#Also technically Carrie’s name is Carlisle

[vineboom-sfx]

I love my ocs so much, I adore that these two are siblings

Extra but I also drew all the BUGS in SD&GN (Malcom and Carrie’s story) because it benefited me.

[averagewriter-inthedark]

The Ship Of Dreams 🚢 | Twilight Imagine

Set during the events between New Moon and Eclipse & after Breading Dawn Part 2

Twilight Masterlist

Characters & Pairings: Cullen!reader (female), Bella Swan-Cullen (platonic), Edward Cullen (adoptive ‘twin’ brother), the Cullen family (platonic/adoptive family), family OC!s, Alex Mason!oc (past romance)

Content Warnings: major angst, smoking, details of historical event disaster, profanity, descriptions of stalking and death | female!reader (she/her) | wc: 9.4k

Requested 📨 yes/no (rules for requests)

Premise: Bella Swan always wondered what the story was of her vampire boyfriend’s so called ‘twin’ sister. Quiet and reserved, she had a mysterious aura to her, and what many would describe as a lady lost in time. Though she appeared no older than the age of 17, Y/n Cullen had eyes that saw a multitude of lives. Though in April 2006, the anniversary of a fateful night, finally reveals the truth behind the ‘youngest’ Cullen’s history with the Ship of Dreams.

Note: I had this Twilight x Titanic work in the making for two years 💀😭 back when I visited the Titanic Museum in 2023! I had done the TGM x Titanic AU and immediately started working on this but then, as usual, I got hyperfixated on other things and pushed this to the back burner...but anyway hope y'all like this! ❤️ also I cried writing the hospital scene. I mean I literally had to pause and gather myself at times while writing it because I was making myself so sad.

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April 2006

In the year since becoming involved with Edward Cullen and learning of the secret he and his family share, Bella had yet to uncover the story of his ‘twin’ by name and nature, Y/n.

Calling them twins was a far reach. Sure they had the same golden eyes and inhumanly beautiful physique, but that was it. Unlike Rosalie and Jasper who were blonde and could easily pass as twin siblings, Y/n and Edward appeared nothing alike save for the tiny detail they shared the same birthday of June 20th and were both turned at the age of 17. But whereas Edward was born in the year 1901, Y/n’s was 1895–the same year Esme was born. 

Bella only learned this by doing the math, after Edward let it slip Y/n was technically six years older than him. 

Like Alice and Jasper, Y/n had not been turned by Carlisle but, to Bella’s surprise, was the first to join his coven. Well before Edward came into the picture. When asked about this, following Edward’s explanation of Carlisle’s origin to her the night she visited his home for the first time, Edward plainly stated with a look she couldn’t decipher, “You’d have to ask her, it’s not my story to tell.”

But Bella never could bring herself to ask. Y/n’s exterior was as cold as Rosalie’s. Guarded and reserved. Quiet to the point she hardly added input during times the Cullen’s faced conflict. Always glued to a corner, hidden from the shadows. One glare was enough to send goosebumps along Bella’s arm. Understanding it’d be better to either not know Y/n’s story all together or silently hope one of the Cullen’s would tell her. Since it was obvious the vampire was going to keep her secrets to herself. 

Well….she was hoping to. 

“We can’t watch it here,” Edward’s voice was serious. More serious than ever, causing confusion to etch Bella’s face, taking the DVD case from Edward with a frown. It was a movie she’d seen a handful of times, a classic and one she thoroughly enjoyed whenever it played on TV. The only reason she was suggesting it now for their weekly movie night was for an assignment her history teacher gave on the historical event it was based on considering the upcoming anniversary was the following week.

“Don’t tell me you don’t have a DVD player.”

“I do,” he rolls his eyes, yet still carries the serious strain of his tone “but we can’t watch that here. We’ll go to your place.”

Her frown deepened, a little annoyed with the vampire changing their plans considering she drove all the way out to his. “I don’t understand, Edward….why is it so much of a big deal to watch Titanic here.” 

Lightening fast, Edward held a hand up, freezing the two in their places while Bella watched him turn his head to face the open doorway. Tilting it slightly as though to strain his hearing. When it appeared whatever coast was clear, he let out a breath of relief before facing her again, noting her visible confusion. “I’ll explain everything once we get to your house. I promise just…” he pleads with his eyes, gently taking the DVD once again to tap at the title Titanic with his finger, “don’t mention this when we’re here or in front of my family.”

The entire drive was quiet. Save for the soft remedy of the radio. The music gave Bella the distraction she needed to not say anything about what took place in Edward’s bedroom until they reached her house. All the while she replayed the moment in her head, followed by how eerie the Cullen house became right after the famous ship’s name spilled from her lips.

Titanic.

“You wanna tell me what that was about?” She did not hesitate the second they entered, hanging her coat on the hanger and moving past him to set up the DVD player. She heard his sigh, igniting her annoyance, “you promised me an explanation.”

She felt his presence behind her, then a second later Edward kneeled to her level and took the DVD once more.

“You once asked me about Y/n,” he began, eyes lowered to the ground, “What her story was and how she was the first to join Carlisle” Gold met brown, his gaze shifting upward, while holding the disk cover up. “This isn’t just a movie, Bella. Not to her.” Heart pounding, Bella felt the air catch in her throat, realizing his implication. 

It’s her life.

“You’re saying…” She glanced at the cover. The iconic image of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as Jack and Rose. The love story that ended in tragedy. Bella’s heart skipped at Edward’s nod.

“She lived it.” The air caught in Bella’s throat as the words left his mouth. “Y/n was on Titanic the night it sank--where she was turned by a vampire who wanted access to her family’s fortune.” 

“Family’s fortune?” Bella was processing multiple things at once. 

She was getting Y/n’s backstory she’d been curious about for over a year. 

The vampire was aboard the famous ship which sank nearly a century prior.

Y/n apparently came from a wealthy family. 

It was a lot to take in. 

Edward placed the disk in the compartment, pressing the button to turn on the tv. “Her family were first-class passengers.” He began to explain, “Her father was the co-owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers and her mother was the daughter of a wealthy banker who happened to be a popular socialite among their class. Y/n was privately educated, and set to study literature at NYU.”

“Wow,” Bella exhaled, taking in the information. The screen had projected the main menu but neither were focused on it. 

Discovering Y/n wanted to pursue literature was no surprise. From the massive book collection in the Cullen’s library which Edward said belonged to her, to the phenomenal school papers Bella had read in their English class during their peer review sessions, she knew Y/n was a gifted writer and storyteller. She made the simplest of words feel powerful. Brought scenes to life in the reader’s mind. 

Then there was the tiny detail that Edward made a comment months back saying Y/n had published several books under pseudonyms.

He won’t admit it, but Bella’s fairly certain Y/n wrote one of the books on their summer reading list. The suspicion formed when she caught him sending his sister a knowing look after the sheet was passed out. When she looked at Y/n, Bella noticed her amused smirk, followed by a chuckle as she winked at her brother. 

“I-I don’t--,” she had trouble putting the words together, flushing red. “I can’t imagine….”

Edward nodded, understanding what she was trying to say. “Talking about our past is hard for all of us. But for Y/n, it doesn’t help that every history class talks about it.” He lifts up the DVD cover, “or that Hollywood continues to make shows and movies.” 

Bella wanted to ask more questions but understood it wasn’t the time. She knew if she wanted more information, she was going to have to gather the courage to ask Y/n herself. A task easier said than done when the vampire had barely warmed up to the human since implanting herself in their lives. 

They settled on the couch and pressed play, but Bella’s attention was far from the film. Her mind drifted to Y/n. Thinking about her as each scene played out to the point Bella started to picture Y/n in Rose’s place. It brought chills to her arms, shuddering as she couldn’t help but wonder what it was like in those final moments as the ship sank. 

When the movie ended, Bella said goodbye to Edward and began her assignment. Again, she was distracted. Feeling off as she searched online for sources about Titanic and watched video clips of survivors. 

Eventually, after contemplating for over an hour, Bella picked up the phone off the receiver and dialed the number. It rang three times before the familiar voice with a slight transatlantic accent spoke through. 

“I’ve been waiting for your call.” 

Bella silently cursed, face and neck turning red as she cleared her throat before replying, “Can you come over? I’d like to talk to you.” 

20 minutes later, Bella and Y/n sat across from each other in her kitchen. Notebook in front of her, cup of juice on the table and pencil in hand while Y/n’s were folded in her lap. To Bella’s surprise, the vampire knew exactly why she had called her, for Alice had seen it that morning and warned Y/n. 

‘So much for easing my way into this,’ Bella thought to herself. 

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” She nervously said, fiddling with the pencil in her hand. Y/n gave her a soft smile in hopes of easing the poor girl.

“Bella, if I didn’t want to do this I would have said so over the phone.” 

“I know but…” she cringes slightly, more embarrassed with herself than anything. “This is your history. And I feel like I invaded your privacy by making Edward tell me why we couldn’t watch the film at your house.”

“You didn’t make him tell you anything,” Y/n’s words shocked her, Bella tilting her head in confusion. “Edward made a promise, and you were ensuring he lived up to it. I can understand given the way he behaved and made you clueless as to what the issue was. Granted,” Y/n paused, shuffling in her seat, “I would have rather you simply came to me, but I realize my part in why you refrained all these months since you got together.” 

‘Avoiding you like the plague,’ as one would say.

Y/n put her folded hands on the table, nodding to the notebook. “How would you like to start?” 

Bella straightened in her chair, bringing the notebook closer as she opened it to remove the paper listing the assignment. She skimmed over it, brows pinched, “Um, it says I have the option to write an essay on media--documentaries, movies, tv specials--about the event. Research and write a biographical report on a famous passenger. Or….” her teeth sunk into her bottom lip, peering at Y/n over the paper. “Interview a survivor.” 

Y/n hummed, elbows propped on the table to rest her chin on her folded hands. “And which option are you leaning toward?” 

A frown made its way on Bella’s face, shrugging lightly as she placed the sheet back down. “Honestly I’m not sure. I’ve watched the movie and a couple documentaries. Read a memoir from a survivor and searched about a few passengers on the internet.”

“Well my advice,” Y/n mused, shifting her arms down so they were crossed but still leaning on the table. “Options one and two are your best bet. Unfortunately the last remaining survivor, besides myself,” she paused briefly with a strained smile, “lives all the way in England. She’s I believe 94, and was only two months old when she was aboard. Frankly I do not understand why our teacher would have that option on the assignment.” Leaning back in her chair she let out a sigh before giving the girl a knowing look. “But Bella, you and I both know you don’t really need my help on this assignment.”

Heat rushed to her cheeks, making Bella’s pale face turn red as a tomato. Of course Y/n wasn’t going to buy her excuse of helping with homework. And there was no point in denying it. “I’m sorry. I didn’t really know how to approach the subject.” 

“You could’ve just asked,” Y/n teased, but waved a hand dismissively and huffed. “Again. I’m to blame for why you didn’t.” Straightening her already perfect posture, Y/n tugged at the sleeve of her turtleneck and got serious. Taking a moment before speaking as though she were preparing herself. “You want to know my story and I’ll tell you, but you have to understand that it is not like how you see in the movies. My experience,” a faint look reached her eyes. “Was very different.”

Bella swallowed thickly, closing her notebook and pushing it away. Giving Y/n her full attention. “I understand.”

“What all did Edward tell you?”

“That you were on the Titanic when it sank. Your family came from wealth, and you were targeted by a vampire who snuck on who wanted access to that.” Bella saw the way Y/n’s breath hitched, stiffening but quickly recovered herself. Making the girl mentally curse herself for possibly overstepping. 

“Okay. That at least gives me some insight on where to begin.” Clearing her throat, Y/n reached into her satchel and removed a silver metal tin. It was in great condition despite evidently being from the 1910s. “Do you mind?” 

The question confused Bella, who didn’t know how to respond until her gaze landed on the now open tin, revealing five pristine cigarettes on either side. “Oh,” her eyes widened in surprise. Not sure how to respond since this was new information to her. Instantly questions popped in her mind. ‘Can vampires even smoke?’ ‘Does anyone else in the Cullens smoke?’ ‘How does that work?’ 

Bella shrugged, “my dad smokes cigars in the living room at times. And my step-dad is a smoker so I don’t mind, help yourself. Whatever makes you comfortable.”

“Thanks,” Y/n plucked one from the tin, placing it between her lips before looking in her bag again to fish for her lighter. “You know, it pleases me that there are still some cigarettes from my time available. These are Camels,” she gestured at them with one hand while the other pulled out the lighter. It matched the tin. Silver, vintage, and in pristine condition. “I preferred Fatima’s back then, but these will have to do. I hate Malboro’s,” her thumb flicked the lighter open, the flame igniting. 

“Never tried them,” Bella commented with a small smile. Frankly she was quite stunned with how Y/n was speaking to her as though they had been friends for decades. Just telling her the favorite cigarettes she used to smoke gave a little insight into her past. 

Bella pictured the young woman on the terrace of a New York cafe, cigarette in hand with a martini in the other while gossiping to her friends of the latest scandals within their socialite circle. Pearls around her neck, diamonds on her ears. Standing in the powder room with said friends to reapply her rough lipstick and adjust whatever pillbox hat she chose to wear that day. 

Thinking of what Y/n’s life might have been before becoming a vampire saddened Bella. The possibilities, the opportunities. Would she have married and have children? Would she have gone on to do great things? 

“It doesn’t do anything to me, obviously.” Y/n explained, bringing the flame to the filter. The glow of it made her golden eyes brighten in color. Once lit, she flicked the lighter off and tossed it and the tin back into her satchel. Bella stared at Y/n with fascination as she inhaled deeply before tilting her head back to blow out a thick cloud of smoke. “But it makes me feel….human. I used to do it so much that having one in my hand became second nature. It was common for the times. Plus the taste of it reminds me of bitter coffee,” That distant look in her eyes returned, but was then replaced by annoyance, “Carlisle hates it--as does Esme but they tolerate it so long I do it on the terrace. Emmett and Rosalie will indulge me by partaking to get under their skin,” a light chuckle leaves her lips, taking another drag. “The others say nothing. As I said, it doesn’t affect us.”

Bella laughed under breath, “Honestly I can’t see Edward smoking.” Picturing it felt foreign, and Bella wondered if he had before turning. 

Y/n laughed with her. “I’ve tried tempting him, but he never breaks. Still tries to use the excuse that it is a bad habit.” Y/n scoffs, “believe me, I know. He just hates the smell of it--enhanced senses to blame for that.” Blowing smoke out, Y/n finished with, “Alright, enough of my bad habit.”

Y/n began to take Bella back to April 10th, 1912. To the day she and her family boarded Titanic to set sail to New York from Southampton, England. “Before they were the Los Angeles Dodgers, they were the Brooklyn Dodgers. And before that, they were the Brooklyn Superbas. My father co-founded and owned the team in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays prior to all the name changes and eventual move. His father,” she took out a small antique ashtray from the satchel, tapping off the ash from the filter. “had accumulated wealth after hitting big during the Gold Rush. My father then used his part of the inheritance to go into business with Charles Byrne, Joseph Doyle, and Ferdinand Abell.”

Now it made sense for Bella why whenever the Cullen’s played baseball Y/n sported Dodger merchandise and would find her watching the team play on T.V during the season. She also was a fan of the Brooklyn Mets, but not as enthusiastic as she was with the Dodgers. Not to mention the intense rivalry with Edward for his love of the Chicago Cubs. 

“Now you know how my family’s fortune came to be,” Y/n waved the smoke she released away, “and as you can imagine, he was friends with some very rich, influential people in New York. The whole reason we were in England to begin with was to attend the wedding of one of those people. As for Titanic,” she swallowed the imaginary bile in her throat. “He wanted to have the ability to tell everyone that he and his family were amongst the ship's first passengers. To brag or whatever--I don’t really know. But it happened that the wedding took place around the time she was set to set sail to New York. Extending our trip to last three weeks instead of the two we planned. All because he managed to snag the tickets by talking to the right people at the right time…..”

“I do not understand why we couldn’t have left on the Lusitania last week,” Y/n complained as the car neared the boarding docks. Trying to peer out the window but was annoyed by the crowd of people taking up every inch of the pavements, making their journey last longer than planned. “We’ve taken the liner twice now--surely it would have been up to satisfaction. We’ve had no trouble traveling on it--why go through the hassle of staying a whole week longer just to be on this ship, father?”

Not looking up from the newspaper in his hands, Y/n’s father sighed and shook his head. Irritated by her complaining as she had yet to stop since he told her the news. “Because, daughter, this is no ordinary ship. The White Star Line has spent years crafting the perfect vessel for the sea and we are in an extraordinary position to be able to be amongst the first passengers aboard. How could you not be excited by that?”

Y/n secured her coat tighter around her shoulders, frowning while keeping her gaze on the scene outside. “Forgive me for not being comfortable at boarding a ship that is set to make its first voyage across the Atlantic.” 

“Oh for heaven’s sake, Y/n. There is no need to be dramatic and consume yourself with worry. The White Star Line has assured Titanic passed every safety precaution and is unsinkable.” 

That did nothing to lift her unease, “Is that not what they said about the Tayleur? It sank three days into its maiden voyage?!” Her father grumbled, closing his paper to fold and place in his lap. 

“That was over fifty years ago. Times have changed. Technology has changed.” His hand waved dismissively, “That ship was doomed from the start despite what the papers make of it. Look, it would be foolish of them to not have learned from their mistakes. I’m telling you there is nothing to worry about.”

“But that feeling never left me,” Y/n put out the cigarette, blowing out the last bit of smoke. “Even after meeting the crew and the captain, there was an odd heaviness in my stomach. Telling me that something would happen. No matter what I did to distract myself--whether that be playing cards or chatting with other young girls my age aboard, thinking about my fiancé back in New York….it never left my mind.” 

Bella let out a gasp, eyes widening at the revelation, “Fiancé?” At the vampire’s nod, Bella felt her heartbreak. 

“Alexander Mason,” there was an airiness when Y/n exhaled, reminiscing at the memory of her lost love. “His father was a real estate mogul and big fan of the Dodgers. Our fathers met at a banquet, not long after they were invited to watch a game from our private viewing box and introduced us. Alex was a doll,” Another cigarette was lit, the woman shifting in her chair. “Handsome, intelligent. Beautiful eyes you could get lost in. Had a sharp tongue but a quick wit. I honestly wanted nothing to do with him,” Y/n chuckled at Bella’s gaped expression. “He talked my ear off that night.”

“And that was a bad thing?” Bella giggled.

“No,” Y/n defended, her own smile threatening to peek through. “It’s not a bad thing. It was just….odd. Took me off guard--especially because the conversation was centered around me. Which--,” her finger not holding the cigarette lifted up for emphasis, “most men in the 1900s of that class were not interested in the hobbies and interests of women. They desired a wife who would be a shiny doll to hang off their arm and keep the house in order.” The cigarette went between her lips. 

“I was not like that. I had dreams. Aspirations. I wanted to go to school, become a writer, and maybe see a little of the world before settling down.” The small, albeit sad, smile appeared. “He supported me--encouraged it actually. Then after several dates I was smitten. Alex was the first man to whisk me off my feet and make me believe there were truly good people out there. He was so sweet. So kind. Loving.” If her heart could beat, Y/n was sure it would have died on its own from being broken. “I knew I’d never find another like him. Which is why I said yes to marrying him after four months of courting. Under the condition we’d wait until I completed university--we were seventeen after all and the idea of marrying that young, despite it being common, unnerved me.”

“And he was okay with that?”

“He was. He agreed that it was too soon to get married, but he told me he’d rather refer to me as his fiancée than telling people we were going steady.” It was then Y/n peered down at her left hand. Bella followed her gaze, landing on the dainty diamond ring on the finger reserved for when one commits their life and love for another person until death do them part. Realizing what the ring was, and seeing how she never saw Y/n without it, Bella felt her eyes water. 

“Is that…?”

“Yes.”

“It’s beautiful,” it truly was. Timeless and the type of ring that belonged on display in an antique museum. It suited Y/n.  

“Thank you,” she beamed, lifting her hand up to inspect it. “His words when he proposed was he saw the ring and it reminded him of the way my eyes sparkled when I laughed.” Y/n tightened her lips, emotion flooding her. “Little did he know the only time I genuinely laughed was with him. He was the reason for that sparkle.” 

A pregnant pause fell over the two. Y/n shuddering as she blinked away the tears that would never fall. God if there was one thing from her human days she wished she still had, it was the ability to cry. 

“What happened to him? If you don’t mind me asking,” Bella’s tone was gentle, hand nudging slightly forward as if to offer Y/n comfort. 

“He lived a long life,” Y/n resumed smoking, though the sadness never left her tone and her gaze remained on her ring. “I watched over him for many years--even after joining Carlisle. He can attest to the weekends I’d go missing and return with a tortured presence.” The heaviness in her chest heightened, she quickly reverted the story back to Titanic knowing at some point Bella would ask more about her relationship. 

“Anyways, we boarded Titanic the morning of April tenth and I kept to myself most of the time. If I wasn’t in my suite, I read in the lounge or sat on the deck drinking tea. Played cards with wives and daughters in first class. Chatted with the crew whenever I had questions.” Y/n inhaled sharply, eyes turning narrow. “It wasn’t just the ship I was worried about--Twas the main reason for my anxiety, yes, but there was a sense that I was being watched. You know the feeling?”

Bella nodded, heat rising to her pale cheeks as she thought back to the first weeks she lived in Forks and first met Edward. Even when she could not physically see him, the feeling she was being watched hovered over her. Then of course the incident with James, and now with Victoria still out there, Bella kept looking over her shoulder believing she’d catch a glimpse of red hair. “I know it quite well.” 

“Then you know it brings the hairs on the back of your neck up,” Y/n snarls, clutching her fists together. “And it is frustrating because you feel as though you are going crazy scanning your surroundings every second hoping to find the one responsible.” Unclenching she shook her head and took a deep drag of the cigarette. Letting the nicotine, a placebo to her, linger in her system before releasing. “The entire time on that ship I knew I was being watched. On the deck--in the lounge--in the ballroom, God, on my way to the powder room, I felt like a deer being hunted. My father dismissed my concerns, naturally, because I had no evidence of this faceless individual stalking me aboard. My mother, God rest her soul, at least listened and advised me to not wander on my own after nightfall.” 

“I’m assuming this faceless individual is the vampire who…” Bella trailed off nervously, her suspicions confirmed by the firm nod she received. “Who was he?” This time she got a scoff.

“To this day I’m unsure if the name he gave me was in fact his real one. Hours prior to the sinking he introduced himself to me--Called himself Arthur Deveroux. Said he was an investment broker out of London.” The sneer returned on her visage. “And that he was on his way to New York to do business with Rockerfeller. I’d never heard of him, and to this day the name Arthur Deveroux is not on the list of first class passengers aboard Titanic. He was a stowaway,” Y/n explained with a grimace. “Snuck on minutes before the ship departed Southampton and imposed as a member of London’s elite. In reality, Arthur--or whatever his true name was--was a man who’s greatest power was the ability to deceive.”

A chill ran down Bella’s spine. Enough to make her shift in her seat. It wasn’t hard to picture the kind of man Arthur was based on the fury laced in the vampire’s tone. And as Y/n relayed the story of the night she met her creator, Bella felt as though she were there with her. 

“What did you say your name was again?” Y/n’s brows pinched, observing the man with skepticism as she removed her hand from his after he’d taken it to kiss her knuckles. Just before he approached her at the table where she had been retrieving a plate of custard for her mother, that inkling of being watched had pooled in her stomach. Sending off alarm bells when she turned to find a beautiful man appearing not much older than her with the most unusual eye color. 

