#I also had a rough day at work so whooo

[dailyashleighraichu]

Merry Munday!

What are your top five songs for this arc? This arc got me into Set It Off! :]

BRO I AM SO GLAD IT GOT YOU INTO SET IT OFF, THEY'RE SUCH A GOOD BAND AND ARE ALL REALLY COOL!!! I remember getting to meet them last April! A fan got them to sign and pose with a Trans flag!

Anyways, to answer the question:

The Darkest Star by ElysianSoul (CONTENT WARNING!: This song is about anorexia)

I Think I Hate Myself by Hot Milk

Teardrops by Bring Me The Horizon

Appetite of a People-Pleaser by Ghost and Pals (This song is also about eating disorders)

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy by Maria Mena (This song is also about eating disorders)

Honestly, a lot of songs that I have on Joule's playlist on Spotify are related to the arc, other songs are just vibes lol

[adriellej]

Rough Days

Warnings: Explicit contents. Unprotected sex. Oral giving and receiving. Vaginal sex. 

Pairings: Harry Wells x Reader.

Word count:

Beginning 1: 2.1K+

Beginning 2: 3.8K+

In total: 4.7K+

Part 2

A/N: Smutty smut smut. It’s only my second time doing this, so hope it’s okay. Just had a good idea, and there’s probably going to be a part two, where they have to deal with it if you want it? Also, there are two types of beginnings to it. One where Reader is already drunk and Harry finds her, and one where they get drunk together! Have fun! 

Also, unprotected sex is a no-no, bad idea, don’t condone it!

Also GIF's aren't mine!

Reader already drunk beginning:

The past few days had been tough for you. The metas Alchemy was creating kept showing up everywhere, the metas already created by the particle accelerator explosion seemed to try to keep up with Alchemy's. 

Captain Singh wasn’t making it easy at the precinct. He had benched you because of the lack of sleep and focus you were having, you were acting out over the smallest things. So naturally you had needed some time away from everything. Away from home, away from work, and away from people. 

The team had gone home for the day a few hours ago, and you had made your way to the lounge area of S.T.A.R. labs and the fridge you knew had beers in it. You didn’t quite keep to the beers, you had also managed to find a flask of whiskey and tequila. 

By now you had gotten quite the buzz going, the music was playing from the speakers as you downed yet another shot of tequila. The liquor burned its way down your throat and you scrunched up your nose before biting into a piece of lime and shaking your head at it. 

“Whooo, I should do this more often,” You laughed to yourself. You had always been the type of drunk person who would end up being a happy-go-lucky kind of person. 

“Y/N, what are you doing?” A rasped voice pulled you away from your endeavor. You couldn’t help but smile at the sight in front of you. Harrison Wells with his black jumper and slick black jeans. His dark hair was slightly ruffled with a few strands sticking out to the sides. His expression was stern yet with a glimpse of amusement. 

“Harryyyyyy, hiii!” You slightly yelled out over the music. “What does it look like I’m doing though?” You questioned him back with a grin on your face as you took a swig of your whiskey. You didn’t wait for his answer as you continued. “I’m having my own little party, and quite honestly I’m having the absolute best time!” You lifted your glass in your hand and made your way over to Harry swaying ever so lightly on your way. 

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” He looked at you with a little bit of concern in his eyes as he gripped onto your arms to keep you standing upright and not tumbling over. Your hands wound up on his as you realized which kind of muscles he was hiding under that jumper. You squinted your eyes at him and began to make a pout with your lips. It didn’t last long before your lips turned upwards and your eyes were filled with enjoyment and carefreeness. 

“Actually I don’t think so, and you mister,” You said as you poked Harry in the chest hard enough for him to be swayed a bit backward. “Won’t take my fun away,” You finished before breaking out into a full laugh. Harry chuckled at you and your behavior. 

“Actually come to think of it, you should join my fun!” Your lips turned into a smirk as you went to get a glass of whiskey for Harry. “We deserve a bit of fun and downtime,” You said momentarily your voice was laced with seriousness. 

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” He chuckled with his beautiful smile ever so lightly creating his dimples. “Somebody has to make sure you’re okay,” He continued as he gestured with his hand to you. 

“You don’t have to worry about me, I’m fantastic,” You answered as you went over to him with the glass of whiskey in your hand. “Here, drink up my friend!” You spoke attempting to sound serious, just to have your smile betray you. Harry took the glass from you and took a swig of it causing you to smile even wider. 

“So you’re in?” You questioned with a small expectant giggle at the end of it. 

“I’m in,” He says with a wink and a smirk at you, rendering your knees to go soft on you. He takes another swig of the whiskey emptying the glass. He handed it over to you and you gladly took it to get him a refill. 

“We need to get you up to speed with me,” You smiled mischievously at him. You sat down a shot glass in front of him and poured some tequila into it. “Let me borrow your hand,” You said as you held out your own. He does as you tell him and you lick at the back of his hand before pouring some salt on it. “Salt, shot, and lime,” You tell him. He looked at you, his mouth slightly agape. His eyes had darkened at the action you had made.

“Earth to Harry?” You asked as you waved your hand in front of his face, your own face confused with a cocked eyebrow. “Yes?” He cleared his throat before speaking, followed by a big swallow causing his adams apple to bob. 

“Did you hear anything of what I said?” You let out a laugh that came from the bottom of your stomach. 

“Right, yes I did,” He licked the salt from his hand, took the shot, and bit into the lime. His face scrunched up by the taste of the liquor hitting the back of his throat. You made him take quite a lot more, you took some with him to keep your own high buzz going. 

Reader and Harry getting drunk together:

You were walking into S.T.A.R. labs with the rest of the team. It had been a tough fight with the current metas roaming the streets of Central City. Alchemy was creating quite a lot on the way, and every damn meta in this town seemed to be out for blood. 

You threw your backpack on the floor beside the central console of the cortex. You flopped down on a chair in front of the computer, taking your guns out of your holsters and putting them down on the table. 

“I swear Y/N, if one of those goes off on my computer, you’d wish hell was freezing over,” Cisco pointed at you. 

“Oh relax Cisco, the safety is on,” You say as you look at them, realizing that you might have forgotten that in the heat of the moment, or maybe more in the tiredness of the moment. “Or now it is at least,” You mumbled to yourself. 

“What was that?” Cisco asked his eyes squinting at you. “Nothing!” You laughed it off, knowing he would in fact kill you if you ruined his computers. 

“That’s what I thought,” He laughed back at you. 

“You do know he means it right?” Harry spoke with a serious face as he sat down beside you. You looked over at him with amusement in your eyes. 

“Is Harrison Wells afraid of what Cisco might do?” You joked. You thought you were funny, but looking at Harry’s face you thought differently. His eyes were hard as he looked at you. It felt like he was looking right through you. You swallowed thickly at the hard glare he was giving you.

“I’m not afraid of Ramon,” His voice was hoarse and low but laced with a hint of worry. Cisco’s computers and satellites were his everything, and having seen it be blown up a few times, both you and Harry knew he would hurt whoever hurt his tech. 

“Well, we’re going home for the day,” Barry and Iris smiled as she spoke. “I’m more than ready to go home and get some sleep. We’ll see you all tomorrow,” She continued and waved at everyone. So did Barry as they left the building. 

“I’m going to follow them. Cisco can you drive me home?” Caitlin asked her friend. Caitlin had had a rough time lately, she didn’t talk much about it, but you knew she would when she was ready for it. 

