Celica—my baby, my life-blood—slams into the back of a 2019 Volkswagen Atlas.

It's dark and it's raining and I'm in the middle of a freeway and cars are still moving by on both sides of me. The Atlas makes it to the shoulder. My car won't move. It's dark and it's raining and I'm in the middle of a freeway and cars are still moving by on both sides of me and my car will not move. I stumble through a 911 call, and then I just have to sit there in the middle of a freeway and hope I don't end up causing more accidents behind me, which could potentially involve someone rear-ending me.

Every moment feels like an eternity, so I don't know how long it actually took for the highway truck to show up to assist. All I remember, really, is how I didn't have power steering anymore and how crushing it felt that my car needed to be pushed off the road and how scared I was of how much damage it would take for the engine to be knocked out like it was.

The police report says the officer arrived at 6:10 p.m., less than twenty minutes after the collision. I'm not sure I believe it. The officer arrives, and she's decent enough as she explains that I'm by default at fault in this case and that I'm getting served with a ticket. It's hard to tell if the tiny bit of sympathy was real or just a practiced response to dealing with a woman who's clearly shaken and has obviously been crying, but I appreciate it. I don't appreciate that the law says someone must be ticketed. I'm notorious for bothering family members by leaving “too much” space between me and the vehicle in front of me, so despite the officer's gentle delivery, getting a ticket for “following too close” still feels like a kick in the teeth on top of the evisceration that is the knowledge of the state of my car.

Since I don't have a dashcam to figure out what actually went wrong and I drive a Hot Wheels car that you would look at and guess is never driven below the speed limit, I assume everyone else involved—the officer, the other driver, everyone who had to deal with my dead car blocking a freeway lane for a few minutes—believes that I'm a reckless idiot.

The officer calls a tow truck for me, and soon she and the Atlas are gone. It's just me then, sitting in my dead car on the shoulder of WA-520 while other cars zip by at freeway speeds less then ten feet away. I fill the time by being on the phone with family members who were probably five or ten minutes away half an hour ago, but now I won't be home until sometime around 8:00. The tow-truck guy is really pleasant, though. I appreciate that (and how he tries to give me a discount for, I guess, also being pleasant to deal with; his boss doesn't allow it, but it was still a nice gesture), so I make sure to give him a big tip. He says I bought him dinner, and I hope I did.

I take the next day off work, both because I'm still rattled as hell and because I need to get my car on the path to being drivable again. I send pictures to my insurance, and they estimate at around $3,000, which is fine, because I have collision insurance. My cost will only be my max deductible of $1,000, and then my car will be fixed, and everything will be okay again. I have a phone conversation with a guy from my insurance who gets blindsided by how much of my claim I've already handled, reading off parts of his script that involve things I already did and then laughing and apologizing as he realizes that. He says that he hears about accidents of the sort I described happening all the time and agrees it's unfortunate but unavoidable that I was declared at fault.

I'm feeling a little bit better about things at this point. The view to having my car back seems clear. I just need to find a trustworthy collision-repair shop. I get a recommendation from my mechanic, and we get my car dropped off with the recommended shop. They say they have a backlog and won't be able to start until the end of December, but I'd rather wait than get a bad repair, so that's fine. They also say that they might be able to start taking a look at it earlier if some time opens up before then.

Around 10:00 a.m. on December 17 (which, funnily enough, is the third Tuesday of the month, just like the day of the accident), I pull out my phone while I'm at work. I don't even remember why at this point. I'm distracted away from whatever I was going to do by a notification that I have a missed called from my insurance. I think, “Oh, maybe the shop has been able to get started earlier than expected.” I get up from my desk and get into one of the noise-insulated booths strewn around the office that people can use to make phone calls. As I open up my missed calls, I see that the caller ID is not listed as just the name of my insurance, as it was on the notification. It's listed as “State Farm Total Loss.”

So now my mental state is completely shot. While I'm at work. At 10:00 a.m. I have to play phone tag and try very hard not to cry throughout my work day. At the end of that day, all I know is that State Farm will pay out about $5,000, but the total repair estimate is now “over $10,000.” I don't have any idea by how much, so I spend most of my day being terrified that it'll be not just “over” $10,000 but way over. I'm amazed I didn't go cry in a bathroom for fifteen minutes. (Instead I did that in the driver's seat of the truck I'm borrowing from a family member immediately after parking in the driveway at home.)

I call the repair shop after I manage to stop crying and get out of the truck. The final estimate is around $11,000. I tell them to go ahead with repairs. I think about how lucky I am that I have the ability to drop about $6,000 on car repairs. I think about how guilty I feel about how “privileged” I am to be able to drop $6,000 on car repairs. I remember how I was told soon after the accident by family members and a guy at the repair shop that I probably would have avoided the accident entirely had I reacted half a second faster, and I think about how bitter that tastes.

Things seem settled once again until I open some mail on the last day of my holiday break and discover that when a car is declared totaled by insurance, the state of Washington treats the car as if it's been destroyed, regardless of whether you repair it or not. Not only has my car's registration been canceled but so has its title. I'll have to redo the entire process of titling and registering my car before I can drive it again. It would have been nice if State Farm had warned me this was coming. I'm so tired.

On top of it all, it feels stupid to be so attached to a car, as if by virtue of it being an inanimate object I'm not “allowed” to be as attached to it as people get to a beloved longtime pet. Sometimes I feel like a bad person for wanting to drive a car at all, because of all the bad things associated with the American lifestyle of everyone owning and driving cars. But I'm a thousand-percent serious when I say that I was stuck crying for, like, fifteen minutes this morning, nearly two months after the accident, just because I was looking over the paperwork associated with things I still need to handle in regards to getting my car back.

Having to read the words “total loss” again. Know that my car currently is illegal to drive even if it were repaired. “Please see the enclosed notice of options available to you regarding the Insurance Destroyed Vehicle.” Looking at my car's title and thinking about having to write “TOTALED” along with the “date of loss” across it before I “surrender” it for “destruction.”

I feel stupid even posting this, because I expect people to read it and go “That's all? It's just a car. And you're wasting money fixing it—money you're lucky to have when a lot of people don't.”

But I've had this car nearly half my life. It saw me through the hardest times I've ever had. It is freedom, autonomy, escape mechanism, comfort zone. I've had breakdowns in grocery-store parking lots in this car. It's, like, a third of who am I. I feel like part of my soul has been missing since the evening of November 19, 2019, and I have been constantly two negative thoughts away from crying since then. I’m able to drive the stretch of road the accident occurred on, but rarely without at least feeling the urge to tear up. Hell, I can’t even drive the truck I’m borrowing without the experience being depressing simply because it’s not my car.

I don’t know how to end this off, because there’s no pretty pink bow to wrap it all up in yet. Things seem like they’ll turn out okay in the end, but it’s not the end yet, so who knows. I’ll just have to get through it, whatever happens. So, there you go, I guess. That's what's been going on with me lately.

[lilacmoon83]

A Darker Curse

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 19: Walking the Wire

Cora sat in her car in her driveway and she dialed a number on her cell phone.

"Sheriff," Graham answered.

"Did you do what I requested?" she asked sternly.

"I did...it was wrong and I still don't know why I did that for you. But it's done," Graham answered. She smirked and got into her car.

"Good boy," she cooed condescendingly, before she started the car and turned the radio into tune into the bug that she had forced the Sheriff to plant for her. If they wanted a fight...then they were going to get one.

"With this," she heard a man say and it sounded like August.

"This is quite bold. You need to be ready for the backlash," that was unmistakably Rumple's voice and though she had no idea what he was warning them of, he was absolutely right.

"You have no idea, Rumple...and you'll be among those I take revenge on now," she said, as she looked over the files that Sidney had dug up for her. She smirked and continued to listen.

"We are. You once told us that the final battle would begin as soon as the curse was broken and we're going to be ready for it," that voice gave Cora pause. It was definitely the prince, but this talk of the final battle was odd. Unless…

"Which begs another question. The curse is very specifically designed so that the product of your true love is the only thing that can break it," it was Rumple's voice and he was definitely talking to the Prince. A Prince that was very much awake.

"There are only a few ways I can think of that could restore your memories beforehand," she heard Rumple speak again, confirming such.

"It was our sapling...a true love sapling that we didn't even know about," that was Snow's voice and it made her clench her teeth. That little retch had been a thorn in her side for far too long and just when she thought she'd been rid of her, she had returned to foil Cora's happy ending.

"No one knew about it...but after you mentioned it last night, I think I went into one of my author trances, because this was in the book this morning," that voice was the puppet again, but she had no idea what this author nonsense was about.

"Remarkable...for all the things I see, I didn't see this one," she heard Rumple say. She didn't know exactly what he was looking at, but she planned to find out.

"Does Cora have any inkling that this sapling exists?" Rumple asked.

"We don't think so...it's safe for now," the Prince answered. Cora smirked.

"Not anymore, Prince Charming," she cooed.

"You need to keep it that way. This sapling is pure magic...true love's magic," Rumple said, making Cora chuckle.

"Well...thank you for the information, Rumple. It will be invaluable," she said.

"Do you think...the sapling could break the curse?" she heard Snow ask.

"As powerful as it is...the curse is written with very specific language. I must confess that I bottled a potion made of your true love and hid it...for a rainy day," Rumple answered.

"Oh Rumple...I'm disappointed in you. Putting all your cards on true love...especially Snow White and Prince Charming's is foolish," she said quietly.

"I know...my son is the author," she heard Snow say. The author...she didn't know of what significance that was, but she knew texts in her collection that probably could tell her something.

"Wait...that was what was in the golden egg you made me hide in Maleficent?" Charming exclaimed. Cora smirked.

"Bingo...so Maleficent is here somewhere in Storybrooke. That was a very nice touch getting that one past me, Rumple," she mused.

"But there's no dragon in Storybrooke,"

"Sure about that, dearie?"

"You brought a dragon to Storybrooke?"

"No...but the curse did. She's...asleep, for now,"

"Okay...so I think the question I'd like to know is, how do I break the curse? Cause we've been here for a while and I still have no idea how to get it done,"

"Sorry dearie...I didn't foresee how you do it. I only saw that you did."

"We'll see about that, Rumple," she mused, as she turned off the radio as her phone rang and she answered.

"Hello," she said.

"Is this Mayor Cora Mills?" a voice asked.

"It is...to whom am I speaking?" she asked.

"This is the Portland Police Department. I'm Captain Selvig. What can I do for you?" he asked.

"I think I may have a couple of persons of interest responsible for crimes in your area here in my very nice, small town," she said.

"Really? And how did you become aware that they may be suspects?" he questioned.

"Like I said, Captain...I run a very small, quiet town. We don't get many new people, but when we do, I take the protection of my people very seriously and I had my Sheriff run their names through the database. I realize it's not exactly ethical, but I must see that my town is protected," she explained.

"I understand that. I assume they popped up in the criminal system?" he asked.

"They did. Neal Cassidy and Emma Swan," she replied.

