#EVIL NERD????????

[iceespizza]

why is the cake entertainment flyer's labels for the pahkitew contestants like this

[deecotan]

anyway here's wavewave

[the-witchhunter]

So Lucifer Morningstar, the fourth of the fallen, (retired) ruler of hell, the Devil himself, is a character in DC comics, appearing in the Sandman comics, his own solo run and various other comics

He is absurdly powerful

The thing is, Lucifer still has access to his Divine power, unlike other fallen angels, and is actually more powerful than other angels

What does this mean?

Lucifer was the guy that shaped the matter to create the stars, an ability he still has

Enter one Danny Fenton

“Omg(oh my ghost) I’m a HUGE FAN of your work”

Just Danny fangirling over the literal Devil because of stars and space

[dovewingkinnie]

couldnt decide whether i wanted him to be just some guy or a nerd freak so i decided he would be both

[imogenkol]

Ok my first reaction was I didn’t like how the dragons disobeyed their riders like that, but after thinking about it I think it’s kinda brilliant when it comes to the behaviors of dragons.

First, both Arrax and Luke were really young and had absolutely zero combat experience. As soon as they saw Vhagar, it’s very obvious they simultaneously became a lot more tense. Then after Luke had his encounter with Aemond and left you can see Arrax looking in the direction of where Vhagar was in clear distress and Luke does the same thing before mounting. Luke realized their anxiety was high and he did his best to calm Arrax down before taking flight, but that all went out the window as soon as Vhagar gave chase. Now you have a child and a very young and small dragon that are bonded together in a very scary situation: being chased down by a behemoth in the middle of a raging storm (poor Arrax was flapping his wings as hard as he could) I personally think Arrax went on the offense to try and protect both himself and Luke, if only to give them a chance to escape. Both of them did the best they could.

Then you have Vhagar, an extremely old, massive, experienced dragon that is bonded to an inexperienced rider who is feeling a lot of unhinged rage and resentment. They were flying in attack maneuvers ffs I doubt she thought it was a game. And then this little dragon has the audacity to breathe fire in her face. Of course she’s not going to deal with that shit, as utterly tragic as her response is.

At the end of the day, dragons are not mindless war machines that will obey every command. They’re very powerful animals. No matter how trained or bonded with their owners they are, very powerful animals can and will do what they want.

[aethira]

Trazyn the Infinite ✨

——————————

So, I’ve been getting into Warhammer 40K, and I listened to the audiobook of ‘The Infinite and the Divine’ recently. It was really really good tbh

[iloveacronix]

Boutta go sleep cuz my brain be lacking neurons rn but guys PLEASE hear me out

Supportive brothers for life. Also taggin the historyshipping queen @kyokittymeow

[donovaneagle2098]

A Complete Encyclopedia of the Lore of Every Witcher School

This is a project I've been working on for a long time. The Witcher Schools in general have lore spread across 3 or 4 different sources, so it's very easy to find inaccurate details about each school due to a person only going off of one source without even knowing of the others. Hell, I've been guilty of this in the past. So I've gone out of my way to find every source available for the various Witcher Schools and compile it into one master post, mostly pulling from the standalone Gwent game, and the Witcher TRPG. Without further ado, let's start out with the original school, the Order of Witchers.

Witcher schools are like the Clans of Skellige, subtly different, but largely united by their common ground, and that common ground is the Order of Witchers.

The Order of Witchers began as an experiment by the rogue mages Alzur and his mentor Cosimo Malaspina. They "recruited" tests subjects from orphanages, buying them from neglectful parents, or outright kidnapping street kids.

From Cosimo's Gwent Card:

"Children keep asking him for gifts. He doesn’t know why, but it really helps with finding subjects for his experiments."

The main goal of this project was to create an order of knights artificially mutated and imbued with extreme levels of magic to protect people from a world where, at the time, monsters were often literally around every corner.

