#And it was only in ch 2 of bk 1

[masked-alien-lesbian]

The Lovers: Hana and Raelyn

Lore Tablet:

[filliteast]

Diary 21

4-8.4

Th. Caught asleep after 3 more long head downs, 35 min next to the cmate was caught, ph-cy sit drawing probably//

Fr. Went instead as week ago. Tests check failure, not went mka paid, hm, pc's up/d-grade, dad mom, won gard Jun tekken 2

Sa. Wk 8.9, Akt pla, vids, rytps, eat yd mt w potat mayo brd smet, mom said st home, advtime Jermaine, chs smet brd, cartoon site banned pc ip, cleaning to do, imiles strm, blender, ctrl+z too harmful, frd potato a bit mayo

Sd. More Tames 1am. Wk 8:10, things, Rdir sanded shoes underneath. Mka. Сила воли вони боли триединство, ps berk tiger anmg failed, read turma, drawing a bit. Hm back, eat brd, pc sit gallery hopefooling

8-14.4

Mo. 1am turn off. Wks 7,8,11,12. Eat brd chs mass fat smet, shvds, sit wtng 2pm, bus mom call, next bus heat tests, mom left w frozens shawa soup and chebur. Test, Vids, heat mass, shts, eating

Tu. Indi game story. Glasses Glass fell walk by zebra, woman gave it, thx walk away

We. German composing website fam back. Wks 7,8, bus warm w slpg man, intense preparing not as hard as earlier one, heated thoughts staying, ph-cy jaiden vid, sweets eat, dry floor wash, mom worry told dadu, again fault skip mka, zes stayed on parking

Th. Strms wch. Wks 7, 8, mom prepared gown, car, dadu listened a bit of ti, soup mass corrupted, heated thoughts ism,

Fr.

Sa.

Sd. Pk fld 3eps. Alan Parker grandma

15-21.4

Mo. Wks 7.5, 8, 11 went, sdal, wtd to consens on prctics. Prods bag put in bckpack, hard sta loh, weird emotions showing to guy, 2Kiwi ate, pla chgun w Akt, then he left

Tu. Hopeless slp. Wk 9.3am, car, incor signed, Kirsan meeting, adndronovka spomnil, bck Z. A told it was for girls. Hour missing mom said she latened to dentist. Eat soup rough w brd ctg chse, ggen, a bit fish. Bad drawing, shts, ggen, max ideas for covers, unkempt, overweaked, standardized react. They came

We. Wk 8, bus wtd, phone bounced on chair picking up the bag loudly shattered on floor, mom w dadu, car rights chips brought, chte, beer. Forgot eat, Diprometa packing rotokan beaten, Conditioning floor wash, some leaks left under furniture, 2 sheets put, ggen, , mka lose, bus, eat plate a bit, Akt mcraft

Th. Wk 7.5, phone vds, ph-cy late came, eat apl ggens then 3, order list on sheet, sumamed long negotiation, eat grechka w chk mt, piss less, rditshii

Fr. Sht 5am. Wk 8.5, ph-cy, sent, left, btw calling, free back wtd for keys hozmag, nthing shts wch, 4 ggenius, poot ph-cies set.

Sa. astounding rumanger vids, panel drawing tries,

Sd. Poot raid Agagrad, ahmad wchg raid by agagrad. Jkd hf night, wks 1pm, 3pm, eat macaroni v potato brd, ice age 2 pla, mm cm, smet brd, berk fanim full rewatch, poot, shwr left wet head

22-28.5

Mo. Fccc. Ph-cy misstep crossroad Lenin square, bc 1 est. Washed windows, another ph-cy sent, stolen shoes from, typing by the shelves, thought 1c taking, hfway mbus wtd brh, manti, vids, shts, print

Tu. Latened 1h brh, working payment unworthy. Thoughts gotta get hards, then gave only payment

We. Passenger guy, car driven, mngd Eap, gown krivo, surfaces cleaning, writing,

Th. Instruction readed, assortment reprise.

Fr. Running managed 7 minutes in. Stud instruction, they're telling. Phone was on stream during the same on pc. Poop, wg gamers svoyak 1h sit, shit jork, hands washed bad, pc ahh off, 20 min lead. Passed bstp, went they're waited next to bk, Akt out piss, car sit.

Sa. Running nose, staying around. Spinal column hurt of sitting to rewrite Guides. Policlinic closed, proceedings to another closed. Bought mt dough put in bag. Ate dough sorry for anonymity, besns potato mt soup eating. Delivery man friendly, makaroni try. Ph-cies costs, toiled, . Time liched on trying to manage

Sd. Twice floor wash for long time. Surfaces cleaning. Sssht

29-5.4-5

Mo. Sit ph-cy eating glicogens, wids, drawing try, berk chaptes, self measures, PicsArt

Tu. Wids, Skyrim w(out) bro, warcraft 3, bmngine drive installed, baked brd a bit, dough soup eat, oblivion

We. Oblivion old videos. Wks 8, 8.5. writing down. Kupat 1.5 ate felt bad, wids, ctg chs, smet brd, replying failing floor wsh. Mbus, Mka. Sm comic

Th. Wk

Fr.

Sa. Suggestion of thera flu to man asked Panacea potion

Sd. Kolb, footages download, cut

6-12.5

Mo. Mandarin, 2 apl, soup, . A bit footages download

Tu. Oblivion 2 dungens, ate 6 borsoks. Wk 8, eat 2 borsok, sip. Cold taking over pharmacy. Webinar, leaving. Walking on hunger was harder then waiting bus after it. Mom w dadu left, eat 2 soup, reading rdit, yt.

We. Prctc instructions writing up. Kolb and smet ate up, brd brought. Mom worry released. Hm came layering slp.

Th. Wk 8.5 zes belt, car, called mom, bus, prepared, called mom, eating w brd, old kyr vids, wg shts. Ate 4 kur sand jam ckies, 4 prks, farts for the end of the day. She said it too works until 7pm. Walk, den w timu yarik, pzas ate.

Fr. Fh pla, tried pc vpn, toil loud sit stupidity, back to drm djn. Akt cute awake at 3.5 pm, eat soup, sponge bob techs, drawing soft, same soup whack, pc sit, took shower,

Sa. Pc sitting things w Timur strm, Vids till 5am. Wk 8.1 am, eat kolb brd sip, ph-cy, eating soup ptoes w mt, brd yesterday dawg strm. Brd smet, counting try, vids long, piss. A bit adding on proj, piss, a bit was pranked by bus.

Sd. Alday sit wg vids, eat soup, brd , 11 pm pc sit

13-19.5

Mo. Call of Juarez replay until 6tg act 4.5am, 4act save lost. Wk 7.5, car driven, got on prctc, rewrite knee injections, sit writing. Bus right first sit w reflux. Eat grech brd smet, fluid fats w lamb mt, man draw w fing, out of ph-cy got that lamb mt was w auth terrible smell. Got to policlinic, badly explained them. Hom pla, slp

Tu. Wk 7.5, wfls ate, olivier sald. Big day of skel tiger charging writing, forgot what to look for on montg purps, w mom in ph-cy, akt rblx, pc game install, bght wfls eating crumbled on surface, jerk planned decide clean up, cckroach killed.

We. animating in clipsart fail anyway. Pics, Jerk unreal on toil, slp 6.2am. Wk 7.8, warm sip, Ai polemics instead full working. Ate soup mt, pelm smet brd, sips. Drawing from conservatory brain. Des be des go songs probably re-adding in the new song list too. New tame impala's K.C.R.W manning bar perform set realizing as a perfect gift.

Th. Probably this day Woman drived us for free.

from the angle of view the number has shrunk, thought it was 361, but 35, went through, fault skipping zebra.

Fr. Wk 7.5, rough stupidity fault, car driven.

High steel surfaces wash. Try to draw the game concept enemies.

Sa. Wk 7.5, car driven. Surfaces wash, a bit pharmacies. Paleontology analysis methods, myths. The game thought, thought improve, my fiction basis, manning bar edge style melody's parts mind extending. Socialism conference chat, managed draw slugterra Jules. Silicone lubr for mkas door fingers grab, Talk with Zes, washed hand w vagilak, he discovered teacher's day school congratulations videos.

Sd. Drawing dro, ate manti. Rdg nmbka, Kny. Mini Bicycle stuck 3rd unasked help. Bk hom, universe's+ sizing god's heaven and hell are could be after death.

Mo. Writing to r/religion, tem vids. Slept 3.5 am, wk 7.9, latened to bus sit car, Man delivered us for free, prctc, dadu pick up, ph-cy sit draw, sht vids, searches dig

Tu. 1.5slp. Wk 7, mka, entire high surfaces cleaning, slp want relief a bit, lof surfaces cleaning, read trwld. Eat pilaf w smet brd, sht vds. Kny shitts, 6s. Fed 2 mosqs, 2nd died in trans.

We. Sit ph-cy trice asleep torw read, read religion. Wrote worst way, heat, mom left, macarmeh, eat pilaf w crm pcakes.

Th.

Fr. Got to the prctc, parents came,

Sa. 1am. Wk 7.5 ready to go prctc, ate sw brd. Rdit, novel vids. Flr wash. Readg. Dough soup left ate a lot mt and ptts, swine slices ate up, brd smet. Akt pla, ate 3 ch-te w mindal, toil.

Sd. Wk 7.5, water rinsed, put the mcrni in mouth, nose to old football blanket, kolbbrd, mka sit, editing sit, washed kaskads, wssted left hour. Struggling choose where to go, thought would do economy of bisfenolum went home

27-2.5-6

Mo. Dadu w Akt came. Smet, kf bulbuls warm water.

Tu. Adr rush dadu's friend suggested took, drink it 2/5, I said him about listening black Sabbath, he suggested metallica nurvan, drunk turn song. Read Oda vanshot, draw try.

We. Didn't slp. heat sit wrong bus until it back. manti btr ate, need to done prctc, adr rush sip, addings, hot print. Evening wasted.

Th. buzhinin eat w sal, tea take out, print faults correcting, latened a bit, got, arrd ph-cy, brhs.

Fr. Oda compared to Araki, vids. Went slp 5.5am, Wk 9.5, Akt, eat smet brd olladi, wch vids, by mka, by bus stay, prepg by sent photos, fit for the 3. 3h trafjams by bus. Vids, injections taking woman, ph-cies. Noot pilaf, dawg aerozol train, vids. Rej eating.

Sa. At the start was to montage, drawgays, magi ep, ryuma ova, readg, , hm bk,

Sd. new dresses rubbish removal, atl drk, phone lost, aslpy in bus, Came 12.1, Readg, sht rdg drawing a bit, Zes, eat brought ch legs vegs, had yellow p, dom drawing, Kev's unmanaged, sht rd, bringing bk w fat potatoes.

3-9.6

Mo. Rdg shty a bit w listening to 5.4am. Hm sit worthless

Tu. ph-cy

We. ph-cy

Th. Carbosome down

Fr. exam failure Class teacher certainly threatened them to leave his teachings there for accepting me. Bus driven a 1h slp. Mom left, paper drawings managed.

Sa. Small seal morph creature cared in dream. Mka. Phone ibis. Dinofroz, Simba the world cup, left hams w cabbage, paid 100 for hm car driven.

Sd. Vids history scrolling three some failure, set up phone wp, wtfap, 5am slp stinky. Wk 9, instant forgot the dream, remembrance trying, cabbage smelter rot, eating up, soup felt hollow, ckies, kfr, weak at most points, strms wch, waste any time for cleaning floor, by bus.

10-16.6

Mo.

Tu.

We. Hard wake 9, car, , mom and dad call,

Th. slp. Wk 8, latened bus, by mka, 361, Mom w Akt came earlier probably by mbus, took offer w nosesprays, mom bought layered toasties. Eating potato fish Drawing DB's art listening to 08.22 TI Lonerism's performance, eat prk chs brd layered, jam layered, draw smth, prods missing over 5tg time. Drawing sht, askorbin ate up, wch sht.

Fr. hard wk, drm erased, std ph-cy w fam, temes op, took photo, bck ph-cy, drink up tinctured kisel, temes op.

Sa. wk 11 w remembrance of drm, steamed golubci, potatoes frd, vacuum clnd, infinity nano, crts, onion prepared.

Sd. Infinity blade vid, ckies eat, soup eat, ate 2 golubci, temes op turn on op wiki, ate up golubci, sumr sonic search, temes strm, hematogenous ate, ascorbic acid ate up, hxh vids, Rstrider vids, soup ate up, gotika1 auc.

17-23.6

Mo.

Tu. dmdma eat, rotten,

We. rzd kolb pieces, vids, Parents driven,

Th. Liver potatoes, 2 ggens, shts, free driven, wch sht

Fr. Wk 8.5, dad car, egg boxes, mbus, bus, shts wch, eat soup, ggen, ascorbic acid, felt bad health, rd manga, went piss, rd, ate ckies, rd sht, strms check.

Sa.

Sd.

24-30.6

Mo.

Tu.

We.

Th.

Fr.

Sa.

Sd.

1-6.7

Mo. wks 7, left bstp, fist dismagnet card waste 2-3 hours, got momentum card w credits money fooling card,

Tu. Said was taken by dadu on . Wks 10, 10.5, ate soup, car, Zes metro left, by path wasted, diplome, arrd to garden divine, brhs, hard sip, ate flower ash in place I have been also 3y ago, car twice asleep, traffic jam blew believe in own patience, hm took Akt w Arg, bustp, ph-cy sit, ggen, ckie's edges bites, wtr, icons mngd

We. Deist debate. Became Rainy

Th. Hm sit, potatoes washing, mom bought nuggets pelms and patties

Fr. ph-cy eating mcrni, watering, vids, mom w dadu.

Sa. left huge amount of pharmacies unmanaged

Sd. Wk late, eat, wtd mka, mom called, 3,2am came, mom left sweets, wchd 2eps of life on our planet w tld, vids,

Mo. Cars instantly floating keyboard. Flipaclip camera animating try. Wk 8.2, car sit, wtd them for back slpg, ddu expedition to bstp, ph-cy, parents came, accountant online cashreg acces looking for, haven't found fiscal card. Head scratch, ate up sweets. Op vids, print docs, sent Premiere drafts to Yt

[bcstworkouts]

Feb 23, 2023 -Senior Prep

 400 – sw/k/dr/sw

3x

           2x25 – outsweep scull w/ snorkel@:40

           2x50 – Br 2P1K @1:15

           2x25 – Br K w/ pb + snorkel @:40

           2x50 – Br Neg Split SC  @1:10

 4x

           2x25 – Big Fish w/ fins @:40

           50 – 25 insweep scull/25 Build IMO @1:10

           50 – 10 sec vert scull w/ pb to IMO Build @1:10

           50 – 200 RP @1:00

   3x

3x50 – Challenge Interval Pace

:20 rest

3x50 – 200RP @1:00

50 – bk k Gr3 @1:00

50 – 200 Goal RP @1:00

2x100 – Gr3 ch. sw @1:40

150 – recovery @3:00

 *only 2 rounds for those going for cuts at AGI

*IM Major can do broken 200IM

  Warmdown

[kcnnarys]

what are your most replayed books, and how many times have you replayed them? i fear the oph number

WJSHIWHSOEHKS AS YOU SHOULD. open heart definitely my most replayed book/series like on god im not kidding i would put my estimate at over 40 replays. next would have to be tcatf series which is choices excellence and i would say that is probably at around 15-20 replays. trm would be around 10 methinks

[bioshoook]

To Shelter You, Ch. 4

summary:  Nine people down on their luck and desperate for money join a medical study deemed almost too good to be true. What they thought would be just your average advertised trial turns out to be a front for human experimentation.

This is trial 32 and there’s no backing out of this one.

pairing: Alfredo/Trevor

also available on AO3

(Fic written in collaboration with @confusedeevee​)

(Ch. 1/ Ch. 2/ Ch. 3)

Upon their return to their cells, the hybrids and their jailors are met with screaming.

The screaming is coming from one source: BK. But it isn't the pain of her transformation causing it - in fact, that appears to be over already, judging by the dark brown tail falling behind her legs, though any ears are obscured by her hair and any teeth by her hands.

Instead, BK is screaming in panic as Ky convulses. Her change is yet to come, and something has gone horribly wrong.

"Well don't just stand there!" BK cries at the guards, "Freaking do something! Help her!"

