#Dennie's Funeral Home

[bullet-prooflove]

A Cold Day In Hell - Dennis Whitaker x Reader

Tagging: @kmc1989 @cosmic-psychickitty @sargeant-sad-eyes @caffeinatedwoman @hooks-martin

Companion piece to:

Peppermint - The taste of peppermint will always have a special place in Dennis’s heart.

The Morgue Thing - A miscommunication between you and Dennis almost ends things before they begin.

Written In The Stars - Your first date with Dennis takes place underneath the stars.

In The Park - Dennis reveals a secret after the two of you spend the night together in the park.

Virgin - There's a rumour going around about Dennis.

Debauched (NSFW) - Karaoke night ends a lot differently than it did the first time around.

Symphony (NSFW) - Dennis has never eaten pussy before…

Pretty Boy (NSFW) - You and Dennis take the next step in your relationship.

Permanent Marker - You find out about the betting pool.

The Porn Boom (NSFW) - Dennis isn't like the other man you've been with.

Wild Flowers - A crown of wildflowers leads you and Dennis to discuss the issues he has with his family.

A Friend of Denny's - Your relationship with Dennis takes a turn when his parents come to town.

It’s been a week since the run in with Dennis’s parents and you’ve still not spoken to him. You won’t take his calls or return his texts, you don’t even look at him when your paths cross in the E.D. It’s like he doesn’t even exist to you.

It’s a shitty feeling, one he absolutely deserves.

“Feels like a cold day in hell Pussycat.” Myrna remarks, wheeling her chair up alongside of him as he watches you and Donnie steer the specialist gurney you use for the deceased towards the elevator. “Whatever you did to Queenie you’d better find a way to fix it.”

Queenie short for Queen of the Damned because of all the dead folks you work with. Myrna has a nickname for almost everyone in the E.D with the exception of Dana who she respects far too much.

Despite being a psych patient she’s right, it’s clear the giving you space approach isn’t working so he’s going to have to tackle the problem head on.

It’s at the end of his shift he takes the elevator down to the subbasement. The air is different down here, chiller. He feels the bite through his jacket as he strides towards the Viewing Room where he knows you’ll be. It’s the last thing you do before you leave, you like to make sure it’s in order for any families that may need to identify their loved ones when the nightshift take over.

Despite the lack of resources they have to contend with in The Pitt, money has been poured into the Viewing Room from the hospital’s charity fund. One of the board members had suffered a death in the family a couple of years ago and was shocked by the dourness of the original facility.

Now it looks like something you’d get in a high end funeral home with a false skylight that portrays a soft white clouds across a crisp blue sky, and warm spotlights that emit a soothing glow throughout the space. The walls are painted a light seafoam grey, instilling a sense of calmness as you sit in one of the plush grey chairs ticking off your checklist.  

“Get out.” You scold him, raising to your feet. “You’re gonna get yourself written up, you know you’re not allowed to be in here.”

The morgue is strictly off limits to any personnel who aren’t assigned to the area, that includes doctors. Part of that is to avoid any cross contamination when it comes to working with the deceased, and the other part is to give the families of the departed a safe space to breathe away from the rest of the hospital.

“I know, I just… it seems like the only place I could actually talk to you.” He says contritely, his hands clasped in front of him as his gaze flickers to the vacant viewing table in the centre of the room.

“We don’t have anything to talk about.” You tell him, hugging the tablet to your chest. “We never put a label on what we were doing and you certainly didn’t make me any promises so I guess that means you’re free and clear.”

“Lola…” He begins, his lips pursing together. “I don’t want to be free and clear, I want to be held accountable for my actions because I know how much they hurt you.”

“That sounds like you want me to assuage your guilt.” You point out, your hand coming to rest on your hip. “And I am certainly not going to make you feel less shitty over something that made me feel really fucking shitty.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.” He implores, stepping forward into your proximity. “I did a horrible thing to you, I made you feel like less than what you are and that is unforgiveable. You’ve never been just ‘a friend’.” – He does the bunny ears for emphasis – “You’ve always been more, I just couldn’t tell that to my mom because then she’d know…”

He trails off, his gaze lowering to the white sneakers on his feet as he struggles to find the words to give context to the rest of his story.

“Before I came out here I made a plan with my mom, something to help her come to terms with the fact I was moving over a thousand miles away. I was meant to do my time in Med School, get through my clinical rotations and then come home and do my Residency in Internal Medicine where I would live out the rest of my days serving my community, the same way I would have done if I’d become a pastor.” He tells you before he tilts his head up to meet the eyes he’s spent every night wishing he was looking into. “But coming here to PTMC, it changed everything. I found my calling in Emergency Medicine and I found you, this compassionate, wonderful woman who didn’t see me as a farm boy from bumfuck nowhere, who made me laugh on the shittiest fucking days, who stole my heart from right out underneath me before I even realised it was happening...”

He tucks his hands into the back pockets of his pants because the urge to reach out and touch you is becoming unbearable. You're unreadable at the moment, a statue made of the purest marble with an expression that gives away absolutely nothing.

“If I had told my mom what you were to me, she would know that I wasn’t coming home to Nebraska. I wasn’t ready to break her heart but I ended up breaking yours instead and I am deeply sorry for that. I just floundered in that moment because the two women I love most in the world were standing in front of me and I felt like I was at this crossroads caught my past and my future.”

“You made me feel like I was nothing.” You whisper.

It’s the way your voice cracks that breaks his heart, his resolve snaps and he finds himself standing in front of you. His hand raises to cup your face, his thumb tracing over the apple of your cheek as he looks down at you.

“You are not nothing.” He says, his eyes blazing with sincerity. “You are everything to me and I should have told you that. I should have told you that I was staying here in Pittsburgh, that I wanted to make a life with you, a home with you-”

“What does your mom think about all of this?” You interrupt and he deflates then, a sad smile crossing his features as his hand slips away.

“She told me not to let my head get spun by the first pretty young thing that sat in my lap.” He says quietly, his palm rubbing over the nape of his neck. The words had stung because it showed that she still didn’t trust him to know his own mind, to make his own decisions even after all this time. “That I should remain focused on our community, on giving back to the people who raised me, who invested in me. She thought I was being selfish and maybe I am but I’ve earned that right to choose how I live my life and who I want to spend it with. She walked out after that. My dad says she just needs some time to adjust but I don’t know, it felt final.”

He's surprised when your hand grasps his. Your palm fits perfectly in his own, your thumb tracing soothing circles along the scar on the back of it. Even now your compassion astounds him, he doesn't deserve it, he doesn't deserve you but here you are, reaching across the void, connecting with him.

“I think before this goes any further that we should talk about what we both want, make sure we’re on the same page before you make a decision about the residency. You have to do it for you, not for me and not for your mom." You say quietly, squeezing his hand gently. "We need to be clear and honest with each other about the future, no matter how much that may hurt.”

Dennis, he already knows what he wants his future to look like, a white picket fence, two rings, first steps. He has no idea where you stand on those things, if that’s something you’d even want but that’s the point you’re making, it’s time to figure it out.

“I think that’s a good idea.” He says, looking down at your joined hands, hope blossoming in his chest. “Let’s do it, let’s talk about our future.”

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Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[buckleysloaf]

Thinking about Tommy showing up for the coffee date. He could have said no and nobody would have blamed him, but Buck had something to say and Tommy met him and listened and look how well it turned out :)

Thinking about Tommy showing up at Chimney-less bachelor party even though he was on standby, one phone call/message away from being called into work for who knows how long.

Thinking about Tommy showing up at the hospital straight from a fire, still in his turnouts and with soot all over his face, trying to make it to Chimney’s wedding because he was Buck’s date.

Thinking about Tommy showing up at the hospital again, this time for Buck, straight from work. Again. And he was there just in time to see the doctors pop Buck’s shoulder back into place, so he probably came not that long after Buck had arrived at the hospital himself.

Thinking about Tommy driving Buck home and staying with him, taking care of him despite being exhausted after his shift.