“Are you coming along too, Y/N?” Cisco asked grabbing his jacket from the console in front of you. 

“Nah, I’ll stay here for a while. I’m gonna see what it is we’re missing with Alchemy and all these new metas that are popping up. Thanks for asking though!” You smiled and gave a thumbs up to let him know you meant it. 

“Don’t you think it would be a good idea to go home and rest?” Harry asked beside you with a soft smile. You loved to see him smile, even more because it wasn’t so often he did. 

“No, really it’s all good. I want to be here, no need to go home to an empty apartment anyway,” You spoke as you looked away from him and back to the computers in front of you. 

Harry nodded at you and walked away, probably to go work on his own Alchemy project. You started to type away, going through every piece of evidence you had on Alchemy. 

You rubbed your eyes and looked at the clock. It felt like you had been sitting with it for hours, but there had only been 40 minutes. Realizing that you weren’t going to get much done you walked to the lounge, grabbing two glasses and pouring some whiskey into them.

Turning the corner into Harry’s lab you saw him looking at the clear board with equations on it, his white marker in his hand. You had been right when you thought he would be working.  You knocked at the entrance causing him to turn around and look at you. 

“What?” He asks gruffly and you raise the two glasses of whiskey in your hands. 

“Wanna have a drink with me?” You asked politely entering his workshop. 

“Uh, sure,” His answer was short but held a lot of meaning. He never stopped working, so his saying yes was a win for you. “Any particular reason?” He questioned as you handed him one of the glasses. 

“Can’t we just enjoy a drink without there has to be a reason for it?” You asked cockily with raised eyebrows. It earned you a small laugh from the Earth-Two scientist. You looked at him surprised at his response to it. “Maybe we should do it more often if it earns laughs from you,” You jokingly continued. 

“Don’t count on it,” He replied deeply, though there was still a small smile hiding behind the glass. You raised your glass to him and took a sip of the liquor. The burning sensation was welcoming in your throat. The small interaction you and Harry had was nice. Your life had been a mess lately so when you had emptied your glasses, you had stayed with Harry while he went back to work.  

“Are you just going to sit there for the rest of the night?” He asked looking over his shoulder and back at you. 

“Well actually I’d say yes, but then I thought we could also decide to have our way of resting,” You smiled at him as you took your feet down from his desk and turned all the way towards him. His features looked questioningly at the statement you had made. “We could go drink some more whiskey. Pretty sure we both could need some time away from Alchemy?” The last part you said as a question as you waited for his response. 

“And why would you think that?” Harry’s usual hard look and closed-offness showed. 

“Because Harry, you have been staring at the same equation for the past hour and gotten nowhere,” You told him gesturing to the board in front of him. His stare felt like it could shoot daggers at you for having said that, but you knew he was agreeing with you when a small nod came in your direction.  “Cool, let’s go then,” You said snapping your fingers in the direction of the lounge you had picked up the whiskey in before. 

A few whiskeys in you were both talking a lot more loosly about what was troubling you. As Harry, you weren’t one who cared much for sharing too many feelings or problems. They were your own, and yours to deal with. 

“I could have sworn you had just decided to spend most of your time here, just like Barry usually does now,” Harry stated as he looked slightly surprised at you for your confession. 

“Nope, Captain Singh asked me, or more made me, stay home and take care of myself. He sent my ass home, and I can’t just sit at home doing nothing, so here I am,” You threw your arms out to the side as you took a small bow in the chair. 

It earned you one of the rare laughs from Harry. Either it was the alcohol talking or maybe Harry was actually enjoying himself a little. You decided to go with the latter, making it so much easier to just smile and forget things for a while. 

You stood up to grab the flask of whiskey, only to realize it was empty. You looked through the cupboards to see if you could find something else. A devilish smile crept on your lips as you grabbed the flask and stood up. “Harry!” You yelled out. His body shot towards you at your sudden outburst. “I have found something better than whiskey,” You smiled from ear to ear shaking the tequila bottle in your hand. “We are so going to take some tequila shots!” You laughed out loud at the expression on Harry’s face. 

“No, we are most certainly not,” He replied coldly as he stood up and started to leave, and you knew how you could make him stay. 

“Harry, it’s a task, and you solve tasks right?” He stopped dead in his tracks and you could almost imagine the expression on his face and that joyed you even more. You knew you had won. 

“Fine!” He exclaimed and turned back to you, a few large strides and he was on the other side of the island. 

“Do you know how to?” You asked hesitantly not knowing how much drinking he had done on Earth-Two and in his younger days. “Did you just ask me if I know how to do tequila shots? How old do you think I am?” He said slightly annoyed before he broke out a dimple-filled smile. You broke out into a real fit of laughter before answering him. 

“I’m so sorry Harry, that sounded terrible,” Leaning forwards on the table in front of you, you half smacked yourself in the head when you put it into your hand. 

“C’mon, pour it Y/L/N!” He chuckled as he pushed the shot glass over in your direction. You found the salt and cut out the limes you had found in the fridge. You weren’t quite sure why the team even had this here, but you weren’t about to be mad at it. 

You clinked your glasses together before shooting it down. You both shook your heads and looked at each other, smiles spreading as you continued to pour tequila into your glasses.

“Right, let’s see,” You say with an idea in your head. You licked your own hand as you put it to your neck, you leaned your neck to the side as you drizzled salt on it and the lime in your hand. “Let’s go, Harrison,” You smiled playfully at him, his eyes glistening with just as much playfulness. 

He stepped close to you, your chests touching each other, his hands on your hips. You leaned your head to the side giving him access to lick the salt off of you. His tongue was warm to your skin sending shivers down your spine. You had to bite your lip to stifle a moan from escaping your lips. He stayed at your neck a little longer than he needed to and kissed you on the neck as his face left your neck. Downing the shot you had poured him, he looked for the lime and you smiled brightly with it between your teeth. 

It didn’t take long for Harry to catch on to what you wanted. A smirk danced across his lips before crashing them to yours to bite the lime. His lips were soft on yours. He tasted of a mix of tequila, lime, and whiskey. You spat out the lime before going back to kissing him. Your arms snaked around his neck drawing him closer to you. He gladly accepted and deepened the kiss. His tongue slid across your lower lip and you quickly granted him access. 

Your tongue felt like it fit perfectly with his as they danced and explored together. The kiss was filled with need, a hunger, for each other. Damn his an amazing kisser, you thought to yourself as you got completely lost in his intoxicating kiss. You broke apart after a few minutes needing to catch your breaths. 

His crystal blue eyes looked into yours, they were darker than usual, filled with arousal. Your chest was heaving for breaths and Harry pulled away from you. You whined as you lost the heat from his warm body. 

“I’m sorry,” He spoke lowly as he started to pull completely away from you. You grabbed the jumper in your hands and pulled him towards you. “Harry shut up and kiss me again,” You ordered your own eyes filled with lust. It didn’t take long for him to oblige to your command, his hands roaming your entire body. 

He pushed you backward till you reached the countertop and boxed you in between his body and the table. Your fingers tangled themselves in his dark locks as you pulled lightly at them. A hum escaped his throat as he kissed his way down from your jaw to your ear nibbling lightly at your earlobe before moving down to your neck. 

His kisses left your skin on fire. A burning sensation was starting to grow in your stomach and between your legs. You wanted him. You needed him. 