The mutation experiments were grueling, and most early candidates died horribly, the girls especially, as the mutagenic compounds the mages were working with at the time were better suited for a boys physiology, and they quickly stopped trying to find a mixture that worked well with women, instead refining the more successful candidate pool. Even with these refinements, however, the Witchers couldn't actually generate much in the way of magical power, at least not nearly as much as those funding the project had hoped for.

These early candidates were encouraged to stick to political neutrality, were told of their duty to protect the common people, and their sword instructor tried to encourage them to take on knightly virtues to live their lives by, though only a few candidates actually bought fully into these particular knightly ideals.

The school developed a training regimen that all later Witcher schools would put their own small twists on. They perfected the whirling sword style, practiced on the Pendulum and Gauntlet training courses. They learned the Witcher Sign magic, created by Cosimo. They were taught hunting and monster lore from experts hired from across the world, and master alchemists crafted the famous Witcher potions.

Ultimately, funding from this school would be pulled due to the Witcher candidates lack of truly powerful magic ability, and the order would start to fracture. Witchers dissatisfied with their lot in life after being forcibly mutated, and railing against the Order's enforced ideals began getting combatative with other Witchers over petty contracts. At this time, contracts were so plentiful that there was no real need to fight over them, but these dissident Witchers did so anyway out of a desire for autonomy and to be free of the Order's code, which they saw as having no practical purpose to prepare new Witchers for the road ahead, and hypocritical as it was forced on them by the mages who never cared for the Witcher's lives. This culminated in one such outspoken Witcher, Arnaghad, attacking another Witcher who poached a contract from him.

After being forced into the painful life of a Witcher, Arnaghad loathed anyone who imposed their will upon him, the Order and it's codes especially. He led an attack on the Order proper, aided by fellow Witchers who respected his defiance towards authority. Once they were beaten back, these dissidents fled to the Amell mountain range to start the next Witcher school, the School of the Bear.

The School of the Bear is one of the most misunderstood schools of them all, owing to the first major lore drop about them being largely in-universe rumors and conjecture surrounding the school, and as such I may need to go more in depth. The two major misconceptions stemming from this is the rumor about their armor, which claims that they don't bother dodging like the other Witchers and instead take blows head on (generally a bad idea, according to Geralt in the books), and the rumor about them attacking most Witchers they meet.

I contacted Cody Pondsmith, who wrote a great deal of this lore, and he mentioned that Bears do often threaten or even fight other Witchers, but in a very Skellige way, only to ward off the other Witcher from contracts they want. The Bears just want to live lives where they aren't commanded by others, and were trained especially brutally, and so will fight for what contracts they want. However they will NEVER kill another Witcher, just draw first blood (outside of duels to decide who runs the school, which occasionally turn deadly. It's unknown if Arnaghad has ever lost these duels) and if that other Witcher stands up to the Bear, they'll let them have the contract and if they meet up and work together enough even maybe become a lifelong friend.

To quote Cody himself: "I like to think of the Witcher Order as a big family in which the Bear School is the blunt, no-nonsense brother. He can be prickly and a bit of a bully sometimes but he takes his job seriously and he can be a good drinking buddy if you get to know him. Not the friendliest of people but far from evil. If you stand up to him and show him you're not afraid of him, he'll respect you."

The other rumor is also an exaggeration. The Witcher TRPG mentions that the Bear armor was designed with flexibility in mind, and while they trained to take on weaker blows with their armor and "mastery of the Quen sign", they also trained how to move quickly in their armor if they needed to dodge a fatal blow. The Bears also still trained on the gauntlet and pendulum like the other schools. Cody Pondsmith also confirmed that the Bears are just as agile as the other Witchers.