Thinking about Tommy showing up at the hospital, this time to wait for the news about Denny with Buck, because Denny is a part of Buck’s extended 118 family, and Tommy cares about Buck so he cares about his family as well.

Given Tommy’s track record, chances are he was there when Bobby was at the hospital too.

Thinking about Tommy dressing up and driving his boyfriend to a mummy funeral/eulogy reading and then driving him back home.

PS. thinking about Tommy showing up with an air tanker when Eddie was trapped inside a burning house with a little boy and also thinking about Tommy stealing a helicopter and flying out into the ocean during a hurricane to save Bobby and Athena - all because Chimney called and asked for a favor.

[spxdyr]

okay look. ill never say 9-1-1 has perfect writing. hell, i might not even say they have particularly good writing. but the one thing the show is, is intentional.

i saw a post talking about all the plot holes in season 8 so far, and to be honest none of them were really holes.

1. where did the bees go? this feels like a silly question mostly because the show literally explained that they were moving with the wind or smth. like the plane emergency was only barely triggered by the bees.

2. what happened to the madney/henren conflict over mara? i saw what they were seeing but hen & chim are grown ass adults who realized the goal was to get mara home. the conflict never needed to happen because madney is having a second baby.

3. why is eddies years & years of repression solved with one conversation? it wasnt. he's still repressed the only thing that changed about eddie in 8x06 was him trying to stop punishing himself for the mistake he made with chris. nothing else has changed. idk what they were seeing with that one.

4. why has denny dying had no longlasting impact on henren? two things with that one. one, this was a buck & eddie focused episode. we got no furthering for storyline for anyone else, that's just how network tv works. two, when has 9-1-1 really ever given us longlasting impact. the closest we got was buck's leg crushing (which technically, at this point, has seen no further repercussions-not even a limp) and the shooting, which was more the emotional repercussions than any physical. lets not jump to conclusions based on an episode that didn't focus on henren at all.

5. and the most important, the bucktommy breakup. if i have to keep beating this goddamned horse about this fuckin breakup im gonna lose it. the breakup was written in the script from the beginning. from the: leaving buck on the side of the road, the dismissiveness around buck and his lil curse. and its not even the dismissiveness, because eddie was also in disbelief about the curse. its about the "your five minutes of screen time is up evan" and the comments about having a team that acts as family when tommy never had that. it was even the distance between at the funeral scene. because if we look back at the other funeral in season 7, eddie was right there next to buck because it wasn't just a buck moment. buck needs that support.

that's it for now

[thevaudevillescene]

My uncle died, and I found out from Lori coming into work today and saying she’d seen my dad’s post about it on Facebook. I was like, “What.” She said, “Wait, maybe I’m wrong, did you not know?” I said, “My dad has a very strange habit of just not telling me when people die or when they’re sick; he’s been doing it my whole life. So if Dennis did die, I wouldn’t be surprised if my dad didn’t say anything.” She went on Facebook (yes my boss is fb friends with my dad; it’s bizarre) and that post was at the top. I was like, “Oh. So. Uh, I guess my uncle is dead.”

It was such a surreal feeling, to be at work, in the middle of taking an order or running food, then to just be struck with a wave of grief. And then to feel worse because my dad didn’t tell me. But like I told Lori, he has been like this for my entire life. When I was very young and my grandpa was in the hospital, my dad wouldn’t let me visit him. My mom pushed, she said, “She might not get another chance. You can’t shield her from this,” and he got angry at her. He almost didn’t let me go to the funeral, but my mom overrode that decision, and I remember him yelling at me the morning of the funeral because I didn’t know what was happening and wasn’t “taking it seriously.” Sorry for the crime of being 7 years old 😔. Then it happened with various other family members, I’d come home and he’d be getting ready for a funeral for someone I didn’t know had died. Or I’d hear about it from someone else and he’d say, “Oh, I thought I told you.” When my grandma was in a nursing home toward the end of her life, he’d bring my siblings to see her, but when my stepmom said he needed to bring me, he said, “She doesn’t need to see her like that. They were close, and Erin is sensitive.” When my grandma passed, I found out from an email my brother sent me. My dad almost didn’t tell me. Then he swore he was going to say something, but that he’d wanted to do it in person. And I’m like. I was in the room when my mom died. It happened right in front of me. If that didn’t make you realize I needed to have a different relationship with and understanding of death, not have it be hidden from me, I’m not sure what will get through to you. And he never wanted to hear therapists say I have ptsd or severe anxiety or that I need help to cope with trauma; he doesn’t think any of that exists. I’m just rambling now. My uncle is dead and my family is forever shrinking and my relationship with my dad is a mess and I don’t know how to feel about it all, but I sure am feeling a lot of things.

[talvin-muircastle]

Music Monday: Bagpipes!

If you don't know I love bagpipes, you don't know me at all.

Most people hear the word "bagpipes" and say, "Scottish!"

A majority of those will also allow "Irish".

The impact that Scottish and Irish bagpipe music has had on modern bagpipe music cannot be overstated, but it would be entirely fair to say that, historically speaking, Scotland and Ireland also had bagpipes. We say "Nero fiddled while Rome burned", but aside from the questions about how Nero was vilified for propaganda purposes compared to the historical emperor? He was noted for playing bagpipes. You can look more at the history here.

So, let's take a few hops around the globe to listen to a few--just a few--different takes on bagpipes, historical, modern, and reconstructionist.

The Snake Charmer was India's first professional female bagpiper. (She now lives in Canada.) She does some awesome "cultural mashups" on her channel, and you should definitely check it out.

My favorite Italian band! No, this is not what Nero played: they draw their inspiration from the British Isles tradition of pipes, with some modern twists.

(Some flashing lights in the above, if that is a concern.)

Auli is a Latvian pipes and drums group. Sadly, much of the traditional music from Latvia is lost, so they are reconstructing as best they can. In this video, they join with a few other folk groups to sing a traditional song about the Oak Tree, associated with Midsummer.

Carlos Nuñez is from Galicia, in the northwest of Spain, and this is the Galician version of "The Well of Aran". (No, the words don't quite match with her lipsync, the original is in Spanish.) Carlos plays the gaita. (Also the Irish flute, the ocarina, and who knows what else. Talented man.) You can probably figure out why we are fond of this video.... ;)

As I mentioned back in the St. Patrick's Day edition of Music Monday, Mexico remembers well the men of "Los San Patricios", the St. Patrick's Battalion, and keeps their memory and traditions alive.

United States, India, and Scotland join up for a mashup most unique. :)

The Dame of Drones, the Snake Charmer, and the Phantom Piper. Enjoy!

France has multiple variants of bagpipe. I honestly can't tell you which kind this is, but it's bellows-pumped (like the uillean pipes), and I can't quite tell if there are two or three drones, there: pretty close together. Also, the chanter seems awfully long to me? Maybe somebody can identify it for us.

The mizwad, from Tunisia and Algeria. This one is brand-new to me, I found it while looking for something a little extra to toss in this mix. Definitely want to find more.

Nightwish, the Finnish symphonic metal band, has an uillean piper in their lineup. This video is a favorite of mine.

This has been my, I guess you could call it "family anthem". Originally from the group Wings, and written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine, but I hold Glen Campbell's cover close to my heart.

My father wished always that this song should be played at his funeral, and that his ashes be scattered, if possible, from the Mull of Kintyre. He died during the pandemic, because his home health aide was an anti-vaxxer, and his ashes remain with his second wife, who can hardly manage to travel so far. I don't know if I shall ever have a chance to fulfill his wish. I was able to gather with friends and play this song to honor him, at least.

When my time comes, play this song and think of me. It's a lovely tune.

And that is Music Monday for this week. I think next week I am going to focus on Carlos Nuñez!

As always, hope you found something you enjoyed.