“Harry,” You whimpered in response to his kisses, licks and sucks. He was sure to leave marks on you. His hand moved in between your legs cubbing the outsides of your cunt, grinding at it with his hand. 

Several moans left your throat involuntarily. You couldn’t help it, this man was doing so much to you. He was humming in response to your moans. His lips went back to yours. You could feel the grin on his lips as he kissed you. 

His hands grabbed around your thighs hoisting you to sit on the countertop, keeping your legs spread to make space for him in between. You locked your legs around his waist pulling him as close to you as you could.

He grinded against you and you met his grinds with your own. You could feel his arousal, rock hard and ready for you. A groan left Harry’s lips at your movements and a smirk appeared on your lips. This time it was you breaking the kiss to make it to his neck leaving open-mouthed kisses. As you bit slightly into his skin, an animalistic groan left his throat, as you left a mark on him. 

“Either you stop and we go to my room, or continue and I’ll take you right here,” His voice was low and lust-filled as he spoke. The words hit you as you leaned in to whisper in his ear. 

“Oh I’m not nearly done, Harrison Wells,” you mused his name and it seemed to have the effect you wanted it to. Harry gripped your hips tightly and pulled you closer to him as his lips crashed with yours. The kiss was filled with need as you were both losing control of yourselves. 

One of his hands traced under your shirt and up to your breast and grabbed it. Your body ached for him as your chest shot forward at the feeling of his fingers pinching your nipple. His hand let go of your breast only to discard the clothing in front of it. He kissed down your neck and down to your chest and sucked lightly at your nipple as his other hand traced up your thigh toward your wet spot. 

“Oh god, Harry,” You moaned out at the heat pooling inside of you. 

“Mmh, what?” He looked down at you with a big smirk on his lips, his normally blue eyes almost completely dark from lust. “I didn’t tell you to stop,” You looked up at him whining. “But now we’re at it, you have too many clothes on,” You smiled innocently up at him as your hands glided toward the hem of his jumper. He chuckled deeply before lifting his arms up to discard his jumper. 

Your mouth fell open as your eyes roamed his torso. His chiseled muscles showed as he flexed a little under your stare. Clothes did him dirty. 

“My eyes are up here Y/N,” He pulled you from your trance. Your cheeks flushed as you looked down shyly. His fingers went under your chin to make you look up at him. “Like what you see?” He muses with amusement.

“I mean, have you looked yourself in the mirror?” You spoke as your eyes darted down to his chest again. Your tongue darted over your lips as you took all of him in again. “How can I not like what I see?” You continued your own eyes darkening more. 

Your legs tugged him into you again as your lips met his again. You were fighting for dominance, pouring every feeling of lust and need into the kiss. Your fingers were digging into his skin at his shoulders. 

Harry pulled you down from the countertop, unbuttoning your jeans, not once breaking the kiss. You shimmied out of your jeans and panties and stood completely nude in front of him. This time it was Harry’s turn to get tranced, licking his lips. 

“My eyes are up here, Harrison,” You mused the same response he had had to your staring. His laugh filled the lounge as his hands found your hips again. “What? No smart comment?” You chuckled. “Nope, not this time. You look beautiful,” His smile was genuine, his eyes had gone soft again, and you felt your cheeks burning from his admiration. He leaned down to kiss you. The kiss was different from the others, this was more caring and more emotional. 

Your hands went to his shoulders moving down his chest. He flexed under your touch and deepened the kiss again as your hands found the button on his jeans. It didn’t take long for him to discard them. 

Your eyes couldn’t help but dart down to his erection. He sure did hide a lot under those clothes; because holy hell he was well-equipped. The burning desire inside of you took over as you went down to your knees and looked up at him through your lashes. 

A smirk playing at your lips as you licked from the base of his cock and up to the tip. A deep rumble came from Harry’s chest as his eyes closed shut and his head leaned back. Your tongue swirled around the tip, licking off the precum before taking his cock into your mouth. You bobbed your head in rhythm with your hand at the base. Your tongue swirled around the tip every time you came back up, before taking as much as you could of him in again. 

“Y/N,” Harry moaned out. “Fuck, it feels so good,” his breathing became more panting as he took every bit of pleasure you were giving him. You could feel him tense under your touch and you bobbed your head a little faster, drawing him closer to his release. 

He took in a sharp breath as he pulled away from you. 

“Harry, why did you do that? I almost had you,” You looked up at him while pouting. 

“Because when I cum I want to be in you,” He took hold of your hand helping you up and he instantly pushed you back to the countertop. His lips find yours again, his hands on your hips, lifting you back up to sit. His head moved down your chest, down to your stomach, leaving open-mouthed kisses on his way. 

Your own breathing became quicker at the thought of what he was about to do. Your hand tangled itself in his hair as he kissed the inner side of your thigh. The feeling of his mouth leaving shivers going up and down your body. Moans escaped your lips as he moved closer to your cunt. 

“Mmh, you’re so wet for me,” He breathed as his tongue licked through your folds, leaving a fire burning inside of you. His tongue flicked over your bundle of nerves. The pleasure coursing through your veins, the feeling of heat pooling in your stomach, alarming you that you were close. 

“Harry, I’m-,” You choked out, one hand gripping the countertop so tightly your knuckles were going white. 

“Cum for me, princess,” Harry focused more on your clit and it didn’t take long before you were coming undone for him. He lapped all of your orgasm before coming back up to your head and giving you a chaste kiss. 

“Well you certainly know what you’re doing,” You breathed heavily coming down from your high, a proud smirk played on Harry’s lips. Your hands reached around his neck and you pulled him close to you. Your kiss wasn’t chaste in any way, it was lust-filled and hard. You could taste your own orgasm on his wet lips. One of your legs wrapped around his body, pulling him even closer to you. “I need you Harry,” You begged him. You needed him inside of you. You were hungry for him. All of him. 

Harry aligned himself at your entrance and slowly pushed inside of you. Moans escaped both of your lips as he let you adjust to him. He slowly started thrusting into you. Controlled, slow moves were dragging out the pleasure already building in you. 

“Fuck, you feel so good around me. So perfect,” He breathes into the base of your neck. One of your hands was holding onto his shoulder and the other clawing at his back. 

“Harry, I- I won’t last long,” You were moaning and panting under him. 

“Neither will I,” He groans out, his thrusts becoming quicker and sloppier. Your orgasm builds up quickly in you. Leaving you screaming out his name as you draw closer and closer. A few more quick and hard thrusts leave you both coming down and hard. 

He stayed with his head dipped into the crook of your neck, your hand started drawing circles at his back. He draws back from you and pulls out of you. His dark hair was messy from sweat and your hands, and you only saw the most handsome man you had ever seen. 

A big goofy smile played on your lips and you couldn’t tear your eyes away from him, as your breathing was slowing down again. 

“What?” He smiled and shifted a little on his feet as his cheeks turned a shade of pink. 

“Oh, nothing, you’re just very handsome,” You spoke looking him deeply in his eyes. He leaned in to give you another kiss. He broke apart from you, but you continued to peck his lips in between words. “Also. You. Just. Rocked. My. World,” Your hands were cupping his face as you held onto him. 

“Well, why don’t we go rock it some more,” He returned your goofy smile with a wink as he dragged you with him to his room. 

Your eyes slowly started to flutter open and you groaned out at the bright light hitting your face. You rubbed your eyes with one hand as you felt the hangover headache hitting you. It wasn’t until you tried to move that you realized that there was someone beside you. 