The Bears' core philosophy is almost very Lambert like, viewing Witcher's work not as a duty, or knightly virtue, but as difficult, brutal work. The only reason they stick to this work is to do a job where no one else commands them and they're left in peace. They focus only on the practical aspects of their profession, and as such discourage their students from working together in training, since Witchers work alone. As Arnaghad said, "We pass through life alone, better get used to it!" As a result, Bears are very isolated, preferring their own company to that of other Witchers, and were encouraged to value their autonomy and self care above all else. The Bears' final trial involved climbing to the top of Mt. Gorgon and back, and any who died from the cold were left "as a sobering reminder of the dangers of their trade". Despite this, the TRPG has a list of random early training events Witchers from all schools can have, and Bears could sometimes make friends amongst their fellow witchers in training just like members of every other school.

Once the new Bear students left their keep of Haern Caduch, most wouldn't return to winter there, unlike the other schools. They developed a reputation as being terrible to fight, and for being firebrands, often speaking very bluntly, not matter who they spoke to, authority included. Once such Witcher, named Gerd, was asked by a Duchess to help kill her father. He insulted her so badly he got a warrant for his death placed on him, though all the peasants he met spoke rather highly of him. As a result, Bears found it easiest to make friends amongst the similarly minded Dwarves and Gnomes of the Amell mountains, and people of the Skellige Isles. According to Cody Pondsmith, this is the main reason the Bears stayed together as a group at all. They valued autonomy above all else and so long as they functioned as a Witcher school, they were left alone and no rulers would try and command them. They also take their ideals of free will and apply it to others, never seeking to rule over others. They simply wish to live their lives free.

One of the original Witchers to side with Arnaghad, Ivar Evil-Eye, had extra mutations done to him by the Order of Witchers during his trial, allowing him to see into other worlds. In these visions he saw the Wild Hunt rampaging across them, conquering them. Ivar became obsessed with stopping them, and tried to kill Arnaghad to take command and lead the Bear school against the Hunt. This failed, so he and his supporters left to form the Viper School.

The Witchers of the Viper school, based in Gorthur Gvaed, were said to be the most secretive, taking contracts as both assassins and witchers. They at first dedicated themselves finding a way to stop the Wild Hunt, amassing a massive library on the subject. Fighting with an unpredictable, ambushed based variant of the Witcher fighting style, Viper Witchers employed poisons, brewed by skilled Viper alchemists, on both their swords, and a dagger in their offhand, their biggest deviation from typical Witcher combat techniques.

Vipers, for an unknown reason, eventually forgot their purpose. In his time, Letho of Gullet could only guess at why the school had been founded. Instead, they became famous for their skill at political killings, dealing with the nobility of the southern countries before Nilfgaard had even become a large-scale power.

Viper students had a different type of trial, after more grueling than typical training. Instead of any physical task like the other schools, the Viper students were given a pet at their induction to the school. And to graduate, they simply had to hunt it down and kill it, showing their lack of mercy.

While most of those who supported Ivar followed him to the Viper school, one group broke off and west east, across the Korath desert, to Zerikania, founding the School of the Manticore.

The School of the Manticore was founded by the Witcher Iwan, from the School of the Bear, following Ivar's assassination attempt on Arnaghad. They got work in the Korath desert as caravan guards, earning the attention of the Zerrikanian Queen after a deadly battle with a manticore. The Queen sponsored the Witchers of the Manticore, making them the only school to be officially backed by any government. They were experts on potions and anti-toxins, a necessity of dealing with the poisonous creatures of the Korath desert.

A unique adaptation to the monsters of the desert also had Manticore Witchers employ shields into the whirling combat of their Witcher training. Given their extra support, the Manticores held two keeps, Behelt Nar and Bailsuf Alsarea, on opposite sides of the desert, so that they might better patrol and guard those within it.

The Manticore is the final school to come from the schism Arnaghad had led. The other voices of dissent against the ideals of the Order would soon hear of these new schools and decide to break off as well to form the School of the Cat.

The School of the Cat was founded out of a response to the hatred and distrust Witchers received. They desired to be seen in a better, more respectful light. Ironically, they would end up doing the opposite. The Cat School stole away with several of the mutagens needed to make more Witchers and headed to Ebbing, and Stygga Citadel, where they would begin to experiment on human-elf children in an attempt to perfect the mutations. Its possible that the mages at this time furthered experiments on making women Witchers, but this is not confirmed yet.