Red. Deep like the rouge lipstick she wore. The sight of them made her take a cautious step back. 

“Arthur Deveroux, madam.” Never had she heard a voice like him. Smooth and echoey. Unique and the type one would hear singing on the radio. Or beckoning prey out to sea. 

“Arthur,” Y/n repeated, scanning his physique which was donned in a crisp suit. Matching the men around them present for dinner. “You’re from England I assume? What brings you to New York?”

“Business. My company hopes to collaborate with Mr. Rockerfeller.”

“Fascinating,” she wasn’t really. Many men attempted to get their hooks into the millionaire and turned up short. Y/n thanked the waiter handing her a martini, taking a sip while eyeing Arthur, who declined the waiter’s offer of making him a drink. “How come I have not seen you before tonight, Mr. Deveroux? Are you not one to mingle?”

His chuckle sounded like wind chimes. “I’m afraid not. I tend to stick to the walls during these gatherings and observe. The people here are far too ostentatious for my liking.” If he’d been anyone else Y/n would laugh. Agreeing with the statement. But something about Arthur screamed that he was hiding something.

“Well, do enjoy yourself these last days Mr. Deveroux.” She began to excuse herself, sneaking a glance to her table to find her parents watching the scene. “I hope New York is up to your standards.” 

The smirk that appeared sent goosebumps along Y/n’s arm. And not the good kind she’d get when Alex looked at her. Everything about the expression was eerie. As though Arthur was calculating an idea--and Y/n was at the center of it.

“I believe you might be right, Y/n. I think New York is going to be everything I envisioned.” Taking her hand once more, Arthur’s smirk never left as he felt her shudder at the touch. Cold lips pressing to her knuckles. “Perhaps we’ll see each other there.” Before she had the chance to reply, Arthur backed away slowly then turned on his heel. Striding toward the exit amongst a sea of guests, and Y/n let out the sigh of relief she’d been holding. 

When he disappeared from her view, Y/n realized she’d never given him her name.

As it came time to recall the final minutes of her humanity, Y/n was on her fourth cigarette and the golden color of her eyes had dimmed. Bella’s heart skipped and she swore to herself knowing Y/n heard it. The last thing she wanted was to dishearten the young woman further. 

“I’d got separated from my parents during the initial chaos,” her voice was barely over a murmur. Gaze fixated on the surface of the table. “Titanic had just struck the iceberg and the impact woke me up. My parents went to the deck for information and I was trying to find them when I was suddenly pulled into a storage closet by a force so strong I remember it knocking me off my feet. Dragging me into the darkness. I couldn’t see and the grip on me prevented me from moving--I let out a scream but then a hand covered my mouth causing me to freeze. That’s when I heard his voice.”

“I’m sorry it had to be this way, Y/n.” his icy mouth caressed the side of her ear. Y/n whimpered against the rock solid hand holding her still. “I’d hoped to continue our conversation in New York, but it appears this ship will not be arriving. Now I have to improvise, but rest assured….this will only hurt for a little while.” And before Y/n could react, a pinch on her neck turned to a searing, excruciating pain that exploded in every cell in her body as Arthur sank his teeth into her skin. 

Ensuring Y/n L/n was listed among those lost at sea when Titanic greeted the bottom of the Atlantic on the early morning of April 15th, 1912. Her name missing from the list of survivors recovered on the RMS Carpathia. To the world, the beautiful young socialite died along with the thousands Titanic took with her. Never knowing she was reborn into a creature of the night, destined to walk the Earth for eternity as a living reminder of the ship of dreams that was believed to never meet her end. 

“By the time I awoke Titanic was all but a memory. A blur. He kept me in that closet for most of the transformation as the ship took on water. Slowly descending further and further into the icy waters of the Atlantic,” Y/n finished the last of her cigarette, putting the nub out and curling her hands into her elbows. “I heard everything. The screams. The cries. Women and children saying goodbye to their fathers. The violins from the band who refused to stop playing.” The melody filled her ears, bringing Y/n back in time. “I focused on the music. Ironically enough, it brought comfort despite the chaos unfolding and served as a distraction for the torment I was going through. Mentally and physically.”

Bella wiped away a tear with a sniff but she remained quiet.

“When the upper deck flooded, that's when Arthur moved us. Edward might have told you before that when a vampire bites a human, the amount of time it takes for the venom to course through all depends on where they bite them.” Bella nodded slowly, remembering the conversation from when she first went to the Cullen’s home and he told her that Carlisle suffered for days during the transformation because he was bitten on the hand. For Y/n, Arthur bit her neck. Closer to the heart and therefore it would only take hours. 

“I was nearing the end--and he knew that, but it was minutes before the ship would submerge and he did not want us to get stuck. He gathered me up, hauled me over his shoulder and made our escape. To everyone on board scrambling to stay afloat it looked like a man carrying his lover to safety. What they didn’t see, however,” Y/n paused briefly to gather her emotions. “Was Arthur throwing us off the railing on the opposite side and swimming away. For miles and miles in absolute darkness. Until we finally reached the shore.”

Bella pictured a newly turned Y/n dragged from the waters onto the sands of New York. Returning home as planned, but without a beating heart and newfound thirst for blood. Scared. Confused. One minute she’s aboard a sinking ship, the next she’s on land. Life stolen by a man with sinister intentions. Depriving her of the future with Alex she dreamed of. 

“What happened next?” Bella carefully asked. 

Y/n’s expression remained dejected, offering a light shrug. “Arthur kept me hidden for days. Forcing me to feed on innocent humans. The RMS Carpathia would be arriving in New York and he needed to confirm if my parents had survived so he could blackmail me into stealing my inheritance.” Pushing away from the table, Y/n gathered the ashtray and discarded the remains into the trash. Running it under the faucet before wiping it dry with a paper towel.

“What the bastard didn’t anticipate,” she said with a tone Bella couldn’t decipher, but it sent a wave of unease through her. “Was the level of rage I experienced when I finally got a hold of my mind. It’s easy for creators to manipulate newborn vampires, but they have to be precise and hope that the person does not remember what preceded the bite. Unfortunately for Arthur, I remembered everything.” Y/n returned to the table, tossing the ashtray in her satchel and Bella saw the darkened expression that had encased her. “And once I realized what he’d done to me…let’s just say Arthur should’ve thought twice about taking on a newborn vampire for the first time.”

Bella didn’t have to hear the words to know what Y/n was implying. Gulping as she muttered, “You destroyed him. Like Edward did to James.”

Their eyes locked, and Bella felt her breath hitch by the blankness in Y/n’s. “Does that bother you?”

“No,” there was no hesitation. How could Bella blame her for wanting revenge on the man who stole her life. Y/n deserved her revenge and from the sound of it, Arthur had never turned anyone prior to her. Leaving him unqualified for the intensity a newborn experiences adjusting to their new life. 

Y/n would’ve been stronger. Faster. Combine that with rage and the taste for vengeance and Arthur was no match for her. 

“Carlisle found me three months later--in July of 1912,” Y/n wrapped up the story, fiddling with the cuff of her sleeve before moving to play with her ring. “I knew immediately he was like me, but his eyes were different and I wanted--needed--to know what my future was like. Considering I didn’t really give Arthur the chance to explain,” A sheepish look came over her. “Carlisle had this aura, and I knew I could trust him.” A soft chuckle escapes her, “It’s funny, you know, my intuition never failed me when I was human. It was so strong even then and becoming this only enhanced it. Just look at how the entire time on Titanic I could not shake the feeling it wouldn’t reach America. Then Arthur….Carlisle believes it to be my gift and If I’m being honest I didn’t believe it myself until decades later.” 

Bella instantly became curious, “What made you think otherwise?”

Y/n tensed, and the crushing expression replaced the somber one. Folded hands going in her lap, but her thumb still stroked the ring. “Remember how I said I used to watch over Alex?” Bella nodded slowly, chest tightening at the implication, followed by confirmation. “Well I always felt,” her left hand went to the part of her chest where her heart lay. Unmoving. “In here, beckoning me to be near him. That I needed to see him--even if it was for a split second. And so, for seventy years--,” Bella’s mouth parted with glistening eyes. Y/n mirrored her, but unlike Bella the tears wouldn’t fall. “I would go to him. Observing from afar of course I could never…get close.” Y/n squeezed her eyes shut, placing her hand back in her lap. “There were times he saw me.”

A gasp left Bella before she could stop it. “He did?”

“Yes,” Y/n murmur was more of a whimper, and Bella let the first tear fall. “I knew it was wrong, but I’d let our gaze lock. Then the second he blinked or turned I bolted. I know,” she huffed, “It was selfish of me. I hated myself because I was quite literally a ghost haunting him. But God I just needed to see his eyes--they were always my favorite thing about him.” 

Y/n cleared her throat loudly, rubbing her arms as she gathered herself. She knew telling Bella about Alex her years watching over him would come to this moment, but nothing could prepare her for the pain surfacing within her. 

“The uh--the last time I saw Alex was on his deathbed,” her eyes were closed but she heard Bella’s reaction. From the stutter of her heart to the sharp inhale. “In the days leading up everything felt off. I knew he was sick--he’d been for awhile, but I hoped he’d pull through like the other scares. This was different.” Her hand went back to her chest. “My intuition never failed me,” she let out a watery laugh, “and this time…it was warning the inevitable. Then Alice gave a look I’ll never forget, and I knew I needed to get to him as fast as I could.”

Bella couldn’t even imagine, just envisioning it made her heart sink into her stomach and throat dry up. Before she could ask the million dollar question, Y/n answered for her. “I got to say goodbye. It’s what Alex deserved. After everything I put him through he deserved to have closure.”

“Why did you never…?”

“Turn him?”

“Yeah,” Bella frowned, immediately regretting the question upon Y/n’s look of torment. 

“Same reason why Edward has yet to turn you,” it was harsh and Y/n knew it. But Bella needed a wake up call, if she could be the one to deliver then so be it. Yet at the same time, Y/n finds it aggravating that Edward would put this much effort into a relationship with Bella to not turn her. With Alex, Y/n never pursued him and kept her distance for a reason. Yes, she tortured herself by constantly checking on him, but at least she committed to it. 

A flash of hurt was evident on Bella, but she recovered as Y/n continued, “Alex lived a long life. Maybe not always happy, but he went on to do great things. He became an engineer, and dedicated his career to advancing ships for cross-Atlantic travel. Because he never wanted another disaster like Titanic to happen again,” a small smile curled up on her lips, a proud look in her eyes. “Eventually he married a nice woman, had a daughter, and three grandkids. Turning him would’ve taken that all away.”

Despite feeling broken-hearted for Y/n, Bella understood her reasoning, even though she herself desires becoming a vampire to be with Edward. Unlike Y/n, who sacrificed her chance at having her love with her to give him the ability to live a full life. 

“Did you,” she bit her lip, leaning her elbows on the table after wiping a stray tear. “Did you at least get to talk to him? Before he died?”

Y/n was silent. Gaze drawn down to her lap where it focused on the diamond ring. And while her undead heart broke for the man she’d never see tending to his garden or placing fresh flowers on her ‘grave,’ ever again, Y/n smiled at knowing he was in a better place. 

“I did.”

“I-I knew--I always knew,” the old man croaked in anguish as tears welled in his beautiful eyes that still held the color and sparkle they did when he was a seventeen-year-old boy. Now covered with wrinkles to match his withered skin and silver hair. He laid in a hospital attached to different machines, heart monitor picking up in pace at the rapid beat due to the emotions consuming him. But no matter his appearance, he was still the sweet, darling, Alexander Mason Y/n fell in love with all those years ago. “I-I saw you--after Carpathia docked I scoured the area for you.”

“I know you did,” Y/n whispered with agony. Grabbing his hands gently, making him gasp by how cold they were but he clutched them like a lifeline. Holding them to his chest because he feared that if he let go she’d disappear. 

“They told me you were lost at sea,” the first tear fell, and Y/n felt a sob in the back of her throat. “They said you sank to the bottom and would never be recovered. They--they told me I was making it up--but I knew you were out there. I saw you.” He shook his head as more tears cascaded down his cheeks like a never ending waterfall. “I saw you at my graduation. At the cemetery when my mother died. At the docks when I left for France--when I was in France.” Y/n shuddered at the memory surfacing. 

America had entered World War I and despite Alex coming from wealth where he easily could’ve dodged the draft, he enlisted and spent the year in Europe fighting. And the entire time Alex carried a photograph of Y/n in his pocket close to his heart. Removing it when he was about to go on the frontlines to take one last look at her face and press a kiss to the image. Men in his battalion often asked about the lady Alex held in his pocket, and each time they were met with shock and regret when he revealed she was on Titanic when it sank. 

That was the longest time Y/n had been away from Carlisle. He advised her not to go as she did not know any of his friends that lived in Europe, but Y/n refused to be an ocean apart from Alex. Especially when there was the high chance he may never return home. No, she needed to be close to him. To ensure he was safe. Eventually when the war ended, and Alex was back in New York, Y/n tracked down Carlisle in Chicago. Discovering that during her departure he turned a 17-year-old boy dying of Spanish Influenza. 

“I was there,” she breathed, confirming his statements as she stroked his hand and wrist. Aged skin contrasting with hers frozen in time. It pained her to see him like this. Pained her to have gone decades as a shadow in his life. Observing from afar while never drawing close. 

“You were there,” He repeated with awe, the memories of each occurrence flooding his mind. She wasn’t a figment of his imagination, conjured by his grief. She was real. “At the docks.” Y/n nodded. “At the hotel opening.” Another nod, this time slower. “At my wedding.”

Y/n couldn’t take it anymore. Her head dropped between her shoulders, leaning forward to press her forehead against their conjoined hands. The tearless sob released, echoing along the walls and hitting her straight in the chest. Her undead heart breaking into pieces. “I’m so sorry, Alex. I am so so sorry. Please forgive me--I couldn’t come to you no--no matter how much my soul begged for me to put an end to the suffering.” 

“What happened out there, my darling?” He brought her attention back to him. Not wanting to go another second without looking at her face. The beautiful face he fell in love with as a boy. The face that haunted his dreams. That he swore he saw on a crowded street and when he looked out his window on every birthday and anniversary that passed. The face he thought of when fighting for is life in France--praying he’ll see when he was called to the heavens. 

Now that face was in front of him after decades of mourning. When people called him crazy for always believing Y/n to be alive and forced to hide away. “You’re still as beautiful as the day I lost you.” One hand let go of hers to caress her cheek, wrinkled thumb stroking the area below her eyes. “Except your eyes have changed. They’re not the color they were when you left New York.” His hand rested on top of hers, still perched on his chest right by his heart. “But nonetheless, still beautiful.” 

Y/n swallowed thickly, trying to find the right words to say but none of them seemed appropriate. “You remember all those stories of creatures in the night we used to read about that our parents said were incongruous?” His nod was slow, but attentive. 

“Like Dracula?”

“Yes,” Y/n choked out a laugh, “Like Dracula. Turns out all those stories are not fairy tales.” His sharp intake filled her ears.

“Are you saying…?” This time Y/n was the one to nod. “Good Heavens. You--you are a--.” She shook her head roughly, not wanting to hear him say the word. 

“I’m not the same I was when I left for England all those years ago. There are things--dark things, that exist in the world, and unfortunately I’m one of those.”

Alex rescinded her words, “No. I don’t believe that for a second.”

“It’s true, darling.”

“You might have different eyes, but you’ll always be my Y/n. You’ve been my guardian angel all these years. Any--anytime I felt lost, you were there. Anytime I-I felt like I was forgetting your face, there it was in the distance.” 

Y/n let out a pained sound, but it was so soft Alex couldn’t hear it. His words struck her. Like lightning hitting a tree. How could he still have devotion to her after all the suffering she put him through. 

“You still wear it?” He brought her attention to their hands, where his frail finger traced the ring. “After all this time?”

Y/n stared at him with absolute love, “I’ve never once taken it off.” Bringing his hand to hers, she kissed his weathered skin. “And I never will.” For a moment they just sat there. Staring at each other while the beep of the monitor filled the room. Getting slower and slower to the point Y/n felt herself starting to crumble. “I’m breaking all the rules coming here,” she eventually said, wanting to hear his voice until the inevitable arrived. 

“Rules?”

“Things in this life are not so different from yours. There are rules to follow and the reason why I had to stay away from you. It would’ve put you in danger--and I couldn’t let that happen.” Alice assured Y/n her visit with Alex would remain hidden from the Volturi, but part of her still worried. Thankfully her intuition wasn’t screaming at her, otherwise the situation would be different. 

“Will you get in trouble if you’re caught?”

“Yes. But I don’t want you worrying about that. Alright?”

“Does anyone know you’re here?” The fact Alex was concerned made her smile. 

“The man who took me in does--and the family he and I found along the way.” One of her hands came up to brush away a silver hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. “He found me shortly after I…became this. He knows I would've moved mountains and fought my way through anyone who got in my way to prevent me from being here with you.”

Alex sighed, eyes fluttering shut as they fought against the sleep his body desperately craved. Y/n saw it too, and the look of anguish overcoming her made Alex understand why she waited until now to make an appearance. 

“This is it, isn’t it.” Not a question, a statement. 

“Yes,” she whimpered, scooting closer so she was sitting beside his torso rather than his legs. Leaning into his space as he kept her palms pressed to his slowing heart.

His smile was gentle, “I guess I should find some solace. Dying with the last thing I’ll see being the love of my life I lost a lifetime ago.” Another groan left her. “I always regretted not coming with you to England. That damn Yale interview.”

“I’m grateful you didn’t,” she defended, tone serious as though appalled by his confession. “Had you who’s to say we would’ve made it on a lifeboat. And if they refused to let you on, I would’ve leaped off.” The chances of him surviving would’ve been slim. The lifeboats took women and children first and therefore the majority of those who died aboard Titanic were men. Including Y/n’s father. “You would’ve never done the amazing things you accomplished, Alex. You would’ve never got your Nobel Prize--or had your family.” 

A sigh left him, knowing she was right, and another wave of tears fell as he whispered, “I would’ve joined you.” He would’ve become a vampire for her. Traded in his future of living to remain unmoving in time with her. 

It devastated her. “I know you would have,” her bottom lip trembled, “But Alex, you deserved to live. You deserved to do all those great things. You’ve embedded your name in history--thanks to you, there hasn’t been a commercial passenger ship to sink in seventy years.”

Alex let out a snuffle, “I didn’t want--I didn’t want anyone to experience the pain I did. Losing you that way…I never recovered, Y/n.” 

Now that destroyed her. Worse than she ever imagined. Y/n audibly reacted as the pain tightened and exploded in her chest. “Oh, Alex.”

“You’ll stay, right?” The monitor decreased in pace. Alex used what little strength his heart had left to stay alive to treasure the last moments the universe afforded him with Y/n. His time was coming, and he was ready, but he needed to see her face, hear her voice, and feel her touch, one last time. “You’ll be right here.”

Y/n leaned forward, holding her weight up but still keeping her body close to his. “I am not going anywhere,” She vowed, lacing their fingers together, pressing them into his chest so she could feel the light thump of his heart. “I’ll be right here every second.”

And Y/n did. She sat there, holding his hands until they went limp. The beeping decreased. Alex’s breathing turned into soft pants, eyes fluttering as the darkness beckoned him. The last thing he felt was cold lips pressed to his forehead, and the melody of her voice in her ears sending him off to the Heavens, “I love you, Alexander Mason, I will love you until the end of time. And when the day comes, I’ll meet you at the docks.” 

April 14th, 2012 

The Cullens stood together in silence as the cool wind breeze passed them and clouds drizzled light rain above. The smell of salt from the sea filled their senses, the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks, causing the boats docked to lightly sway. 

Bella, now possessing golden eyes and skin so pale and cold, leaned into Edward’s side while brushing a hand down their daughter’s hair. Like her family, she remained silent as she watched her sister-in-law stand alone at the edge of the docking port. Staring ahead into the deep, quiet ocean. 

In the middle of the night one hundred years prior and 1,300 miles away, the ship of dreams known as Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic. Carrying 2,240 souls on her maiden voyage to New York, only 706 made it to their destination. The rest were lost to the sea. 

Y/n L/n may have survived the sinking, but she died aboard Titanic. As the ‘unsinkable’ vessel took on water, her heart stopped. Never to beat again. Becoming frozen like the waters consuming them, she went on to outlive the 706 survivors rescued on the RMS Carpathia. The last one leaving the docks forever in 2009. 

Flowers in her hand, with the same face that boarded Titanic, Y/n approached the edge of the dock. The wind breezed past her, stronger this time but she remained afoot. Crouching down so her knees hovered over the wood. And when she leaned over to stare at the water, the reflection of that 17-year-old passenger stared back at her. 

With a shuddered breath, Y/n gently lowered the bouquet, watching as the current grasped the flowers, allowing them to drift away in the direction Titanic would have traveled when she reached her final destination. 

Golden eyes followed the flowers as they grew smaller and smaller in the distance until Y/n barely made out the color. When it was gone from her vision, she tilted her head up to the sky, smiling at the sight of the sun breathing through the dense clouds. 

They’d have to go indoors eventually, but Y/n rejoiced in the feeling that the universe was sending her a sign. They might be gone, but they are never forgotten. The people we love are always watching over us. Sometimes it’ll feel like a gentle touch to the shoulder. Or comes as a whisper. Or in a crowded room you might find their face. 

However it may come, they are always there. 

And as Y/n began to stand, wind picking up once more, she felt the caress of a hand on her shoulder, a gentle murmur filling her ears. 

“I’ll always wait for you at the docks.”

[mikaharuka]

Slash Ships to Get to Know Me

Bleep (@bleepbloopbotz) resurrected this tag game from the depths of her notifications and tagged me and Annie (@udaberriwrites) on it, and of course, Annie being Annie went and tagged me too, so yay~

It got me thinking a bit, and I figured I might as well, since I never actually sat down and listed all the ships I had - slash and femslash alike. I'm only listing the major slash ones for now, but I'll continue my list beyond that... for real, though, I need to do this same exercise for my femslash ships (yes, I saw your tag, Annie, and will get to it soon!)

**Rules**: Name at least five (no upper limit) slash (M/M) ships you love. Each from a different fandom. (Sadly, I have no pictures here).

1 - Twilight & Life and Death

I'd be pretty remiss if I didn't mention the two slash ships I'm actually writing right now - Carlisle/Beau (MM Bellisle) and Edward/Mike. Being the only writer of the former ship (as of today) is quite the interesting experience! At first, they were just convenient characters to carry out worldbuilding plans... but jokes on me. I became a massive shipper as I wrote and I suckered Annie into them too XD

2 - Teen Wolf

I need to mention both my slash OTP, Steter (Peter/Stiles), as well as the Sterek (Derek/Stiles) ship that is so popular and well-known. I almost chose Teen Wolf as the fandom for my concept instead of the Twilight/Life and Death combination I settled on, and if I had, I'd be writing Steter and my femslash Teen Wolf OTP, Allydia, right now.

3 - Fire Emblem Three Houses

I'd also be pretty remiss if I didn't mention the slash ship that got me writing fanfiction in the first place - Ferdibert (Hubert/Ferdinand). I have no idea what about these two managed to get me writing after 15+ years of silent lurking, but they somehow did and I'm grateful, since it ended up in me being here, meeting so many lovely people!

4 - NBC Hannibal

Quite a few people know how I love the Hannigram (Hannibal/Will) ship - and I love that it's canon. It's the perfect darker ship for me! Heck, fun fact - I was heavily influenced by NBC Hannibal's fantasy-like sequences when I wrote Apricity's Azure Mystique dreamscape!

