#......... shes the only extended family member i ever met i think

[thecherrygod]

im thinking about my great aunt, who was basically the only family member from my moms side that we really knew. i remember her being kind but like. i was a little kid, if every time i went to visit you youd give me candy, or a toy, or a candy that came with a toy, id think you were a wonderful person

but im not exactly thinking about that, but what i think was the last time i saw her. like im. unsure if im remembering it right. i dont even remember how old i was, maybe a 5 or 6 year old.

it.. felt like a party of sorts, in her apartment. a lot of people i didnt know so i stuck to my mom. i. dont even remember my brothers or my dad being there i just remember being right next to my mom, and my great aunt was in bed i think, i dont know if she simply couldnt get up or what. but i also remember she gave me a... flower? or something like that. she had sculpted it before giving it to me, and the clay, or whatever the material was, was raw.

and i just. remember walking around the apartment. seeing an amount of people i didnt know, in my memory everyone was having a good time? and everyone was dressed sorta like for a party

..... also i think i managed to spend most of the party with the clay flower as a flower but at some point i sorta started playing with it bc i loved doughs and stuff a lot and i couldnt get myself, and i think i got a bit disappointed i couldnt turn it back into a flower

i cant remember if i managed to ask her to make it into a flower again or not, in fact i cant remember if i saw her again that night before leaving

[princesssmars]

thinking about princess reader and royal knight rhaenyra…

as the young princess of dorne, tourneys were nothing new to you. you’d never really cared for them, finding the blood and violence unnecessary and borderline barbaric. when you could you would beg your mother to come up with an excuse to your father to let you stay at the palace, citing sickness, weariness, anything.

but this time you had no choice. because as your family entered into the royal watching booth, politely greeting the members of your father court, your father stops before extending his hand to your guest - king viserys of westeros himself.

you’d heard many things about him, partially from overhearing your mothers gossip and from the workers talking a little too loudly when you’d sneak in the kitchens. you obviously knew he was a targaryen, his long silver gold hair and peculiar eyes telling anyone with a short distance of his heritage.

but more importantly you’d heard that he was a mostly kind and generous king, with a large portion of his people happy under his reign. there was no better option for your father to invite to his event.

you gracefully presented yourself to him, smiling when he kissed the back of your hand and gave you a polite compliment. he introduced his wife, the beautiful queen aemma, and his vibrant young son baelon who excitedly shook his hand at you and everyone else in the booth.

after the introductions everyone say down to let the people know the tourney could commence, cheers ringing as you settled into place in front of your father and next to rosalei, one of the fellow younger ladies in court who was your closest friend ever since she snuck some sugared treats to your room when the head cook had banned you from them for a week.

the even was like any other : knights got in their horses, they picked up giant sticks, then ran at each other on said horses with said sticks and tried to knock the other man down. yet again the event did nothing to entertain you, focusing on the small conversation you were keeping up with rosalei while paying attention to the ones around you. for now, your father and his guest had discovered their shared love for the histories and had veered to the animosity but occasional generosity between their people.

your father is close to getting on to the topic of a equally beneficial trade deal when whispers from the small folk take over the crowd, some standing up and pointing at a contender who had entered the fighting area. you bend over the edge of the booth to catch a look, ignoring your mother chastising your posture and manners.

it’s a knight everyone’s looking at, that’s true, but a knight unlike you’ve ever seen before. their armor is black and scarily imposing, a beautiful construction of steel with strong pleats and swoops. their horse is somehow darker than the armor, black as knight with a bright sun medallion around its neck. its only then you notice the flag in their hand, along with the dragon emblems on their armor.

"you have a competing knight, your grace?" you ask, turning your head around when you are only met with silence. the visiting kings face is red, smile so forced it looks like he’s going to quickly gain a cramp in his jaw. the queen is resting a hand on his shoulder, subtly trying to comfort him while they exchange hushed whispers.

“said…show strength…not what i meant-“

the queen tries to comfort him more before they look in your direction, along with every one else in your booth. your body goes rigid for a second before you realize they’re looking behind you, turning your body to see what was so intriguing.

the targaryen knight, poised right beneath the opening of the booth, helmeted head and joust sword tipped towards you. and even without being able to see their face you know their eyes are trained on you.

you can also tell that everyone is waiting for you to do something. so with all the farce you can muster you gently pick up your favor, raising it high enough for the people to see, and let it slide down onto the joust.

no further words are shared, the warrior staying in place for a few more seconds before goading their horse back into position. as you watch you plop back into your seat, breathing slightly stuttering at the encounter while your friend pokes and prods for an explanation for whatever that was.

even if you had the time you wouldn’t be able to say much, feeling like a warm thick jelly has suddenly made its home inside your throat. put of the corner of your you can see one of the kings guards looking at you, but before you can turn to look back at him the sudden roars of the crowd snap your attention to the game.

almost like a bolt of lighting does the warrior speed down the jousting lane, sword aimed steady at the burly man who had bested most of the other men in the contest. just when his sword is aimed inches away from the knight, then bend their body dangerously close to falling off of their horse before thrusting at just the right moment to knock the man down, the sound of galloping hooves and crunching metal all you can hear.

the cheers from the commoners is near deafening, but all you can focus on is the knight, who instead of basking in the success and praise is yet again looking in your direction. but looking back at the aghast king viserys, you can’t exactly tell who they are trying to impress.

after congratulating and thanking the people for coming and competing, and giving a personal thanks to the king for making his way down to your kingdom, your father dismisses everyone to enjoy the other tourney activities while the royal families go to prepare for later celebrations. after giving the royal family of westeros a quick goodbye, you grab rosealai’s hand and hurry out of the booth to grab a quick bite from one of the fair booths and to try to talk all you can about what just happened.

but right before you ca leave the booth you’re stopped in your tracks, no one other than the black knight standing in front of you. you blink up at them, waiting for them to speak before their hands raise to take off their helmet to reveal themselves . it’s almost in slow motion that you take in every part of their face - a soft angled jaw, pink lips, a broad nose, short silver hair -

“rhaenyra! finally, please show a bit of grace to our hosts and introduce yourself.” king viserys comes up beside you, gently scooting beside you to wrap an arm around the armored shoulders of the knight. “the last impression i’ll have my daughter making is that she’s yet another rude and british knight.”

neither of you move however, gazes locked and bodies still. only about a thousand thoughts are running through your head at the current moment.

the knight is a woman. the knight is an attractive woman. the knight is princess rhaenyra. princess rhaenyra who came up to your booth and quietly asked for your favor.

without a word spoken or breaking ye contact, the heavy hand of the princess grabs yours, physically strong but gently soft, bringing it up slowly before pressing a kiss to the back of your hand.

you’ve always been able to keep your composure in the face of extreme emotions, a necessary trait as a royal who had to make quick and harsh decisions. sadly that all seems to be going out the window as you feel your cheeks warm and your breathing get faster.

“it is an honor to meet you, princess. and even greater an honor to win a competition with your favor. i hope similar opportunities make themselves available in the future.”

her voice is melodic yet curt, no room for doubt or wrongful interpretation. you break her gaze to look down at her lips, looking back up to see her doing the same before a sly smile appears on her face.

clearly the moment goes on a little too long for comfort, the king further ushering his daughter to greet your father and mother after giving the two of you a worried look. when her body passes yours you can feel her hand discreetly brush against your side, shivering slightly at the cold of the steel even through the fabrics of your dress.

your father quickly motions for one of his guard to guide you back to the castle before turning to your guests with a welcoming but greedy smile. you can feel rosalei’s barey contained excitement as you rush out of the entryway, not before looking back one last time and seeing purple eyes already trained on your body.

maybe tourneys weren’t so boring after all.

can you tell i don’t really know shit about tourneys. sorry if some things are inaccurate i’m getting everything through hotd, asoiaf wiki, and tiktok’s 💔

[heich0e]

do reader and sunaosa’s families know about their relationship? i ask bc my cousin came out as poly earlier this year and i had to call my 70 year old father before a birthday party and explain to him what polyamorous meant. fun conversation

mama miya knows, and she's accepting of it. samu didn't really hide it from her, but he did take some time to think about how he wanted to tell her. more than anything, what weighed on his mind was that after he told tsumu—and that happened pretty much immediately—he was effectively asking his brother to keep something from their ma, and that just didn't sit right with him.

but even though he took time to tell her, and was concerned about finding all the right words, it all came out rather plainly in the end. in the middle of an otherwise unremarkable conversation over a meal in the house she raised him in, osamu opened with the whole 'hey ma, just so you know i like girls and also i like boys', rounded it out with 'also i'm dating the slouchy kid you've been seein' me hang around with since i was a teenager', and finally brought it home with 'and i'm still crazy about the girl ya like so much, but just so you know she and rin are datin' each other too.'

it took a bit of processing on mama miya's part, and no one can blame her for that, but at no point was she unkind about it. she asked some questions, found no fault in her son's answers, and ultimately came to the conclusion pretty quickly that even if she doesn't totally understand something that doesn't make it wrong. she didn't love her son all these years just to give up on him for choosing the thing that makes him happy.

(years down the road, the twins joke that she threw a bigger fit about them dyeing their hair in their teens than she did about osamu coming out. she laughs with them.)

suna and his parents aren't very close.

his mom and dad divorced when he was in middle school, but they never really liked each other much to begin with, so it wasn't like it came as a shock. after the split, he went to live with his dad in an apartment a few towns over, while his sister went to live with their mom at their grandparents' house. suna doesn't talk much about this point in his life, and doesn't really remember it in any great detail, but he doesn't feel resentful or particularly weighed down by this part of his past.

rintarou moved into the inarizaki dorms in his mid-teens, got his first apartment after graduating while he did his brief stint as a uni student, and has pretty much been on his own since. as an adult, his relationship with his dad is pretty distant—even as a kid they weren't particularly close, since his father was never really a man of many words to begin with. he doesn't talk to his mom much at all, either—maybe a phone call if something notable comes up in the extended family, a card sent in the mail on a birthday, that kind of stuff. nothing terrible or horrible ever happened with either of them, and he has no hard feelings about it, his family just was never really much of a family to begin with.

the only one he ends up telling about you and samu is his little sister. she's the only member of his family he has much of a relationship with, having stayed in touch with her over the years, and properly reconnecting as they both got older and gained proper independence. she puts most of the pieces together herself over time—she sees pictures of you and samu both on his social media, and the ones up in his nagano apartment, she hears him talking to you on the phone every so often and notices how soft his voice is when he speaks to either of you—and then when she finally asks he doesn't deny it. she's accepting of it right away, and isn't all that fazed by it to be honest. she's known samu for ages, since he and rin have been friends all these years, and he's always treated her like a little sister anyway, so she takes no issue with it being "official" now. she likes you a lot, too (having met you a few times prior to your relationship being revealed, where you were introduced as osamu's girlfriend,) and begs rin to let her spend more time with you once everything is out in the open—and rintarou never says it, but that makes him really happy.

[sstormyskyess]

omg 16 with poly tf141 would be the greatest thing ever reader brings not one, not two, but four huge beefcakes home to their shitty families holiday party that they only throw to show off their fancy house and shitty interior design, I know that probably wasn't the original idea of the prompt but if you're interested I'd love to see you write it thank you!

