#A WHITEBOARD FOR A DECK IS CRAZY

[19calicos]

was browsing around on pinterest looking at cool skateboards and there was a board i really liked for kuroo and then i saw this fucking WHITEBOARD deck and immediately knew that thats gonna be his second board ….. so i now present kuroo’s first and second boards 😭

[immortalecstasy-blog]

You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth 18+

Chapter 18/25 Pairing: Eddie Munson / Chrissy Cunningam Need to catch up? Click Here for Chapter One

When Chrissy finally woke up, she was mute. People are sympathetic at first, but when she doesn’t magically get better, she slowly finds herself as one of the ‘freaks’. Lucky for her, there’s one freak in particular she really doesn’t mind finding herself beside. 

Warnings: Slow Burn, Angst, PTSD, Chrissy still got attacked by Vecna but didn't die, Eddie still got mauled by bats but didn't die, Hurt/Comfort, Abuse.

Hopper was already halfway out the door when Eddie pulled up. Stopping him from bee-lining for Chrissy with the calm offer of a cigarette and a touch on his shoulder to lead him towards the swinging bench they had on their porch.

Eddie sat down, his feet leaving the floor as Hopper joined him, the bench swinging for a moment before Hoopers feet planted them down.

“My kids…” Hopper began, “All three of them. Seem to forget I know what went down. Been there, done that. So, I’m going to ask you – man to man – what’s got your girlfriend riled up and my daughter jumping at shadows?”

Eddie hesitated. The Munson Doctrine was very clear on keeping your mouth shut around any kind of authority. But Hopper wasn’t asking him as the Chief of Police. It wasn’t a command. Dude was losing his mind. Eddie got that.

“So… you know, all of Vecna’s victims left gates. Opening to…. There, the upside down.”

Hopper nodded.

“Patrick died, recently. OD’d, and El… El had this theory, and we checked it out. Patrick’s gate shut. It was healing before he died, but.. he died and it was gone. Fred’s is gone, and… Max… Max’s gate is gone too.”

“What does that mean?”

“Chrissy’s is still open. Current theory is if you were one of his victims and you’re not dead, your gates still there. Something could still come through.”

“Max isn’t…”

“She’s brain dead. El can’t find her in her mind, machines are keeping her in some kind of ‘alive’. But…. Her gates gone. Chrissy’s is the only one left, and she’s the only one breathing on her own.”

Hopper took this in. The pair of them lighting their own cigarettes almost in unison.

“How are you holding up?” Hopper asked, half-way through his cigarette.

Eddie snorted. “My girlfriend thinks if she kills herself she can save the world.”

“She said that?”

“Wrote it.” Eddie admitted, “I’d not seen that fucking whiteboard pointed at me for months, not when we’re just us. And she… she couldn’t get a fucking word out. And today – fuck, I don’t even know what happened, I— I don’t know.”

Hopper’s hand clasped his shoulder, squeezing slightly too hard.

“That’s what has them all playing soldiers again? The gate in your old trailer is still active?”

“Not active,” Eddie amended, “It’s… it’s got like this… skin over it. But, the others have all disappeared, so everyone is freaking out. Fred and Patrick are dead, but Max…”

“Ah.” Hopper realised, connecting all the pieces together. “Okay. Yeah. I get it.”

Eddie nodded. Moving to twist the rings on his hands and finding only stinging knuckles, belatedly remembering that his rings were tucked away in his jacket pocket, unable to fit back over his swollen fingers.

“Chrissy’s alright.” Hopper reassured him after a beat of silence. “She’s tougher than she looks.”

“Don’t I know it.”

“How about you? You holding up okay?”

The usual lie was on its way when Eddie faltered, “No. Nah man, it’s all fucking… shit’s way too crazy for me, you know?”

Hopper nodded empathetically. “Me too, to be honest. Been dealing with this shit for years and it still… I mean hell, my daughter has superpowers. How’s any dad supposed to get used to that?”

“Hell if know.”

Hopper sniggered, clapping Eddie on the back again and standing up. Eddie had had his legs tucked under his body and the chair swung wildly as Hopper stood so that he had to quickly untangle his limbs, his sneakers skidding across the porch decking to right himself.

“Come on. You can stick around for dinner – I’ll get Joyce to give Claudia a ring.”

Eddie followed Hooper inside, awkwardly accepting a hug from Joyce that was both welcome and entirely unexpected.

Chrissy was sat of one of the armchairs in the living room Hopper led him to. Wrapped up in a blanket that was almost comically too big for her, draping over the sides of her chair and forming mounds on either side of her.

Will was sat on the sofa beside her, in the seat closest to her, drawing in a sketchbook. But Eddie could tell he’d picked that position to guard her.

Chrissy looked up at him as he approached, opening one arm so the blanket fell away, inviting him in.

He obeyed without question, scooping her briefly out of her chair so that he had room to sit down and then placing her back on his lap, tucking the blanket around them both so that it covered her again, kissing the top of her head as she burrowed into his shirt.

He didn’t say anything. Will was still with them, so he knew he wouldn’t hear from her anyway, and he… he didn’t know what the right thing to say was.

Chrissy stayed nestled against him, stroking along his arm, and then playing with his hand. He hissed when her finger glanced over his knuckled and she recoiled for a moment before leaning in to study them. The swelling, the fresh cuts, the lack of rings.

She looked up at him, and he didn’t need words – written or spoken, to read her, to hear her.

What did you do?

Eddie glanced at Will, but he was steadfastly ignoring them, all his focus on whatever he was drawing.

“I had a fight with a sink.”

She frowned, clearly unprepared for his answer. Her head cocked slightly to one side Who won?

“I want to say me?”

She smiled, which was the closest to a laugh he knew he’d get.

“You okay?” He asked, and she nodded emphatically. He nodded back, his chin bumping the top of her head,

“Okay then.”

She looked up at him sympathetically, and then confusion crossed her face as she touched his jeans. Frowning, she groped at his jeans. Are you wet?

“Yeah… maybe the sink won.” He admitted. Remembering his damp jeans.

They stayed under the blanket, quietly huddled together, Eddie’s face buried in her neck, finding an indescribable comfort in the soft skin of her neck, the feel of her steady pulse against his cheek. He stayed like that, breathing her in, until Joyce called them for dinner.

Hopper offered Eddie a can of beer, but he shook his head.

“I’ll drive Chrissy home later.” He explained, secretly pleased at the respect that briefly flashed his way as Hopper returned the other can to the fridge.

“I’ll have one?” Jonathan offered.

“Then buy your own.” Hopper told him, taking a seat at the table beside Eleven.

Will was the last to join them, dragged away form his current art project.

The conversation flowed okay, stilled in places that Eddie suspected was more from the merged family than from his and Chrissy’s presence. Separately, they were all used to living with Eleven, the Byers were used living together. But Hopper was a new element to them, and the boys were a new element to him. For Eleven, she was used to both Hopper and the Byers, but not together. So even though she was the bridge between then all, it seemed even Eleven felt a little divided. Becoming Joyce’s Jane one minute and then Hopper’s Eleven the next, staring at her plate in the spaces in between..

They seemed to be settling down okay overall, but it was still all new enough that they were all on their best behaviour. Apart from Jonathan, who seemed so spaced-out Eddie was genuinely envious.

His stash was currently empty. Some fucking dealer he was. But he’d spent two weeks at Rick’s with no phone, hated using Claudia’s phone to call his suppliers and had generally just faded himself out, buying out his own supply. He’d have to sort something out soon. One night without a little bit of medicinal help brought the nightmares back, and he was currently riding three dry days in a row. Maybe he could blame the newly out-of-order restroom on that?

Jonathan caught his calculating glance, and after a slow blink and full body sway, gave him a slow nod.

Eddie glanced away quickly before anyone else noticed. It was clear that the adults at the table – at least – knew Jonathan was high as a kite. Hopper had caught him and Chrissy smoking, but he didn’t think it was wise to enact a drug deal in front of the Chief of Police. Even a cool one. Especially with the day he’d had. He hoped Chrissy would never find out just how close he’d been to being expelled. Not because she’d be angry or disappointed, but because he knew she’d blame her panic attack on his own… whatever the fuck it was.

Joyce and Chrissy disappeared with Eleven after they’d finished eating. Leaving Eddie with Hopper, Jonathan and Will. All of whom he knew to varying degrees on their own, but had no idea how to interact with as a trio.

He was more than relieved when Will shyly asked him if he wanted to see his current art project, and was more than happy to flee from the table and follow Will back into the living room.

Will picked up his sketch pad, and then paused. He’d evidentially only given Eddie a lifeline to get away from the awkwardness around the dining table.

“I don’t need to see it yet.” Eddie told him. “You can wait for the final product if you want. We can just chill out.”

This seemed to give Will the confidence to hand the sketch book over, and Eddie was absolutely fucking stoked when he looked down to see himself, clad in heavy armour, holding Chrissy in his metal-clad arms. She was a princess. Cone hat and net train and all.

Eddie grinned. “You have to show Chrissy.” He told Will, gazing down at the drawing in wonder. He didn’t really feel like a knight in shining armour – if Will had switched their outfits that would have been more accurate, even if Eddie didn’t quite suit pink. But it wasn’t their costumes, or the castle ruins in the background, that took Eddie’s breath away. It was how he had drawn Chrissy’s expression. That shine in her eyes, the wrinkle in her nose. He couldn’t even figure out when Will would have ever seen her that carefree, that open, and yet he had captured it perfectly.

“Can I have this?” He asked.

Will nodded, “It’s not finished yet though.”