You turned your head slowly as to not disturb whoever it was holding onto your side. 

You didn’t exactly expect to see a certain dark-haired grumpy scientist beside you. 

“Oh god, what have I done?” You said to yourself, panic coursing through your veins, causing a pair of blue eyes to open and look at you.

Tag list:

@hiddenwritingsintheworld, @brianllamawrites, @sarawritestories

[thuviel]

I'm 1 month post op!

A whole month of recovery whooo! Gonna share a bit of how it went down below:

Week 2

I stopped all meds at this point, even painkillers were unnecessary

I started sleeping flat on my back now, no longer elevated

Felt muuuch better after stopping the antibiotics I was allergic to, could actually sleep now

Day 14 as I went to shower I had a bit of a nipple disaster. My bandages had slid down in the night and the tape got stuck to my nipples. Gently removing it did not work and it came all the way off in the shower, ripping off a good chunk of scab with it. Like half the nipple scab got removed and it was bleeding, it looked like the actual nipple bud got ripped away as well. I panicked but the clinic said it was fine

Week 3

The nipples slowly healed from the disaster, most of the wound got covered by a new scab, there were some issues with the wound getting stuck to the gauze but it wasn't too bad

I started getting back my range of motion and had so little discomfort at moving that I had to be very conscious of nor strecthing too far or lifting too heavy

The only pain I felt at this point was the occasional tug if I went too far or an occasional ache from healing

At the end of week 3 the big insicions had almost healed, only the corners that I end up moving the most when I stretch too far were still stubbornly bleeding a bit

Week 4

I started working this week, it was super rough at first. Mostly I was exhausted but it was also tough to do my work with all my limitations

The incisions healed all the way now, some scabs left here and there but no bleeding anymore

The nipple scabs started kinda shrinking back on the right side, revealing what looks like pink areola underneath, it feels like it will fall off soon ish

I was able to strech even further without discomfort

The swelling was almost all the way gone, just some minor swelling left

Was starting to be able to lie on my side more and more and at the end of the week I could kinda sleep on my side in short intervals

At the end of week 4 I started wearing my binder only half of the day

[just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi]

Found - Rudy, Mason, and Clyde

The end! Of the arc! Whooo this has been fun! Thanks to all who read. (i'm not down with them as oc's but this arc is over.)

TW: whumper as caretaker, stressed whumper/caretaker, distant whumper/caretaker, drugging tw, implied changing of clothes, implied bathing,

[Masterlist] [Stalker Arc Tag]

Mason was sitting at his desk, vigorously typing an email to the support of every social media platform he could. They weren’t giving him anything, even though he knew that they had the information. They must - companies are always doing shit like that. Tracking. Monitoring. They knew who this creep was and they were protecting them.

At this point, he was ready to get his lawyer involved if he got yet another generic-reply email.

Clyde was curled under his desk. He hadn’t done that in years, not since he was new and very attached to his new Master. Mason trained it out of him a while ago, but something about the familiar place was safe for him right now. So, Mason allowed it.

His phone rang and he reached for it automatically. There had been a lot of calls over the last couple days, and he was nearly fed up with them.

“Hello?”

“Hello, is this Mason Driver?”

He took a deep breath and massaged the bridge of his nose. “It is, who is speaking?”

“Hi this is Amber from the Lakefield Pet Shelter? We have your pet here-”

Mason stood quickly, accidentally kicking Clyde in the process. “Ah, fuck, sorry bud. Is he okay? Who brought him in? Is he hurt? Where is Lakefield I want to come pick him up-”

“Sir, sir, please slow down. He’s okay, he’s got a sprained ankle and is a little roughed up in general, but he’s okay. You can come pick him up at any time, someone from the local department already came and spoke to him.”

A strange sense of anger swelled in him for a moment that someone questioned his pet without him there, but he shoved it away quickly. Other things to focus on, other things he had to do. The woman was still talking but Mason was distracted looking for his keys.

“Can I pick him up tonight? Now?”

There was a small pause. “Yes, Mr. Driver, you can come get him tonight.” After a couple other bits of information, Mason left the house to go get his pet.

Clyde crawled out from under the desk, rubbing his sore hand, a bit confused but hopeful he was understanding half the conversation correctly.

~~

The first thing Mason felt when he saw Rudy hobble out to meet him was relief. Relief that he was back, he was safe, that he was here. Then it was anger. Anger and resentment at the brace around the boy’s ankle, the wraps around his wrists and neck, the bandaids on his face. He had to force his face to remain happy and neutral when he saw the bruise on Rudy’s temple.

“Master!” he cried, nearly falling into the kneeling man’s arms. Mason held him close, arms wrapped around.

“Rudy, thank fucking god you’re okay. I was so worried, oh my god. When I find out who took you I’m gonna-”

“Y-you, you know him, Master,” came Rudy’s muffled voice and Mason pulled him away, held tight by his shoulders.

“What?! Who, who the hell would do that? Someone that I know?”

“It was C-Casey, Master.”

Mason’s face grew grave, clenching his teeth. He should have fucking known. Of course, of fucking course Casey would pull some shit like this. Obviously Mason had called out of work, didn’t care what was going on back at the office during the few days Rudy was gone.

Rudy whimpered and Mason released his right grip. “Oh, I’m sorry Sweetheart. God, that fucking snake. I’m going to ruin his whole goddamn life, just wait and see if I don’t completely blacklist him. He’ll never fucking work with pets again.”

“Sir,” hinted one of the workers, reminding Mason of the other people in the lobby. He didn’t care.

“Come on, let's get you out of here.”

The worker nodded and gestured for them to come up to the counter. “He’s ready to go, just need to go over some paperwork and at home care for the other injuries.”

Rudy pressed himself into Mason side as the man’s brow furrowed. “Other injuries? What happened?”

“He’s a little bit dehydrated, but that should go away in a day or two. The bandages around his wrists and neck are to keep him at scratching at the healing skin, so you’ll need to keep those and on use this ointment that’s listed here. Same for the welts on his back. His ankle is sprained but not too badly, so follow up with your regular provider for that. Other than that, you’re good to go.”

Mason swallowed and signed the forms without another word, not trusting himself to say something he’d regret. Besides, it wasn’t their fault.

On the way out, he was already calling his lawyer to get every medical expense taken out of Casey - money or blood.

~~

Clyde was at the door, bouncing at his heels as the key turned. He had been looking out the window, saw when they pulled up. Saw when Rudy got out of the car! He was limping but he was there. He was home.

The older pet nearly knocked him over as they came through the door. Mason had to grab him by the back of his collar to drag him off.

“Clyde! Back! You know better what the hell,” Mason muttered, setting him down on the ground a foot or two away. Clyde looked up at him, clearly wanting to go back to Rudy. Mason rubbed his temples, too tired and frustrated and betrayed to deal with this.

“Room.”

Both boys whimpered, Rudy tugging on the hem of Mason’s shirt to silently plead him not to. “Now, Clyde. He’s fine. Just go upstairs so you’re not underfoot.”

Clyde gave him such wide, hurt, miserable eyes that Mason nearly took it all back. He sighed, but held firm. He said what he said and Clyde needed to obey that. With another glance back at his friend. Clyde crept up the stairs. Rudy whined after him over Mason's shoulder as the man picked him up and carried him to the living room to set him on the couch.