Family Affairs

author's note: i actually got to pull from personal experience with this one tbh, i’m gonna have to go to a party like this near the end of the year. unfortunately, i don’t have four beefcakes to bring with me 😔 at least i can imagine it though! thank you for the request, hope you enjoy!!

cw: poly tf 141, general fluffy stuff, reader has a big family [just like me, i have 14 members in my extended family just on my dad’s side]

word count: 1800+

TF-141 x GN!Reader

You groan, burying your face in your hands. You were hoping, praying that you weren't going to get that one little text message that always spelled disaster no matter when it came across your phone screen. It had been a good run, too; you hadn’t suffered this fate in a good few years. But, apparently that winning streak was too good to be true.

You look at the notification on your screen again, re-reading it for about the third time. ‘We hope to see you at the party this year! P.S., please bring your boyfriend along this time, your aunt won’t drop it,’ the message from your mom read. Boyfriend. Little did she know, you in fact had four boyfriends, none of which had met your frustratingly nosy family.

Speak of the devil—or, one of them at least—John walks into the common area, a stack of papers in his hand. “Morning, love.” He shoots you a smile before focusing his attention back on the documents he was scanning. “What’s on your mind?” He takes a seat in the chair opposite you, leaning back and crossing his legs, one ankle on the other leg’s knee.

You think for a bit before sighing. “Off-base things. Family stuff.” It’s clear he was unsatisfied with your vague answer when he met your eyes with a raised brow. You huff, knowing you wouldn’t get away with dancing around the issue for even a moment. “My mom wants me to bring a boyfriend back for my aunt’s holiday party.”

John continues to look at you, his air gone from stern to confused within a second. “You do have a boyfriend. Four of them, actually.” He tilts his head as he states the obvious. You roll your eyes, crossing your arms. “I know that. I just don’t wanna subject any of you to the torture that is being at those pointless parties.”

He just smiles at you again, his eyes returning to whatever was on the papers in his lap. “Maybe we’ll make it better for you. I’m sure the rest of our boys will be glad to accompany you.”

You chew the inside of your cheek, thinking about the prospect. Frankly, it did sound like a good idea on the surface; it would be nice to spend some down time with all the people you love, after all. After another few moments of thought, you nod and stand up from your chair. “You’ve got a point. I’ll go talk to the others, then—see if they’ll be able to come with us.”

John hums in approval, catching your wrist as you walk past toward the door. “Hey. Come here.” You smile, leaning down to kiss him and appreciating the feeling of John’s hand coming up to the nape of your neck, his fingers rubbing a loose circle on your skin. “Things will be fine, darling,” he says after pulling away. “Don’t worry.”

A deep sense of dread starts to build inside of you as your mini convoy starts to approach your aunt’s house, which is technically more like a mansion based on the size of it. It had already set in the moment Simon convinced the others to let him drive. Yes, he got you to your destination way faster than any of the others would, but that was only because he drives like a maniac.

The dread slowly developing wasn’t caused by Simon almost getting everyone into a wreck at least two or three times, though. It was caused by the fact that you could already see your family’s cars lined up along the road and sitting in the driveway, memories of past parties flooding your head.

Kyle beside you must notice the way you’ve started shrinking into yourself and he wraps his arms around your shoulders, pulling you close to kiss you on the cheek. “I’m excited to meet your family, sweetheart.” An underlying joy is hidden in his voice, which brings a small smile to your face. “You sure?” You chuckle, leaning into him. “They can be a lot.”

“I’ve dealt with worse, no need to worry.” He ensures you, pressing a couple more kisses to your temple and your forehead. Your cheeks warm and you push his face away. “Stop it,” you say playfully.

Johnny helps you out of the car and wraps an arm around your waist when Ghost pulls over to park his car on the side of the street. “Who do you think is gonna be the favorite?” He asks with a grin on his face. You hum, tapping your chin and feigning deep thought. “Probably John. And not you, the responsible John.”

Johnny scoffs, dramatically putting a hand over his heart. “I am responsible! Can’t believe you would say such a thing!” You simply pull him closer and kiss him on the cheek, giggling under your breath. “I’m sorry, baby. Please forgive me—” You’re cut off by him giving you a big kiss on the lips. “Fine, you’re forgiven.” He gives you his bright smile, the one that reaches his eyes and crinkles the corners of them.

Simon walks past and tugs on Johnny’s sleeve, pulling him forward. “Get moving, Johnny.” He grunts, dragging him along and taking you with him in turn.”We’re coming, we’re coming,” Johnny huffs.

You take a deep breath once you reach the front door of your aunt’s house, amping yourself up to face the music head-on. You feel John’s comforting hand between your shoulder blades and you smile, his silent support soothing your nerves and giving you the courage to ring the doorbell, officially sealing your fate. No going back now.

Surprisingly, the night was actually going well. Just like John said, being able to sit in-between two of your ruggedly handsome partners while the other two were pulling your aunt’s attention away from you was massively more comfortable compared to your other experiences in this house.

Johnny and Simon, seated next to you on either side, chatted with a couple members of your extended family while Kyle was off in the kitchen making a plate of hors d'oeuvres for you, and John was busy entertaining your aunt and mother with various war stories from his yesteryears. It seemed like everyone was having a blast, their easy smiles contagious.

You look up when Kyle sits in the armchair next to the loveseat you, Simon and Johnny were posted up on. You grin when he presents you with a small plate full of various meats and cheeses. He kisses your hand as you reach over and take the plate from him, making your face heat up. You shoot him a pointed look, but he flashes his pretty smile in return. You can’t possibly stay mad at that smile—I mean, have you seen it? You just shake your head, unable to mask the flustered look on your face.

Your grandmother looks away from her conversation with Johnny and turns her attention to Kyle. “Oh my! Who’s this lovely young man?” She listens intently as he introduces himself and then starts up her usual questioning whenever one of her grandbabies brought someone to meet the family.

You let out a long sigh, your senses already getting overwhelmed after the past hour or so of entertaining the party with your boys. You start to pick at your hors d'oeuvres, building a little stack of what looked like some sort of salami and a piece of cheese on a cracker, popping it in your mouth. 

Simon’s hand comes into your downturned gaze and rests on your leg, giving it a firm yet gentle squeeze, a silent check-in. You cover his hand with yours, looking up at him and smiling, effectively quelling his concerns. He nods and intertwines his fingers with yours, an affectionate glint in his gaze. You return the look wholeheartedly and let him pull his hand away to rest in his lap.

You glance up when you hear your name being called across the room and see John and your mother looking over at you. She beckons you over and you sigh, standing up and starting to head over to the two of them. You jump when Johnny’s hand pats the back of your thigh a couple times, smirking up at you. You roll your eyes and mutter a quiet ‘stop that,’ trying to hide the fact that your heart skipped a beat at the smug look on his face.

John wraps an arm around your waist once you get close enough, his hand petting up and down your side. “Your mother wants to know how we met,” he explains. Your mother pipes up, “I also want to know why you were hiding these lovely men from the family for so long.” She gives you a look. The look. You groan, running a hand over your face. “Of course, mom.”

“I’ve no idea why you were so worried about tonight, bonnie. It was perfectly fine!” Johnny pulls you down to the couch in the living room of the house you and the others had bought recently, his arms tight around you. He held you in place to pepper kisses all over your face. You try to push his face away so you can actually respond to his comment; the effort was futile, but after a few pushes he pulls away on his own. “It seems like they were on their best behavior since you four showed up with me. You’re all pretty imposing, to be fair,” you say, leaning back against Johnny’s chest.

Simon walks in with a handful of mugs filled with warm spiced apple cider, passing them around the room and then sitting in his armchair, his legs crossed loosely. He notices your eyes on him and raises a brow. “You talking about me?” You laugh and shake your head. “Not just you, silly.”

Kyle catches the tail end of the conversation after coming downstairs in his lounging clothes, sitting next to John on the loveseat opposite the couch Johnny had you buried in. “I’m sure it was mostly you, Simon.” He grins, leaning into John’s side. You roll your eyes. “Well, I’m sure most of my family was intimidated by your dashingly handsome looks, good sir.”

John rests his arm on the back of the couch, his fingers playing with the hair on the back of Kyle’s neck. “That’s a good point, darling,” he smirks, taking note of the bashful look that crosses Kyle’s features. He hides his smile by taking a sip from his mug.

“Hopefully your family feels a bit more comfortable around us next year, yeah?” John takes a sip of cider from his own mug, before setting it down on the coffee table and picking up the remote to put something on the TV, probably some shitty holiday movie. The exact kind that he likes.

You hum and hold your warmed up mug in your lap, happily cuddling up with Johnny. “Yeah, hopefully.” There’s a brief pause before you realize what he just said and the implications of it. “Wait—next year?” And once again, that signature sense of dread hits you and you groan, knowing you wouldn’t be able to convince him otherwise.

𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

[tired-fandom-ndn]

your post on the extended abernant family and will readings is making me want more on the abernant family as a whole not just adaine, aelwyn, and the parent’s whose names i cant spell if i tried

just adaine and aelwyn having an extended stay in fallinel because word spreads amongst the family that the two nieces/how ever many great grandkids have returned home after so many years

and they just have a small (actually quite large) and impromptu family reunion

where the sisters tell their tales of solace and in return they get a general info dump of their family members they havent seen since they were quite small

and oisin is getting a shovel talk in the corner by their dragon born cousins and after that they start binding over dragon things like their hoards and etc. while the elves catch up

[context]

YES YES YOU GET ME ANON THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING ABOUT

They get a letter from a great great aunt just complaining about how they were in Fallinel and didn't even visit their family except for their useless father??? The fact that they were in PRISON is not relevant, their aunt would've posted bail for them if she'd known! Anyway the whole family is getting together for a reunion and they HAVE to come, obviously, grandma's been asking about them for AGES and don't they want to see everyone and meet their new baby cousins??

Adaine and Aelwyn aren't given the chance to argue, they're just told a time and place (their grandma's castle, the same one she'll eventually leave to Adaine) and invited to bring any friends/partners/children (their family does not understand how old they are). Adaine drags Oisin with and maybe the Bad Kids if she can convince them; maybe even Ivy if she and Aelwyn are a thing. They have to have a powerpoint presentation for everyone going with, covering all the most important people and explaining to Oisin why exactly there's a giant fucking dragon skeleton so that he's not caught off guard or made to feel threatened.

There are. So many fucking elves. And half-elves and silver dragonborns and a scattering of other races from marriages. But just A LOT of elves with very long names who are all speaking different dialects of Elvish and still seem to understand each other somehow?? Adaine and Aelwyn are both MOBBED by family members they haven't seen since they left Fallinel (or even earlier, I could see their parents isolating them from the family) and even by family members they've never met; there's an uncle who left to become a forest hermit and that reunion is the first time anyone's seen or heard from him in 300 years.

They get people picking at their hair and complaining about how much fashion has changed (that cousin still wears their hair in styles that were popular 1,000 years ago), older family bragging about being related to the Elven Oracle, teen cousins wondering why they weren't sent to Kei Lumennura too, their grandma praising them for being so lovely and intelligent and good and how on earth did her useless grandchild (I can't decide if I like Angwyn or Arianwen being the Abernant more) produce such wonderful children, and lots of baby cousins getting shoved into their arms. One of their uncles asks why Adaine didn't just talk directly to their cousin in the Court of Stars about being paid and she's like what fucking cousin?????? They get passed around the reunion for hours and spend what feels like every possible moment of the days (and weeks?) following telling every single family member stories about their adventures and life in Solace; their little cousins play games about their adventures, pretending to defeat the Nightmare King and slay Kalvaxus.