"Somebody fetch a goddamn doctor already! Secure the others now!"

The others are too shocked and afraid to put up much of a fight as each are shoved and locked back into their respective cells. Men and women come running, crowding Ky with such density that even Lindsay can barely see the poor girl any longer. They shout instructions and questions at one another. Eventually comes a dreaded: "Her pulse is failing!"

"Get her to the med bay! I'll fetch Rhodes!" another doctor commands, and then she sprints out into the corridor as if her own life is on the line. The rest lift Ky, still shuddering, and take her away. They leave a room of hybrids shocked and scared into total silence, save only BK's near-hysterical sobbing.

"We were just talking when her eyes- her eyes rolled back into her head and she started to convulse."

Lindsay tries their best to soothe BK as Matt whimpers: "What's happening to her?"

"I guess that's what happens when our bodies don't take the process well," Trevor says stiffly. His eyes haven't left the door since the moment it had slammed closed on them.

"Is she dying?!" BK wails, her voice cracking on the next word out of her mouth. "Oh god, oh fuck, this can't be real! This isn't real!"

Alfredo moves quickly to the glass that parts him from BK, putting his palm to it. "Hey! Look at me, BK. She'll be okay."

But of course he thinks that. Alfredo didn't see those images on that screen; not like Matt had. It must be a lot easier to delude himself without seeing the reality so starkly presented to him. Or perhaps Alfredo is just an excellent liar.

Matt covers his mouth before another noise of distress can escape him. He just witnessed an innocent girl's death! As a consequence of something he, by some miracle, survived. Or rather, survived for now. Who knows if this raccoon DNA is finished mutating his body? Who knows if the whole ordeal won't kill him anyway? Some animals die when they're too stressed, right? He sure feels stressed enough now.

When he looks to Jeremy, he knows he’s thinking of the same thing, of the horrors on that screen. What the hell has he gotten himself into?

The hybrids wait on bated breath for hours for any news. More than once, BK breaks into hysterics that Ky must be dead. Others do their best to comfort or reassure her, but as time drags on, her fears begin to look more and more likely.

But eventually, that door opens once more, and the final hybrid is carried inside. Her eyes are closed and her body limp and pale, but the hybrids can hear her breathing. She survived. Like BK, her ears are hidden beneath her dark hair, but there’s no hiding what must be the longest tail of all the hybrids, with an explosion of red and black fur coating it. If they didn’t already know, ‘squirrel’ wouldn’t have been hard to guess.

As they lay her on her bed, BK scurries to her side of the cell, her hands pressed against the glass that separates them. “Ky! Ky! Oh my god, Ky! Oh, god, she’s okay, she’s okay! Ky!” she sobs, wiping at her eyes and covering her mouth.

One of the men who had carried her inside leaves the cell and points at the hybrid directly opposite her: Alfredo. “You!” he orders. Alfredo scrambles back, but this guy has no interest in entering his cell and dragging him away to some torment.

“If anything happens,” he points back at Ky’s cell, then back at Alfredo, “You’d better start howling, mutt.”

Minutes stretch into an hour as they wait for Ky to wake up. The tension is palpable as they listen closely for any change in the small hybrid's breathing. Though a few of the hybrids, too tired from the energy their transformations pulled from them, have fallen asleep.

A quiet groan snaps Alfredo's eyes to the cell across from him.

"What the hell happened?" Ky asks from where she lay on her bed. She has yet to move a muscle, and another groan escapes her before she does. A hand clumsy with sleep lifts to rub her head. Alfredo’s eyes shoot to Lindsay, fortunately awake, and Lindsay returns a worried look before they begin to approach Ky’s cell.

“Take it easy,” Lindsay soothes. “You’re okay.”

“Hm?” Ky runs her hand through her hair. She pauses. There is a moment of silence. And then she screams.

"Oh my god, what is that? What's on my head!?" Her hands have found the new set of squirrel ears that now sit on top of her head and she shoots off of her bed. "Get them off, get them off," she whimpers as she tugs at the ears. She stops though when she realizes that there is no pulling them off, that pulling on them will only lead to more pain. Tears shimmer in her eyes at the realization that her body was purposely transformed without her permission and that it all happened while she was unconscious.

"Ky, you're okay. It's gonna be okay," Alfredo says to try and reassure her from across the aisle. He's not sure if his words reach her but he can hear her heartbeat slow down just a hair.

Her cries almost soften to whimpers when her tail, the longest one in the room, brushes against her face. A new scream erupts from her mouth as she whips her head around to stare, wide-eyed, at the new appendage. It swings with her and in a different situation the scene would almost be comical.

With the sudden eruption of noise the rest of the hybrids are now awake. BK bolts up from her bed to the glass wall neighboring Ky's.

"You're awake, oh thank God you're awake," BK says tearfully. She doesn't care if the other girl's shouts and screams make her ears ring, she's just glad she's awake.

"I wish I wasn't, BK, I really wish I wasn't," Ky shoots back with hysteria in her voice. "I've got a fucking tail, I can't believe this!" Her chest is rapidly rising and falling now. Alfredo can smell what he assumes is fear rolling off of her.

Lindsay tries again to calm Ky down, "Ky, you need to take some deep breaths."

"Lindsay how can I focus on my breathing when I have a fucking tail growing out of the base of my spine?"

Behind Lindsay, Michael's tail starts to thrash back and forth violently as he feels his temper begin to rise. There's too much noise in here, his ears are ringing and he can't hear himself think. It feels like his head is about to burst. A fresh wave of crying from Ky when Alfredo tries to comfort her again is all Michael can take.

"Shut up! Just shut the hell up!" Michael's yelling echoes off of the walls of the cell block and the silence that follows is deafening. Ky's cries have softened in shock and Michael feels a pang of guilt about yelling at her, and he'll apologize later for it, but right now he just wants quiet.

"What the fuck man?" A growl is detectable in Alfredo’s voice as he glares at Michael. "She's just freaking out like the rest of us!" Now Alfredo's yelling and Michael's ears are ringing again, he grabs his ears in pain. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Gavin wrap his wings tightly around himself.

"I fucking get that, but right now I can't fucking think straight. Just need everyone to shut the hell up," Michael yells back at the jackal hybrid. He can see Alfredo's lip curl into a snarl, beside him Trevor says something, but Alfredo seems to ignore it.

"You know what? You-," Alfredo's retort is cut off by the loud bang of the door to their cell block being opened. Two guards enter, one pushing a metal cart full of trays while the other just looks to be there as backup.

"Rowdy bunch tonight, aren't we," The guard pushing the cart sneers at them and then smiles like he just made the funniest joke. His gray hair is cut close to his head in a military fashion and he looks at least to be in his early 60s. Michael instantly dislikes him.

Trays filled with what vaguely resembles food are pushed into their cells by the means of a tiny break in the glass at the bottom of their doors by the guard who is pushing the cart. The other guard, a younger man with brunette hair and steely eyes, just glares at each hybrid silently, his hands not straying far from the stun baton in his right holster. A tray containing what looks like barely cooked fish and a pale imitation of what looks like a salad is pushed into Michael's cell along with a bottle of water. A single metal spork is attached to the tray with a tiny metal chain, like the kind a bank would use to stop someone from stealing their pens. It crushes any hope Michael has of using the utensil as a tool to escape. Well, at least they won't have to eat with their fingers. How nice of them.

"Enjoy, pussy cat," the older guy says with a laugh and Michael can't control the hiss that escapes him. The guard just smiles back at him before moving on.

As the guards pass out the rest of the trays it seems the others aren't faring any better. It looks like BK has gotten a whole chicken leg and a gray mound of mashed potatoes if Michael's nose is correct. Both Trevor and Alfredo, since both of them were merged with a species belonging to the canine family, get what looks like meatloaf, but not the kind Michael’s mother would make him. No, that meatloaf- if he can even call it that, resembles something closer to 'leftover meat surprise' that a lunch lady who's not getting paid enough would pass off as school lunch for the day. He can't even discern what's on Matt's plate and in the cell next to him, Gavin looks like he got served a concoction of overly ripe fruit and grains mixed together with a side of mystery meat next to it. It seems none of the hybrids drew the long straw on getting a good meal tonight.

"We'll be back in an hour to take you to the showers, until then enjoy your feast." The older man laughs again like he's some fucking comedian. Michael would love to punch that guy in the throat right about now and he wishes he could as he watches the pair of men leave the room. The rest of them are silent as they take in their so-called "feast".

Michael really hopes that the fish in front of him is cooked, but honestly getting taken out by bad fish would probably be one of the better ways to go in here. His stomach growls, ever persistent, and with a resigned sigh, Michael picks up the tray and goes to sit on his bed to see what actual food he can pick out from his meal. At least they mentioned showers. He has to admit, It would be nice to get all the dried blood and sweat off of him.

“You’d think a place like this would be able to afford better food,” Jeremy grumbles as he pushes his food around the tray.

“I’ll be sure to mention it in the review, soon as we’re out of here,” Michael jokes humorlessly. He nibbles at a piece of fish and almost retches. Either being part cat has ruined his stomach of steel, or this food truly is unsafe for human consumption.

He tightly clenches his jaw and wills his stomach to not toss up whatever still remains in his stomach. Hopefully he has better luck with the salad.

An hour after lights out, Trevor is still awake. He can still feel the dampness on his tail drying from the poor excuse for showers they had gotten earlier. 10 minutes is hardly enough time for a regular shower, much less one with a new pair of ears and tail thrown into the mix. He barely had time to dry off and dress before he had been escorted back to his cell. And they only gave each of them one singular towel! His tail alone needs at least one towel just to dry it off.

At least the facility was "nice" enough to give them all toothbrushes and small, clear tubes of toothpaste. Trevor isn't sure if calling the instrument a "toothbrush" is accurate though. The item they had all received looked more like a slim rectangle of green rubber with toothbrush bristles on one end and a place for them to hold it on the other end. It’s similar in size to those big, pink erasers Trevor would use in school and constantly lose before he could even use half of it.

Jeremy had explained when one of them questioned aloud what they were that those toothbrushes in particular were used in prisons in order to prevent inmates from hurting themselves and each other. Trevor figures it makes sense.

He knows for a fact that he's not the only one feeling miserable after their showers; Michael and Jeremy both had plenty to say after their new animal instincts apparently freaked out when they went under the water and he can hear Ky still quietly trying to get the water out of her tail. It seems they weren't all made miserable by the showers though, because Lindsay came back to their cell beaming- if a bit soaked. The blonde's happiness was a harsh contrast to the people surrounding them, but Trevor's glad that at least someone is feeling better after the whole thing.

The fox hybrid tosses and turns restlessly for another half hour before he resigns to just laying flat on his back and staring up at the ceiling. He doesn't know why he can't sleep. It couldn't possibly be because he isn’t tired - in fact, he’s utterly exhausted. But as he lies there in the bed, listening to the slow, quiet breaths and calm heartbeats of the hybrids around him, he simply cannot let himself fall unconscious. It’s like an uneasy sense of exposure has fallen over him - he doesn’t feel safe enough to sleep. Yet the others don’t seem to be having that issue. Even Gavin has managed to drift off, sat upright against the wall on his bed with his wings draped clumsily and closely around him.

Irate and drained, Trevor gives in to the stupid instinct to curl up beneath his blanket. He crumples around his stomach with his limbs pulled close and head tucked down for warmth at the edge of his pillow. Finally, that weariness eases off, and his mind lets him settle for sleep.

Or, at least, maybe he’d be able to if it wasn’t for something tickling his nose as he breathes.

At first, he thinks it could be a feather. He blows softly and wipes at it, and then pauses. His eyes half open, and he glares at the tip of his own tail. He hadn’t even thought about it, but as he had curled up, it seems his tail had pressed up around his limbs too, acting like a barrier between him and the cold of the room. He’s had the damn thing for less than twenty-four hours, and already he hates the way it, and those stupid tufts of fur on his head they called ears, seem to have animalistic minds of their own. Except, they don’t, and deep down, maybe subconsciously, Trevor knows he’s the one who did this. It irks him all the more.

“Stupid tail,” he grumbles, pushing it away from his face with his closest hand. Then, he curls up tight once more, pressing his face down against his knee so it at least is protected from fur. His arm pulls back against his chest and, yep, sure enough, he feels himself pulling his tail close once more like it’s on autopilot, this time with the tip falling against his forehead. He sighs, but this time, he doesn’t bother moving it. If this is the price of his body letting him sleep, then fine. At least none of the others can see him.

The hybrids are woken early the next morning, or at least it feels early to Michael. Kind of hard to tell the time of day when there are no windows to look out of. He blinks at the sudden brightness of the overhead lights, the fluorescent buzzing a low drone in his ears.

A tray is shoved into his cell as he opens his eyes wide enough to glare at whichever guard is responsible for food delivery this morning. On the tray, there is a bowl of what looks like a mixture of grains and dried out vegetables and fruit, with a bottle of water sitting next to it. It smells about as appetizing as it looks.

Everyone gets the same, but only Jeremy makes any move towards the food. He retreats soon after when Dr. Rhodes enters, looking over her hybrids with pride. Then her eyes settle on Michael with a look that makes his hairs stand on end.

"Eat up, feline," she tells him. "We'll be back for you in five minutes."

“Fuck off,” Michael spits at her, and he doesn’t even mind the hiss beneath his voice.

The doctor is unfazed. "Subjects, your tests begin today." Dr. Rhodes raises her voice to direct the rest of the room as she turns away from Michael. "A few of you will be chosen for today to complete your trials while the others will complete theirs in the following days."

The mention of tests and trials sets everyone on edge.

"What kind of tests?" Jeremy practically growls the question from his cell. Dr. Rhodes turns to him with a smirk on her face.

"Tests to see what limits your bodies hold, how well your DNA has intermingled with your animal counterpart, and how well your instincts respond to certain situations, among other tests of course," the doctor answers with anticipation gleaming in her eyes.

"You'll have to hold me down if you think you're performing any tests on me," Alfredo swears from beside Trevor with his fists clenched tight at his sides.

The doctor turns her gaze to the Jackal hybrid. "Oh, don't worry Diaz, we will." Then she turns on her heels, marching out. As she goes, she clicks her fingers at Michael. “Five minutes, cat!” she reminds him.

“Michael Jones, 27 years of age, born in New Jersey. Merged with the species Felis catus.”

Michael subtly bares his teeth at the woman who announces him to the group of men watching him. These guys aren’t scientists. They’re clearly higher than that, if the suits and the narrowed, expectant eyes are anything to go by. They’re behind glass looking into the arena set up to observe him.

He strains against the restraints that the guards had placed him in. When that doesn’t work, he flicks his tail and a low, irritated grumble rises in his throat.

“Subject is in good health, the appendages are fully functioning and we have seen some behavioral adjustments as well. Tests are still ongoing, but our scientists are confident that the merger has been a success.”

Inside his clenched fists, Michael feels his claws push out into his own palms. The pain draws his attention away from the fury he feels at being so dehumanized and ogled at. Like an animal on display at the zoo.

Whatever the men say, they say into a device in the scientist’s ear so that Michael can’t make it out. She nods, then looks Michael sternly in the eye. “This is your first test. Show them what you can do. No funny business.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Michael snarls, flashing his newly acquired canines in the process. But he has no choice but to remain compliant. If they don’t punish him for rebelling, they could just as easily punish the others. He can’t allow that.

The woman leaves the room, and the lights shut off the moment the door locks. His restraints fall away automatically, and he rubs at his now bare wrists while he blinks into the darkness.

And it is darkness, but it’s not like how he knows it. There’s certainly almost no light, except for the faint, almost non-existent, light coming through the observation window and yet, he can still see the outline of the obstacles before him almost as easily as if the lights were still on.

“Great,” he grumbles, “My eyes are glinting. I must look fucking ridiculous.”

“There’s a platform up ahead,” the woman’s voice says from an intercom. “Use the environment to get to it. This is a timed test. Good luck.”

Michael snorts, but when a buzzer sounds, he wastes no time. He takes off at a sprint at the first obstacle - a series of slanted platforms. He springs from one to the other with such agility and balance that even he is surprised, and when he lands on his feet on the cushioned floor on the other side of it, he has to pause. “Whoa,” he breathes to himself, looking down at his own body. It’s almost like it had a mind of its own - Michael knew where he wanted to be, and his body knew how to get there. “Okay,” he admits, “This is pretty damn cool.”