[809eddie]

i love filler episodes. but this finale literally felt like a filler🤧 i was not in fact moved in any way, until the last bit of the episode. the wilson family scene was so cute. them all gathered around the han’s, love. and while i loved eddie showing up and coming up with a plan in the emergency, that emergency did not need to be almost the whole episode when this was supposed to be the finale

i felt similarly with the bobby funeral episode: i could’ve not watched that or the finale and it wouldn’t have really mattered (plot wise). because there was not much that actually happened

i DO love a filler episode!!!! i feel like earlier season of 911 were sooo much better at this like. calls are just there to reinforce the character arcs and parallel whatever our 118 members aregoing through. and like. 813?? filler episode. we moved eddie along in his texas plot, but then proceeded to forget it entirely for the entire rest of the season. hen forgotten birthday?? really good imo, but proceeded to forget hen for the entire rest of the season (and didnt even set up her turning down captaincy OR mara adoption??)

srsly the wilson family scene was SO cute. denny banging the gavel??? i would die for him. i wish it had been expanded or even mentioned at the start of the episode so that there was an added scene of urgency to the disaster. like building collapse? fine. building collapse when hen needs to make it home bc she and her wife are adopting their daughter??? THAT would give a sense or urgency and risk and stakes in the whole thing.

same with maddie if she went into labor during the disaster. NOW there's a crucial and urgent reason to want chim to get out of this situation Right Now.

also so true 816 and 818 could lowkey be skipped and u would just infer everything important from context clues in the next episode.

[bangpop91writing]

I decided to expand the drable I wrote earlier as part of this collaboration with @louciferssacrament and make it part of my Grief Is Love Enduring Series.

The Viking

"Alright folks, five minutes, house is open. Twenty dollars goes in, hundred dollars pays out."

"What's the over under?"

"I got six weeks."

"Give me four, on credit. I gotta run to the atm."

"Boy Imma eat your lunch. And you better pay up cause I know the bookie and she's a mad woman. Sal you in?"

"I give him one week tops. Guys from Nebraska."

"Minnesota, actually."

"Whatever. There's New York, there's LA, and in between there's Nebraska."

"Oh Chicago's gonna kick your ass."

"Hey there's a whole lotta little leagues out there but if you ain't the Yankees you just ain't playing baseball."

"Doesn't everyone hate the Yankees?"

"Listen we've had like six captains in two years. We're like the island of misfits toys for retiring brass. Might be nice for somebody to stick around for awhile."

"All I'm saying is the bar burns down, the road needs salting, guys a rock star; fire at the fair, news at 11. LA's gonna look like Mars to this podunk and we're fresh out of training wheels."

"You're also out of half the supplies that should be stocked in this truck.

Briefing in five."

"I've got twenty on the viking."

It's a nice thought. Hen wishes she had the same unending optimism as Chimney does. But no Captain lasts at the 118.

Hen doesn't try to hold back the sobs that pour out of her, tearing out of her chest when the Army Captain comes by to inform her of Bobby's death. She can't catch her breath and she doesn't think it has anything to do with her punctured lung.

She doesn't want to believe it. It can't be true. Bobby can't be gone. He was supposed to out last them all. He'd paid in his twenty, Hen had the crisp hundred dollar bill framed for his retirement gift years ago.

Hen likes Captain Nash, she thinks if anyone could whip their little family of rag tag misfits into shape it's him. But he's a good competent captain who just needs to get his sea legs. Hen puts down $20 on three months. Thats when Captain Swan out of the 122 is retiring so him and his wife can move closer to their daughter in Washington who just had a baby.

The Wilson house is quiet. Too quiet. It has felt that was ever since Karen had brought Hen home from the hospital. Mara didn't have a chance to bond with Bobby the way Denny had.

Hen can't tell if the house it so quiet because everyone who lives there is grieving or if they are tip toeing around her grief.

Hen picked at her dinner the night before as Karen told Denny and Mara it was up to them if they wanted to attend the funeral the following morning. Hen's eyes had been on her plate but she had still seen Denny's trembling bottom lip and the way Mara looked to Denny for guidance.

The wake had been a somber affair. Hen is thankful the 118 weren't asked to stand guard over Bobby's casket. She doesn't know if she could do it. If any of them could. She's thankful to those who had offered.

Captain Ronnie Cooper and Lena Bosko out of the 136. Lucy Donato out of the 217. Captain Sal Deluca out of the 122.

Loosing Sal had been hard, but not as hard as it could have been. It hadn't been sudden. It was gradual. Sal was bonding with his new team and busier than ever with his promotion to the Captain of the 122. It wasn't until years later that Hen realized how sudden it actually was. One day Sal was their defacto leader, he was an intergel part of their band of misfits, and four years later he was a virtual stranger.

The only reason Hen and Karen stay for the full length of the wake is for Athena and the kids. Athena is her best friend. It doesn't matter how badly it hurts, how cracked open her heart is. Hen needs to be here for her best friend. She can't fall apart. Not here, not today, and not tomorrow. She can fall apart later with drinks with her team. When it's all over and she no longer has to be strong because her boys will catch her the way they always have.

The house was light up with natural light, with Denny and Mara's new favorite song playing over the blue tooth speaker as Hen put on her dress blues and Karen fretted over Denny's latest growth spurt and if his dress pants would be long enough. Mara was wearing the yellow sundress she had picked out special for today with a white bow in her hair. Hen laughed helping Karen look for the specific pair of heels she wanted to wear for the Medal Ceremony.

Even though the sun is pouring in through the large windows of the Wilson home, it doesn't feel bright or warm. This time there is no laughter or music while Hen puts on her dress blues. Hen doesn't know how she's held it together this long, but she breaks in Karen's arms, sobbing into her wife's neck.

It's better if she cries here. She can't cry once they arrive at the ceremony.

Losing Tommy has harder than losing Sal. There was nothing gradual about the loss. Tommy was there just as the 118 was becoming a family and then he was gone.

It hurt, but the team, Hen had recovered.

"I'll be honest when Bobby first brought you on board, I said he should just get a Dalmatian instead."

It had taken her and Chimney a minute to warm up to Buck, the loss of Tommy still to fresh. But once he clicks Buck slides into place like he was always supposed to be there.

"Okay that is a beautiful man."

"Where's the lie? And I like girls."

"Don't worry I'll protect you from Buck and his chainsaw."

"There's a chainsaw?"

"…he feels like he lost one family and now he's hyper focused to protect the other one, the 118. He's teaching you to make sure that you're ready. But because he's Buck, he also wants to make sure that you're worthy."

"Hey Chim, I tried getting a hold of your parents but there's a sixteen hour time difference between here and Seoul, so maybe that had something to do with it."

"That's okay. His family is right here."

Hen cant stop thinking about all those defining moments that made the 118 a family, her family.

"That should be our motto. Who cares?"

"That's not a very good motto."

"Well not if you take it out of context."

She never imagined that a funeral would be the thing that brought the 118 back together for the first time. She thought it would be births, graduations, weddings that brought Eddie home again. She never could have imagined it would be Bobby's funeral.

Hen crawls through the small pocket her team had made for her in the rubble. She has Kat holding onto her back and Paisley in front of her leading the way. Hen makes it put the other side covered in dust and debris. She looks into the eyes of her team who had come to rescue her.

"Hey guys." Hen said with a laugh. She had never doubted them.

Hen takes her seat at the front with the rest of the 118 behind Athena, the kids. Bobby's family. She selfishly wishes she didn't have to be a pallbarer, that she could sit with Karen and give into the tears threatening to fall.

Hen hears May's tears, and watches Athena comfort her children. Hen doesn't even want to think of how devastated May must be. Hen knows how much she loves Bobby.

"Cap!" The word rings out like a mantra, like a prayer as the 118 calls for their captain sifting through the rubble of the roof that had come down on him and May with increasing desperation.

The rubble falls away revealing Bobby and May both alive. Even through the sound of moving rumble and the buzz of adrenaline ringing in Hen's ears she can hear Bobby comforting May. She can see her captain using his body as a blanket to protect his child until help arrives. The 118 pulls father and daughter from the rubble and Bobby watches protectively while Hen examines May.

"It is customary and fitting that the final alarm be sounded for our brother, Captain Robert Wade Nash. He has completed his duties, a job well done." Hen takes a deep shuddering Breath as Chief Simpson speaks. She knows what is coming next and she isn't ready. She doesn't know how she will ever be ready. "Uniformed personal please stand." Hen rises especially side by side with her team, her brothers.