Meanwhile YES, Oisin has absolutely been cornered by a dozen or so silver dragonborns (maybe with a scattering of other colors) to interrogate and threaten him, which would be a lot more effective if they weren't speaking a mix of a Fallinel dialect of draconic that Oisin can only understand every other word of and a variety of dialects of Elvish (which Oisin can barely speak) while Oisin's Solesian dialect of Common is difficult and confusing for the other dragonborns. They eventually figure out a system of communication though and Oisin happily hangs out with them (and away from Adaine's more intimidating family members) until he sees Adaine holding one of her baby cousins, a tiny silver hatchling snoozing in her arms, and he needs to be next to her IMMEDIATELY.

[knightyoomyoui]

TWICE: Anthology of Horror One-Shots | STORY 3: "Sneaky Watcher" ft. MOMO

NOTE: This is my first ever original and own-made horror one-shot for this series featuring two legendary mysterious creatures from the tales of Japan. i just thought that the story possessing a concept / element from Japan fits for Momo since... well she's Japanese. Also, a quick trigger warning: the ending is depressing and tragic. Some of the parts might also bring disturbing imagery to the imaginations from some readers.

During the promotions for their new released extended play album titled “With YOU-th”, there was a changes applied on their current line-up of all the staffs working under TWICE’s management in Division 3. They had to unfortunately lose one beloved worker and a friend in their team when Momo’s manager Haseul had to file a permanent leave to the company. The reason is because the man is already married and he had fully decided to set his priorities now on the family he’s going to build with his wife.

Everybody respected his choice and they give him a beautiful goodbye despite being emotional, including Momo herself who already considered Haseul as one of her closest friends in the management. After they officially declared Haseul’s departure from the team, they have no choice but to do the next phase when a spot goes vacant. They have to look for a new replacement for Haseul. The search spent 5 days until the ones that were assigned to do it finally had somebody to offer. It was kind of an easy grab because they introduced this new person which actually has an experience already of managing idols. Momo then met her new manager named Sachiko Yamamoto, a woman in her 30’s and also was a former employee in JYPE’s headquarters in Japan. Momo was glad that her new manager does have some similarities as her, particularly due to the fact that both of them are pure Japanese who can speak fluent Korean too. That would be comfortable for Momo to communicate with her since they can somehow relate on other things regarding on their nationality and bilingual skills.Because of that, Momo felt so enthusiastic and anticipating to get to know her new manager. However, her first few days with Sachiko told a different narrative from her perspective. Everything she was expecting has rather went down spiral into failure. Her performance as a manager was way apart from her first impression she showed off when she introduced herself to Momo and to other staffs. One primary reason she could think of when she’s observing Sachiko is her demeanor that gives her quite uneasiness whenever she’ll come to approach her. She’ll act very sweet but when she sets herself distance from Sachiko, she usually catches her staring down at her with completely seriousness masked in her face. She smiles a lot but that;s only when it comes for her unlike the rest of the staffs, she just barely talks.

Although the odd speculations she have gotten from Sachiko’s antics, she just gave a guess of it that probably the young Japanese woman is just letting herself get used to her surroundings because its her first time here in South Korea, and it would make sense since the rest of the managers and most of her co-members are Koreans. Yet another one crossed her mind that if that’s the case, why she also acts different towards Mina and Sana who are also Japanese as her? People can be weird in their own ways, Momo concluded. She has so many things to pay more attention first, so she just sweep it off and let her manager do whatever she wants as long as it won’t bother her further.

That is until one day, her hopes went broken when Momo who just finished her beauty care after removing her makeup that she wore from visiting their pop-up museum for With YOU-th. She fixed her bed and set her alarm to 6AM in the morning because they still had somewhere to go for another schedule tomorrow. Momo immediately slept right after her body went contact with the softness and comfy texture of her bed’s cushion. Two hours while she’s deep in her slumber, she stirred in her position and the stretch it required for her body to do made her eyes to barely open, but was enough for her to notice something peculiar coming from her window.

Momo narrowed the slit of her eyes to obtain more focus on her sight to see. There was something disturbing lurking outside her window and it was a round shape until Momo got to visualize it when she opened her eyes and slowly sat up from her bed. Her eyes widened when just as she made a movement, the floating thing disappeared by going sideways that was blocked by the wall for her to follow. That one last glimpse had Momo scream in terror, especially when she speculated that the round thing that was floating in the window can be compared to like a head of a person. Momo pulled her sheet to the level of her chest and she gripped it tight while she sat on her bed, her back leaning on the wall as she breathe rapidly at what the hell did she just observed. That figure was bothering Momo’s mind even during their schedule which caused a bit of a trouble during the progress of their shooting. She was mostly out of her trance, still thinking about what she has caught last night. When she has something going on in her head, her former manager Haseul would be the one to volunteer to have Momo let it all out by listening to whatever story she has in store inside, but sadly her current manager has no qualities of that.

Instead, she wasn’t causing any help at all. She just adds to Momo’s creepy feeling she’s been having after not getting over still from what she seen that night.

While on their break, Momo who is still spacing out after looking at her phone, was confronted by her fellow member Jeongyeon who sat beside her. “You don’t look like you have a grip of yourself at the moment, Momoring.”, she said.  On many occasions, Jeongyeon would be the sole responsible for making fun of her but right now, she is acting as a true friend and a sister to her with her tone being so caring and serious.

“Care to share it with me?” “Are you guys angry at me for making us film many takes because of what i’m doing?” Momo asked with guilt. “I’m sorry if I’m being like this, I-” “We know, that’s why we can’t be mad at you.” Jeongyeon cuts off her words to share her understanding personality. “Everybody has something they had to fight on their own, but there’s nothing wrong with seeking help from others, right?”

“Yeah.” “Then what is it, what is something that is preventing you to act right today?” Jeongyeon patiently asked. Momo went silent for a second and Jeongyeon thought it must be tough for the latter to share. “You can’t force yourself if you can’t Momoring, okay?”

“N-no, I can it’s just that…” Momo lets out a deep breathe. “I don’t know if you would believe me when I say this.”

“Let me hear it first before I judge.” “O-okay…” Momo nodded. “I saw something on my room last night.”

“What is it? Something scary?” “Yeah… there was like… somebody’s watching me from the window, but what’s weird is because it doesn’t have any body, yet the head… is there.”

Jeongyeon furrowed her brows and looked at Momo in disbelief. “Wait are you trying to tell me that there’s probably a stalker in your room that is not headless but rather… only composed of head? Like literally a floating head?” “Exactly.” Momo agreed. “I still don’t know if what I saw was true but… it’s so scary that it ruined my sleep just imagining about it.” Jeongyeon saw how Momo look completely nervous and uncomfortable recalling that scenario, but she lowered her head apologetically. “I’m not actually into ghosts but Momoring… I may not know what exactly you seen out there but maybe it’s because you’re just tired these days. You are considered to be one of our most hardworking people here in our Division, so it’s not gonna be a problem if you… know, try atleast slowing it down and rest when needed?” Momo sighed. “Maybe you’re right. I was in the middle of my sleep when I woke up and saw that, maybe I was just dreaming still when it happened.” Jeongyeon shook her head and wrapped her arm around Momo as she rocked the dancer’s toned body. “You know what, I’ll just take you out for some iced coffee to keep your senses awake. Okay?”

“Sure, why not.” They both grinned at each other after. The chills may have left Momo but her curiosity isn’t done yet. It pushed her to plan something later that night to prove if that thing actually exists like what she encountered days ago. Before she slept, she placed her go-pro camera on her nightstand and sets it on record. While she’s sleeping, the floating head made its appearance once again, floating and swaying back and forth slowly through the window. It tried to open to window using its teeth by biting it and gently opened it as it slides off the pane. Just as when it opened, Momo who is actually pretending to sleep when she heard some strange noises that signifies its presence, Momo immediately sprung up from her bed and tried to charge at the creepy thing but it got away when Momo almost fell to the bottom of the building out to the window as she got pulled by the strength of the creature while she’s pulling it’s long hair to prevent from escaping.

Momo cried in fear as she has proven that it is indeed real. She even touched it by her own hands. Before that, there is one more thing to confirm such existence of this suspiciously dark creature she’s trying to chase for. Grabbing the go-pro camera, she stopped its recording and revisit every timestamps until it led her to this one clip that made her feel intense goosebumps. The creature was indeed a floating head, highly resembling a classic yokai creature based from the tales in her home country Japan, which had Momo in shock as she discovers that this thing called “nukekobi” actually exists in life. But that wasn’t the only part that terrified her a lot, because when she zoomed the paused video to identify its face, Momo almost dropped the camera in pure suspense. The next day, Momo hurriedly arranged a meet up with two of the lead managers in TWICE’s management team, named Sadness and Tendo to report such a frightening evidence. “Look, it’s literally Sachiko and she’s not normal as we all seems to believe about her! Have you guys seen somebody who can detach its head from its body?!” Momo complained while Sadness and Tendo were staring at the paused clip.

“Are you sure you didn’t edit this or something, because seriously what the fuck is this thing?” Tendo said while rubbing his arm, feeling the creeps thats making her hair all stand up. “This is so… I don’t know, my mind can’t process properly what we’re seeing right now, but whether Sachiko who is actually like… what did you say about her again earlier?” “A nukekobi.”

“Yeah that. Whatever she is, we are now certainly sure that she is unsafe and she causes uncomfortable atmosphere for everybody working hard just to assist TWICE in their schedule. This is getting concerning so… what do you say, Tendo? Would you want to do something about this?” “Yeah, definitely. I couldn’t let myself stand across near that woman again after seeing this. I don’t even like her that much, she’s naturally weird, I suppose.” “Okay, I’ll have the rest to investigate the effects of her behavior and once we come up with a decision, we’ll include her for the meeting. Is that good, Momo?” “Yes, thank you so much unnie and oppa.” Momo nodded and bowed gratefully at the two kind leaders.

With the help of Tendo and Sadness’ instant actions regarding of Momo’s complain about Sachiko’s true nature, they have come up with a unanimous decision to kick out Sachiko from the team after the rest also shared their approval and own criticism about the strange woman. After learning about her contract’s unfortunate demise just weeks after getting assigned to JYPE in Korea, Sachiko was upset and disappointed at their decision, and before she left, she expresses those summed up emotions towards one person, and that is the idol she thought she would idolize for her inspiring personality but instead ended up being one of her haters.

Although Momo was regretting it a bit after feeling bad for Sachiko’s removal, she remained focus at the important matter that she’ll be free and safe again from that creature lurking and stalking her as deeper as her sleep she takes every night. It also somehow relief for the managers and the members who learned about the nature of Sachiko, hoping that it would be the last time they’ll get to experience that.

Not long enough, as 3 days later, the police informed Sadness, Tendo, and other TWICE members that they have found Momo’s lifeless body on the backseat of their car that crashed at the side of a road outside Seoul along with her driver who was also pronounced dead in arrival. The two both had their necks broken as their cause of deaths.

It wasn’t because of the impact of the crash though, as they have found out from the investigation that Momo’s neck has huge red marks that presumably came from something very thick and was applied enough force to tighten around Momo’s neck for it to snap in pieces. That resulted for the doctors to finalize that Momo’s cause of death was actually due to strangling, and the only suspect they can have is none other than the driver itself.

They were right, as the whole story they didn’t know behind this gruesome incident was because the driver is actually another Japanese yokai disguised as normal human called “rokurokubi” , a counterpart of Sachiko’s kind. If Sachiko can detach its head completely, the driver whose named is Hiroshi Yamamoto can extend its neck very long to detach itself to its body, and unknown to the police’s reports… it was the strategy he used to kill Momo to avenge his friend Sachiko who committed suicide after having her job in which he was the one who suggested his friend to the agents of Division 3 for the vacant manager spot, got stripped away from her. -----------------------------------END----------------------------------

[mauesartetc]

While we're waiting for Millie's shine in later episodes, how would you develop Millie and how would you write her?