The boy whimpered as Mason walked away, but quieted after a shush.

Mason stood in the kitchen, holding onto the counter and stared at the tile backsplash. Why was this so hard? Rudy was back, he was going to be fine, the police found Casey and his lawyer said his case was good over the phone. He shouldn’t feel so tense, so tight-wound and anxious. The boy was right out there - why couldn’t Mason accept it?

He rubbed a hand across his short stubble and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, along with a drink for Rudy. He just needed time, he guessed. Needed to sleep, and probably eat something, and he’d calm down. Meandering back into the living room, he texted his boss that he was taking some personal time off.

Rudy was curled up on against the armrest, tears bright in his eyes. Mason regretted snapping at him, at both of them, but it would pass. They probably wouldn’t even remember tomorrow.

“Hey bud, drink up. How are you feeling, are you hurting?” He asked as he opened the lid for him.

The boy grabbed the bottle and took a sip, nodding slowly. “I, I’m okay.” His lip was quivering, breath shallow and shaky.

“I missed you,” he confessed as he broke, reaching up for Mason who immediately sat down with him. “I m-missed you s-so much, and Clyde, and h-home, I wanted to get away. I was so scared and c-confused and he was mean and hurt me and-”

Mason shushed him gently, pulling him close and petting his hair. “I know, I know Sweetheart. I’m so sorry that happened - I promise, it will never happen again.”

“He wrote on m-my, my scan-y thing,” Rudy said, itching at the side of his shirt. “And, and he took my collar and made me wear a muzzle that cut my mouth and I didn’t eat because- because I just couldn’t and-”

Mason shushed him again, and this time took his drink so he could really lay the boy down. Poor thing was spiraling, clearly over-stressed and exhausted too. “Shh, Rudy, you need to relax. You’re okay.”

“-he, he made me so confused, Master,” Rudy continued, seemingly unable to stop confessing everything that had happened. “I-I know I belonged to you, because, because of m-my collar and my chip but he made me wear his collar and I started to get confused and forget and uh, hng, I, I think I might have called him Master once and I’m sorry! He wasn’t always bad and one time he pet my hair and I tried to struggle but I didn’t that time and I’m sorry.”

“Okay, okay woah bud you need to slow down. You’re okay, you don’t have to talk about all this right now. I know, I know.” A pause as Mason thought. “Do I need to get something to calm you down?”

“I think I was bad?” Rudy started again, rubbing his eyes and hiccuping. He wasn’t listening to what Mason was saying, which was a kind of answer in itself. He was just more convinced of his choice as when he stood, the boy kept muttering confessions to himself. He’d have to re-visit some training in the next couple days, he reconned, just to correct some thoughts that asshole had implanted.

Rudy took the pill unusually well, words petering out until he was quiet. Mason rubbed his head just the way he knew the boy loved, listening to the unconscious hums of contentment.

“Lets get you to bed early tonight, hm? We’ll deal with all this in the morning.”

He seemed much heavier, now that he was out of it. Mason still got him upstairs, sat him on the bathroom counter to clean him up a little. It also gave him a better chance to see Rudy’s injuries without the boy wiggling and squirming everywhere.

It made his blood boil.

He had seen worse, he had definitely seen worse just walking down the street but that didn’t fucking matter. Rudy was his, and he had not given permission for someone to treat his pet like this. The muzzle had clearly been too tight, chafing and rubbing the sides of his face raw. Same for the collar, and the scratch marks from where Rudy had been clearly trying to get it off. Bruises on his hands and knees, what seemed like a bit of blood in his hair.

Mason cleaned him up the best he could, until the only proof left visible were the bandages and bandaids. He changed those, too, to some colorful ones he had for the boys. Rudy would like those better when he was awake.

After changing him into his pajamas, Mason carried him to his own bedroom and put him on the bed. He sighed and went to go get Clyde.

Clyde was in his room, standing in his pajamas right by the door. The boy had obviously been crying, gently cradling his bruised hand. Mason picked it up carefully, examining it.

“Shit, did I do that, Bugs?” he said, convicted. Clyde didn’t really answer him, eyes glancing from him to the door repeatedly. Mason sighed with a tired smile.

“Yeah, go see him.”

In a flash the boy was gone, down the hall to be with his friend. Mason turned the light off in their room before he went to join them.

Finally, back together. As they should be.

~

tag: @whumpingredroses @as-a-matter-of-whump @albino-whumpee @whumpeesblog @suspicious-whumping-egg

[shianhygge-imagines]

Sundown 勿忘草 [Reno/Reader]{Final Fantasy VII} Episode 2

AN: Here’s the next part of Sundown Wasurenagusa! I’m sorry that I’ve been slow on posting any new story material! I had a bit of a writers’ block, and I’m still trying to work through it!

I had intended for this to be much longer, but I felt like this part was a good length to post. The first part of this ‘episode’ is going to be formatted weird because I can’t get Tumblr to format a text conversation in the way that I want.

If you like the content I create, please consider donating to my Ko-fi! Please help me feed my tea addiction!

|Masterlist Link|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

December 12

Reno {07:10}

[Good morning, sleeping beauty]

Me {08:30}

[Morning]

[Do you not need sleep?]

[You probably went to bed late last night]

[And while it truly does make my day to hear from you]

[Why? It’s so early ;.;]

Reno {08:40}

[Can you blame a guy for being eager to talk to you?]

[Lol, Sorry. I didn’t disturb you, did I?]

Me {08:59}

[>///<]

[No, you’re good. I gotta get up to get ready anyways.]

[Flatterer]

Reno {09:34}

[I mean, can you blame me? ;) ]

[So, I was thinking about taking you on a date outside of Midgar, but I realized that I should probably get your opinion on it first]

Me {10:01}

[I mean, that depends? How early do I have to get up on my day off? And how long will it take to get there?]

Reno {10:05}

[Um… well, it’s getting pretty chilly in Midgar, so I was thinking about taking you to Costa del Sol… beach date :P]

Me {10:30}

[…]

[Costa del Sol is pretty far, Reno…]

Reno {10:31}

[And?]

[I’ve got a way]

[Don’t sweat the details]

Me {10:32}

[You’re taking a company helicopter, aren’t you  -.-]

Reno {10:33}

[Ack! You’ve figured out my master plan!]

Me {10:34}

[Are Turks even allowed to take company assets out for joy rides?]

Reno {10:35}

[ TT^TT I told you not to sweat the details!]

Me {10:40}

[I just don’t want you to get into any trouble.]

Reno {10:50}

[Awww, don’t worry about me.]

[You have a party to attend later, so do me a favor and have fun, okay?]

Me {11:03}

[That reminds me…]

Reno {11:05}

[??]

Me {11:11}

[bluedress.jpg sent]

(The image is of you in a sapphire blue dress, the sleeves long and neck high. The dress itself ends just below your knees)

[This dress?]

[reddress.jpg sent]

(The second image is of you in a backless ruby dress that ends just above the knee. There are no sleeves to this dress despite the fact that it has a high neck)

[Or this dress?]

Reno {11:13}

[…]

[Y/N]

Me {11:15}

[Reno]

[???]

Me {12:01}

[If I don’t look good in either of them, just be honest ;.;]

Reno {13:05}

[Gah! Sorry, I got pulled away for something]

[The red one. For sure]

Me {13:06}

[Just because red’s your color… >.>]

[I hope you’re okay, Reno ;.;]

Reno {13:15}

[Hey, first of all, remember what I said about red being your color?]