5 - Scum Villain (SVSSS)

You know what's interesting? Scum Villain is the only MXTX novel I've read, despite MDZS and TGCF being way more popular. I'm quite the fan of the main ship Bingqiu/Bingyuan (Luo Binghe/Shen Yuan), but I also love the dark ship that is original Luo Binghe and Shen Yuan.

6 - Ace Attorney

Decided to end this list with one of my more lighter, older, and cuter ships in Narumitsu/Wrightworth (Miles Edgeworth/Phoenix Wright). Also, Momo is selling me on Klapollo (Apollo Justice/Klavier Gavin), so there's that! I love Ace Attorney in general and I'm pretty confident Capcom was intentionally making the whole thing ridiculously gay lol

...

You know, looking at this, I noticed two similarities across all of them.

First, that they all have at least a shade of darker themes among them. Heck, even Ace Attorney's Narumitsu isn't free of the ambiguity either, with the angst and all.

Second... I strongly favor the magical and supernatural stuff. I mean... there are vampires in #1, werewolves in #2, dark magic in #3, magical themes despite technically not being that in #4, heavenly demons and cultivation in #5, and the sheer absurdity present in #6

Tagging @udaberriwrites @axolotlsupremacyowo @alpaca-clouds @sliebman10 @0nelittlebirdtoldme @mrsmungus and the open tag for anyone else interested.

[fnbresearch]

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[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

Hi! What is your very specific Twilight AU?

okay, so. New Moon.

party disaster, dumping her and dipping, all happens normally.

but THEN. Bella finds out she’s pregnant.

(and I know you’re thinking- pre-marital sex?!?! Edward would NEVER! but listen. I am the author now. I’ve been around Christians my whole life. shut up!)

so anyway after a million pregnancy tests and a lot of googling about vampire baby legends, Bella’s like...well this is probably gonna be a situation,

Nessie doesn’t have an insane growth rate here because I hate that, so she has a normal amount of time to prepare, and she’s very...aware that the birth is gonna be Rough at best. So she goes to Jacob

who is NOT a wolf yet but Is aware of the pack and the treaty, and they are closer friends already, and she’s like ‘hey. paranormal emergency. you’re the only person in this town who enables me. help.’

 and Jacob’s like I’m Fucking Fifteen and goes and gets Leah, since she’s technically an adult and a girl

(ms. meyer How did you make one of leah’s only 3 character traits ‘upset she’s infertile’ and then not have her support bella’s choices in breaking dawn please make it make sense)

 so they start brainstorming solutions and the best they can work with is. Bella’s gotta ride out the pregnancy in hiding. they have no way of knowing whether she can survive the pregnancy and the only clue they have about whether the baby will be a monster or not is from google searches, but they also can’t exactly take her to an obgyn when her uterus feels like it’s calcified and her ribs are getting broken and she seems to be craving blood

So, Leah’s got her own little place. Bella moves in there, telling Charlie she wants to move back in with Renee (she knows her parents would never willingly call each other so as long as she keeps up communicating with both of them they should be none the wiser of her growing a little dracula in Leah Clearwater’s basement).

Leah has already defected from the wolf pack at this point (because...the Cullen’s left and she didn’t really like any of the guys anyway lmao) so they don’t run the risk of them hearing her thoughts while she’s in wolf form. She goes out and hunts animals, brings them back and her and Jake drain the blood from them so Bella can drink it. All three of them find this extremely disgusting obviously but Jake’s loyal and a little bit lovestruck, Leah’s a supportive friend and queen, and Bella’s just trying to keep her and her baby alive, and none of them feel like trying to rob a blood bank

Bella is 100% certain the baby will just be a baby who happens to like blood, like she was in bd, but the tentative plan is that if a crazy soulless monster comes out of her Leah will...handle that...

Which neither are thrilled about, so Bella’s just trying to focus on staying positive. And between that, trying to survive and stay hidden, Bella doesn’t really have time to...Check Out the way she did in new moon. Like, she’s absolutely still depressed, and she’s still getting an occasional Edward hallucination because carrying a vampire baby counts as reckless in many books, but she’s just more...resigned and pissed than anything. She’ll have days like the ‘possibilities’ scene, but more often than not she’s just telling the Edward hallucination to go fuck himself when he’s begging her to find the real him so they can have Carlisle deal with the pregnancy 

at some point, Seth gets roped into the whole mess (he’s prone to just breaking into his sister’s house) but since he’s like, 13 and The Best Baby Boy he’s immediately supportive. He didn’t even fucking know about the wolves and the vampires until he walked in on a six months pregnant Bella drinking blood while his sister and Jacob are hacking away at a dead deer, but he’s like...you know when you were 13 and sneaking around about Anything made you feel like the coolest person alive? point is he’s helpful

AND he can get away with spending a lot of time at Leah’s house without anyone finding it weird, unlike Jacob, so he starts spending most of his free time there keeping Bella company and brightening her day up

HE is the one who enables her when she comes up with the name Renesmee lmao

(just because she hates Edward doesn’t mean Esme ever did anything wrong!)

“bella I’ll throw you out of this house if you don’t come up with a real name” “leah she’s white you can’t just disrespect her culture like this omg”

anyway these four become the DORKIEST and WEIRDEST little family it’s cute

so then. labor.

it’s less...graphic than in bd because Bella hasn’t been actively dying the whole pregnancy and she doesn’t snap her spine in half, but it’s still. bad.

she essentially delivers a rock that Nessie then begins chewing her way out of. she’s actively bleeding out. Jacob’s having a panic attack. Leah made Seth watch so he would never have unprotected sex and the scare tactic is working. Leah’s covered in Bella’s blood which is not great considering she’s Holding A Rock That A Vampire Is Emerging From

Leah’s been taking classes and researching deliveries so she needs to stitch Bella up and see what else is wrong but Seth is rocking back and forth on the floor crying and Jacob’s screaming and pacing too fast to grab so she’s like. Bella babe I know you’re dying but you need to hold this thing for me ksjdfllksf

so while she’s handling That, Bella’s got this weird little rock in her arms and is watching the baby slowly fight it’s way out like this is a very fucked up egg or something and she’s just. overwhelmed. maybe it’s the blood loss but she’s looking at the messy, scrunchy little face and she’s already in love and envisioning their lives together.

and then, you know, the baby bites her,

she has just enough time to think ‘how did we not think to prepare for that’ before she can feel the venom coursing through her. it’s just as bad as she remembers from James’ bite but somehow...easier to tolerate. she blacks out pretty quickly

the other 3 notice and are like : 👁👄👁

Jacob...literally explodes into a wolf On Spot

Seth darts out the fucking door he’s seen enough for one day

Leah, sole holder of the braincell, realizes Nessie just bit and isn’t drinking from Bella, and deduces this is like...a survival instinct or something. the baby instinctively changes it’s mother first thing. weirdly...touching? 

So she gets the baby and checks that everything is physically okay with Bella (apart from you know. changing species) and is like...guess this is an issue for 3 days from now Leah

more immediate pressing issues: screaming new born baby and oh, yeah, the giant red wolf in the basement,

“Jacob I know this is disorienting but if you break anything in my house I’ll fucking kill you”

she really just leaves the poor boy to go get the baby cleaned up and warm up some of the frozen blood they’ve got in her fridge (RUINING HER TUPPERWARE, BELLA)

she’s not worried about the wolf pack mind meld yet because she knows Sam took the guys on a mission way farther up the coast for a few days and they’ll be too far away to hear Jake. hopefully, by the time they get back, Bella will be awake and they’ll have made an escape plan by then

and as she’s bottle feeding blood to the baby she’s thrilled that it seems to be like...relatively normal and not s horrific monster or anything. mission: unwillingly murder my best friend’s baby has been successfully canceled 

“Oh Goddamn it....Renesmee DOES fit you...”

Seth, from where he’s cowering behind the couch: “told you”

so, Jake eventually calms down, they spend the next few days cooing over Nessie and brainstorming how to handle Bella when she wakes up a vampire, and also nicknaming Nessie ‘Nessie’ because they know Bella will find that intolerable and they feel she deserves karmic punishment for stressing them out so much lmao

so, three days are up. Seth’s upstairs putting on a way-too-elaborate puppet show for the baby with not a care in the world. Leah and Jake are in the basement because they know Bella probably won’t want their wolf blood and their ready to phase in case she gets a little aggressive

but she just wakes up and is like. hey! how’s it going? where’s my baby?

sjdhfksdj they were expecting feral but Bella still has her super self-control. she didn’t even realize she’d changed into a vampire until they told her lmao

Bella’s a little too freaked out to try hunting yet so they give her some of the stored blood they’ve been feeding Ness and she’s like. good to go. Leah’s about to scream like have the elders been exaggerating this whole time or is Bella truly a freak??? lol

So, they spend a couple days just...relaxing, Bella and Renesmee bonding, they’re trying to come up with fun places Bella can move to with the baby so no one she knows finds out, and every now and then Leah and Jake go out and she tries to help him get the wolf thing under control

and then,,,,the pack get back from their mission early

and immediately are able to read Jacob’s mind

so they head over to Start Shit because there’s two bloodsuckers on their land but,

the pack not attacking because Jake imprinted on Renesmee? tired. the pack not attacking because Jake’s Alpha Genes have taken over and declared Nessie and Bella as part of his Pack and attacking would literally start a war? inspired

so they hash the whole thing out....ultimately Sam decides Bella is more of a victim than a threat, and since neither her or Nessie seem to be going on a bloodlust rampage any time soon...he decides to grant them immunity from the whole ‘kill the vampires’ rule. He’ll let her and her daughter stay in La Push as long as they agree to stick to animals and only hunt out of town. PLUS from what little Bella knows about the Volturi, she’s worried about them finding out about Nessie, so they’ll offer protection if that does happen, in exchange for her being able to help them with intel on any other vampire threats in the area (you know like. if a nomad is fucking stuff up in a nearby city, they’ll send her to talk to them first before deciding if they need to intervene. Sam has become acutely aware he has a lot of teens and kids in his pack, so he’s trying to keep them out of fights as much as possible)  

anyway that’s the story of Nessie gaining like 17 chaotic as hell ride or die uncles,

let’s fast forward a bit

it’s like 15 years later. Bella’s not living with Leah anymore, but she’s got a cute apartment in a nearby town, and owns and runs a bookstore on the first floor of it. she got her ged and did college online and teaches night classes at a community college. She’s still in contact with her parents, who Adore the life out of Nessie. She still helps the pack out and they’re all close. Nessie is a handful but in a fun and lovable way. They go on little weekend trips whenever they have time. Bella’s happy.

but then a. Situation. arises.

basically, the Volturi have been made aware of some unknown vampire chasing others out of the pacific northwest and conspiring with shapeshifters. and you know when Aro gets curious he tends to spin things dramatically. who’s to say this vampire isn’t conspiring against all vampires? against them? why has no one’s special talents worked on her? he simply must find out.

Bella and the Pack get word and decide their best course of action for now is to go on the run. they’re not gonna be able to take on a whole army but if they can bide some time and lay low they might be able to figure something out

except Bella is like....I have a teenage hybrid that the Volturi don’t know about yet...it would be EXTREMELY irresponsible to take her with me

but she can’t send Nessie to Charlie or Renee because they don’t know about her...dietary restrictions. She can’t stay with Billy or anyone else in La Push because the Volturi might trace the pack’s scent there and discover her. She’s panicking, they have to leave in a few days max and she can’t find a safe place for her daughter

and then she’s like.....fuck.

she had run into Jasper a couple of years ago- they have the same forgery guy and were heading to his building around the same time as a coincidence. She promised to forgive him for the party incident if he promised not to tell Edward he saw her and that she’s a vampire now. He agreed, but then told her Edward’s been living on his own for a while now and insisted on giving her his number...she never could bring herself to call it or delete it...but now...if she wants to be 100% Nessie is safe and protected...

fuck

So, the past 15 years have been fairly rough for Edward

he’s still convinced leaving in order to save Bella was the best course of action, but like...the vampires canonically mate for life. that’s his soulmate. he’s absolutely miserable without her. he’s thought about cracking and going to find her again but he always talks himself out of it, convinced she’d just tell him she hates him or something

so as stated in his patented Edward Cullen Self Loathing Guide, first thing to do is isolate yourself from all the lovebirds you usually live with. Sure, he keeps in contact, but...not well. he’s currently living alone and posing as a university student. He’s not even really sure what he’s supposed to be majoring in. He’s mostly been in a haze since he left Forks.

and one day....he gets a call from an unknown number. he ignores it, thinking it’s a spam call. but then it calls like 8 more times in a row and he figures answering might be a bit smarter than simply throwing it at the wall

And Edward...swears he came back to life and immediately had a heart attack the second he hears Bella’s voice

He feels breathless and disoriented the whole conversation, trying to figure out if his memory did her voice any justice, trying to rush out 15 years worth of apologies, trying to comprehend she’s actually speaking to him.

But Bella’s very blunt on the phone. She doesn’t want to let herself get emotional. She’s on a time limit, and she has to focus on getting her daughter to safety

And Edward swears he somehow misheard her the first ten or so times she told him. He had a daughter? that wasn’t possible

“she has the audacity to be your Evil Twin so I’m pretty sure it’s possible”

so she gives him a rundown. she needs to go into hiding, no I don’t need your help with that, gives him details about Nessie, what she’s like, what she likes to do, her diet, her favorite color, how annoyed she is by this whole situation, “Edward I know you don’t love me anymore, but I remember how protective you were, and that’s what I need Nessie to have right now. She needs you right now” and Edward wants so badly to refute Bella’s claim of lost love, to tell her he has absolutely no idea how to be a parent, but...her tone is aching so much he can barely speak. He can’t let Bella down again, and he can’t let this little girl he foolishly created and left down anymore than he already has, either.

So he agrees, she tells him to be at the airport in a few days, and hangs up. 

Edward loses about half a day staring at a wall in shock, before he jumps into preparations.

Bella told him while their daughter possessed some speed and strength, hunting was fairly dangerous for her. She was more delicate than his kind, and had a heartbeat. Reheated blood bags had been their best option, and she also needed human food as well. He also had to get a room ready for her- he wandered around stores for hours, reading young girls minds to see if there was any furniture or decorations that were universally liked- which was of course, fruitless, but he did manage to find a handful of things he was sure Bella would have liked at that age, and prayed for the best. He somehow got himself covered in purple paint that was a nightmare to get off. Bella had sent him some forged documents claiming Nessie was his younger sister he’d won custody of, and he got her enrolled in a nearby school. He lived every day leading up to her arrival staving off a panic attack.

it wasn’t until he was on the way to the airport that he realized he forgot to inform his family about this life update. they must’ve been on a hunting trip, because he got nothing but voicemails 

imagine being Carlisle and you come home to a voicemail from your son who’s banished himself from the family that’s just like ‘hi. you’re a grandfather now. I’m having a nervous breakdown and might crash my car. call me back at your earliest convenience I suppose” like what would you DO

 after he gets to the airport he starts panicking again, realizing Bella had never actually sent him a picture, worrying about how he’d find her, but then- he sees a tiny girl with untamed, dark red curls, features strikingly similar to his own that are pulled into the expression Bella always made when she was reading, absently chewing on her lip, and before she looks at him with her mother’s big brown eyes, he already knows who he’s looking at, and he’s certain if he was human his tear ducts would be having a fit right now

Renesmee, however, seems less willing to have an emotional meeting. She mumbles out a simple greeting before gathering up her bags and heading for the door, Edward rushing behind her to try and help

listen. the awkwardness of Charlie trying to connect with Bella. but 10000x worse because of Edward’s overthinking, self-deprecating ass and Nessie being like ‘ah yes the guy who broke my pregnant teenage mothers heart, fantastic’ lmao

the car ride is p a i n f u l. Edward’s trying so hard for light conversation and Nessie’s barely giving one word answers. Bella had warned her about the mind reading so she was carefully keeping her mind blocked, which Edward is trying very hard to be understanding about instead of annoyed, but By God does he want to know everything about her

when they get back to his place, she quietly thanks him for the room and then promptly locks him out of it lol. He spends the rest of the day just pacing back and forth until he realizes he should eventually feed her lmao

and that’s...kinda how the first couple weeks go. she only emerges from her room if he bribes her with food, she awkwardly tries to dodge his questions, he drives her to school and then begs her to tell him how it went when he picks her up, he spends his college classes distracted because he’s freaking out constantly about how to successfully bond with her. His favorite time of day now is night, because she can’t block her mind while she’s asleep, and even if her dreams are all nonsense they’re still...part of her that he gets to know.

His family keeps begging him to let them meet her, but he’s pushing back because if she’s this bad at adjusting to one new family member, how is she going to handle six more?

(meanwhile Alice and Rose started a group chat with her and are having a ball clowning Edward lmao)

wait ksjflksd I think this vine perfectly sums up the dynamic im envisioning  https://youtu.be/wQZIUHNORHg

anyway they....very slowly make some progress. much too slowly for Edward’s taste, but hey.

Like he finds out snacks she likes. or jewelry she likes. stuff like that and just...wordlessly leaves it around for her lmao. he thinks it’s like trying not to startle a deer, Nessie thinks it’s more like a cat trying to gift you a dead mouse, but either way it’s weirdly endearing.

He notices she always has a huffy little frown when he picks her up on Wednesdays. So instead of begging her for an ounce of information of her school life, he asks her one Wednesday morning if she’s excited for the day and she admits she has an elective class every Wednesday with a girl she doesn’t get along with.

He gets her school photos (and Weeps) and realizes apart from her room the home is fairly barren of decorations, so he buys a bunch of picture frames and hangs up the school shots, and some pictures of the Cullen’s over the years, and the few he has of Bella that he could never bear to part with. Other than catching her smiling at the prom picture of her parents, Nessie doesn’t say anything- but the next time he comes home from hunting, there’s a pile of pictures of her growing up on the table, and he starts weeping all over again as he hangs them up

(there’s one of her and Bella hugging and looking at the camera with identical grins and joy in their eyes, he can’t help but put that in his room. He hopes one day he’ll get to see a scene like that in person)

He starts trying to get her out of her room a little more- he still hasn’t managed to a get a ‘favorites’ list out of her, so he starts playing movies Bella loved, to see if any of them lure her out. some do, some don’t- he got halfway through a Lord of the Rings marathon, which was Torture in his opinion, but then Ness came out and quietly asked if he could restart it and suddenly they became his favorite movies ever.

Bella’s not able to contact her on a set schedule or anything because of her situation (and you can bet your ass Edward’s contacted every vampire he knows and ordered them to help her out if they come across her or the Volturi), and Edward realizes that’s probably taking a toll on the girl, so he starts telling her stories of her mother when he knew her in Forks. She’s particularly amused by the blood typing incident- the first time Edward hears Nessie properly laugh, he literally starts crying on the spot

could you imagine the sheer panic if she ever gets so much as a cold

And yes, she’s still pissed on Bella’s behalf, and yes, she specifically blasts 70s music because Bella told her he hates it one time, and yes, if he looks at her like he’s a kicked puppy one more time she might claw his eyes out, and yes, she refuses to introduce him to her friends from school because she Knows everyone will then start asking her about her ‘hot brother’ and she can’t live with that and also can’t live with him knowing that so she told him if he ever introduces himself to any of her friends she’ll set him on fire, and yes, she’s homesick 95% of the time but...he’s growing on her. like a mold, or something.

(okay, maybe when Seth tried to analyze why Mamma Mia is her favorite musical, he might have had a point. half a point. quarter of a point. shut up.)

And Edward’s still trying to not have a panic attack every time she’s out of his sight- he’s got Carlisle keeping tabs on the Volturi for him, and it’s not exactly hard for him to keep track of her through other people’s minds- but she’s so tiny and her heartbeat is Too Fast and what if she inherited her mother’s unlucky streak??

but they’re toeing the line of co-existing peacefully and Edward’s scared to push it past that

then he has to, because it turns out he sent her to one of Those Schools where the parents have to be involved in the school in some way or another and Nessie’s Annoyed

sdkjfsdkjf she keeps trying to get him to just sign up for like pta meetings or something and he’s like ‘I need you to understand you are the only person in this town I actually know or like I Cannot survive around fundraiser moms I can’t’ 

so she’s like ugh fine I’m in the drama club

listen.....Stage Parent Edward Cullen.......the power this holds...

that’s right this whole post was an elaborate ruse for me to make a musical theater headcanon again lmao

no okay but seriously he starts off just helping build sets and stuff like that but then midway through the year their music teacher gets fired and the schools like begging him to take over because they can’t find someone in enough time that’ll know the music for the show they’re doing and he’s like “I need you to understand Nessie will never talk to me again if I start actually working at her school” and they’re like “She also will never talk to you again if we have to cancel the big musical, though” and he’s like. fuck.

silent treatment for a week and a half

lmao so now he’s trying to juggle being an overly-enthusiastic stage parent who’s making costumes and sets and kinda crying backstage when he sees his daughter in her costume with also being the music director for the damn show and trying to teach a bunch of kids how to read sheet music 

one day he ended up in a coffee shop with the hair and makeup moms, gossiping about the cast’s love lives, and he literally doesn’t know how he got there

is it wrong to pass Nessie in class even though she’s putting all the wrong answers on the test but he Knows she knows the right answers and is only answering wrong to try and get a rise out of him

Bella sneaks into town to see the show- they thought it would push their luck if the pack came, but they sent an ungodly amount of flowers and candy. When she snuck into the house while Ness was sleeping she Was Not expecting to find Edward up to his elbows in sequins, trying to fix a bedazzler he accidentally broke in frustration, muttering under his breath about how if Nessie’s romantic opposite in the show doesn’t keep his thoughts clean he’s gonna kill him- and it just cracks her up. She WAS nervous about seeing Edward again but now she’s assured he’s still a dork lol

So Edward freaks when he sees her but they don’t wanna wake Ness up so they’re trying to be quiet but like. they’re going through it 

Like Bella Wants to be pissed at him but she can’t, she still loves him- and while she can’t just get over what he did to her, it’s also not lost on her that ‘leaving to protect someone I love’ is literally what she had to do to her daughter

And Edward....Edward, who only left to give Bella a chance at a safe, human life, seeing Bella in front of him as a vampire, knowing it’s his fault she ended up that way and she had to go through it alone, had to raise a baby herself because he’d made it so hard to find him...knowing if he’d just pulled his head out of his ass he would have been able to be there for her...would be able to form a coherent sentence around his love right now, would have long and fond memories of Nessie’s childhood, likely wouldn’t have to watch Bella hide from the Volturi...he’s back in a self-loathing spiral already

But they haven’t seen each other in so long and they just don’t want to...deal with the unpleasantness right now, so they just push it aside. Bella helps Edward with the costumes. Edward fills her in on what she’s been missing with Nessie. Bella tells him some stuff about when Ness was younger. They just spend the night talking, and it feels like no time has past between them at all- which just makes the heartaches a little stronger

When Nessie wakes up to her mother there she’s ecstatic- bubbly and loud and glued to Bella’s hip all day, giving her in depth play-by-plays of her school and rehearsals and friends she’s made, bouncing on her toes all morning, hyper, giggly, and- it kind of breaks Edward’s heart a little, even though he knows he hasn’t really...earned this side of his daughter, yet. 