PFFF uhh I expect we'll be waiting indefinitely tbh. But I guess the first step would be to ask a lot of questions and figure out which pieces are missing from the puzzle. Here's a list of what's on my mind about Millie, in no particular order:

In "The Harvest Moon Festival", she hugged her dad upon seeing him, but not her mom. Was she closer to her dad growing up? Why?

What first attracted her to knives and axes, and who taught her to use them as weapons?

What was her favorite job on the farm growing up?

Who was her first love?

How did she meet Blitzo and Moxxie?

What occupations did she have before joining IMP?

Does she ever hang out with anyone other than her coworkers and her husband? What are her friends like? How did they meet?

Does she want to have kids someday?

What's her educational background? If she went to college, which subject/s did she major in?

What hobbies does she have outside of killing people?

Millie's aggressive, violent side is emblematic of Wrath ring culture, but does she have any traits that clash with it?

What's her favorite location in all of Hell, and why?

Standard job interview fare: Where does she see herself in five years?

Why doesn't she ever stand up to Blitzo when he berates her husband? (I mean, in a meta sense, we know why, but what's the reason inside the narrative?)

What does her extended family look like? Do they all live in Wrath, or are they spread out across other rings?

What does she love most about Moxxie?

What did she and Moxxie do on their first date?

What's her most prized possession?

Most of these questions are fairly surface-level, like the kind of thing you'd ask someone you just met at a party. But the thing is, we've barely been introduced to Millie through this entire series. It'd help if she spent an episode or two away from Moxxie so we can see her personality as an individual rather than part of a set. These writers seem to think true love = being attached at the hip, but that's not how strong relationships work. You need a balance of the partners spending time together and having time to themselves. If a relationship leaves no room for independence, it'll get stifling pretty damn quick.

Maybe at some point, Millie gets burnt out from work and decides she needs a solo vacation for her mental health. This would separate her from Moxxie and provide an opportunity to glimpse parts of her life that don't revolve around him and IMP, as well as delve into the fractured mental state of a character who's usually a pillar of strength. To co-opt and rephrase a meme real quick: Everyone asks "What can Millie do for me?", not "How is Millie doing?"

Ideally, the whole episode would focus on her, with no B- or C-plots. She could meet her friends for coffee, or maybe visit extended family members. Perhaps learn some things about herself she never knew before. This all sounds very low-key and lacking in spectacle for this show, but any plot can crackle with deft storytelling. It'd be preferable if the episode answered multiple questions (not too many, but multiple) about the character at its center.

But when all's said and done, it seems the most important question is: What does this character currently struggle with the most? What do they want, and what's preventing them from getting it?

One major problem Millie and the other IMP employees have is that they don't seem to want anything. There's not much driving their actions.

Blitzo presumably wants his business to succeed, but what does that look like to him? What specific goal is he trying to reach? The Goetia family has a bit more direction: Stolas wants a deeper emotional connection with Blitzo (God only knows why, but that's what's presented to us), Octavia obviously wants her parents to stop fighting (though we have no idea how she plans to achieve this), and Stella wants Stolas dead (though she didn't think the consequences through, somehow) but everyone else is a big ol' question mark.

Anyway, that's just a basic overview of how I'd approach it.

[practically-an-x-man]

2, 3, 9, 10, 15, 16, 23 for Ophelia, Rae, and Jasper?

Ooooh thank you so much!!

OC Ask Game Time

2) Will they have any children? What are their names?

Ophelia: Probably not. She's never really been interested in becoming a parent.

Rae: Yes! She'll have a daughter named April and a son named August

Jasper: I'm not sure. It's not really on their plan at the moment, but I could see them and Kyle potentially adopting children further down the line.

3) When is your OC’s birthday or what is their zodiac sign if you haven’t picked a date yet? Answer both if you wish.

Ophelia: November 13th

Rae: December 6th

Jasper: October 30th

I don't really do zodiac signs so I wouldn't go looking for any significance there, I really just picked the dates at random save for intentionally making Jasper's the day before Halloween

9) What is your OC’s greatest wish/dream/goals?

Ophelia: She wants to feel like she's accomplished something meaningful in her life, and made her family proud

Rae: She wants to find happiness and safety without having to compromise the things or people she loves

Jasper: They want to help people, above all else.

10) Does your OC have a family tree? Who are their immediate and extended family if you created ones?

Ophelia: She doesn't have an extensive family tree - she's an only child, and isn't in contact with much of her extended family save for her father's mom (her Nonna). Neither side of her family particularly likes the other (her mom's parents always thought she could do better than a struggling scientist and didn't approve of his background, and her dad's parents were neglectful and abusive and he effectively jumped ship from that as soon as he could), so her immediate family really became its own little bubble. She definitely found a family in her father's friends and colleagues, though!

Rae: I haven't drawn it out into a tree, but she does have a very big family. She has two sisters, Jess and Ginny. Jess is married to a man named Harrison and has a son named Andrew, Ginny is currently single and working her way through uni. She's also got a lot of cousins and extended family members back in her hometown of Lochcarron, and sees them every year at a big New Year's Day reunion. Her dad's line of the family goes back in Lochcarron a long way - stemming from twin feral mutants who helped build most of the town with their bare hands when it was first created as a mutant settlement. Her mom's side of the family is originally from Edinburgh, though her grandmother divorced her first husband and fled to Lochcarron where she met Rae's grandfather. Her parents both grew up in town, only a few streets down from each other.

Jasper: I don't have a huge family tree for Jasper either, just a few threads. Their father's name is John Abraham Wilson, and he's one of five children. Jasper's mother Carmine doesn't talk about her family much - Jasper has heard vaguely of an aunt on that side, but they've been estranged since Carmine was in college so Jasper doesn't know much of anything about her. They grew up in close contact with their dad's siblings and all their cousins on that side of the family, but their mom's side of the family is still a big blank patch.

15) Has your OC ever fallen in love before who their intended love interest is, or is the intended love interest their first love?

Ophelia: Oh, she's a hopeless romantic. She's had a lot of past relationships and loved just about all of them, and it's usually ended in some form of tragedy for her. It's led her to worry her relationship with Peter will somehow fall apart like the rest, though she knows that's largely irrational.

Rae: Hm... bit of both? She's dated before, and some of those relationships got pretty serious, but what she has with Warren is on a whole different level. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I think she thought she'd fallen in love before, but it pales in comparison to what she feels for Warren and she didn't realize that until she met him.

Jasper: Kyle is their first love! They'd gone on a few dates here and there before him, but he's their first serious relationship and they fell hard.

16) Does your OC enjoy school or no? Did they get any education?

Ophelia: I'd say she enjoyed learning but didn't enjoy school. For one thing, she was an awkward, tall and curvy Jewish girl, and that definitely led to her being picked on a bit in grade school. And for another, it was hard to find a class that really challenged her, so school as a whole was just boring. As far as education, she has a Bachelor's in Medicine, and both a Master's and PhD in Biomedical Engineering.

Rae: She actually struggled a bit in school. She loved her foreign language classes and could have easily spent all her schooling just doing that, but when it came to other subjects, she just couldn't focus. Sometimes she'd even fall asleep in class, though that was mainly because her insomnia kept her up too late the night before. It was a very mixed bag for her. As far as education, she has a Master's in Foreign Language and has studied a whole host of various world languages.

Jasper: As a whole, they really did enjoy school. They struggled sometimes with particular teachers, classes, or issues with other classmates, but school as a whole was never an issue for them. As far as education, they got a degree in nursing and ended becoming an ER trauma nurse.

23) Is your OC religious and what religion? If it’s a fictional religion for your story please give a summary of the core teachings of their faith?

Ophelia: Yep! She was raised Jewish, and tries to subscribe to as many of those tenets as she can. She struggles with observing the Shabbat (since her life is so bound up with technology and she struggles to step away from her work), and doesn't feel like her tattoo should be considered "self-mutilation", but aside from that she sticks with as many of the traditions and practices as she can. Her faith was actually one of the things that helped her through the rough patches in her life.

Rae: She was raised vaguely Protestant and probably does believe in a generally Christian God, but she's not strongly religious and neither is the rest of her family.

Jasper: Not really religious or spiritual at all, save for keeping up few old Cajun superstitions they were raised into.

[the-acid-pear]

thinking about the Kennedy Parents. because Boy do i have headcanons.

so we've got Marshall Neil and Diane Reynolds Kennedy. lovely people.

some fun facts about these lil dudes:

- Marshall is Irish, technically! he's the son of some descendants of Irish immigrants :]

- he also fought in World War 2! only for a short time, though...considering he kinda got shot in the leg and had to have it amputated.

- Diane grew up in a sort of middle-class household. not...the Greatest people, i'll say that.

- neither of their families were the best. but in comparison to Diane's (emotionally and verbally abusive, as well as very misogynistic and sexist. because Housewives. basically they believed heavily in gender roles), Marshall's were Saints (they were very much "suck it up and deal with it" people)

- they both technically lived in/around the same town, but technically really met in Vegas. Diane was going there to get away from her family for a little while, and Marshall was there on a trip with his brothers (to uh. Distract Him From Some Things. such as his recently amputated leg).

- Diane's family never even Remotely approved of the relationship. things are still tense with them to this day.

- you thought either of these two were neurotypical? oh, absolutely not, where do you think Jack and his siblings got the autism from?

- Marshall swears frequently around the kids. which wasn't too much of a problem...until Jack started repeating them back.

- Marshall, having grown up on a farm but not living in a place where he Could farm, would usually garden. he's where Jack’s interest in plants and their biology comes from :]

- visits with Diane's family are always a nightmare, considering that they try to push their views onto her kids. Which She Doesn't Appreciate, By The Way.

- Marshall's family is better, but...they're all still loud and boisterous. doesn't help with sensory issues, but at least they aren't assholes to the children!

- the only extended family member that the Kennedy Siblings had contact with after their parents died was Aunt Jan, Marshall's younger sister and the Official Wine Aunt. absolute sweetheart <3

- both Diane and Marshall were accepting of Jack when he came out as trans <3

- i feel like if Marshall and Henry ever met, it would be...interesting. Henry would probably sit there for ten minutes and then suddenly go "Ah...I see where Jack gets his...personality from 😊" (< barely restrained annoyance) and Marshall just kinda has to deal with the sudden whiplash as he tries to figure out if that was just an observation or an insult (it is an insult).

- these two would have loved Caroline </3

- considering that i Have said before that Healthy Davesport could have happened earlier in the timeline if things hadn't gone to shit, i feel like they would've found Dave...Interesting. but hey, if This is the guy Jack’s into, who are they to get in the way of that? just as long as he doesn't hurt their little Jackie, they don’t mind it.