Eddie frowned, “It’s perfect.”

Will shook his head, “I… I was going to paint it.”

Eddie shrugged, handing the sketchbook back over, “It’s awesome man, seriously.”

“I painted everyones miniatures.” Will rushed, as if he’d been dying to let Eddie know this little fact for ages.

“They told me.” Eddie admitted, staving off wounding Will’s feelings with a quick “They look awesome. I should get you to paint all the NPC’s and Monsters – but, it would ruin the next campaign. You’d know what was coming.”

“I’m in the next campaign?” Will asked, ignoring the compliment.

“Obviously.” Eddie said, nonplussed. “Man, you absolutely crushed Strahd. I know you were using a fresh character, but dude I have to play with Will the Wise. I’m not taking no for an answer!”

Will beamed, “Really?”

“Yeah man! I’d make you a shirt, but they’re kind of a no-go right now.”

Will laughed, just as Eddie heard a knock from the doorway and glanced over to see Chrissy and her whiteboard.

‘Ready to go?’

Eddie nodded. “Just give me five minutes with Jonathan. Come look at this, come here.”

Chrissy sidled over and Eddie waited for Will to hand over the sketchbook before disappearing down the hall to Jonathan’s room, giving a perfunctory knock on the door before letting himself in.

He was barely in the room before Jonathan was thrusting a ziplock bag at him.

“Thanks man.”

“Yeah, no worries.”

“How much do I owe you?”

Jonathan waved his hand dismissively, “You’ve done me a couple solids in school and stuff. We’re good.”

Eddie tucked the bag away in his jacket, “You sure?”

“Uh huh.”

Eddie assessed just how high Jonathan was and decided he’d double check on this little arrangement when Jonathan had a clearer head.

It turned out that Will was happy to give Chrissy the sketch he’d refused to give to Eddie. She was clutching it to her chest as they waved goodbye to everyone and got into his van. Eddie noticed that on the back of the piece of sketch paper was a string of digits in Eleven’s handwriting. He thought it was a little presumptuous of her to graffiti the back off Will’s work, but he had more pressing matters at hand.

“Don’t let your mom see it.” Eddie warned, and Chrissy shook her head, cradling the drawing protectively against her chest, wrinkling it.

“Do you want to talk about what happened today?” He asked as he pulled out of the Hopper-Byers driveway.

“Do you?” She asked.

“My thing? Not in the slightest. But I want to hear about your thing,”

“Tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine.” Chrissy offered.

“Do you want to tell me?”

“No. But I want to know yours.”

Eddie grinned, “Okay, so… either we tell each other. We both feed our curiosity and admit our sins, or we can just.. leave it.”

Chrissy considered this, “Can we leave it?”

Eddie nodded, slowing down as they reached the scarcely used intersection. He angled the van back towards town when Chrissy reached out and took hold of the steering wheel.

“Can we go to Rick’s?”

Eddie glanced over at her, deliberating.

“Go home first.” He told her, “Say Goodnight. Go to bed. I’ll do the same, and then I’ll come get you. Have you back by morning.”

Chrissy nodded, seeing the sense in his plan.

There were several faults in his plan that Eddie figured out at he went. The first was that Dustin sleeping body was between him and the easiest escape route, and that he still didn’t have his own front door keys just because he hadn’t need them. He ended up taking the backdoor keys. There was only one set, but no one really used them.

Successfully not-waking Dustin (not that he’d have cared) and getting to his van was the easiest of their challenges. He killed the engine in his van early, letting her roll silently down the road for as long as could on Chrissy’s Street.

As he climbed out of his van he pulled up the collar of his jacket as if that would disguise his identity in the slightest. He probably should’ve borrows one of Dustin’s caps and dumped his vest. Ah, fuck it. He was here now.

He knew from watching Steve stealth into her bedroom (totally not jealous) which window was hers and waited until all the other windows had gone dark before going to stand beneath it.

“Am I really supposed to climb out of the window?” She hissed angrily as he approached, and he had to stifle a laugh.

“I mean, I just used the door, but… whatever you want, princess.”

“Wait there.”

Chrissy disappeared, the light in her room fading away. The silence was deafening but after several agonising minutes he heard the click of her front door and carefully made his way over the grass to meet her.

“Is this really a good idea?” She asked.,

Eddie shrugged, “No. But it was your idea.”

Chriss debated for a moment, and Eddie was about to tell her he’d be happy with a goodnight kiss when she seemed to make up her mind.

“You know how to set Rick’s stupid alarm clock, don’t you?”

Eddie nodded.

“Okay, c’mon.”

She took hold of his hand, pulling him towards his van.

“You’re so naughty.” He told her, his jog across the grass turning into a happy little jig, dumb-ass smile across his face.

Chrissy struggled not to laugh, her shoulders bouncing as her face contorted.

“Stop it!” She wheezed, pulling him up to the van and dropping his hand by the driver’s door and continuing around the front to get to her side.

They hadn't been back to Rick's since fall break.

Honestly, it had never even crossed Eddie's mind that they could sneak back out there, despite how much time he spent daydreaming about the two weeks they'd spent hidden away there. He'd been concocting all sorts of scenario's in his head for weeks of ways they could get time alone again, had been seemingly permanently horny for the past month, trying to get his hands on her whenever he could.

Now here they were, and Chrissy was straddling his lap and slipping his bandana from his pocket and... nothing.

His hand was fucking killing. His body still in shock from his outburst and subsequent rampage, his mind still racing to try and fill in the blanks on what had set Chrissy off so badly.

He caught her wrist when she went to tie the bandana around his eyes.

“Don’t…”

Chrissy faltered. “Is everything okay?”

Eddie almost laughed but he managed to reign it in. He didn’t know how to describe what he wanted, what he needed. He’d never been a touchy-feeling person, wasn’t always comfortable with the blasé way everyone around seemed to be with hugs or shoulder touches or whatever. It was different with Chrissy, obviously. But usually it was because he wanted to touch her – or be touched – in a much less PG way than what he wanted now.

He licked his lips, automatically moving to twist his rings “Can we just…Ow.” He released his injured fingers and shook them out, making it worse.

Instead of finishing his question, he wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her neck and inhaling the combination of perfume, and face cream and shampoo and that extra something that was just Chrissy.

“You just wanna cuddle?” Chrissy asked indulgently, like she was talking to a little kid. He nodded against her neck, sighing as her arms wrapped around her shoulders, one hand gently resting on the back of his head.

She started to stoke his hear and he felt an unexpected rush of tears. He tried to blink them away, but they were too quick for him. He tightened his arms around her, pulling her further up his lap.

“I’m sorry, baby.” She told him quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. “I should’ve been there for you today. I should’ve made sure you were okay.”

Eddie shook his head disbelievingly, “S’not that.” He mumbled into her neck. “You don’t have to be sorry, I’m.. I’m the…” he let out a shuddering breath, “I’m sorry Chris.”

“What for?” She asked, still stroking back his hair, rocking them gently side to side.

“I ran away.” His voice was so small she barely heard him, but it broke her heart all the same.

“Eddie, no. Baby, don’t…”

“I thought you were dead.” He whispered, tears flowing freely down his face and bleeding onto her neck.

“I thought I was dead too.” She pointed out, crying with him now. “Even when I woke up in hospital I thought I was dead. I don’t blame you Eddie.”

“You should.”

She shook her head again, “I kept wishing he’d really killed me. I was so mad at him for breaking his promise to take me away from it all.” She admitted. When he didn’t say anything she continued.

“I’m not mad at him anymore. I’m so so glad I’m alive, and that’s because of you. Are you listening?”

He hummed against her neck.

“Not because you helped kill him, or... made me a mixtape, or... got high with me. You just… I never felt like I was… less, with you. You just… you didn’t treat me any differently. Like I was broken or weak or—”

“Well, you’re not.”

“No, I know.” She agreed. “and I know you ran away. Anyone in that position would’ve ran Eddie. I know I would’ve.”

“You wouldn’t.” Eddie told her, finally emerging from his hiding place against her neck, pushing her hair out of her face. “You’re my brave girl.”

Chrissy grinned, covering his hand with hers and holding it against her cheek.

“Would you run again now? Knowing everything?”

“No.”

“Then stop letting it eat at you, Eddie.”

“Poor choice of words.” He joked, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards.

“Idiot.” Chrissy laughed, releasing his hand, and pulling her sleeve over her thumb to clean up the tear tracks down his cheeks. “Is that why you had a fight with a sink?”

“I kind of… fought the whole restroom. Principal Higgins is not impressed.”

“Eddie!”

“It’s fine. Ms Kelly came to my rescue so, I’m not in trouble.”

Chrissy looked mollified, but she wasn’t all too impressed either.

“I just… I feel like I keep letting you down.”

“Well, you don’t. So pack it up.”

Eddie smirked, “Yes ma’am.”

Chrissy grinned, “That’s more like it.”

Sneaking out to Rick’s in the middle of the night became a regular – and very dangerous game. Eddie thought she was growing too bold, and Chrissy would’ve reluctantly agreed with him, except that with Eddie snoring gently beside her, that red sky and sinister whispering didn’t come to her and torment her at night, calling out for something to come to them, to… complete them? Chrissy didn’t understand it, but she felt the longing in the whispers. The one night her mom had been up late and she couldn’t sneak out – she’d got Eddie to sneak in. He hadn’t stayed for long, his heart in his throat the whole damn time even as he took in every inch of her bedroom.