Attempting to make a name for themselves, the Cats hired themselves out as spies, assassins, and mercenaries, genuinely earning them some respect from common folk for killing bandits.

In their attempts to perfect the mutations and further dull the emotions of their Witchers, the Cat school experimented harshly on a group of children that resulted in the opposite, giving these Witchers hightened emotional responses instead. These students, cast aside and left for dead, fled into the arms of a group of elves, who agreed to support them if this branch of the Cat School supported the elves' fight for freedom.

This branch, led by Gezras of Leyda, attached itself to the Dyn Marv caravan and traveled the continent, lending their services mostly to those nonhumans who could pay, while the main Cats at Stygga ended up getting assaulted by angry royals incited by their political maneuvering. This left the Dyn Marv branch as the only functional element of the School of the Cat. These Cats would train students' agility in a light, fast Elven take on Witcher fighting style, and would train their balance by making students walk a tightrope, starting low to the ground at first, but getting higher and higher each attempt.

The Cat school's breaking of Witcher neutrality and reputation for bloodlust earned Witchers such a bad name that those in the Order who most cherished their old swordmaster's knightly virtues would leave to form the School of the Griffin.

The School of the Griffin, led by Erland of Larvik, wished to truly achieve the dream of the original Order, and Gryphon, the Order's sword instructor. They traveled north to Kaer y Saren, an old fortress the Order once used, and cleansed it of the spirits of those who died in the first Witcher mutations. From there, they began a Witcher school focused on respectability and honor, believing in their knightly duties. And it worked, somewhat. The Griffins were sometimes advisors to nobility, and seen as honorable, but the prejudice against Witchers would never leave, and most would never see a Griffin Witcher as anything more than a monster playing at being a knight.

These Witchers tried their best to cushion their students against the pain of their lives on the Witcher's path, and were more brotherly than the other schools, though their knightly virtues and brotherhood were oftentimes cold comfort to Griffin students.

From the Witcher TRPG Sourcebook:

"Witcher I knew couldn’t really remember much ‘bout his past. Heh, too young to really form a lotta memories when they took him to Kaer Y Seren. Told me that the memory he did have made the mutations easier. Poor bastard clung to a memory of his pa takin’ him on a horse for a ride in the fields. Don’t know why he chose that one. Probably the only normal memory he had."

The Griffins amassed a huge library of magical knowledge, though they could only push sign magic so far, and the books were likely wasted being in a Witcher library. The library held several incredibly famous tomes on magic within, and was the envy of full mages across the Northern Realms. Despite all their efforts, they never could achieve their goal of bringing about the Order of Witcher's vision. The Griffins even had their own breaches of Witcher tradition in pursuit of their knightly heroics. An often said mantra of the Griffin school in Gwent is "To slay dragons! Tis our knightly duty!" despite dragons being largely innocent, intelligent beings who mostly wish to be left in peace.

Code Pondsmith had this to say about the Griffins:

"The Griffins stuck to the knightly traditions that the original witcher order tried to uphold. As a result it's safe to say that the Griffin school taught that monsters were the enemy of mankind and must be defeated. I don't think they would all be blindly overzealous but they wouldn't have any qualms about slaying sapient monsters if they believed it was for the good of mankind. Similarly, it's likely that they would side with humans in any conflict between monsters and humans. In a way, the Griffins' knightly virtues made them easier to manipulate than the other witcher schools. They were bound to protect humanity and thus were more likely to be convinced to hunt a monster if a local noble or alderman claimed it would be for the good of the people. This is the case with the dragons. The kingdoms and jewelers guilds of the North convinced the Griffin School that dragons were a blight upon humanity and the Griffins started slaying dragons regardless of whether all of the dragons they slew deserved it. Additionally, the knightly values might make Griffin school witchers more likely to take pity on desperate humans and work for free."