- they Do agree with Peter, though, that Jack has the weirdest(/worst) taste in men-

anyway! love these little guys <3

- dogboyjackkennedy

I'm gonna scream I fucking love this sm. These are so good I love these people so much and I'm simultaneously ripping my hair off over their passing. They sound like so absolutely lovely REUUAHUAAHH OT2

[soleminisanction]

Hi :D i loved your sticks and stones work! Amazing! Anyways id been going back through the robin 1993 and other era-related comics and realized what was bugging me about some fanon characterization of steph being the 'popular social one'. They get her's and tim's social life completely swapped. Steph isn't a team player and the one willing to work with everyone. Could just be because Steph's a supporting member but I realized she focused mostly on crime fighting and was much more of a loner. She didn't do team ups pretty much till she was Batgirl. Tim, however, had an active civilian social life and constantly teamed with other vigilantes. Idk if thats just my interpretation though. Anyways :)))

God yes! You are so right! That has frustrated me for years, especially in the recent canon when they've been having every teenager with a cape suddenly go "OMG haiiiii Stephanie :) :)" for no fucking reason when it makes ZERO sense! She's a weird loner who does not know any of these people!!

And that's doubly true when it comes to her civilian friends. Steph's civilian life as a whole is weirdly under-developed given how much attention she's gotten over the years, especially since she, y'know, had her own series. Yet they still couldn't be bothered to give her much of anything to work with. It's so frustrating.

Seriously, here is, I'm pretty sure, a full list of the friends Steph was shown having pre-Flashpoint who aren't members of the Bat-clan:

These two Black girls from Robin #61 who only exist so Stephanie can yell at them about how stupid their friend is for keeping her baby and how stupid they are for thinking it's cute of her to do that, and then later she talks about how dumb and immature they are compared to her, and they're never seen again.

Her baby-daddy Dean, who's only shown once outside of Robin during the Cataclysm event, and then only shows up again 2 years after her pregnancy has been resolved so Stephanie can beat him up for no reason. (Seriously, this is the only page he's on before she kicks him in the nuts and knocks him around, he doesn't say or do anything else to her, she just wails on him for no reason)

Two randos from the Robin/Spoiler Special who exist to make a plot happen by inviting her to a warehouse party that she drags Tim to and are never seen again. Their existence also makes no sense in Steph's personal timeline because she's been "dead" for a year and will be in college in like two months so why the hell would she enroll in high school again??

Effa, the little African girl also from the Robin/Spoiler Special, who only exists to make Stephanie look good by sucking up to her.

Jordanna Spence and Francisco Garcia from her Batgirl run, supposedly. In practice they're actually just two people that Stephanie doesn't like and whom she calls "friends" in quotation marks and has no idea why she keeps hanging around them, and yet she keeps bothering them because the plot said she's gotta.

Supergirl, as forced and one-sided as that relationship was.

Wendy Harris, even though "Proxy" only really lasted for a grand total of 5 issues.

A nameless rando she's shown playing ping-pong with, once.

...and that's it! That's all the friends Stephanie has ever had who weren't members of the same extended anti-crime family, and two of them are people she only met because of those connections.

Compare that to Tim, who has dozens of civilian friends and at least twice as many caped ones, and yeah, it's absolutely ridiculous that people pretend Stephanie is the """social""" one.

But y'know, she's the perky-happy blonde girl, so people just assume she must be popular. Because she's written almost entirely in stereotypes and cliches since 2008.

[urnumber1star]

OC Deep Dive Tag!

So sorry for taking so long to get to this one @mysticstarlightduck but thank you for tagging me anyway haha

I'll do the main trio for BRS! Michael, Ray, and Talia!

What uncommon/common fear do they have?

Micheal: It’s a fairly common fear but Micheal has a crippling fear of doctors. He’s disliked them since he was a child but his dad always told him doctors were friends. That mindset changed very quickly after he became a hero.

Talia: Public speaking. She’s the least ‘popular’ member of her family so she’s grown accustomed to not being in the spotlight and when she is she doesn’t know how to act. 

Ray: Deep water. He doesn’t really know why. But if he ever has to be flying above water or visiting a lake he won't go in and it stresses him out. 

Do they have any pet peeves?

Micheal: People that think they’re better than everyone. Especially when they think they’re better just because they have money.

Talia: Sudden loud noises. Especially when she’s trying to paint something. It throws her off and then she has to take a break to figure out what happened.

Ray: Interruptions.

What are 3 items you can find in their bedroom?

Micheal: His super suit, a police scanner, a little crystal Bianca bought for him (He doesn’t even like crystals but if Bianca gave it to him he’ll keep it till the day he dies)

Talia: An assortment of paper and pencils on the ground, her tablet, unfinished homework

Ray: Byte (His favorite robot), lots of computer monitors, old take out food

What do they notice first in a person?

Micheal: Their intentions. Micheal hasn't been a hero for long but he has long enough to guess if someone has bad intentions or not. 

Talia: Their clothes (She’s a bit of a fashion girly)

Ray: Their eyes. (When people are controlled by No One their eyes turn yellow. He always keeps that in mind.)

On a scale of 1 to 10, how high is their pain tolerance?

Micheal: 9/10. He grew up in a bad part of the city and gets beat up all the time as a hero. He’s used to it.

Talia: 6/10 Sheltered rich kid but is trying to go out and help Micheal with his hero stuff more. 

Ray: 3/10. He’s a sheltered rich kid who lives in his basement.

Do they go into fight or flight mode when under pressure?

Micheal: Fight

Talia: Flight

Ray: Fight

Do they come from a big family/are they a family person?

Micheal: It’s only been him and his dad. His mom left when he was two and he never met the rest of her family.

Talia: Loves her family. It’s her, Ray, and her mom and dad but she’s also close to her extended family.

Ray: He’ll go to family events when he has to. But he likes his grandparents.

Have they broken any bones?

Micheal: Yes. Many times.

Talia: No. (Somehow)

Ray: Yes. 

How would a stranger likely describe them?

Micheal: A pretty friendly kid! He’s a little awkward and looks kind of disheveled but he seems nice!

Talia: Very difficult to describe. She doesn't really give you any room to talk. She just seems to like talking about random things she likes. But she’s not rude per say. I guess she’s nice enough?

Ray: Very quiet. Lets you do most of the talking but he always seems like he’s judging you.

Are they a night owl or a morning bird?

Micheal: Night Owl

Talia: Morning bird

Ray: Night Owl

What is a flavor they hate and a flavor they love?

Micheal: Hates cherry, loves bubblegum

Talia: Hates peanuts, loves birthday cake

Ray: Hates strawberry, loves cheese

Do they have any hobbies?

Micheal: Other than being the city's only hero he also dabbles in the guitar! His dad got him a beat up one when he was twelve and he loved it.

Talia: She’s my painter girl but she also does some scrapbooking sometimes.

Ray: He cooks. Very well. Talia and his dad can't cook for their lives. So it’s just him and his mom.

Boom, surprise birthday party! How do they react to surprises?

Micheal: Very very happy. May or may not cry. 

Talia: Very shocked and needs a second to recover then immediately starts partying.

Ray: He doesn't like surprises much. But if it’s just a few people that mean the most to him he’s just happy to be hanging out with them.

Do they like to wear jewelry?

Micheal: No.

Talia: Definitely.

Ray: Once in a while if he feels like it.

Do they have neat or messy handwriting?

Micheal: Messy.

Talia: Neat 

Ray: Neat

What are the two emotions they feel the most?

Micheal: Tired, regret

Talia: Energetic, anxiety 

Ray: Tense, Determined

Man I forgot how much I love tag games. I'll tag @kaylinalexanderbooks, @leahnardo-da-veggie, @illarian-rambling, @melpomene-grey +OPEN TAG <3

[aib-detectives]

Fragments Pt. 2

We now return you to your regularly scheduled-ish postings. Tyrus has a lot to sort through.

Arcane Invesitations is written by @girlsbyte and @gigabytecat.

Any resemblance to other works of fiction, people living and/or dead, places etc is purely coincidental. Story starts after the jump

He had several books in his bag right now, and a good deal of packets of information from the librarian to take home and keep. He’d be dropping by his ranch, where he worked on his more volatile school work, to keep the books and pamphlets there, where his family almost never went.

Frowning, Catherine motioned for Tyrus to take a seat in the chair. She stood up to close the door behind him. “Well, from what I’ve heard, the Cahokia’s librarians aren’t wrong.” She said as she returned to her seat, and met his eyes again, worried.

“Are you okay, though? That’s a lot,” Catherine asked him. Adoption wasn’t uncommon in the Unseen. It was rare that kids were ever homeless, or without a family. If extended family didn’t take a child in, a friend of the parents often would, and if that didn’t happen, werewolf packs adored children and big families, and would happily take in complete strangers, regardless of age.

“I’ve never heard of them being wrong once.” Tyrus agreed and tugged on his braid again. “I’ll probably head to my ranch for a bit after this case to decompress some, but I can make it through the case… and I’m not okay, but I think I will be. It’s not like I didn’t know I was adopted of a sort, though. I just knew I was some sort of brown, and it’s not like I’d ever get to learn the specifics.”

Catherine grimaced, knowing that the Unseen wouldn’t let a child go to the vampire courts willingly, especially not to the couple that led one of the most influential courts in the New World. Tyrus sighed.

“I’m not going to look into it. If I look into things, it’s been made clear that my birth parents would pay the price.” The vampire courts were like that, and it was an open secret. But the council had needed to give the vampires concessions, in order to convince them to keep the secret as well. One of them was autonomy from many of the laws the Council was supposed to enforce. 

The Sun Court was not known for being subtle or kind about its desires. Keeping the parents alive to hold them against Tyrus’ behavior wasn’t unexpected, though she wondered if they had been left alone when he had run far from his family.

“That’s disturbing and concerning.” She commented. “If you need to take time, I understand. I’m sure we’ll be able to function well enough. James should be back to 100% soon enough.” The team was still incredibly short handed, but Tyrus was there as a contractor. A member of the team would have to sign off on his work, anyway.

“After this case.” He said firmly. “I can hold it together that long. Besides, you’ll need some sort of bait, won’t you? Why not the man who matches the victim profile so closely? I’m an alcoholic and I know it, after all.” He was the best choice of the team members, and they both knew it. "I’m a functional alcoholic and can fake being a good deal drunker than I usually am. Dump some beer down my front as well, and even if I’ve only had a few sips, I’ll reek of more." He suggested. The team also didn’t have any other male team members that could dodge anything right now.

“I want you to tell me the moment you can’t, because we don’t need that.” Catherine said. It would add fuel to whatever fire had been lit under Klein to assemble this fucked up team. Government politics at its finest, as usual.

“And yes, we need bait, but I never would have suggested you.” She then lied. Tyrus fit the profile perfectly, and no one else on the team did at all. Bringing in a straight up civilian would have been a terrible idea. Tyrus came with the complication of the Sun Court breathing down their necks if anything went wrong, but that wasn’t something Catherine hadn’t faced before. “Also, isn’t that suicidal? I’ve known you to lack impulse control, but this is a bit much.”

At that, Tyrus grinned widely, clearly pleased with himself. "I’ve thought about that. There’s this spell used to keep anyone from touching you." His parents had used it on him as a child when he misbehaved in their eyes. "I thought I could have, say, a one foot distance on it, to account for feather length. It’s a pretty rare spell, and it takes a chunk of power for it, but I’ve got the power easily."

He didn’t address the suicidal comment.

"I’ll be about as safe as I can be as bait." He declared.

Catherine sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. This was looking like Huntsville all over again. “Of course you know a spell.” She grumbled, half under her breath. "Just don’t go off on your own half-baked again, please?" Huntsville had been a bit of a disaster for everyone involved. Necromancers with child victims always were.

"I know a lot of spells. All that education has to be good for something, after all." Tyrus was more than a little over-educated, and had been the youngest qualifier for the title of Mage in recorded history. He would absolutely preen like a peacock if that was brought up, too. He had busted his ass to get the qualifications. "Besides, if I don’t know a spell, creating one isn’t overly difficult, though, given the stakes, I would prefer to avoid it here."