"Cassidy? Cassidy is in your town?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes...then you remember his case?" Cora asked.

"He's wanted for Grand Larceny here and in Phoenix. I'm going to have to fight them for who gets to prosecute him," the Captain replied.

"Well, if I'm correct, it would be whoever gets to him first gets to throw him in their jail and I don't plan on calling Phoenix if you send a couple detectives to come pick him up," Cora said.

"That's good of you, Madam Mayor. I will dispatch a couple of my detectives. Where are you located?" he asked.

"A very small town in Maine. In fact, it's so small that we often get left off most maps. However, I have taken the liberty of mailing a special map to you so your detectives can find us. It should be in your mail today hopefully," Cora replied.

"That's helpful of you...I'll look for it and dispatch my best," he said.

"Oh, you have no idea how much at ease that puts me, but there is the matter of his accomplice, Emma Swan. Her records show that she has an association with Mr. Cassidy," Cora replied.

"Yes...we suspected she was helping him knock off convenience stores, but we could never prove anything other than guilt by association. The district attorney wanted more than that to bring her in," the Captain answered.

"Well, she is definitely in association with him. She had his child, after all. Isn't that enough to at least extradite her for questioning?" Cora asked.

"That I didn't know and it may very well be. I will be in touch," he answered, as they ended the call. Letting outsiders into Storybrooke would be risky, but if they could take the Savior away and she could ensure she was tossed in jail, then it would ensure her curse wouldn't be broken. And getting Baelfire put in jail beside her was the perfect revenge against Rumple for his betrayal of her. She smirked and dialed a number on her phone.

"Now to keep tabs on the two idiots," she murmured.

"Hello," Sidney answered.

"Mr. Glass...I have a job for you," she said.

"I thought I was supposed to be laying low. Deputy Swan will arrest me if she sees me," he argued.

"You're going to do what I tell you to do!" Cora snapped.

"And you'll not worry about Deputy Swan...I'll be handling her," she added.

"What can I do for you, Madam Mayor?" he asked.

"As we speak, Mary Margaret Swan and her boy toy are leaving the station. I want you to follow, unnoticed of course, and take photos of any and all exploits they may engage in. Then report back to me and do not get caught," she said sternly.

"Of course," he answered, as the line went dead.

"You think you've all won...but this battle has just begun," Cora muttered.

~*~

Snow and Charming got out of his truck, as he parked it near the troll bridge. They shared a smile and joined hands, as they trekked toward the cave.

"Just when I thought this place couldn't have more meaning to us," she said wistfully.

"It's the place we fell in love. The place we first talked...I mean really talked when I was still cursed," he said. She nodded.

"And it's the place where I got you back," she said, as they stopped outside the cave.

"And now we're here...just a prince and a princess on an adventure," he mused. She smiled and her eyes fluttered closed, as he leaned in to kiss her tenderly. She slipped her arms around his neck and their lips parted briefly, as they stared at each, before they came crashing together again. She mewled into his kiss, as he moved his lips passionately over hers. When they finally parted, they pressed their foreheads together, as they attempted to get their breath. As usual, he left her feeling breathless and unhinged, in the most euphoric way possible. He smiled at her, as they joined hands again and went inside the cave.

"It's amazing...there's no sunlight or water in this cave and it's survived all these years," Snow mentioned. He smiled at her.

"Just like our love," he said, as a green glow was cast upon them, breaking through the darkness of the cave. He stepped closer and cupped her face in his hands, as he kissed her passionately. Snow slipped her arms around his neck, as he kissed her deeply and she lost herself in him once again. Her breathing came in ragged gasps, as his lips slipped to her throat and he nipped purposefully. She was beside herself in pleasure, as the hands and lips she had craved for twenty-years were kissing her and touching her. He gently backed her against the wall, as her hands skated all over his strong back and he alternated between kissing her lips and her throat. She thrilled, as he sucked at her pulse point, ensuring she'd be wearing his mark. So like her Charming to mark her for all to see. Their lips finally parted and they panted together, as he pressed his forehead against hers, their faces only lit by the dim green glow of their true love sapling.

"I want to be with you…" he confessed, through gasps of air, as he gazed into her eyes. She bit her bottom lip to keep a scream of pure joy from escaping her lips and swallowed.

"You know that I'll wait as long as you need. I get it if you're not ready…" she promised. He smiled gently at her and nuzzled her nose with his.

"I know...and if it was anyone except you, then I'd probably have no interest in sex," he admitted.

"But it is you and I'm always going to want you, Snow. Not just because you're my wife...my real wife, but also because it's never just been sex between us," he said softly. She smiled coyly.

"That's very true," she replied.

"With us...it's just so much more than that. I'm not even sure lovemaking quite describes it," he said, as they looked at their sapling.

"I guess it's no wonder though if just our touch could create that," he said, nodding to it. She giggled and kissed him soundly.

"We make magic, my love," she said, with a giddiness she hadn't experienced in twenty-years. He smiled at that.

"Yeah...magic is a good way to describe what's between us," he said, as they gently picked up the sapling.

"This will be safe with us tonight and we can take it to Gold in the morning. Let's go home," he said, as they with their sapling in hand and arms around each other.

~*~

"Mama…" little David whined in his highchair.

"All right, buddy...I think the fries are cool enough now," Emma said, as she put some fries on his tray. Neal smiled, as he watched their son pick up the french fries with his chubby little fingers and start chowing down.

"He's a good eater...just like his mom," Neal teased. She looked at him in mock outrage and then dissolved into a smile, with a shrug of acknowledgement.

"So true," she agreed.

"I remember...anything with a high sugar content or deep fried and breaded," he teased again.

"I find it hard to believe that Snow would let you eat all that junk," Regina commented.

"She didn't, but she didn't know I usually used my milk money for the vending machine," Emma said.

"And she definitely doesn't know about your stash of junk food you keep in the drawer at the station," Neal said, as she looked at him incredulously.

"You better replace anything you took," she said seriously and he rolled his eyes. Emma really took her pop-tarts seriously.

"Fine, I owe you a box of blueberry," he admitted, as Regina got a text.

"It's Snow...they got the sapling and they're heading back to the loft," she said.

"I thought they were coming here for dinner?" Emma asked, as she munched on her onion rings. Regina chuckled.

"Yeah, something tells me that those two are going to have each other for dinner," she said bluntly, causing Emma to choke.

"Seriously? I do not need those kind of mental images, ugh…" she complained.

"I'm really happy my parents are finally together, but there are things a daughter should not know," she added.

"I agree, but you might want to wait a bit to go back to the loft tonight," she mused.

"Great…" Emma muttered.

"Don't worry...you can come to my house and I'll make us cocoa. I'd love to spend a bit more time with my grand nephew," she cooed, as she lifted the little boy into her arms.

"Okay...as long as you have cinnamon and I guess if anyone deserves a night alone, it's definitely my parents," she agreed, as they got up and put their coats on.

"You coming?" Emma asked to Neal.

"I wasn't sure I was invited," he replied. She rolled her eyes.

"You're little David's father...so it's implied now. Let's go," she said. He smiled and joined them, as Regina paid the check and they left the diner.

~*~

When they arrived home at the loft, Snow placed the sapling on the bedside table, while he hung up their coats. For twenty years, this moment hadn't been far from her mind. Naturally, she was nervous, because she was older and there were changes in her body. He was still the same though, young and handsome. He would always be handsome though, she was sure, even when he did get older. And he insisted she was still as beautiful as they day he met her. Still, there were a lot of people out there that would tell them that they couldn't work anymore. Most people would say that they had each been through too much for this to ever work. And she knew how narrow minded it was of those people to think that something like a number could come between a love like they had, but their words still gnawed at those insecurities she had in the back of her mind.

"They don't know us," she heard him say, as she turned to see him come through the curtain she had around the bed.

"What?" she asked in surprise and he smiled at her.

"I don't care what people say, Snow. Something like an age gap can't sully what we have," he said.

"How…" she started to say and then stopped. She knew how. Many things may have changed, but his ability to read her like a book was not one of those.

"My love for you is...boundless. It's in my blood and sinew," he said passionately, as he gazed down at her.

"It goes beyond our world and this world. I told you once that we have eternal love that transcends any realm...even death someday. If you remember, that whole death do us part thing wasn't in our vows, at least not in the first time when Lancelot married us," he reminded. She smiled and tears welled in her eyes at the memory. It was such a bittersweet day. It had been just them, their very dear friend Lancelot, and his dying mother.

"Having you back in my life is a blessing I will not take for granted, nor will I let idle gossip intrude and make a mockery of our vows," he added. A tear slipped down her cheek.

"Nothing could do that. They can try...but they can't tear asunder what they do not understand. I'm just still getting used to it," she said. He smiled gently, urging her to continue, for he sensed that she needed to say a few things as well.

"Life was always so hard out there and I knew it was hard, because I didn't have you. I got used to everything being so hard," she said.

"I lost hope once in my life, when I was on the run from Cora, but then I met you and it was awakened in me again," she added, as her face became sad and her eyes watery.

"And then when I had to leave you behind, it almost died in me again. Emma and August are the only reason I had any hope at all during those years," she cried.

"Every time our daughter smiled...there you were and the tiny flicker inside my heart reminded me that hope was still alive and that I would find you. I had to, because I knew my heart would eventually give way without you. It would have long ago without my kids," she confessed.

"And now that I have you back, it's still taking some getting used to the fact that I'm not alone anymore and I have you back; someone that understands me like no one else does," she sniffed.

"I know that we still have a lot to face and that none of it is going to be easy. All the stuff around us has never been easy...but our love is. My love for you is as easy as breathing and I know that we'll face it all together," he said. She smiled.

"My love for you is as easy as breathing too and now that I have you again, I'm never letting you go," she replied.

"Good...because I'm not letting go either," he agreed, as they stared deeply into each other's eyes and their lips crashed together in a passionate coupling.

"You're sure?" she asked breathlessly, as their lips parted.

"Oh yeah…" he breathed, as he kissed her again.

"Are you?" he asked, just to be sure when their lips parted again. She gave him a sultry smirk.

"What do you think, handsome?" she asked coyly. He smiled and their lips met again and he slowly backed her toward the bed for what would be a reunion that they had waited twenty-years for…

Snow breathed in ragged gasps, as her husband kissed his way down her throat and to her collarbone. She struggled with the buttons on his shirt, but finally managed to undo them all and eagerly let the garment fall from his shoulders and become a puddle on the floor.

"Ohhh…" she moaned internally, as she bit her bottom lip again. She'd seen him like this hundreds of times, but she had been without him for so long too so having him like this again was almost overwhelming. In the very best way though. She licked her lips gently palmed her hands along his bare, muscled torso. He kissed her deeply and grasped the hem of her shirt. Their lips parted and she held her breath, as he pulled her shirt over her head. She looked into his eyes and saw nothing but love and desire shining in them. Their lips crashed together again and she pulled at his belt, as he went for the button her jeans. They managed to find their way out of their jeans and she gasped, as she felt his arousal pressing against her belly. She panted, as he kissed his way down her throat and to the tops of her breasts.