Those few Witchers remaining in the Order by now traveled to northern Kaedwyn, and started a school based on their tempered, traditionalist, and realistic view on the Order's goals. They based themselves in Kaer Morhen and dubbed themselves the School of the Wolf.

The School of the Wolf is the most famous Witcher school, known for their professionalism and efficiency. They don't kill humans like the Viper or Cat. Aren't bold or brash like the Bear, or put Knightly virtues above Witcher ideals like the Griffin. I mean, anyone reading far this knows who the Wolf Witchers are, so I'm not going to get into to much detail. They're Geralt's school. Ciri's school.

They took a balanced approached to Witcher life and as such trained Witchers who were the best adjusted out of the schools, with neither the Bear's harshness nor the Griffin's egocentrism. For this, Wolf Witchers were lauded all across the Continent.

With all Schools formed, the Golden Age of Witchers began, at first with the Bears and Griffins making peace. From Erland of Larvik's Journal (The TRPG's monster manual):

"Surprisingly enough the fracturing of the witcher order had lead to a more effective organization for us witchers. Spread across the Continent and each making more witchers independently, it was no longer the task of 60 or 70 witchers to patrol the entire Continent from Nilfgaard to Kovir. Each school patrolled their own path and when a Gryphon met with a Bear each knew they had their territory and any infighting wouldn’t be worth the bloodshed. We managed to broker peace and live as somewhat estranged brothers rather than bitter enemies"

Witchers at this time were seen largely as heroes, with their detractors' voices largely simmering underneath. With Witchers around to kill monsters, people felt safe and so ignored any misgivings they might have.

Witchers, no matter the school, aren't too dissimilar from each other, and so the Cintinent at large formed an overall opinion of the Witchers based on the traits they all shared. From the TRPG:

"In the heyday of witchers there were many many seperate schools, which all mutated new witchers and taught them the neccesary skills to hunt monsters and lift curses. While it’s generally agreed that there is a core set of skills required to a be a witcher,

each school taught its students differently and focused on different aspects of witcher training. Thus, witchers from different schools often act differently and go about their jobs in similar but varied ways."

During this time, the Schools all produced hundreds of Witchers, and each was their own person, With their own preferences and personality, despite the schools themselves having reputations for Witchers with only a few certain traits. For instance, the Bear Witcher Ivo of Belhaven fought like a Viper or Cat Witcher, but in personality was a perfect fit for the Bear School with how standoffish he could be. The schools kept to their own territory at first, but as time went on and contracts got ever more rare, these already thin lines fell apart and the schools stopped caring much about territories.

They also all customized their gear in different ways, usually keeping their gear in similar fashion to their school's, as its what they trained in an were used to. For example, Bear Witcher Junod of Belhaven wore what appears to be a set of Wolf School armor he had modified to fit Bear Witcher style.

Witchers also at this time experimented with signs. The Griffins obviously focused on making them more powerful, and the Bears pushed Quen to a level beyond any other school. But the most interesting case is that of Warrit, a blind Viper Witcher who used the lesser known Suppire sign as a form of echolocation.

The Golden age lasted for around 150-200 years or so, ending around 1160 when the monster populations had been hunted down enough that people's main concern stopped being the monsters, and became the Witchers themselves.

The Griffin School, refusing to share the knowledge of its library, was destroyed by jealous mages. A group of peasants and mages attacked the Wolves' keep out of nowhere. The Bears failed to destroy a powerful cabal of vampires and, when peasants rioted and came for their keep, chose to disband rather than engage in needless slaughter. The Cat's keep of Stygga is destroyed, but the Dyn Marv chapter may still be alive and well. The Manticore School failed to protect an important prince from a fire elemental, and so lost their funding and closed. The Viper refused to support the Nilfgaardian usurper and were destroyed.

If you've made it this far, holy shit, thank you! I hope you have a great day!

[lightprkdraws]

*near tears* they're just two old men you know?