Catherine frowned darkly. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to those stakes,” she said bluntly. High stakes cases were not something either of them wanted to be as intimately familiar with as they were. But this had been one since the beginning, given they had lost an entire team to the creature, even as short staffed as they were now. “Because creating magic out of whole cloth is dangerous business.”

No one needed to risk themselves like that. They often never came back.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Turtle doves; Eddie Munson x reader

*Author’s note*

Okay in light of the fact that Christmas is just one week away (and that I missed both Halloween and thanksgiving fic ideas I could’ve done), I figured now was the time to do a Christmas theme fic for this beloved metalhead who stole my heart this year. At first I was gonna do a mistletoe one but I’ve been seeing a lot of them lately but after re-watching Home alone 2 and I saw the turtledoves I thought BINGO DING DING DING DING!

Not much warning except maybe some swearing, insecure Eddie and TONS AND TONS of fluff!!! 

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@psychosupernatural​

@queen-paladin​

@queensdivas​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@gay-and-ready-to-cry​

_________________________________________________________

Up in Indianapolis, the city was bustling with excitement but also chaos because it was that time of the year again, Christmas time.  Hundreds among hundreds of people crammed into the stores to not only get the best deals, but also get the gift before their fellow man can.  The airports packed with families waiting for the arrival of extended family or friends.

“Eddie? Oi Eddie!” Dustin snapped Eddie out of his trance.  Eddie shook his head and looked down at his favorite (even if he thinks he’s a little shit at times) freshman member of his Hellfire club.

“What?”

“You were miles away. Thinking about (Y/n) again?” Dustin teased.  Eddie smacked the boy in the back of his head and said.

“You wish Henderson.”

“You are like bright red in the face right now.” Laughed Dustin.

“Shut your mouth Dustin. That’s your final warning.” But Dustin wasn’t wrong.  He was thinking about said girl, in fact he’s thought about her all year.

Ever since she took that study abroad program for her Animal Biology major in college, she hasn’t had much time to talk with Eddie. Letters were scarce and phone calls were even rarer.  And even though he was happy for her going all around the world studying wild animals, he wished that she wouldn’t be so far away from him all the time.

Eddie Munson and (Y/n) (L/n) had been friends since they met in the 6th grade when Eddie had his bike stolen by some asshole 8th grade jocks and (Y/n) threw sticks at them to get them to retreat. There she shared his first animal facts that chimps in the wild would throw sticks and stones at pythons to dive them away from their territory.

(Y/n) had always loved reading and learning about animals and she dreamed of one day venturing out into the world to study them and see how they behave up close.  That’s why Eddie always called her his venturous She-elf.

When she got to graduate in 84 and he didn’t, it didn’t deter their friendship.  Every weekend and holiday she visited him and would tell him all about how college has been treating her and what she’s learned that she hadn’t before.  But Eddie had been harboring a secret that not even she knew of.

Since the start of their high school years, Eddie had fallen in love with his adventurous Elf.  Not only for her looks but for her passion for what she wanted in life. Like him, she had a goal and she was reaching it, achieving it, and trying to own it.  She was indeed a darer but he feared that if he ever told her how he truly felt, he’d be holding her back.

Hell he couldn’t even graduate from High school, twice! What could he ever offer her?

“Eddie?” Dustin said trying to get his attention.  “You okay?”

“I’m fine. Just wondering what stories she has for us this year.”

“Oh yeah. I hope she brought home some cool souvenirs. Like this one time when her and her family went vacationing in Nepal and she got me this really cool face mask of an elephant. I still wear it to scare Lucas every now and then.”

“Thanks for the leverage Henderson to use against him next time he ditches us for his laundry baskets game.”

“You know I still can’t believe that you and (Y/n) know each other.”

“We do have lives outside of you Henderson, the world doesn’t always revolve around you yah know.” Soon their eyes caught sight of her plane landing and Eddie’s heart started to beat a little faster than normal. As quietly as he could, he took a deep breath before exhaling and they waited a few minutes as the passengers all began to depart the terminal gate.

Soon they spotted a young woman with (h/c) hair and prescription glasses on the bridge of her nose.  She rolled out with her carryon to see two boys holding up a sign that was decorated and spelled out: WELCOME HOME LADY TAURIEL, her D&D’s character name. She smiled and came up to them and first embraced Eddie.

“Well this is a surprise, I thought I’d have to get a cab to your trailer.”

“What and leave you in this craziness by yourself? Absolutely not.” Eddie said as they parted but they both kept their arms around each other just a little bit longer.  Dustin began to notice not only the lingering embrace they were doing, but also the look in both their eyes as they looked at each other.

“So what am I (Y/n)? Chopped liver?” asked Dustin.  The two young adults separated from each other and (Y/n) shook her head.

“You would think all the times I spent babysitting you would mellow you out Henderson, but you’ve gotten an even bigger ego than when I left.” She said.

“It’s his tone right?” Eddie asked her.  Dustin grumbled as he crossed his arms.  (Y/n) shook her head laughing as she walked over to Dustin and embraced him before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Eww! You know I hate it when you do that!”

“Whatever you little shit. Now let’s get the rest of my bags and back home. Being on a plane for over 24hrs is not as enjoyable as it sounds.”

“Right this way then, Lady Tauriel.” Eddie said with a gracious bow.  They went over to the baggage claim, gathered up all her bags and then headed on out to Eddie’s van to drive back to Hawkins.

It was a bit of a drive thanks to the traffic and the snow starting to fall, but they managed to reach Hawkins safe and sound.  After dropping Dustin back at his place, Eddie and (Y/n) finally arrived at his place.

“You sure it’s okay for me to stay here? Mrs. Henderson offered me one of the spare rooms over at their place.”

“As sweet as the old lady is, how could I live with myself knowing you’d be stuck with Henderson 24/7. Plus I know you do have something for him that he says he’s been dying to see.”

“True. It’s just….I don’t want to run you out of house and home.”

“You aren’t. Besides Wayne’s been asking about you, I swear he loves you more than he does me.”

“Shut up Munson, Wayne loves you with all his heart.”

“Yeah I know. Well let’s get inside before the snow really starts piling up. Weather man’s been saying it’ll be the heaviest snowfall in 10 years.”

“Even though I’ve grown up with Indiana weather, it’s nothing compared to Nepal, or Tibet, or even Antarctica ugh. Never will I go down there again, even if I wanna see the cute penguins. I’ll take the ones in South Africa.”

“There aren’t any penguins in Africa!” Eddie objected as he grabbed one of her suitcases as they both exited the car.

“There are too and I’ve got the pictures to prove it.”

“You do not.”

“I do so!” the two of them continued their playful banter as they unloaded the van and placed all her things in Eddie’s room.  “I’ve noticed you guys decided to do some indoor decorating this year.”

“Yeah. Wayne’s come into some really good money lately, and with some of the paid gigs the band and I have done, we decided why the hell not?”

“So it would seem my own personal Grinch finally found the Christmas spirit again ehh?” she teased as she poked his belly making him curl inward.

“I never lost it!”

“Mm-hmm.” She hummed skeptically.

“That’s it! C’mere!” he lunged at her, the two of them falling onto his bed and he proceeded to tickle her sides making her thrash around in laughter.  “You know I think I finally know where Henderson got his sass from. After all, you’ve known him longer than either Harrington or me. We have you to blame for his behavior.”

“Nohohoht mehehehe!”

“Yes you! Now admit it or the tickling continues.”

“I don’t…..stohahap! Please!”

“Nope. The begging and puppy dog eyes won’t work on me this time.” As (Y/n) continued laughing, a voice soon called out.

“Eddie? You better not be killing someone in there boy.” Eddie was forced to stop as his uncle had arrived home earlier than normal.  He got off of (Y/n) and said in a low, menacing yet playful tone,

“Saved by the old man. But don’t think you’re getting out of this just yet missy.” (Y/n) shoved him back to the bed and Eddie let her do it as she went out and said.

“Sorry Wayne. But if I had to be killed, death by tickles wouldn’t be too bad of a way to go.”

“Well as I live and breathe. Ms. (Y/n) (l/n) back from her time around the world.” (Y/n) smiled and walked over and asked Wayne.

“Permission to hug?”

“Permission granted ma’am.” The two of them embraced each other and after awhile he let her go.  “Bout time you got here, Eddie wouldn’t shut up about how many days left till you arrived.”

“Wayne!” Eddie groaned from his bedroom door. “Why are you home so early? Usually you don’t get off this early unless it’s a holiday and Christmas eve is 2 days away.”

“The weather son. Boss decided it’d be best for us to all head home so that we wouldn’t get snowed in.”

“Well that was nice of him. Oh speaking of which, I have a surprise for you Wayne.” (Y/n) said as she raced back into the bedroom and grabbed both her scrapbook and a neatly wrapped present.  “I was almost worried I wouldn’t be able to give this to you, or see your reaction when you’d open it.”

“Ain’t we supposed to open presents on Christmas though?” he asked her.

“Normally yes but this really isn’t a Christmas present. I saw it when I was in Tanzania and I thought one person had to have it.” Wayne took the box and unwrapped it before opening it up to reveal a beautifully hand-crafted and painted bowl.

The background was painted like the African sunrise with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background and up front and center was a large African rhino (his favorite animal).

“I know it’s not a mug but it was the closest thing I could find to a cup.”

“Don’t go saying things like that, I love it. Thank you sweetie belle.” He wrapped an arm around her bringing her in for a one armed hug.

“Don’t I get a present too (Y/n)?” asked Eddie.

“Yes but you have to wait until the Christmas eve party at Steve’s. It is still happening there, right?”

“Yeah. You know Harrington.”

“Now go easy on that boy Eddie, sure he may have started off as a jerk to yah but you two really have become good friends thanks to that kid of yours.” Eddie waved it off before going to the kitchen to find himself something to eat.  “So darling, what do you think of the decorations we got up?”

“I love it. I especially like the light up penguins over there by the tree.” She said pointing to the small decorated Christmas tree and by the nightstand stood a lit up penguin lamp.

“Eddie said you’d like it. In fact this was all his idea to begin with that we’d decorate the place special for you.”

“Oi Wayne! Since you’re here how’s about you cook dinner for once instead of having to do fend for yourself night!?” Eddie shouted trying to change the topic.  Wayne rolled his eyes getting the hint of what his nephew’s behavior meant while (Y/n) was left perplexed.

Did—did Eddie feel the same way as she did? Did she hear that right? Or is this just Eddie being Eddie? One thing’s for sure, she was gonna try and tough it out and admit her feelings for her best friend at the Christmas eve party and hope she doesn’t humiliate herself doing it.

Two days later and after clearing up the roads after the snow storm they had when she first arrived, the gang was all gathered at Steve’s place for the party.  Now this party was extra special to the group because throughout the entire party, each guest would present a tradition that was done with their families on Christmas day.

As per Robin’s family tradition, everyone had to come in wearing the ugliest Christmas sweater they could find.  And the first activity was Christmas musical chairs as per Wheeler tradition.  Mike decided to be the DJ and as Chuck Berry’s ‘Run Rudolph Run’ played over the speakers the rest of the gang began to circle around the chairs, and the first one to be out was Steve.

“Wait hold on that’s not fair! Munson kept stopping!”

“Just take the loss with pride Harrington.” Eddie told him. Steve rolled his eyes but took one of the chairs after everyone stood back up and the game resumed.  One by one the rest soon began to fall until the final three came down to Dustin, Eddie and (Y/n).