(at least he got his wish of seeing their twin smiles in person)

(he wishes he could see them every second of every day)

so the girls spend the day catching up while Edward mostly feels like a thirdwheel, and then they have to get Ness over to the school so she can get ready

Bella decides to hang out around the school theater before the show actually starts- she leans against the wall next to the piano, the two talking in hushed tones while Edward runs through songs. Bella really missed watching him play- the only thing that managed to drag her away from it was when Nessie called her to the dressing room to help with a hair emergency 

she didn’t talk to him much at intermission, her attention being stolen by the rest of the Cullen family (who had been Very Loudly supporting the show so far, she knew Ness was probably dying of embarrassment backstage)

after the show, the three went back to Edward’s and just...talked. Nessie was gushing about the show and eating while her parents assured her she was the greatest actress ever born, simple stuff like that. she fell asleep sandwiched in between them on the couch 

Bella realizes she’s never going to be able to bring herself to leave again if Nessie wakes up, and tells Edward as much. He clearly doesn’t want her to go just yet either, but...she’s on the run, it’s not like she has much choice 

He has so much he wants to say to her but he just- can’t. it’s not the right time. but he’s hoping she can see that in his eyes

Bella shifts Nessie off her shoulder so Edward can hold her, and she gives him a light kiss and says ‘thank you, Edward’ before disappearing in a flash. she needed to go before she lost her nerve.

Edward can’t bring himself to let Nessie out of his arms, so instead of carrying her to bed he just stays there, holding her, trying his best not to think that that could be the last time for a long time he’d ever see his Bella again, trying not to let thoughts of a life he gave up unwittingly consume him

okay I didn’t mean for this to be So Long so I’m cutting it here uhh...let me know if anyone wants a part 2? sorry lmao

[auroracalisto]

for the first time

summary: the reader finally sees her life in a new point of view, thanks to carlisle, who has helped her with her abusive husband, her baby girl luna, and her life in general.  

pairing: carlisle x female! married/widowed! abused! reader

word count: 1.6k words

warnings: female reader, married and eventually widowed reader, reader is abused by her husband, reader has the surname Wolf in this bc comedic reasons, reader has a child named Luna by said husband, mentions of murder, no depictions but carlisle definitely did the stabby stab (at least if that’s what you wanna assume he did), uhhh reader got them widow benefits by the end but that’s a story for another time, ALSO for some reason i put this in the year 2005 and it goes on to 2006/2007?  so this would technically be the same timeline as bella and edward meeting.  so first movie.  yes.  i love the technicalities of everything.  honestly didn’t mean for it to happen but it did so 

a/n: i have no words

Carlisle first had the honor of meeting you at your then-husband’s Christmas party.  It was December 20th, 2005.  Your child was most definitely due by the end of January.  You were quite literally glowing, and Carlisle believed you were the most beautiful thing he had seen in some time.  However, most of the beauty was because of your skill with makeup.  Without it, bruises galore would be revealed to the outside world, and your husband would not be too happy to find out that you showed off the newest shiner he gave to you. 

Even while pregnant, he did not care for your wellbeing.  Hell, he made it quite obvious that he would never care for the little girl growing in your midsection.  But even if he was a terrible prick, you decided to have this child.  Of course, maybe it would have been better for you to end the pregnancy early on.  However, a part of you didn’t want that.  A part of you wanted to have the baby and leave your husband.  Whichever order it came in would be fine.  But knowing now that it would be the latter made you nervous.  

The second time Carlisle saw you was in the middle of a grocery store, calming down your newborn baby.  Your husband had sent you out in the middle of February, just a month after giving birth.  You were alone, and everything was upsetting.  Your baby’s little cries caused your own tears to well up in your eyes.  

When the two of you made eye contact, you finally broke.  You didn’t want anyone to see you like that, and yet, here you were with your husband’s co-worker, crying in the middle of the bread aisle.  

“Mrs. Wolf, please.  Let me help you,” Carlisle softly said, leaving his buggy on the other side of you.  He came over, looking at your baby.  “I’ll get her to calm down.”

You took his word for it, allowing Carlisle to comfort your crying child.  “Please.  Don’t call me that.  [Your name] is fine.”

He watched you with soft eyes and nodded.  “And who is this?” he softly asked, looking down at the fussing infant.  Her eyes were shut and she never once had actual tears—one thing that never sat right with him was how babies couldn’t form tears until they were about two months old (sometimes even longer).  

“Luna,” you softly spoke, watching as your little girl started to calm down in his arms.  You sniffled softly, wiping your eyes with the back of your sleeve.  You should have been more careful, but you didn’t care at this point.  It was getting harder and harder to do this; if someone saw a bruise, someone saw a bruise.  

“That’s a beautiful name,” Carlisle spoke, looking back at you.  “She is very lucky to have you as a mother.”

By the third time Carlisle had properly talked to you, your husband had died.  Under mysterious circumstances, but he was gone.  And you couldn’t have been happier.  You had an idea of what had happened.  Especially when you once opened your eyes in the middle of the night to see a flash of blond hair.  But you drifted off back to sleep, not thinking anymore of it until the morning after when your husband was missing.  However, you never once said anything.  

Weeks after he had passed, you had hired a babysitter for the evening.  Carlisle’s two girls.  

And for once, you did not have to worry about the makeup covering your bruises.  In fact, you wore your makeup how you liked it instead of having to wear it to protect your dead husband.  You found yourself sitting in your car, in front of the hospital.  Alice had informed you that her adoptive father was currently at work—that he was constantly working, and he never once took a break.  

Maybe you should have just turned around.  Maybe you should have just left Washington, altogether.  But your legs started moving before you could stop them.  And once you saw Carlisle, you knew that you had to speak with him.  

You didn’t even have to say hello to him for the man to walk in your direction.  He smiled kindly at you, and you wanted to say something.  You desperately wanted to thank him for saving you, even if he never admitted it.  

But the words never found your tongue.  Your arms wrapped around the doctor, your face buried deep in his blue dress shirt and his white lab coat.  Carlisle had never been more grateful for not carrying his clipboard around.  He wrapped his arms around your body, holding you close.  

Although the two of you never said anything, one thing was clear; you were both grateful for each other’s existence.  Even if you lived vicariously through passing glances and thoughtful actions.  

Luna was nearly one by the time you decided enough was enough.  You were a widow, now.  You did not have to worry about what your husband would say.  And one thing was certain; the blond-haired doctor had your heart in more ways than one.  

He was so kind to you, always offering help and joyful smiles.  His conversations carried you through your long days and kept you awake at night as you thought of how you could tell him how you truly felt.  

But now, you knew enough was enough—you knew that you were not getting any younger, and neither was Carlisle (of course, because he was human—of course, you wouldn’t learn that until later).  You needed to talk to him.  You needed to take a course of action.  

You grabbed your keys, walking to your door.  Luna was babbling in her car seat.  You sat it down to get the door open, nearly jumping out of your skin when you saw Carlisle standing there, prepared to knock.  

He had a bouquet of your favorite flowers in hand and a rather awkward smile.  

“My apologies... are you going somewhere?”

Your cheeks began to burn.  You sat your keys on the table beside your door, shaking your head.  “I was going to see you, actually.”

Luna giggled up at the man when he came into her line of vision.  She adored Carlisle.  

“Oh, that makes this easier then,” he let out a soft laugh, hesitantly holding out the flowers to you.  “These are for you.  I... I had asked Alice what your favorites were.  I hope you don’t mind.”

You smiled.  “No...  No, I don’t,” you said, clearing your throat.  You moved out of the doorway so that he could come into your house.  “I was hoping that.. well, I am hoping this now.  I’ve needed to talk to you.  For a while now.  I really, really need to just get this off my chest, you know?  I just—”

“—could I be of any assistance?” he chuckled softly.  “Perhaps I can find the words that you are searching for.”

You rolled your eyes, unable to keep your smile from forming.  “Carlisle, I’ve... loved you since before my husband died.  I know that for a fact, now.  And I... hope that you feel the same way.  About myself.  And Luna.  We’re a package deal, you know.”

He chuckled softly and nodded.  “I know that you are a package deal.  I... am very glad you feel that way, too.”

“Too?”

“Yes,” Carlisle smiled at you.  “I have loved you since the first time I have set eyes on you.”

You snorted out a laugh, crossing your arms over your chest.  “That long, huh?”

He just smiled, watching you with kind, golden eyes.  “There are many things I need to tell you, [Your name],” he said, finally shutting the front door behind of him.  He looked down at Luna and got her out of the carrier, especially when she happily reached for the man.  “Perhaps we can take this evening to talk?”

You smiled, nodding.  “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but yeah.  I’d like that.”

All of you made Carlisle’s beatless heart skip.  He could only hope that it was the opposite for you (he could definitely hear how fast your heart began to beat the closer he got to you).  Luna entertained herself with the buttons on Carlisle’s shirt while the two of you talked until she fell asleep against him.  

Perhaps it was that moment that you truly knew that you were in love with Carlisle.  No—that action only fortified your love for the man.  You knew you had loved him just as long as he had claimed to love you.  And for once, you were not afraid of what love could do. 

Because you believed you loved your deceased husband, you married him.  You slowly watched him become a horrible person.  And then you had Luna with him.  Of course, that was the one good thing that came out of him.  Perhaps the chance of meeting Carlisle as well.  

But you knew that now, the love you felt for Carlisle was as real as the infant in Carlisle’s arms.  And it would never burn like your last loveless love.  

For the first time, it felt like you were seeing yourself in a new light.  You were seeing everything from a different perspective.  And Carlisle allowed that.  Carlisle helped you find that.  

Even if he hadn’t have been there, you would have still found it.  However, you knew that he made it so much easier than it would have been.  

For the first time, you knew real love.  With Luna, and now with Carlisle.  

Despite everything that had happened to you, it seemed as though the universe was finally connecting the dots.  And you couldn’t wait to see what she was going to give you, next.  

[barbecuebabybackribs]

 Being In a Poly relationship with Sam Uley, Paul Lahote, and Jacob Black would include: (Male! Cullen! Imprint! Reader)

Requested: Yes

(Your all in a relationship)

Everyone Knew they were in a relationship

They got a lot of strange looks and backhanded comments

But they were able to get through it together- luckily not many people had the guts to say it in front of there faces considering they were all tall buff men

It did get to them slightly, and it took them a long time to be public with there relationship but eventually the hiding got to them and they came out

The pack already knew of course, it would be hard to hide the longing looks they gave to each other normally, but since they can hear each others thoughts? They were outed very quickly

Embry and Jared nearly choke when they first hear a passing thought go through Jacob’s mind about an intimate moment they had shared- and everything quickly unraveled from there

You are the youngest of the Cullen children, mainly because you are human.

You had a rough childhood and were taken away for your family at a very young age

One day you had gotten hurt by and equally poor foster family

Carlisle was your doctor, he instantly noticed the signs of abuse and also realized just how wonderful of a kid you were

He followed procedure and reported the incident to CPS

You were taken away but then you were without a family once again, Carlisle tried not to think about you, knowing there were plenty of poor children in situations like yours and his home wouldn’t be safe for a human child

But when you come back in, this time with a broken arm, he discusses it with the family.

Him and Esme start the process of adoption and cross there fingers.

They’re accepted.

You’re only four so they panic and buy everything they can think of to childproof there house, and set up a room for you- which Alice and Rosalie take care of

You don’t trust them at first, your past foster families had been abusive and even though you were young you still associated the process with being hurt

Jasper keeps his distance from you but uses his powers to ease your stress

When you first go there your three favorite people are Esme, Rosalie, and Carlisle

You love Esme because she makes you your favorite foods and she reads you bed time stories every night- she also was the first person other then Carlisle you met

You love Carlisle because he was the first person who was nice to you in a long time, he was always nice to you and was the first real father figure you had, so of course you want to talk to him for two hours about cartoons and the cool bug you saw outside- although he’s a sucker for your ramblings

You loved Rosalie because she loved you, she babied you, played with you, dances with you, watches cartoons with you every Sunday morning while your still half asleep.

You soon warm up to the others though and over the years your close with them all

When they first told you about vampires they only confirmed a suspicion you had already had

“Wait, so I was right?”

“Yeah a bit...” Edward piped up awkwardly from the corner having forgotten to tell them about your theory on why they were all the same age as when you had met, never ate with you, and never slept

Your still all close, even closer in fact now that they don’t need to hide everything from you

So when they ask you to deliver a message to the wolf pack- who you had never met but were familiar with- you complied

Happily pulling up you grasped the note tightly- technically you knew what to say, just tell them when the training would take place- but that didn’t mean you weren’t nervous about forgetting

With three snaps of your wrist you knocked on the door, eyes low as you tried to keep your nerves at bay- just drop the note off, then leave. It’ll be simple

The door swung open and a stern looking woman opened the door

“Hello?”

“Uh hi, I’m supposed to drop this letter off with Sam Uley.”

“Ah so you’re the Leeches human.”

“Uhm- and you’re Leah the Female wolf?”

She mumbled a yeah and motioned for me to come inside, when you walk in you instantly recognize the wolf pack- mainly because of there tattoos but the fact that they were all shirtless was a large hint.

“Which one of you is Sam?” You asked looking at the four men sat at the table eating a variety of foods displayed on the table.

Two of the men- one you had recognized from Bella’s description as being Jacob black- stopped mid bite and stared at you, which made you shift nervously

little did you know Jacob and Paul were currently in the midst of there entire world shifting below there feet, and suddenly it wasn’t just there partners who mattered above all else, you were at the center of it all.

Right when you were contemplating turning around and leaving before you had the option to give them the letter, or to find out why they were staring at you so intensely, like they were a second away from jumping over the table and tackling you- someone cleared there throat from next to you

You nearly jumped out of your skin and quickly turned to look at the man who had scared you

He was tall, had a stern yet handsome face- and gave off an incredibly intimidating aura

His tightly knit brows instantly relaxed as we made eye contact- which made you think you might have something on your face considering everyone is staring at you

“Are you... Sam?” You asked, trying to put on your best smile despite the feeling of three men staring into your soul causing your skin to crawl

“Yes, and you are?” He spoke, gentler then you were expecting but his voice still carried a powerful undertone

“Y/N, Carlisle sent me to give you the detail on your whole training session.”

He paused for a moment, taking the letter from your hand and glancing at the others

“Your the Cullen’s human?” He asked but it came out more as a statement

“I prefer Y/N, but yes- I’m the Cullen token human.” You tried to lighten the suddenly serious moment, but when you were met with more confused stares and strangely longing gazes you let out a nervous laugh, “You know... I’m just gonna go...” You said sounding slightly more nervous intended

There was a few more moments of silent and Sam, Jacob, and mystery pack member shared a knowing but slightly panic looked.

“Hey, Why don’t you stay for lunch- since you’re already here and everything.” Jacob smiled from his seat at the table- repeatedly hitting the shoulder of another boy until he moved and then motioning at the free seat.

“Oh... I shouldn’t, I mean I’d hate to impose.” You waved your hand slightly, a small smile on your face. They seemed nice but the thought of being glared at for any longer made you want to die on the spot.

“Ah come on, we’d love to get to know the infamous vampire boy.”

You let out a slight sigh before admitting defeat- not wanting to seem rude at this point. “I guess I can stay for a bit- If you stop calling me Vampire boy.... or ‘the leech human’.” 

“Deal.” Mystery boy said before motioning his head to the now-free chair, “Now sit.”

You end up sitting down and are able to enjoy yourself, most of the pack other then Jacob, Paul, and Sam don’t talk to you to terribly much, other then introducing themselves.

“Oh, by the way, what’s your name again?”

“It’s Paul.” He practically beamed at your slight attention- you didn’t know it but the three men were all suddenly very desperate to get to know you and have your attention. Hence why they didn’t want you to leave.

Time flew by quicker then any of you would have liked, they all hung onto your every word as you talked, and you found yourself doing the same when they talked.

The rest of the pack quickly caught on and were either fighting back a laugh the entire time or dreading the drama that would likely ensue from not one, not two, but three werewolf’s imprinting on the human Cullen.

Speaking of which, none of the Cullen’s know until the training scene.

The whole day is put on pause for a few minutes as Edward quickly is able to read the thoughts of the pack and tells the others.

Your standing near Bella- confused on what exactly an imprint is but not asking because you had a suspicion it wasn’t good.

Carlisle and Esme are fairly calm, this wasn’t the kind of thing you could control and they were happy you would have three werewolf’s looking out for you- since they were known for being protective of there imprints

Jasper, Edward, and Emmett, had no idea how to feel.

The one time Jasper is stumped with emotions, he knows imprints are usually happiest with their imprinter- or imprinters. But how could he know you’d be safe with them? Alice wouldn’t be able to see if something was going to go wrong so anything could happen

Emmett was slightly confused but he guessed he was happy for you? But also upset that the mutts imprinted on his human

Edward was, just, couldn’t, wrap, his, head, around, it.

Rosalie and Alice were fuming

You were Rosalie’s kid, if they thought for one second they could have you they’d have to get through her

Alice did not like the mutts, especially when they were imprinted on her favorite human- her usually happy demeanor shifted and she held herself back but jasper was gently holding her hand to try and keep her calm

Rosalie however went off

“What do you mean they all imprinted on him! As if dealing with one of them wouldn’t be enough!” She hissed, grabbing your arm and pulling you behind her- which caused the three wolves to snap and growl slightly

“Uh- It’s okay Rose?” You tried to ignore your confusion and comfort her slightly

“No- It’s not Y/N!”

Everyone was very tense for the rest of the training session, you were mainly searching through your memories trying to remember what imprints were- when you did remember you let out a small “oh”

Although you didn’t know the relationship would move past being close friends

Which is exactly what you were for awhile.

Carlisle was able to convince Rosalie to let you go see the pack, not wanting to start a dispute by withholding you

She still gave you a pocket knife and a long rant on how if they try anything or you get slightly uncomfortable to leave immediately- and to listen to you instincts.

But your instincts tell you to completely trust the pack.

The first few meetings the four of you have after the training session were awkward at first but you quickly warmed up to them

You spend a lot of time on the beach and especially just hanging around Sam’s house

You four can just talk for hours enjoying eachothers company

Jacob likes to spend private time with you at the beach, he likes watching you collect seashells- you may have grown up in the area but you were never allowed to go to the beach so you’ve got almost a child-like excitement when you’re there.

Paul likes to take you places, any place you want to go- you got it- he likes seeing new movies with you, especially action films but you’ve dragged him to a few cheesy werewolf movies specifically so you could crack up at them and whisper in your ear, ‘So do you do that?’

Sam likes to have more chill time with you, he takes the brunt of patrolling and just being able to rest, and hang out with you knowing your safe is enough. Not that it’s boring though, he still finds different ways to fill the time but it’s much more relaxing things- one time you made him paint and he refused to show you his piece for days because it was ‘so bad’, you assured him it wasn’t although inside you both knew it was. When he tried to throw it away you stole it out of the trash and brought it home

When you all hang out your in for a fun day, your usually doing something specific because keeping four people entertained can be a hassle if your just hanging out- not that you don’t just hang out but things run more smoothly when your doing something

If they had a particularly long day patrolling you’ll let them just relax- always offering to leave if they need alone time since you do know they might just went to spend time with their partners, but they always insist you stay

They usually lay on the couch and you’ll make them dinner since they do have huge appetites, and Esme did give you cooking lessons so you know your way around the kitchen

Plus it’s nice to cook for someone else other then yourself

Jacob and Paul are always pumped when you cook for them- Sam always reminds you that you don’t need to cook for them, but is secretly just as excited because your an extremely good cook

Speaking of being a good cook- that’s something the entire pack appreciates your skill because you always conveniently make just enough for them as well- totally a coincidence if anyone asks you

Leah starts to warm up to you- she still doesn’t like being around Sam but she realizes your not a bad guy and she enjoys being able to be around you and only you so she can escape the other pack members thoughts but also have company

The rest of the pack loves you- partially because you make them food but also they think your fun to be around- although your rarely alone with anyone other then your three imprintee’s

None of you know when exactly you start having non-platonic feeling for each other

I mean Jasper does, which means Edward knows, and of course they had to tell Alice and Bella, so they all know way before you realize.

None of them are particularly bothered by you being gay, Jasper and Edward have known since you’d get crushes on the male cartoon characters on your shows, Alice didn’t mind you fell in love with a man-men- she just was hesitant about the men you fell for. And Bella always had a sneaking suspicion so it merely confirmed a suspicion she had- although it did go against her religious beliefs, so did being a vampire and she was able to accept that so you liking men? No big deal

Jacob is the first to realize of the three shifters- and since he is the first one to know he panics at the thought of the others not also liking you in the same way

However there is a Domino effect and almost within 24 hours they all realize they all feel the same way- but do you?

“The Cullen’s are going to kill us- not only imprinting on there son but this?”

Them slowly testing the waters to see how you feel is how you realize you like like them

Paul wrapped an arm around you when you shivered in the cold air, he couldn’t fight back the smug smile that painted his features when you leaned further into him

Sam mainly observes your behavior, not wanting to push you so he tries to read into all you slight movements.

Jacob mainly makes jokes under the same style ‘what if we all went on a date together... haha jk jk... unless?’

After five of those kinds of jokes you get suspicious- those paired with Jacob suddenly wanting to spend a lot more time with you and getting you small gifts- along with Sam becoming a lot more touchy feely and also giving you small gifts- you were suspicious the feeling were mutual.

All of you danced around your feeling.

Until you overheard a conversation.

“Jake, we have to take our time, we don’t want to push him.”

“Sam! We’ve been waiting for weeks, we should just tell him, lay all our cards out on the table.”

“Oh yeah, Jake just three shifters cornering you and saying ‘hey you know how we said imprints are sometimes completely platonic? Well this is not one of those times’.”

They had not realized you were standing on the front porch right next to the very open window

Your plan was simple- just back away and stay near your car for five minutes then come back and pretend you didn’t hear anything- simple right?

Not quite since you didn’t hear Jared walking up behind you- and of course he was very loud with his greeting

After a few moments you see Jacobs head stick out the window looking a tad panicked- “Oh Y/N I had no idea you were here!”

“Uh yeah... just got here an bumped into Jared.”

Jared only needed to pick something up and then he was gone and you were left alone with three men who were wondering if you had heard them.

An awkward silence was in the air before Sam finally sighed and asked “Did you here what we were talking about?”

Your face gave an answer before you could speak, but you tried none-the-less “psshhh.... nah I didn’t hear a single thing...”

“That’s obviously a lie.”

Jacob is happy you know and can make a decision if you’d like to stay merely friends or possibly become more, Paul is panicked your going to be completely put off by them all falling for you- they didn’t even know if you were gay so this could actually make you run back to the Cullen’s and never come back, and Sam is a mix of both- he doesn’t think you’ll run but he is worried if you don’t share there feeling your relationship will never be the same, although he was eager to hear what you have to say

“So... you all want... to date me?” You held your breath awaiting an answer.

“Basically..”

You let out a small ‘oh’ as a smile fights it’s way onto your features

They don’t know if your happy or if you’re making fun of them

Sam doesn’t beat around the bush and asks if you have feelings for them in a purely platonic sense, or not.

You lightly punch his shoulder and joke lightly “Not”

“What?”

“Not.” You said again,

“Y/N What the ever living fu-- OH YOU MEAN YOUR FEELINGS AREN’T PLATONIC!” Paul blurts out in confusion and then excitement

You just smile slightly and nod at him, having to many butterflies in your stomach to talk.

The day goes absolutely wonderfully after that- you were planning on just watching The AmittyVille Horror and having dinner, and that’s what you did

But even though none of them had officially asked you out, you all just unanimously agreed you were theirs now and they were yours

For the first time Sam wasn’t the only one helping you with dinner

You had to give Paul and Jacob easier jobs as they were absolutely terrible in the kitchen, Paul was in charge rubbing the seasoning-that same had mixed- on the meat and he was in charge of the playlist so you all had music to listen to- Jake was in charge of chopping, which he was slow and sloppy at but he did his best

You and Sam had already cooked many meals together so you moved smoothly through the kitchen preparing the rest of the food

You all ate together and then watched the movie, none of you were to particularly scared however you all enjoyed the movie

You went home that night very happy and Edward stopped you before you even got through the door

He unintentionally outed you- before you were ready. He hold’s the guilt of that for years- even after you forgive him.