"Charming…" she pleaded and she felt his hands go to her thighs. She locked her arms around his neck and her body thrilled, as he lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist, as they tumbled to the bed. Intense making out resumed and hands roamed, their bodies responding in kind as they always did when they were intimate. It had been a very long time, but it seemed their bodies had not forgotten each other's touch or feel. His strong hands caressed her shoulders and pulled her bra straps down as they did, until they finally traveled to her breasts, cupping them gently and earning an impassioned cry from her. Snow managed to unhook her bra for him and he tossed it away, as touched her there with his hands and his mouth.

"Charming…" she whimpered, lost in a haze of pleasure, as she arched her hips against his. He groaned, as she rubbed her sex against his and he slipped her panties down her shapely legs.

"I love you…" he managed to say, his voice husky and full of passion.

"I love you...I need you…" she begged, as she finally rid them of the last barrier between them and his hard shaft was freed from the confines of his boxers. She licked her lips and mewled, as her eyes devoured his bare form. He was even more gorgeous than she remembered. He finally pushed inside her, slowly at first, until he was all the way in. He stopped briefly, as they breathed together and stared into each other's eyes. He braced himself, palms on either side of her head, as he began to move. She lost herself in him, as he brought her pure ecstasy with his languid thrusts. Their lips crashed together, as they took and gave pleasure to each other in equal synchronization. His cock pulsed inside her and her walls hugged him tightly, as he pumped his hips, faster and faster. Their skin glistened with perspiration and Snow kissed him passionately, moving her lips over his, just as he moved inside her. She released his lips, as her climax drew closer and pressed her forehead against his, as he sought to make her come. She cried out for him, as he made love to her and as he always did, he held her as she came. It was incredible and beautiful as always, with stars exploding behind her eyes and her insides quaking in the storm of pleasure. He was seconds behind her, as he came inside her, and she welcomed in her arms when he collapsed atop her. She kissed his forehead and caressed his face, as he pressed his lips to hers again and finally managed to pull himself from her hot depths. He rolled onto his back and pulled her with him, as she now lay atop his glistening chest. Oh how she had missed their lovemaking and now they would cuddle and he would hold her in his arms; something else she missed desperately as well.

"I love you…" he whispered, as he entwined his fingers with hers. She smiled up at him.

"I love you too...and I'm never letting you go again," she promised.

~*~

Cora sat in her house and idly looked through the photos Sidney had gotten developed for her. She groaned and downed more alcohol as she was forced to see the two idiots in all kind of intimate embraces and kisses. But that wasn't all she saw and she took curious note of this mysterious sapling that she had heard about. Now that she was seeing it, she wanted to scoff at the ridiculousness of it. But the glowing in it was unmistakable. This thing was magic and Sidney had been very confused by what he had seen, as his cursed mind had a lot of trouble comprehending it. She had brushed him off and told him it was none of his concern. She really didn't have a clear plan to combat this yet, but she knew that this sapling had to be destroyed. Once she did that and neutralized the threat of their daughter, then she'd take great pleasure in making these two pay for all their trouble. She smirked and took another drink.

"Enjoy your time with him, dear Snow. I took him away once...and I can take him away again...

[sarakuper]

Northern Coast of Oregon

Stop #12, August 13-16

We left Tuesday morning to drive thorough Portland before hitting the coast. I dropped my laptop off at a Mac repair shop (not owned by Apple) to get a diagnosis. Sean and I grabbed some lunch in town before heading to the pacific coast.

On our route we had been searching online for a place to fill up our water tank, but google gave us nothing. Shortly before getting to our camping spot we passed a drinking water station. Sean turned around and pulled in as many other cars did the same. There was a line forming to fill up water here. People came with their 5 gallon jugs just to get this water. We learned that this water was the best fresh water carrying over 95 good minerals. Families drive here just to fill up their drinking water for the week. And it really does taste delicious!

Another stop minutes from our camp stop we stopped at a store called “GAS, FOOD STORE, and MUCH MORE” where we picked up some snacks. It was only when I was at the register when I realized semi automatic rifles were being sold behind the counter. The casualty of being able to buy snacks, beer, and a gun all in the same store totally freaked me out, and I’ll stop there before I get too political.

Shortly after we got to our campsite. It was like a driveway made of loose gravel surrounded by big bushes. There was nothing pretty or relaxing about it; it was just a place to park. There were even shotgun shells all over the ground just a few feet past our site. Knowing that we would be on the coast for a few days, I was really not happy with this site. Even Sean admitted it was sketchy. So we stayed the night and hit the road with the trailer in the morning. We decided it would be worth it to pay for a place that we would be more comfortable in. As we were driving to Cannon beach I got the call that my laptop had three main parts that were totally fried and the cost of fixing them would come out to over $1000. This is when the repair shop told me about Apple’s flat rate repair fee for $755 to fix my 2015 MacBook. When I tried calling customer service they told me no such thing existed, but the guy at the shop swore by it and suggested I make an appointment with Apple so they can take it in, and that’s exactly what I did. My appointment is on Friday at 5:15 pm and I’m hoping for a two things: 1- they can fix my laptop for that flat rate. 2- they are willing to mail it to me at another location once it’s ready. Being satisfied with this plan we continued to explore the coast.

Before hitting Cannon Beach we grabbed some pizza at a cute spot near the board walk. Sean got us a reservation in a trailer park for two nights right near Astoria, which is the next place we wanted to explore. We haven’t stayed in any trailer parks so far but are looking forward to having a site with full hook ups and laundry! So we explored the beach and of course Sean tried to get Jax to swim, but he mostly just likes to get his feet wet. Every time Sean would trick him into going in deeper, he would run out of the water and try to burry his body into the sand diving in face first. Then he’d run to mamma (me) for protection. Gosh I love him, he’s such a cutie.

The “sand bar” was creating some pretty beautiful reflections on the sand which I really enjoyed photographing.

Because it was low tide there were also these sea creatures along the rocks that I have no idea how to describe, but they were cool!

The next morning we spent time doing chores including laundry and meal prepping before heading out to Astoria.

It was a cute town that felt very original, mostly unchanged. There was tons of fishing going on which means fish and chips at every restaurant. Thanks to my cousin Ruthy we at out of a food boat (like a food truck but a boat) where we ate the catch of the day. It was defining the best fish and chips I’ve ever had!!

Then we rode the historic Trolly, Old 300, before heading to a farmers market for some fresh produce on our way back to camp.

The next day we checked out of our spot to head back to Portland to pick up my laptop and head to Apple. Turns out they will in deed fix it for that flat rate and will ship it to me anywhere in only 3-5 business days. YAY!! I was jumping for joy once I left that big glass building!

Immediately after we headed north for Mount Rainier National Park :)

Thanks for reading, love you all.

[themarauderstheoutsidersandpeggy]

James Potter x reader where the readers parents found out about the two of them dating and very much disapprove as they support You-Know-Who. Her mum freaks saying she must find someone who is like their kind and not a Blood Traitor. Shea broken hearted cause she doesn't want to end it with James as the two of them love each other. Angsty and fluff ♥️ Bravo work lovey

A Rock and a Hard Place- James Potter x Reader

Summary: Y/N’s parents are pretentious pure blood slytherins, and when they find out she is dating James Potter, they have some things to say.

Word Count: 2579 (longest one so far)

A/N: Wowowow this request got me effed up heheheheh WOWOWOWOW that was long as f.

I’ll see you at the start of term next week babe, love you. She finished up her letter to James, and tied it to the leg of her owl, sending it out the window. She heard heavy footsteps rushing up the stairs and hastily shoved his letter to her in a drawer. Her door was thrown against the wall as her parents burst in, faces red with anger. She backed against the wall, quite afraid of why they were so angry. Had they found out?!

“Why did James Potter just send a letter to you? Y/N, we expected so much more of you! You think we don’t intercept the mail? He’s a blood traitor, and so are all of his friends! Such lineage should not be wasted on helping muggleborns, and our lineage will not be wasted because you have feelings for a blood traitor. You send a letter to him right now young lady and tell him that you will not be dating him any longer.” Your eyes widened and filled with tears as your mom ruined your relationship with the boy you loved.

“We knew something was going on when you refused to join the Dark Lord, but we never thought you would betray wizard kind on this kind of a level. You are a disgrace to this family, and to the Dark Lord.” Your dad spat, and you snapped.

“You have NO idea who he is. He’s ten times the person either of you will ever be and I hope that when you’re burning in hell for what you’ve done, that you regret being such hypocritical arseholes!” and with that, you pushed your shell shocked parents out of the room, and began frantically tossing things into your trunk. There was a magical expansion spell on your trunk so you could fit everything you needed. You didn’t know where you were going to go, but anywhere was better than the hell hole you were living in.

After you had gathered all your belongings, you took a deep breath, held your head up high, and stomped down the stairs, trunk bouncing along with each step you took.

“Y/N Y/L/N, get your blood traitor arse back up into that room and wait for us to call you down. We’ve arranged a meeting with the Dark Lord that will hopefully set you straight.” Your mother snarled, pointing to your room. You ignored her however, marching down the stairs once more. You tried to drown out the, “Don’t you dare walk out of that door,” and, “Don’t bother coming back,” that you were getting from your parents, and strutted right out of the door, and onto the driveway, saying goodbye to your family’s awful manor. You stuck out your wand arm, and within an instant, a huge purple bus came hurtling down the street, and screeched to a halt before you.

You were escorted onto the bus and to one of the beds in the back, and as you were thrown around while turning corners, you decided on staying at the leaky cauldron. The bus dropped you off and sped away, and you wrote to James the second you got settled into your room.

“Dear James,

My parents found out about us. They said that I had to write to you and break up with you, but I didn’t really want to, so I left. I’m staying in the leaky cauldron, room 206, if you want to come keep me company for the day. If all goes well, neither of us will ever have to deal with my parents again. I love you.

~ Y/N”

You sent the letter using the pub’s owl, seeing as yours was still on its way to James with your first letter. You flopped back down on the bed and sighed.

Only a day after you had sent the letter to James, he had come tumbling out of the fireplace in your room, coughing and sputtering. His glasses had flown across the room when he had shot out, and you snatched them up for him. He rushed to you and squeezed you so hard, you thought you were going to suffocate. You wrapped your arms around him and nuzzled your head into his shoulder, feeling him grip you even tighter. He had met your family only once before, he had stood up for you when they were berating you in public, but he hadn’t seen them since they found out the two of you were dating.

“James, I can’t live on my own, I-I’m so scared, I don’t know what to do.” You sobbed, clinging onto him as though your life depended on it. You supposed it did. He supported you more than anyone, no matter what. He leaned back and cupped your cheeks, gazing into your E/C eyes with his amber ones.

“Darling, breathe with me. It’s going to be fine, mum has already agreed to let you live with us. You’ll be well taken care of, I promise.”