"Atten-hut! Present arms." Hen salutes still fighting back tears as the bell rings ten times signaling the end of Bobby's watch.

The 118 flank Bobby and May walking them out of the burnt out remains of metro dispatch, escorting them to safety and to medical care.

It's time for the 118 to escort Bobby to his final resting place.

It wasn't intentional that her, Chimney, and Tommy line one side of Bobby's casket while Buck, Eddie, and Ravi line the other, but it feels like it is. On one side, the team Bobby inherited, on the other side, the one he built. They are the only ones who know the truth though, The 118 wasn't just Bobby's team, they were his family.

The bag pipes fill the air of downtown Los Angeles the way they must fill the hills of Scotland, Hen thinks. This isn't her first funeral. It isn't even her first funeral for a fallen brother.

"We all have our breaking point."

Hen knows they are supposed to be stoic as they guard Bobby for as long as they can. Hen knows she is supposed to be stoic but she couldn't stop the tears even if she tried. She marches side by side with the 118 until their job is done, when it is time Athena, May, and Harry to make the last part of this journey on their own as they take Bobby's home to Minnesota.

"I wasn't asking about work. I already know you did a great job."

Hen and her family return home from the funeral. She doesn't strip out of her dress blues, not yet. She knows she should change, her mom would be there soon to watch the kids so Hen and Karen could join the 118 for drinks at their old haunt.

In their bedroom Hen goes to the top shelf of their closet pulling down a old wood box. Her bookie box. It's empty but Hen opens it anyway staring at the bottom of the box that hasn't been used since they had placed bets on Bobby and Athena's relationship.

Bobby thought Hen should be the next Captain of the 118, but she doesn't even know if she is up for the job. Everything feels so broken without Bobby, she doesn't know how to rebuild a firehouse, but she thinks she knows where to start.

"You know why redwoods grow so high? They move and bend with the wind. If you stay rigid, eventually you'll break."

The tones ring out across the station calling the 118 to action. Buck and Chimney flank their new captain with Ravi and May falling in line behind them as the team follows Captain Henrietta Wilson into the engines, driving out of the station, answering the call to help.

On the wall of the station hangs a large plaque with the LAFD insignia and commemorating the fallen members of the 118. At the very center hangs the portrait of Bobby Nash with a crisp hundred dollar bill behind the glass.

[original-bookshelf]

Okay, here's what we've got so far:

January 31, 2004 - Pidge (a freelancer) is born

June 28, 2004 - Allan (a warder) is born

January 2010 - Allan and Pidge meet for the first time, starting a lifelong friendship.

August 9, 2010 - Lou is born.

November 9, 2016 - Pidge’s father is killed in a car accident.

March 2017 - Pidge is sexually abused and non consensually bridged with by a fire elemental who was close with her family.

June 2017- Allan finds out and helps make a report, setting off the chain of events that puts Pidge and their siblings into foster care and results in the attempted arrest of said fire elemental.

September 2017 - Allan manifests his magic, revealing the affair his mother had with Tom Wilson, a mailman.

December 2017 - Allan applies to work at Denny’s and gets hired.

January 2018 - Allan’s grandmother is diagnosed with breast cancer.

October 2018 - Allan is caught kissing a boy behind the school by his younger sibling, outing him to his parents.

November 2018 - Allan’s part of a marching band competition and none of his family is able to attend.

November 2018 - Pidge decides to start learning healing magic.

September 2019 - Allan purchases an old truck with some of the money he’s earned from working at Denny’s and he and Pidge hide it in an old parking garage and start working to repair it.

March 2020 - COVID 19 pandemic hits.

January 17, 2021 - Allan’s grandmother passes away.

February 19, 2021 - Pidge is going to be moved to a new foster home by the end of the month and it’s across the state.

February 25, 2021 - The funeral for Allan’s grandmother is held and Allan is seriously injured by his family in a violent altercation.

February 26, 2021 - Pidge heals Allan and resolves to get him out of his family.

February 28, 2021 - Allan and Pidge run away.

December 2021 - Allan is invited to watch the electro energetic games by a friend who has an older sibling attending DAMN. He invites Pidge to go with. Disaster strikes soon after.

January 2022 - Allan does not return to high school for the spring semester of his senior year.

May 2022 - Pidge graduates high school.

December 2022 - Allan sells his truck.

January 2023 - Finally able to afford the security deposit and downpayment for an apartment, Allan and Pidge start renting one together.

May-July 2023 - Allan earns his GED.

August 2023 - Allan and Pidge start their first year at DAMN

August 2024 - Allan and Pidge start their second year at DAMN

December 2024 - The Inversion 2.0, Allan meets Callisto for the first time and subsequently starts dating him, Allan goes back to Georgia for Christmas in order to protect his brother’s unempowered girlfriend from his family, Closeknit continues to be a problem

[108garys]

Pyromegan: Vice grip(1973)

A year out from the fire we pick up around a month after we left off in part 1

On top of what is listed in the previous part this will have, dissociation, implied PTSD(of an oc), attachment issues, controlling guardian, psychological abuse, complex grief, emotional outbursts(just assume that this is getting more painful as it goes on) 3000+ words

[January 14th/1973]

"Two days to a year ago, our community suffered an insurmountable loss..." Carson stood at the pulpit, preaching about enduring in the face of adversity, Megan had aged out of Sunday school and sat in the pews where he could see her, she sat up straight when he looks to her, when others look... As they always do with so much concern.

He talks about the burdens we all must carry and she knows from the look under his preacher's presence, that he's telling everyone without telling, that she is his... How charitable he is, how humbly he takes in such an unfortunate girl... She adjusts the ribbons in her braided hair that sits on either shoulder, doing her best to make sure she looks like she's listening, to make it look like she was flourishing under his care, as all the 'important' measures like grades and school disciplinary records would show... All the good things she actually cares about are inspite of him, her teachers seem to anticipate her taking that day off and he's only allowing it because he'd appear cruel otherwise. 

Megan hasn't been out to their graves since the funeral, the idea that they're all there waiting for to join them some day... She can't think about that, not without the fear that it wouldn't be worse than living under the Reverend's roof...

__

[January 16th/1973]

Megan returns home once again... The house is frozen, snow had blown through the holes in the wall and roof, the blackened floorboards damp, she goes up to her room in a winter coat two sizes too large and sits where her bed once was... She closes her eyes and listens, cold seeping into her, at this hour the sounds of the factory's machines fill the quiet, for years she had tuned it out like the persistent drip of a leaking faucet... Under it all the sound of people, they still quieten as they pass on the street a year later...

Broken glass and ice crunch underfoot as she makes her way back down stairs, the afternoon sun filters through boarded up windows... She brushes a gloved hand over a bare section of wall to be greeted by an old drawing, her and him, just as it is now, as it had been, as it didn't have to be... She crouches down to scoop up a charred piece of wood, feverishly scratching over the doll clutched in the picture, leaving an angry black cloud to her side, absence, she steps back, finding the change more accurate.

__

[Early February/1973]

Megan spends a lot of time after school in the treehouse with Kurt, Carson doesn't allow comics in the house so she reads in the treehouse... She hadn't spoken to him at school today so she let's herself in like she usually does, knocking on the closed window, Kurt helps her through with a broad smile. His walls covered in posters, small model planes on his shelves with his books and little stars on the ceiling, things a little more disorganised than usual. She smiles back to him before he happily declares, "Glenn's coming back next week." 

"Oh?" She takes a moment to process, he'd been gone since they were Jen's age and yeah he was always coming back from his time overseas one day, it just never felt so... Real. "I can't believe it," she says with a smile, "Grandpa says he'll be back in the country in a couple of days and then he's coming back home." 

She was happy for him, she was... She was just caught by surprise that Dennis wouldn't be there when his friend returns...