Tail flicking side to side, he sizes up the next obstacle - a high wall. No way he'd be able to scale it before, but now…

The run up almost seems inconsequential. When he pounces, his body launches him, and he only needs to kick up once for his fingers to find a purchase at the top of the wall. He hauls himself up, balancing on the slim wood as easily as, well, a cat, while he surveys the next obstacle.

A long jump over a body of water. The hairs on the back of his neck and the fur on his tail bristles at the thought. Yesterday's shower was no fun - falling into that thing won't be much better.

He jumps down to the floor, landing in a crouch. Then he backs up against the wall, puts his foot against it, and pushes off.

As if the wall jump didn't prepare him for it, Michael launches over the water, landing in a roll on the other side, as safe and dry as he was before he'd jumped.

"Holy shit," Michael whispers to himself. He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little awestruck at the fact that he just jumped over that stretch of water like it was nothing.

The lights flicker back on, and Michael finds the doctor in the window scribbling on a clipboard. "Again," she tells him, "This time backwards. And faster."

“Lindsay Tuggey, 25, born in Texas. Merged with species Enhydra lutris.”

Lindsay feels their heart skip a beat not just from nerves, but from the subconscious thrill running through them at the sight of the pool before them. Its teal water beckons them in and it takes all of Lindsay's willpower not to plunge straight into the pool. Their toes curl against the floor in eager anticipation to take a running jump into the clear water, to feel the water envelope them- make them weightless without gravity's pull.

The black bathing suit provided by the facility is tight against their body. Lindsay wasn't expecting the scientists to ask them to change into something other than their prisoner garb, but then they were ordered to change out of their gray uniform and into something “more appropriate” for the trial.

They guess that even the scientists watching think it more logical for them to complete this "assessment", or whatever they're calling it, in clothes actually made for swimming and not the type to drag against the water.

Either way the otter-side of them is about to be very pleased and Lindsay looks forward to the relief from the restlessness they've been carrying since their transformation.

The smell of chlorine wafts up from the pool and Lindsay really wishes they didn't have heightened senses because the chemical smell is currently abusing their nostrils. It makes them want to plug their nose, but Lindsay's not sure how well that would be received by the scientists watching them. And though the scent is overly powerful, the otter hybrid can't help but to remember the long summers spent playing in the family pool and the many impromptu pool parties they went to when they were in college. If they close their eyes and think hard enough they can forget about the weight of the tail on their back and the ears on top of their head and they can almost hear the sounds of kids rough housing in the pool and smell the burgers and hot dogs being cooked on the grill, sizzling under the press of a spatula.

"Tuggey, step to the pool's edge," the shorter of the pair of scientists orders them. They do so. “Four lengths, as quickly as you can. Understand?”

They nod, and when a whistle is blown, Lindsay dives.

The water is like a balm to their nerves and stresses, enveloping them like it can protect them from the rest of the world. Lindsay doesn’t let the instantaneous relief slow them down though. They cut through the water, and resurface into a forward stroke. Even their tail propels them on faster, and they hardly need to think about it.

They’d been a good swimmer in school, but already Lindsay is certain that their transformation has improved their skill. The pool edge appears far quicker than they had anticipated. Swirling in the water, they kick off again.

By the time their lengths are over and Lindsay stops for a rest, they had almost forgotten about the whole situation. Not until a scientist blows a whistle at them and calls: “Again!” do they get a harsh reminder. With a deep breath, they throw themselves back into it.

“Gavin Free, 26, born in Oxfordshire, England. Merged with species Alauda arvensis.”

Dr. Rhodes steps back and beckons to Gavin. The smile on her face tells Gavin everything - she’s proud of how he turned out. It sends a shiver of revulsion down his spine and he pulls his wings close instinctively.

“Go ahead,” she tells him. “Show them what you can do.”

Fly. She means fly. They won't even train him first like Trevor had predicted. She thinks he should be able to do it without. Fly!

He shrinks from his task, but the doctor grabs his arms firmly before he can retreat any further. "Use those wings," she murmurs so low only Gavin could hope to decipher her words, "Or I'll have them broken. Your choice, lark."

Gavin gulps at the implications as he takes an involuntary step back. He can only imagine how painful it would be to have not one, but both of his wings broken. Most birds don't survive in the wild if their wing- or wings are broken. Would he be treated any different if it came down to that?

It's the growing feeling of fear and dread in his gut that spurs him forward. His heart is already thundering away in his chest and he can feel nervous sweat start to collect on his forehead.

Before him stands a tall structure, at the bottom lays a mat like the ones he's seen stunt people use in movies. The doctor pushes him towards it. His hands close on the bars of a ladder, and behind him, his wings shrink and pull close to him. He really doesn’t want to do this.

“Climb,” she orders. And what choice does Gavin have but to obey?

He pulls himself up the ladder with shaky limbs, crawling onto his knees at the top. The drop on the other side is sheer, and he almost whines. His wings spread as he pulls himself to his feet, but only in an attempt to balance himself.

The doctor watches from below, her eyes narrowed. ‘Fly,’ she mouths.

His wings are shaking when he stretches them out, looking straight ahead and certainly not down. “Okay. Okay, you got this. You got this, Gav. No I don’t. No, no, this is insane! I can’t fly. I can’t fly!”

“Our calculations suggest otherwise, Free! So do it! Fly!”

Shuddering with fright, he leans forward. Fighting the urge to simply pull them close and run, Gavin gives his wings a few test flaps. The wind is reassuring, but he still doubts.

Gathering up his courage, he raises his wings and steps off the platform.

His wings thrust down, but the lift isn’t there. His feathers don’t catch the air like they should, and his recovery is little more than frantic flailing. Screaming, he crashes face-first into the mat, his useless wings crumpling over his sore body as he moans in pain.

He doesn’t move until the pointed toe of the doctor’s heel jabs into his side. “Get up,” she commands. “Again.”

He knows he flew a bit during the whole alarm situation, but that was so much shorter and somehow less intense then this whole thing is. As he lays face down for another second or two he's reminded of the nature documentaries he would watch with his brother when they were little. Wouldn’t the baby birds usually learn how to fly from a higher altitude and only when they're ready? It seems only polite that he would be treated the same way with how little he knows about his wings. Another painful jab of Dr. Rhodes's shoe pulls him from his thoughts and proves to him that he will be getting no such courtesy.

With a grunt Gavin pushes himself to his feet. If they want him to fly before leaving this room, then it is going to be a very long day.

A door opens behind him, and the cold bites into him immediately. It's like a freezer was opened behind him. But before Trevor even has the chance to look up, one of the guards grabs him and throws him through.

He is fortunate that the snow is thick enough to break his fall, even if it sends yet more biting cold through his body. The door before him slams as quickly as it had opened, leaving him trapped.

Trevor casts his eyes rapidly around the snow-covered room. He has no idea how cold it is in here, but it’s got to be below freezing. The only obvious escape is the way he came in. What could they possibly want from him in here? Are they purely testing if he will survive?

Survive. He has every intention of it, and he soon realizes that his body knows exactly what to do. Already he can feel his ears pressing close to his head to conserve warmth, and the moment he crawls out of the snow, his tail swishes to dispel any stubborn snow while also drying the fur a little before it curls tight against his body. He’s part arctic fox now - for part of him, surviving in the cold is second nature. All he needs to do is listen to it.

"Trevor Collins, 22, born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Merged with species Vulpes lagopus. The trial is simple,” comes the doctor’s voice from an intercom that Trevor didn’t even realize was there until she spoke. There must be cameras too. “You’re not alone in there, Collins. We released a lemming into the room hours ago. Find it, and catch it. If you disappoint me, no hybrid will eat until tomorrow evening. Understand?”

Trevor bites back the retort that threatens to spill out of his mouth. It wouldn't do him or the others any good if he prolongs this trial further by arguing. Still, he can’t help but feel like they’ve thrown an impossible task at him, like finding a moving needle in a frozen haystack.

“How long do I have?”

“Until your body temperature drops below 33 degrees.” Trevor’s mouth has barely opened to protest before she cuts him off again. “Don’t want to freeze? Find the rodent. Good luck.”

The intercom shuts off with a click, and Trevor curses to himself, then throws himself to his knees to dig at the snow. Maybe he can find one of its burrows and follow it - hopefully even trap it in a corner.

It feels like Trevor's been digging for an hour at least when he finally decides to take a break. Different holes in the snow dot the room and yet he's had no luck in finding the lemming. He can't feel the tip of his nose anymore and his hands are starting to turn a sickly shade of white, even paler than he usually is. He's surprised that the rest of his body hasn't fallen into hypothermia yet; he assumes it has to do with this new DNA running through his body. Thoughts rush through his head as he tries to figure out a quicker way to do this. It's not just his body that's on the line if he can't finish this in time.

As if reminding him that they're still on top of his head, his ears twitch trying to pick up on the tiniest of noises. An idea pops into his head and he doesn't know if it's going to work- doesn't even know if he has time left for it to work, but he has to try. So with a deep breath to calm himself Trevor kneels in the snow and just sits there- and listens. Listens for a tiny life scurrying under the cold layers of snow trying to survive just like him.

When the noise comes, he’s not entirely certain that it isn’t just his mind playing tricks on him. It’s just like a scratch, a slight shuffle against the snow somewhere over to his left. Desperate as he is, he forces himself to focus, to not get too excited. Though his head and ears turn towards the noise, he doesn’t move, doesn’t even open his eyes. Not until it comes again. A shuffle, a soft squeak. Nothing his human ears can detect, but ample for the new ones that both immediately point towards the source.

From then on, it’s like an avalanche of new instincts wake up, instructing Trevor on what to do, what to listen out for, how to move, how to catch that prey, and Trevor listens to every last one. After all, a city boy from Indiana doesn’t know how to track and hunt a lemming, but a fox certainly does, and there’s more to this new fox side of him than he’d realized.

His eyes open, locking onto the spot of snow that his ears have directed him to. They don’t move from that spot unless his ears tell them to, and they are still furiously at work searching for any tiny sound of movement beneath the snow. When he moves, he keeps his body low in a crouch and his movements slow, and where he can, he sticks to pre-trodden snow. When the creature moves, he freezes so that it can’t detect him and his ears can focus on tracking it to the new location, if it backtracks through its tunnels. But it never goes far, and it doesn’t seem to realize how close Trevor has drawn to it.

Not until, in the first sudden movement Trevor has made since he’d started to really listen, rigid fingers punch through the snow and close around the lemming’s body.

For a moment, Trevor kneels, staring at the creature he’d dragged screeching and clawing out of the snow, now trapped in his grip. Shock turns to elation. “I did it… It worked… Holy fuck, I… I did it!” If his body wasn’t shuddering so violently from the cold, he might have laughed for joy. He turns his head towards where he’d heard the intercom come from earlier. “Hey! I did it! Let me out!”

“Congratulations, Collins,” somebody new says - not the doctor. Did he take too long? Did something happen to pull her away? “You will be released within a handful of minutes.”

“Minutes?!” Trevor whines, but the voice is gone. The whine continues, until he catches himself. Shaking his head, he bites his quivering lip to quiet himself. His breath hangs in the air before him. He’s not sure he’s ever felt so cold.

Holding the lemming to his chest, his body falls against the snow into a pocket he’d already dug out, hoping that the snow will insulate him. As he curls up, the lemming’s cries turn hysterical. “Okay, okay! Sorry about all that, little guy,” Trevor says, holding it back to the snow he’d dragged it from. The rodent scampers from his hands into the safety of its burrow, and at once, Trevor’s ears are in tune to the dull sounds of it digging away. It would be all too easy to catch it again.

But right now, he needs to focus on getting through the next few minutes without freezing. Arctic fox hybrid he might be, but most of him doesn’t get to enjoy the luxury of the thick white fur of his tail and ears. Coincidentally, those seem to be the only things he can move without issue.

It takes a while for him to rise, his joints stiff and rigid with cold. Without the hunt to distract him, or the fear or the adrenaline, it seems to penetrate much deeper. He stumbles for the door, but makes it only half way before he crumples. This is no use. He needs to get warm. Conserve heat. Survive.

He curls up tight in the disturbed snow, tucking his arms and legs and head to his chest. He consciously pulls his fox ears backwards so that they lie against his scalp to trap any excess heat, and his tail curls around his body, covering as much exposed skin as it can. Last night he may have hated it, but now Trevor finds himself pulling his tail close and covering his frozen nose and cheek with the soft fur of the tip, where the dense fur can catch and hold the warmth of his breath.

“Cold,” he whimpers through chattering teeth, like a plea to anyone who might still be listening, if they can even hear him. “So cold…”

By the time they come for him, his fingers are too stiff to uncurl, and he knows for certain that he won't be able to make his body stand. He's lucky that his ear can twist towards the door as it unlocks and track the footsteps that approach.

Two pairs of hands grab him, one by his leg and tail, and the other by his shoulder and the back of his shirt. They drag him, more than a little painfully, through the snow, out into a corridor so blissfully warm in comparison that it's painful, though it can't be warmer than the usual room temperature.

They drop him there on the floor, shuddering and shivering and moaning. He doesn't try to rise. When the door to the frozen room closes, his relief escapes him as a groan.

He's still collapsed there, though at least able to open his eyes and lift his head, when the doctor returns. She looks him over, tilts her head and regards him for a moment. If she's happy, she doesn't show it.

Then she turns on her heel and leaves him there. "Take it back to its cell. Make sure it's observed - if it deteriorates, let me know."

[monsoonblooms12]

The Butterfly Effect (Ethan Ramsey x f!MC)

Summary: The Journey from where it all began to where they are now. From a 2-minute power nap to a Miami kiss, Pooja and Ethan have come a long way. From Pooja's POV (Set in OH Bk 1 Ch 10 and contains flashbacks from OH Bk 1 Ch 1, Ch 4 and Ch 5)❤

The Butterfly Effect: Discovered by Edward Lorenz, this theory suggests that something small and insignificant, can alter situations in such a way that leads to utterly drastic changes. For example, a butterfly flaps its wings at an Amazonian Jungle and subsequently a storm ravages half of Europe. (This has to be one of my favorite theories ever🦋)

A/N: I got inspired from a dark Academia quote and here we are with 2.4K of mess. But I enjoyed providing all the fbs from Poo's POV and filling in the gaps of the unknown. And all the DbC peeps, I am trying to finish ch 8 believe me😭

Thank you so much to @jamespotterthefirst for Pre-reading! Love you🧡

If you enjoyed the story, please like it, leave a comment or reblog. Your feedback keeps me going🦋

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey X f!MC (Pooja Sharma)

Word Count: around 2.4K

Rating: General

Category: A messy mix of Fluff and Angst

Warnings: None that I found

A grain of sand, almost imperceptible to the human eye, 2 millimetres in diameter. Just a tiny little grain of sand, a single one. One would wonder how great of an effect that could produce?

A single grain of sand, eliminated from the base of a sand sculpture, can set on fire a cascade of events that result in something as drastic as the demolition of the entire sculpture. Just a trifling 2 mm sized grain of sand.

Tufts of hair gently swayed with the swooshing ocean breeze, the very grains of sand of which her mind was thinking about slip through gaps of her toes. It's a calming atmosphere, having a Zen-like effect on her racing heart and confused reasoning.

The echoing crash of ocean tides, the hushed ruffle of her shimmering purple dress, and the pattern of her footsteps of the white sand, now silver under the enchanting moonbeams.

She could not think about bad ideas and good ideas anymore. Nor could she obliterate the delicate touch of peach lips ingrained in her mind. Everything was a lock of tangled hair, a chaotic mess in her mind.

And when you can't disentangle a mess, you just tear it off.

That was what she was doing, tearing herself away before her mind got engulfed by a cocoon of ambiguity and concealed probabilities, restricting her to get out without getting transformed into someone else.

Legs exhausted after strolling for who knows how long, Pooja sits down, not bothering about the sheet of sand fragments that adhered begrudgingly to the purple satin.

A simple motion ensues, the florid hair tie holding her brown hair strands in a ponytail, now lay in her hand, giving them the liberty to enjoy the tranquillity of the idyllic scene they found themselves in.

Relaxation. That was what she anticipated. The soothing of her racing heart, the clearing of her muddled head, the easing of her bothering thoughts.

But it never came, the relaxation she desired.