She didn’t seem to mind him pawing through her things, giving him an amused nod when he started pointing at things to get permission for a closer inspection, even if she had been planning on get getting handsy with her rather than the layer of papers on her desk, or the knick-knacks on her shelf – or the junk piled in one corner that she needed to donate or toss out.

Perpetually curious, Eddie smoothed out the crumpled-up piece of paper he’d accidentally knocked to the floor, recognising Chrissy’s handwriting. 

Your my mom, I won’t always like you but I will always love you. I promise that I’m doing everything I can to heal, but I need you to promise that you’ll let me. That you’ll give me the space I need to figure it all out.

If you can do that, if you can promise, then I’d really like to come home. Please?

Eddie raised one eyebrow and then waved the piece of paper at Chrissy.

“Oh. That’s what I gave mom when I got home from Ricks.”

“Is this why you’ve been able to get away with murder recently?”

Chrissy shrugged, “That, or guilt. I don’t really know. She did promise.”

Eddie resisted rolling his eyes, putting the letter underneath an almost-empty bottle of perfume on her desk. He was glad Chrissy’s mom had let up. He felt much better knowing Chrissy spent barely any time at home, and that she was getting proper meals most evenings, but he didn’t trust Laura Cunningham any more than he’d trust a demogorgan.

He couldn’t understand why Chrissy had come home, even if he’d let her win that one. But more than that, he couldn’t get his head around Chrissy’s blind faith in a woman like her mother. Someone that had hurt her, bullied her. Eddie could never be like that. Not with his dad, not with anyone.

“You kept your uniform?” He asked in a whisper, brandishing the tiny green cheerleading skirt from on top of the pile of stuff in the corner to change the subject.

“It doesn’t fit anymore.” She whispered back, stifling a laugh as he tossed the skirt over his shoulder dismissively before opening a box and recoiling at the creepy china doll he found inside.

“Yeah, there’s a reason she stays in the box.” Chrissy teased, before tipping her head to one side. “Eddie, what are you doing?”

“I’ve never been in a girl’s room before.” He explained. Then as an afterthought added “Well, I’ve been in Nancy’s room, but she wouldn’t let me touch anything.”

Chrissy watched fondly as he made his way around her room, slightly more cautiously now that he’d uncovered the (absolutely possessed) doll.

“You know, the normal protocol when you’re invited into a girls room is to sit on the bed with them, maybe fondle them instead of all their stuff?”

Eddie raised his eyebrows.

“Your girlfriends room, anyway.” She amended, patting the bed.

There was a noise from downstairs and they both froze, listening intently.

“I should go.” Eddie whispered regretfully when it seemed like it was safe to speak again. Chrissy nodded, looking unhappy.

He gingerly stepped across the room to her bed and cupped her chin. “I’ll fondle you tomorrow, okay?”

Chrissy had to fight not to giggle.

His parting kiss scorched her lips, awakening a deep ache that spread across her entire body. She briefly contemplated following him out of the window, or summoning him back, but she could hear the low hum of the television downstairs and couldn’t justify the risk.

When she’d told Eddie how tempted she’d been the next day, He had smugly pointed out that if Chrissy hadn’t insisted on going back to live with her parents, she’d have made their lives infinitely easier.

“and safer.” He added one morning when he’d casually slipped this little fact into conversation for the millionth time as he dropped her off just as the sun was starting to appear on the horizon. She cut him off with a quick kiss.

“See you at school.” She said with a yawn, climbing out of the car.

“We’d get more sleep too.”

Chrissy ignored him. He was wrong about that one.

Eddie had two exams today. Math and US History. He’d always got through math okay, and had managed to pass US History the second time round. The third should hopefully be no different, even with his hand still protesting every pen stroke.

It was tomorrow that would be the real test. For both of them. Their foreign language exams.

Ms Kelly had tried her best to stagger their exams so that Eddie could sit in with Chrissy, but after she’d saved Eddie from expulsion, she wasn’t in Principal Higgins best books. Of course it was Chrissy that was going to suffer for his mess.

There was no chance they’d be able to get to Rick’s again tonight. Robin was coming over for one final attempt to drill el gobbledygook into his denso head, and Chrissy had originally planned on going to Family Video to hang out with Steve. The theory had been that it would be a typical quiet weeknight and there’d be dribs and drabs of strangers to try to talk infront of with plenty of recovery time in-between. Steve barely knew a single word of French, but that didn’t matter.

It would’ve been a good theory. Except that Chrissy’s ‘safe list’ was still only Dustin and Eddie. She had managed a few words to either of them with other people in the room, but it was still only the two of them she could talk freely to.

The new plan was to talk to Dustin in his and Eddie’s room while Dustin continually changed frequencies on his radio, so that there was a high chance that no one was listening, but a possibility that either Will or Nancy (both selected by Chrissy) would hear.

Eddie couldn’t see how this would help. But he plastered on an encouraging smile and told her she had nothing to worry about, even as his stomach backflipped.

“Eddie, you’re not listening!”

Eddie let out an exasperated groan, “I’m trying Robin!”

“No, you’re not!”

She put her hands on his shoulders and forced him to look at her.

“You. Are looking at that door. You’re thinking about how Chrissy is screwed if Dustin can’t dig out the chatterbox we all know is hiding somewhere in there. That is not helping. It’s not helping you, and it’s not helping Chrissy. Do you want to know how you can help Chrissy?”

“Huh?”

“Español! Edwardo! Español!”

Eddie batted Robin’s hand from his shoulders, scowling.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes. Alright.”

“En español!

“Sí.” Eddie said grumpily.

“Good, now ask me where the restroom is.”

Eddie wracked his brain, his eyebrows drawn.

“Dón… Dónde… está el baño?”

“Muy bien! Cuáles son tus pasatiempos?”

Damn it he knew this one. He did. She was asking him what… what he did in his spare time? He hadn’t been able to think of anything to begin with. Robin had reminded him that he didn’t actually have to answer honestly, he could make up whatever crap he wanted as long as he said it in Spanish.

“Mi pasatiempo favorito es tocar la guitarra”

“Qué música te gusta?”

He knew what she was asking only because she asked this every time. He was screwed if his teacher didn’t follow ‘what do you do in your free time?’ with ‘what music do you like?’ because that was the question he’d be answering.

“Mi favorito es metal.” He recited back.

Robin only released him when Dustin has freed Chrissy, and by that point he was exhausted and his head was throbbing. It wasn’t the words that were hard, it was the different order they went in, the stupid gender thing, all the weird idiosyncrasies that he couldn’t categorise in a way that made them easy to pull from his brain. He could remember complete sentences and what they meant, but if he was asked something new, something without a pre-prepared answer he knew he’d be a goner.

Chrissy grinned at him, but her nose didn’t do that cute little scrunch so he knew it was as fake as the one he gave in return.

“Comment ça s'est passé?”

Chrissy waved a hand dismissively and shook her head, Robin’s toothy grin twitched but she kept it in place. “You’ll be fine.”

Steve picked Robin up when he finished his shift and offered to drive Chrissy home. It was dark and cold, so Eddie had planned to drive her home anyway even though it was such a short trip it was barely worth putting a seatbelt on, but he kissed her goodnight and watched her leave.

When Steve’s taillight had vanished, he turned to look at Dustin.

Dustin shook his head sadly, “She managed for a bit, but then… I think she got in her own head and she clammed up.”

Eddie sighed.

“Ms Kelly is sitting in with her though, right?”

“She hasn’t spoken to Ms Kelly since Patrick’s autopsy results came out.”

Dustin looked crushed, and Eddie wished he hadn’t said anything. He ruffled Dustin’s hair and shut the front door. “I think she’ll manage.” He lied.

“Yeah, no yeah, of course. Definitely.” Dustin lied in return. “What about you?”

“No te preocupes hermanito.”

“What does that mean?” Dustin asked.

“It means I’ve got this, shit head. Go to bed.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not what that means.” Dustin laughed, letting Eddie shove him down the hall.

Robin might have just been able to fill his head with enough prepared sentences to get him through. It wasn’t as easy as when they’d practised. Robin tended to speak quiet slowly for him, and he was used to how the words sounded when she said them, so there were a few occasions where he just couldn’t figure out what he was being asked. She’d prepared him for that too though. ‘I’m sorry, could you repeat that again?’ and ‘I didn’t understand that. Could you repeat it slowly for me?’ were two of the phrases she had drilled into him until he could recite them effortlessly.

But even slowed down, there was one or two questions that he had to give up on, and judging by the amused look on Miss O’Donnell’s face there had definitely been one he had misunderstood and given the wrong answer for. She smiled at him when he was done though, and that was definitely a first.

When she told him he was free to go, he thanked her (in Spanish, hoping that may be worth an extra credit) and then went to Chrissy’s locker to wait for her to finish her own exam.

He waited.

And waited.

[bi-bobbysoxxers]

🏀, 📖, 🎸, 🚗, 👤, 📼, 💄, 🔮, 🎁, 💞, 👭, 💘, 🕛, ⛅ for the Gay/Lesbian ask game please?

Alrighty lol xD

🏀🏐 Do you play any sports?

Uh, not anymore unfortunately. When i was in middle school, i played basketball, volleyball, did cheerleading, and was in running club. In highschool, i did cross country in the fall, and i think that's it lol, since i was mostly obsessed with doing theatre lol. I realy liked building the sets and painting, and being on running crew lol. If i ever decided to join a sport, it would be either soccer or beach volleyball, since those seem the most fun. And good cardio too!

📖 Do you write?