You shook your head in protest when James offered to let you move in, but he cut you off.

“Don’t even start. You’re always welcome, you know that. Mum and dad haven’t even met you, but they already love you, and you won’t be any sort of trouble. I think Sirius is more trouble than you are and they had no problem adjusting to him. Please darling, I need you safe.” He finished, exhaling as he held you even tighter, still holding eye-contact.

You took one look at his deep brown irises and tears splashed down your face again. He wiped them away with his thumbs, the soothing back-and-forth motions calmed you until all that was left of the tears were shimmery trails where they had slid down your face.

“Are you ready to head back to my house love, or do you want to spend one more night here? I’ll stay with you if you wanna stay here.” You mulled it over for a bit and realized that there was no point in delaying the inevitable, you were so scared to meet James’ parents. What if they didn’t want you to date their son anymore? What if they thought you were a bother, and didn’t really want to take you in? Your thought swirled around inside your head until they were a constant flurry of negative thoughts spiraling around. James sensed your doubts and squeezed you a bit tighter, “we can stay one more night love, but I promise they’re fine with all of this. I think they’d be upset if you didn’t come stay with us at some point - I warned them from the beginning that your parents weren’t the best” He assured you, and seeing as it was quite late, he wrapped you up in his arms, carried you over to the big four poster bed, and crawled under the covers, holding you the whole night.

You woke up to small kisses being placed all over your face, and you blinked repeatedly, confused as to where you were. The events of the past two days hit you like a truck, and you flipped over to see James smiling at you, his grin brighter than the sun itself. He greeted you with a gruff, “Mornin’ princess” and leaned in to kiss you deeply. You couldn’t help it, you smiled into the kiss, and felt him do the same. The two of you spent the morning basking in each other’s presence. At about noon, James reluctantly got up and reminded you that they had to get to his parent’s by one, for a late lunch. Your stomach turned over at the thought of meeting your boyfriend’s parents, always a daunting task, and rolled out of bed, pulling on one of James’ jumpers as well as some jeans. He walked out of the bathroom, just as you were swooping your hair up into a messy bun. He stopped and smiled at you, it was finally sinking in that he had you back. You were back. You were back and you were his and by god, he was never letting you go. He helped you wrap up your stuff, shoving it haphazardly into your trunk, and hooked his arm around yours. He led you to the fireplace and the two of you flooed to his place.

You appeared in the living room of the Potter Manor, and almost instantly you were greeted by a very happy dog. You smiled, remembering James and his stories of his dog. Sirius also came down the stairs, helping you up off the ground, and hugging you extremely tight. You two had bonded over your awful families, that was how you had met James. James went in search of his mum and dad, leaving you, Sirius, and the dog in the living room in wait.

The three of you heard footsteps approaching and you tensed immediately. Were you ready for this? Well, you couldn’t back out now. Oh god, what if they didn’t let you stay, where would you go? Sirius glanced over at you and saw the crease between your eyebrows, quickly grabbing your hand and squeezing it. He too had been nervous, he related to your anxiety, but he knew just as well as James that Euphemia and Fleamont would fall in love with you like James did.

The footsteps got louder, and the door swung open, revealing James, Fleamont, and Euphemia Potter. James rushed and stood by your side, introducing his parents. You introduced yourself and nervously held out your hand for Euphemia to shake, only for her to use it to pull you into a hug. She squeezed you tight, and you saw the parallel between her and her son’s hugs. They were both warm, loving and reassuring, they made you feel at home. She stepped back, holding you at arms length by the shoulders, and smiled.

“Oh, Y/N, darling, you’re even more beautiful than we’ve heard.”

“mUM” James’ cheeks burned red, the tips of his ears also flaming, while his father laughed at him.

“Alright darling, I want to meet her too,” Fleamont switched places with her and also hugged you. You didn’t know what to do. These people were so so so nice and they looked at you as thought you were already a part of their family. You felt so lucky. Fleamont made everyone a cup of tea, and after your little meet and greet you were led up the stairs. James’ father had very boldly stated that the walls were quite thin, and so even though you were sleeping with James, they could hear everything. James had groaned, while you had blushed furiously, Euphemia shrieked and escorted you to James’ room. You had set your trunk down and gone down for lunch.

The next day, around three o’clock, Euphemia trudged up the stairs, a letter from your parents in hand. She frowned, it was a howler but it was one that would only go off once you had touched it. She was going to get your permission to burn it, a magical fire should do the trick. She found the door half open, and peeked in, smiling when she saw you and James curled up on the sofa in his room, talking in hushed tones, James’ fingers tangled in your hair. She hated to interrupt the silence, but she knocked quietly, not wanting to reveal the fact that she’d been watching. Both of your heads turned to look at her in the door, and she stepped in, brandishing the letter.

Your face fell, knowing exactly who it was from.

“I know you probably don’t want to read it, so I’m not going to force you. I was going to ask permission to burn it for you.” Your heart soared, knowing that you had a real family.

“Thank you so much Mrs. Potter, you don’t know how much this means to me, really.” you smiled, getting up as she was beckoning you in for a hug. That was a mistake. Your skin grazed the letter as you pulled away, and the letter began to smoke. Euphemia’s horrified gaze met yours.

“I’m so so sorry dear,” And with that, the letter tore itself out of her hand and hovered in front of your face.

“Y/N Y/M/N Y/L/N! YOU ARE AN ABOMINATION TO WIZARDKIND! YOU NOT ONLY BETRAYED OUR FAMILY, YOU ALSO BETRAYED THE NAME OF PUREBLOODS! WE THOUGHT YOU REFUSING THE DARK MARK WAS BAD ENOUGH, BUT YOU HAD THE AUDACITY TO MOVE IN WITH THE VERY PEOPLE CONSPIRING AGAINST US! THEY WILL TIRE OF YOU SO QUICKLY YOU WASTE OF SPACE! THEN YOU’LL HAVE NO ONE! YOU’LL HAVE NOWHERE TO GO AND YOU’LL BE ALONE UNTIL THE DAY THAT YOU DIE! WE HOPE YOU KNOW THAT EVERYONE WILL REALIZE HOW USELESS YOU ARE, AND YOU’LL NEVER BE OF ANY HELP TO ANYONE! BUT FINE, RUN TO YOUR PRETTY LITTLE BOYFRIEND, JUST WAIT UNTIL HE FIGURES THAT OUT! HE’LL DROP YOU SO QUICKLY IT’LL MAKE YOUR HEAD SPIN! NO ONE WILL EVER LOVE YOU, AND YOU ARE BETTER OFF ACCEPTING THAT BEFORE YOU RUIN OTHER PEOPLE’S LIVES! DON’T EVER BOTHER SPEAKING TO US AGAIN, WE DON’T WANT YOU”

As the shrill voice of your mother echoed throughout the house, the letter burst into flames and was nothing but a pile of ash when it was done. Your eyes were as big as saucers, tears flowing down your face, some streaming down your chest and stopping on your shirt, forming dark spots. You were frozen in your place and you felt a hand come and gently grab your wrist, pulling you around into James’ chest. He wrapped his arms around you and tears of his own dampened your hair as you sobbed into his chest.

Euphemia backed out of the room, not wanting to disturb the couple. She marched into the office space that she and Fleamont shared, and furiously began writing a howler of her own. The words swirling through her head, she wrote two and a half feet of angry loathsome words flowing through her head, down the quill, into the ink, and spreading on the paper like venom. She closed the letter and made extra sure that the bubotuber pus that she had placed just within the seal was perfectly poised to spring out and spray all over. She sent the letter off with a small smirk, feeling satisfied with her efforts. You had been through too much already, but Euphemia had no idea just how bad it was.

Back in James’ room, the both of you had sunk to the floor, you were curled up in his lap, clutching his shirt like he was your rock. You supposed he was. You were caught between a rock and a hard place but the rock was warm, soft and inviting. The rock soothed your fears and held you when you cried. You came to the realization that he was the one. You smiled a bit through your tears and held him just a little bit closer.

[sending-the-message]

Someone just mailed me the sweater my brother was wearing when he disappeared ten years ago. [UPDATE] by tamikaflynnofficial

To start off, I can’t thank you all enough for the support you gave me after my first post. It has meant the world, and given me strength through this incredibly difficult time. Not only that, but you've forced me to examine my memories--mundane memories, ones I’d taken for granted--from radically different perspectives. You've made me ask questions I never even knew I had. I don’t think I would be able to do this without your encouragement.

I know there are a few things I left unclear in the post, and I hope you all can forgive me for that. I was hysterical as I typed it. Once I cooled down, I responded to all of your questions as best I knew how in the comments. And as for answers to the questions I didn't know--well, they're exactly what I came back home to find.

When I was very young, my mom gave me a music box. From the outside, it was a bland, placid lavender, but when you opened it, music notes would spill out, vibrant as stained glass, comforting and bewitching. It always shocked me when I opened it. It was like I saw an entire other world explode into life.

Remembering the vision of my mom’s face in the window filled me with the same shock as opening that box. Except this shock wasn’t borne of joy. It was terror. Despair. Disgust.

Forgetting the event had been so clean, so easy. My memory used to end with Jack’s arm around my shoulder, guiding my clunking feet to the truck as Jamie watched us from the doorway. Jack wasn’t even trying to calm me. He just silently helped me into the passenger’s seat while I sobbed. He got in, the truck whirred, the brights flashed against the facade of Katie’s house--and then nothing. The memory ended there. I attributed it to brownout.

But then I found the note. The box unclasped. A song began to pour from my memory, but discordant, and erratic. The memories of that Christmas Eve I’d always had, just buried, sprung into life.

The hum of our old pickup truck buzzed all around us. Our seats jostled up and down along the bumpy road. My brother was normally dreamy, but when he was at the wheel that night, his eyes could have pinned a butterfly. The road beneath us was slick with ice, but he drove with steady, sure hands. For a reason I am unsure of to this day, he took the road parallel to Donner.

The face of that thing was fresh in my mind. I began to cry, loud, shuddering, uncontrollable sobs.

He kept his eyes on the road, but he spoke to me softly, as if he were trying to lull a child to sleep. “Are you hurt?” I sniffled out a no. He nodded. “That’s good. Focus on that. On the lack of pain.”

The dense woods outside the window seemed closer than they had been. The light of the full moon barely permeated those trees. It fell onto the ground in luminous fragments. “Jack, I saw m…” The world around me spun, a slur of dark sensation. My head lolled forward. The car groaned. “Saw...mom. She was…hurt, her face was...was falling off…saw mom, saw her...so hurt...”

“No, Cara. You didn’t.” His tone was matter-of-fact. In my drunken fog, I couldn’t comprehend what he meant, or how he knew one way or the other. I started to cry again. He cut through my tears. “Cara, please. Listen to me. You know just as well as I do that mom is dead and buried. The Penobscot Reservation is a hundred miles away. Our mother was buried a hundred miles away. She wasn't hurt when she died, remember? She died of the flu. We saw her die, Cara. It was peaceful. Remember? Whatever you saw tonight, Cara, it was not our mother. Please understand that. Please.”