And then he did but not really, in the back of her mind Megan remembers Glenn, a blond teen with well combed hair, he always smiled, quick to laugh, slow to anger... Even when it felt more than justified, she remembers him most in contrast to Dennis, in the way he got under his grumpiness and lightened his mood, Glenn wasn't in Dennis's band but he was the type to cheer the loudest, he and Anthony used to trade baseball cards and briefly played on the highschool team together, that's how she remembers Glenn Mathis, but this quiet man with his hair shaved short is not really like that... Glenn looks like Glenn but tired and older, well older than he would have looked anyway... 

She saw him standing outside her home once, looking up at the burnt exterior of the house the way she does sometimes, passers by still avoid looking but he stands on the sidewalk in the lead up to the front door and while he didn't look to her when she stopped beside him she heard him quietly say. "It isn't right..." He shakes his head, "it- it's not fair... Nothing ever happens in Little Hope, it's not supposed to..." She looks away, tears building in her eyes, he stands like a cold statue... He puts his hand on her head, like she was a small child and then... He walks away.

__

[March/1973]

Weeks pass and things get... Quiet, more scatterbrained, some days on the walk to school Jo and Kurt would talk quietly so Jen couldn't hear, Jen would ask Megan questions about Glenn, her memory of him before being practically non existent and her view built through stories... But Megan doesn't know why Glenn is like that.

Some days they've already passed by without her and in school Kurt is distracted by his brother's return and after school he is busy with the changes that comes with that... Megan tried to be patient, she was taught that it was a virtue and she knew everyone else was understanding with her last year and now it's her turn but... She feels like she's being left behind, like they walk a little further ahead of her day after day because they don't have to understand her now...

She really did try to wait for things to go back to the way they were, it's not like he stopped sitting with her, or stopped doing their work together but she needed to see him outside of school, to tell him... That she misses him?  She sees him most days, she wasn't sure how to say it but she had to say something so she went over there on a Friday night, hoping that it would be fixed by Monday morning, she climbs the tree but the lights are all off, she tries to knock on the window but gets no reply...

In her desperation she forced the window open, intending to wake Kurt up so he has to listen to her but, in her hurry she misjudged the distance-

Kurt sat bolt upright as she hit the floor with a loud thud, she tried to speak as she raises herself onto her smarting elbows but before she could Glenn practically kicks down the door with a baseball bat in hand, hitting the light Megan screams in shock at his even more dramatic entrance, Kurt jumps out of bed but doesn't do anything and Glenn freezes. A terrified look on his face as he registers the situation. Bat slipping from his hand to clatter against the floor as he steps back into the wall... Their grandparents rush in as Glenn slides down to the floor with his head in his hands, his grandfather kneels to check on him.

"What is the meaning of this?" Grandma Gladys demands in shock, she doesn't shout but Megan knows if she talks she'll cry, she knows that she's ruined everything. Megan gets to her feet, grasping her stinging arm, she doesn't speak as she voluntarily walks to the door, the old woman puts her hand firmly on her back, "What's wrong? Are you hurt... Megan?" She's asks, Megan shakes her head, not wanting to cause more trouble, as she's guided down stairs and to the front door, Jo stands in the hall, her look disapproving as Jen was scared awake by the commotion...

The ride back to Carson's house is short but the silence is extremely painful, no more questions were asked, no reassurance nor scaring her with how much trouble she'll inevitably be in, maybe she knows it won't reach her... Maybe she's just focused on getting it done.

Megan stares at her feet as Carson's front door is knocked on, waiting for an answer is torture, eventually the front door opens, the Reverend dishevelled from sleep, his expression quickly changing from confusion to that quiet anger. "Forgive me, Father, I don't know what's gotten into Megan but-" the woman pauses, as if searching for the right words, "She fell climbing through a second story window, thank the Lord she fell inside... Gave us all a terrible fright." her voice shows genuine fear at the alternative. "I know this has been a trying time for your household, Gladys, the last thing your family needs is to be woken in the middle of night by such misguided, childish antics," He speaks in a deceptively diplomatic tone, "I pray your house rests easy knowing that I will see this behaviour addressed appropriately." She didn't speak, not while they talked, and when it was just the two of them she braces herself for what's to come.

He looks at her sternly, not saying anything, radiating fury with his hand on her shoulder he marches her over to the couch, grabbing her face when she didn't look at him, he turns her head with a critical eye, before taking her wrist, turning her arm over to look at a nasty scratch on her forearm before dropping her arm, "Don't move." He says warningly, before leaving the room, she grabs her wrist xx. A few minutes later he came back with a few items from the medicine cabinet, sitting down to tend to her scratches, she bit back a pained hiss as he cleans and dresses them, not saying another word as he returns the first aid supplies to their place. She doesn't move an inch as he comes back to stand in front of her, arms crossed, rage simmering beneath the surface. "What's wrong with you?"

"I don't know." She says in a small voice, she never found the words she needed to explain before and they weren't coming now. "You don't know? For the love of- what do you mean 'you don't know'?" She shrugs not looking at him, her body more pained from the tension in her muscles than from falling, he scoffs derisively. "Don't give me that," his tone unexpectedly restrained, cold, "You could have fallen to your death, do you despise living under my roof that much?" She doesn't answer, he kneels in front of her to make her look him in the eye. "You would have half as much as I give you shared between dozens of less fortunate children in an orphanage, is that what you want?"

"No." She says reluctantly, wrapping her arms around herself. "You weren't behaving like this before that Kurt boy," he says the name with the disdain of a curse, putting his hands on her upper arms, "Sneaking out in the middle of the night? Breaking and entering? What else would you do at that boy's behest?" Megan opens her mouth to explain that it wasn't Kurt's fault but a sob breaks from her, Carson sighs heavily standing up. "You aren't leaving this house until I feel you've regained my trust." She looks up at him with tearful eyes, she's so tired... So she nods, just so she can go to her room. He takes her hands and pulls her to her feet, marching her up to her room, at the door he turns her to him, wiping a tear from her face in a way that made her feel small. "You know that I have your best interests at heart, don't you?" She nods not believing it, more tears falling from her eyes. "Good, now get to bed."

As he shuts the door after himself she falls exhausted onto her bed, passing quickly into a dreamless sleep...

__

She doesn't leave the house except for church until Monday, she walks to school alone, she doesn't try to talk to Kurt until the end of the day. "Kurt, I need to talk to you." He stands outside the classroom, what does she say, how does she fix it? "Why did you do that? I had to explain that it never happened before and-"

"I'm sorry, you just... You were leaving me behind." She tries to explain, he stares in disbelief, like it hadn't even occurred to him... "No? No I didn't, Megan just because you can't understand what it's like for someone to come back-" a look of shame washes over him immediately, she feels like she's drenched in ice, "No! No it's not like that, that's not what I mean!" He steps forward but she steps back. Feeling more pain than the shame of her actions, she can't be near him so she runs away from him, back to the house before she catches further grief...

...the house is empty when she walks through the door. She can't make this cold leave her so she lights the fireplace. Starring into the flame's inviting warmth as even her feelings turned to ice.

__

She keeps her head down, doing what she was supposed to do... a hollow feeling inside, Kurt tried to talk to her a few times but she is numb... School, Church, homework, prayer, study, eat, sleep, she remains cold... Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, repeat. Glenn goes with the kids on the way to school to have something to do, weeks to months, the snow goes away and the flowers come back... Carson teaches her things she shouldn't know, warning signs and symbols and words... Repeated and memorised, she has to know, to see what dangers are out there... He pulls back from teaching others to focus on her, until she's well behaved, until she's able to be trusted...

...sometimes she burns things from around the house, nothing that would be noticed or missed, dated papers, old photos from dusty albums, the news, but she remains cold, unable to feel the warmth...

Carson seems to prefer her dead inside, she's better behaved, less of a problem, he actually seems to like her this way, an empty vessel is easier to fill... but her teachers are concerned about her and in turn they talk to him, trying to fix it... 

She is still not doing it right.