No one really says much, Esme and Carlisle say they’re happy for you and then let you awkwardly walk right back out of the house

Carlisle is technically extremely religious but he knows that god loves all his creations and he knows the bible has been through many different phases, so he know’s it is not a literal guide book- he knows who you are and he loves you regardless

Esme has already known since you were a kid and you told her you secretly has a crush on a guy in your class- when you were in kindergarten- which you completely forgot but she’s always known and always loved you.

Rosalie is fuming- not because your gay, I mean she at one point questioned her own sexuality and she really doesn’t care what sexuality you are, but she does care that the MUTTS THINK THEY HAVE ANY CLAIM TO HER SON

they’ve already been stealing you every other day, but now? what if you move in with them, what if you start seeing them everyday, where will she be in your life? She’s mad and insecure, you end up telling her she’ll always be the best mom and that it doesn’t matter who your with, you’ll never leave her

Emmett is just flabbergasted, you get imprinted on by three wolves, you fall for all of them, they’re all men, they all fall for you. It’s a lot, he still loves you, but it’s a lot

You go right back to Sam’s house- you take a slight detour, you weren’t ready to come out to them so you need a minute

You knock and Sam’s door and only have to wait a second before it swings open- he heard you coming

“What happened?” He said when he saw your face- which you hadn’t realized must’ve looked upset

You just sighed and mumbled “I love them but sometimes living with vampires sucks ass.”

He chuckled lightly and pulled you inside, you didn’t see his eye twitch in agitation that the cullens upset you “You want to talk about it?”

“Not even slightly.”

“Well then, what would you like to do.”

You shrugged and plopped yourself on his couch “If you were doing something I can just chill here.”

“I was only going to clean and go to bed- I’d much rather spend time with you.”

He said plopping down on the couch with you, you ended up talking random things including the scary stories you believed in when you were small and debating what kind of pasta was the best

After awhile you both got pretty tired and you said you should probably go, with a sigh

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to- I mean I’ll sleep on the couch and you can take the bed if you’d like.”

You ended up agreeing with him but insisting you sleep on the couch- threatening to leave if he sleeps on it since he has patrols the next day

You two stay up a tad longer then he let’s you get some rest

It takes you awhile to fall asleep since you’ve never really stayed here over night

In the morning he’s in a bit of a rush but you spend a few mintutes together and then he’s out the door

When you go home all the cullens are hella worried

Takes you an hour to calm them down and convince them your alright you were just to tired to drive

They’re not exactly thrilled but they let it slide- just this once

It takes them awhile to get used to your relationship but once they see your happy and safe they accept it

Jacob drives you around on his bike a lot- sometimes if you need a lift but also just to be with you

Paul is the one most likely to tackle you- it’s actually how you have your first kiss- which is kinda romantic but he also scared the hell out of you

If you want to be technical your first kiss with Sam was a cheek kiss, which he did in the middle of making lunch which through you off

But your first lip kiss was almost just as random but a bit more romantic, he walked you to your car after you all had gone on a date and the others hanged back- he told them to in there minds but you didn’t know that- and kissed you before you got in your car

Jacob was a bit jealous he was the last to the party but he makes up for it in being really cute

Not-so-stealthy wraps a warm arm around you and pulls you close, your sitting on the cool beach so you cuddle into his warm chest, he calls your name quietly so you look up to him and  then he goes to kiss you- but his nose smashes into yours

He immediately apologizes while you die of laughter, unclinging from him and practically rolling in the sand

Defeated he grumpily crosses his arms and refuses to look at you

“Hey Jake~” You call, and now he’s the one turning to you and you steal a kiss

After that you instantly cuddle back up into his warm chest despite the fact your insane blush heated you up

They are always affectionate to each-other and if you think you escaped that- think again,

At least one of them is always touching you in some way- Jake loves to hold you hand, Paul likes to have a hand on your thigh/lower back- and Sam likes to wrap his arm around your shoulders

Sam is a big sucker for face kisses 

Paul looooves when you play with his hair but refuses to admit it

Jacob likes to just casually carry your around on his back/in his arms

It takes a good long while for all of you to get intimate

You mess around one on one with each other but it’s intimidating for three Tall Hunky werewolves to just take you

But they do regardless as long as you’re okay with it- Edward and Jasper are very uncomfortable with the new intimacy in your relationship

Whenever there is a supernatural threat you spend 95% of your time with them- the other 5% with the cullens

They will not let you out of you sights, you almost think your getting heatstroke at night when you’re surrounded by three bodies- two of which have arms around you- radiating heat

speaking of which in the winter you still don’t need blankets because they’re all more the willing to be your blanket

One time Paul lost control and shifted near you and your tackled by jacob so you don’t get hurt

Paul spends a weak apologizing

He always hates his temper but it’s been a lot better since you came along

They all become better people with you around- but not because you force them to be, because they want to be with you around

They love you wholeheartedly and that’s all that truly matters

You guys live a long happy life together and no one will ever tear you apart

Word count: 4,571

(sighs in having 20 drafts but ADHD brain won’t let you finish any, also I hope you like it ^^ @shamelessloverhairdopainter sorry I haven’t completed any of your other requests yet but trust me I’m trying to write every free chance I get, everyone have a good day and stay safe y’all)

[youralternantpersonality]

Wallflower

Embry x Reader: Wallflower

Anon request: Hey! so I just wanted to do a request. [Paul: He finds reader lost and cold in the forest.] and (if you can) [Embry: Reader was part of Victoria’s army and he imprints with her while they're fighting.] Thanks! I just love your stories.

Warning: Bree was unjustly killed, and I hate S. Meyer for it. The ending is kind of shitty sorry. Also, I feel like it is necessary that I post in hopes that it takes other's minds off of everything that is going on. I know it doesn't do too much, but I hope it helps and does enough.

Paul’s request can be found here

***

Y/n POV

I watch everyone in the corner of the room going batshit crazy with hunger. We are cramped up in a warehouse somewhere deep in the southeast side of the docs in Seattle. I was one of the first few victims of Victoria and Riley. I knew what they were up to, and I knew she is playing Riley like a play-toy because I had been watching Victoria closely. Every day, it's someone new, and every day that someone new may end up dying because she starves them until they all go crazy.

Except for me, and that terrifies her.

I have always been the invisible one—the wallflower of every group of friends I had. I was also a runner and observant of everything and everyone. Cautious of everything and everyone. The second I got an inkling that shit was going south, I was gone. It explains my surveillance ability; to see tactical and strategic plans and details of someone and my surroundings. For example, Victoria, she has one goal in mind but changes her pathways every time. Her issue is that she only plans out two different options without thinking of another one. And that’s where she downfalls at. Because the worst thing to do is to be a step behind an obvious move. I know she has warned Riley of me. Both are unknown to what I can do. If I’m honest, if I liked the bitch, I would help her plan on taking down the Cullen.

Plus, if I liked her, I’d also warn her that we are actively watched. I look over to the left side of the roofless room to see four figures with bright red eyes—Three guys and one girl. They’ve came by almost every night for the past 2 weeks, and Victoria and Riley haven’t noticed a thing. And as usual, I make direct eye contact with them, nod my head a hello, and turn back to the room of bastards I’m stuck with. I know how this is going to end for everyone, including me. Death. Without a second thought. And Victoria and Riley, especially Riley, included in that equation. And by the looks of those four, I already know that there’s not a chance in hell I would survive if I was to go out hunting now. They’d kill me in a heartbeat.

I looked over to see the only two people I like in this room of chaos—a small petite girl named Bree and a guy around her age named Louis. Bree was no older than 14, and Louis was 15. It’s sad to see young lives lost and gone for good, thanks to a selfish bitch and her puppy. The second Victoria and Riley brought them in, I took care of them. They’re the youngest of everyone, and I reassured Riley to not go after younger kids if he wants to live another day. He took my threat heavily and never bit another kid under 17.

“Enough!” Macho man Riley screamed. I rolled my eyes and listened anyway. “We leave in an hour. Remember, when you see them, demolish them! They will kill you before you kill them.”

“Oh please,” Sabastian said, flexing his muscles, “They wish they can take me down.”

“With that attitude, you’ll be down in five, maybe ten minutes tops.” Another kid said on the other side. I can’t say he’s wrong.

“Why don’t you say that to my face!” Sabastian called out.

“HEY!” we all look up to see the red queen has finally blessed us with her glory. “Let’s save the fighting for later. Right now, we must prepare to head out. The Cullen’s are dangerous; they will play mind games on you and have you believed in lies. They took my family, and they will take many others if we don’t.” she says, giving a weeping sad story. I roll my eyes at her drama.

“So, what does that have to do with us? Yeah, they took your family, but you took us from ours.” I say. I’m tired of this bullshit with them. The second we leave, I’m out when I know I’m in the clear. I already know that when we land, Riley and Victoria will be nowhere to be found, leaving us for death.

“Excuse me?” Victoria squints her eyes at me. I know she is about to charge at me, so I calm my body language while she tenses hers up. I have always been a threat to her. I was a step ahead of her, always. My mannerism, my inability to not be terrified of her, worries her more than Riley turning on her. And oh, how I love to see this bitch suffer.

“Why should we help you when you killed and took us away from our family. didn’t you technically do the same thing they did to us?” Everyone was quiet. In a millisecond, Victoria took her step forward while I slid to my right just as she was about to grab me. She was fast, but I was a step ahead of her. she looked at me with wide eyes as I smiled.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to underestimate the quiet ones?” I whisper just low enough for her to hear. She straightened herself up and walked towards the front. When she turned back, her eyes were wild with anger, and told us we are leaving. So, like the minions we have to be, we followed her. I wonder if there’s a tree tall enough for me to hid in to watch her get killed.

Embry’s POV

“What goddamn army?” Jake said, talking to the Cullen’s in their lair.

“We believe the Volturi is setting up an army nearby,” Carlisle said.

“I don’t see Aro making the decisions.” Pixie said. Alice? Pixie.

“It has to be Victoria,” Edward said,

“Victoria? Who’s Victoria?” Jake asked.

“A vampire that is after Bella. I killed her mate, trying to protect Bella, and now she is seeking revenge.” Edward replied. Ah, so it’s the human girl's fault. Interesting.

“We’re in,” Jake said, we all nodded, and Bella disagreed for Jacob. The absolute fuck? After planning a time to meet up with the Cullen’s for a “training” session to fight these new-borns, we head home and notify Sam. Needless to say, Sam was pissed but called up Carlisle to set up a meeting time later that morning.

A week later, we are hiding behind the trees waiting for the children of the fields to arrive. Not too long after did everything go down. There were about 25 versus our group of 12. Seth and Jake were up in the mountains with Edward and Bella.

On my call! —Sam

3—We can hear them coming closer and closer.

2—We prepare ourselves in a low crouching position

1—We see the first breakthrough

NOW!

We jump just in time to see the leaches leap over a small hill above us. Not preparing for what was to come did some of them back off slightly. They came from all over, nonstop. I don’t think they were ready for this. I look over to see Esme attempting to fight off two when I ran to help.

Y/N POV

I told Louis and Bree what they were going to do, and they did exactly what I thought. Instead of fighting, we hid behind some bushes since there were no trees nearby. We watched everything go down, and I was happy to see Leo, Thomas, and Krystina fall to their demise. Now, if only they could get Sebast-

“Fuck.” I say, putting Bree and Louis behind me backing away. The two older couple watches us, and I can see they don’t see us as a threat. They look back, and the lady stays behind.

“Who are you?” She asks. I cautiously look at her, making sure Louis and Bree stay behind me.

“I am Y/n, this is Louis and Bree. We are victims of Victoria but refuse to fight. Who are you?” I say,

“I am Esme Cullen,” She looks behind her quickly, “Stay here and do not move.” I nodded my head, and we went back down to a crouching position. We watch closely as the last few people are being killed off while some of the Cullen’s clean up. Esme and the other man who was with her come back to us, and we step forward. Bree and Louis grab my hand, and we slowly walk towards them.

“SAM NO!” I look over to see a giant black wolf charging towards us. I push Louis and Bree towards Esme and duck just as he was about to have his teeth attached to my head. I turn around to see him just look at me and notice another wolf behind him. I start weighing my options when I made eye contact with that other wolf, but I froze. I couldn’t see anyone or anything but the wolf. It was gross, honestly; why the hell would I want to care about a wolf?

“Embry imprinted.” Says one of the guys. The big black wolf looked towards the guy and back at the wolf who was about to walk forward until,

“Leah, look out!” Everyone turned to the silver and white wolf as Sebastian comes up behind her. Before he could do anything, another wolf comes and gets him off her. But before anyone else could react, Sabastian got ahold of the wolf and broke his bones. Thankfully the female wolf finally, killed Sabastian but the young wolf who saved her transformed into a human? What the fuck?

“What the fuck? They’re shapeshifters?” I ask quietly to no one. Soon after, the then naked man was fully clothed, and his friends come from the bushes dressed and grabbed him. Before altogether leaving, I man—lean yet buff. More of an angled sharp face with wide brown eyes looked back at me. It doesn’t take astrophysics to know that that was Embry carrying the injured young wolf.

“They’re coming.” A pixie girl said. Shit. I recollect the only four people who know of us. The guy who called out about Embry looked towards me when I thought of their face.

“You’re the mind reader, aren’t you?” He nods his head. “I don’t know who they are, but they’ve been watching us for weeks. I’ve made eye contact with them constantly, but I’m not stupid enough to actually go and risk my life talking to them.” He looks at me and nods again. Not long after, they come in the most dramatic way possible. They step out of the bushes with their hoods on and in unison flip them back. Dramatic much?

“I see you’ve taken down a great hit. Shocking with the size of them.” The blonde girl said.

“We were fortunate,” Carlisle said.

“You may have known their creator, Victoria.” Mindreader said.

“Edward, if the Volturi knew this was going to happen, they would’ve stopped it. Isn’t that right, Jane?”

“Yes.  I see you saved some.” Jane calls us out.

“They offered their surrender-” Esme explained.

“I’ll be the judge of that. Who are you?” Out of nowhere, a striking hit of pain erupted through us. It was horrifying. “Who created you? Why did you come here?” we screamed louder.

“Please! They’ll tell you everything you want to know.” The pain suddenly stopped.

“I know,” the conniving little bitch, “Answer me.” She says, looking at me.

“I am Y/n, she is Bree, and his name is Louis. Victoria created me, and Riley created them. Victoria only said that we were to avenge her family's death that the Cullen took part in. We had no choice but planned on leaving as soon as possible. Before running into Esme and Carlisle.” As I was speaking, I noticed Jane was looking at Louis strangely. I looked at Louis, and he had a grin on his face. Jane looked back at Bree and me.

“We’ll let you go if one of you surrenders to show proof to our master, Aro.” She says, looking at Louis. The other guys with her are confused until they see where her eyes are leading too. Louis smiles and shrugs his shoulder.

“I’ll do it,” he says while looking at her. Jane smiles and looks at us,

“Then it’s settled. You may roam free, but do anything wrong, you will be caught.” She turns towards the female girl, “I see she’s still human. I bet Caius would like to know that.”

“The date is set.”

“Good, let this be a warning to you. The Volturi doesn’t give second chances.” She looks towards Louis, “Let’s go home, Louis.” She says with a smile. He turns towards Bree and me and hugs us, then speeds off next to Jane.

“Well, that was interesting.” A big guy said. He turned towards Bree and me and said, “Welcome to the family!” then proceeds to pick us both up and hug us.

“Emmett put them down; they’re not toys.” A blonde chick said.

“But, Rosie!”

“NOW, Emmett.” She said. He, begrudgingly, put us down, and patted our head.

“Why don’t we head back to the house, and you can explain to us who you guys are.” Carlisle.

The following week

Bree and I just got back from hunting with Esme and Rosalie when Alice met us halfway home. With some clothes to change into.

“I would suggest putting these on. We have to meet up with the wolves really quick.” She says, shoving clothes in our arms and pushing us into the woods.

“Uh, Alice is there a reason as to why I am wearing waist-high jeans, a crop-top, and some heals. I’m not complaining, just asking for scientific reasons.” I say, stepping out of the trees. Bree comes out with a black and white poke-a-dot dress with a yellow bowtie around the waist with black heals.

“Yeah. Although the dress is cute. And it has pockets!” Bree announces.

“Yes, there is actually. And to receive your answers, come with me.” Alice says before taking off.

“Oh lord, what did she see this time,” Rosalie said, rolling her eyes. We get to a small clearing and wait to see the rest of the Cullen’s and the wolves. As we approach, I see the brown wolf before. I’d recognize his eyes from anywhere.

“Thank you for joining us, girls. Edward will translate for us; they would prefer to stay in their form.” Carlisle said, giving Edward the floor.

“Do you know what imprinting, or in our term, mating means?” Edward asked both Bree and me. We nodded our head, and he continued, “It has come to the realization that both Bree and Y/n have imprinted on Embry and Seth.” Just then, two wolves stepped forward. Bree, without hesitation, went up to the gray-colored wolf and smiled. He did as much as a regular oversized giant bear of a dog could smile. I looked at the brown wolf in front of me, timid and shier than Bree. He took a step towards me, too, until we were in front of each other.

“Can I touch you?” I ask, unsure if he has full control over himself or not. He nods his head and allows me to do so. All I can feel is warmth and soft fur flowing through my fingers. I smile, and they both step into the woods. When they come back, they come as their human forms. Seth easily runs up and hugs Bree and twirls her around. Embry, however, steps up to me and just looks at me. We do nothing but stare at one another until he smiles. I couldn’t help but smile back at him.

“I think we’re good here, guys. She’s decently innocent.” He says, looking back at me and winks. I smile up at him and look around.

“Have fun,” Alice says before taking off with everyone else. I look over at Bree and Seth and see them walking together somewhere away from us. I look up at my mate and ask,

“So, tell me about yourself, Embry.” And we proceed to have a never-ending conversation.

Bonus scene: Narrator POV

A year has gone by, and Embry and I are still happy together. After dealing with the Volturi due to Bella and Edwards's ability to have a kid, and the snitch of a cousin in Denali who tried to get us all killed (snitches get stitches and end up in ditches bitch), Embry and I were finally able to relax. I won't lie, it was hard seeing Louis on that side. And I can tell it was hard for him to see in this fucked up situation, but when they turned to leave, we all got to smile at each other before disappearing into the woods with the rest of the Volturi.

Currently, Embry and I are in my room in Forks. After the war, everyone decided to pack up and leave, and Bree and I promised to visit them wherever they end up being at soon. Bree and I stayed behind because of Embry and Seth, and because with the amount of forest surrounding, it would be better for us since we are still learning to adapt to this diet.

“Hey, Y/n.”

“Yes, my love?” I turn towards Embry and watch him. He seemed worried.

“I love you, and I know you might feel as if this is too much or too soon, but,” he proceeded to take my left hand and slide a small band on it, “will you do me the honors of being my wife?” All I could do was look at the ring. If I could cry, I would. I quickly turn towards him and kiss him.

“Yes. I am fucking in love with you, Embry Call.”

“I love you too, Y/f/n Y/l/n.” Who would’ve thought that I would be lucky enough to land a fantastic guy like him with my fucked-up situation? I can honestly say this was one move I didn’t see coming.

MasterList

[andersunmenschlich]

Episode 18: The Man Upstairs

All right—let’s see how long this one takes me. Listening, writing, listening, writing....

[August 8, 2020: begin!]

This statement was given in December 2008 by someone named Kristoff Rudenko, and has to do with (as the episode title might suggest) a man who lived in the apartment above the one our statement-giver moved into sometime in 2002, later in the year. Apparently the place was called Welbeck House.

I have some experience with people living above me. The apartments I choose as a photosensitive tend to have people upstairs of them. What can I say? Basements are nice when light hates you.

Kristoff saw the man for the first time the day he moved in.

According to our statement-giver, the man was leaning out of his window, smoking... while wearing a hooded jacket pulled up so tight it obscured most of his face. Now, I don’t smoke, but that seems like a rather odd way of doing it to me. Surely it can’t be that convenient to stick something into your mouth while you’ve got your face all wrapped up? At least I’ve never seen anyone doing it that way. Even in quite cold weather people seem to prefer to leave their faces mostly exposed while smoking.

The weather on this particular day, Kristoff says, was gray and overcast with the possibility of rain later. Hmm. Is this the type of weather in which one would wear a coat while still technically indoors? This is a genuine question: I’m a cold person in many ways, and often wear jackets when others wouldn’t.

Well, perhaps it is that cold, or perhaps the man upstairs also possesses an unnaturally low body temperature.

He certainly possesses an unusual odor. Our statement-giver describes it as “halfway between the smell of a pavement after rain on a hot day and chicken that’s starting to turn,” which is difficult for me to imagine.

The man, leaning out his upstairs window, watches Kristoff move in for a while. Then, between one trip and another, he vanishes. Presumably he finished whatever the heck it was that he was smoking. One wonders: did the smell come from him, or from his unhealthy little treat? Our statement-giver doesn’t tell us what it was the man was smoking, forcing us to make do with the vague conclusion that it must have been something common for the time and location.

Wandsworth near London, later in the year 2002... a cigarette?

It could, of course, have been a cigar, a pipe, a marijuana roll-up, a hookah, or almost anything else, since we’re not told—but I assign higher probability to a cigarette than to any other possibility.

...Ha. Why, yes: I do have a certain fondness for precise and detailed information. However could you tell.

Speaking of precise and detailed information, Kristoff admits he had no idea whether the man upstairs was a man, he just decided to assume—which is an admission I like, because frankly I think admitting you’re making an assumption is a step up from making the assumption and apparently never even noticing that it is an assumption, and might be incorrect.

Kristoff also gives us more information about his own internal workings by letting us know that, despite not knowing why, he was “slightly spooked” by the encounter. Something in this other tenant’s manner, he says, shook him.

Well, being stared at by someone for the better part of half an hour might be a bit unsettling, don’t you think? Smell or no smell.

The man upstairs is apparently reclusive and stays quietly in his own place most of the time, with only his smell wandering around bothering people. Kristoff has another go at describing it and comes up with “rotten and earthy,” but also notes that it stays out of his place—which I think is interesting, don’t you? In my experience living downstairs from people, scents come right on down, floors and ceilings no obstacle to their passage.

Despite this, Kristoff gets in the habit of burning scented candles. Of course, all candles have a scent. I have a habit of using candles and lamps for lighting, and I’m familiar with the various odors—but specially scented candles are, I think, nice when you’re in the mood for them.

Returning to Kristoff Rudenko: Things were pretty all right for the first two years.

In 2004, however, the banging started.

It’s the day before our statement-giver’s 37th birthday, and he’s clearly planning one of the many sorts of party that I don’t enjoy, since he’s unpacking a whole crate of beer when the noise begins.

Ten minutes of banging, which seems to start on one of the walls in the apartment above, but then moves to the floor, and is vigorous enough to make our story-teller’s light sway with the force of it. This hammering carries on (presumably moving the whole time) for nearly a full hour. Kristoff, despite being the social, party-throwing type, apparently has enough normalcy in him that he does not want to interact with the tenant in the flat above him, and so he simply puts up with the noise until it stops.

This reminds me, for no particular reason, of the time Walmart was selling coconuts for fifty cents.