“But, Jack, it was--she was--rotting, hurt, her face--the worms--”

His grip went white on the steering wheel. Something thumped against the back window. “Don’t turn around.” I wasn’t planning on it. The world was spinning. “Just listen to me, alright? Just listen. Mom was not outside the window. I promise you. You have to trust me. Please, please, just trust me. People aren’t...people aren’t always what they look like, okay? Sometimes...they’re trying to look like people. And sometimes, when they try, they don’t always get it right. It can be scary, but in the end, it’s important. It is very important that they scare you, because it reminds you that they are not people. They are not people.”

I must have looked incredibly confused, because he sighed, and said in a quieter voice, “You’re drunk. You need to go to sleep. But just because you’re drunk doesn’t mean you were wrong. You saw something, and you probably just want to forget it. That’s okay, but you have to remember what I am saying right now. It wasn’t mom. It wasn’t. Promise me you’ll remember that. Okay, Cara? Cara?”

“Cara!”

I literally yelped when I heard Jamie’s voice, ripping me out of the reverie I had slipped into on a bench just outside the airport. Sure enough, he was power-walking toward me, waving his gangly arms and flashing his goofy smile. In spite of myself, I grinned right back. The Falls is astonishingly insular--most families have lived here for four or more generations. When you return, it’s like everything was frozen while you were gone, patiently awaiting your arrival. He was no exception. He’d hardly aged a day.

Bracing ourselves against the icy headwinds, we made the trek to his car. He was babbling the whole way, but it was stolen by the frigid air. Once we were inside, he cranked the heater up full blast and peeled off his mittens--red, with a heart sewn into the palms. We talked about meaningless things for a while--our jobs, how college had been, what we had been up to--but I kept stealing skittish glances at them.

Eventually, he must have caught me looking, because he laughed and said, “I, uh, never did thank you for returning these.” I didn’t respond, just licked my lips and turned to the window. We were passing the neighboring city for now, but I could practically feel the woods that portended the border of my town as they drew closer. Jamie floundered. “Uh, sorry, I know that was right before...I know it’s been ten years since, uh, I didn’t mean too…”

I caught his eyes in the rear view and tried to smile. “It’s okay, Jamie, really. I’m fine talking about him.”

He nodded, too fast. “I’m, uh, glad you’re back, Cara. Good of you, uh, to take care of your dad, cause this time of year is so hard, uh, for him...I mean, your pops, he’s a strong old boy!...Hardly changed since I left, I mean, I pass him at the supermarket, he says hello! Says I’ve really grown up since high school, wouldn’t you agree…?”

His proud, puffed chest was clearly fishing for a certain answer. I didn’t give it to him. I was entranced instead by the first pine trees of Donner as they whizzed past the window. I hadn’t seen them in so long. They had always been so beautiful.

I muttered a listless “mmhm”, and his face fell. Instantly, I felt guilty. “Sorry, Jamie, I just…”

“Don’t worry!” He interjected. “I get it, your brother, you’re thinking of him, I, uh, I would be too, and, I’m...sorry, I really am.”

I gave a vague nod. The memory of my conversation with Jack on that Christmas Eve burned in my mind. If mom wasn’t in the window, what was? Suddenly I remembered something else--the story Jamie had been telling. I asked him if he remembered when I took the mittens, and why. He laughed. “Oh, I don’t know, uh, we were playing in the woods, uh, as kids...in ‘96...just like we always used to do.”

The answer I had feared. “‘96? Are you sure? Before you got stuck in the tree?”

He frowned. “What tree?”

I gawked at him. “You know, in ‘99? You got stuck? Frozen to the branch? Everyone called you Brown Bear? For years?”

He laughed again, only this one was...forced. Just barely, but enough for me to pick up on it. “Oh, of course. How could I forget? Yes, uh, before that. You said you were cold, so cold, so you took them and never gave them back.”

The air left my chest. He really believed it. This was what he thought had happened. I tried to speak slowly, but I was hyperventilating. “Jamie...you and me...we never played in the woods as kids. I...never stole your mittens. You have to have me mixed up with someone else. We didn’t meet til 1999.”

His eyes narrowed. “Cara, I know you must be upset, but that isn’t an excuse to fuck with me.”

“I’m not!”

“Then you’re remembering wrong.”

“No, I’m not!” I protested, suddenly more fiery than I had been before. Donner was thinning as we approached my house, but the trees still loomed over us. “I don’t know who the hell you were playing in the snow with, Jamie, but it wasn’t me.”

He gave me a very odd look, as if I wasn’t speaking English, and then shook his head very, very slowly. “No. No, no, no, no, no. You're wrong. And you know it. We played in the woods all the time as kids, Cara, and I don’t know why you don’t remember.” He stared very intently at the road. “Maybe you ought to take a walk through Donner and, uh, jog your memory.”

It was such a strange thing to say that I actually said ‘huh?’ aloud. ‘Go take a walk through Donner’ is the Falls equivalent of ‘go fuck yourself”, but it was more than that. Maybe it was the cold bite in his voice, or simply the odd notion that I would remember if I walked through the woods. I didn’t have time to figure it out, or even respond, because he was pulling to a stop in my driveway before I could get my bearings. “Finally,” he muttered, as if I couldn’t hear, and threw the car door open.

I was glued to my seat. His change of mood had given me whiplash. However, I startled from my paralysis when he yanked open the door and tossed my luggage into the dirty snow at my feet. I couldn't believe it. I exited the car, picked up my bags, and slammed the door shut behind me in a trance.

Before I could even muster a thank you, Jamie was already backing out. He rolled down the passenger window as he passed me. In a low, poisonous tone, he said,

“You know something, Cara Hansen? I know you want to find your brother, but, trust me--this isn’t how to do it. You’re asking a lot of questions. Dumb questions. You’re not a dumb girl, Cara. But I think if you keep on like this you’re going to find something a lot worse than you intended to.”

He rolled up the window and sped away.

The second I stepped through the front door, my father’s burly arms had already swept me into a bone-crushing hug. My dad is as tall as a tree, and crazy strong--captain of the wrestling team back at Solomon Falls High, and I don’t think he’s lost an ounce of power in the fifty years since. I put my bags down by the doorway after he set me free, and kissed him on the cheek.

He walked back to the half-finished stew he’d had on the stove when I came in, and I ventured down the hallway. The chestnut wood creaked beneath my soggy boots. Without the paintings on them, the hallway's walls were...strange, somehow. Too long. I walked faster.

I caught a glance of Jack’s room at the end of the hall, the heavy, mahogany door as tightly sealed as it had been the day I left. A wave of grief slammed into me like a truck. My mental image of the inside of that room--his dresser drawers, his canvas, his dark blue bedspread, all of it covered in a second skin of thick dust--had haunted me for years.

What was even more haunting, though, was the finality of that image. On the same day he had torn down the paintings in a mourning rage, my dad slammed the door to Jack’s room shut and locked it tight. The growl in his voice when I approached him after he had done it assured me he never intended for the room to be opened again. I must have tried it dozens of times in the dead of night before I left town, but I could never get in.

Dad shouted “Dinner, Cara!”. I shot one last look at my brother’s room before turning away.

He peppered me with questions for at least half an hour, beaming from ear to ear the whole time. How’s your job? How’s that boy you were seeing? How’s the city treating you? Got a car yet? Music ever turn into more than just a hobby? How are you holding up this winter? Got enough warm clothes?

I answered him as genuinely as I could, but the sweater in the next room was burning a hole in my mind. The reason I told him I wanted to come home was for support. He probably thought I meant emotional, with the whole ten year anniversary and all. There was a sparkle in his eyes I hadn't seen in years as he talked my ear off.

I love my dad more than anyone else in this world. He supported me through two losses that no person should ever have to endure. He didn't deserve to get his heart broken all over again by the thing I'd gotten in the mail. At the same time, though, my brother weighed on my mind. Wherever he was--whatever his fate--he didn't deserve it either. I had to rip off the bandage.

“Dad,” I interrupted him in the middle of some lecture about the value of a good parka in a Chicago winter. “There’s something I need to ask you. It’s...important.”

He raised a bushy eyebrow. “Got a new boyfriend important, or Pentagon Papers important?”

“A little bit of both,” I admitted. Dad set his spoon down and pushed his seat back from the table. He rose to get a glass of water.

“Better tell it to me then.”

All at once, everything I had to ask him slammed into me, and I lost my train of thought. What happened in 2009 at the children’s hospital where you worked? Why did you lock Jack's room and never open it again? What do you remember about Brett and his family? Did you ever see strange visions of mom after she died? Do you know who sent me the sweater? Who would do a thing like that?

But I sorted through the words in my throat, took a deep breath, and said,

“That day when the mittens came to the door, in 2005. Do you remember?”

His head, which had been turned toward the faucet, whipped around to face mine, so fast that half the water spilled out of the glass and onto the floor. My dad has never looked his age, but, in that moment, he seemed impossibly weathered, incredibly old. I didn’t say anything. I waited for his answer.

Slowly, but surely, he nodded. I rose from the table, too, and put a hand on his wrist, as gentle as I could muster when my entire body was humming with adrenaline. “Dad. You were scared that night. Please don’t try to deny it. That was twelve years ago, and you’re still terrified. Tell me. What happened?”

He set down the glass and rubbed his temples, then crossed to the pantry and pulled out a glass of scotch. “We’d better have a drink first.”

On December 31st, 1981, around 10:30 AM, the Quincy family packed a lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and apple slices. They checked to make sure they had a map, a canteen, and a compass. They tied their scarves tight around their necks, and then they walked out the door, leaving their dog, Buster, to scratch and whine until they returned home, the idea being that they would do so in a few hours after a leisurely day hike through Donner.

Michael Quincy had a jawline that had been chiseled from marble and a smile so charming it could knock the leaves off the pine trees. He sauntered in place of walking, and he had large, protective hands, always calloused by the demands of his job as owner of the local hardware store. He was well-known in the town, and his wife, Eliza, even more so, being president of the local YWCA and a revered teacher at the elementary school. She was tall, with freckle-dusted cheeks and bright green eyes--Miss Kennebec County, 1978, and quite nearly Miss Maine USA. Little Lydia Quincy was six at the time, and cute as a button. They were an exemplar in Solomon Falls, a beloved family, and all they wanted was a nice diversion for the afternoon.

At noon, all three went into Donner Woods State Park.

Only one came out.

The Quincys were lost for days before an emaciated Eliza came stumbling out of the woods, her eyes wild, her mouth bloody, her arms scratched practically to a pulp, snarling at the townspeople who tried to corral her. After twenty minutes of trying to restrain her--it took two grown men, one of whom, Dicky Sullivan, still has the scar from her teeth--she suddenly went limp. She died there, in Dicky Sullivan’s arms, seemingly from dehydration.