__

[June 16th/1973]

Megan's 13th birthday was... Different. Carson gifted her a new doll, actually new, he must be happy with her to do that, she looks down at it apathetically, feeling so old since she had a normal doll and older since she got a new one, the type that closes it's eyes when it's layed down. He sits across the table from her with that plastic smile, waiting... She smiles like it had moved her, "Thank you, I love it... a lot." Her expression of gratitude pleases him as he gets up from his chair and walks over to her, opening his arms for a hug... It's too late to act like that type of gaurdian, a year a half too late, but she gets up without complaint... Holding the doll to avoid returning the gesture. The smile falls from her face the second he couldn't see it, his hand on her head, the doll has pigtails too, a hand on her shoulder, the phone rings and she puts her happy face back on as she looks up and he steps away. He answers and she leaves the doll in her room before going outside... If she feels again she will fall apart, but there under a thick layer of ice, she burns with bottled up emotion, boiling from the inside out.

__

[Late summer/1973]

Around town people are afraid, adults can only keep things to themselves for so long. She hears that the factory will stop running soon and a lot of people will go away...

Back then Dad had been so worried that it would go like this, she remembers hearing him talk about it, that it was real serious... What would he do now? She has no answers and could not ask... She has not visited in too long...

Megan goes to the Little Hope cemetery for the first time of her own volition... It was still, everything slept, even the trees were tired... She stays quiet as she walks through, trying to remember where they were and then she sees them. Fresh, bright flowers with shiny new leaves at each and every one, clean and well cared for... 

For some reason she feels a sharpness through her chest... She knows flowers don't last, she knows that they were still loved and cared for... But why not her?

Guilt drove her home, she returns as she always does, feeling everything, everything! She runs up stairs through the hall, eyes burning with months of unshed tears, she falls to her knees... Sobbing, rage, grief, remorse, hurt, all mixed together and confused she screams. How could she not? What is wrong with her? She draws her knees into her chest as it all empties out and she is quiet again...

"You still come here?" She doesn't look up as she hears Kurt, she hears him walk up the stairs towards her, "Is it okay if I...?" He stops, not finishing the question, sitting with her in the ash and dirt, coming to her the way he had before... She had hurt him too, when she became cold to bury her own hurt. The distant sound of the factory is prominent in the silent house... Soon will vanish from little hope forever.

"Can we be friends again?" He asks as she finally looks at him, can they? "Yes." She answers, for all the other things she cannot say, he gets to his feet again, helping her up and hugging her. She hugs him back... she will never run from him again.

__

After summer a few kids unceremoniously disappear from school, having moved away after the factory shut down. Megan holds tightly to her one friend, Kurt makes the decision to walk to school her way, just the two of them. They stick closer together in school but only play in secret... She's been deemed 'trustworthy' and doesn't like the idea of adults messing it up for them... He doesn't really understand and she can't really explain it outside of Carson's general strictness but he agrees. As the town shrinks around them she think she could make this work... Maybe she could even be happy.

__

@kassiekole22 @delurkr @ctrvpani @conra @kindheartedgummybears @blubary @scootingscooterr @tinynightmarewoman @legenspeople @aydeenchan @mybrainrotforreal @eframschweigersskincells

Anyone who wishes to be added to the tag list can say so, but yeah it do be hard for her but rest assured I am including things based on how it contributes to her future psyche(it will get worse)

[blorbodiaz]

i have a vision…

it’s the season 8 finale, buck just broke up with tmmy and confessed his love to eddie and they run off to san francisco for the weekend. ravi is dating a guy from dispatch. hen karen and denny are reunited with mara. madney find out they’re pregnant again. christopher is home and healing. gerard died and nobody shows up to his funeral apart from councilwoman ortiz. bathena are getting freaky again. this is all happening in a 5 minute montage style to this specific cover

we ended season 1 with florence, now we’re gonna end season 8 with her (mostly)

[abbysimsfun]

Sims In Bloom: Generation 2 Pt. 25 (Unexpected Death Cull but then a Baby, Finally!)

The town of Henford was rocked by a seniors’ river cruise disaster which killed Spencer’s grandparents Dennis and Vivian Lewis-Kim, as well as Ian and Derek Moody-McMillan, who were old friends of the Nesbitts and grandfathers to Nicola, Hazel’s bestie-turned-girlfriend.

The disaster brought Everett and Spencer home to visit her family. The Nesbitts sent condolences, grateful to have been spared greater grief as the town’s fledgling riverboat tourism industry took a nosedive. Spencer met her new niece and infant Greyson got to know his aunts on the Pancakes and Kim-Lewis sides of his family.

The visit made them miss home, and they began to talk about coming home to Henford for good. For now, however, life called them back to Oasis Springs after the funerals.

Daisy was still a PlantSim, which was concerning as the effects of the forbidden fruit had worn off much slower than she expected, and River’s wedding was just around the corner. Despite this, Daisy stayed close to Heather until delivery.

One evening, Heather tried to show her mother how to use accounting software for her floral business, but it wasn't going well and Heather was starting to get bored. She nonchalantly checked her phone. "You wrote a whole cookbook, Mom. You taught me how to do online research, but you can't figure out a few numbers?"

Daisy frowned. "I always let the telescope do my number-crunching for me. I really just loved gardening." She clicked something, and the program disappeared. "Oh, what now?"

"Let me." Heather leaned over her mother's shoulder. "You deleted it? How did you do that?"

Daisy shrugged in frustration. "I really don't know."

Heather opened her Recycle Bin to retrieve the deleted file when she noticed a strange folder. "VetConnect? Is this a clone? What?"

"What does that mean?"

"I...I think someone might have cloned my app files and given them to Petcare Inc."

"Who would do such a thing?"

"Other than you, no one's used my computer since...since Malcolm! I used to let him log in to send work emails. Oh my god! I could kill him!"

Daisy frowned. "Don't say that. Can you sue?"

"Against the Landgraabs? I don't even know if I could prove it was him," she said. "But I think I can fight fire with fire. My vet tech had the idea, and it took years to make the first one, but I'm going to have to work on a new app."

After a family dinner in Henford, Heather finally went into labour. Daisy went with her to the hospital, where her doctor was the on-call intern, Jamar Scott, her childhood neighbour.

(And the eldest son of Henford townies Simon and Sara Scott.)

"How's life in Brindleton Bay?"

"It's really great! I love being by the sea and I really feel like the clinic was my calling."

"I know what you mean. What you do for animals is what I love to do for sims."

"And how's Malia's freelance career?"

"She loves the flexibility, and I can't say I blame her. We're talking about starting a family of our own once my residency's done and I can work better hours."

Just before four in the morning, an exhausted Heather gave birth to a healthy baby boy she named Ash Neal Nesbitt. She debated the last name for months, but Malcolm hadn’t checked on her except when he needed a paternity test. And he stole her mobile app's code!

Since then he’d been no better than a ghost. If he wanted to miss out on his son's life, Heather was fine with it. ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 2 Start | Gen 1 Summary | Gen 1 Start

NOTE: To prevent them from randomly marrying other sims I made Dennis Kim and Vivian Lewis fall in love and marry years after their kids, Eric and Alice, married and started a family (they had three girls - Olivia, Spencer, and Lydia Kim-Lewis).

NOTE 2: I made OG grocer Kim Goldbloom the adopted daughter of Ian Moody and Derek McMillan because I wanted to make all the Henford NPCs playable at the start of the game. (I also paired up Michael Bell and Cecilia Kang despite their canon bad first date, married off Agnes and Agatha and moved them in with the Pancakes after making Agatha the mother of Bob, and put Lavina and Rahul in a home in the Bramblewood. She married Paolo Rocca and had two more kids, Rahul married Rashidah Watson after graduation and they moved to Brindleton Bay to start a family.

[chaitantei-ao3]

26

Dennis sees Dee perched by the kitchen counter, “What do you mean you won’t pay for it Frank?! Oh goddamn you. You know what, you’re useless. Is Charlie there?”

Dee sighs, putting the cell down. 

“When are you leaving?” 

“You’re one to ask.” Dee looks at him, “If you weren’t moping around, I wouldn’t have been distracted and I won��t have to be here in the first place!”

“Right.” Dennis snorts, “You could’ve been in a million other places, Sweet Dee. But then again-” Dennis raises his brow, “For that you need to actually have friends.”

“Oh you goddamn son of a bitch.” 