Instead, her fingers, for a reason mysterious even to her, fidgeted the diamond imitation bracelet that embellished her left wrist. A twitch unveiled a vague scar, a remembrance of an old episode entirely cleared off from her mind.

Flashback

Pooja was a Potterhead. An extreme one indeed. Sometimes the thought made her chuckle. How she despised the books once, presuming they were overrated. And then, as if a magic trick had been performed on her, she became the Maven of the Harry Potter club.

But being a Potterhead and having to live in a niche under the stairs did not go hand in hand. The room under a staircase was still a room under a staircase. And every day, her mind replayed the poem of curses to her, as if to warn her to never search for an apartment on a Facebook Group ever again.

And now she stood, waiting for the century-old toaster's ping, as sleep struck like pin-pricks on her eyelids, threatening to close them off. It was a bad day today, the phone battery drained, and she, coffee drained. And the cherry on the top? Today was the first day of her residence at the most prestigious hospital in the entire States.

Uff!

She yawned the hundredth time, sleep playing a tiring game of chess with her mind, and giving it a Check! every now and then.

I don't even know a goddamn coffee shop around in here!

Displeased grunts accompanied the thought as she took the knife and began slicing the apple she had been floundering around for quite some time.

One Slice, and Another, and Ano-

Snorr!

What an ability it was to fall asleep anywhere, in any position! What harm would a "Power Nap" of a minute or two do? Right?

AAHHH!

The scream came out in bits, first when her eyes fluttered open with the sudden pain. A pause followed when she actually looked at the source of it and after her eyes and mind registered what was happening, came the second scream.

She was getting the taste of just how profitable the power nap was.

Hurrying away, she rummaged around for a first aid box, failed to find it, trotted to her Harry Potter adobe and took out the medical goodies she had brought with her. After ransacking through it, she found the antiseptic and the swabs she was looking for. Then a faint sound came from the blinking cellular and she picked it up, not waiting for breakfast. Just as she clicked the unlock button...

HOLY SHIT!

What? How? Her mind could not register. The only thing she understood was that she was notoriously late for her first day, and now she would have to do all the running that she had avoided for all the preceding years.

Letting out another pained groan, she kicked two flowerpots on her way to the kitchen, took the toasted slices of bread, switched off the stupid piece of machinery and ran.

She was sure she would have come first in any marathon if she had run in them with the speed she was racing right now.————————————————————————

Did she know about Dolores Hudson? No, she didn't. Had she planned on telling about her to Dr Ramsey? No, she hadn't.

The two words had inadvertently slipped off her tongue, not envisioning it as an indication. But as soon as they reached his ears, it felt as if a domino had been pushed. One pushed on to the other, leading to a chain of events that had given no hints, no warnings at all.

And now she was in the NICU, chatting with the man whom she considered an idol, a role model as if they were old companions. It was an enchanting experience to see the intern-terrorizing gentleman, so ... normal.

She questioned her mind's choice of word, but she did not completely disagree. To see Dr Ramsey, sitting here with an intern, talking with her, for no particular purpose other than the fact that she decided to stay back here in contrast to any other person, who would have valued their sleep than watching over a premature baby with whom she had no connection.

When sleep muddled her thoughts, she didn't realize what she was doing. Head lowered into his shoulder in a motion that felt like a reflex embedded in the nerve cords of her spine. She missed the gentle smile, decorating the handsome face of his, as he watched her from the corner of his eye, his eyes holding an emotion unrecognizable.

Was it affection? Pride? Adoration? Or something completely different? Who knew.

But if there was something she did know after that day, it was that she felt lucky, damn lucky, for that slip of the tongue.————————————————————————

How idiotic of her the decision was, she didn't want to talk about it.

Pooja had only found herself running the way she was running now on the first day of her residence, and she had only herself, and no one else to blame.

Why did she think that giving up on the most wanted position for every medicine intern in Edenbrook for friends when every one of them participated in it was a good idea?

If only her brain comprehended her priorities appropriately, she wouldn't have to rush through roads like a person who was missing their train.

Panting, grunting, and completely tensed, she arrives at Edenbrook. Steps don't slow down until she arrives before the light beige door, huffs and puffs, not pausing for a split second. She doubted if her legs still had the power to walk or if she would have to crawl into the office.

Nah, no more embarrassment, she would not be able to bear it. With the power that remained in overworked limbs, she knocked, entered and gave her reasons for the delay. And then, by a margin of a minute, she signed the sheet, absolutely normal but still holding the power to twist her entire life in an unforeseen way.

But did she regret it? She couldn't, and she wouldn't.————————————————————————

Miami. The city of gorgeous beaches, giving the aesthetic of peach and teal life. The expensive marble-floored hotel rooms in which she found herself was unreal. Definitely not made for some random intern.

Gorgeous decorated interior, delicately manicured lawns, elegantly made fountains, all standing majestically, giving a fight to each other. She glided through the vast space, joy overcoming job as she breathed the calming salty air coming from the oceanfront, which appeared like a picture frame in front of her. She had never seen anything so perfect in her life.

It was like Ataraxia.

She preferred Mountains over Beaches. She always had, and without a doubt, she always will. But when something looks so heavenly, it would be absolute stupidity to forego the chance of visiting it, even if it contrasted her preferences.

Forgetting the not-so-pleasant interaction with Declan Nash, which appeared like a stone in her perfect day, she let her sensations delve into the delicious culinary masterpieces that melted in her mouth like wax.

All the merrymaking and socializing drained her. But the gentle talks, soft giggles that she shared with him, an extraordinary, priceless moment, seemed to charge her, rejuvenate her. A corner of her heart did hope for something to happen. But she hushed it, not wanting to spoil the casualness, the beauty of the simplicity that blew in the air between them.

It felt like existing in the setting of one of those Michael Faudet quotes, one of them particularly being emphasized by her mind.

"As our eyes meet, all-time seizes to exist. The dying second frozen like petals of red roses kissed by autumn frost."

Pooja's mind still reeled, falling freely into the void as passion and some unnamed emotion overtook them. His heart steady under the touch of her palm and hers racing under the touch of his. She would not be able to remove the unreal image from her idiot of a heart, even if she wanted to.

Sleep refused to come to her, even after calling it repeatedly. She sat up, relieving the memory, playing in front of her like a sepia movie on the silver screen. Eyes travelling around, only to fall on a bouquet kept neatly at one of the antique corner tables.

It was white lilies and purple orchids.

Pooja Sharma didn't know the language of flowers when she received them, with a tag casually signed as E. A vague tag like that did not help to know the actual sender. The man whom she kissed had a name beginning with E, the hotel she was staying in had a name beginning with E.

Hell, even the hospital she worked in had a name with the letter E.

But if she had known the language of flowers, she would have pinpointed the symbolism hidden in it.

The White Lily carrying the meaning of Purity, Sweetness while Purple Orchids a clear cut indicator of admiration and elegance.

She would have been able to tell which E had sent the delicately wrapped piece that now lay uncared for in the corner of her room.

Feelings overcrowded reason, and she found herself suffocated in the very room that seemed heavenly to her in the morning.

Slowly and silently, she walked away to find the solace which he or she could not give her, in nature.

Flashback ends

As the amaranthine ocean glistens, waves crash and the foamy water rushes to engulf her feet as she stood, hands wrapped around herself, she felt she had truly found solace. There was a spiral, an unending coil of memories, a string which, when pulled, tugged in emotions hidden in darkest corners, forgotten but related, all tied together.

It was surprising, enigmatic, how much the little brain of hers, the soft heart of hers, holds in them. A constant battle of reason and emotions ravage the tired battlefields of her body. How casually, reminiscences of a bygone day appears, flicker like the reflection in the mirror of the calm pond water, but remain clear through the ripples that spread on the surface from time to time. That's how memories work, still clear, still dear, even after passing through chaotic ripples of time.

As she reaches the end of the spiral, the helix of her thoughts, she finds herself even more astonished than she was when she reverted to the first pages of the memoirs of her stay in Boston.

It was just a minute, or a word or two. Always so insignificant.

Every ignored act added one upon another and resulted in the catastrophic mess of heartbreak and affection she found herself today.

The 2-minute Power Nap of her first day? It led to the 2-degree shift of the knife and the scar that her finger was tracing now.

That 2-degree shift led to the delay in her reaching the hospital?

It resulted in her meeting her mentor, which gave her the chance to do the thoracotomy with him, to experience how it felt when his hand enveloped hers.

Those two words that slipped as a nonchalant thought off her tongue? It was why she could know how Ethan Ramsey was, behind the tough exteriors, the short-tempered demeanour, how it felt to place her head gently on his shoulder, to wake up to his glowing face.

And that one minute past midnight, when she signed up for the challenge that would change her life? That is why she is here, hair ruffling and eyes glistening, the Leucos Moon reflecting on the glistening water, the crepuscule spread mystically around her. That is why she knew how it felt to be touched by him, kissed by him, to get lost in him.

When Edward Lorenz discovered the butterfly event, he had correlated mathematics and meteorology. Had he thought that the same butterfly effect had turned an unassuming intern's life upside down, pushed her so back in the void of circumstances that it was impossible to come back?

Just a 2-degree shift of a knife, and now she was here in Miami. Just like the unassuming butterfly's flap of wing, which now ravaged a storm through her life.

Glassy droplets make a slow trail down the curve of her cheeks and drop on the scar as if trying to meet the origin which has brought her to the coordinates of the present.

And even though she did not know what would happen in the days to come, she was happy, truly happy, for that shift of her knife and for the 2 minutes of the power nap.

For the butterfly effect of love.

PS: Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a great day ahead! Love, Manamee🧡.

Tags (Please let me know if you want to be added or removed or if I forgot you):

Perma: @gkittylove99 @neotericthemis @udishaman @aestheticartsx @twinkleallnight @schnitzelbutterfingers @sophxwithers @sweatyrysconnoisseur @nikki-2406 @choicesfanaf @trrfanaddict @starrystarrytrouble @gardeningourmet @parkbarks @mvalentine @lovablegranny @mercury84choices @helloayz

Open Heart (All fics and edit): @lucy-268 @maurine07 @bellcat2010

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@choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics @choicesbookclub

[openheartfanfics]

WEEK 4: And they were in a Supply Closet/On-call Room...

Aurora x F!MC

On-Call - @satrangee-ray 🎭 Aurora narrates the first two times Idalia and she caught each other crying in supply closets. Idalia, in turn, tells us about the third time, when in the midst of confusion, they found comfort in each other…

Bryce x F!MC

Confession - @yaushie 🎭 Yet in that same supply closet from their first day, Bryce had made her feel like she could be sure and the words had spilled out as easily as a greeting. Feat. Rafael x MC

Crashing Down - @lem-20​ 🎭 A rewrite of Bk 1 Ch 13 on-call room chat with Bryce. Casey discusses what’s got her stressing out and also her relationship with Ethan. [Feat. Platonic Bryce

Eight Deadly Sin - @eleanorbloom ♥ Kinktober: Hair pulling and swallowing. Set in a supply closet during their shifts

Forgetful -  @lahamseiroshoe​ ♥ They blow off some steam while on the clock.

Not A Choice - @utterlyinevitable 🎭 Bryce finally asks Becca what happened between her and Ramsey. Set somewhere in Book 2. Feat. Bryce x F!MC x Ethan

Observing Procedures by @lahelable​ ♥ The one with Ethan watching

Passing Ships in the Night - @writinghereandthere ♥ Elena’s and Bryce’s schedules just don’t seem to coincide.

Role Call - @lahelable ♥ They do it in Ethan’s office.

Think a little less  - @annekebbphotography​ ♥ Bryce pulls her into a supply closet.

Untitled - @raleiighcarrera ♥ He pulls her into a supply closet.

_ Ethan x F!MC

Intonation - @utterlyinevitable 🎭 In lieu of barging into Ethan’s office in that totally bizarre scene, later in the day when things get too much, Ode goes to cry in a closet. Of course the last person she’d ever want to see catches her in such a state.

Masquerade - @liaromancewriter​ ♥👻 When Cassie and Ethan dress up as superheroes for an Edenbrook Halloween, things start to heat up as the masks come off. [Closet/On-Call] 

_ Jackie x Harper

The Touch of You - @headoverheelsforramsey​ ☁ Jackie teaches Harper how to beat a bad day the Varma style and ends up catching feelings.

_ Sienna x M!OC

Of Supply Closets and Winter Warmth - @gryffindordaughterofathena​ 🎭 There are days when Sienna Trinh can forget about the attack and it’s consequences and there are days when that’s the only thing she can think about.

[liaromancewriter]

Do you think MC was jealous of June if you choose the June option and then MC asked Ethan "do you like her" in Bk 2 Ch 1?

Hi Nonny. I don't think MC was jealous. I haven't tested this, but I believe the dialogue is the same if you're romancing Ethan and if you're not, i.e., he's your mentor only.

I think that MC was trying to understand the dynamics of the team and individual members.

[izukukuzi]

this is a question that i have in my mind since the beginning of bnha but i never asked anyone, but now i want to ask you: what do you think about the fact that midoriya seems to adore bakugou and to want to be his friends/at his side even if he bullied him and didn't even say sorry? idk if this is horikoshi's bad writing or maybe we have exaggerated bakugou's behaviour or idk, i'm really confused (sorry for the bad english, i hope what i said it's understandable!)

I thought about this ask for a looooong time. I usually kinda have a rough mental outline of the points I want to make when I answer any asks (especially when the answer gets really long jbdwujwjnw) but to be honest with you, nonnie, I kind of don’t know? however, I still want to honor the fact that you asked me (which... thank you??? you could have sent this to anyone, especially since you’ve probably been thinking about it for a while now), so I’ll give you some of my thoughts!!! 

the very first thought I had when I got this message was the context I usually see the “izuku didn’t stop hanging around bakugou despite what he did” argument being made in. a number of people have tried to make it a point that izu deserved the violence/bullying he was subjected to at bakugou’s hands because he was trying to force the other into a friendship, or he was following him around (or my least favorite take: izu was being stalkerish :/) 

and, while that’s not what you’re saying or asking, it does kind of lead me towards thinking of why, as you asked, izuku stayed at his side (and why the previously mentioned argument is wrong).

coming out of the isolation that comes with being diagnosed “quirkless,” I do not think we can fault izu for wanting to hold on to a friendship that’s been there for however long he and bk had known each other prior to the age of four? I mean, realistically, in this equation, you can’t take a four, five, six, seven, or whatever-year old child’s attempts to maintain his social connections as a fault of his own. he’s a kid, a lonely one at that, and if bakugou was who he knew as a friend before he was secluded, I’m not surprised he tried to keep it that way (though I don’t think he kept it that way for long)

some of the very first images we get in the manga are of izuku putting himself in the line of danger to protect another child from bakugou. while I don’t think that was something he “followed” him around for, I do think that izuku ended up around bk more times than not because he did things like this. being able to intervene, even at the cost of his own safety, would mean being around bk, so I figure that contributes to things (in some way or another dnedjnwjnd)

at some point, while I don’t think izu ever stops seeing bakugou as a figure of strength more obtainable to him than his favorite hero All Might, it seems like he does stop seeking bakugou out? from the way we’re introduced to bk/izu’s dynamic in junior high for example (i’m thinking about the moment their teacher said that both of them were aiming to apply for UA), we see that izuku tries his best to make himself small, to not draw attention, let alone bakugou’s attention, to himself... so it’s bakugou, then that initiates their interaction (though he does so with violence, a theme that’ll be followed into the start of their career as students at ua :/). so that then moves away from the “izuku following bakugou” rhetoric and, instead, shows how bakugou’s... irritation/obsession/call-it-what-you-want with izuku keeps them around each other, despite the understanding that bk wants the other at, as we see in ch. 284, “arm’s length.”

and while there’s more I could probably say about their physical closeness, I do want to kind of address some of the other points you brought up sooooo:

I can’t say this for sure, because I have no real way of knowing and can only base my understanding of it off of things I’ve experienced, but I think there’s some things that could explain why izuku “adored” bakugou, despite the way he was treated. 

on a narrative level, hori may have done this to 1) show the goodness of izuku’s heart (because, tbh, if I had to deal with half the shit he did, I wouldn’t be able to muster up a quarter of the kindness and continued grace that izu has). as the audience, we understand how good he is when we get to see him interact with bakugou despite everything, not with bitterness or malice, but with care and, when the moment calls for it (like the sludge attack or bk’s kidnapping) protectiveness. I also think it could be 2) a product of seeing bakugou as an obtainable symbol of heroism. i’m looking over the scene where they fight in ground beta and izu says some things that I think play into what you’re getting at with his admiration (also???????? these boys neeed t h e a r a p y oh my goodness):

(as a child, in a flashback) “Wait for me, Kacchan!”