Yeah, occasionally lol. I'm not the greatest writer ever, but i'd like to think i'm proud of the work that I've posted. Mostly just Haikyuu and K Project fics. Here's my AO3:

https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElotheFairy

Eventually i want to write some BSD and She-Ra fics, cause i have some ideas, i'm just pretty lazy when it comes to writing, whoops.

🎸 Are you a musician?

Oh I wishhh. That would be so cool. I used to be able to play the piano, and I'm able to reteach myself the scales and play simple songs if I'm sitting at home, but that's about it lol. I need one of those lil whiteboards that you can stick right above a keyboard so i can just have the scale in front of me and learn cute studio ghibli piano songs lol.

🚗 Can you drive?

Surprisingly, yes. Lol I'm a Midwest American queer, so we gotta either learnt to drive ourselves to the cool places, or date someone who can drive us everywhere xD I'm great driving in my hometown and in my college town, but I still can't drive in super big cities quite yet. That'll have to change soon tho once I move for my apprenticeship!

👤 Favorite LGBT fictional character?

Does Kakashi count xD

I'm sure there are a bunch of good queer characters out there, but deadass, most of the shows I watch, it's merely implied, oof. If we're going with canonly queer, i guess i like Simon from Love, Simon a lot. Oh, and of course, Scorpia from She-Ra lol. I hc her as a nb androg lesbian lol. Oh, and Chloe and Max from Life is Strange, and that one chick from Stranger Things, i guess.

If we're going with just, an implied/possibly coded queerness, I love Oikawa from HQ, i headcanon him as a demiboy who is bi or pan. (I headcanon that most fo the dudes from that anime are bi lmao). Uh, I also love Akutagawa and Odasaku from Bungou Stray dogs. I headcanon that Akutagawa is a trans nb guy, demisexual, and panromantic. I also hc Oda as bi lol. I also love Akagi and Misaki from K project, i hc Misaki as a bi trans guy, lol. And i hc Akagi as cis and bi. For She-Ra, i adore both Bow and Sea Hawk, i think it might be implied that Bow is a trans guy, so i hc him as trans and bi. And for my love, Sea Hawk, i hc him as bigender and bi, who laters gets into a polyamrous relationship with both Bow and Mermista lol. Sorry, I have a lot of implied queer hc's, lol.

📼 80's or 90's?

90's for fashion, hair, and makeup.

80's for great music, cute ppl, and fun design ideas lol.

💄 Do you like makeup?

Uhhh, it's kinda complicated.

I like makeup as a concept of freedom of expression, feminity, a way of transforming yourself into a piece of art, blurring the lines between gender ideals, presentation, makeup for fantasy concepts, etc.

But i also dont't like makeup sometimes because it's def been used as a tool to pressure women into performative feminity, used, as a way to groom young girls, used a sneaky way of breaking down a lot of ppl's self confidence, it encourages highly unrealistic beauty standards (for both women and men), i also hate how motherfucking EXPENSIVE and unsustainable it is.

So as a tool for art, genderfuckery, and self-expression, i love it. But as a msrketing concept mostly driven by male CEOs and years and years of misogny and captialism? Not so much lol. I like wearing makeup for big occasions or for when i feel hyperfeminine some days, but I usually prefer going without it.

🔮 Do you believe in astrology?

Yeah, to a reasonable extent lol. I'm not one of those queer that obsesses over every little detail tho. I'm still def learning about it. I recently lesrned that you can combine astrology, with tarot readings, which can greatly specifiy the readings, for both yourself and other people, so I think i'll try that once I get a tarot deck for my birthday lol.

🎁 Fave holiday?

Well, I could be one of those queers who automatically says Halloween, but the more i think about it, i think i like the fall/halloween season waaayy more. Which makes me think that I actually like Thanksgiving a lot, as just, an American holiday. I don't think we shoukd really celebrate it for it's historical reasons, but i also will never say no to good food, family, friends, and a general warmth and sense of peace during that time of the year :3

💞 Fave thing to do on a first date?

Festivals!!!! I looooovee going to any type of market, festival, etc. with someone. I think it's a great way to explore, start conversations, and learn about someone. Cuz like, the type of art, food, trinkets, and music that draws someone in can you a lot about that person, if you think about it! It's hella cute. And then once you're tired of the crowds, most festivals usually have quiet garden or parks near them that you can escape to for some quiet time and deep conversations, lol.

👭 Do u have a gf? Do you want one?

No, I don't have a girlfriend lol. I have an amazing and very caring boyfriend tho. I have briefly dated women in the past tho. It's been fun, lol. I've always wondered, if i had more past romantic/sexual experiences with women, then maybe i'd possibly identify as a lesbian, but honestly, I'm proud of my journey, and I get very happy when I think about my bigender-ness and bisexuality lol. I don't think I would change that for anything. For whatever reason, i think I just click better with bois and nb ppl rather than with cis girls, i'm not sure why lol. But good for anyone who has a gf right now plz treat her like a kweennnn xD

💘

Do you believe in love at first sight?

No, lol. I used to, back in middle school tho. I def believe in love at second sight, or love at first conversation. Ppl are so damn cute when they talk about things they're passionate about, or even when they just get goofy and rant to you about a crazy story lol.

🕐 How old were you when you realized you weren't straight?

Oh god, lol. I was... *tries to do math* I think 16 or 17? I uhh had accidentally fallen for one of my best friends in high school lol. It turned out okay tho, we're still friends to this day. Thanks for that, friend, I'm so glad i realized that sooner rather than later lol.

⛅ Winter or summer queer?

Oh def, winter, lol. Altho winter depression is real most years, idk, i feel lkke i would rather be anxious and cold, rather than angry and sweating buckets lol. Actually now that I think about it, the summer always makes me a little more moody than winter, cause i always feel like i should doing more, but summer's really a time for waiting and rest, if you think about it. I'm always happier in the winter cause most of the time, i'm slowly moving towards certains goals in my life, and the world just...seems happier and more cozy in the winter season, idk.

Thanks for these asks, dude! I had a lot of fun with them, lol.

Anyone can ask me any of the other q's on the pinned pride game list if you'd like! Happy Pride, BLM!!

[rinusagitora]

The love, lead, and the undead.

Fandom: Monster Prom

Characters: Vicky Schmidt, Damien LaVey, Brian Yu, Oz, Zoe, Vera Oberlin, Liam de Lioncourt, Amira Rashid (he/him), Dahlia Aquino

Pairings: Brian/Damien/Vicky, Oz/Zoe, Amira/Vera

Words: 3.8k

Summary: Canon divergent. Chapter 5/?. WARNINGS— violence, gore, drug use, smut; Oz and Zoe discover the meaning of his premonitions, and Vicky makes a fatal mistakes.

Zoe was kind enough to have brought Oz to one of her many dimensions of horror outside of time so they were able to brainstorm on Oz’s premonitions. The gurgle of lava or lungs filled with blood came with the slight breeze through the crooked window and Fear twitched hungrily from the volatile energy secreted by one of Zoe’s many homes.

A whiteboard materialized before them. “Let’s make this simple,” said Zoe, “you’re going to tell me every minute detail of your premonitions, and we’re gonna make a map of everything we can think of that connects to the details. Start with the first one.”

“I was watching myself wrap kilos of cocaine, but it looked like I was looking through a camera in my chest. When I looked up, I was staring down the barrel of a rifle. Someone screamed don’t move or something along those lines, I saw a flash, and then got a headache.”

“Okay, and the second one?”

“Well, there was blood and soot coming out of my fingers, my index fingers were bent backward, I saw blood and brains kind of floating around like soap bubbles. I started to fall forever. There were bright blue snakes in my eyes, as vivid as gems. I landed in a vat of bloodshed and lightning.”

“That is… that is intense.” Zoe finished her list on the whiteboard.

“Let’s start simple," Oz said. "The only person I can think would end up in a coke lab in any capacity is Brian. He’s got substance abuse issues. I know people say is pick of poison is alcohol, but I don’t see why he won’t escalate.”

“That’s a good start. Let’s take this into consideration, though: who could be on the other side of the gun?”

Oz shrugged. “I haven’t the slightest.”

“Oz… you think too highly of our friends,” Zoe scolded him. “I can think of several. Damien is wantonly violent. Vera and Vicky are regularly doing heists. Miranda has constant feuds with everyone under the sun. Polly will do anything for some drugs. God, there are so many fucked up folks at our school, I could go on and on.”

“Fair enough.” He pushed his fingers through his hair. “I’m… I’m not sure. Raiding one of these places isn’t in anyone’s modus operandi. Maybe Polly for shits and giggles, but she would’ve told us something, don’t you think?”

“I do. That’s the most we can do for now. Instead of getting our shit in a bunch, let’s move on.”

“The snakes kind of remind me of Vera. I’m not sure why else there would be snakes in my eyes.”

“That’s a good start. Why would they be blue?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay, when you think of blue, what do you think of?”

“Depression, rain, the ocean, storms, the sky. Brian since he’s always depressed. Dahlia is literally blue. Aren’t Vicky’s and Faith’s favorite color blue?”

“Yes, good. What about the lightning you saw?”

“I mean… Vicky electrocutes herself for giggles. I think Calculester and Vera listen to thunderstorms to help them sleep.”

“Fantastic. What about blood?”

“Damien’s a demon. He’s constantly covered in it.”

“Great, great, great. This is enough for us to start with. Why don’t you call Vicky, Vera, and Dahlia? I’ll tackle everyone else we brought up.”

“Can do.”