[universesrising]

storybook au where lloyd is the underpaid and extremely tired librarian who has to deal with 5 random villains coming to life from their books every full moon

he’s not too worried about it cause all they do is argue at each other about who gets to take over the world the whole time until the sun comes up and they disappear

zane is the only competent villain being the ice emperor and all but since all he does is sleep the entire night there’s about 0 worry that he’ll wake up and actually destroy the world

cole isn’t even a true villain he’s just the ghost in a spooky mystery book where random people go into a haunted house and are surprised it’s haunted

one of the books gets checked out and lloyd has an aneurism trying to find who did it before the full moon because the only time anyone is competent is when there’s no one else to argue with

[randompumpkinkiddo]

it's so windy holy shit

[thesecretingredientislove]

Huggy and Wordgirl having an epic fight against all the villains...

Except for Tobey, she's just effortlessly keeping him away from his remote .

[lamponellatempesta]

A thought that I shared in the discord server a few nights ago but that I will also put here, just because if I have to suffer thinking about it, we will do it together.

Let’s imagine Darius, at a time during the trip where they are in trouble or the adrenaline is coming down after escaping from any dinosaur or danger, and the absence of Brooklynn hits him in full.

The guilt that drowns him, that unbearable weight on the stomach that he carries with him since the day of the tragedy and as if it were not enough even his mind plays a bad joke, a memory that for the time was sweet but now is bittersweet: the words that Brooklynn told him in the tunnels in season 5 "Your light shines bright Darius Bowman, and I will follow you anywhere." He hears the words with her voice. As if that moment in the past were now, as if her was really telling him at that moment, to fill him with courage again. Only this time, she’s not there, he couldn’t save her. So they give him the strength to go on but at the same time they make him feel even more guilty than he already feels.

Probably next to him is Ben who sees him totally detached from reality, elsewhere and not knowing well what to do, but knowing well the reason embraces him to give him comfort.

Darius returns to reality when he feels the tears that flow copious along the cheeks and arms of Ben that surround him and that point would begin to try to explain to Ben why he is crying and was detached without succeeding and Ben would just hug him stronger and would tell him "I know what are you feeling, it’s hard for me too, I miss her too, it’s not the same without her."

And they’d be hugging for a while, looking for some comfort in each other, or at least until Darius calmed down.

(@mangosaurus @withdenim , I know you want to gently hit me for this, ops)

[snowyfrostshadows]

I think the biggest surprise reading Dracula is that Bram Stoker really said 'Actually, wolves are good. Not as good as dogs, but they got the spirit. If not for This Jerk running around, they wouldn't bother anyone'

[wheels-of-despair]

The First Countdown Pairing: Eddie Munson x You Summary: Eddie and Evil Woman go to Reefer Rick's on New Year's Eve to say goodbye to 1985... and hello to a new favorite tradition. Contains: Reefer Rick, Drunk Eddie, a helping hand, a midnight kiss. (Don't worry, kids; Evil Woman's driving home.) Words: 1k

"You ready for this?"

You and Eddie have been invited to a New Year's Eve party at the one and only Reefer Rick's. You've dressed up, you've brought your own beer (and some leftover Christmas candy you and your mom made, because Rick is a sucker for home-made treats), and you're ready to say goodbye to 1985.

"Yup," you grin, sliding out of the van and gathering the goods. Eddie comes to your side to help you carry stuff. He takes the beer and slams the door, and you head toward the sound of Rick's party.

Every light in the house is on. Foghat blares through unseen speakers, and people are sitting on every available surface; crates, the porch railing, car hoods. You're not typically a fan of crowds, but with Eddie by your side, you can face anything.

You follow him through the front door and into the smoky domain.

"Eddie!" Rick spots him immediately and comes over with a huge grin on his face. "And Mrs. Eddie!"

You love when he calls you that, but Eddie rolls his eyes.

"Rick, are you ever gonna learn her name?"

Rick looks taken aback. "I know her name, man." He turns to you, greets you by name, and leans down to kiss the back of your hand like a gentleman. He stands with a grin. "I just like the way her face lights up when I call her Mrs. Eddie."