I bought one. I brought it home. And then I spent far too long trying to get the confounded thing open. Really I should have given up the instant I tasted the milk after holing and draining it—that liquid did not taste right—but I’ve never liked coconut milk and so I thought perhaps that was the problem.

When, after what felt like a small eternity of increasingly vigorous abuse, the coconut finally cracked open, I was delighted. The people upstairs from me were probably also pleased, though I really couldn’t say for certain.

In any case, the coconut was exactly what I should have expected for 50¢.

Kristoff Rudenko has his party, and manages to annoy the family across the hall so much that they actually come and ask him to turn his music down. He, meanwhile, is pleased that the man upstairs is apparently back to being a thoughtful neighbor. I wonder how many people are actually aware of their own hypocrisy? “Boy, I’m sure glad that one neighbor isn’t annoying me! This way I can focus on annoying my other neighbors. Whew. Big relief.”

The man upstairs is quiet for another two weeks—then, apparently, it’s hammer time again. Walls first, then floor, and after about an hour, silence again.

Every two weeks.

Must say, that would aggravate me, too... and I’ve been putting up with random banging and unannounced water shut-offs since I moved into this new place at the very end of May. Sharing space with other living things? Not, in my experience, an excellent idea.

Furthermore, buying an apartment in Welbeck House is essentially the same as buying a very small house built right up against your neighbors’ houses, so....

No landlord. No housing association, even.

Kristoff Rudenko carries on not talking to his upstairs neighbor about this regular percussive behavior, and simply stews for about six months, at which point the mail service accidentally delivers a package meant for his neighbor to him instead. It’s not a box package, mind you. It’s one of those shipping envelopes for smaller packages, and is apparently simply stuffed with padding (not a bad idea when sending anything even slightly breakable through the mail).

Finally, Kristoff goes upstairs and knocks on the door of the flat above his own, taking along the package addressed to that flat—a package meant for someone named Mr. Toby Carlisle. It’s an excuse, you see. Now he’s not just there to complain, he’s making a delivery and incidentally mentioning that Mr. Carlisle’s banging and thumping is bothering him.

It’s interesting, isn’t it, how difficult people sometimes find it to complain about perfectly complainable things? And yet at other times they’ll throw a completely unwarranted tantrum over something as silly as a store being out of pennies.

Truly, humans are fascinating.

[August 9, 2020: continuing]

Mr. Toby Carlisle seems to have had an effect on the place where he lives. The wooden door looks older and more beat up than any of the other apartment doors in Welbeck House (which, according to Kristoff Rudenko, all seem to have been replaced fairly recently), and the carpet directly in front of the door is a bit stained, like something’s leaked out from Mr. Carlisle’s flat. Also, there’s no apartment number, no nameplate, nothing to identify the place or show who lives there.

I suppose that might explain the misdelivery. Bit difficult to get packages to a place with no address or name on it, isn’t it?

Kristoff knocks on the door.

No one answers.

He knocks again.

This time he can hear someone coming towards the door—but the possibly carpet-muffled footsteps stop on the other side of the door and then there’s just nothing for a while. Total silence. Our statement-giver is about to knock again when, unexpectedly, the door opens.

It doesn’t open much. Just a crack. But it’s enough for Kristoff to A) see that there don’t seem to be any lights on in the place, B) get hit by a whole lot of horrible smell, and C) tell that there’s someone standing there.

“What do you want?” apparently-Toby-Carlisle asks.

Kristoff Rudenko does the package thing. You know: “Uh, I got a package for—are you—?” and so on.

Silence again. Then, suddenly, a thin and pale hand with long and dirty yellow fingernails and a dark red mark that might be an injury of some kind on the back of it shoots out and snatches the package. The door slams.

Well, it’s not a terribly polite way of receiving packages, is it?

Adding lack of proper cleanliness to the other charges, this Toby Carlisle left a disgusting smear of some sort of thick, off-white liquid on Kristoff Rudenko’s jacket sleeve when he so rudely grabbed the package from him, and the stuff smells terrible. In fact our statement-giver says he had to throw the jacket away because the unbearable smell would not come out.

Really now. Is it so difficult to maintain a level of hygiene such that you don’t leave rotting goop on everything you touch?

Kristoff Rudenko, it seems, decided not to knock on the door again and broach the subject of the fortnightly banging. Frankly I can understand his desire to go away and not come back, but it seems to me that he’s unlikely to get a better opportunity.

“Yes, one more thing,” he could say. “That hammering you do every two weeks; what on earth are you doing? And is there no way to do it a little more quietly?”

He’s right there at the door, after all. It’s a very convenient location.

Instead, Kristoff goes away and doesn’t try again. “That was it for a long time,” he says. “The man upstairs was named Toby and he was a disgusting shut-in who smelled rancid and occasionally made hammering noises. It wasn’t ideal, but it was something I could understand and live with. Two years passed like this, and I had almost forgotten about him, to be honest. He had become just another part of my life, and could be lived around.”

I find that remarkable. How does one forget about continual eruptions of horrible noise? Even “almost”? It seems like the kind of thing which would drive me absolutely bonkers.

And I speak from current as well as past experience, because the “temporary maintenance issue” that’s still, after more than two months, waking me up in the middle of the day and shutting my water off at inconvenient moments... this isn’t a thing I’m likely to forget about, nor even almost forget about.

It’s very annoying.

But Kristoff Rudenko, it would seem, has managed this apparently impossible thing, and so he didn’t really think about Toby Carlisle until late 2007.

[August 13, 2020: back from work]

At this point, our statement-giver has decided to move to Sheffield to be closer to his ailing mother, and so he’s trying to sell his place. This is difficult, because eventually every prospective buyer asks the looming question: “What’s that smell?” The third set of viewers even points out a stain on the living room ceiling, which they assume is the result of a leaky pipe.

I’m pretty sure it’s not a leaky pipe.

Kristoff tries to get hold of a plumber, but for some reason they can’t get to him before next week. So he has to wait, and in the meantime the smell gets worse and the stain gets... stainier.

“As it grew, it started to turn a dark yellow in color, and glistened ever so slightly when the light hit it.”

Doesn’t sound much like anything you’d expect to come out of domestic piping. I’m reminded of blood plasma, or melted fat—both of which I’d expect to smell rather worse than simply “rotten and earthy,” though I suppose the second one might smell a bit like “chicken that’s starting to turn.” Hmm.

In any case, Toby Carlisle isn’t answering his door anymore.

When the male plumber turns up, he touches the ceiling and it just... collapses. Kristoff Rudenko describes it as “buckling and tearing like wet cardboard.”

Disgusting gunk comes out of it, too. Sickly yellow fluid with viscous white lumps, you say? No, that doesn’t sound like anything I’d expect to find in a ceiling (nor in a floor, come to that).

Kristoff Rudenko throws up.

The plumber, presumably due to lots of experience with gross things, only looks like he’s about to throw up, and excuses himself.

[August 15, 2020: continuing]

Once he finishes vomiting, Kristoff Rudenko is furious with the man upstairs. Understandably. What sort of horrible neighbor does a thing like that to someone else’s ceiling? Come to that, what kind of person would do something so repulsive to their own floor? Whatever type of individual this is, they’re clearly one in need of punishment.

You see, it’s not a good idea to let people do things which inconvenience others too greatly. Even if they’re not harming you at the moment, they may in future—or others, following their example, may. Deviation from standard social behavior is only acceptable to a point.

Storming upstairs to pound on your neighbor’s door, you may say, seems like a bit of a deviation from standard social behavior.

This is true.

When punishing someone for deviant behavior, it’s acceptable to deviate a bit yourself. This is part of what makes it so satisfying, I think: when punishing someone else for hurting you, you’re allowed to hurt them. Allowed, you understand? So long as you don’t seem to harm the person in question more than those around believe they harmed you, you have a free pass.

Since this Toby Carlisle has actually damaged a place in which multiple people live, Kristoff Rudenko is free to tell him off considerably. Maybe even hit him, if he seems belligerent or particularly unrepentant.

It’s a very good situation for Kristoff.

When he begins to bang on the door and shout for the man upstairs to come out or he’ll call the police to fetch him out, the door swings open slightly.

It isn’t locked. I wonder how long it hasn’t been locked? I wonder how heavy the door is, that normal knocking wouldn’t push it open (and pounding only moves it slightly). Maybe the carpet’s especially thick, because Kristoff Rudenko has trouble opening it. He manages to get it open enough to allow passage, but for some reason can’t open it all the way.

He fumbles for a light switch, and finds one. There’s something on the wall beside the switch, though: something soft and wet.

The light comes on.

Someone’s been redecorating. Now, personally, I don’t understand the urge. I only started putting things on my walls after a visitor commented on their utter blankness—something about how it didn’t look like a human lived there.

I am, of course, human. Human, human, human. Just look at my neck!

That said, it seemed to me that it might be a good idea to decorate a bit more, and so I put up a few reproductions of classic paintings.

...I was later informed that this, too, was somehow suspicious. Really, I don’t know what anyone expects from a normal apartment. Mine has floors. It has walls. It has ceilings. I’ve put towels and washcloths in the bathroom and kitchen, a jacket in the closet by the door, clothing in the closet in the bedroom; I’ve got a toothbrush, toothpaste, a sleeping bag, and even some food in the fridge—and perhaps most importantly, I have not plastered any of the surfaces in my apartment with meat, either raw or cooked. What could be more normal?

At the very least, I think it’s fair to say that Toby Carlisle’s apartment is considerably more abnormal than mine.

“The light that came on was weak and tinged with red, but it was enough to see by. I looked around, and saw that every surface, the walls, the floor, the tables, everything except the curtained windows, was covered in meat.

“Steaks, chunks of chicken, even a whole leg of what I assume was once lamb, had been nailed everywhere. There were layers of it, the newest additions simply stuck on top of the old, and a putrid yellow-white rot could be seen where the oldest pieces had long since turned to liquid. Flies buzzed thick in the air, and maggots carpeted the place. Looking up, I saw the light too, had been smeared with meat, causing the place to be bathed in that dull red light.”

Now, I have no objection to red light, particularly when it’s not especially bright. In fact I prefer it. But this method of obtaining it doesn’t seem sanitary.

Our statement-giver doesn’t tell us whether the meat in question is cooked or uncooked. Perhaps he can’t tell. Once piece of it, however, is probably uncooked: the body of Toby Carlisle, lying in the hallway. The face is no longer hidden, and apparently it’s so riddled with holes that Kristoff can’t tell where the eyes used to be.

This seems unlikely, since eyes tend to be in roughly the same place on every human body, and usually they’re fairly symmetrical. So are there a lot of “puckered, septic lesions and holes” in the same places on the right and left of Toby’s face above the nose?

If so... well, I do appreciate symmetry.

Moving apparently on instinct, Kristoff Rudenko calls the police.

And then, with the phone in his hand, his eyes fall on the thing in the kitchen. Toby Carlisle’s been doing a craft project!

“There, in the center of the floor, was a pile of discarded meat and bone, stacked almost as high as a person. It seemed less decayed than the rest of it, though that foul yellow fluid oozed from it, and ... when I looked at that heaped pile of meat, it moved. I don’t know how—I don’t know quite how to explain it, other than to tell you that it opened its eyes. It opened all its eyes.”

Now, that’s interesting.

A thing built out of meat and bone from... where? The supermarket, probably, given the location. So—dead things from which the life’s long since departed. But there’s life in it, isn’t there? And what, I wonder, has happened to the life of Toby Carlisle?

Personally, if I were going to give a craft project life, I wouldn’t give it my own.

Do you think Toby Carlisle meant to sacrifice himself to this? Or was it an accident? And where did the other eyes come from? I don’t know how things are in your supermarkets, but where I shop most meat doesn’t come with eyes. Surely the only available eyes would be the ones Toby Carlisle once had? Also, what is it with The Magnus Archives and eyes? I’m certain I’m not imagining it now: there are eyes everywhere in this show.

“The next thing I remember,” our statement-giver says, “is the police’s arrival, and a lot of questions from officers trying to hide the fact that they had just finished vomiting. The pile of meat was gone, though the bits that had been nailed to the walls and floors remained.”

So... Frankenstein’s monster left.

But let’s pause and have a think about this. In late 2002, Toby Carlisle already smelled funny—yet he was quiet and the smell wasn’t overly intrusive: just a few whiffs here and there. In July 2004, he starts banging.

I think we can assume this is when the carnal redecoration began. Walls first, then floors, yes? Kristoff Rudenko never mentions the ceiling of Toby’s apartment aside from a note regarding a light fixture. Is rotting flesh nailed there too? Did our crazed meat-painter smear the ceiling with blood and fat? Or did he leave the ceiling itself untouched? These are the kinds of details I’d like to know, and Kristoff Rudenko is not being particularly helpful!

Six months of an apartment papered and carpeted in beef and chicken and lamb and so on and then, in early 2005, Toby Carlisle receives a package.

...A “thick and soft” envelope.

Now, you can have meat shipped to you through the mail, but that is not the right way to do it. There are regulations for the shipping of meat in, I think, every country on Earth. You can’t simply pack meat into an envelope and send it off, that’s a biological hazard!

And yet it’s only in late 2007, after three years of rotting meat, that Kristoff Rudenko says “the smell had begun to pervade my whole flat.”

I would have expected the odor to become a problem long before that! Perhaps our statement-giver has an unusually poor nose... or maybe Welbeck House was built to a truly enviable standard of insulation.

In any case, a hazmat team has to be called in to clean the place up.

Kristoff Rudenko does not mention how the police responded to the dead body. He says nothing about an investigation into either murder or suicide. Does this mean Carlisle’s monster took his old body with it? Does it mean that the police went with either “suicide” or “natural causes” as an explanation for death? Or does it mean that they simply didn’t do anything with it at all, officially—cleaned everything up and pretended it never happened?

Information! Why are we missing so much information? Ahh, well... I suppose these episodes would never end if everything was gone into in as much detail as I’d like. All things considered, this is fine.

Kristoff Rudenko moves in with some friends in Clapham:

“People who are very clean, and don’t mind the fact that I have recently become a vegetarian.”

As someone who has occasionally felt tempted to partake when passing roadkill, I can’t say I understand this reaction. It’s true that I like my meat closer to living than to decomposing, but that is the natural progression—for all living things, vegetables included. First they live and grow. Then they die. Then they rot. We all know this, yes? So why should seeing things at the end of that process put you off eating them at an earlier point?

Well.

Jonathan Sims says, “Looking into this one has proven a bit tricky, as police, hospital and even fire department records give wildly conflicting reports.”

So! I take this to mean that each department wrote up reports it thought worked as plausible explanations—without consulting with one another. In short: they cleaned everything up and pretended the event itself never happened. It’s the gas leak by the Mion River, handled by a bunch of people who aren’t with a single organization (like the Holy Church).

We’ve got a date for the discovery, though: October 22, 2007.

Ah, and Carlisle’s monster didn’t take the body. “The cause of death was listed as gangrene,” which doesn’t seem terribly believable to me. Who dies of gangrene these days? With antibiotics available everywhere?

But then Toby Carlisle, even aside from rituals involving bringing unnatural life to monsters of flesh and bone, wasn’t exactly usual.

Who knows? Maybe he did cut himself on something, and elected to leave the infection entirely untreated. It isn’t as though he’d have to visit the hospital for a little cut—recluse that I am, I’ve treated enough of my own injuries to know what can and can’t be handled at home. A little soap and water, hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol, a tube of triple antibiotic ointment, a sterile bandage... unless you’ve actually cut your arm open and gotten something unusually nasty in the wound... and even then! gauze and a packet of sutures should take care of the worst you’re likely to get at home.

Was Toby Carlisle the type to simply let his injuries, small or large, fester? I suppose he might have been. He certainly doesn’t seem to have cared about keeping his living space clean and healthful.

Kristoff Rudenko hasn’t died yet.

And Incredibly-Competent-Assistant Sasha has turned up Toby Carlisle’s financial records, which seem to suggest that he was making money somehow, but it was all going to pay for his place—and where was he getting the meat? There are no records of purchases made in person or online.

Assistant Tim, despite asking everywhere, hasn’t been able to figure it out.

Assistant Martin is still having stomach problems, it seems.

[August 16, 2020: concluding]

And Head Archivist Jon, like me, is bothered by not knowing where the meat was coming from. Given that it obviously wasn’t coming from any of the more conventional sources, though... well, maybe some of those cold cuts came with eyeballs after all.

Still, I’d very much like to know whether any of the eyes that thing opened were (or had been) human.

[prettyboyroger]

Fame Chapter 1 “Whiskey On Ice”

Author: Sarah (@prettyboyroger)

Characters: BoRhap! Roger Taylor, Katherine Teague (OC), BoRhap! Mary Austin, Jane (OC, kinda), BoRhap! Brian May, BoRhap! Tim Staffell, BoRhap! Freddie Mercury

Pairing(s): BoRhap! Roger Taylor/OC, slight BoRhap! Mary Austin/Freddie Mercury in the background

Summary: A former child star making a new image for herself becomes involved with Roger Taylor as they both rise to fame, dealing with all that brings with it and that life brings along the way.

Rating/Warnings: PG-13/ Alcohol use, smoking, references to a character having had sex while underage (non-graphic)

Disclaimer: These portrayals are based off of the characters in Bohemian Rhapsody, I do not claim to know the real people that these are based on. This story is a work of fiction and the character of Katherine as well as many of the events in this series are fictional. I do not own Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, or Roger Taylor. 

Word Count:  2869

A/N: Okay so this is chapter 1 of what’s hopefully going to be a long-running series. I’m finally contributing something to this fandom instead of just leeching off everyone else! Also I made this an OC instead of a reader insert because I wanted to do something a little different and have a character was a little less likable and more flawed and less of a blank slate. Please be gentle, I haven’t written a fanfiction in years, but I hope you like it! I wrote it with BoRhap! Roger in mind, but you can picture 1970 Roger Taylor and it’ll work just fine. If you want to be added to the taglist, just let me know.

Music: Playlist for this chapter in general. Youtube playlist for the songs Smile played (yes I know that I Feel Good was not with Smile just let me have this)

Part 2

4 January 1970

Katherine adjusted the bow on her yellow dress in the mirror. She spun around to face her friend “So how do I look?”

“You look like you’re going to freeze,” Mary said dryly to her co-worker.

“You’re not even wearing nylons Kat!” Jane chimed in.

“Nylons were invented by the man to keep us down! They’re itchy and uncomfortable and not wearing them has the added benefit of free drinks all night,” Katherine smiled deviously to her friends. “In any case it’s not like I’m going to go home with anybody I’m just going to flirt a little and have some drinks, there’s nothing wrong with that, in fact, it makes me frugal!” Katherine said, brushing her long blonde hair.

“What it makes you is fast!” Jane teased dodging the hairbrush that Katherine had thrown at her.

“We’re only teasing Kathy you look great,” Mary said, adjusting the fur trim on her own coat.

“You’re not allowed to tease me on my birthday, it’s against the rules and I do, don’t I? Not quite as good as you, Mary, but I make up for it with my dazzling personality.”

Mary rolled her eyes “And unparalleled humility.”

“Of course I could do better if Mary were to come with me and help me…”

“As much fun as it sounds to be groped by strange creepy drunk men all night, I’ll just leave getting the drinks to you.”

“Oh live a little Mary! Don’t be such a square! And not all the guys are total creeps, who knows, you might just meet your destiny tonight!”

“Seems a funny way to meet my destiny, at a student band’s performance in a tiny pub.”

“A student band that we are going to miss if we don’t get going right now,” Jane chimed in.

The girls set out from Jane’s flat down to the pub two blocks down the road. Katherine was shaking and goosebumps appeared on her bare legs as they walked down the street.

“Cold, Kathy?” Jane taunted.

“I’ll have you know that my blood runs quite warm so I simply don’t get cold. I simply have goosebumps in anticipation, after all, it’s my 18th birthday and I can finally drink out at clubs!”

“Uh-huh and how are you gonna explain to the bartender at the same pub we’ve been going to for years that this is your 18th birthday?” Jane asked

“I don’t know what you’re talking about I have never been this pub before, I have been told that I have an uncanny resemblance to a woman named Karen Knight who may have frequented this pub in the past, but I have a suspicion that she won’t be coming back,” Kathy beamed as her friends rolled their eyes.

The girls walked into the pub together, showing Kathy’s real ID for once, just as the little student band was beginning to set up for the show. Kathy was chatting up one of the men at the bar, a ginger who was probably around 26, in a bid for free drinks just as the lead singer introduced the band.

“How are all you lovely people doing tonight? I’m Tim Staffell, we have the incomparable Brian May on guitar, and of course, the legendary Cornish drummer Roger Taylor.” That last comment earned Tim an eye roll from the blond drummer and a few giggles from the crowd. Must be an inside joke Kathy thought to herself. Kathy had paused her pursuit of drinks to look over at the band. The lead singer looked well enough and when he started to play the bass and sing he was certainly very talented, if a bit lacking in showmanship. The guitarist seemed very tall, at least in comparison to Tim, he really had a natural talent for this, he was probably the best of all of them and his guitar was very unique, it wasn’t a Strat like most people had, Kathy had never seen a guitar quite like this one before, it had a good sound, a unique sound quite unlike most of the others she had heard before. The drummer was probably the least technically skilled of the three of them, but he made up for it many times over by bringing in a certain showmanship that the other two lacked. He would twirl his drumsticks and smile at the pretty girls in the audience. The audience was charmed and mesmerized by him (the female members of the audience in any case). He was the best looking one, in Kathy’s opinion anyway, and it seemed a shame to her that he was hidden away in the back behind a drum kit. Kathy turned her attention back to the ginger in front of her as the band’s song played in the background.

Do do do

Do do do

“Do you come here often?” Kathy smiled at the ginger affecting her best northern accent. Guys like him always were suckers for sweet, naïve northern girls.

Do do do

Do do do

“I would come here more often if there were more girls like you here.” Kathy laughed and batted her pretty brown eyes.

Do do do

Do do do

“My, my but you are charming.” He wasn’t.

Do do do

Do do do

“Where are you from?”

Do do do

Do do do

“Carlisle.” She wasn’t.

Do do do

Do do do

“New in town, then? Can I get you a drink?” Hook, line, and sinker.

You take away my sunshine

You take away my rain

I can see it in your eye

“Well I mean, I don’t know if I should I mean my friends don’t have drinks either and I would just feel too bad drinking in front of them if they don’t have anything.” Years of acting were finally paying off for Kathy as she put on her best “dumb, silly little distressed girl face”.

There must be an answer somewhere

(there must be a way) “Four drinks please! I’ll have a gin & tonic and whatever the lady would like to order.” He had a smarmy smile on his face and his hand started to rub on Kathy’s bare thigh.

You can find a way I can see it in your eye “A Blue Hawaiian and a Pina Colada for my friends. I’ll have a whiskey on ice.” Kathy smiled at the ginger man before her, not allowing any of her distaste for him to show.

The bartender gave Kathy her drinks as the song started to wind down in a chorus of Do do do. Kathy smiled and removed the ginger’s hand from her thigh. “I’ll be right back and we’ll see what kind of trouble we can get into,” Kathy winked. She never saw the ginger again.

Kathy had a few talents and carrying three drinks through a crowded pub without spilling any of them was one of them. As she made her way over to Jane and Mary, she caught the eye of the drummer she had noticed earlier. God, he was gorgeous with long dirty blond hair and sparkling blue eyes and from the looks of it he knew it as he caught Kathy staring at him and winked at her from behind his drum set. Kathy flashed her winning smile right back at him, she would not be outdone in the overconfidence department. The drummer laughed and smiled after catching her smile before turning his attention back to his drums. He was terribly handsome, Kathy thought, I must say hello after the show. Kathy had made her way over to Mary and Jane just as the next song was starting up.