Zoe’s nightmare dimension evaporated. They were back in his apartment, where Oz picked up his phone and dialed for Vicky. It went straight to voicemail. She must have been busy, but it made his stomach churn. He tried Vera next and she too didn’t pick up. Oz knew Amira kept tabs on Vera, though. He called Amira.

“Hello?” Amira grunted.

“Hi, Amira. I know it’s late but I need to talk to you about Vera.

Amira cussed in the background. "One second," he grumbled as he rummaged around. "You're Gucci. Is everything okay?'

"I don't know." Oz sighed. "Okay, suspend your disbelief for a minute. I've had a couple of premonitions lately. First I had a premonition about someone getting shot in a coke lab. Do you know anyone who’d be involved in any way with coke?”

“Yeah. Vera has a drug trade.” He hummed. “Come to think of it, I overheard Vera talking with Vicky about robbing a lab.”

Oz’s chest constricted. The likelihood one of his friends would have been murdered dropped, and while he wasn't particularly disturbed by the idea of murder, the chance of Vera and Vicky shooting a hardened criminal with buddies didn't put him at ease. “Is she with you?”

“She’s not.”

“I need you to text her to call me as soon as she can, Amira. I-I know I’m kind of being a dick, but this is important.”

“You’re fine, Oz. I’ll get in touch with her as soon as I can.”

“Thank you so much. Text me as soon as you can.”

“I will. Bye, Oz.”

Oz hung up on Amira and then dialed for Dahlia. Her phone went to voicemail. "Fuck!" he cursed as he threw his phone. It shattered and scattered across the floor like ceramic. Oz felt sicker and sicker, like something greater than themselves, Zoe and Oz, who were gods in their own right, incapable to turn the tides of something awful in motion.

Zoe hugged Oz. "Did she not pick up?"

"She didn't." He rubbed his face. "God, this is going in disaster."

“Look. We have a lead with Vera and Vicky. Let’s get some rest, baby.”

Zoe was right. Oz let her drag him into her bedroom where they were swallowed by a toothy maw made from red hot metal. Zoe dove onto Oz seconds before the universe vanished.

---

Vicky woke to her alarm with a sense of unease, like Eugene’s fingers were still in her hair, like his lips were on her cheek. The shadows were dodgy. Eugene’s phantom only felt more real when she only had two hours of sleep under her belt.

Shakily, Vicky dressed in leggings, a tee, and sneakers. Vera was outside of her apartment in a ratty, old SUV with her chauffeur.

“Morning. Are you ready?”

“No. I hardly slept last night. I need some coke so I can stop feeling like I’m running on fumes.”

“That’s not good. Here, just don’t overdo it.” Vera passed Vicky a partially unwrapped kilo of cocaine. Vicky gently scooped some onto her fingertips and quietly snorted.

There was only a second before she absorbed the coke. When it hit her brain, she felt great, better than the last couple of days treated her, at least. Like she was a big dragon atop a horde of warm gold coins and dispatched a platoon of pitiful knights with a swoop of her tail. She felt big enough to have swallowed Eugene and Stan whole as if they were no bigger than a grain of rice.

She sniffed. Her nose was a little runny. “That’s better. Where’s the body armor?”

Vera dropped a pile of heavy kevlar onto Vicky’s lap. She donned pads and a vest and a thick helmet. She attached two assault rifles to her vest and many magazines to her legs. She whooped as they turned, Vera slapped her back.

“You fucking ready?”

“I’m so fucking ready!”

They stopped. Vicky and Vera stormed.

Vicky kicked down the door and shot the coffee table. “Get on the fucking ground! Put your fucking hands up!” she screamed

“Fuck!” The three men and two women in the room hit the deck. Vera threw a jammer onto a shelf and secured the denizens with zip ties. She frisked them down and dumped their guns into her duffle bag.

“Who else is here?” Vera demanded.

“There are two more in the basement! They’re just kids, don’t hurt them, " begged a ghoul.

“We want your money and your drugs. Don’t move, and y’all will live,” Vicky said.

“If you take everything, we’ll be killed!” said a vampire.

Vicky slapped the talker with one of her rifles. “You’ve got me to worry about first! Shut the fuck up or I’ll blow your fucking brains everywhere! Have I made myself clear?”

The vampire nodded.

“How many guns are stashed here?”

“You gonna clean us out?” the vampire asked.

“I asked you how many guns are here! Do you want me to blow off your dick?”

“Let him go,” the ghoul implored, “he’s a dumbass kid. There are twelve guns. Two under the table, one behind the door, one in the bathroom, three in the kitchen, two behind the couch, and the rest were on our person."

“You get that?” Vicky shouted.

“Yeah! Just keep them busy!”

Vicky heard a snap. The young vampire, freed of the zip ties, charged her. She kicked him down and shot him in the chest, but she was tackled not a second later by the ghoul with a hunting knife in hand. He was only kept at bay thanks to her rifle barrel lodged against his neck. Vicky pulled the trigger. His disembodied head collided with Vicky’s, she shrieked something ungodly in her disgust and hopped to her feet.

“Fuck, bag what you got. We gotta go!”

Vera ran up the stairs and then they wildly shot into the living room as they escaped. They fell into the getaway car and sped away.

There were a few seconds, the longest seconds of Vicky’s life, where Vera and Vicky huddled on the seat as their chests heaved.

Vicky had shot someone.

It wasn’t the first time she hurt someone. When people got feisty during their heists, she shot them in the hand or foot, she even kicked some. But she killed one, possibly two people. She felt sick, even though her haze of coke.

“Did we get anything?” Vicky asked.

Vera howled with delight. “We got so much fucking money!” She opened her bag for Vicky to peer inside. “This was all just on a table down there. They had a bunch of kids counting it! I got three kilos on top of that. God, there’s gotta be at least half a million dollars in here alone. Baby, we are rich as fuck!”

Vicky’s eyes bugged out of her head. She eventually broke into a grin so enormous it made her face hurt. “Oh my god! We are fucking rich!���

“We’re in it now, baby!” Vera held her face and they hopped in place. “Oh my god, you’re amazing, you crazy bitch. I love you so fucking much! We’re set for at least another month.”

“You can go a month without doing this again?”

“Fuck no!”

Vicky couldn’t help but be intoxicated by the money and Vera’s own elation. There was just a learning curve, she told herself, she would catch up.

---

Oz woke and he was stiffer than rigor mortis and it felt like he was knifed in the lung. It made him crabby. Slowly, he peeled open his eyes, and groggily surveyed his surroundings. Normally, Oz was a pacifist, but he sincerely wanted to wring the neck of whoever thought it was a good idea to kidnap him and Zoe.

When Oz looked down, his chest ache made sense. He was skewered by an oily black rod that reflected red light by the candles above them.

“Zoe!” he rasped. “Baby, where are you?”

“Fuck, stop screaming. I’m right behind you. God, my head is splitting, there’s something in my chest too, " she said. Her voice came from behind him. They were tired back to back.

“I think it’s the same thing in my chest,” he replied. “What the hell happened back there?”

“I don’t fucking know. I think we got swallowed by… by magic, or something like us. We have a lot of enemies. It could be one of them,” Zoe hypothesized. “That doesn’t matter now, though. We have to get out of here. Can you move?”

“If any of you so much as twitch, we won’t only kill Vicky, we’ll kill all your friends.”

Oz recognized that voice and it made his guts churn with horror. He craned his head over his shoulder to try to look at Dahlia. “Oh my God, Dahlia, what the hell have you done?" If the Aquino family was after Vicky, that had to have meant a declaration of war against the LaVey. "Dahlia, you're a fool! If you kill Vicky, you're going to bring the wrath of the LaVey family down on the heads of yourself and your loved ones. You will all be slaughtered!"

“Oz, shut up!” Zoe snapped. “Dahlia, look, I know you’ve got beef with the LaVey, but you can’t do this. The entire eighth circle of Hell will come for your ass if you kill Vicky. They won’t be merciful and you know that! Don't throw your life away like this. Pull out of this while you still can.”

Dahlia threw a chair. It exploded on the stone wall across from Oz. “No! The LaVey had this coming for a long time now, Zoe, and if the two of you had just kept to yourselves, we wouldn’t have had to imprison you.”

“Fuck!” Oz screamed. “Vicky hasn’t done anything!”

“She has! She fucked Damien, and now we’re gonna kill her and use her to fuck over Damien.”

“You are sick!” he bellowed. “Dahlia, I will kill you if you lay a hand on any of our friends!”

“Oz, shut up!”

“You two are cute. The thing is, with that spear in your chest, you’re virtually powerless.”

It dawned on Oz the spear was the reason Zoe told him to shut up. She wanted to create a distraction so he could pull it out since it would’ve been less obvious if he did it thanks to his position behind her. God, she was so much smarter than he was.

“Fuck, Zoe, talk some sense into Dahlia.”

“Dahlia. I know what you’re going through,” Zoe said, as Fear crept its inky appendage to wrap around the hilt of the spear. “I was needed to create chaos for eons. It was the only way I felt loved and accepted. But you deserve better than this! There are hundreds of wonderful traits to your name that you can make something out of yourself with. You don’t have to be-”

Zoe screamed. It sounded like the cry of seagulls and whales. Extremely pained, so much so, even Fear faltered.

“Zoe!” Oz screamed, “Zoe, what’s wrong?”

Dahlia skirted around their seats and smiled at Oz. “I cut off your girlfriend’s arm. If you try to escape before we kill Vicky, I’ll be cutting off more than just an arm. The next one is that big ol’ eye she's got.”

Oz never hated anyone before that moment. He glared at Vicky with vitriol that made his inky skin simmer.