“Remember, third place gets this giant Hershey’s bar.” Nancy said holding out the fairly large chocolate bar.  A decent prize but it’s nothing compared to the giant family/party size M&M bag that was up for first prize.

The music started up and all three of the remaining players began to fake the other out by either pausing in front of the chairs before moving again, or trying to sit in the chairs while the music was still playing before moving on again.  The song stopped and Eddie and (Y/n) ended up being the final two.

“Aww nice try Dustin but you still get the chocolate bar.” Nancy said.

“That’s fine.” Dustin said taking (Y/n)’s chair away and as Eddie and (Y/n) stood over the final chair, they stared each other down.

“That bag of M&M’s is mine Munson.” Boasted (Y/n).

“Don’t make me laugh (L/n). You know I kill for m&m’s. The only thing you’ll be getting is the three musketeers packet.”

“Alright enough flirting you two, get to walking!” Mike groaned as he started the music back up and the two friends began to battle it out for the chair.  Once again the pair would stop in front of the chair trying to delay the other before racing around it, taunting the other to distract them from the song, until finally the song stopped and after a squabble that lasted for what felt like a minute, (Y/n) won the pot!

“Yes! Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Ha! In your face Munson I won the pot haha!” (Y/n) rejoiced as she claimed her prize, a full year supply of M&M’s while Eddie was given the three musketeers bag. Even with his wounded pride, he accepted the prize and was happy that his girl got the big prize.

The traditions continued with watching ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ and ‘How the Grinch stole Christmas’ (Sinclair tradition), playing a few Christmas songs (the Munson tradition), and acting out a chapter or two from ‘A Christmas Carol’ (a Henderson tradition).  Next up was (Y/n)’s family tradition, ‘Santa Exchange’ as the gift opening was about to happen.

“Okay let’s see. This here is for Robin.” She said holding up a beautifully wrapped gold and red box with a red bow.  Robin took her present as (Y/n) grabbed the next one when another hand reached up and grabbed a snowman packaged present bag.  She looked up to see Eddie and he said,

“Figure Santa needs a little helper?”

“Santa appreciates it, thank you.” Soon the two of them worked together passing out all the presents to everyone until they were all set up in their own areas throughout the living room.  “Okay so every year my family mixes up the order in how we each open up our presents so this year I say we go from oldest to youngest. Sound good with everyone?”

“Yep. Yeah.” Everyone answered.

“Alright, but before we start that, I want everyone to take my gift to you and open it. It’s all the same thing that I had done when I was in Japan.” Everyone went through their gifts until they found (Y/n)’s gifts and they all began opening them.

When everyone opened their gifts, it was revealed to be a traditional, authentic Japanese painting of her friends.  Not only were they in the picture, but next to them was an animal she felt like was their spirit animal.

Nancy had an crane on her picture, Steve had a dog specifically the Japanese breed Akita, Dustin had a tiger, Robin had a white cat, Lucas had a phoenix, Mike was a koi fish, and Eddie had the traditional Japanese dragon.

“I found a traditional Japanese artist and in the span of the 4 months I was there with my team filming the Japanese Alps, I asked him to do this for you guys.”

“Wow (Y/n) this is—incredible.” Robin said admiring her painting.

“Easy for you to say, I’ll bet none of you are a fish.” Mike whined to which Nancy hit her brother in the arm making him exclaim in pain.

“It’s wonderful (Y/n), thank you.” Everyone else soon thanked her for her gift and she smiled as she sat back down at her area next to Eddie.

“Now that that’s out of the way, Eddie why don’t you start us off?”

“Yes!” Eddie softly cheered as he grabbed the first gift he spotted which was from Dustin.  He opened it to reveal the new Led Zeppelin cassette.  “Ha-ha! I knew you’d come through for me Henderson!”

“You’ve only been talking about it since Halloween. But I knew you’d like it, Merry Christmas Eddie.” Eddie continued to open up his gifts and he got some more cassette tapes, some new pins for his jacket, a new red flannel, and the new D&D manual book that had recently came out.

Up next was (Y/n).  She opened the first gift that was from Steve and Robin.  She unwrapped the paper before looking at the box to reveal what exactly it was before opening it.

“Oh my god, you guys.” It was the new Panasonic VHS camcorder.

“We figure you might wanna record some of your trips instead of just taking pictures. 3 hours of film this thing can do.” Steve said.

“This must’ve costed you guys a fortune. And I knew Keith don’t pay you much.”

“Worth every penny. Besides I expect some videos of tigers with that camera next time you go to India.” Robin said pointing at her.

“Alright, it’s a deal. Thanks you guys.” Seeing that camcorder made Eddie sick to his stomach.  He wasn’t rich nor did he have enough money to buy her expensive gifts, all he had was his small little surprise that he had made for her.  But he began to second guess himself, would she even like it? His stomach continued to turn in knots as she grabbed the next gift which was a new scrapbook from Nancy.

“Figured your old one was getting full so I figured it’s time for a new one. There’s also some little stencils in there so you can decorate it as you wish.” She told her.

“Aww I love it, thanks Nancy. Okay whose next?” she hovered her hand around the remaining gifts until she picked up Dustin’s.  “Henderson’s next.” She unstapled the bag and pulled out the green paper stuffed inside and pulled out a journal that read across the cover (Y/N)’s ENCYCLOPEDIA.

“My encyclopedia?” she asked him.

“Thought it would be cool to get real animal biology from a real animal biologist. Someone who actually knows the facts and doesn’t keep editing it, I swear you’re smarter than any science book that talks about animals and how they behave and operate.”

“Is this some excuse to help you with future science homework?” she teased.

“What? No, no! No way! I just wish for you to write down what all you know and what you didn’t know before about all the animals you help document and study.”

“Well that’s sweet of you Dustin, thank you. Okay Michael, you’re up next.”

“Why must you insist on calling me that?”

“Cause I know it embarrasses you. And as your former babysitter it’s my job to embarrass you.” She opened up his gift and it was a small animal calendar.  “Alright! Now I’ll be able to see what day it is. I swear those guys don’t carry calendars with them like at all. They tally the days like cavemen in their journals. Thanks Mike, really I appreciate it.”

She then went for Lucas’ present and he got her a mini-figurine that his sister made of her character Lady Tauriel.

“Now Erica would claim she made it all herself but I was the one that bought the figurine in the first place and I told her your description of her. She painted it and that’s all.”

“It’s a team Sinclair effort and I love it. Tell your sister when you see her thank you too.” She placed her D&D character back in the container before saying. “And last but not least, Eddie—” but as she reached out for it, Eddie snatched his gift back and pocketed into his leather jacket.

“Dude what the hell? You can’t just take back your gift.” Steve said.

“Shut up Harrington!”

“Eddie what’s wrong? I want to see what you got me.” She asked him.

“No you don’t. it’s not even ready.”

“Why would you give her an incomplete gift?” Mike asked.

“Hey Mike cool it, I’m sure Eddie has a good reason. Final exams were a bitch this year so I can see why he wouldn’t have time to finish his gift.” Dustin said trying to get Mike off Eddie’s back.

“It’s nothing like that Henderson, and I can defend myself thank you very much!” but his tone was harsh.

“Geez Eddie no need to snap. I know Dustin can be a bit much but there’s no need to go that far.” Said Robin.

“Will you guys just leave me alone alright!? God this is why I hate Christmas! Everyone making a deal about presents that just end up in the trash a couple weeks if not the day after Christmas!” he soon stormed out of the room and the house echoed a loud slam from the front door.

“I’ll go talk to him.” (Y/n) said as she got up and followed after him.  After putting on her coat, boots and gloves, she followed Eddie who was leaning against his van smoking with a furrowed brow.  “You’ll catch your death of cold if you stay out here like that.”

“I’m fine. Never bothered me anyway.”

“You may have everyone convinced that you’re this stone, cold metalhead but not to me. Sure you’re a metalhead but you’re not stone cold.”

“Well you wouldn’t know considering you haven’t even been here for over a year and a half!” he snapped.  It shocked (Y/n) to hear Eddie snap at her like that but as soon as he looked at her shocked expression, he sighed heavily and stomped out his cigarette.  “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have shouted.”

“I know.” She walked up to him and took his hand between hers, not only in comfort but to warm them up.  “You wanna tell me what’s really going on in that squirrel brain of yours?”

“I don’t have a squirrel brain.”

“Yes you do. You always have a million things going through your head, and its twice as intense when you’re stressed or upset about something. So c’mon tell me. We’ve always been able to tell each other everything.” Eddie looked into her soft, gentle (e/c) and he felt his heart melt but also grow heavy into his stomach.

“Everyone else got you such amazing gifts. Gifts that’ll either help your future career or that you can personalize. Hell the Sinclair’s made your D&D character come to life, and all I got you was……this.” He took out his gift which was just a plain old small white box with a golden ribbon tied to it.

He couldn’t even look her in the eyes as he held it out to her. Once he felt her take it from his hand, he crossed his arms over his chest as his breathing grew sharper and heavier and she could see just how fast it was from the cold breath that escaped his lips and danced into the air.

She looked down at the plain white box and untied the ribbon before opening it to reveal inside two chain necklaces and attached to them were what appeared to be hand-carved wooden turtle doves.  Or that’s what they seemed to be, it was a bit mish-mashed but even with the faults in the sculpting, she knew it must’ve taken Eddie a long time to do these twice.

“They’re supposed to be turtle doves. I know they look shitty, the woodshop instructor couldn’t teach me for shit and the chain is nothing special. Just from some old chain necklaces Wayne doesn’t wear anymore so I got rid of what was on those and he helped me attach the birds to the chain.”

Tears formed in her eyes as she pulled the necklaces out of the box and held them in her palm.  She looked up at Eddie and immediately embraced him tightly, burying her face into his shoulder blades.

“What?”

“Eddie,” she released him so she could come around and cup his face which was already turning red from the cold, and even his nose was starting to go a bit red.  “This, this is the sweetest, most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me.”

“Really?” he asked insecurely.

“Really, really. And knowing that you did your best, I don’t care if the turtledoves look perfectly hand sculpted or like a woodchipper went to town on them.” They both softly laughed.  “But there is something that is wrong with this gift.” At hearing that statement, Eddie’s brief moment of happiness once again turned back to fear. He felt her take his left hand and she placed one of the turtle dove necklaces into his palm before closing it up. “You need to keep one, so that way we each have one, and that we’ll always come back to each other.”

“Each other?” he asked her.  She nodded as she slowly got closer to him whispering.

“Together forever, meleth nin.” She then took her chance and kissed her best friend/secret crush.  When she felt him tense, she feared that maybe the kiss was too much and began to pull away but it wasn’t until she felt Eddie’s arms wrap around her waist pulling her close and even lifting her up.

She was stunned but wrapped her arms tighter around Eddie’s shoulders as their kiss slowly deepened until he set her down and they separated for air.

“My Christmas wish came true this year.” She whispered lovingly.

“Agreed. I’ve only dreamed of this a thousand times since middle school. Merry Christmas Lady Tauriel.”

“Merry Christmas Lord Beren.” They smiled at each other lovingly before they hugged each other so tightly it was like their bones would pop, before they looked at each other with their noses brushing against each other’s and their lips met in another sweet kiss.

“ABOUT DAMN TIME!! I’VE BEEN SEEING YOU MAKE GOO-GOO EYES AT EACH OTHER SINCE SHE GOT HERE!!” Dustin’s voice exclaimed in the night air. Eddie rolled his eyes before bending down and grabbed a big chunk of snow and quickly raced towards Dustin.