“Ladies, I come bearing gifts!” Kathy handed Mary her Pina Colada and Jane her Blue Hawaiian.

“Which poor sod did you trick into buying you these?” Mary prodded gently.

“The ginger that’s dressed like a square.”

“Kathy! That’s not a very nice thing to say!” Mary scolded, “Don’t be mean!”

“But it’s true isn’t it? Anyway don’t feel too bad for him, he got fresh with me.”

“Which I’m sure you in no way encouraged,” Jane chimed in in between sips of her drink.

“Are we here to judge me for getting free drinks out of a creep or are we here to have a good time?” Kathy asked, impatient to start having a good time, taking a swig of her whiskey.

The band played a short set consisting of some original stuff and some covers. All of the members were quite good singers, something that surprised Kathy.

“You rarely see a singing drummer! It’s very unique!” Kathy remarked earnestly watching the drummer sing a cover of “I Feel Good”.

“You fancy him, Kat?” Jane asked between sips of her drink.

“He is handsome dontcha think?” Kathy twirled a lock of her hair around her finger.

“Yeah, but he seems like a bit of a lad to me,” Jane responded.

“Well I’m not looking to marry him or anything I just think he looks like a good time for a night or so.”

Jane rolled her eyes as Kathy pulled out a cigarette.

“You know Kat I read those things are just awful for you,” Jane chided as Kathy pulled out her Zippo lighter and lit the cigarette.

“Well we all have to die somehow,” Kathy said taking a drag. As she exhaled the smoke rose and circled around the girls heads. Kathy never understood how non-smokers could stand to be in pubs, they always seemed to be more smoke than air. It was pretty in a way, at least to Kathy, the way the smoke would fog up the room putting a haze and a mystique to these pubs, a certain atmosphere was created there, one of anonymity and Kathy found it all very Romantic. Of course, to others like Jane it was just a choking hazard of dirty, smelly air.

As the song finished, the guitarist stepped up to the mic, “Now we only have one song left for you folks tonight,” Boos and whines erupted from the crowd, “No, no, now it’s a good one it’s called ‘Doing All Right’.”

The girls finished their drinks and Kathy finished her cigarette as the song hummed along in the background.

“Mary, what do you think of the singer? You always have had a thing for singers and you are the one who recommended that we should see this band anyway?” Kathy turned to her friend who had been unusually quiet this whole time.

Mary wasn’t paying attention to her friends and her eyes were focused on the bar at something. Or rather someone. A dark haired man was drinking a beer at the bar and watching the band attentively, hanging onto every note and Mary was watching him just as attentively.

“Mary!”

The pretty blonde finally noticed that her friends were trying to get her attention and spun around.

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

“Well, we were going to ask you if you liked the singer, but you seem to be more interested in the gentleman at the bar,” Kathy giggled at her friend as Mary turned bright red.

“Well, I was just- I mean- He is quite handsome don’t you think? And Tim? Oh, he’s fine, but actually Brian, the guitarist, has been terribly kind to me.”

“Kind to you? You’ve talked to him?” Kathy asked her friend.

“Wait, Brian? I’ve heard that name before… weren’t you two going steady for a little while a few months ago?” Jane asked.

Kathy’s eyes lit up and her jaw hit the floor. “Wait, wait, wait, you were going steady with him? And you didn’t tell me? I didn’t know you had gone out with anybody, you never tell me anything!”

Mary looked overwhelmed with the sudden interrogation “Well we weren’t really going steady, we just went out on a few dates and-”

“What was he like? He looks a bit like a square, but he is a guitarist in a rock band and the things that guitarists can do with their fingers-”

“KAT! This is why I never tell you anything! Don’t make this dirty!”

“Oh honey this was dirty before I said anything!”

Mary was saved by the song coming to an end and the band thanking the audience and leaving the stage. People slowly began to shuffle out of the pub and into the hallway when Kathy stopped her friends in a doorway.

“I’m gonna go talk to the drummer.”

“God Kat. Should we wait for you?” Jane asked incredulously.

“No, no, don’t wait for me.”

“Kat, we’re not going to leave you here to go home with some guy you’ve never met. Besides, from what Brian’s told me, Roger is a lad,” Mary cautioned.

“Oh, so his name’s Roger then? I’d forgotten if he’d been introduced. Fantastic, thank you for your help,” Kathy spun around and walked out to the back where the band was, ignoring her friends’ protests.

Kathy opened the doors to see the three boys putting the last of the drum kit into the van.

“I liked your show.���

The boys spun around to see Kathy standing just outside of the door smiling at them with her prettiest, most practised smile. Kathy had a burst of pride when she saw Brian flush as soon as he looked at her, the one thing Kathy always took pride in was how pretty she was. She knew that girls were not supposed to think that they’re pretty, but Kathy was very pretty and everyone had always told her so all her life from her mother, to casting directors, to her agent. Other girls had wit and grace and they were allowed to think to think that they those, why should she not be allowed to think that she was pretty?

Well, as long as men look at me like that, I’ll always have something Kathy thought to herself.

“I- Thank you glad you liked it,” Brian stuttered out before quickly turning back to the van and putting more stuff in in an effort to hide the blush on his face. Kathy stifled a laugh at that. The singer Jim? No? Lin? Was also putting stuff into the van seemingly lost in thought. Roger did not blush sweetly like Brian did. He simply smiled the cockiest smile that Kathy had ever seen as he approached her.

“I noticed you enjoying the show,” he looking up and down her body in a completely un-gentlemanly way. He lowered his voice and whispered in her ear “And I noticed you looking at me.”

Kathy laughed and turned to him, her voice as soft as his, “Is that right? Because I seem to remember it being you looking at me.” The blondes smirked at each other.

“I’m Roger.”

“Kathy. Or Katherine if you’re my mother and I’ve pissed you off.”

Roger laughed at that. “Listen, what are you doing-”

“Roger, hey, I need to talk to you,” the singer Tom? Interrupted the two.

Roger turned to the singer, annoyance flickering in his eyes, “Can it wait, I’m kinda in the middle of something, Tim.” Tim! That was it!

“No, Roger, I’m sorry, but it’s important. And miss? I’m sorry, but I really need to talk to Roger and Brian. Alone.”

“I understand. See you around Roger.”

Kathy turned around towards the hall, a little annoyed, though not as annoyed as Roger who Kathy heard as she was heading back, “Are you joking? You better have something important to say, she was about an hour and two drinks away from shagging me!”

Kathy saw Mary and Jane still standing in the doorway where she had left them as she came back, they were looking at someone down the hall from her. As Kathy followed their gaze she noticed the dark-haired man that Mary had been staring at earlier walking towards her. He stopped suddenly and turned around to look at Mary.

“I like your coat,” the dark-haired stranger said.

“She got it at Biba, she works there!” Jane chimed in smiling at Mary who turned to Jane, irritation flickering on her face.

“Thank you.” Mary said, her annoyance and embarrassment visible on her face.

The dark-haired man smiled and continued walking down the hallway, passing Kathy. Kathy rejoined her friends, as bemused as Jane was at how flustered the dark-haired man made her.

“Well, well Mary, you have an admirer!” Kathy said.

“I do not have an admirer! I’ve seen him at other Smile shows and he just wanted to know where the band is and he probably just recognized me. And aren’t you supposed to be shagging some drummer by now?”

Kathy gasped in mock outrage, “Well I never! I was merely inviting him over for a chaste afternoon tea and you and your dirty mind turned this into something naughty that I never could have dreamed of! Honestly Mary!”

“Spare us Kathy, we both know that you are as much a virgin as Mary Magdalene was. Did you get shot down?”

“I have never and will never be shot down in my life! Tim just needed to talk to him.”

“What about?”

“No idea. Band stuff, probably. Anyway, we have to open tomorrow, want to head back?”

“Gladly.”

A/N Pt. 2: That’s all folks! Also don’t crucify me for the descriptions Kathy gives of the band’s playing, they’re based off of biographies of Queen that I read that said that Tim was good enough to get recruited to an up and coming band, Brian was exceptionally talented from the early days of Queen, and Roger wasn’t perfect technically at first, it took him until about Sheer Heart Attack to really get his drumming down to the exceptional level it is today! I don’t know enough about music to make these kind of judgments on my own, I think they sound really good, even from the beginning! But Kathy as a character would so I had to defer to what other people who know music said about it! Again, please be kind I haven’t written any fanfiction in a very long time!!

[thelastspeecher]

Mearl McGucket kills a politician/hero/someone by their def as Bad that's been making things difficult on Sally and she hadn't had time to take care of herself yet, and makes her favorite flowers grow in a heart shaped patch around the body for Valentine's day. Or just the villain guck parents doing something criminal and cute for their date on Valentine's day.

...I did something a bit different, hope you don’t mind, Anon.  Technically they’re doing criminal stuff, and it happens on Valentine’s Day, but I ended up turning this into when Ma and Pa Guck meet in this AU.  If they sound rather green or inexperienced, that’s because they are.  This happens when they’re still a bit new to the whole villain gig.

              Sallyflew through the open window on the second floor.  She landed softly, a move that had alwaysgranted she was completely silent.  Butnot tonight.  There was a small crunchunderneath her foot.

              Dammit. Sally crouched down to inspect what she had landed on.  She picked it up with a frown.  A seed?  As she looked around, she could see otherseeds scattered across the floor.  Shestood.  I know that this is a farm-heavy district, but fer a building housin’the offices of politicians, they should at least try to keep it clean.  She summoned a small, quiet breeze to allowher to hover an inch or so above the seed-covered floor.  She flew silently down the hall, looking atthe placards placed by the doors.  Come on, come on.  Where’s his office?  She turned a corner and could see a sliver oflight in the otherwise darkened hallway, leaking from underneath a closeddoor.  Bingo.  Sally made her way tothe door.  Just as she was about to reachfor the handle, she heard someone speak.

              “Now, Mr.Turner, ya should’ve figured you’d tick off farmin’ folk with this here bill,”a male voice drawled from behind the closed door.  The voice was languid and warm, likemolasses, but an undertone of venom cut through the words.  “Yer new ‘round here, so maybe ya haven’theard that folks what tick off farmers tend to go…missin’.”

              Shit! Someone’s here already! Panicking, Sally slammed the door with her shoulder, putting all herweight behind it.  The door didn’t budge.

              “Sorry towhoever’s out there, but yer goin’ to have to wait yer turn to speak with thesenator,” the voice called cheerfully.

              No! This is my score!  Sallyslammed into the door again.  Somethingtickled her left foot.  She lookeddown.  A few plant tendrils wereslithering underneath the door.  Plants? How the hell am I s’pposed to get rid of plants?  Sally took a deep breath.  Calmdown.  Just think.  These plants are clearly bein’ forced to growup here.  It’s not a hospitableenvironment, but whoever’s doin’ this has enough power to counteract that.  She pressed her ear against the door.  Thevoice from before had resumed speaking with the senator.

              “Carlisle– can I call ya Carlisle?”  There was abeat.  “Look, Carlisle, yer cityfolk.  Ya can’t possibly understand whatthe folks ‘round here need.”  

              He’s distracted.  All ya have to do is tip the scales in yerfavor.  Make the environment just badenough that the plants die off ‘fore he realizes.  Sally shook her fingers out, loosening hermuscles.  You’ve only done this successfully once, and under lil to nopressure.  But you can do this. She closed her eyes and began to summon thecarbon dioxide from the senator’s room. Molecules of nitrogen, argon, helium, and other trace gases filtered into replace the carbon dioxide being lost, keeping the pressure the same.  Whoever was on the other side of the doorcontinued to talk, not noticing that the plants were slowly suffocating.  Sally looked down again.  The plant tendrils were gone.  She pressed her hand against the door,testing the doorknob.  It opened.  A grin spread across her face.  Niceone, Sally.  She slammed the dooropen.

              “Backaway from the senator,” she snarled.  Theman currently standing before the senator spun around.  Sally felt a slight flush spread across herface.

              Oh, no. He’s cute. ��The man had darkhair and a large nose that took up the majority of his face.  His clothes were worn and dirt-stained, likehe had just come from the fields.  Heseemed soft, warm like his voice.  Atleast, he would be if he wasn’t currently glaring at her.

              “Great, asuperhero!” the man said, throwing his hands into the air.  Sally let out a derisive laugh.

              “Superhero?  Yeah, right.” She strode over to the man.  “I’ma villain, mister.  Got it?”

              “Well,I’m the only active villain ‘round these parts.”

              “I camehere to settle a score with Senator Turner.”

              “Toolate, lady.  I got here first,” the mansnarled.  Sally glowered.

              He’s taller than me.  She hovered a couple inches higher.  Better.

              “Don’tcare,” she snapped.  “He’s my score.  Not some two-bit hick’s!”

              “Two-bit-!  I’ll have ya know, my name’s Hemlock.  And I don’t take kindly to city slickerscomin’ in here, haranguin’ me, and insultin’ me!”

              “Don’tcare,” Sally repeated.  She shovedHemlock to the side and floated over to the senator, who was tied to a chairwith vines.  She lowered her face untilher mouth was right next to his ear. “Howdy, Carly,” she whispered. Carlisle’s face went deathly white. “Still think I don’t have what it takes?”

              “P-please,just- just- you can do anything, just don’t hurt me,” Carlisle stammered.  Something wrapped around Sally’s torso andpulled her back, then dropped her onto the floor.

              “I toldya, he’s mine!” Hemlock said.  Sally gotto her feet.

              “No, heain’t.  Under no circumstances will yaget to make him disappear, okay?  I’ve beendreamin’ ‘bout doin’ this fer years!” Sally said firmly.  Hemlock rolled his eyes.

              “What,did he take yer dollies from ya or somethin’?”

              “Did helet the cows out of yer barn or somethin’?” Sally retorted.

              “No, heupped the taxes on all farm-related goods, and proposed legislation that wouldmake it impossible fer farmers to sell to stores.”  Hemlock glared at Carlisle.  “He’s tryin’ to destroy the livelihoods ofpeople.  That’s somethin’ he deserves todisappear for.”

              “And justwho do ya have in line to replace him?” Sally asked, crossing her arms.

              “I ain’ttellin’ ya.”

              “Hmph.”  Sally waved her hand.  A gust of wind picked Hemlock up and slammedhim into the wall, then held him there. “I don’t think I’ll let ya down ‘til ya do.”

              “Park,”Hemlock spat.  Sally looked over,surprised.

              “LuciusPark?”

              “That’sthe one.”

              “Huh.  Would’ve thought a hillbilly like yourselfwouldn’t want some big city fat cat runnin’ his district.”

              “Park’sgood people.  Not like Senator Turner.”

              “Couldn’tagree more,” Sally said.  Another gust ofwind picked up, opening a window.  Shegrabbed the back of Carlisle’s chair and began to drag him over to the openedwindow.

              “No!”Carlisle shouted desperately.  “No!  Please, sis, I’ll- I’ll-”

              “Eat yerwords?” Sally asked.  “No.  You’ll eat pavement.”  She let go of the wind holding upHemlock.  Hemlock promptly fell to thefloor.  Sally lifted Carlisle’s chair andset it on the windowsill.  “Bye,brother.”  She pushed the chair.  Carlisle fell towards the ground,screaming.  She turned.  Hemlock was staring at her, his eyes wide.

              “Ya- yajust-”

              “No, Ididn’t kill him,” Sally said dismissively. “Just scared him a bit.  Nothin’less than he deserves.”  She looked backtowards the open window.  “He’s currentlybein’ carried to the folks what hired me fer this job.  They’ll handle it from there.  But they didn’t have a plan in place fer whothey’d replace him with, so I’m glad you do.”

              “Yeah.  Park’s villain-friendly,” Hemlock said,standing up and brushing himself off.

              “I know.”

              “So,what’s yer name then, scary lady?” he asked. Sally held out her hand for him to shake.  He shook her hand.

              “Sirocco.”

              “Sirocco.  Pretty.”

              “Thanks.”

              “Yawouldn’t’ve happened to know him, would ya? He did call ya ‘sis’.”

              “Hmm.  Must’ve been a slip of the tongue,” Sallysaid dismissively.  Hemlock nodded.  He stuffed his hands into his pockets.

              “So,Sirocco.  How come I haven’t seen ya‘round here ‘fore?”

              “I mostlyoperate out of New York.”

              “Wow.  A big city villain got a job takin’ care ofan Arkansas state senator?  This had tohave been personal.”

              “And ifit was?”

              “No skinoff my nose.”

              “Ratherimpressive, given how large it is,” Sally said. Hemlock’s eyes widened.  He letout a snort of laughter.  “…That didn’tinsult ya?”

              “Nah.  I’ve heard everything ‘bout my honker.”  Hemlock grinned suddenly.  “Say, Sirocco, how’s ‘bout a date?”

              “A-pardon?” Sally asked, taken aback. Hemlock’s grin grew broader.

              “A date.  Since yer kidnappin’ senators on Valentine’sDay, I figure ya don’t have a boyfriend.”

              “Y- you’dbe right.”

              “Howabout it, then?”  Hemlock shook hissleeve.  A seed fell onto the floor.  It promptly sprouted and bloomed, revealingit to be a rose.  Hemlock picked it andheld it out.  “I know it’s a bit bold ofme, but…”

              “I likebold,” Sally replied, taking the rose from him.

              Is this stupid?  Mom and Dad would be fit to fry if ya datedsome farm villain.  Hemlock’s grayeyes twinkled with excitement.  Ya just threw yer older brother out thewindow.  Ya can’t care what Mom ‘n Dadthink anymore.  Sally shook her head,trying to hide a smile.

              “Allright, Hemlock.  It’s a date.”

              “Wait,really?”  Hemlock seemed legitimately surprised.

              “…Yes?”

              “Oh.”  Hemlock blinked.  “Oof. I weren’t expectin’ ya to say yes.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Now I’ve got to figure out where the date ‘ll be.”

              “There’sa nice Italian place in Little Rock that’s also a front fer a villainy operation,”Sally suggested.  “Villains there get a20% discount on their meals.”

              “Oh!  Sal’s.  Yeah.”  Hemlock’s grin was back,but a bit hesitant.  “I’ll see ya atSal’s tomorrow night, at 6:30.”

              “Soundsgood.”  Sally walked over to thewindow.  “Think ya can find somethin’ towear that doesn’t have dirt on it, farm boy?”

              “I’llwear somethin’ nice,” Hemlock said.  “Butyou have to, too.”  Sally grinned.

              “You gotit.”  She dove out of the window.  Winds picked up, prepared to carry herhome.  “I’ll see ya tomorrow,Hemlock.”  Hemlock rushed over to thewindow.

              “It’sMearl, actually,” he said.  Sally smiled.

              “Myname’s Sally.”

              “Prettyname fer a pretty lady.”  Sally winked athim.

              “Justwait until ya see me in a dress.”  Withthat, she flew away.

[lesbellaswan]

So I uh....

I saw these all in the same very short span and uh

I got carried away again oops

So this is technically two of them? In the first one I did Bella meeting the Cullens from Esme’s POV and in the second one I did like a random summer day after Twilight where Bella and Esme bond over gardening.

“I can’t believe it,” I breathed to Carlisle as I heard a very loud engine stumbling up the path to the house. “We actually get to meet her!”

He chuckled a laugh that made my heart swell, even after all these years.

“She’s a lovely girl, Esme,” he assured me, his golden eyes glimmering in the open light.

“Of course she must be,” I whispered as I heard Edward open the door for her. A perfect gentleman. I couldn’t hold back the smile of pride. Though Edward was not my son, it was hard to picture him as anything but. “If he loves her she must be absolutely perfect. I’m just so glad he finally has someone.” Not that plenty of women haven’t tried. I almost chuckled at the thought, but didn’t want Edward to be any bit uncomfortable, and he was already getting close enough to hear my nervousness.

Carlisle put his arms around my shoulders and squeezed them briefly, already sensing my emotions without the gifts of one of my other sons. We stiffened and smiled in synchronization as the door opened.

I registered the shock on Bella’s face as she took in our home. I didn’t think I was capable of smiling wider until I did. Pride was a virtue, of course, but I put so much work into this house, and to see it appreciated by someone outside of its inhabitants still made me feel joy.

“Carlisle, Esme,” Edward started, speaking carefully, “this is Bella.”

Oh! Even the way he said her name! They might as well be mated already.

Carlisle stepped forward at a rate that was slow even at a human pace. This was likely for the best, no need to scare the poor girl any further. He had already met her too, so that may have made things easier.

I mean, I have seen her at the grocery store a few times, of course. What kind of protective vampire mother would I be if I hadn’t taken a peek? She bought a lot of things that complemented fish.

“You’re very welcome Bella.” Carlisle took the words right out of my mouth as he raised his hand and she stepped forward to take it. No hesitation at the temperature! Or, rather, the lack thereof. She was astounding.

“It’s nice to see you again, Dr. Cullen.”

And such good manners!

“Please, call me Carlisle.”

“Carlisle,” she confirmed with a smile.

She’s lovely, Edward I threw in for his benefit, smiling. I already approved, of course. I trusted his judgement, and if she was what he wanted, then we as a family would support that decision. But it was nice to see how wonderful she truly was for myself, without the word of my husband or my children, so to speak. Especially since the latter had such conflicting opinions.

I stepped forward at the same pace Carlisle had, and reached for her hand as well.

“It’s very nice to know you,” I informed her, hoping to sound as sincere as I truly felt.

“Thank you, I’m glad to meet you too.”

Oh, how sweet! I felt honored, despite being the last person in the family she had the chance to meet.

“Where are Alice and Jasper?” Edward asked concurrent to the sound of footsteps upstairs. I almost wanted to laugh at the lack of subtlety that Edward and his adoptive sister Alice shared in their efforts to outdo each other, until I realized it might also be for the benefit of the human.

“Hey Edward!” Alice called, running down the stairs at full speed. I sent her a chastising look. Granted this was no ordinary human, but it was still more than she was likely expecting.

She stopped in front of Bella and Bella actually smiled! I should likely stop being so surprised but I’ve never seen a human seem so calm and at peace when we ourselves were acting naturally for us.

“Hi, Bella!” Alice said, kissing her cheek

Alice! Always pushing boundaries! I didn’t necessarily disapprove, but from what I gathered I wouldn’t expect them to be that close yet!

Bella herself did look shocked, but also pleased. Was there anything she couldn’t accept? I watched as Edward stiffened and instantly felt concerned.

“You do smell nice, I never noticed before,” Alice chimed. Ah, so that was it. While it was true, I wouldn’t have pointed it out myself for this exact reason. I could see a blush creep onto Bella’s cheeks and it made me smile again despite my small desire to swallow.

I felt a wave of ease go across the room and glanced at my oldest son. Actually, in Jasper’s case, son was likely the least appropriate word, considering the fact that he was literal centuries older than I was. But with all the struggles he faced over those years, I still felt a motherly protection over him despite this difference.

“Hello, Bella,” he said quietly but clearly. He seemed awkward and held back. Likely Edward’s fault – he would need to learn to trust his brother a little easier. He certainly had lasted this long and I’m sure he’s been closer to other humans among our various years.

“Hello, Jasper,” she smiled, almost shy again. She extended the lovely smile to the rest of us, adding “It’s nice to meet you all—you have a very beautiful home.”

Just when I thought I couldn’t get any more ecstatic!

“Thank you,” I said, which would have to suffice for now. She was here for Edward, of course, not to hear how I renovated this home. The stories I added, knocking down the walls myself, trying to maintain a modern and classic look to it to incorporate each of our family members. Adding rooms as we expanded. This was likely my favorite of our homes. I could always inform her of all of this later, it looked like she was sticking around. “We’re so glad that you came.”