“Or lovers for that matter. People who’d want you.” Dennis says airily. “I’d know, I’m surrounded by them.”

“Are you now?” Dee says. “Cause I don’t see one around.”

“Need I remind you, Dee.” Dennis says, “That I could have any girl, any time I want. I simply choose not to.” 

“Right.” Dee snorts, “You keep telling yourself that.”

“What you always fail to understand, Dee. Actually-” Dennis taps his temple, “What none of you understand really is that no matter how the situation plays out, my system never fails. I could face a million hurdles but I’ll instantly come up with a million different ways to handle it. And do you know why? Because over the years my system, through rigorous experimentation, has factored in every possible condition.”

“Oh… Has it factored in you being a total asshole?”

“Of course it has.” Dennis says. “And that’s how I always get what I want. But as usual you’ve been asking the wrong questions and completely missing the point.” Dennis shakes his head. 

“Don’t you see? The system stems from me .” Dennis places his hand on his chest, “ I am that superior rational being, a paragon of reason , the ultimate form of existence on Earth who is able to use logic to come up with a system that always works. And… to have the means to get anything I want? Dee… I might as well be a God.”

“A God.” Dee raises her brows, “Is that how you’re seeing-”

“Not that God exists.” Dennis says, “There is a world full of chaos out there, Dee. And there are very few who can make sense of it. Oh yeah, it can get real scary. So… you see this belief in God is a coping mechanism at best and a delusion at worst. It’s me who’s really-” Dennis says, “-the next best thing.”

“Are you for-”

“Dennis the police are on their way.” Mac says.

“You called the fucking cops on me?”

“I told them we had a home invasion.”

“Oh you- you goddamn...you” Dennis watches with satisfaction as Dee jumps from the seat, hurrying to the door. 

Mac closes the door, “Hey, so I was wondering if you could come to the funeral with me.”

“I… what?”

“It’s not that long and-” 

“Yeah that’s not the part I’m concerned about. You want me to attend a funeral for a complete random stranger?”

“It’s not a stranger. It’s… Mom’s friend.”

“You don’t even know who died!”

Mac puts a hand on his hip, “You’re right. I- don’t know what I’m thinking. How can I pay my respects to someone I didn’t know?”

Dennis sighs, “Look if you want to go. Go.”

“No, it’s probably not right… Yeah. What if it’s not allowed?” Mac touches the rosary beads on his wrist.

“Allowed? Nobody will notice you. You can be there with your Mom and-”

“God will notice, Dennis. He’ll-”

Dennis rolls his eyes, “And would it be so wrong to go support your Mom?”

“I don’t think so… but now I’m not so sure… what is right in this situation.” Mac bites his lip.

“You didn’t care about any of this- you know what. Let’s go and see what happens.”

Mac’s eyes widen, “But-”

“Yeah, I’m coming with you.”

“But Dennis at least let me consult the Holy Book or talk to-”

“We’re not consulting anything.”

Read more

[nethhiri]

The Kid Pirates modern funeral home au thing you posted about has been living in my head rent free since I saw it. The idea of heat being so good at making the dead look alive meanwhile looking kind of corpsey himself is so perfect. And then I could see Wire doing most of his work from dusk into the night to not have to deal with the heat of the day and totally not because there’s at least 8 different urban legends and cryptids in town that are actually just him- rip to the teens passing by a Denny’s parking lot only to see a giant looming cloaked figure passing under the single flickering street lamp before disappearing into the night (he had just finished work and was taking his to go order of pancakes to the car to eat in peace and listen to some late night radio). I could also see Kid making a killing around Halloween time building cheap plywood coffins as props and Halloween decorations and he, Killer and the gang passing out candy in Victoria as a trunk-or-treat style thing.

Haha aw! It's so funny that I posted it on a whim and actually it's gotten a lot of attention 😂

LOVE the idea of Wire as the town cryptid. Maybe he has a sun allergy or porphyria.

And Kid building coffins for Halloween is such a cute idea!!! Bringing Victoria to pass out candy like they're hanging out with their long-passed friend 🥺

I was thinking about Heat being a good mortician bc I bet he got really self-conscious about his scars and learned how to do makeup to cover them up. Then when he got older, translated those skills into a job.

I also picture Kid inheriting this business from some random old-ass relative and kind of being forced into the job, dragging his friends with him. It would go down like:

"No! Building caskets was your dream! I wanna build ships!"

"I'll give you $100."

"I love building caskets!"

Also maybe they have a sick punk band as their night job: The Crypt Keepers

[tanktopdiaz]

mayravi making small talk at the funeral, nothing beyond basic condolences and incidental stolen glances, but maybe afterwards they finally went to their 118+fam groupchat and saved each other's numbers. and then there's the mega party at the madney house and they see each other again. and sure, on paper nothing's changed between them, they haven't seen each other since the funeral or intercted at all (apart from both reacting to a few messages in that giant groupchat that they have both muted because seriously chim you don't need to share every single one of your letter boxed reviews and hen, mara is amazing but you don't need to share 100+ pics of the adoption and buck. just no more humminbird facts please and thank you) but. they're at the welcome home slash madney baby slash mara adoption party at maddie and chimney's house and had amazing food (ravi brought some desi dips that may could bathe in if it were hygienic and not that may cares but ravi really seems to enjoy the 0% sparkling wine she brought), and shared stories, mostly about bobby, and laughed, and cried a little, and not all of the tears were sad for once, when suddenly music starts playing through some speaker. and harry drags their mom into the middle of the room and denny grabs mara and chris grabs jee and the adults all pair up as well and suddenly everybody is dancing or swaying around (some with more rhythm than others). and then ravi stands in front of may, with his big brown eyes and those unfairly long lashes, with a shy smile, and holds out his hand. so of course may grins back and takes his hand and lets herself be led onto the impromptu dance floor.

oh. can we have a buddie parallel where she makes a sweet that no one likes except for ravi (whos not even crazy about cinnamon and theres wayyyyyy too much in these snickerdoodle monstrocities but they're in fun cookie cutter shapes and he loves biting cookies into weird shapes)

and on the dance floor shes not expecting much, theyre just swaying and yeah shes got a hand on his shoulder and yeah hes holding her hand so gently, his fingers wrapped around her palm and theyre both a little clammy from the general heat of all these moving bodies in one place, but then he's twirling and dipping her and shes so surprised she cant help but just go with it and trust he won't let her fall. afterwards shes like my bad ravioli i did not know ur game lmao

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

HAPPY THURSDAY CAL!

what a line-up you've got for us this week 😁 I'm looking forward to getting lost reading these

🔮🔮🔮🔮

🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸

🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️

👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑

⚡⚡

🚨🚨🚨

🦮🦮🦮🦮

🔼🔼

HEY!

Thank you so much!!! I appreciate you!!!!

Here's 12 for 🔮:

---

 He seems kind. Buck wonders what sort of hurt causes a kind person to sneer at their father’s funeral. If Buck’s father died tomorrow, he would at least be somber. 

The reception isn’t very long. There isn’t any nostalgic reflection to it, the way Buck has seen at other funerals. People pay their respects to the Nash family, maybe have a bite, then leave. There’s an overall discomfort in the air. Buck tries to listen to hear if anyone mentions how a relatively young man died. Cancer? On the job accident? Heart attack? No one says anything.

---

24 for 🩸:

---

“Mom is home,” May mumbles, head pressed against the cool glass of Eddie’s truck window. “She’s not on shift.”

“Okay, we’re going to get you to her,” Eddie promises. “You’re going to be okay.”

“I feel like shit,” she mumbles. “But at least my eyes don’t hurt looking out the window?”

“I probably hurt your chest. I’m sorry.”

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t just let me die,” she replies. “Would kind of make you a crap firefighter.”

Eddie doesn’t tell her he’s not a firefighter anymore. This isn’t about him. 

When the truck pulls into Bobby and Athena’s driveway, Eddie gives a little, frantic honk. Athena comes hurrying out a moment later, bewildered expression on her face. The moment she sees Eddie helping a struggling May out of the car, her features morph with parental protectiveness and panic. Eddie understands it completely.