"As soon as I'm out, I will make you wish you only had the LaVey to worry about, " Oz promised. "There's no coming back for you, Dahlia. I'm going to kill you."

Dahlia didn't reply. She only left them in the dark.

---

Vera and Vicky counted their winnings that afternoon. They took three hundred grand from the lab, and the kilos they took would have sold for another four hundred fifty grand. They were almost a million dollars richer. It was almost enough for Vicky to spend the rest of her life in retirement.

And Vicky stayed high. Vera gave her the coke out of her car. Vicky refused to come down.

To celebrate, Vicky took Vera and her suitor Amira, Liam, and her boyfriends out to party. She was only a quarter of the way through an expensive bottle of whiskey and as terribly as she danced, she felt like she ruled the dance floor, intoxicated by coke, booze, and the bass-heavy music that blasted from the speakers overhead. The way Damien and Brian sandwiched her, with their hands on her hips and in her hair, simply overjoyed Vicky. It was almost like she hadn't murdered someone hours ago.

When the bartender presented her with a three thousand dollar bottle of whiskey tied with a boy. Vera and Vicky were showered with confetti from party poppers as Liam took a photo.

Brian wrapped his arm around Vicky. He reached behind them for a glass and held them in place as Vicky poured generous servings for everyone.

"To the splendid duo!" Liam cheered. They toasted, and Vicky was surrounded by friends and loved ones. She hardly felt ill even as the image of their head falling onto her flashed before her eyes for a brief moment.

Vera was dragged into the dancefloor by Amira and Damien was off to create mayhem. Brian, Liam, and Vicky were left at the bar.

"It's a little weird celebrating robbery," Liam remarked. "Don't get me wrong, there's worse, but it is a little weird."

"It is. I shot two people today, and I killed at least one. I think this is Vera's way of trying to help me feel better." Vicky hopped up onto a stool and slowly sipped her whiskey. She felt Brian and Liam burn holes into her head with their eyes alone.

"Babe…" Brian mumbled, "are you okay?"

"I don't know."

"Vicky, take this seriously," Liam scolded her. "We're worried about you. You killed someone today. I mean, that in and of itself is super fucked up, but you're my friend so I'm willing to overlook the legal repercussions for your wellbeing."

Vicky felt sick. "I'm… processing it, I suppose. It's kind of surreal. Vera says I would've died if I didn't kill them, and she's absolutely right, but… I don't know. Killing someone is different than what I thought it would be like. It's dreamlike. Like I'm looking into a box replaying the whole thing."

Liam pensively took a drink. "It's definitely not what anyone expects."

"You say that like you've killed someone too," Brian said.

"I'm four hundred years old. Of course, I've killed a couple people." Liam brushed his hair back. "All I can really say is time dulls the feeling. You'll learn to cope."

Vicky thought she coped pretty well before Liam decided to pry into her business, but she kept that to herself. She took the whiskey bottle and Brian onto the dance floor instead. Damien jogged over to them. They drank and danced.

“You,” Damien teased as he impolitely pried her whiskey out of her hands, “are beautiful in this lighting.” He took an impressive swig, held her chin, and kissed her. Whiskey drowned her mouth like arousal drowned the junction between her legs.

“Fuck,” she groaned. She kissed Damien’s neck, and then Brian’s behind her. “Let’s go to the bathroom for a quickie,” she whispered.

Brian and Damien never protested as she dragged them into the handicap stall.

Damien shoved Vicky against the wall. He sunk to his knees and pushed her pants and underwear around her ankles. His tongue slipped between her legs. Brian held her by her neck and kissed her. He played with her breasts through her blouse, and clumsily, thanks to all the booze and coke in her system, she slipped his cock out and stroked him.

Brian proved needy, however. Not long into their foreplay, he grumbled for Damien to move, he pulled her shirt over her head and then kissed her when he tossed it onto the floor. She was perfectly content to allow him to ravage her. As he fumbled with her bra, she kissed him and help his biceps with her hands. He grabbed her by her wrists and held them above her head. With a giggle, Vicky wrapped her legs around his hips.

He slammed himself inside her. Vicky adored it. He wanted her so badly. She must have been so pretty in the fluorescent light, with the way he stared into her eyes and wordlessly grunted. He tucked his face into her shoulder. He gnawed on her bolts. Electricity coursed through him and it made him quiver inside of her.

“Please fuck me harder,” she pleaded, “I need it so badly.”

Brian pulled himself out. Vicky protested until she was flipped around and bent over. He reentered her and rode her furiously. When Vicky looked over her shoulder, Damien poked her mouth with the head of his cock. She happily swallowed him, albeit clumsily between her inebriation and Brian’s roughness making her whole frame shake like a house shook in an earthquake. They shook her entire world.

Brian became sloppy. Damien pulled him out and they switched positions. He backed her up so Brian could fit between her face and the wall. She pulled him into her mouth, so deep she choked. Nonetheless, she happily bobbed with Damien as much as she could. Brian stroked her hair. He groaned and not seconds later, he came into her throat. She must have been so pretty, the way he slipped down the wall as Damien finished her off. Cum dripped down her chin as she came with Damien. She gurgled. Her legs shook as she was filled and filled.

Damien pulled himself out of her pussy. Brian passed him a wad of toilet paper to wipe up the mess. Brian pushed himself to his feet and held Vicky.

A knock came from their stall door and Vicky yelped.

“If you guys are finished in there, I’d kind of like to have a dance with my business partner, " Vera said.

“Oh shit,” Damien grumbled.

"I'll be out in a second!" Vicky replied. The three of them fixed their clothes and Vicky tumbled out with a sheepish smile. Vera was as uncharmed as she was drunk.

“Come on, let’s get you some dignity back.”

“I better be your favorite slut, at least,” Vicky said. That made Vera laugh.

Vicky was pulled back onto the dance floor. Amira handed her a drink with Kahlua and orange bitters before they took her into their sweet, sapphic arms. Vicky loved having girls for friends.

“You were amazing today!” Vera said. “I can’t fucking believe how much we got!”

“I shot someone. The cops are gonna be on our ass if they don’t have friends.”

“Yeah, but they would've cut your throat if you didn't do something. I’m glad you’re okay, and you know I’ll help with anything if you get in trouble. A lawyer, maybe some assassinations if we can’t rig the trial.” Vera laid their foreheads together. “Vicky, you’re my best friend. You and I have done so much together. I want you in my life forever. I’ll never let anything happen to you.”

Vicky grinned. “Like sisters?”

“Like sisters, honey. Like I want to plan your wedding with you and all that gross, lovey-dovey shit.”

“I want that too. I want you in my life forever, Vera,” Vicky confessed. She hugged Vera as they swayed. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Crash and burn. But that’s not important because I’m here now. I’ll be here forever.”

“Me too,” Vicky said.

She felt okay. The sickness from her murder was still heavy, but Vera held her like family, and that was comforting.

[stanstraykidsstantalent]

Stray Kids as high schoolers

Woojin

Senior - Legit the only dude who takes Childhood Development, one of like the five guys in choir, student council, always putting up some kind of poster for something, calls all the teachers he hates by their first names behind their backs but kisses ass to them in class, gets pranked by underclassmen all the time but honestly doesn’t give a shit so he just shrugs it off, got roofied at homecoming junior year and Chan still won’t let him live it down, has his own car so he drives to and from school, somewhere along the way he becomes everyones chauffer, always up to date on school drama even if he’s not involved in it, doesn’t give pencils back after he borrows them, accidentally steals dry erase markers because he forgets he’s holding onto them, panics and shoves them into minho’s backpack when he’s not looking

Chan

Senior - does like three different sports, everyone knows him, even the freshmen, the one senior who actually doesn’t hate a particular class, biggest case of senioritis EVER, smart as fuck but doesn’t take any honors or AP classes because he’s stressed out 24/7 as is, that one dude always wearing his letterman jacket, always gets school lunch yet is somehow fit af, goes to parties but is always roped into being the designated driver, mama bird has pain pills and band-aids and Neosporin in his bag, people go to him before they go to the school nurse (because school nurses don’t know shit), brought a bag of candy to school one day and nearly lost his life fending it off from the swim team, will literally sprint after a kid with the intent to kill if he sees them naruto running in the halls

Minho

Junior - hates sophomores with a passion, randomly starts dancing in the middle of lunch to get people to give him food, twerked for some skittles once, literally always doing something for the school, whether it be helping with concessions or selling raffle tickets or fundraising, definition of been there done that got a t-shirt, “hey do you have a charger on you?”, every time he sees someone wearing neon he goes up to them and hands them a psych ward business card, goes to all the pep rallies but ends up sitting with the teachers and talking shit with them about the other team, best buds with all the deans assistants so he never gets stopped in the hallways, spends social studies class secretly looking at memes, sucks at making presentations

Changbin

Junior - passed out during dissections in freshman year bio and it’s forever his legacy, ripped jeans and band tee shirts every single day, sleeps in class and still manages to pass, tries too hard in gym, always has food on him, in contrast hE NEVER HAS A PENCIL, pretends to be illiterate so he doesn’t have to read in class, somehow still had to play juliet during the class reading of Romeo and Juliet, “Romeo, Romeo, where the fuck art thou Romeo” (Minho was Romeo), could probably deck a dean and still not get in trouble, all the freshies follow him around like chicks even though he’s the WORST ROLEMODEL EVER, one time woojin asked him for a second opinion on what he should do for a schoolday plan for childhood development, after that woojin didn’t talk to him for a week