[I don’t lie, k?]

[But also, yeah. Also because it’s my color, you should wear it ;)]

[Do you have a sixth sense or something?]

[image.jpg]

(Opening up the image file gifts you with a selfie of Reno, looking minorly roughed up and being supported by an infrantryman. He looks like he’s by the old church that Aerith likes to visit. Despite needing to be supported by the infantryman, the red headed Turk’s winking and holding up a peace sign)

[Just a few minor bruises ;P I’ll be fine]

[Unless….]

[You want to kiss me better? ;)]

Me {13:30}

[… Well. I’m sorry for worrying (¬_¬) ]

Reno {13:45}

[Joking, joking! :D]

[All patched up]

Reno {14:07}

[Y/N?]

(´༎ຶོρ༎ຶོ`)

[I’m sorry.]

[Please talk to meeeeeee]

Me {14:00}

[image.jpg]

(It’s a picture of you in the red dress. Your hair is done up with an attractive amount of make up. You’re wearing a sensible set of black flats.)

[The party starts in an hour, so I might be answering my phone too often.]

[And Costa del Sol sounds perfect for tomorrow ;) I’ve got my outfit all picked out]

Reno {14:15}

[Uh, yeah, that’s gonna be your new contact photo]

[I’m picking you up earlier than we agreed so that we can have more time to relax in the sun]

[Duty calls. Have fun tonight, okay?]

Me {14:20}

[And what? My contact photo for you is going to be this?]

[screenshot.jpg]

(It’s a screenshot of your mobile phone screen. There’s an edit with a red arrow pointing directly at the photo icon for Reno’s contact…it’s the photo that he sent earlier except you’ve photoshopped cartoon ‘uwu’ eyes and added pink anime blush to his cheeks)

[And don’t worry, I’ll probably have enough fun for the both of us.]

[We’ll have fun tomorrow, be safe, okay?]

Reno {14:30}

[I’ll try ;) But if not, I’ll have you to take care of me.]

[Also? That picture?]

[P.E.R.F.E.C.T]

Me {18:30}

[Hope you’re safe!]

[Message me after work to let me know you’re okay!]

[image-2.jpg]

(It’s a group photo of you and your friends in silly poses)

Me {19:21}

[image-3.jpg]

(It’s a close up shot of a delicious plate of food)

[I should have brought you with me ;.;]

|You called Reno| 20:58

[Unable to leave voicemail]

December 13 - 08:21

The morning after the confrontation with AVALANCHE at the Sector 7 Pillar, one would expect the medical bay in Shinra HQ to be jam packed full of patients. There should have been a horde of doctors and nurses, running around to treat the injured infantryman and civilian survivors. But there were only two individuals in the med bay, Reno and Rude. When the plate fell, only a handful of infantryman were able to escape the chaos. Many were left behind to fend for themselves.

Despite surviving a helicopter crash and the brawl with Tifa, Barret, and Cloud, Rude only sustained a few bruises and minor bone fractures. He had been assigned bedrest after being treated by the doctors, but the weight of what he and his partner had been tasked to do twelve hours ago felt like an overwhelming burden. Needing something to keep his mind occupied, the taller of the iconic Turk duo simply engrossed himself in a novel that Elena had brought over during her visit.

On the bed beside Rude’s, Reno groaned in pain as he sat up, eyes still not open and alert as he raised a hand to press against his pounding head. “Gah, what the hell.” Reno’s face stung at the cheeks when his face scrunched up at the pain that seemed to come from every part of him. Even the act of sitting up proved too painful due to his newly broken ribs.

Rude watched his partner sink back into the sheets from his own medical bed, sunglasses on as was usual of him. He wondered how long it would take Reno to realize that it had been nearly twelve hours since they had dropped the plate. He also wondered when his sassy partner in crime would realize that he had a date this morning. Of course, Rude didn’t think you’d get angry at Reno for missing a date when he was hospitalized, but the taller of the iconic Turk pair knew that Reno would never forgive himself for skipping out on you.

While Rude watched, Reno allowed his body to collapse back into bed, an exhausted and pained groan escaping his lips as he want, arms flopping onto the bed as he fought to remember what had happened to land him in such a pitiful state.

Oh yeah…Rude and I went to Sector 7’s plate… and we fought blondie’s group of self righteous freedom fighters… and then…I blacked out. Cracking both eyes open, Reno furrowed his brows and turned his head to examine his surroundings. Med bay back at HQ… The red head swiveled in place to stare at Rude, “The mission….” He trailed off with a questioning tone.

His partner merely grunted, “We finished it and escaped.” Lacking in detail, but still straight to the point.

Sighing in relief that his work track record wouldn’t have a stain on it, Reno flopped back down, “Whooo…” The red head cheered sarcastically, pumping a fist without any energy or cheer behind it. Gah, and I promised Y/N that I’d be safe… Reno’s eyes snapped open and he bolted to a seating position with an alarmed cry, “Crap! Y/N! What time is it?” Shit, I gotta message her to let her know that I’m going to be running late! The Turk second in command thought as he pat down his person for his cell phone.

When he couldn’t find it, Reno turned to his partner, who gestured towards the bedside table. “It was damaged during our fight with AVALANCHE, but it should still be working.”

Not paying any attention to the fact that he was now bleeding through the bandages wrapped around his abdomen, Reno grinned, “Whooo boy! Partner, you’re a life saver!”

The sheer amount of relief within Reno voice made Rude stop and stare at his partner. Hmm… maybe Reno’s serious about her after all.

Meanwhile, Reno quickly unlocked his phone screen, ignoring the fact that the glass display seemed shattered beyond repair. When he pulled up the chat room that he shared with Y/N, Reno cursed, “Five missed messages and one missed call.” Quickly reading through the text messages, and smiling at how much fun you were having at the party, Reno tapped out a quick message in reply to you before listening to the voicemail that you had left.

Yesterday

Y/N {19:21}

[image-3.jpg]

(Reno’s mouth watered at the sight of the food in the picture)

[I should have brought you with me ;.;]

|Missed call from Y/N| 20:58

[Click to listen to voicemail]

Today - December 13

Me {08:43}

[Gah, sorry Y/N, I may have bit off more than I could chew yesterday.]

[I just woke up in the med bay at HQ]

[I’m going to be a little late picking you up]

[And I’m a little roughed up]

[But nothing is stopping me from taking you on our date!]

[See you in an hour?]

When Reno lifted his damaged cell phone to listen to the voicemail that you had left him, the only sound that reached his ears was an error notification that the voice recording app had failed. “I’m sorry, but the voicemail recording that you wish to listen to failed to load properly. Please quite all applications before trying again. If the problem still persists, please contact Shinra Mobile’s technical support service to resolve this issue.” The phone recording informed Reno, pleasantly.

Knowing from experience that getting through to technical support at the current hour was next to impossible, Reno merely tapped out another message.

Me {08:47}

[Hey, the voicemail that you sent to me didn’t go through.]

[What was it about?]

Satisfied with the messages that he’d sent out, Reno shifted to get out of bed, an excited grin on his lips. “Welp! Time to get going! Got a wonderful day off with a gorgeous gal!”

Sighing, Rude lowered the novel to look in his partner’s direction. “Your date with Y/N?” When Reno only gave a sassy shrug in reply, Rude shook his head, “Just remember, you’re still injured.”