“... like I said before, because I had nothing at first, along with the parts I hated about you, I saw vividly all the amazing things you could do!”

“You, who had so much that I didn’t have, were an amazing person much closer to me than All Might!”  

“It’s because I thought you were amazing... That’s why... I kept chasing after you!”

(and so you get the idea eubfrunejjs). again, I don’t see it as illogical for a child who wanted nothing more than to be a hero (for someone who kept that dream alive despite everyone telling him it was impossible) to use someone close to him personally (bk) as a model of strength. there’s other role models, like the pro heroes, but bakugou was tangible to izuku; he was within his sights for most of his life. if everyone was constantly showering bakugou with praise, telling him that he has what it takes to be a hero, why wouldn’t izuku also internalize that, hence making the foundation for his nod of respect towards bk? I don’t think it’s a problem of exaggerating bk’s behavior (because he was SHITTY to izu. that is just... not up for discussion???), but more of trying to really get into izu’s mind enough to understand why he may prioritize the things he does, and why his heart is good enough to give bk the kindness that izuku was under no obligation to provide (and I am... working on that point. I love him for it, but it does boggle me at times). 

Now... my last two points (because I’ve kept you here long enough dubwdjnwj). first, I have my opinions about where things are going currently in the manga (like with bakugou’s “atonement” and all that good shit) as well as how izuku’s trauma is portrayed coming out of his past with bakugou, but... I don’t want to speak ill of Hori and his writing abilities or anything. I’m here to enjoy the content he releases and, in doing that, all I can really do is trust that he’s telling the story as he sees best (because it is his story, not mine dbjndwjn).  

and lastly, I think that if we’re moving towards a place in the narrative where bk finally a p o l o g i z e s, then that may give us a chance to explore these ideas more! with bakugou finally owning up to what he did, and telling izuku about it, that may be a chance for izu to also open up himself and share a bit more on where his mind’s been with overcoming/forgiving the past. 

I hope some of this was helpful to you, nonnie!!!

[estellaelysian]

Questions

This is a bit of a rewrite of CH 1, OPH BK 2.

Just felt nostalgic.

(I changed the end a little bit)  You’ll see.

Song to listen to: Touch it - Ariana Grande

**********

Two long months.

Two months, spent without those deep green eyes following him everywhere. Without the soft, sad smile and without the voice he had memorized a million times over.

All that time, spent in aching, hurting, in thinking about unyielding what-ifs, even though he was the one who had pushed her away.

But now, she was here.

He had successfully kept himself away from her for two months, but now what? He didn’t trust himself around her which is why time and again there was only one question hovering in the air around him.

Why do it?

And how? How are you going to keep pushing her away? Keep breaking her heart, over and over again?

No.

He had to.

He couldn’t not do it and then resent himself for ruining her professional development, when he knew what she was capable of doing.

His eyes were drawn, irresistibly, back to where she was sitting, and he felt a horrible disgust build in the pit of his stomach.

Why was he doing this to her and to himself, he didn’t know.

She sat in one of the high bar stools, away from her friends who were in the beer garden. He had seen the look in her eyes when he had entered Donahue’s, bringing together a chill cold blast of air and a no-go zone around him; the look of plain care and concern for him, masked by deep pain, everything hiding behind a smile. He had no idea of the reaction he would get when he made an appearance in front of her, but that look enough had been heart wrenching.

He had expected her to come talk to him then, right then, but instead, she didn’t. She just excused herself from her friends, not meeting his gaze at all after that.

‘Give me a few minutes, guys, I’ll be back.’

Now she sat, sipping a scotch neat, wavy dark hair swept over one shoulder and an iPod clutched in her hands.

That’s when she turned, and met his gaze.

***

His summer blue eyes turned away again, and she found her gaze averted as well, now staring at the amber liquid in her glass as music poured out of the iPod, much like her current situation.

She remembered those two months, no contact no anything, just spent away from each other, and she didn’t even knew why. It was crushing that he hadn’t even deemed it important to tell her once that he would be gone for two months. He just left.

And then there was living without his ever-demanding presence around her, where she just felt odd, empty and heartbroken.

But now what?

He was back now, and she didn’t know what to do.

Just like she didn’t know what to do in those two months he was away.

How do I make the phone ring?

Why do I even care?

How are you all around me,

When you’re not really there?

When you’re not really there?

The song started over again, and she closed her tear filled eyes, losing herself in her surroundings.

How do I feel you want me,

When you’re not on my skin?

Why do you say you want me,

Then tell me I’m not coming in?

Baby just come on in

She startled when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to find Bryce standing behind her, wearing his megawatt smile. Smiling back, she pulled off the earphones.

‘Lish, are you okay?’

‘Yeah I’m fine,’ she lied. ‘Just needed a minute for myself.’

‘Yeah sure. Do you feel up for a game of darts?’

She turned once, risking a glance in Ethan’s direction, who refused to meet her gaze, and slid off the barstool. ‘Yeah. Let’s go.’

***

Ethan finished his drink in one long gulp and looked away from her disappearing figure before standing up and walking over to the bar. He took a seat in the barstool she had used, bowing his head and cursing himself for the millionth time over. Evidently spending two months apart, putting both of them through all that anguish and hurt had done nothing good for them. He wanted to be with her, he did. But it probably wasn’t in the cards for him.

Not being happy, and not making her happy.

God, he hated himself.

He raised the glass to his lips when he heard the commotion break out in the bar, and turned to the source causing it.

He wouldn’t have intervened, but something about the sight of that fight made him start toward it.

***

It didn’t take much long for the atmosphere to settle down after that. Soon, everyone went back to talking amiably and sipping their drinks, but before long, her friends had plans to continue the night.

She turned to look at him.

Talking to him would be difficult, she knew, and yet, one glance in his direction was enough to crumble all her defenses. She looked between him and her friends, but the words left her mouth even before she knew it.

‘You guys go ahead. I wanna go and check in about tomorrow with Dr. Ramsey.’

‘Don’t stay up too late,’ Sienna said, but at the point, she was barely listening, her senses already tuned to Ethan, even though she would end up being wrong about all she wanted to hear from him.

‘Cause every time I’m with you

I go into a zone

And I remember all the places you wanna go

Take me all the way

Ain’t nobody gonna touch it, touch it, touch it

Taking a seat in front of him, she put on a small smile as he looked up at her, his blue eyes running over her face, taking her in.

‘Cause every time I’m with you

I don’t wanna behave

I’m tired of being patient

So let’s pick up the pace

Take me all the way

Ain’t nobody gonna touch it, touch it, touch it

‘Rook—er Alishka. Sorry. Force of habit.’

She nodded toward his rugged jacket and spoke through the lump in her throat. ‘We’ve got ourselves a brand new Ethan Ramsey.’

‘The jacket’s been through a lot with me.’

‘It suits you,’ she said in an earnest, smiling a real smile for the first time that night.

‘Duly noted. And the beard?’

He didn’t know what he was doing, but he was way past caring.

‘It looks good on you.’

He scratched at it thoughtfully, wishing they weren’t chest deep in this time with this circumstance that kept them together, and yet pulled them apart. Pushing away the unease to a far corner in his chest, he said, ‘I’ve gotten used to it.’ A beat of silence. ‘Why don’t we move outside? It’ll be winter before we know it. Might as well enjoy the weather while we can. You want something to drink?’

He knew they were skirting the edge of things, but with his emotions in upheaval, it was taking all he had to not reach for her hand or kiss her.

‘Whatever you are having,’ she said quietly.

He reached over the bar and grabbed a half drunk bottle of scotch. ‘Hey Reggie, we are borrowing this.’

Reggie waved him on.

They headed out to the beer garden, which was silent and deserted by patrons, because it was way past the last call.

Ethan took a seat beside a small fire pit, and she scooted in beside him. They talked, but he noticed her hesitation and it broke his heart. He watched her intently as she stared into the fire, the flames casting soft shadows over her face, making her beauty more refined.

‘So this Dr. Throne guy … should I be worried about him?’ she asked.

Ethan’s words didn’t quiet reach her ears, she was far too distracted thinking about the best way to ask him the question she really wanted an answer to.

‘You did the right thing, standing up for that girl.’

‘We both know that’s not true.’

‘You are too young to be a cynic like me.’

‘I’m not being cynical. I just learned my lesson. You saw what happened last year. I almost lost my license for breaking the rules to help Mrs. Martinez.’

‘The lesson there is that you put your patients first, you’ll always be vindicated in the end. That’s the lesson. What you did just now was brave. You’ve always been brave in the face of disaster and death, and ofcourse… but it’s different when you are facing down a superior. To stand up to them for what’s right.’

‘It’s not as brave as venturing into the depths of Amazon to fight a pandemic, that’s for sure …’ she said, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in her tone.

A somber look fell over Ethan’s face. He looked back at his drink, contemplating his response. In that moment, it was as if he was robbed of all words but a few, which would never explain his reasons and how stupid he felt they were.

I am sorry, Alishka. I had to.

‘…That wasn’t bravery.’

The world seemed quite still at that exact moment. Desperate, he thought again about all he wanted to tell her, but before he could speak the words, she raised her gaze to his.

‘Ethan, why didn’t you keep in touch? No word from you at all for two months? After all that happened between us?’

‘Everything that happened between us is exactly the reason I didn’t contact you.  Alishka, if we are going to work together on the diagnostics team, we need a fresh start. Your professional development is too important to jeopardize it with whatever ... whatever it was we had’

Whatever. Whatever it was we had. Had. Past tense.

‘Had?’

‘Yes. And the past is where it has to remain.’

How do you know I’m breathing,

When I’m holding my breath?

His gaze swept over her face, seeing right through her as if she was made of glass. It was the way he always saw her.

Without thinking, she pressed her lips to his.

Why don’t we face the danger

Just for the night and forget?

Baby let’s just forget

He tensed noticeably. His defenses were going up, and it registered as an ache.

When she leaned back, staring into his eyes from just inches away, a storm of desire and pain played out on his face. With that look, she felt everything slipping away.

‘Dammit Alishka.’

‘If you don’t want to kiss me again, then just tell me—’

He fought to keep his voice steady.

‘It has nothing to do with want. I can’t. And if I give a damn about you, I won’t. How am I supposed to push you to be everything you can if I…’

He trailed off, looking away.

‘If you what?’ she prompted gently, not sure if she wanted to know.

He didn’t look at her, and that was it.

‘Okay. I get it,’ she whispered. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Ramsey.’

He flinched at her formality, watching as she rose and turned to leave. Before he could stop himself, he caught her by her wrist, her skin warm on his fingers.

‘Alishka, please,’ he pleaded.

She turned to look at him, her eyes bright with tears.

‘Please what? I am listening to you, aren’t I? Even though you know it’s not easy. All I could think of the last two months was you and how much you meant to me. Even now, when I’m here with you, all I can think of is how right this feels. And I don’t want to leave you, but I am, because that’s what you asked me to do. What else do you expect from me?’

At her words, he felt as if he was slapped. In her face, the silent resignation was as pronounced as her pain. He drew her into his arms, pulling her close. She shook her head, trying and failing to keep the tears from falling. ‘Does this make you happy, doing all this?’ she asked, her voice thick as she began to cry.

‘It doesn’t, Alishka, and I despise myself for it,’ he said. ‘But what choice do I have?’

He held her as she spoke through her ragged sobs. ‘This isn’t fair…’

‘I know. And I am sorry, I am really sorry.’

For a long time, neither of them spoke, but then, she pulled away, her eyes rimmed with red.

‘Goodnight Dr. Ramsey.’

He watched her go, gritting his teeth, willing himself not to follow.

Remind we why we’re taking a break

It’s obviously insane

‘Cause we both know what we want

Then why don’t we fall in love?

‘Goodnight, Dr. Roy,’ he spoke into the silence.

Baby lets fall in love.

**********

@tenaciouslandvoidgiant @choicesaddict5 @schnitzelbutterfingers

[hualianisms]

“your highness, i’ve always watched you.” - hua cheng, ch 240

i’ve noticed some ppl misinterpret this quote to mean HC has been watching XL’s every move, like a stalker. this quote may accidentally have unflattering connotations in eng, but in chinese, it doesn’t come off like that at all. based on the original chinese text + the context behind this quote, that’s not what HC actually meant at all.

i think mxtx deliberately had HC use the ambiguous word “看/watch”, in order to convey multiple meanings:

1) “i’ve always watched you” > “i’ve (literally) watched/seen all of your past, including your worst moments, and i still love you, unconditionally”

2) “i’ve always had my eye/attention on you” (figuratively) > “it’s always been you i've been pining after”

3) “i’ve always watched over you” > “i’ve been keeping watch over you from afar all this time, to protect you.”

1. “i’ve (literally) watched/seen all of your past”

firstly, let’s look at the context in which this quote was first said, in ch 240:

XL is about to reveal that he almost became the white-clothed calamity, and is afraid HC will think differently of him after finding out.

HC’s response to is to reveal that he was Wu Ming all along, in order to 1) reassure XL that HC will not think any less of him, and 2) reveal that HC has in fact watched XL almost become the white-clothed calamity, yet doesn’t love XL any less. so HC says: "i've always watched you.”

this is XL’s reaction:

(in both the quotes “i’ve always watched you” & “he had seen everything”, the chinese text uses the same word, “ 看 “.  看 has multiple meanings, the most common one being a literal “to see/look/watch”. 

here, it’s used to describe how HC has literally seen XL’s past, watched everything that XL has done at his lowest point, and loves XL despite it all - reassuring XL that HC’s love is unconditional.

一直 is also used in “i’ve always watched you”, was translated to “always”, but it can also just mean “all along” or “all this time”. it’s just used to mean that Wu Ming has been HC all along. it does NOT mean that he was watching XL every single moment of XL’s life.)

2. “i’ve always had my eye/attention on you” (figuratively)

this basically works as a love confession of sorts, to mean HC has always paid attention to XL/had his sights set on XL, bc XL is the only one who HC has ever had romantic interest in. this is HC acknowledging that nature of his feelings are romantic, bc he hadn't wanted XL to know that, back in the cave of ten thousand gods. 

3. “i’ve always watched over you”

this meaning is a pun bc the chinese word for "see/watch", 看, has another meaning, “to watch over/guard/look after" - referencing HC's wish/purpose of protecting XL.

basically this scene references the events of bk 4, where HC was at XL's side as a ghost fire, then later as Wu Ming. he did NOT do that to “stalk” XL. instead, he was trying to watch over XL from afar, to protect him.

bc in bk 4, XL had just lost almost everyone & everything, & all HC wanted to do was to try to protect XL from harm, to warn him away from BWX, to help him fend off 33 gods, to offer him warmth - to be with XL during his darkest, loneliest moments, so that XL would have at least 1 person on his side.

bc his whole existence, all HC has ever wanted to do was protect XL, in order to fulfill HC's only wish. bc he loves XL, bc XL is the only one who ever showed HC kindness and saved his life, and bc HC watched XL go through hell and doesn't want XL to suffer any more. so no, HC did NOT stalk XL’s every move like a creep/sexual predator (he couldn’t even find XL for 800 years).

(tl;dr this quote is taken out of context, HC is not a stalker)

[jacnaylor]

romance book recs!!

romance is my feel good genre, and it’s also usually somewhat easier to read during stressful times, so here’s a list of some books that are either romance or have a romance element i feel like mentioning.

(EDIT: I STAYED UP TILL 2 AM DOING THIS HELP. this is why some of the comments. don’t make any fucking sense.)

romance books and authors:

CONTEMPORARY:

1. The Bromance bookclub series by Lyssa Kay Adams (A group of men form a bookclub dedicated to romance books in order to understand women, improve their relationships and become better men. It’s funny, cute, and all about dismantling toxic masculinity one romance book at a time)

2. Mariana Zapata books (The queen of slowburn romance. The only book I’ve read by her is ‘Under Locke’, but ‘From Lukov with love’ and ‘Kulti’ have rave reviews. There is so much build up and SO much sexual tension with a great pay off)

3. Milly Johnson books (A uk author whose books are primarily set in the north, these are total feel good books. Not so much graphic and more romantic, but her characters are great and her plot lines really hook you in.)

4. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (Super cute, quick enemies-to-lovers story about a bridesmaid who has to go on a honeymoon with the best man when the bride and groom get food poisoning. Obviously this means the holy of holies: fake relationship!)

5. Well met by Jen De Luca (Oh my gosh! Super fun, the characters are just wonderful especially our heroine. A hate-to-love romance set at a renaissance fair! All about overcoming the limits you set on yourself and rethinking your first impressions.)

6. Katherine Center books (My personal favourites are ‘How to walk away’ about a woman who falls for her PT after a near fatal plane crash. And ‘Happiness for beginners’ about a woman taking part in a wilderness trail with her brothers annoying best friend. She writes such great plots and you really feel all the emotions!)

7. Mhairi Mcfarlane books (my personal favourites are ‘Here’s looking at you’ about a woman who comes face to face with her high school bully years later - only he doesn’t recognize her. And he’s not awful? Don’t worry. I know how that synopsis sounds. He’s not excused his actions, but you also understand how he’s grown and changed. It definitely gets you in the feels though. As does ‘You had me at hello’ Which is about a couple from university meeting again years later. God this woman can write angst and yearning!!)

8. A part of me by Anouska Knight (On the same day she and her husband have been accepted into the adoption process, their marriage implodes. This has such a cute romance which follows hate-to friends- to love and it’s v funny)

9. Southern Eclectic series by Molly harper (Just as it sounds. Southern small town romance with a great, quirky cast of characters)

10. Maggie’s man by Lisa Gardner (writing as Alicia Scott) (An escaped convict kidnaps a woman from the courthouse to act as his hostage whilst he tries to prove his innocence. Surprisingly funny and warm. Maggie as a heroine is an absolute joy. They’re sort of chaotic together and it’s a wild ride.)

11. The Mister by E.L James (LISTEN OK - SIT BACK DOWN - It’s not winning awards but it’s actually decent! I was skeptical, but I will admit I was won over. I mean parts are cheesy but it’s so addictive. Basically a rich man falls for his cleaning lady - but it’s also about the yearning. It’s also quite action packed as there’s danger, drama and a chase across europe to get the girl.)

12. RECENT Colleen Hoover (Now, you may enjoy older CH books. Personally I find them very problematic. Now I’ve really enjoyed her recent books though. Especially ‘Without Merit’ and ‘It ends with us’ and ‘Regretting you’. High angst, high drama, dark topics for all of her books. But you can tell she’s matured with her writing. She isn’t for everyone but they’re addictive, fast paced reads.

13. The Austenland duology by Shannon Hale (You might have seen the Austenland movie - The cutest, cheesiest, sweetest, campiest movie ever. Well there’s a book! It’s about women who go on a holiday and live their own Jane Austen story with actors. The first book leans towards Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield park. The second book is more Northanger abbey and Emma.

14. Brigid Kemmerer contemporaries (She is an auto-buy author for me, especially her contemporaries. She writes the best teenage characters, the best teenage boys I’ve ever read about. Her characters are real, she writes about kids trying their best, struggling, and being good, and kind, and the world not being kind to them. Usually the books have a pov from both the female and male love interest. I would rec any of them tbh. ‘Letters to the lost’ comes before it’s companion novel ‘More than we can tell’. I loved ‘Call it what you want’ with has modern Robin Hood elements!!!! seriously she is my favourite YA contemporary author.

15. Sophie Kinsella books (If you haven’t picked up her stand alone novels then what are you doing???? she is the queen!!!! Personal favourites are ‘Can you keep a secret’ and ‘I’ve got your number)

16. A quiet kind of thunder by Sara Barnard (I love her ok. Her books are short and sweet but she packs a punch. TBH these aren’t primarily romance, they’re more just about teenage girls but this one has a good romance element so I’m putting it on here. It’s about Steffi, a selective mute who sometimes communicates with basic sign language who is assigned to look after the new boy at school Rhys, who is deaf.)

17. Meet me at the museum by Anne Youngson (GORGEOUS! moving, tender. A lonely housewifes strikes up a correspondence with a widowed museum curator in Denmark. Oh gosh. I just love this one. It’s about friendship, love, grief, second chances, the choices we make. Seriously love this one and it’s not that long.)

FANTASY:

1. Sorcery of thorns by Margaret Rogerson (Elisabeth has grown up in the great library, protecting grimoires with powers and fearing sorcerers. When a dangerous grimoire is released, she’s forced to team up with an enigmatic sorcerer and his demonic servant in order to save the world.)

2. Sky in the deep duology by Adrienne Young (A viking inspired story about a warrior who is captured by the tribe she is at war with. Such good tension and it’s also got a lot of action. Battle couple romance! Mutual respect! Hate to love!)

3. The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley (I’ve reread this book once but will end up reading it again. It’s a time travel romance about a woman staying in cornwall dealing with the death of her sister who is transported back and forth to the 17th century. It’s a favourite. The romance is wonderful but the stakes are really high too. I also love ‘Belleweather’ by the same author)

4. An ember in the ashes series by Sabaa Tahir (Oh god, the romance. THE ROMANCE! it’s so much. The angst, the pining, the longing. The first book follows Laia, part of a slave class in a roman inspired world. She begins spying in the top military academy and meets Elias, a reluctant soldier. This is a proper fantasy series with only the first three books out, but it’s so great.)

5. Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen (Let me just copy the blurb ok: “Meet Captain James Benjamin Hook, a witty, educated Restoration-era privateer cursed to play villain to a pack of malicious little boys in a pointless war that never ends. But everything changes when Stella Parrish, a forbidden grown woman, dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of Pan's rules.” I MEAN COME ON. a gorgeous adult fairytale with love and redemption at the center.

6. The Mediator series by Meg Cabot (Obviously Meg Cabot is the most iconic and we stan. But this series is my absolute favourite by her. About Suze Simon, a kickass, no nonsense mediator - Someone who helps ghosts move on to the other side. Sometimes by force. She has to move house and ends up sharing her room with a 100 year old hot ghost named Jesse. The tension. The angst. THE BANTER!!!!)

7. House of Earth and Blood by Sara J Maas (a half fae half mortal girl tries to solve a murder with the help of a fallen angel. It’s a LONG book, but for me personally it flew by. It’s a big new fantasy world but the romance has a great build. Overcoming grief! Being normal together! Being in danger together! THE UST! the characters are so good. I ahven’t been this impressed by a new series for a while)

8. Cursebreakers series by Brigid Kemmerer (yep, she gets another mention. This one is a beauty and the best retelling about a man forced to relive the same season over and over, becoming a literal beat, until a girl from our world can break the curse. The second book, following secondary characters, is my fave so far. But both feature kickass ladies and those small romantic moments BK is so good at)

9. A court of thorns and roses series by Sara J Maas (a fae inspired beauty and the beast retelling. The only time you support a ship switch. Also the secondary ships are getting their own books and oh my god. I’m so excited.)

HISTORICAL/CLASSICS/MILLS AND BOON

1. Jane Austen (The original rom com queen, obviously. Pride and prejudice and Emma are faves. Also I have a major soft spot for the alwayc chaotic and underrated Northanger Abbey)

2. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (Actually might be my favourite classic ever. Often described at an industrial p&p. Margaret, from the south, comes face to face with the harsh reality of the world when she moves up north and comes face to face with a brooding millowner. There’s obviously a lot more nuance than that but. THE PINING!!!!!! THE MISCOMMUNICATION! THE DRAMA!)

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (You might have seen the film. Please also read the book. Told entirely in letters. The sharp witted author Juliet Ashton falls in love with Guernsey and it’s characters whilst researching what happened there during the war. Funny, moving and romantic.)

4. The Veronica Speedwell series by Deanna Raybourn (A butterfly hunter foils her own kidnap and is paired together with a reclusive natural historian. They solve mysteries together. They can’t admit they wanna sleep together. The tension.......unbearable. See also the Julia Grey mysteries by the same author)

5. The warrior knight and the widow by Ella Matthews (So last year I discovered Mills and Boon and I have no shame about it whatsoever. This is a medieval beauty and the beast retelling about a woman being escorted to her fathers estate by an enigmatic and scarred knight. She’s hoping to convince her father to let her steward her own lands, and of course trying not to fall for her escort.)

6. The bareknuckle bastards series by Sarah Maclean (A badass, brooding trio of siblings who rule the underbelly of Covent Garden fall for smart, beautiful women. Opposites attract, Good girl/bad boy, strong women, banter. Super fun historical romance)

7. Redeeming the reclusive earl by Virginia Heath (I just read this and it was seriously cute!!!! And book where the hero blushes even once is a good book in my opinion. Basically aspiring antiquarian named Effie barrels into the life of a new earl - who really just wants to be left alone to be grumpy and sad and disfigured. ALONE. But Effie wants to dig on his land. And she won’t take no for an answer. She also talks A LOT.

8. A family for the widowed governess by Ann Lethbridge (Technically this is part of a series but you don’t need to read them in order and this is the best one. A widow who is being blackmailed accepts a governess post. She can’t tell her employer about the blackmail especially when she starts falling for him.)

9. The bedlam stacks by Natasha Pulley (I read watchmaker and didn’t like it but you might like it. This one also FEAUTRES A M/M ROMANCE. I know this list was super straight im sorry. Anyway this is about a botanist falling in love with a priest in the jungle.

10. The wilderness series by Sara Donati (Think outlander without the time travel and also not set in scotland. Basically Last of the Mohicans fanfiction about Hawkeye’s grown up son. An english woman moves to america when her father promises she can be a school teacher there. Little does she know he actually has plans to marry her off. Things get more complicated when she falls for Nathaniel Bonner, a white man raised native american and who’s daughter and extended family is Native American. Like outlander there’s romance, adventure, history. But unlike the outlander books the love interest is a decent guy (i say as if i don’t love the tv show)

STUFF THAT REALLY ISN’T ROMANCE AT ALL. BUT I SHIP A SHIP.

1. The Lacey Flint series by Sharon Bolton (Lacey Flint is a police officer who becomes involved in the hunt to catch a Jack the ripper copycat. There actually is a strong romantic element with the other lead police officer.)

2. The last hours duology by Minette Walters. A novel about the black death and a closed estate lead by a woman who’s trying to protect her people. There’s also a kind of murder mystery. But she also has a close relationship to one of the surfs that I got super invested in.

3. The Strike series by J.k Rowling (I know we don’t stan anymore but. This series about  PI and his assistant slowly growing closer? Becoming best friends and partners? Not acknowledging any feelings for each other?

[pamphletstoinspire]

Understanding the Mysterious Sword of St. Michael

I’ve read a couple of articles on the mysterious Sword of St. Michael — a straight line across Europe of churches and shrines dedicated to the archangel. I first heard about the sword from Gelsomino Del Guercio’s piece from May 31, 2017, “7 Sanctuaries linked by a straight line: The legendary Sword of St. Michael.” [According to legend, the line represents the blow with which St. Michael sent the devil to hell. A mysterious imaginary line links seven monasteries, from Ireland to Israel. Is it just a coincidence? These seven sanctuaries are very far from each other, and yet they are perfectly aligned (siviaggia.it). The Sacred Line of Saint Michael the Archangel represents, according to legend, the blow the Saint inflicted the Devil, sending him to hell. In any case, it is surprising how well these sanctuaries are, in fact, aligned. But the details of such alignment are also astonishing: the three most important sites, Mont Saint Michel in France; the Sacra of San Miguel in Val de Susa; and the Sanctuary of Monte Sant’Angelo in the Gargano are all the same distance one from the other. Some say this is a reminder from the Holy Archangel: the faithful are expected to be righteous, walking the straight path. If all this was not surprising enough, the Sacred Line also is perfectly aligned with the sunset on the day of the Northern Hemisphere’s Summer Solstice (viagginews.com).] Not only are the shrines, centered around monasteries, in a straight line, three of them are evenly spaced from one another. Del Guercio lists the shrines as follows, most of them in high places and many of them on islands:

1. Skellig Michael, an island of the coast of Ireland, settled by Celtic monks. 2. Saint Michael’s Mount, an island off the coast of Cornwall, England. 3. Mont Saint Michel, an island off the coast of Normandy, France. 4. Sacra di San Michele, an abbey built on top of Mount Pirchiriano, Italy. 5. Sanctuary of Monte Sant’Angelo sul Gargano, on top of another mountain in Italy. 6. Monastery of the Taxiarchis, Symi Island, Greece. 7. Stella Maris Monastery, Mount Carmel, Israel.

Del Guercio gives on key clue that may help explain the direct line: “The Sacred Line also is perfectly aligned with the sunset on the day of the Northern Hemisphere’s Summer Solstice.” Del Guercio thinks this makes the coincidence more remarkable, but I think this may be the key fact that helps us to unpack the significance of the sword — rightly named as a sword to signal Christendom’s spiritual combat against paganism.

What is the significance of the summer solstice? Many pagan shrines, most famously Stonehenge, were built to highlight the movement of the sun and moon, and were designed to harness the sun on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice. Were the shrines along the sword of St. Michael, then, originally pagan sites of worship? In fact, the answer is yes. The island in Cornwall was dedicated to Celtic god Lugh (who was also a fighter) and Mont. St. Michel was dedicated to Mithras (a cult of Roman soldiers) and named Tomb Mount. The Greek monastery was built over the site of a temple to Apollo, who was connected to the sun and therefore to the solstice. It seems he also had sanctuaries along the sword of St. Michael. Pagans would have sought out distinctive “high places” that followed the track of the sun on its peak day.

How did each monastery become dedicated to St. Michael? Some of the sites claim an apparition from Michael. He appeared at Monte San Angelo in 490 and 663 and at Mont St. Michel to the Bishop Aubert in 708, instructing him to the build the shrine. Sacra di San Michele is half way between Mon St. Michel and Monte San Angelo and was also built at the request of the Archangel in 983, appearing to the hermit, St. Giovanni Vincenzo. Philip Kosloski relates how St. Patrick saw St. Michael over the island of Skellig Michael as he was exorcizing Ireland. Taxiarchis is home to a miraculous icon of Michael, which is said to have protected the monastery from Muslim invasion (with the archangel even appearing before the enemy).

Other sites may have gained an association to the fighting archangel in the Christian imagination to guard against the influence of the pagan worship previously associated with the sites. The seventh site is the only one that does not connect to Michael (to my knowledge), but Mt. Carmel likewise was a place of spiritual battle where Elijah slew the prophets of Baal. There may be some connection between Elijah and St. Michael as I found a Ukrainian folk legend [Saint Michael the Archangel (Архангел Михаїл; Arkhanhel Mykhail). The supreme angel in Christian belief. Ukrainians shared many of the Christian beliefs about Saint Michael, particularly about his leading role in the struggle against Satan—hence, the name Arkhystratyh Mykhail ‘the Supreme Commander Michael.’ He was believed to have taken thunder away from Satan and handed it over to Saint Elijah. Ukrainians adopted Saint Michael as the patron saint of hunters and the city of Kyiv.] claiming that St. Michael had given Elijah the thunder he took away from Satan.

There is also a connection between the summer solstice and St. John the Baptist. In the ancient world the solstices were June 24th and December 25th, John’s and Jesus’ birthdays of course. The Church Fathers connected these dates to John’s words that Jesus must increase while he decreases, as these are the days that mark the increasing and decreasing sunlight. And indeed, John the Baptist, like Michael, was associated with combating paganism in the early Church. We see one example of this at Monte Cassino.

In St. Gregory the Great’s biography of St. Benedict, he describes how the abbot set up a shrine to John the Baptist to replace one dedicated to Apollo, which had been set in a high place (and probably also connected to the sun):

In this place there was an ancient chapel in which the foolish and simple country people, according to the custom of the old gentiles, worshipped the god Apollo. Round about it likewise on all sides, there were woods for the service of the devils, in which even to that very time, the mad multitude of infidels offered most wicked sacrifice. The man of God coming there, beat the idol into pieces, overthrew the altar, set fire to the woods, and in the temple of Apollo, he built the oratory of St. Martin, and where the altar of the same Apollo was, he made an oratory of St. John. By his continual preaching, he brought the people dwelling in those parts to embrace the faith of Christ. (Dialogues, Bk 2, ch. 8).