“May?” She exclaims. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“Mom…” May struggles to explain. No doubt she is completely overwhelmed. 

“It happened to her,” Eddie fills in. 

“What happened to her?” Athena demands.

---

45 for 🧟‍♂️:

---

“Give it to me,” Bobby says, after Buck pulls a tarp off the equipment. 

Buck sighs and begins unplugging things. Each action feels like a betrayal. 

“Jesus, Buck.” Bobby says as he examines the setup. “How long did you think this setup would last? I can feel the heat radiating off that laptop. It’s going to burn out or start a fire.”

“Well, now it won’t,” Buck grumbles. He sounds like a child about to pitch a fit. He sounds younger than Denny. He resents himself immediately. 

He can hear Bobby’s frustration in his next exhale of breath. Valid. 

“I’m not trying to be an asshole, Buck. I’m just trying to keep all of us safe.”

The thing is, Buck knows he’s right. He knows that’s the truth. He knows that’s all Bobby wants. Bobby would lay down his life for any one of them. Without a second thought. 

But he still hates this.

“I know,” Buck says. He takes a deep, self-collecting breath. “I’m sorry.”

Bobby collects the equipment. The signal is cut. And Buck might be insane, he might be crazy, but all he can think of is Maddie out there somewhere, searching for him, only to find the only trace of him suddenly gone. Will she think he is gone too? Will she think he’s given up? He won’t. Not ever. 

---

^^^ I could only actually give you 32. You will soon see why.

48 for 👑:

---

“Nothing,” Tommy says quickly. “Nothing’s going on.”

“Is that right?” Hen raises an eyebrow.

Captain Nash - Bobby, he wants to be called Bobby - scans the four of them, dubious. Chim flares with annoyance. If Sal and Tommy’s bullshit act gives Nash a bad impression of Hen… Well… Well, then Chim will do exactly what he did when she showed up all those years ago. He’ll defend her. He’ll always stand up for Hen.

“Han here is just complaining about having to work on the holiday,” Sal shrugs. 

“Holiday is tomorrow, DeLuca,” Chim fires back. 

“Okay,” Bobby nods. “I think I see.”

Chim’s not sure what he thinks he sees, but if he’s taking Sal’s word for anything, he’s wrong. 

But before anyone can say anything else, the alarm rings. Chim and Hen don’t get to see where Bobby’s thoughts lie. But Chim has dealt with this shit for long enough. He has a pretty good idea. 

👑👑👑

It’s a quick med call. Dislocated knee. Nothing serious. Well, okay, a little serious for the knee, but that’s about it. It should be entirely unremarkable, except for the fact that when they get back, Hen disappears into Bobby’s office and talks to the new captain for almost an hour. This is not something that is normal for her. She usually avoids long conversations with their captains, given how the first one treated her. Chim’s not sure who initiated the interaction, but in either case, it’s weird. 

“Isn’t she gay?” Sal jokes when enough time has passed without Hen emerging. Tommy chuckles nervously.

Chim personally hopes he gets crushed by a falling piano. 

When, finally, Bobby and Hen emerge from his office, Bobby looks across the upper station floor to where Chim is sitting and waves him over. What the fuck?

“Your turn,” Sal mutters. 

“Do you ever shut the fuck up?” Chim snaps. 

Sal blinks, surprised. 

Chim doesn’t wait for a response. He walks off towards Bobby’s office, ready to find out whatever the hell is going on. He passes Hen by as he walks, mouthing a little what’s happening to her. She winks, but says nothing. Which is even more confusing. 

“Take a seat, Howard,” Bobby says when Chim walks into the office. He closes the door behind them. 

“Please, call me Chimney.” Chim corrects, taking a seat. 

“Okay, Chimney.” Bobby nods.

---

6 for ⚡:

---

Buck actually giggles and opens his mouth. Okay, he’s still a little drunk, too. Unsure if Buck is expecting a Tylenol or his dick, Eddie places the medicine tablet on Buck’s tongue.

Buck swallows it. 

“Thanks,” he mumbles.

“You should really also have something to drink,” Eddie advises.

---

9 for 🚨:

---

“I know,” Eddie nods. “God, Hen, I know that. Of course, Karen… Karen is amazing.”

“I don’t want to leave my son either,” Hen says. “But if he got sick? Because of me? Because of my job?”

---

12 for 🦮:

---

Nausea in his stomach. He opens his mouth to ask another question, but before he can, he hears his name being called.

“Buck?”

He whirls around to see Eddie walking towards them, dressed in an oversized LAFD hoodie and sweats. He’s pale. Bruised and scraped. Lips white. Hair damp. Eyes big and sort of frightened. Like he’s still processing the fact that he nearly died. Of course he is. That shit takes time.

---

6 for 🔼:

---

Eddie has to work hard not to react to that. Because he gets it. He does. Especially after all the shit that happened with Buck’s sister. But the thought that Eddie doesn’t even get to be frustrated right now without being cast as some angry, scary man? It hurts.

[lamuradex]

Stitches of the Mind: Character Profile 1

For October I'm gonna do brief profiles on the main characters for my Stitches of the Mind novels. No major spoilers, most of what I'll cover is backstory.

So, to begin with:

Tammy Wordsworth

Description:

Tammy was a young woman in her late twenties, with raven-black hair down to her shoulders, softly pale skin, and a thin build. She was medium height, standing only a few inches shorter than Dennis, wearing a light-purple turtleneck with dark denim jeans. Her arms were less folded and more wrapped around herself as she stood beside the open doorway.

Tammy is an ordinary twenty-something living in the once sleepy town of Meadowhurst. Born and raised in London, she moved to Meadowhurst for work, taking a job in town planning with her having a head for precise measurements and structure. Not exactly a passion as a job, but one she is very comfortable with.

A bookish introvert when she first arrived, she was pulled from her shell somewhat by some of the locals, with her meeting them through Rhianne, one of her new neighbours who'd come in to complain about the local postman and kindly invited her out with them.

Rhianne, Jaqueline, Rebecca, Penny, and Tammy herself, soon became a fast group of friends, spending days hanging out and evenings at the bars. With her new friends, Tammy managed to forget many of her anxieties and just have fun for a change...

That was until Penny Willows disappeared. Until the Willows Murders began. Until her life fell apart.

With Penny wracking up bodies, Tammy's despair only built. She and her remaining friends soon became the focus of the police investigation, to reveal them as conspirators or in hopes the girls could shed a light on why Penny was doing this, or where she was.

Tammy struggled to even believe it was real. Her friend, Penny, a killer? It didn't make sense. That was until one murder landed too close to home.

Rebecca Tanson, victim four, her body was found in the trees on the outskirts of town. One of her best friends killed by another. Tammy could deny it no longer.

This of course only redoubled the police's belief in some conspiracy, but there was little more they could ask the girls. Rebecca's funeral was held, and promptly disturbed by two officers, but beyond that all they could do was keep going. Tammy was placed on a medical sabbatical from her job considering all she'd been through, but this was as much a blessing as a curse.

Tammy, now functionally alone, struggles against her own mind as much as her isolation. Trapped in her life and her thoughts, her weekly ritual to place flowers on Rebecca's grave is the only event to break up the monotony. Her friends have vanished, retreated into their own little worlds of safety, leaving her by herself. And every day she feels like she could be doing more... even if she isn't actually a policeman and knows it isn't her job.

But she knows Penny. Maybe she'd see something others would miss. Not that the police would listen, as many still believe she is somehow in league with Penny.

But Tammy isn't a threat to anyone. Alone, struggling to find a purpose in her despair and depression, she is honestly more likely to hurt herself before anyone else.

That is until she finds a purpose helping the new detective in town. Because maybe they'll catch Penny and her life can finally go back to normal.

It can go back to normal, can't it?

When faced with horrors, and questions of whether things they've faced are real, Tammy tries to believe in the natural and the logical... but when push comes to shove, and the idea of demons and monsters begins to creep in, she has to confront the fact she can't explain everything logically, and maybe the world is darker than she can imagine.