“Will do, partner!” Reno saluted the older man before dashing out of the med bay, dodging the nurses swiftly as he made his way to the elevators, itching to get back to the Turk dorms to change into something that would help him blend into the slum crowds of Sector 5. On his way to his room, the red headed Turk would raise his phone to check for any new messages, lowering it in disappointment every time there was no response.

“That’s weird, normally she responds by now.” Reno mused, sending out another quick text once he’d changed into dark jeans, a red hoodie, and a dark beige trucker jacket.

Me {09:12}

[I’m on my way to your place now.]

[Are you awake?]

Around twenty minutes later, on the helicopter ride down to the Sector 5 slums, Reno furrowed his brows and bit the inside of his lip when you didn’t respond again.

Me {09:32}

[Y/N?]

[Please answer.]

[I’m on a helicopter down now]

[Message back. I’m getting worried.]

When there is still no response, Reno taps on your contact and brings the phone up to his ear, trying to call you.

“Hey, this is Y/N. I’m probably away from the phone right now, so leave a message, and I’ll call you back as soon as possible.”

Straight to voicemail.

Something wasn’t right, and Reno could feel it in his bones.

When the helicopter started to land in the Shinra barracks, Reno didn’t even wait for the helicopter to fully land before jumping out of the aerial vehicle, landing solidly before taking off in a sprint towards your apartment.

She’s not answer any of the text messages… Did she lose her phone last night? Did she accidentally break it?… Did she find out what I did yesterday? Is she ignoring me?

The worries and thoughts that raced through Reno’s mind became more and more self-depricating as he neared entered the main town area and brushed past the crowds of people gathered in the streets. I know I said it was too late to grow a conscious, but damn it, please don’t let this be the reason she decides that she doesn’t want me around.

All but flying up the metal steps to your apartment, Reno starts to bang on your front door, calling your name in the meanwhile. “Y/N!” Bang bang bang “It’s Reno!” Bang bang bang “You weren’t answering your phone. Are you ready to go?” It took another few minutes of knocking before Reno head a door open below and slow footsteps ascend the metal stairwell.

Turning and expecting to see you standing there, Reno’s shoulders visibly slumped when he came face to face with a tiny old lady. “Oh, uh. Sorry for causing a disturbance.”

“Are you looking for Y/N, young man?” The old woman inquired, tilting her head to look up at Reno through friendly old eyes.

Feeling as if he was being judged by the elderly woman, Reno stood ramrod straight and nodded, clearing his throat, “Uh, yeah. We had plans for today.”

The old woman nodded sagely, “I see, I see. Ah, to be young again. I’m sorry to disappoint you, young man, but Y/N hasn’t been home since yesterday afternoon. I think she’s still at her friend’s home.”

The first traces of alarm flashed through Reno’s head, and suddenly his Turk persona was back, “Do you happen to know where her friend lives, ma’am?”

The old woman shook her head, “I only know that dear Selene doesn’t live in Sector 5. I’m sorry, young man.”

Suddenly jittery, Reno only nods and descends the metal staircase again, “Thanks for the help. I should get going.”

Reno doesn’t hear the old woman’s reply because he’s sprinting back towards the Shinra barracks, ears ringing and vision narrowed as he contacts a friend in Shinra’s tech department for help tracking down your cell phone’s location and retrieving the voicemail you’d left him. And while his friend works on it, Reno decided to change into a clean set of his uniform, mind suddenly kicked into overdrive as he tries to recall where you said your friend’s party was.

Gah, Reno… you pay attention to everything else she says, but you can’t figure out where her friend Selene lives? Some Turk you are! Reno scolds himself as he paces back and forth in Y/N’s office, somehow trying to find comfort in familiar surroundings. Damnit, think! What has she mentioned in the past about her friends. I only remember her talking about living in Sector 7 for a whi- Reno pauses in his steps as dread begins to pool in his stomach. “No.” He doesn’t want to entertain the possibility that you had gone to a party at your childhood sector the same night that he was tasked with dropping the plate on top of hundreds. But the more that Reno thinks about it, the more likely the possibility is, and he sinks to his knees in the middle of your office, eyes wide with horror and denial. “No… I refuse to believe it. Gotta wait for-”

His phone chimes with a notification.

Pulling out his phone as fast as possible without fumbling the already hazardously damaged device, Reno unlocks the screen, only to see that a voice file had been sent to him along with tracking coordinates.

Clicking on the voicemail and tracker, Reno’s frown deepens and his face pales as he stares at the map of Sector 7 Slums with a red dot in the center of it, the sounds of your final message to him playing in the background.

No.

The voice recording loops until Reno regains his bearings, body shaking and eyes burning as his ears pick up the sounds of explosions in the background, of your sobs as you fought to leave a last message for the man who had thoughtlessly killed you, and of your fear and acceptance that you wouldn’t live past that moment. The phone slips from his hands and clatters to the floor as Reno’s fingers go slack. “No… I didn’t… Y/N…” A strangled sob escapes Reno’s lips as he raises a hand to grip onto his hair, trying to maintain his composure, “I didn’t mean to… If I’d known, I would have…” The Turk second in command paused and hunched in on himself, not caring if anyone could see him through the glass walls of your office.

M-maybe she left her phone behind when she ran? But… if she’s not there, then where would she have gone if not home?

There weren’t any excuses or any other reason he could come up with. Reno knew that. If he had known beforehand that you would be in Sector 7 Slums, he would have warned you, but you would have tried to evacuate as many people as possible from that sector, and AVALANCHE might have managed to leave, therefore ending in a failed mission. He would have done everything he could to make sure you stayed away from Sector 7, but in the end, he’d still go through with the mission.

“I killed her.” Reno sobbed in realization, biting his bottom lip so hard that he tasted copper, “Just like I killed all those people.” Shaking his head, inconsolable, Reno could only mourn quietly. “I’m just the worst. This is karma for all the shit things I did in life, isn’t it?”

Eyes dulled and slightly puffy, Reno hastily wiped at his face and sat down with his back against your desk, his phone ringing with notifications as Tseng and Rude sent him requests for ‘status’ updates. And the Turk second in command ignored his colleagues, eyes staring into nothingness as he wreaked his brain for what to do next.

I really was looking forward to the date. Reno’s thoughts trailed off, It’s sappy as hell, but I wanted to ask her to be my girlfriend. Tseng said that relationships for Turks never ended well, citing Veld as an example, but… gah! This is the worst situation for Tseng to be right!

It was only the early afternoon… maybe he could start a search party for survivors… it was probably too late, but Reno knew that he had to do something to look for you. With renewed purpose, Reno got to his feet and marched out of your office, blue eyes burning with fiery determination as he hung onto the faint hope that you might have survived.

December 13 - 12:13

You groaned in pain and shifted your body, eyes cracking open to be met with blinding industrial lights. The pain from the glaring lights startled you into closing your eyes again, turning until your body was facing away from them. For a moment, you wondered why you were laying on some sort of weird metallic floor instead of your soft bed, and then the memories of a falling sky sent your eyes flying back open as you took in your surroundings.