Hyunjin

Sophomore - smuggles his dog into school once a semester, somehow never gets caught?????, snapchat king, always manages to document whatever crazy shit is happening in the hallways, has a youtube page for it, everyone follows it even the principal, everyone has a crush on him, everyone, is in like four AP classes and is always making jokes like “lol I wanna die” but actually enjoys the workload because he’s fuckin crazy, somehow has a really small backpack even though he has like a shit ton of stuff he needs to carry around, takes a full hour study instead of a lunch so he’s always swindling snacks off Changbin and sneaking food in the middle of class, has an infinite supply of granola bars in his gym locker

Jisung

Sophomore - a girl in his first hour once gave him a flower crown and he wore it the whole day, has a shit ton of aesthetic pics in his locker, like you open it up and there’s goals level pics with everyone, he doodles on the whiteboard, accidentally broke a basketball hoop during gym, manages to blow something up during all his chem labs, once ripped his pants in the middle of class and just fell to the floor and laughed his ass off, until the teacher told him he had to get clothes from his gym locker, literally sprinted down to gym in hopes that no one would see him, but then a deans assistant caught him and dragged him over to the office, the dean looked like he was gonna have an aneurysm

Felix

Sophomore - taught the principal how to dab and now he NEVER STOPS, if something doesn’t go well he just kinda shrugs, whips, then shimmies it the hell outta there before he can get in trouble, has broken more desks than you can count, no longer allowed near the art wing, naruto runs down the hall just to piss of chan, moved schools at the beginning of freshman year and the whole grade was SHOOK, recreates all the memes he can, tried to shove himself into a locker one time and got stuck, took a headfirst dive into a trash can once, and that’s how he made all his senior friends cause they were all like “same”, came back from spring break with dyed hair and earrings and this one girl legit started sobbing when she saw him

Seungmin

Sophomore - everyone thinks he’s an upperclassmen so he just acts like one, yells across the hallway if he sees someone he knows, is literally saying hi to someone every other second, popular kid but a nice popular kid, wore a one direction shirt for a prank once and now it’s a school wide meme, gets really into class games, another one of the choir kids, takes honors math classes and everyone thinks he’s insane for it, read somewhere you can blow up pottery in a kilm if you form it right, so he decided to sign up for a 3D media class just because for that, somehow ends up liking it and becoming one of the best students, he’s a literally always refilling his water bottle, never remembers his locker combo so he just pries the door open when he needs something

Jeongin

Freshman - had a huge glow up over winter break, no one recognized him when he came back, took one for the team and passed out during the pacer test so now the school doesn’t use it anymore, shy goofball, teacher makes him change seats? No problem, ten seconds in and they’re his best friends, takes the bus and hates every second of it so he hitches a ride with woojin when he can, the choir teacher hunted him down and bargained with him to make him join, roasts teachers behind their backs, has fallen down the stairs at least twice in one week, refers to the hallways as if they’re roads, has secret names for all the sections of the school, like the math wing is the “witches hut” and the foreign language section is “diddly darn squat”

[brianobrienny]

Top 100 Content Marketing Influencers and Brands

Every day, individuals and brands are creating and publishing as many as 27 million pieces of new content online. It’s no wonder that one of the biggest challenges content marketers face today is getting their content seen.

So what can your brand do to stand out and get a customer’s attention, and ultimately turn that engagement into sales for your business?

Onalytica asked ten of the influencers they’ve identified in their Top 100 Influencers and Brands to share their content marketing insights and top tips to help you improve your own content marketing efforts. Here’s mine:

Michael Brenner – CEO of Marketing Insider Group

“If I could ask brands and marketers to get one thing straight about content marketing it would be that “content” is not content marketing. An ebook or anything with the word “campaign” in it is not content marketing. Social media is not content marketing.

Content marketing works because the brand consistently publishes customer-centric content in order to reach, engage and convert buyers the brand would have never reached with more traditional (campaign-based) approaches. As a society we are searching for help online. And we are willing to engage with brand content that answers an important question.

We are all consuming more visual content. This will push brands to define strategies and to hire experts in the fields of design, photography, videography, data visualization, and visual storytelling. Finally, we’ll see much more Content Personalization. It’s tough to break through the noise. Brands will start to target content down to individual preferences, desires, and interests.”

What Other Content Marketing Influencers Are Saying

Joe Pulizzi – Founder of The Content Marketing Institute, Author of Content Inc., Speaker & Entrepreneur

“Content marketing is the fastest growing area of marketing for a reason – brands want attention and can’t get it without creating value “outside” the products and services they offer. It will be an interesting ride as more money moves from other sources into quality, targeted and consistent content.”

Mark Schaefer – College Educator, Marketing Consultant, and Author of Five Marketing Books including The Content Code

“We are clearly in a new phase of content marketing where great content is no longer the finish line, it is the starting line. The economic value of content that is not seen is zero. The content must move, it must be understood, and shared. Smart brands must develop a strategy around content ignition, as well as content creation.”

Steve Cartwright – Founder of FX Digital Pty Ltd, Digital Business Growth Expert

“Content is simply telling stories that attract and engage an audience and marketing is making that audience do something, together this is content marketing. Nowadays it’s much more important than ever, for every business to have a content marketing strategy. With such a strategy any business even one consisting of just one person can become an influencer within their niche, they can become an authority figure on social media, drive thousands of visitors to their website and best of all they can reap the rewards for years to come…. That’s the beauty of modern content marketing, I know, I’m an army of one.”

Rand Fishkin – Wizard of Moz, creator of Keyword Explorer, host of Whiteboard Friday, co-author of a pair of books on SEO, co-founder of Inbound.org, board member at Haiku Deck

Content is powerful. The right content, distributed the right ways, in front of the right eyeballs can build a business, spread a message, even change the world. But that reaching those right eyeballs is getting harder and harder, because in spite of the growth in content consumers, there’s a vastly greater growth rate in content creation and the noise saturating those distribution channels. For content creators, the message is clear — hitting the publish button on your amazing work is only the start of the process.

Sujan Patel – GM & Co-Founder of Web Profits, Co-Founder of ContentMarketer.io, Advisor at RealtyMogul

“Content Marketing is all about standing out from the crowd, USP and personalization. While these things are not new to the marketing world, they are just now starting to be applied to the world of content marketing. Standing out = content promotion, USP = adding a unique angle/hook & personalization = showing the reader a different journey/content based off interest. I personally am excited to see content marketers produce more promotable content that’s not the same old info and on a topic I actually care about! ”

Gerry Moran – Global Head of Social Media, Cognizant

“Storytelling is the future of content marketing. Successful brands and individuals will need to rise above the cacophony of discordant video, graphics and assorted posts to show they know how to deliver solutions — through storytelling. Each message needs to create an ‘a-ha’ moment. Each post will be required to teach. Each piece of content will connect the reader to the next step to solve for their personal challenge. Social media channels will change, hashtags and keywords will evolve, and video, graphics, and clever copywriting will always be the foundation of break-through messaging. However, the best brands, social sellers and individual will be able to mix up these ingredients to tell a story that attracts, engages and converts. Storytelling will help to simplify the complex and long buying cycles by passing on relevant content to increase conversion— which is the business impact we’re all looking for, right?”

Robert Rose – Chief Strategy Advisor for The Content Marketing Institute, Author, Speaker, Startup Advisor & Investor

“I’ve been in marketing for more than 25 years, and I truly think it’s one of the most exciting times in history to be a marketer. Traditional advertising is fundamentally evolving, direct marketing is becoming more complex, and the entire relationship with customers is shifting to creating differentiating experiential value. The ability we have, as marketers, to move beyond simply describing the value of our products and services, and into creating valuable content-driven experiences, adds an entirely new strategic purpose to our beloved practice. Let us not waste it.”

Jason A Miller – Former Global Content Marketing Leader at LinkedIn, Best Selling Author, Rock n Roll Photographer

“It’s never been a better time to be a content marketer. With the vast amount of data at our fingertips there’s really no question as to what content you should be creating for success. Once you lay that foundation then the fun begins with your content strategy: taking intelligent risks, pushing boundaries, and creating content so remarkable that it transcends a simple call to action. Playing it safe is so passé.”

Jeff Bullas – CEO at Jeffbullas.com Pty Ltd

“Behind the the simple 2 words…”content marketing” is a discipline that has become an art and a science. The art is the creative process of crafting of words, visuals, videos and audio that humans and brands use as the honeypot to attract traffic and build credibility and trust. The science is the technology that enables businesses to optimize and control their strategies at scale. This includes tools and and digital marketing automation platforms that are needed for managing the splintered media channels and networks that we are now confronted with. But many content marketers are not paying enough attention to the science of conversion and just banging out blog posts and hope they work in some way. All the traffic and the engagement from persistent content creation and marketing needs to be turned into real “ROI”. Leads and sales. Big brands often have the luxury and budget to just use content for brand awareness. But small and medium entrepreneurs need to focus much more on getting a return. If you don’t focus on that then the rest is just vanity metrics and noise”.

Mapping The Content Marketing Community

Onalytica was interested in finding out which content marketing influencers and brands were leading the discussion online. They analyzed over 410k tweets over the last twelve months, mentioning the keyword “content marketing,” and identified the top 100 most influential individuals and brand who were leading the conversation on Twitter.

Onalytica found that there was a very engaged community with discussions taken place between brands and individuals. Using their Influencer Relationship Management software (IRM), Onalytica has created the network map below, showing the #1 influencer Jeff Bullas at the center and the online conversations to and from the influencers in his network.