They found the bodies of her daughter and husband deep in the woods, miles offtrail, stripped of nearly all of their muscle, as if the vultures had already picked them clean. Teeth marks matching Eliza’s littered their bones and skin.

But there’s more to the story than what most people know. Sheriff Sanchez, her hair beginning to grey at the scalp, had intimated this version of the story to me in her office a year after my brother vanished. It’s only a minor detail that most people get wrong--the Quincy family was not in the woods for days. They were in there for three hours before Eliza came staggering out of the trees, spitting chunks of meat into the snow. She wasn’t starved. She wasn’t dehydrated. The family hadn’t touched the canteen or picnic lunch. The former Miss Kennebec County, a schoolteacher, a loving mother, had hardly penetrated Donner at all before she attacked, and, after she came out, she dropped dead.

Michael’s windbreaker was missing, and wasn’t found until another hiker spotted it a month later, hanging from the top branch of a tree that stretched twenty feet into the air. The compass was found around the same time, miles to the east of where the jacket had been found, half-buried in the melting snow. Lydia’s jacket, shoes, and mittens were never recovered.

Or, at least, that’s how the story goes. The thing is, though, my dad had been a pediatric nurse at the city hospital at the time, and Lydia Quincy had gone to see him just three weeks earlier, when she had the flu. She had shown him her brand-new mittens, eyes shining, talking so fast he could hardly keep up. They were bright white, made from soft, cashmere yarn. She even pointed out to him their special little detail--wrists with elastic sewn inside of them, that scrunched up when she put them on, to keep the cold all the way out.

That day, at 11:10 AM, my dad, then only 31, had passed the Quincy family. He stopped briefly to chat with Eliza and Michael, who praised the medical care he had given their daughter, while Lydia ran around joyfully on the snowy sidewalk, and waving her white-clad hands as the family bid him their goodbyes.

Lydia’s jacket and shoes were never found. But, that night in my house when the first mittens came, my dad saw those mittens on the table, and, instantly, he knew. How could he forget? He had picked them up and examined them--the same soft yarn, the same little scrunched-up wrists, the only thing different being the ripped thumb and yellow stain. My dad had abandoned his glass entirely, and was now drinking directly from the bottle of scotch. “I mean, what in the hell was I supposed to do? Tell the fuckin’ Sheriff that the mittens of this kid who disappeared thirty years ago suddenly turned up on my doorstep like fuckin’ FedEx had shipped ‘em rush? They caught the killer. They knew who did it. And, hell, I didn’t wanna scare you kids. So I let you keep ‘em.”

I stared at him for so long that my eyes actually started to go dry, but, the minute I snapped out of it, I felt hot tears begin to prick at their edges. I started to cry, softly, in spurting little sobs. He instantly pulled me into a hug. "I know, Care-bear. I never liked the story either. It's gruesome. And I don't know why those mittens came to the house that day. But what matters is it's over. It's--"

"It's not that, dad," I sniffled, wiping my nose on my sleeve. "It's all the mittens that came afterward."

"What?" He looked as if he'd been slapped. "What the hell are you talkin' about?"

"Dad, I..." I jumped up from the couch. "I'll explain it all to you, I swear, but first I have to show you something..." I ran off to my room, ignoring his protests. I flung open the door. I ripped open my suitcase and dug through it like a crazed dog. I yanked item after item out, until I was trapped in a kaleidoscope of clothes that had piled up around me, travel shampoos and lipsticks littering the floor around them like debris from a car crash. I hardly noticed. All I saw was the suitcase in front of me.

The suitcase that was now empty. Completely empty.

"Cara?" My dad's voice from down the hall. "Cara, what in the world is going on?!"

I tore open the front pocket. Nothing. The side pocket...nothing. I felt the beginning of panic start to creep over my skin. My heart was beating so quickly I could feel its hot thrum in my ears. I struggled for my shallow breaths.

Jamie--Jamie. Yes! Somehow all that rustling in his trunk must have jostled the sweater out, I was sure of it. I wrenched my phone from my pocket so fast it almost went flying across the room, and dialed up the number he had called me from the day I got the sweater.

It rang. Once. I tapped my foot. Twice. I tapped it faster. Three times--thank god. The voice on the other end was the same reedy one I knew, except it was utterly confused, and, in a way I couldn't identify, a little...older. More mature. I didn't have time to contemplate it. "Jamie Brown speaking. Who is this?"

"Jamie, it's me, Cara. Listen, I think I left--"

"Whoa! Holy hell!" The voice was overjoyed now. "Cara Hansen? Class of 2010? No way! How the heck are ya?!"

The cruel joke enraged me so much that I began to scream into the receiver. "Yes, it IS Cara Hansen, and don't FUCK with me Jamie! You know PERFECTLY well which Cara I am, you just FUCKING drove me to my dad's house! And I left something very important in your--"

"Excuse me?! Cara, I haven't seen you in eight years. I haven't been to Solomon Falls since I graduated. I live in Boulder, Colorado. You can look me up on Facebook, my wife and kids, too. Hell, just Google me, my orthodontics company has a website! What do you mean I just drove you home? What are you talking ab--"

I hung up. My dad entered the doorway. "Cara, please tell me what is--"

"Dad. I'm going to ask you something very, very important. You remember Jamie Brown, from my high school?" He nodded, very slowly. "Have you seen him since you left? Around town? At the supermarket?"

He frowned. "No, I haven't. I just talked to Mr. Brown the other day. Jamie hasn't been back here since he was 18."

I am freaking the fuck out. I just told my dad the whole story about the mittens showing up at the door every month, and about 'Jamie' taking me home. I googled it. The Jamie I called on the phone was right. He has a website for Brown Orthodontics. He has a Facebook. It's public. I checked the pictures. The person I got into the car with was so close to looking the same--but, in the dim light of my room, it seemed his hair was just a shade lighter, just one more laugh line was on his forehead. I don't know if I made those differences up in my head because it was easier to accept. I don't know if it's the influence of Jack's words that night--they don't always get it right. Who was the they that he meant?

Dad called Sheriff Sanchez. We're talking to her tomorrow. He holed himself up in his room. The sparkle in his eyes is gone. I don't blame him.

Jack, I want to be strong for you, but it's so hard. Everything is so terrifying and confusing. But I am going to keep trying. I'm going to do everything I can. I'm going to call up the people who knew you. I'm going to search by the trailhead at the woods. And I don't care what dad says or does to try to stop me--I'm opening your room. I am going to find out what is going on here. And I am going to find you.

[kijiboop]

Simon: Man on the Run - Part Three

AN: Canon can still kiss my shapely white ass.

They moved us.

They dug up the foundations, the bunker, all of it. They disassembled our home, loaded it onto trucks. They moved us to West Virginia, to an abandoned area in the Appalachians. They set us up on almost a thousand acres of woodlands, promised us privacy and regular supply drops. Carl left us with a satellite phone and urged us to call if we needed anything.

There weren’t many walkers anymore. Most of the original wave had rotted into nothing by now. We decided on electric fences instead. The deer herds did well with some culling around the edges and Carl’s people made sure we had the supplies to restart our garden and the orchards.

We stood in front of our home watching the sun set behind the slope of the mountain. Simon’s arms looped around my waist and he had his chin resting on my shoulder. I stood on a stump which put me only a few inches shorter and I leaned back against him. “I love you,” he whispered and kissed the spot just behind my ear that always made me shiver.

“I love you, too,” I whispered back.

“I’ve been thinking,” he murmured and I gasped overdramatically. Simon squeezed me and jostled me with a low laugh. “Shut up, it happens. I was just thinking, what if we went back? Not for good obviously, but just to… see.”

“See what?” I asked softly. “Go where?”

“Alexandria.” His lips slowly brushed my neck and I closed my eyes. “The Hilltop. The Sanctuary.” When I didn’t answer, Simon paused and gently kissed my neck. “We don’t have to, obviously. I was just thinking.”

I thought about it as the sun dipped lower and plunged us into the twilight that comes early in the shadow of the mountains. “I’m hungry,” I finally whispered and turned in Simon’s arms. “Want to order a pizza?” His smile was brilliant and I leaned my forehead against his, trying not to worry.

We called Carl. He was surprised to hear our request but agreed that it wouldn’t be hard to accomplish. A few weeks later, we met him on the edge of our property at the little station that doubled as our residential mailing address. The car that rolled to a stop at the end of the driveway made me smile. “Electric?” I asked when Carl got out.

“All the gas is too expensive now,” he grinned back as he leaned on the roof, “and most of the oil families died out. Electric and solar power is king.” He jerked his head welcomingly. “Get in.”

Simon got into the back seat behind the passenger seat and Carl obligingly pulled the seat all the way forward to give him leg room. I snuggled up next to him. Carl pulled out and turned on the radio, letting us listen to the news, music from the last ten years, even a religious station he tried to skip over but we made him turn it back just so we could hear it. “They aren’t pushing the eternal life thing quite so hard now,” I chuckled.

“A lot more eternal rest,” Carl agreed. “Were you religious before?”

“Agnostic,” I smiled. “Raised Baptist.”

“Ouch. Simon?”

“Catholic.” He grinned into my hair. “Marginally, anyway. Easter and Christmas.”

“Did you hear what happened to the pope?”

Simon laughed and shook his head. “Carl, how would I have heard? It’s not like I’m getting the newspaper.”

“Point taken.” Carl grinned at us in the rearview mirror and shrugged. “You feel like regular people to me. I forget sometimes.”

“Thank you,” I said softly.

“The pope,” Simon prodded and I could almost hear the grin on his face.

“Bitten during a funeral early in the European outbreak. He declared the reanimated dead outcasts from heaven before he died and started chewing on his bodyguards. The next one they found was more forgiving.”

“I suppose the new one declared Protestants Christians after that, didn’t he?” I chuckled.

Carl blinked, his eyes coming up to the mirror and back to the road. “I don’t know. Is that a thing?”

“It cycles in and out with different popes,” I said with a shrug. “Or it did, anyway.”

“Did they ever figure out what caused it?” Simon asked. He had one hand slowly working its way under the edge of my shirt, seeking skin and I put my hand on the back of his wrist, trying not to giggle. He wiggled his fingers in answer and stopped. “Is there a cure?”

“No,” Carl replied, “and no. Booming business in prosthetics, though.”

A few hours later, he took an off-ramp that spiraled toward the city. Simon and I watched as Alexandria sprawled out across the landscape, easily recovered to its pre-walker size and population. I shook my head slowly and whispered, “Humans really are like roaches, aren’t we?”

“That’s my girl,” Simon chuckled. “Ever the optimist.”

“I got you a suite at one of the hotels downtown,” Carl told us. “It’s about half a mile from the original ASZ. I thought you might like to take one of the walking tours.” I snorted and he grinned at me, “Yeah, they’re poorly named.”

“So are you a celebrity now?” I asked. Carl shrugged and pulled the car into the parking garage of the hotel. “I mean, if they’re memorializing the Alexandria Safe-Zone, they’re putting your dad pretty high in the ranks of recovery.”