I wanted her to grasp how sincerely I meant that without saying out loud how brave I found it to walk into a house full of vampires days into a relationship, something that I hoped was a very unique experience for her.

I felt Carlisle move to look at Edward seriously and watched as Edward gave a subtle nod. I only assumed this had to do with the nomads passing through and glanced at Bella quickly, hoping she wasn’t catching on. That would be just what she needed, to hear about even more vampires with a . . . less considerate lifestyle than the one we led.

Fortunately, her gaze turned to the grand piano behind Carlisle and I. Her face turned soft as she looked at it, and I glanced at Edward quickly, though he only had eyes for Bella. Oh just imagine how lovely that would be—if they both played piano. This house would be full of the most beautiful ballads!

“Do you play?” I asked, leaning my head in the direction of her gaze.

She shook her head and it took all I could to not let my face fall. “Not at all. But it’s so beautiful. Is it yours?”

Now that I had to laugh at. “No,” I assured her. Though I had studied enough to know how to play, I preferred to listen, especially when Edward sat at the bench. “Edward didn’t tell you he was musical?”

I was surprised by that. It seemed such a big part of his life when he was at home—it was easy to tell his moods based on what he played, so long as the house was willing to listen. I made the room with the piano in it so open for that reason—so that the sound could resonate.

“No,” she said with an edge, sending Edward a glare. I smiled at his all-too-innocent face. “I should have known, I guess.”

Should have known?

“Edward can do everything, right?” she explained.

As Jasper snickered I turned to give Edward a disapproving look.

“I hope you haven’t been showing off—it’s rude.” It’s not her fault she hasn’t had 100 years to perfect it.

“Just a bit,” he laughed in a light and freeing way. I had to soften—I couldn’t stay mad at him. Of course he would show off a little, he loved her and wanted to be his true self. He gave me an expression that I could tell meant embarrassment and I had to smile in a smug way—embarrassed as he may be I knew I was right.

“He’s been too modest, actually,” she tried to clarify, picking him back up from the bus she’d thrown him under. In all fairness, if he didn’t show off his musical talent, he really was being modest.

And we could not have that at all.

“Well, play for her,” I urged.

“You just said showing off was rude.”

“There are exceptions to every rule,” I replied, raising a finger. She deserved to hear the beautiful songs he’d written, especially the one I could tell was inspired by her.

“I’d like to hear you play,” Bella threw in, and I was happy to have the backup.

“It’s settled then.” I went behind him and pushed him towards the piano, Carlisle stepping aside to give me space to push as Alice and Jasper backed away slowly and quietly. Edward grabbed Bella’s hand, pulling her along as he settled down on the bench.

He looked to her, exaggerating a sigh. As if we were forcing this on him! Please.

He played my favorite piece of his and I beamed at the honor. I had to laugh as Bella’s chin dropped in astonishment at Edward’s prowess, and was glad I wasn’t the only one.

“Do you like it?” I heard Edward ask Bella, catching the slight worry and doubt in his voice.

I walked back to where Carlisle stood to the side and grabbed his hand in mine. With my other hand I touched his cheek, rubbing my thumb along his cheekbone. He smiled, bringing our hands to his mouth so he could kiss mine.

“You wrote this?” Bella gasped in answer. I turned to the stairway and pulled Carlisle along with me, moving quietly so as not to disturb the moment. I turned to Alice and gestured that she and Jasper follow my lead.

“It’s Esme’s favorite.” He stated simply.

“Thank you for that,” I whispered quietly as we retreated, at a volume I knew he could hear but that she could not.

I tried to tune their conversation out, give them some privacy, but I was very happy when I heard the music transition into the lullaby he’d been perfecting the past few nights.

“She’s brought him to life,” I said, turning to Carlisle as we hovered outside his office.

“He’s been alone too long,” he agreed. But a saw a hint of hesitation. “How could it end well?”

“Alice has been wrong before,” I assured him, assuming where he was going.

“Not often,” he whispered.

“Carlisle.” I grabbed him. “Bella is what he wants.” I pushed him playfully against the wall. “It will work out, somehow.” I had to have faith in that.

He cradled my face in his hand and smiled. “You’re a hopeless romantic,” he said, shaking his head and then kissing me.

--

I carried the plants I had just bought outside, setting them against the house as I surveyed my garden. It was just overcast enough for me to go in an out of the garden center without too much worry, but as I felt the sun peeking out from the clouds, I was grateful at the house’s distance from town. I had just enough space for these new buds, but it was a matter of arrangement.

I was so lost in thought I didn’t notice Bella until the sliding glass door opened.

“Hey Esme,” she greeted me, stepping outside and closing the door behind her.

“Hello Bella,” I smiled, opening my arms for the hug she was reaching to give.

“Planting in the garden again today?” she asked, taking in the trees and flowers I had set aside.

“How could you tell?” I asked, smiling. “Can I steal you from Alice long enough to get an opinion?”

I knew they had a girl’s day in planned while Edward, Jasper, and Emmett all went hunting. But knowing that for Alice, that meant makeup and hairstyling, I wanted to give Bella an easy way out with my own slightly selfish gain.

“Of course!” she smiled, grabbing my spare set of gardening gloves from the shelf by the door. “What can I help you with?”

“So I’m thinking about putting the freesia here, and the marigold here,” I pointed, “but I wasn’t sure if switching the two would complement the sunflowers or the lilies more.”

She placed her hands on her hip. I knew gardening wasn’t a strong suit of hers, but she insisted on helping me with my vegetable garden in May, so I was hoping she’d enjoy this as well.

“No I think you’re absolutely right. The marigolds will really pop next to those orchids.”

I smiled. “Would you like to help me plant them then?”

“Of course, Esme, I’d love to.”

As I reached to start grabbing the fresh buds, Bella went over to grab some trowels and my favorite watering can.

“I figured we would start with the marigolds,” I began as Bella started digging exactly where I’d indicated.

She muttered something in approval and we got to work.

I knew how comfortable she was with silence, so I gave her a few minutes to think, but I was also really hoping to bond better with her.

Fortunately, she did it for me.

“Renee always wanted to start a garden back home,” Bella started, putting down her trowel and reaching for another bud. “Despite the desert heat, every year she’d have a new idea. Tomatoes, flowers, jalapenos . . .” she trailed off. “After about the fifth season she finally realized that cacti and succulents would just have to do.”

I had to laugh at that.

“I’ve always wanted to live in a desert community,” I offered. “When I was human anyway. At least that was the thought that crossed my mind every winter. Nowadays it’s exactly as possible as it is impossible.”

“Not a lot of ways to stay out of the sun when the sun is exactly the point,” she agreed.

“It seems like it would be so easy,” I continued. “Maybe we could actually feel a little warm. But blinding the locals on a sunny day wouldn’t exactly help.”

“That is something I think I would really miss,” she added.

And there’s the line that made me almost grateful Edward was out. He hated the way she talked about her mortality and especially the way she craved the afterlife. Everyone has, of course, discussed on their own times that, realistically, her staying human isn’t exactly the most reasonable idea if he truly does plan on loving her forever. But no one dares talk about it with him after the last time Emmett made a similar joke. I winced at the broken antique end table I would have to find a replacement for, its damage beyond repair.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she muttered sheepishly. “I forgot I shouldn’t . . . talk about that . . .”

“No, you’re okay,” I reassured her, likely too quickly. “I mean, it would likely anger him, but . . . in my eyes, you are a part of this family. It isn’t my decision to make, of course.”

As we finished with the marigolds, I moved to the spot the freesia would have to be planted.

“And I can’t exactly avoid allowing him to know my opinion. But I don’t wish to further the argument,” I winced again. I wasn’t sure how to phrase it eloquently but I didn’t want to encourage nor discourage her.

“That’s fair,” she sighed. “I will say I really appreciated when Renee finally embraced what could and what couldn’t grow in Phoenix. We certainly had the nicest cactus garden on the block.”

I had to laugh at that.

“Your mother seems to have so many interests. It’s nice, hearing you talk about her.”

She laughed then.

“Renee has so many interests because she loses them just as quickly as she gains them,” she explained. “Fortunately the cacti don’t exactly require a lot of upkeep. I brought a small one to Forks with me, from Phoenix. That upkeep is a little more of a struggle, of course, but he’s been doing pretty well.”

I smiled then. “I’m glad to hear that.”

She laughed to herself, and I sent her a confused look.

“Oh, it just always strikes me as odd when I think about it. So I name each of the cacti and succulents, usually after my favorite characters from different novels,” she was smiling as she spoke, seemingly on the verge of laughter but trying to get through her little anecdote. “I was on Sense and Sensibility. The one I took home from me was a piece of the cactus I had named after Edward.”

Ah. Now I saw the humor. Even I had to chuckle at that.

“Every time I look over at that little cactus on my desk I think of home and Edward at the same time. It’s like the perfect bridge between Forks and Phoenix, and I didn’t even see it coming.”

Just as she finished, we were done planting all the flowers. All that was left were the fruit trees, and I knew I would have to do those by myself.

“That actually does look really pretty,” Bella said as she wiped her forehead with her arm, taking a step back to survey our hard work.

I placed my arm around her waist, hoping my skin would help cool her off a little quicker. She seemed very grateful for it.

I gave her a soft squeeze. “I can’t wait for those buds to bloom. I think it’ll look magnificent. I’m sure Rosalie will love to take some pictures of it all.”

We stood there like that for a minute before Alice came outside, with a tray in hand.

“I made lemon squares!” she called in a sing-song voice. “And made some fresh lemonade.

“Alice you have got to stop making things that only one person in this house can enjoy,” Bella chastised, but I could tell by her tone she felt nothing but love.

I gave her another quick hug.

“Thank you again for helping me. Go enjoy your refreshments.” I opened my arms and turned to survey the rest of the yard, trying to find the best spot for my new orchard.

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[ncfan-1]

ncfan listens to The Magnus Archives: S1 EP017 (’The Bone-Turner’s Tale) and S1 EP018 (’The Man Upstairs’)

Body horror and another episode that reminds me of Ito Junji’s work. Not a good pair of episodes for people with weak stomachs.

No spoilers past Season 1, please!

EP 017: ‘The Bone-Turner’s Tale’

- Sebastian’s gushing about the power of books is kinda sweet, though the power we see displayed in this episode is anything but. (And I happen to have in my possession a few books—not first editions, of course—that have outlived the societies that produced them, so I get the wonder on that account.)

- And Michael Crew (mentioned in ‘Page Turner’) has snuck another Evil Book into an innocent Chiswick library. What the hell, man?

- And we get static when Jonathan reads out the title of the book—‘The Bone-Turner’s Tale.’

- Jared Hopworth sounds like a piece of work, though the fact that he still seems so fixated on a guy who was his friend and now he seems to want to believe he hates is a little… sad. I doubt Sebastian felt much, if any, sympathy for him, but I suppose that as a listener, I can feel sorry for him. Or, at least, I feel sorry for him now. All sympathy dies soon.

(And I’ve since learned that I was mishearing the name ‘Gerard Keay’ as ‘Jared Key.’ Personally, in Sims’s voice the names ‘Jared’ and ‘Gerard’ sound frankly identical, but okay. I’ll call him ‘Gerard’ from now on to avoid confusion.)

- And we have an intermission and our first proper introduction to Elias, where he proceeds to tell us just how badly Jonathan’s first attempt to interact with a statement giver went. And that the creepy, creepy Lukas family is one of the Institute’s patrons. I’m sure that’s not a bad sign at all.

- “I’ll… be more lovely.” No, you won’t.

- Yes, I’m just sure Martin’s off sick. Normal sickness, being shut into your apartment by a living hive of flesh-eating worms.

- Sebastian, I understand not wanting to create unnecessary drama, but it might be better to tell your coworkers if someone’s harassing you if you think there’s any chance he might drag them into it as well.

- It’s odd that Jared would walk off with the book even if he seems a bit frightened by it. Some sort of compulsion, perhaps? Or maybe he’s run into Michael Crew before and recognized a book that had once been in his possession.

- The thing with the poor rat is the reason why I will not be revisiting this episode, not unless I just do a big re-listen of the series in general. It’s also the thing that completely evaporated my sympathy for Jared (Even before we saw what he did to his mother). That was his pet, an animal without any significant ability to hurt him in its own defense the way a cat or a dog could. It probably trusted him unhesitatingly, didn’t even consider Jared might hurt it until he did. And I know a lot of people don’t like rats, but tame rates make for really cute, cuddly, affectionate pets. I do mean affectionate—they have the same capacity for empathy and bonding with owners that cats and dogs possess. And Jared did that to it. I will not go out of my way to listen to this episode again for the very simple reason that animal cruelty, especially cruelty towards your pets, turns me right off.

(I probably would have scooped the rat up and taken it to the vet once I realized it was a tame rat. Of course, given the state it was in, probably the only thing the vet would have been able to do was euthanize it so it wouldn’t suffer any more than it already was. But I can understand Sebastian not wanting to pick up a strange animal.)

- I can understand Jared’s mother taking her anger out on Sebastian. It’s probably a lot safer being angry at him than at Jared, considering the new skill Jared’s picked up. I note we never see her again after she presumably steals the book to take it back to the library. I doubt that bodes good things for her fate.

- We get static again when Jon reads out the title of the book.

(I listened to the first episode again today, and there was static when Jon read out the “Can I have a cigarette?” spoken by the entity of the episode, too.)

- I was curious as to whether pseudo-Chaucerian tales were a thing, and sure enough, it turns out that during the Medieval era it was for a time the fashion to write pseudo-Chaucerian tales in an effort to “finish” The Canterbury Tales. Some people decided to add on to the Cook’s Tale, which Chaucer died before he could complete, or to write new ones whole-cloth. One is called The Plowman’s Tale, another is called The Tale of Beryn.

- It’s a pity the thing with the rat affected me the way that it did, because the rest of the story is quite engrossing.

- And ‘The Bone-Turner’s Tale’ is so evil it makes other books bleed. That’s… definitely something.

- And we get static when Sebastian describes the books bleeding.

- Sebastian pointing out how ambiguous it is as to whether the bone-turner is traveling with the other pilgrims or if he’s just following (stalking) them feels… right, for this kind of series. Horror thrives on ambiguity, on puzzles where there’s just enough empty space or there’s a couple of pieces missing, so we don’t know what the whole picture is supposed to look like.

- The fact that the technical quality of the prose is mediocre is oddly hilarious. Because, you know: evil book that gives people the ability to manipulate bones.

- More static when Sebastian quotes the book.

- Why am I not surprised it’s a Jurgen Leitner book? From now on, I’m just going to assume that any weird book that shows up in this series is a Leitner book.

- The description of Jared’s “modifications” is excellent. Especially the extra limbs and the ribcage modified to be a mouth. Pushing the boundaries on what counts as human, aren’t we?

- I wonder how Jared was running. Was he scuttling along like a giant spider, or something?

- I do wonder what the cops (and the library staff, for that matter) thought about the bloody books. How do you look at something like that without having some kind of comment?

- And Jonathan is predictably rather ill with the thought of another surviving Leitner tome having slipped through the cracks.

- Yeah, Jared attacked and mangled Sebastian so severely that he died, and had a closed-casket funeral. I really doubt Mrs. Hopworth is still with us.

EP 018: ‘The Man Upstairs’

- Here’s another one that reminds me of Ito Junji’s work.

- I understand that in the U.K., the floor numbers in buildings go top-bottom, instead of bottom-top. At least, that’s the impression I’ve gotten. So the fact that Toby Carlisle is said to live on the first floor I take to mean that he lived in what in the U.S. would be called the second floor.

- The smell Christof associates with Toby in the beginning—a combination of pavement after rain on a hot day and spoiled chicken—makes me wonder when exactly Toby started nailing up the meat. Did he start small at first, so that you’d only notice if you got a whiff of it through an open window or door? Or was it his association with the entity in question that made him smell like that—did he just carry the odor of decay with him wherever he went?

- It’s interesting that Toby did the hammering meat onto the walls once every two weeks, on the dot. Did he have a schedule he had to keep to?

- The description of the carpet in front of Toby’s door… ick.

- Interestingly enough, I think we got a little bit of static when Toby said “What do you want?” Do the distortions extend to human agents of the entities we’ve seen in the series?

- Oh, God, I’ve finally figured out what the viscous, off-white liquid seen in the episode is. It’s liquefied fat, isn’t it?

- The plumber’s visit… You know, my senior year working towards my anthropology degree, the washing machine in the dorm above the one my roommates and I lived in broke down and flooded the upstairs dorm—and ours, too, eventually. I can’t begin to describe how fortunate I feel right now that the only thing that came pouring out of the light fixtures in the kitchen was soapy water.

- The interior of Toby Carlisle’s flat, this is what reminded me of Ito Junji’s work. Can’t you just imagine him drawing something like this? I’m pretty sure he has drawn something at least vaguely similar to this before; I’d go and check, but that would require me to look at it again, so no, thank you. (I think it was in a oneshot manga called ‘Greased.’ Only vaguely similar, but way too similar for me to want to look at it.)

- The description of the flat is actually quite good. Probably the only reason I can deal with it is because I don’t have to look at or smell it.

- Was… Toby trying to summon some kind of meat entity with this nailing up meat all over his flat? Was that why the meat thing with all the eyes was in the kitchen? And I suppose it just sort of winked out of existence when it realized it had been spotted.

- “It opened its eyes. It opened all its eyes.” I’ll… just leave this here.

- It’s interesting that the cops, the fire department, and the hospital all give such different accounts. I would have liked to see what the inconsistencies entailed. I feel like that could be very telling.

- I’m glad Christof got some counseling.

- I think the stinger in this episode is the best one up so far. Where was Toby getting all the meat?

[kamiellamaze]

AGL ~ 33 Get to know my character #13 & 39

So I’m not sure if you wanted me to do all my characters that I have listed on my page… so I did! So buckle up as this will be quite the lengthy response! Thank you for asking! I had a lot of fun with this!

13. What are your character’s sleeping habits? Heavy or light sleeper? Blanket stealer? One that always rolls onto the floor? Pushes their lover onto the floor? Sleep talker or walker?

The Royal Decree:

Enryn - So after living a life of comfort and ease technically due to his upbringing as a prince, he is a pretty heavy sleeper. When he has a bad nightmare that can make it easier for him to wake up, but he’s still a pretty heavy sleeper even then. He definitely loves to cuddle as he likes to be feel safe.

Kendall - She’s a pretty average sleeper. Not particularly light nor heavy. She definitely sleep talks though almost in an animated gibberish way. She definitely hogs all the covers and likes to be curled up in them wholly.

Meirion - He is a very light sleeper. Living a life as a warrior and now a mercenary he has made many enemies and has been trained to sleep lightly so that in case of emergency that he could be awake and alert quickly. Isn’t against cuddling, but doesn’t need it nevertheless. If he’s being haunted by nightmares or his memories he tends to thrash around quite a bit.

The Pupritz Saga:

Edvard - He is a very light sleeper. Like he only needs a few hours of sleep a night thanks to his type of species. He doesn’t take too many blankets which is good due to his love who is a cuddler and definitely steals the blankets.

Emilio - He loves his blankets. He is a cuddler. He likes to snuggle. He is a very light sleeper, due to the stress of his life and often not feeling safe. He mumbles in his sleep on occasion and he can sometimes gets too pushy and will accidentally roll Draegen once he’s with him onto the ground. He definitely snuggles and cuddles with Draegen once they’re together.

Zeon - Average sleeper when he sleeps. Often drinks a lot of elixir to rejuvenate his magic and to stay awake. He can be a sleep talker, though what he sleep talks about more often than not is his magical theorems he’s working on and other experiments.

Carlisle - Light sleeper? He doesn’t sleep often (I’m beginning to notice a pattern whoops), and when he does I say he’s about an average to light sleeper. There are moments when he sleep walks, but it doesn’t happen that often.

Nova - Heavy sleeper, definitely. Like she’s lived such a privileged life and everything that she’s definitely a deep sleeper and a blanket hogger. Doesn’t often like to cuddle, but when she’s in a cuddly mood she definitely gets desperate for it. Often pushes her lover to the floor.

Gray - He’s a cuddler like his father — Emilio — and he’s a superbly heavy sleeper. Like sometimes people think he’s dead he’s so asleep. He’s a blanket hogger but he often kicks the blankets off of himself in the process of it too. Definitely mumbles and talks in his sleep.

Janet - Average sleeper. When she feels safe she can fall a bit deeper into sleep. Doesn’t really do anything too interesting. She’s not particularly too cuddly, but she doesn’t mind it once she gains up trust.

Jakobi - He’s a cuddler since he’s definitely protective of his love. Especially since his love likes to get into trouble it makes him nervous. He’s a heavy sleeper when he sleeps. His love and him work in a pretty busy and chaotic environment so more often than not they don’t sleep often. Definitely likes his blankets. Prefers to have Samuel wrapped in the blankets though while he cuddles around him. That’s ideal.

Friend and mine’s Unnamed Book:

Xavier - Light sleeper. Doesn’t often sleep with blankets since he lives in the desert. If he leaves the desert he gets cold easily and then definitely hogs the covers. Often likes sleeping on the floor as he doesn’t normally have a bed. He prefers harder surfaces with just a small bit of padding.

39. When people look at your character, is there some assumption they might make about them just by appearance? Is that assumption correct?

So for this question I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to answer for a handful of my characters!

The Royal Decree:

Enryn - Due to him being a prince a lot of people just write him off as pretentious and distant. But I wouldn’t say that’s true. He tries really hard to understand his people and his best friend came from the servant class and is now part of his courts and is a spy for him.

Kendall - She has a lot of assumptions based on her appearance. When she’s part of Enryn’s court she dresses quite nicely and due to the rumors surrounding the amount of time they spend together people find her either stuck up or a whore. I wouldn’t say that’s wholly true at all. As she’s very down-to-earth when she’s not playing the part of a noblewoman and of course she has her reasons for being as close to Enryn as she is.

The Pupritz Saga:

Edvard - He’s a huge name in the book’s world, so everyone thinks he’s pompous and snooty. Distant and if you see him on tv he can be seen as very funny and charismatic. I would say it’s half true. He has lived long enough now with money that he can come off as very, very privileged; however, he did start off pretty badly off. Definitely rags to riches if you may. As for funny and charismatic, that’s definitely his brother’s forte, as he’s definitely much more cold and distant, but knows how to play the charismatic part when he has to.

Emilio - He comes off as very flamboyantly gay and personable. I’d say that’s a pretty accurate look at him. He’s very openly gay and deals with the push back from it with grace. He is definitely personable and he likes to even be more feminine at times.

Gray - So when he’s a child he’s very loud and open about what he wants. He changes at about puberty. As an adult he’s viewed as charismatic, more masculine, funny, and kind. A lot this is accurate. He definitely would like to be more feminine and have a more flamboyant side as he cares about how he looks to the point that it’s his werewolf compulsion, but it also embarrassing to him. He can give in to the peer pressure surrounding him for being a face in social media and having people know him and it can sometimes be hard for him to get out of his head, so there’s definitely a disconnect to what people see and who he is.

Hope these answers suffice! Thank you so much for the questions I had a blast answering them!!!! Also sorry this is so long! I just got carried away answering so many of them!!! 

[lillymott3901-blog]

Child Names

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[qftim-c]

LOOK AT HIS WONDERFUL OCS GRGRGRGR

I love my ocs so much, I adore that these two are siblings

Extra but I also drew all the BUGS in SD&GN (Malcom and Carrie’s story) because it benefited me.