He let out a scream before racing back inside with Eddie at his heels holding the snow patch in his hands.

“No! NO don’t you dare stuff that down my back!”

“Get over here Henderson!”

“HEY NO SNOW TRAILS IN MY HOUSE GUYS!!” (Y/n) shook her head as she went back inside and closed the door as the chaos continued with Dustin exclaiming and trying to get the snow out of his back, Steve trying to mop up the wet patch of water from said snow that had been dropped on his good carpet, and Eddie and (Y/n) sitting close to each other exchanging kisses every now and again.

[kath-artic]

tyler stuff

idk. being the baby of the family made me become obsessed with the idea that when I got older i'd finally have the language to express everything I was feeling, to really truly connect with the people around me. I understood all of the conversations happening around me, I just wasn't old enough to have the lived experience to contribute anything meaningful. one day I would. one day I would have the perfect words. the thing I failed to account for was that time was moving for everyone else too. at that age, you don't fully appreciate the looming threat of death. you know what it is, but you don't really get that it's not just there for the old and the famous. maybe that's just me--my mom had kept me pretty sheltered growing up with regard to stuff like that. she was so afraid of me being taken away after the incident at the hospital. I didn't even know I was born with thc in my system until a few years ago and even then I had to wring the information out of extended family members and eavesdrop on conversations. I don't even think my mom knows that I know. stuff like that is why our relationship was always so strained--i felt like I wasn't allowed to go to anyone for help and I didn't understand why. That's beside the point though, the point is that I was 12 meeting someone who would quickly become my world. I admired him in every way and I couldn't wait until I was old enough to express that to him. until I was old enough to have those perfect words. I was 15 when my brother came running down the stairs, phone in hand, and just said that Tyler was gone. he'd overdosed on heroin and there was no brain activity. all at once I was confronted with the fact that i'd never be able to tell him those perfect words and that those words were right in front of me the whole time. I love you. his parents were deadbeats who never gave a fuck about him, but he was my brother. he was my brother and I never told him that. it was only a few months later that I got into my first relationship. I was spilling over the sides with "I love you"s for a man who did nothing but assault and belittle me because there was nowhere else for them to go. then my last real relationship--he was so afraid of loving me. so afraid of the expectation, that I might come to want him forever and that he wouldn't be able to live up to that. he was afraid that I'd want more of him than he could give, afraid of hurting me, afraid afraid afraid. he was the first person I ever had consensual sex with and I remember he almost didn't go through with it because he was afraid i'd feel used if we broke up in the future. we never made any future plans because he was afraid of committing to being together for any longer than the present moment. when we said I love you for the first time he told me he didn't think we should ever say it again because he was afraid that it would become an expectation and that i'd feel unloved if he ever forgot to say it. he was wonderful to me in so many ways, but I can't keep pretending that this didn't hurt me. when we broke up I remember pausing from crying to laugh and say "well you cant stop me from saying I love you now." I said it until it lost meaning, until my phone was nearly dead and he told me I should go inside and be near my friends.

i think i've always really liked the way David Lynch portrays evil as an extant thing partially because its how I feel about love. the love I felt for Tyler and for my exes still sits on the edge of my bed every night. the love I feel for the people I haven't even met yet is there too. the momentary love I feel in interactions with strangers is there too. it all wads up into this big ball of energy that I drag around everywhere I go like some kind of sisyphean boulder. I cant wait to see the next face it'll put on, but until then i'll continue sitting in bed whispering my "I love you"s to no one in particular

[skullamity]

I am not generally bothered by being accidentally misgendered because it generally does not happen to me. I have been misgendered by a stranger a total number of ZERO times in the past near decade, and it is very easy to see why that is--T turned me into a slightly more Zangeif-lookin version of my paternal grandfather. I have a full beard, an undercut and more chest and back hair than my actual dad. Strangers do not look at me and say "what can I do for you, ma'am?"

But it has been 9 years since I came out to my parents, NINE! ENTIRE! YEARS! and my mother STILL managed to misgender me like 6 fucking times in the span of a two minute conversation between her, myself and my dad when I met them at their car for my kid's birthday on Sunday and it is starting to make me legitimately angry.

Every other family member I have, every single one including my dad, my grandmother, all of my aunts and uncles, my siblings, my in-laws, my nieces and nephews--none of them fuck it up, ever. And if they do they have the courtesy to not do it to my face.

But mom? Tell me you haven't made the slightest effort to think of me in your head with the correct pronounces even once for the past nine years without actually telling me. I bet it'll sound a lot like, said to my dad: "oh, these are for (starts saying my dead name, barely catches herself)--I mean, for August. She asked me for tomatoes last year but Nellie ate most of them while they were still green right off the plant, so I told her that she--oh uh that he--could have some of the tomatoes from our garden for her and (my kid) and I was just about to check if her car door was unlocked so I could just put them in there for her. Him. Oopsie. Haha." Like props to my dad for also side-eyeing her because it was astonishing how many times she managed to fuck it up in only a few short sentences. Kinda wish he'd actually said something though.

I have generally been pretty lax about these fuckups over the years, for a few reasons. The biggest one was that in the beginning, it actually seemed like she was trying. I remember confronting her about it a couple of times early on and her explanation was that she had 29 years of calling me something else working against her, since she has obviously been there since the day I was born. When these older confrontations happened, she also wasn't the only family member having trouble with it, so it felt less like a deliberate, targeted refusal to get with the program and more like something I needed to be patient with because it was an adjustment that I was asking a lot of people to make for what probably felt like completely out of nowhere.

But all those other people? It took them a couple of months at most to stop fucking up (it took my dad longer because he was upset enough to stop talking to me for a few months up until he outed me to my youngest sisters and they gently tore him a new one, and then he didn't talk to me for another few months after that because he was embarrassed by how he reacted). Even the ones I don't see as often have never misgendered me to my face, even when I was early on T and only passed sometimes.

I see my mom nearly every week, because she does Saturday grandma-granddaughter hikes and bike rides and whatever with my kid. She doesn't fuck up every time we talk because if it's just her talking to me, she has zero reason to be referring to me in the third person. But if there is a third person? We're having a big family dinner? BBQ for one of the grandkids summer birthdays? It's just fucking constant and relentless, and she no longer sounds sincere IF she bothers to say sorry or oops when she course corrects, IF she course corrects at all.

My mom was the first extended family member I came out to, and her reaction wasn't the best. It actually kind of sucked, because even though I wrote her a literal essay that preemptively addressed every concern or assumption that she then went on to make in her response to me--you will get a divorce! (I didn't), you're putting a lot on your kid she will never adjust (my kid knew before she did and started calling me dad IMMEDIATELY and I have actually seen her admonish my mom for fucking up my pronouns or accidentally referring to me as my kid's mother), this is an unacceptable burden to put on your husband (mom I literally told you in my initial email that we were fine, because one of the things that got us interested in each other early on was the shared experience of being bisexual, a thing neither of us has ever felt the need to divulge to you because it was both personal and none of your business!). Her and my dad also outed me to my 4 siblings, who I was waiting on talking to because I thought their reactions would actually be worse, when they were, in fact, great about it. I have, on occasion, regretted not talking to them first.

I think that if I ever have the energy to re-litigate this shit with my mom, my first step is going to be taking the 4 of my siblings aside and being like, hey, it's been nine years and you've all been great. Mom has not, and if you catch her misgendering me and deadnaming me when I am not around to hear it, can you give her shit on my behalf? She needs to know she's embarrassing herself and me telling her that has made no difference. It needs to be all of us, or she will literally never stop.

I am nearly 40, I do not have the time to address this with her yet again, but I also do not have the patience to continue to be the bigger person every time I pointedly don't get up in her face about it. This sucks from basically all angles!

[slickbackdani]

You know, it sucks that the term “fake geek” is only ever used as a misogynistic slur against women in fandom spaces, created to feed the paranoid insecurities and victim complexes of socially stunted white men by fostering the idea that women are only pretending to share your interests to lead you on.

In my opinion, the “fake geek” label would be more accurately used against alt-righters who pretend to be part of certain fandoms just so they can create outrage and indoctrinate white male nerds into fighting their culture wars for them.

For example, I remember some time ago I said that the dude-bro hate campaign against the female-led Ghostbusters reboot was waged mostly by people who never really gave a fuck about Ghostbusters and just wanted an excuse to attack women. The same is true, I think, of other “white male nerd temper tantrums” of late.

The Star Wars sequels met with a years-long backlash of male nerds obnoxiously whining about how the new movies’ diversity was ruining the franchise they grew up with when the sequels really weren’t that much more diverse than the movies that came before, and whatever problems the sequels may have had are barely different from problems people have had with previous Star Wars installments. Of note is all the so-called fans calling Rey a Mary Sue whose existence goes against everything the franchise has been known for when she really doesn’t do anything Luke wasn’t capable of in the old movies. If I were a smug contrarian dickhead, I’d use this to assert that Luke was always a terrible character that the fans only like because of nostalgia, but since I still love the old Star Wars films and have mixed feelings about the newer ones, I think it’s more reasonable to conclude that neither character is perfect or irredeemable and the more rabid detractors only hate Rey because she has a vagina.

The insincerity behind these outrage-addicted fandom shit-stirrers only gets more transparent when the topic shifts to superhero movies and you have these self-proclaimed comic book diehards displaying a stunning ignorance of the subject they claim is so near and dear to them. Female-led superhero flicks are decried as products of modern “wokeness” and “political correctness gone mad” when the characters they’re decrying have been a huge part of the original comics for decades. The existence of the She-Hulk series prompted a tidal wave of fanboy outrage, whining that Marvel has “gone woke” and at one point saying that Stan Lee would be rolling in his grave… you know, the same Stan Lee who created She-Hulk back in the 70s! You’d think hardcore comic fans would know that Shulkie has been a major player in Marvel Comics for almost 50 years before finally getting any kind of significant outside exposure. Those who are really committed to the act will say that She-Hulk’s MCU counterpart is nothing like the original comics, but all the things they hate about her are also true of her comic counterpart.

It doesn’t get any better on DC’s side, as there were many fanboys who celebrated David Zaslav’s decision to cancel the Batgirl movie, saying that a female reboot of Batman would be an affront to comic fans everywhere… except anyone with even a passing familiarity with DC would know Batgirl was never “a female reboot of Batman”, but his sidekick and protege, a member of his extended family, and has been since she was created in the 1960s! I’m tempted to say “they would know that if they were REAL comic fans,” but Batgirl has appeared so many times in TV, movies, and video games that even people who have never picked up a comic book in their lives would be bound to know about her! Fucking hell, they can’t even claim their judgments are based on the leaked details about the movie-that-never-was, because even those scant details clearly explained that Batman still exists as a separate character in the movie’s continuity and they never intended to just retcon him into being a woman!

I think my point can best be summed up by taking a look at the alt-right sources that promoted GamerGate back in the day: a number of far-right people and websites had rallied male gamers into attacking feminists they accused of trying to destroy video games, all the while promising up and down that they would defend gamers with their very lives if male nerds just gave them power. Fast forward about half a decade later, and now those same far-right people and websites are saying that people who play video games are stupid filthy degenerates who are holding us back as a species — all the while more mainstream right-wing sources continue to repeat the age-old “video games cause mass shootings” myth. This proves, if nothing else, that GamerGate was never really about video games. It was about women having opinions and men not liking that.