Carl stretched as we all climbed out of the car. “I think it’s more like how every little town wants to claim itself ‘historic’ because something happened there one time. Just, y’know, bigger.”

We walked down to the safe zone, looked at the preserved gates and walls, the rows of ticky-tacky houses in a style from another time. People lived in them now. Carl told us the property value down here was astronomical and I believed him. We stopped in front of the house where Carl and his father and sister had lived, the house where Negan served spaghetti and bounced baby Judith on his lap on the porch. I looked at Carl as he stared at the house, then his gaze slid sideways to meet mine and he smiled a thin forced smile. “They made it a fucking museum. A shrine to everything my dad stood for. Or so they say.”

“They lionized him,” I murmured and Carl nodded.

“Lucky for them he’s dead.”

Carl glanced back at Simon and smiled more genuinely. “Lucky for me, too. Let me get on with my life.”

“What a difference a decade or two makes,” Simon murmured.

“And an industrial-sized set of rose-colored glasses.”

We walked back to the hotel and stopped at a restaurant serving pizza and beer. I waxed poetic about the pizza while Simon did the same over the beer. It really had been a long time. “Cheese, Carl,” I said, shaking a slice at him. “Do you know how long it’s been since I had cheese!?” He spent most of the meal trying not to laugh openly at us.

“Do you want to go to the Sanctuary tomorrow?” Carl asked us as we retired to the suite of rooms for the night. “I can call to arrange a private tour. Or there’s the Hilltop.” Simon and l exchanged long looks, measuring each other in silence until Carl was shifting nervously in the hall. “Or…”

I turned to look at him, puzzled by the tentative tone. “Or?”

Carl slowly let his shoulders come up and drop back down. “There was someone who asked to see you. Has been asking, actually.” When neither of us spoke, he said softly, “Negan’s asked about you. He’d like to see you if you’re okay with it.”

“I thought,” I started, “with the heart attack…”

“He’s in hospice,” Carl explained quietly. “They’ve got him stable, comfortable.”

“Stable,” Simon chuckled sourly and I bounced my shoulder off of his chest, quelling him.

“We’ll talk it over,” I said. “It’s a lot to think about. We’ll talk again over breakfast?” Carl nodded and turned away to leave us to our thoughts. Once the door was closed and bolted, I sighed and started to strip out of my clothes, leaving them in a trail toward the bathroom. “I’m getting a shower.”

“There room for two?”

“Two normal-sized humans. I don’t think they have sasquatch-rated showers. They cost extra.”

Simon snorted and caught me around the waist, pulling me back against his chest as he kissed my bare shoulder. “I guess I’ll just have to duck. Story of my life.” I giggled and he hugged me, swaying a little without letting me go. “I don’t know if I can see him,” he finally whispered.

“Then we won’t,” I whispered back and let my head rest against his chest. “He just asked, Simon. It sounds like he’s not in any shape to demand anything anymore.” Simon let one hand roam across my stomach, then up and over one of my breasts, thumb brushing the nipple. His hands were at home on my body and I smiled at the thought.

“Heart attack.” Simon’s voice sounded a little hollow and he laughed. “Seriously. Negan.”

“I suppose it’s the number two cause of death now,” I said and tugged on his hand. “C’mon, fuzzy. I still want that shower.”

@genevievedarcygranger @lucifers-trash-stash @vizhi0n @ladylorelitany

[orbemnews]

Police: 'Aggressive' turkeys terrorizing Mt. Pleasant neighborhood Watson street looks peaceful and calm but the residents know of a dark fear lurking just outside their homes. This sleepy little street in Mt. Pleasant is being terrorized by turkeys. Watson street looks peaceful and calm but the residents know of a dark fear lurking just outside their homes. This sleepy little street in Mt. Pleasant is being terrorized by turkeys. “They are coming after you. They’re trying to peck you,” said Mark Wisneski, a mail carrier for the area. While Wisneski delivers mail, the turkeys deliver constant annoyance. “They’re pecking at the tires. Pecking at the window. Trying to get your arm. And I don’t know what’s wrong with them,” he said. Residents say it’s two particular turkeys pecking pedestrians and terrorizing traffic. “This is ridiculous. It is ridiculous. But it’s dangerous too. They can scratch you up pretty bad,” Wisneski said. The problems gotten so bad the police have been called over and over again. It’s been going on for at least eight months. The Mt. Pleasant Police Department has received several calls about the turkey gang over the last two months, according to Officer Autumn Balcom, spokesperson for the department. The turkeys have been accused of blocking traffic, pecking at vehicles, and chasing after people who have gotten out of their vehicles to shoo the turkeys out of the road, Balcom said. “It is so crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Balcom said. All of these incidents happened in the area of Watson, between High and Bellows. One neighbor refers to these turkey twins as el dos amigos. Wisneski said they deserve a much more sinister nickname and claims the turkeys are tactical. “They cut me off from the truck one time. I pulled in the driveway and I didn’t know they were in the backyard. As soon as I turned around, there they are. And they stopped me. I just charged at them to scare them,” he said. TV5 reporter Scott Wolchek searched up and down the street and didn’t find the dos amigos. What he did find is what the DNR recommends to do about rogue turkeys. They say it’s important to establish dominance. They recommend getting loud and waving your arms around. Wisneski actually uses an ice scraper to protect himself. After receiving so many reports, the police department spoke to the DNR about relocating the turkeys. The police department equipped some of its officers with a net and was able to catch a member of the turkey gang. That turkey was then relocated out in the county, Balcom said. The question remains, what will the turkeys do next? Since their terror has reigned unmatched for nearly a year, some residents – like Steve Taylor – have grown to like the way the turkeys were running things. “Bring ‘em back! Don’t take our turkeys away,” Taylor said. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments); if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)(window, document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '1320025475015282'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); Source link Orbem News #aggressive #autumnbalcom #Gang #highway #markwisneski #neighborhood #Officer #Pleasant #pleasantpolicedepartment #Police #policedepartment #post #Terrorizing #transports #Turkey #turkeys

[fereality-indy]

Gravity Heroes Chapter 71

Chapter 71

Wednesday December 5th, 2012

Delphi’s Temple

Bunker, Gravity Falls

‘Delphi's Files

Things have been really sour in the Bunker and elsewhere for the last few days. I wasn't in the room but over the monitors I saw Mr. Pines, Stan, collapse after he was brought in to see James' grandmother.

He did seem to warm up rather quickly to the fact that James was his grandson, perhaps even more so than James himself. The poor guy. To find out the person pretending to be your grandmother actually was your grandmother, only to have her die on you shortly afterwards.

Mr Ford, being the sceptic he is, ran a DNA test on the three of them and confirmed it last night. He seems to be taking their rapidly expanding family in stride. He has been splitting his time between helping his brother and caring for our other injury from the fight. Nate and Lee have been coming to help him with the Manotaur, but they've been teleported back to Nate's each night since his neighbors never saw them leave.

The Pines twins and their father have taken it upon themselves to help Stan any way they are able. They've already called the hospital and the Valentino's to inform them that they had a guest pass away in her sleep. Mabel's magic was able to 'dress up' the body enough to seal the wounds. There may be a brief investigation but come on it's Blubbs and Durland. Yesterday they got Stan up and had him helping Soos around the gift shop. Preparing for the Christmas traveling season was what Soos had told him they were doing. It was all Soos and the twins could do to get him to mark up stuff for the Christmas sale. The only real bright spot has been that school has been closed since the blizzard Saturday night/Sunday Morning.

Tony, Francis, Pacifica, and Candy have been spending time in my Temple helping me continue to research not only into Pacifica's problem but also searching for everything they could find on James and his grandmother. So far all we have been able to find is that she was the only family he had left, until now at least, and even then he didn’t even know she was related to him.

Tab, Asta, and Jette are searching for everything they can find on other current 'enhanced' as we have taken to calling them. So far there have been reported instances across the country. There is a group of college age kids in Oklahoma that seem to be treating their abilities as if they were just another reason to create a fraternity. Some guy is traveling the south using some sort of color based abilities. In Indiana there is a comic book company that is creating their own team of enhanced. And in a town named Danville there is a small group gathering around an armored hero calling himself the Beak. And finally operating out of a Colorado town called Middleton is a lady and her husband that has been running a hero website since the early two-thousands, they're the ones that handled that Lil Diablo incident nearly a decade ago. And they’re doing it without powers. I've apparently have been in touch with their tech expert before, he's a follower of my blog according to Asta. They're a group we may want to reach out to for some tips as we go. There seems to be more popping up everyday, but these are the major players showing up in the US. As for international instsances I’ve heard vague rumors of a pair opperating out of Paris, but only out of some middleschooler’s fan blog, and also rumors of a state run school in Japan. But these are just rumors.’

Tambry scooted back away from her computer and stretched her arms up behind her head. As she lowered her arms she felt a pair of hands gently grab her shoulders. Looking back as the hands began to massage her shoulders she saw that it was Tony.

“I’ll give you five minutes to stop that,” she said as she leaned into the massage.

“Heh. You need to take a break. You’ve been at this computer for a couple of days.”, he said as he worked out a knot near her neck.

‘I agree with Master Anthony, mi’lady.’ Tab’s word balloon read.     

‘Yeah, toots. Let us take over for awile,’ Asta printed as her bloodhound icon came into view. ‘Jette, Tab, and I can handle this in for awhile. Go have some fun.’

“Yeah, yeah. I guess I can take some time for myself. What do you have in mind?

20 Minutes Later

Outside Of The Mystery Shack

“That’s it!”, Dipper called after being hit in the face with the third snowball in as many such minutes. He hopped up and launched several snowballs towards the small fort his sister and the others had hastely constructed on one side of the Mystery Shack after Tony had dragged Tambry out of her lair and  the snowball fight was proposed.   

“Take that,” Tony added as he, Wendy, and Tambry hopped up and joined Dipper in storming the snowfort.

Wendy stopped about halfway there with a confused look on her face. Noticing it Dipper too stopped and asked,  “Wendy, you ok? What’s wrong?”

“This is too easy, they should have started barraging us with snowballs as soon as we popped up from cover.” Wendy said as Tony & Tambry cleared the edge of the fort.

“There’s no one here,” Tambry called out as she turned back towards her friends, “Watch out!”

Suddenly a barrage of snowballs rained down from the roof of the Shack as Mabel, Pacifica, Candy, Francis, and Grenda began their attack. “Onward Aoshima! Victory is ours!”

“How did you…”, Dipper sputered as he fended off the snowy onslaught. Suddenly he came to a realization, “Hey we said no powers!”

“Whoa guys, do you hear that?”, Wendy called out trying to stop the barrage.

“No mercy,”Candy called out as she pulled a shovel off of the roof and began pushing snow off of it in the direction of the groups former snow fort.

“I hear it too,” Tambry started to say before she was grabbed and pulled out of the path of the falling snow by a smiling Tony.