Your blush is so intense, you can feel it heat your whole body rather than just your face. Subject change! Stat!

"Uh, Merry Late Christmas, I brought you some candy that Mom and I made." You hand him the box, and he takes it like it's a treasure.

"I'm gonna go hide this with my private stash, I'm not sharing the good stuff. Thank you, darlin'. And tell your mama I said thanks, too."

"Will do, Rick."

He takes his candy and disappears into the crowd.

You spent most of the night sipping a drink and watching Eddie. He had a new audience to entertain, and he did not disappoint. He told stories, dramatically acting out the important bits, and had a whole herd of drunks rolling with laughter. You laughed with them and watched him perform with pride as the time flew by.

"Oh shit, it's 11:54!" somebody yells.

Eddie looks at his watch to confirm, chugs the last of his beer, and reaches for your hand. You take it and follow along without protest; this is his element. You're just along for the ride.

He leads you to the back yard, where half the guests are already gathered. He keeps walking until you're nearly down at the water, in a quiet spot by the woods, then turns to you with a goofy grin.

He tries to blow a strand of hair away from his face, but it just falls back into place when his lips stop blowing. You laugh and reach up to brush it away for him. He gets so goofy and adorable when he drinks. You hadn't realized he was this far gone while he was in the middle of his story-telling, but now that he's trying to stand still, you see it.

He pulls you close and points into the distance. "That's where they'll do the fireworks." He wobbles a little, and you slip your arms around his middle and hold him still. You let him lean on you and stare into the cold night and listen to the water of Lover's Lake lap against the shores of Reefer Rick's yard while you wait for the countdown to begin. It's a better night than you could've ever imagined.

"I gotta pee."

You start laughing. He laughs too, but you doubt it's for the same reason. You put your hands on his hips and gently turn him around to face the woods.

"Knock yourself out, babe."

He curses as he fumbles with his zipper, but he gets it open. You keep your hands on his sides to help brace him while his stream hits the dirt, glancing around with amusement to see if anyone's watching. They're not.

Eddie zips himself back up and turns around with a big dumb grin on his face.

"What would I do without you?"

"Fall in the lake while you're trying to pee in it."

"Probably," he grins.

"One minute!" somebody yells from the house, where a small crowd is gathered around the TV to watch the ball drop.

"We're gonna be together forever, right?" he asks.

"That's the plan, Munson," you smile, brushing his unruly hair out of his face again.

"Promise?" He sticks out his bottom lip and pouts. You reach up and push it back in. He licks your finger, and you pull it away with a laugh.

"You promise?" he asks again, with urgency this time.

"Yeah, baby, I promise."

"Ten!"

You glance toward the house.

"Nine!"

You step closer to the big dumb love of your life.

"Eight!"

"Ready?" you ask.

"Seven!"

Eddie nods.

"Six!"

He keeps nodding.

"Five!"

Still nodding.

"Four!"

You reach up and cup his face to hold his head still.

"THREE!"

He grins.

"TWO!"

You make your move at the same time, crashing into each other.

"ONE!!!"

The screams of "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" erupt around you, but your tongue is far too busy to join them. Eddie's a sloppy kisser when he's drunk, but right now, you don't even fucking care. You pull at each other, trying to get closer, even when it's physically impossible.

When you break for air, you rest your forehead against his for a second. The wolf whistles and cheap party blowers are dying out, and the booms and shrieks of fireworks fill the air. You look toward the water and see the colorful explosives streaking into the sky and reflecting in the dark pool below.

You and Eddie turn to watch the show. You slide your arms around his waist and lean your head against his shoulder as you watch the fireworks illuminating the sky.

They're nothing compared to what you feel for him.

"I've never kissed anybody at midnight before," Eddie confesses. You look up to find him watching you instead of the explosive spectacle.

"Well, I hope you liked it," you grin. "'Cause I'm the only person you're ever allowed to kiss again."

"Good," he says, coming in for another.