Top 100 Individuals

Here’s the list of the top 50 content marketing influencers Onalytica has identified, based on their analysis of all the individuals engaging on Twitter. To see the complete list, click on the download link below.

Download The Full Report

Rank Twitter Handle Name Company Influencer Score 1 @jeffbullas Jeff Bullas Jeffbullas.com 100 2 @jaybaer Jay Baer Convince & Convert 79.23 3 @JoePulizzi Joe Pulizzi Content Marketing Institute 73.99 4 @BrennerMichael Michael Brenner Marketing Insider Group 67.35 5 @neilpatel Neil Patel Crazy Egg & Hello Bar 67.24 6 @MarketingProfs Ann Handley MarketingProfs 67.1 7 @leeodden Lee Odden TopRank Marketing 56.95 8 @markwschaefer Mark Schaefer Schaefer Marketing Solutions 45.01 9 @FX_Digital Steve Cartwright FX Digital 42.29 10 @randfish Rand Fishkin Moz 40.11 11 @sujanpatel Sujan Patel Web Profits 40.08 12 @larrykim Larry Kim Wordstream 39.69 13 @GerryMoran Gerry Moran Cognizant 34.34 14 @heidicohen HeidiCohen Actionable Marketing Guide 32.4 15 @Robert_Rose Robert Rose Content Marketing Institute 31.7 16 @dougkessler Doug Kessler Velocity 30.22 17 @IanCleary Ian Cleary RazorSocial 29.45 18 @FeldmanCreative Barry Feldman FeldmanCreative 28.63 19 @NealSchaffer Neal Schaffer Maximize Your Social 28.52 20 @JasonMillerCA Jason A Miller Linkedin 28.37 21 @PamMktgNut Pam Moore Marketing Nutz 27.45 22 @Sam___Hurley Sam Hurley Optim-Eyez 27.2 23 @BrianHonigman Brian Honigman Honigman Media 26.76 24 @MariSmith Mari Smith marismith.com 25.61 25 @lieblink Rebecca Lieb rebeccalieb.com 25.49 26 @kimgarst Kim Garst Boom! Social 25.36 27 @PamDidner Pam Didner globalcontent.marketing 24.01 28 @seosmarty Ann Smarty myblogu.com 23.99 29 @stonetemple Eric Enge Stone Temple Consulting 23.66 30 @crestodina Andy Crestodina Orbit Media 21.69 31 @martinjonesaz Martin Jones Cox Communications 21.44 32 @RebekahRadice Rebekah Radice PostPlanner 21.34 33 @ArnieK Arnie Kuenn Vertical Measures 21.01 34 @GlenGilmore Glen Gilmore #SocBiz Gilmore Business Network 20.92 35 @TheSalesLion Marcus Sheridan The Sales Lion 20.6 36 @ducttape John Jantsch Duct Tape Marketing 20.51 37 @bryankramer Bryan Kramer PureMatter 20.22 38 @ShellyKramer Shelly Kramer v3b 20.21 39 @TedRubin Ted Rubin GoodXChange 19.37 40 @JuntaeDeLane Juntae DeLane University of Southern California 18.96 41 @DholakiyaPratik Pratik Dholakiya E2M 18.86 42 @ardath421 Ardath Albee Marketing Interactions 18.8 43 @Steveology Steve Farnsworth The @Steveology Group 18.8 44 @Mike_Stelzner Michael A. Stelzner Social Media Examiner 17.49 45 @DrewDavisHere Andrew Davis akadrewdavis.com 17.34 46 @danielnewmanUV Daniel Newman Broadsuite & V2B 17.17 47 @dannysullivan Danny Sullivan MarketingLand 17.1 48 @ChadPollitt Chad Pollitt Relevance 17.08 49 @jasoncreation Jason Burrows The Creation Agency 17.03 50 @jeffsheehan Jeff Sheehan Sheehan Marketing Strategies 16.98

Top 100 Brands

Onalytica was also interested in finding out which brands were the most influential in content marketing, and below you’ll find the top 50. Download the full report to see which other brands made the top 100 list this year.

Rank Twitter Handle Name Influencer Score 1 @CMIContent Content Marketing 100 2 @HubSpot HubSpot 84.25 3 @Inc Inc. 77.09 4 @Moz Moz 72.36 5 @newscred NewsCred 71.63 6 @B2Community Business 2 Community 67.55 7 @hootsuite Hootsuite 64.83 8 @copyblogger Copyblogger 62.48 9 @SlideShare LinkedIn SlideShare 61.86 10 @Entrepreneur Entrepreneur 61.34 11 @toprank TopRankMarketing.com 55.06 12 @socialmedia2day Social Media Today 54.35 13 @contently Contently 51.2 14 @Kissmetrics Kissmetrics 49.52 15 @Econsultancy Econsultancy 45.63 16 @Marketingland Marketing Land 45.49 17 @marketo Marketo 42.12 18 @SMExaminer SocialMedia Examiner 41.26 19 @curata Curata 36.14 20 @sejournal SearchEngineJournal® 35.04 21 @semrush SEMrush 34.48 22 @sewatch Search Engine Watch 34.19 23 @eMarketer eMarketer 32.65 24 @adexchanger AdExchanger 31.36 25 @kapost Kapost 28.92 26 @googleanalytics Google Analytics 28.91 27 @Uberflip Uberflip 27.99 28 @sengineland Search Engine Land 26.89 29 @LinkedInMktg LinkedIn Marketing 26.8 30 @ClickZ ClickZ 26.74 31 @Adweek Adweek 26.37 32 @addthis AddThis 26.36 33 @CoSchedule CoSchedule 25.33 34 @MarketingUK Campaign: Brands 24.69 35 @Visually Visually 24.5 36 @BuzzSumo BuzzSumo 23.98 37 @unbounce Unbounce 23.84 38 @mashsocialmedia Mashable SocialMedia 23.28 39 @GrowthHackers GrowthHackers 22.78 40 @Outbrain Outbrain 22.05 41 @scoopit Scoop.it 21.62 42 @Crowdfire Crowdfire 21.27 43 @convince Convince & Convert 20.24 44 @Skyword Skyword 20.22 45 @PRDaily PR Daily 19.68 46 @CMO_com CMO.com 19.1 47 @TrackMaven TrackMaven 19.1 48 @TheSocialMs The Social Marketers 17.88 49 @relevance Relevance 17.56 50 @cmswire CMSWire.com 17.23

I hope you found the top content marketing influencers report helpful?

Are you interested in engaging and converting new customers for your business? Contact me here and let’s talk about how we can help. Or follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and if you like what you see, Subscribe here for regular updates.

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[hiddensecrets222]

12/31/19

What a crazy holiday season it’s been this year!!! I’ve been crazy busy at work, which has brought in some great paychecks, and I somehow have had the energy to get the entire apartment clean on top of work and everything. The last few weeks my memory has been shit, so I had to come up with a new way to keep track of everything I need to do. I ended up putting a whiteboard on my wall; a small one from target, I bought it earlier in the year, but it didn’t end up working out the way I thought it would. It’s been really helpful in more ways than I thought it would be. For example, my husband is really bad about forgetting to do the things I ask him to do, like take the trash out, but with the board I just write him a list of things I need him to do that day and I just remind him to check the board! So far, he’s done everything I’ve written down for him to do! 

I feel like things are going really well lately... My family has a Christmas tradition, we’re we drive around and look at Christmas lights. We call it light sailing. This year, we stopped to get gas before heading out to the nearby neighborhood that has the best Christmas decorations and someone paid for our gas! A whole tank of gas!! 

Just now I sat down at my desk to get on the computer and I found a pack of fruit gushers just sitting on my computer. A normal person would probably think my kids put them there, but I check their backpacks everytime they come home and they haven’t had any and the last time we bought fruit gushers was at the beginning of the year and I’ve cleaned several times since then and we’ve changed furniture.... soooo..... yeah, I have no idea where these gummies came from! You’re probably going to think I’m crazy, but I feel like they came from a ghost.... I haven’t talked about this on this tumblr, but I believe in ghosts and believe that there is a ghost in my apartment. I believe it’s a child, but I’m always weary of things so I’m not trying to communicate with it or anything. I also believe that my grandmother, who passed away a year ago in October, visits me. Who I think put the gummies on my computer, I don’t know, but I do think it was one of the two. 

I haven’t talked about my beliefs and practices on here for various reasons, and I’m not going into detail for why I don’t talk about it. Things will come up as needed.... ANYWAY, I have a tarot deck. I don’t use it much, it doesn’t like to answer questions I ask for myself. I don’t know if maybe I’m not asking the right questions, but usually I feel like it just tells me, “things will happen when they happen”. When I’m asking for OTHER people, however, it goes into excruciating detail of what direction their life if going and what they need to do to keep it that way, or change it if they can. Unfortunately, I don’t get a lot of people who want readings, so my cards just stay on my desk and I get a since that it wants to be left alone. Tonight, whoever, I get the urge to pull a card for reflection on the upcoming New Year. As I was shuffling the Death card kept popping up in my head and, I bet you guessed it, I drew the death card. 

The Death card doesn’t scare me, it’s a card to tell you to shut the door on your past and let new doors open. It’s a seemingly perfect card for the New Year, but I have a dilemma.... Did I draw this card because I kept thinking about it? I decided to draw a second card for clarification and I got temperance reversed, which is an invitation to restore balance or a warning for over indulgence. Both make sense to me. If a tarot expert is reading this, can you tell me if thinking about a particular card can cause it to be drawn? 

To anyone reading this, I hope you have a wonderful 2020!! Happy New Year!!! 

RvL