Explaining the sword of St. Michael in conjunction with the line of the summer solstice does not explain away the sword’s significance. Rather, it shows its significance as part of the way in which the Church reclaimed important sites and dedicated them to the worship of the one true God. The sun and stars proclaim the glory of God and should not lead to idolatrous worship and human sacrifice (a custom of the solstice).

St. Michael clearly had a role in reclaiming the solstice for the glory of God and removing its connection to the enemy as he himself appeared at many of these sites. In our own fight to reclaim our own country, we should turn to St. Michael (and recite his prayer often) and to St. John the Baptist to guard and protect and to help us in the battle for souls.

By: R. JARED STAUDT __________

O glorious prince St. Michael, chief and commander of the heavenly hosts, guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits, servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable conductor, you who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil, who turn to you with confidence and enable us by your gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day.

PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen..

From: www.pamphletstoinspire.com

[bioshoook]

To Shelter You, Ch. 3

summary:  Nine people down on their luck and desperate for money join a medical study deemed almost too good to be true. What they thought would be just your average advertised trial turns out to be a front for human experimentation.

This is trial 32 and there’s no backing out of this one.

pairing: Alfredo/Trevor, Jack/Geoff (later in the story)

also available on AO3

(Fic written in collaboration with @shyafwriter)

(Ch. 1/ Ch. 2/ )

"Hope you're not allergic to cats," BK says from her cell. She means it as a simple statement, but realizes how harsh the words are and internally winces at saying them. Michael hisses at her in response and stomps over to his bed with his tail violently swaying back and forth.

"Fuck you. This is so fucked up," Michael says as he takes a seat on his bed and puts his face in his hands.

BK recoils from the slight, but she understands. Quietly, she slinks back to her own bed. Her head and back are aching with progressively worse pain. Her own transformation will be soon. Humor helps her avoid thinking about it, but now, sitting in silence, she can’t help but tremble.

Since Alfredo and Trevor had been brought back, fresh with ears and tail and who knows what else, only Matt has changed. The bushy, striped tail of a raccoon had been easy to place, at least. Lindsay, Jeremy and Trevor still aren’t entirely certain what animal they were hybridized with. But it seems that brought no comfort to Matt. He’d crawled under his bed - literally - and has stayed hidden there ever since. BK is sure she even heard a whimper out of him.

Gavin shuffles closer to Michael. His new wings are clearly cumbersome, and will definitely take some getting used to. One of them smacks into the wall, making Gavin shriek in shock; clearly, not something he’d intended to do. Normally, BK would laugh, but this is no place for laughter.

She scratches at her scalp, where the pain is the worst - where she’s sure new ears are just waiting to burst out - and shrinks into her bed. Maybe, she thinks hopelessly, she can sleep through the oncoming pain. Maybe she’ll even wake up, and all of this will be a bad dream. Maybe she can persuade herself she’s still in her shitty New York apartment, with her shitty roommates and shitty rent due. Somehow, that is starting to look like a fantasy. How low she’s sunk, she thinks miserably.

Alfredo and Trevor both sit against the glass that separates the two, as close as they possibly can. Alfredo has his back against it, with his ears tucked close to his head like he can hide them in his hair and his tail wrapped close around his body beneath his shirt, hidden. His eyes are closed, but he isn’t asleep. How could he possibly sleep after this?

Trevor doesn’t bother to hide his new additions like Alfredo. He sits curled up with his arms holding his knees close to him, his head resting on his arms and his shoulder against the glass. His eyes are fixed ahead at nothing in particular. Occasionally, behind him, the white tail swishes. It’s conscious - an attempt to get used to the thing. It never works, and the discomforting strangeness of it makes one of his ears flicker. It only makes him feel worse, and he shakes his head to try to dispel the feeling.

As he does, he picks up a scent. Is… is that salt?

And is he really sniffing at the air right now?

Strangeness of that aside, the scent of salt is unmistakable. Except it’s not just salt - it’s tears.

“...Fredo?” he asks.

Alfredo is slow to react, but eventually his head falls to the side enough that he can look back at Trevor. There’s definitely a tear trail down his cheek. “Yeah?”

“You holding up alright?”

Alfredo turns his head back and lets it fall against the wall. “‘Bout as well as you’d expect.”

“Yeah,” Trevor sighs, glancing at the tail lying limp around his side. “It’s fucked up.”

“It’s more than that! Dude, we’re freaks. Damn freaks of fucking nature! We’re part fucking dog or something! Do you think they’ll let us go after this? See our families again?”

It isn’t like the same thought hadn’t crossed Trevor’s mind. Rather, for the sake of his sanity, he’d shoved it to the back of his mind to focus on the situation at hand. Jumping to conclusions, he’d rationalized, won’t help anyone now. “They might. We don’t know what’s going on yet,” Trevor says, sounding less and less confident with every word.

“They kidnapped us. They experimented on us. They turned us into half-animal hybrid freaks. Admit it - they’ll never let us see the light of day again,” Alfredo says bitterly. He closes his eyes, lets another tear fall, and a quiet whimper escapes him.

Alfredo’s words are true, and there’s nothing Trevor can say to reassure him, or himself for that matter. For a while, he and Alfredo sit in silence, taking the only comfort they can from each other’s presence. Eventually, though, Trevor rises and crawls under the blanket on his bed, curling up with his ears and tail pressed close. He pulls the blanket over his head and covers his mouth. Maybe under here, if he begins to whimper like Alfredo has, and like Matt has, the others won’t hear him.

‘Strapped to a cold table under the bright lights of a laboratory’ is not exactly high on the list of ways that Matt thought the situation could get better. Even his tail is pinned down by his side by two leather straps, though he’s sure that if he arched his back he’d be able to worm it free. Not that he wants to. The thought of even having a tail still feels grossly unnatural, even if his brain has wired to it well as if he has always been part raccoon.

The others are with him, aside from Ky and BK. Those two were left to their fates. Every other prisoner, every mutated, morphed hybrid, were taken, and now they surround Matt, each bound to their own table, with Jeremy directly to Matt’s right and Trevor to his left. Those two are the only ones he can see well without straining his neck. Somewhere in the room, one of the others is whining like a frightened animal. Matt can’t be sure who it is - the noise hardly sounds human.

He lets his head fall towards Jeremy, and he watches as he struggles and strains against his binds. Maybe that’s what Matt should be doing too, even though Jeremy isn’t having much luck. Maybe he should be putting these new claws to use on the leather. Maybe he could escape.

‘ And run where? ’ he thinks bitterly to himself. He’d be bound back to the table, probably in a worse state than he already is, before he could take two steps.

Somewhere, he hears the snap of gloves. Somebody sobs. It might have been him.

“Start with the basics,” the doctor commands. Matt can’t see her, but he can hear her heels echoing through the lab. And he can smell her. That perfume must have been expensive, but already it sends a wave of revulsion through Matt’s body. “Record their vitals. Check their reflexes. If there are any abnormalities, report to me immediately. Take the blood after. And I want a sample of fur or feathers from all of them.”

Alfredo begins to shout a number of colorful expletives that would make even Matt blush on a normal day. He sounds petrified - more so than Matt would expect. No one bats an eye at him though. They treat him like a dog that simply won’t stop barking - ignore him, or throw the occasional demand at him to be quiet.

Despite it, and despite everything else, Matt does his best to remain calm. He freezes when his pulse is recorded, but squeezes his eyes shut when the blood pressure cuff is fixed around his arm. Maybe if he can’t see, he can pretend he is just at a usual doctor’s office, getting a usual check up.

His imagination fails him. If only.

As his arm is released, he is deafened by a sudden alarm. Matt’s ears duck and he instinctively tries to reach up to cover them from the painful level of noise, but in doing so he yanks his wrists back against their binds so hard that he shrieks.

He is far from the only hybrid affected. His companions scream and howl and cry.

“What now?!” the doctor shouts over the din. “Turn that damn thing off before it impacts my hybrids! And find the cause! Throw the subjects in there - make absolutely certain that you lock the door!”

Presumably, she leaves, but Matt can’t see - his eyes are scrunched closed, and they stay so until three men release his binds and roughly drag him off his table, shoving him into a room at the back of the lab dotted with computers and equipment that Matt can’t even begin to comprehend.

The men shove him hard, so he trips over his own feet. At least now he is free to cover his ears - it makes the noise bearable, if still uncomfortably loud.

Gavin catches him - the only hybrid not desperately trying to block out the noise. Suddenly those wings don’t look so bad after all.

The last tossed inside is Jeremy, and the metal door slams shut behind them. Even beneath the alarm, they each hear the heavy lock click into place.

Gavin watches helplessly as the others suffer. Some are still crying out. Matt and Trevor are curled up on the floor with their hands clamped over all four ears. Jeremy, Lindsay and Alfredo have huddled together while they try to shelter their ears, taking at least some comfort from finally not being entirely physically isolated from one another. Michael has his ears sandwiched between his head and his arm, in turn crushed against the wall while his tail swishes with his anxiety and he screams.

A pair of wings are quick to enclose around him and Michael takes a deep breath at the lessened silence they offer. He still has his hands clamped over his ears, but at least it feels like his brain won't vibrate out of his skull now.

Gavin taps his shoulder, then points up at something on the ceiling. The alarm - at least, the one making this room utterly unbearable. He could reach it, claw it out, but Michael doesn't want to take his hands from his ears for even a second.

'One second,' Gavin mouths to him. Then his wings are gone from around Michael. Gavin steps into the middle of the room, his eyes fixed on the alarm. His huge wings spread, rise, and then beat down once, throwing a gust at the other hybrids as he is lifted off his feet. Gavin clumsily twists in the air, but his fingers grasp the alarm. Somehow, his feet find the ceiling, and his wings beat again, and the alarm - and Gavin - fall to the floor.

Michael is barely able to catch him - not for lack of reflex, but for how much Gavin scrambles and flails. More than once, Michael is beaten in the face by feathers until Gavin has processed that he is no longer falling.

Michael might be annoyed, if he wasn't so relieved. The alarm is silenced, aside from what continues outside that door, but the door is blissfully thick.

One by one, the hybrids sigh and groan in relief. Their hands come away from their ears, and they allow their tense bodies to relax.

Gavin scrambles out of Michael's grip, blushing. He makes eye contact, smiles awkwardly, then quickly diverts his attention.

“Are you all alright?” Gavin asks the room. He gets a few nods, a whimper, and one thumbs up.

Jeremy grabs the alarm from Gavin's grip, throws it to the floor and stamps on it repeatedly, then kicks it away. "That was nothing short of torture!"

“Your ears must be pretty sensitive, huh?” Gavin asks.

“Maybe they were, before they half-deafened us,” Jeremy grumbles, still tentatively covering and rubbing at his large, furry ears while they recover.

Behind him, Lindsay and Alfredo help Matt and Trevor up, though Trevor stumbles on shaky legs and has to be steadied by Lindsay. Matt moves to help, but finds his aid unneeded. Fortunate, as he catches sight of an unlocked computer on a nearby desk over Trevor’s shoulder. Curiosity gets the better of him, and the next thing he knows, he is in the seat, looking over a list of files.

“What the hell…?” Matt mutters to the screen. For a brief moment, he checks his back, but the alarm outside still blares, and they clearly didn’t even consider which room they had inadvertently thrown the hybrids into, let alone what t hey might find in there.

He clicks one of the files: ‘Batch 5, Subject 47’. A moment later, he is presented with a screen full of images and text that makes Matt jump back from the monitor with a gasp and his hands over his mouth. The most prominent text is the bold red ‘TERMINATED’ message at the top of the document , but beneath that are grotesque images of a woman morphed and mutated horrifically. The screen displays ‘ Canis lupus ’ under the ‘species’ heading, and Matt is aware enough to understand that means ‘dog’, but there’s nothing about the image he sees, with the swollen jaw and blackened hands and malformed eyes, that remotely suggests anything like a dog. Whatever killed this poor woman, it must have been painful.

Behind him, Lindsay screams. Someone - he thinks Gavin - gags and stumbles back, but Matt can’t even take his eyes away from the horror to check on him. Three bodies shoot to gather around him, pressing close for a better look. The one on his left, whose chin Matt can just feel at the tip of his ear, must be Trevor, if the quiet gasp is anything to go by. Jeremy appears at his other side, his shuddering hand clutching Matt’s shoulder as he murmurs, “Oh my god…” The last is Michael - Matt can see him out of the corner of his eye, crouched frowning at the laptop. Matt can hear the cat hybrid’s tail swishing in what must be distress.

He’s not sure why he does it - morbid curiosity, probably - but Matt finds himself clicking onto the next subject, and the next, and the next, all as disfigured and mutated as the last, if not worse. And every single one: ‘TERMINATED’. None have survived the sick experiments conducted on them. None, until their batch. Matt could vomit at the thought that comes next: so far.

“God, fuck, fuck, fuck!” he whimpers, his hands digging through his hair until he’s grabbing his ears in distress while he slips out of Jeremy’s grasp, scoots past Trevor and paces the room. There are hundreds of subjects in that file. Hundreds of dead. God, what happened to their bodies?! There’s no way they were handed back to family. Were they experimented on further? Dissected? Stored for research? Or simply gotten rid of? Matt can’t guess, and he certainly doesn’t want to know the answer. “Sick fucks…!”

Trevor slips into the seat vacated by Matt, scrolling through the files. “This shit’s been going on since the genome project…”

“The what?” Jeremy asks.

“The… nevermind. This has been going on for two decades. That’s when the first files are dated.”

“Do we have files?” Michael asks.

Trevor scrolls, until he finds what he’s looking for. The first file he pulls up has no images, but it begins with a brief description. “Michael Jones, born in New Jersey. Felis catus. ”

“What the hell does that mean?” Michael hisses.

“It’s just the scientific name for a cat. It’s the species that you were merged with.”

“So this should tell us exactly what animals we are?” Jeremy asks, his ears subconsciously perking up at the prospect of even having an inkling of what they all might be.

“In theory, I guess,” Trevor says, clicking onto the next page. “Lindsay…” Behind him, they shift forward to tentatively peer over his shoulder. “ Enhydra lutris . That’s… not helpful. Um… Oh! It says ‘sea otter’.”

Lindsay scratches at their ear. “Otter,” they ponder, and then they smile. “That’s cute!”

Trevor has already moved on. “Jeremy… says here: ‘chinchilla’.”

Jeremy wraps his tail around him, running his fingers through the dense fur. “You know, that makes a lot of sense. They didn’t have anything cooler? Mountain lion, maybe? Wait, does that say ‘arctic fox’? Dude, are you a fox?!”

“I… guess so?” Trevor says, glancing over his own file. His head tilts in curiosity and his tail perks.

“That’s pretty cool. Better than a chinchilla,” Jeremy mumbles.

Michael taps onto the next file. “Matt’s a raccoon; we knew that. Gavin's a lark, as if his wings didn't already make that obvious. Fredo… jackal. Ky… says ‘squirrel’. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled about that when her tail comes through.”

“And BK has been merged with a ferret,” Jeremy finishes off.

The group stands in silence for a moment as they're brains try to comprehend the information they have discovered. One; they all know what animal they have been paired with and two; they now know there were people here before them and they a re most definitely dead.

"We need to get out of here," Jeremy says, breaking the agonizing silence.

"No shit," Michael grumbles.

"Great, just one problem," Alfredo interjects, grabbing his tail. His voice comes out laced with a growl. "It won't solve this! "

"There's no guarantee we can reverse this at all; they've barely figured out how to do it without killing someone!" Trevor points out. "Even if there is, they're not gonna!"

"You want to be part dog for the rest of your life, Trevor?!" Alfredo demands of him. “Because I don’t!”

Trevor's ears tilt at Alfredo's tone like he wants to submit, but he doesn't. "Fox," he says calmly. "And no, but I'm just trying to be realistic. I'd rather be like this but free than waiting in here for a miracle that isn't going to come."

“Maybe it’s not so bad,” Lindsay offers, stepping between the two.

"Easy for you to say," Alfredo throws back at them. "I haven't heard you growl, or whimper like an animal! You haven't cut your own lip on new teeth! And if being part animal is so great, tell that to Gavin!"

As he speaks, Gavin is awkwardly trying to tuck his cumbersome wings behind him, but at the sudden attention, they panic and push out again, hitting the wall.