“Oh, you guys are just trying to get out of the…” Mabel started before she too perked up as she heard the sound coming down the driveway. “Ok, now I hear it too.”

As they all turned towards the drive they saw a large logging truck with a giant snowplow attached to the front of it. As the ones on the roof decended it was close enough there was no mistaking the driver’s bushy red beard.

“Dad,” Wendy called out as her dad climbed down out of the cab of the truck and rushed over to embrace his daughter.

“Baby girl, are you ok?”, Dan asked after he released the hug.

“Oh com’on dad.”, Wendy said as slugged her dad in the shoulder. “Like I told you on the phone, I’m fine. I had just rushed over here as soon as I figured out how bad the weather was gonna be. Remember Dipper and Mabel are from California. They’ve never even seen fresh snow let alone having it be this bad. So I had to be here for them.”

Scruffing her hair as he did, Dan said “That’s my girl, watching out for your friends.”

Turning towards the rest of the group and in his booming voice asked, “And how are you guys?”

“Doing good mister Corduroy sir!” Dipper replied quickly.

“Good, good. And Dipper you can drop the sir, call me Dan.” Dan said with a smile that really did not go unnoticed by the rest of the crew. “I take it you’ve been keeping my girl out of trouble.”

“I try sir, I mean Mister Corduroy, but usually we end up keeping each other out of trouble.”, Dipper said as he shuffled his feet in the snow, “And she’s already been sharing some of her survival knowledge with us today. We now know what to do if say the power went out and we had to rely on the fireplace and wood burning stove for heat. Even the basics of what to do if we got lost out in the woods in this weather.”

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I started teaching her and her brothers the basics back when she was just a lil sapling.”, As he finished up the sentance he looked over the rest of the gathered group, “Why Tambry, Miss Northwest, uhm Grendel and Candace wasn’t it? It’s good to see you three also. How did you three make it all the way out here?”

“Oh, well we were having a sleepover.” Mabel piped up quickly as she realized the need for a cover story. “When the snow started falling we decided to extend it.”

“Ah to be young again, having a sleepover was always fun while I was growing up.” Dan said as he lightly chucked Mabel in the shoulder. “Tambry, I don’t think I can remember the last time I saw you without your phone out.”

“Oh, yeah. Well I have people,”Tambry said as she squeezed Tony’s hand, “who’ve convenced me that there is more to life than the digital world.”

Dan chuckled at that before his face turned serious. He looked back at Wendy and asked, “Your boss is still Soos, right? Is he here?”

“He’s inside helping Stan take inventory,” Wendy replied nonchalantly before she got a better look at her dad’s face. “Why?”

“Well on the way here I was asked to deliver his mail and newspaper. “ Dan said as he walked back towards the truck.

“Ok, I’ll take them to him dad.”

“That’s ok, I’ll take it to him. it was entrusted to me anyways.” Dan said as he pulled the newpaper out of Wendy’s reach.  

This caught Dipper’s attention as Dan seemed to actively pull the paper away but was not really doing much to keep the mail clear.

“Really dad, it’s part of my job description to get the mail. Soos is still terrified the mailman is a werewolf,” Wendy said as she attempted to grab the paper again.

“I keep telling you to tell him that Mr. Myers just has a glandular problem. He’s not a werewolf.” Dan said as he moved the arm with the paper up away from Wendy.

Dipper walked over and snagged the mail out of Dan’s hand while he was distracted by Wendy. As he looked over the envelopes he saw they were almost all resort ads for after Soos & Melody’s wedding. “There’s nothing but ads here, so what’s in the paper you don’t want us to see Mr. Corduroy?”

“What? Oh Nothing.” Dan replied as he turned towards Dipper and realized he had lost the mail. Absentmindedly he dropped the other arm allowing Wendy to grab the paper.

She unrolled the paper as she backed away from her dad. Looking at the headline her face suddenly dropped. “We need to get this into Soos immediately.”

She broke into a run and rushed inside the Shack with Dipper and the rest of the gang in hot pursuit. Soos was in the gift shop with Stan arranging knick knacks. “Soos, you need to see this. Whoever has taken over the paper has found your dad and it’s not good.”

Soos looked over quickly at Stan and poked him before sighing in relief, “You had me worried for a moment, I thought that maybe I had been imagining Mr Pines here.”

“No Soos, your birth father.” Wendy said as she handed him the newspaper.

“Local propreitor is the son of notorious death row inmate,” Soos read the headline aloud as he scaned the paper, “According to this reporter’s research Jesús ‘Soos’ Ramirez, AKA Mister Mystery II of the Mystery Shack is the son of the Nebraska Bomber, Earl A. Wellman. Wellman is known for his string of letterbombs he delivered in the spring of 1994. He is due to be executed next January after eighteen years on deathrow.”

“Soos,” Mabel said as she placed a comforting hand on his arm.

“Heh. Well at least I know he had a good reason for never coming to visit,” Soos said as Stan and most of the gang came around and made him the center of a group hug. “Besides, he quit being family to me years ago, this is my family now.”

“Aw Soos,” Mabel cooed as she squeezed him harder, “You gonna be okay?”

“Of course Hambone,” Soos replied, “I just need to worry about now and the future. Maybe I can even spin this to help the Shack.”

“What we need to do is go talk to whoever is running the paper now,” Wendy said after the hug broke up.

“Yeah, this is the second article to come out seemingly attacking one of us.” Dipper added as he looked around at the group.

“That might be a little hard,” Dan commented from over by the door, “The paper’s office buned to the ground Monday night. They’re saying it was an electrical fire.”

“No one was hurt were they?” Francis asked as he joined the convesation.

“Not that I know, but I’ve heard that Tad isn’t planning on reopening the paper.”, Dan said with a shrug.

“Wait, Tad?”, most of the group exclaimed.

“Yeah, he took over the paper after Bodacious T joined the TV news crew. I thought everyone knew that,” Dan said as he rubbed his chin.

“Why in the world would Tad be attacking us?” Pacifica asked as she looked confusingly at the rest of the group.

“I dunno,” Grenda chimed in, “He’s always been nice to me whenever I see him in town.”

Meanwhile Somewhere In Town

“Well sir. After I recieved your news, I carried out the destruction of the newspaper. I burned it down and i the process destroyed all of the physical copies of the records you had borrowed reguarding your former collection of friends.” Tad said into his phone as he was toasting a slice of bread. “I still don’t get why we are destroyed all of their police records. Oh yeah, I forgot you were mentioned in the files. So in destoying their records, we cleared yours. What about digitial records, oh those were destroyed earlier. Good to hear sir.”

He sat down and buttered his toast as he listened to the other side of the conversation. Ater swallowing the bite he took he replied, “So you’ve made us some new allies during your trip to Portland. Good. The new heroes seem to have defeated the Witch and her subordinates, we can use all the allies we can get. No sir, I’m not implying that you are weak. Just the strength in numbers is always advantagous.”   

______________________________________________________

Chapter 71 is over. Tambry gives us a quick lil update to what has happened for last couple of days after the big fight. And then she is dragged out of her self imposed workzone in order to get some sun and have some fun. The group’s snowball fight is interupted by the arrival of Wendy’s dad and some bad news he’s brought with him. next chapter more aftermath and finally the twins first Christmas in Gravity Falls.

Well all I’m sorry this took so long to come out, my laptop has all but died and so for a long while I was writing only on my phone. This was not fun as I have said in the past I have giant fingers on a small onscreen qwerty pad. I have so many mistakes and cramped thumbs that I practically gave up. Recently on of my roommates has allowed me to borrow his tablet and keyboard and so I was able to get this chapter out. I am wtrying to get my own tablet/keyboard combo and to that effect I have opened a Ko-Fi account under my fereality name if anyone would like to donate to the cause.

The names of our heroes:

Shifter/Dipper – Shapeshifter, highly intelligent.

Will O'/Wendy – Spectral powers, naturally athletic.

Glamur/Mabel – latest in a line of mystics, intelligent but more artistically inclined.

Freerunner/Tony – Peak physical condition, muscles & skin density increased, intelligent.

Flux/Francis – Self transmutation, highly intelligent (biological studies).

Charger/Pacifica – Battle armor, rich, secret sci fi fan.

Vaccine/Nate – toxin/antitoxin production, immunity to poisons, viruses, and toxins.

Brainbuster/Grenda – Natural muscle

Yami/James – Shadow and darkness manipulation, major otaku

Delphi/Tambry – Team hacker and communications expert, Techno-Shaman.

Schematic/Candy – Gadget creator, highly intelligent, trivia queen (I know I need to include this third one some :-) ).

Desperado/Wildbill – Team combat trainer

Also remember to check out my other Gravity Falls works:

Gravity Heroes: Sidetracks - A series on one shots & drabbels that are stories that are in the Gravity Heroes-verse but aren't necessarily required to read the main story-line. It's essentially my take on the classic Marvel Comics Presents. Chapter Seven follows Wild bill after he returns to Piedmont and delves into a few of his past lives that were re-awoken by Polden' Solntse.  

Welcome To The Gravity Falls Region - My take on the Pokemon AU. Follow the adventures of the potential Pokemon Master Dipper Pines and his sister Mabel, Pokemon Coordinator extraordinaire, while they travel through the Gravity Falls Region.

Gravity Falls Valor Force Rangers - In summer of 2016 an ancient force has arrived in Gravity Falls intent on finding weakened layers of reality that are prevalent in the area and exploiting them. Realizing fear is one of the ways to find the weak points, he and his evil henchman have begun corrupting both creatures and objects in order to terrorizing the populace. Taking a cue from a friend he met while stuck on the other side of the portal, Ford recruits five 'teens with attitudes' to combat this threat.

The Curse - thanks to a misunderstanding Wendy is targeted by a fairy curse. This is a short story following what happens afterwords.

Wrasslin Wendy - After Wendy’s brothers learn that Dipper’s Godfather is a former pro wrestler and beg him to introduce them. A few years later Wendy and her brothers are now working for Global Championship Wrasslin. that’s where our story begins. (This is my Writer’sBlock Breaker story for when I need to break through my Writer’s Block)

I also would feel honored if any of my works inspire any art. If the do I would love to see them. Thanks again to all who have read this far. I have received art now from Deviou5, Siryleleen, & Polydactyly Zodiac. These will be posted soon in my Deviant Art account as fan art and credited to them. Thanks again you three. I'm happy to see different interpretations of the characters from the GH AU. Let me know by PM if you do and I'll send out a list of the full descriptions to you. The art is now up at fereality.deviantart.Com/ just remove the spaces. A new pic of Yami is now up.

Again I'd like to give a shout out to dusk4224, EZB, SuperGroverAway, ddp456, & A Pleasant Dream. It was their stories that made me want to get back into writing and to want to start with Gravity Falls. Please check out their stories if you haven't already.

Please review. I'm always open to constructive and helpful criticism, though if you're gonna troll please move on.

Sorry I’m not on the net while I’m writing this chapter so I don’t have access to my reviews in order to respond.