"Listen," Lindsay says pointing a finger at Alfredo, "This sucks, I'm aware of that. Half of my brain has been screaming at me to find water for the last three hours and hide myself away from the world. Last I checked there's no bodies of water in here- not even a bathtub." The expression on Lindsay's face would be described as stormy at best and Alfredo feels his ears fall under the intense stare. "And yeah, my teeth may be smaller, but they still hurt like a bitch when they came in. And the bruises from the needles are on my arms too. So maybe, even if I have grown new ears and teeth, I'm just trying to be optimistic through all of this so that I don't go fucking insane."

Lindsay lets out a deep sigh and their shoulders slump as if their anger took all their energy with it. “This is all so fucked up. But we shouldn’t make this worse by fighting with one another. I know things are messed up. I know all of this is frightening. But it happened, Alfredo, and Trevor’s right - these people aren’t going to undo what they did to us. Our best shot now is to get out of here, and maybe our best shot at that is to embrace this, or at least accept it! Why do you think they’re doing this? These assholes gave us tools and weapons through our changes. Perhaps they’re exactly the tools and weapons we need to get out of this place.”

“They wouldn’t be so careless,” Alfredo growls, though the edge is gone from his voice. Now he just sounds hopeless.

“Maybe not,” Trevor says, tipping his head in thought. “Maybe it’s like a ‘ Jurassic Park’ situation.”

Alfredo raises an eyebrow at him. “Jeff Goldblum? I get what you mean.”

“I don’t,” Jeremy says. “I was never really into movies all that much. Can someone explain?”

“I mean, what if they focused so much on whether they could do this, they never stopped to consider if they should. Or, in this case, whether it’s wise to give us all these advantages: better hearing, teeth, claws, flight! ”

Gavin yelps at the thought. "Flight?! I can't fly!"

"They'll train you," Trevor says. "Trust me."

"You don't know that for sure," Alfredo argues. "And even if they do, it won't matter. Teeth, claws, wings, so what?! They have guns!"

"They won't shoot us! They must have invested millions, if not billions, into making this happen, and we're the first successes. We're too valuable."

"Which loops right back around to we are never going to escape this place! It's hopeless! Just as fucking hopeless as hoping they'll undo this." Alfredo growls , grabbing his tail again and shaking it in his grip for emphasis . Then he rounds on Trevor. "You seem to have a hell of a psychological profile of these guys. Well if you're so smart, how the hell did you end up in this mess?"

He regrets his words as soon as they leave his mouth - even more so when they shock and shame Trevor into silence. In that, he hit a nerve. The fox hybrid turns away from him to face the computer, his shoulders now tense. Lindsay scolds him, and he doesn’t bite back. Instead, he fishes for the right words of apology.

Before they can come, his ears tune in to new sounds outside the door. He’s not the only one who picks up on them, but the first by a second or so. Multiple footsteps, and orders being dished out. Whatever emergency was going on out there is over, and the humans are back for them.

“Get behind me,” Alfredo orders the other hybrids. The sudden urge to protect the others catches Alfredo off guard, but he figures in this moment it's better to listen to his new found instincts rather than fight them.

Those that move are slow to do so. Others don’t move at all, paralysed by fear. Alfredo doesn’t have time to reassure them. “Now!” he demands, grabbing Trevor and shoving the fox hybrid behind him so that Alfredo’s body is planted between Trevor and the door. As he does, he glares over the other hybrids fiercely, trying to convey the message through his expression without repeating it again. His voice had snapped many out of their fear-induced idleness, and finally they flock to the back of the room away from the door. Only Michael and Jeremy disobey, instead opting to frame Alfredo on either side. One with claws extended and tail swishing and the other with tightly balled fists. If Alfredo wants to put up a fight, they aren't going to let him fight alone.

The door unlocks, and when the doctor finds her hybrids huddled in a corner, she rolls her eyes. “Out.”

Michael hisses, until Gavin takes his arm. He is resigned to it - fighting will only make things worse.

Gavin looks to the scientists, takes a long breath, then draws his wings close and steps past Michael. The doctor smiles proudly at him. Michael tries to reach out to him, to pull him back to safety, but this time he is stopped by Lindsay. They're both right, if solemn about it.

“It will only be worse if we make things difficult,” Lindsay says softly to him with a maternal tone to their voice. Their hands reach out to squeeze Michael and Alfredo’s, and then they lead them obediently back out into the lab.

[genevievemd]

Masterlist

Book: Open Heart Pairings: Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Genevieve McClure), Bryce Lahela x F!OC (Natalie Michaels)

All fics, edits and series found here

Long Story Short (Part of Open Heart: Sara’s Version)

Summary: The four times Ethan met Genevieve’s exes. (In chronological order)

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Epilogue

Open Heart: Second Year Rewrite

Summary: After deciding to stay together, but in secret, Ethan and Genevieve navigate the ups and downs of her second year of residency.

Sad, Beautiful, Tragic/ As the Crow Flies

Summary: insert/post ch 13, Bk 3. Ethan and MC break up then get back together

Sad, Beautiful, Tragic

As the Crow Flies

Nowhere Left to Run

Summary: MC’s ex comes to Boston, throwing her seemingly perfect life into unbalance

The Truth

The Light

The Reckoning

Champagne Problems/ It’s Time to Go

Summary: She has every intention of rekindling her relationship with Ethan Ramsey, but is faced with a heartbreaking discovering. Her lost love, is engaged.

Champagne Problems

It’s Time To Go

Evermore

Summary:  Leland forces Ethan and MC apart, will they find a way back to each other or be lost forever.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Love You Home

Summary: After months of planning, Ethan is finally ready to propose but catastrophe strikes and it could destroy everything.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Love You Home: Texts Edition

Summary: text exchanges from the timeline of Love You Home

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Burned to Ashes (Complete)

Summary: Post Ch 3 of BK 2, Ethan and MC find it hard to be in the same room.

Part One

Part Two

The Ultimatum/The Answer (Complete)

Summary: Post ch. 19 of BK2, After the hospital closes and Ethan has yet to commit - MC goes to his apartment to demand answers.

The Ultimatum

The Answer

A Change in Status (Complete)

Summary: a “redo”/ extension of the office/massage scene in ch 18 of BK 2. Part 1 is in Ethan’s POV and part 2 is MC’s POV after said scene.

Part One

Part Two

Prompt Requests: all completed prompts

Versace: Ethan and Gen attend a charity gala for their boss’s foundation, and Ethan is overwhelmed by his wife’s dress.

Shades of Regret: She tried to move on, but with her last hours alive slowing ticking away, the only person she wants is the man that broke her heart. (Bk 2, Ch 11 au - Ethan didn’t kiss Gen after the softball game and she’s starting to date Bryce)

Wise Men Say…: Ethan and Gen dance during Ines’s wedding before sneaking off. (Set during Ch 11 of book 2 - a tiny rewrite of the reception)

Semi Permanent: Bk 2, Ch 1 rewrite. Gen dyed her hair while Ethan was in the Amazon, he comes comes back and is shook. Angst follows.

Confessions: Post Ch 4, BK 3, MC has been feeling unsteady and Ethan finally noticed.

Saturn: Nothing feels real without him. (Warning: Major character death)

Christmas at Edenbrook: Ethan and MC(Gen) decide to work at the hospital on Christmas Day. Just a fluffy gift exchange between my favorite beans. Zero Plot.

Rule Breaker: an extra scene from chapter 2 of Love You Home. MC just wants to kiss her boyfriend at work. That’s it, that’s the fic

Touch: Post ch 20 BK 2, MC experiences some ptsd/anxiety and goes to Ethan for comfort.

Epiphany: Following the attack (ch 11 bk 2) Ethan spends the night in MC’s hospital room.

A Love Like This: (Post ch 17 bk 2) MC questions whether or not she made the right decision with Esme.

MC Takes Ethan to her hometown for the weekend: Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4

MC and Ethan attend Bloom Edenbrook’s Holiday Charity Gala: Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4

MC participates in Throwback Thursday

Ethan takes MC to Providence for the weekend: Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4

Ethan takes MC out for a Christmas Dinner

Ethan DTR’s in a Pictagram comment

MC’s childhood friend comes to visit (and they thirst trap Ethan): Part 1 ~ Part 2

Happy New Year, from Ethan and MC

Thirst Trap Ethan Ramsey

Surprise Date Night

Ethan and MC on their honeymoon

Lizzie and Grayson Ramsey

MC’s First Pregnancy

MC’s Second Pregnancy

Pre-Wedding Ceremony picta edits and texts

The Ramsey Kids

Ethan and MC’s Rehearsal dinner

Ethan and MC’s Wedding day

MC’s First Mother’s Day

Elizabeth Ramsey’s First Year

McRam One Year Wedding Anniversary Trip: Part 1 ~ Part 2

Talk to the Sand: Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3

Bonne Année: Part 1 (Dec 30th - Jan 1st), Part 2 (Jan 2nd - 5th)

The Ramseys and their fur babies

Little Ram: Baby Shower Lizzie Ramsey

Pretty in Pink: Ethan and Gen’s first formal event as husband and wife

Ethan’s Sunshine

Little Grayson Ramsey

January and June: Ethan and Gen attend a gala (inspired by an ask)

In the Middle of the Night:   After being sent home, Gen has a hard time falling asleep without a certain doctor beside her.  

Guide You Home

Selfie

Babies First Halloween: Lizzie and Gray’s first halloweens

Lizard and Monkey

MC asks Ethan what his “this is her” photo is

MC gets Ethan to use the wrong “your”/”you’re” (slightly NSFW)

Ethan and MC text during a very boring meeting with Leland and their co-workers.

Operation: Jealousy: Ethan’s having dinner with a friend from John Hopkins, MC is worried and jealous. Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Ethan and MC’s entire convo

Ethan goes back to the Amazon, he and MC text while he’s away MC spams Ethan with TikToks

MC forces Ethan to partake in a TikTok Trend

Sunday Promises and Regrets

A Pun Time: Gen sends Ethan a Star Wars themed pickup line

Meet My MC(Genevieve McClure)

Meet my MC: Genevieve’s past

Meet my MC: Present Day

Genevieve’s book covers and author photos

Ethan and Gen: Relationship at a Glance

Ramsey Family Chart

Inside E and G’s phones

NS*FW Stats

Pregnancy Stats

More about Ethan and Gen

Pet Names

MC Monday

Wedding Wednesday

MC tells childhood friends she’s dating Ethan

Ethan asks MC to move in with him

MC’s “Ethan Box”

Ethan and MC’s Wedding

Landry finds out Ethan and MC are married with a kid

Hosted by @jamespotterthefirst​

Round One

Round Two

Round Three

Round Four

Round Five: Not Wed Yet

Round Six: Would You Rather

Round Seven : Home Tour

Round Eight: Spicy Edition (18+)

Round 9: Friends Edition

Round 10: Wedding at a Glance

Round 11

Round 12: Meet the Exes

Round 13: Looks Throughout the Years

Round 14: Halloween Edition

Meet My OC (Natalie Michaels)

EDITS:

Ride or Dies’ (MC - Gen, OC - Nat, OC - Tori) group chat about Natalie dating Bryce

Bryce and Natalie’s First Date

Group Chat - OPH Gang find out about Bryce and Nat

MC texts Nat after date with Bryce

Bryce and Natalie’s 1st Wedding Anniversary

FICS:

Nonsexual Acts of Intimacy Prompts

[openheartfanfics]

Newly Added Fics

June 1 - 5

🎭 Angst  |  🛸 AU  |  ☁ Fluff  |  ♥ NSFW  |  📚 Series  

Bryce x F!MC

Hand-Me-Downs: Part 6 - @appiomofchoice 📚 [extended: wip]  (Enemies/Rivals-to-Lovers AU)

Heroes & Monsters - @anotherbeingsworld ☁ Louis suffers a huge scare of the ‘monsters’ at the attic - before becoming the heroes of the day. [Family] 

The Color of Joy - @anotherbeingsworld ☁ A yellow themed surprise for Bryce. [Family; Pregnancy] 

The Promise of Happiness - @anotherbeingsworld 🎭 Alessia’s ex is in town, and its quite a reunion.

The Start of Something New - @anotherbeingsworld ☁ An AU where bryce and alessia becomes study buddies through a cup of cappuccino.

Bryce x M!MC

I Kissed You On Our First Date - @viperhiss ☁ Kieran decides to leave Edenbrooke… until, he doesn’t. [3.16]

Ethan x F!MC

A Week To Forget - @liaromancewriter 🎭 Between Ethan leaving and a friends betrayal, she’s moments away from giving up.  [1.13] 

An Apple A Day... - @bex-la-get  ☁ [Family]

Conflicting Emotions - @chaoticchopshopheart 📚 [extended: completed]  As Ricky investigates the law suit, it turns out the issue was not malpractice at all, rather an aggressive cover up attempt. Bloom’s control and ownership of EdenBrook is a front for Tax Evasion and Collusion with Big Pharma to Launder Money. [3.15] 

Part 1  |  Part 2  |  Part 3  |  Part 4

Part 5  |  Part 6  |  The End

Epilogue - @liaromancewriter ☁ Three months after leaving the diagnostics team, Cassie comes into her own. [3.16]  

Fight and Flight - @genevievemd 🎭 Gen’s abusive ex-boyfriend is a new patient at Edenbrook, and he causes more than a few problems for the happy couple. [Hurt/Comfort; Protective; Traumatic; Fighting] 

Full Circle - @lucy-268 ☁ Charley is reminded of the first time she saw the view from Ethan’s windows. Will this be the last time? [3.15] 

Good For You - @anntoldst0ries 🎭 The battle for his career is finally over, but an even bigger battle is waiting for Ethan around the corner. [Hurt/Comfort; In Love]   

Grief - @genevievemd 🎭 Battle lines have been drawn, and Ethan fights to save Gen from Leland’s attack. [Hurt/Comfort; Protective] 

Impressions & Declarations - @bex-la-get 📚 [extended: wip] Book 3 Rewrite

Part 1

Light and Shadows - @chaoticchopshopheart 📚 [mini:wip]  The Lawsuit is over, Naveen retains his position as Chief of Medicine but Ethan feels lost. [3.16] 

Part 1

Mine - @irisofpurple �� After all the years of pining, Lana was finally officially his. [3.16]

Mugged - @therookie 🎭 MC coming into the office of the DT a little late, looking a bit weird and when asked what happened she says she was mugged [Hurt/Comfort; Protective] 

Never Too Late - @irisofpurple 🎭 Why did Tobias Carrick help save Lana’s life? Feat. Tobias Carrick POV [2.11; Tobias POV] 

Not A Minute More - @lsvdw-blog  📚 [wip] the day that rocks Ethan to his core and threatens to change his life. tw: mentions of cyber attack

Part 2

Reflection - @potionsprefect ☁ He never believed he would become a father. And overtime, he realised it was the best thing to have happened to him. [Family] 

Shades of Regret - @genevievemd 🎭 She tried to move on, but with her last hours alive slowing ticking away, the only person she wants is the man that broke her heart. (Bk 2, Ch 11 au - Ethan didn’t kiss Gen after the softball game and she’s starting to date Bryce) Feat. Bryce x F!MC x Ethan [2.11; Confession; Hurt/Comfort] 

Toccata - @utterlyinevitable ☁ Ethan’s temper got the best of him and Odette is there to patch up the wound. [Injury; Pining; Ethan’s POV]    

The Grape Escape - @liaromancewriter ☁ He has a bad day at work and she introduces him to the art of vegging out.  [Domestic] 

What’s Next? - @lucy-268 ☁ What’s next for Edenbrook after Naveen set Bloom straight? [3.15] 

With Every Heartbeat - @bex-la-get 🎭 Natalie’s life comes to a standstill when Ethan is in a car accident. [Traumatic] 

Love Triangle

Shades of Regret - @genevievemd 🎭 She tried to move on, but with her last hours alive slowing ticking away, the only person she wants is the man that broke her heart. (Bk 2, Ch 11 au - Ethan didn’t kiss Gen after the softball game and she’s starting to date Bryce) Feat. Bryce x F!MC x Ethan [2.11; Confession; Hurt/Comfort]

Tobias Carrick 

Never Too Late - @irisofpurple 🎭 Why did Tobias Carrick help save Lana’s life? Feat. Tobias Carrick POV [2.11; Tobias POV]

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