The floor was indeed cold and metallic because it looked as if you’d woken up in a maintenance passage. Despite most maintenance passages usually being dimly lit, the one you found yourself lying in was lit from both of the walls. The ceiling above your face had a hole in it, though it was covered with metal and concrete chunks. You assumed, as you clambered to your feet, that you’d fallen through that hole and rolled a few feet away due to the pile of rubble directly beneath the hole. Wincing slightly, you poked and prodded your person for bruises, broken bones, or fractures. Slightly satisfied with just a few small skin lesions, bruises, and maybe a fractured rib, you patted yourself down for your mobile phone, hoping to call for help. Frowning, you found that you did not have your cell phone on you, nor was it anywhere on the floor near you.

Since you hadn’t expected to live through a plate falling on top of you, you could only look on the bright side of things, turning to walk down the metal tunnel with determination set on your face. I didn’t almost die from a plate falling just to give up in an empty tunnel. Plus, a fond smile appeared on your face, I have a date waiting for me when I get back topside.

It seemed pretty simple to you. You’d falling who knows how far down, but you knew for sure that the way out was up. So the only thing to do was to keep walking until you found a passage up. Easy peasy.

December 13 - 15:35

There’s a fierce snarl on Reno’s face as he stands by several parked helicopters. All around him, emergency responders and Shinra infantrymen scrambled to load up supplies and equipment. The dark look on the normally sassy, easy-going Turk’s face seemed like a literal beacon for anyone not bearing good news to stay the away. Though, if some of the troops were to be honest, Reno had very good reason to be irate. The Turk second in command had called in an emergency rescue operation for survivors trapped among the plate wreckage nearly three and a half hours ago, and they were only just beginning to start the rescue operation.

After Tseng, the Turk commander, had authorized the mission to rescue anyone buried under the rubble, the mission had quickly been side-tracked by Shinra executives Scarlet and Heideggar. Scarlet had protested against the operation simply because of the notion that dogs living in the slums were of no use to Shinra, and therefore, the mission was a waste of resources. Heideggar, meanwhile, had agreed that while in times of disaster, Shinra’s army bore the responsibility of launching operations to rescue civilians affected, the members of AVALANCHE were widely unknown and could easily disguise themselves as regular civilians.

It took nearly two hours of careful negotiations and subtle ego inflating by Tseng and Reeve, before both executives agreed to support the relief effort. Viewing it as a strategic move to improve public opinion of the Shinra Company, President Shinra gave little to no resistance when Tseng forwarded the mission brief to be sanctioned.

Now, an hour after the mission was sanctioned, Reno felt the beginnings of a headache forming as he directed the flow of supplies to each helicopter before making sure that there were rotations of supplies and emergency responders that would journey to and from the wreckage of Sector 7 once he landed with the first round of helicopters.

When he had deemed all in good order to head out, Reno sighed and hopped into the helicopter cockpit, buckling himself in to the pilot’s seat. Plopping the headset on while he waited for the rest of the crew to load up into the helicopter, Reno busied himself with flipping switches to make sure that pre-flight and the ride down to Sector 7 would be as smooth as possible. When his co-pilot buckled himself in and gave Reno the thumbs up, the red headed Turk spoke as clearly and seriously as he could into the mic. “Alright guys and gals in all active units, hope you’re all buckled up with headsets on because I sure as hell will not be repeating this briefing.” After a brief pause, Reno continued to speak while directing the helicopter off the platform. “You all probably heard about what happened yesterday. The official reports from HQ state that AVALANCHE launched an attack to compromise Sector 7’s plate pillar. Despite all efforts directed to stop the terrorist attack, the plate still fell. Our job is to go down to the disaster zone to provide relief to all affected civilians. We will also be launching search and rescue operations for survivors.” Reno paused once more as helicopter gained enough air to safely fly out of the landing zone. “I’m gonna be real with you all. Someone important to me was in Sector 7’s Slums when the plate fell and I’m going to try my damnest to look for her. So if any of you fuck this up… not gonna lie, I’m gonna be pissed.” Nobody replied to Reno’s admittance… not that he really expected much of a reply after he dropped that bomb on them. Having enough of the silence, Reno exhaled, “Alright… good talk.”

December 13 - 16:03

It wasn’t easy peasy. Definitely fucking not.

The chrome walkways and exposed piping-lined maintenance passage that you had fallen into hadn’t been a simple few meters under the surface as you thought. No. It’s was more like several meters down with a layer of minor blocked off passageways right above. And, as if that weren’t terrible already? The maze of pathways that made up the layer above seemed to take joy in bringing you up a level, just to drop you back down a level because some asshole decided to seal off the passages at various points.

Your eye twitched in annoyance when you walked down a metal walkway only to be face to face with another fenced off passage lined with reinforced plating. To your surprise, you could see a man stumble around the corner of the opposite side. When you saw one another, your eyes widened. “Holy shit!” The man gasped, stumbling forward with a noticeable limp and sliced up arm. “I didn’t think there’d be another person down here!”

“This place is like a maze, so I’m not surprised that any survivors had yet to meet up. A-are… are you okay?” The blood leaking from the deep scratches in his left arm seemed to ooze a poisonous purple color.

The stranger bit his bottom lip as he hastily hid his injury, “Yeah… I’ll be fine. Listen, girl, you should watch out while down here. I think the rumors about the underground lab were true after all. There are monsters running around everywhere.” Your expression must have been one of utter dismay and despair because the man coughed and reached into his pocket to roll two materia under the fence. “Uh. Shit. Well, it looks like you could use these then. It’s a Cura and a Fira. Hopefully you won’t need it, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Anyways, I hope you make it out of here, girl. I gotta keep looking for other AVALANCHE survivors.”

When the man made to jog away, you called out to him, “Wait! You said that you’re looking for AVALANCHE members? Are you one of them? Do you know what happened?” You pressed yourself against the fence in order to see the stranger from around the corner.

The stranger turned around to stare at you with a grim expression. “Whatever you’re thinking, AVALANCHE didn’t cause this, okay? We were framed by Shinra.” At your confused expression, the man scoffed, “C’mon, you really think that Shinra was going to let civilians protest and riot against them? They couldn’t figure out who was a member and who wasn’t, so they figured they’d drop the entire plate on top of us to get rid of us all.”

“But that’s such a drastic move!” You protested, wanting to believe that your employers wouldn’t have such blatant disregard for human life. “They wouldn’t just sacrifice thousands to eliminate AVALANCHE!”

“Believe what you want, girl. But the reality is that my friends and I all went to the pillar to stop Shinra from dropping the plate, and it dropped anyways because two Turks were sent to finish the job.” The stranger didn’t allow you to retort as he limped away. Not that you would have responded anyways with how the stranger had said that two Turks had arrived to help ensure that the Sector 7 plate dropped.

Pulling away from the fence, you knelt down to pick up the two orbs of materia, the color of your skin taking on a sickly pale pallor. Two Turks were sent to the pillar to drop the plate on top of all of us. Your mind instantly supplied the first Turk pair that you could think of and you felt like you were going to dry heave. I don’t know Rude too well, but from what I know, he and Reno wouldn’t do something so horrendous. Surely, there must have been another pair of Turks who were sent to do it. But you did work in a different department as them, how did you know that there were more members of the Turks? And with Reno’s position within the group… He could have known what was happening…

You told Reno that you would be hanging out with your best friend… that you guys were having a party. He’s smart enough to deduce that your friends still lived in Sector 7… Did he forget? Or… Your stomach churned violently as you sank to your knees on the cold metal walkway. Did Reno just decide he didn’t care if I survived or not?

The edge of your vision burned with tears threatening to spill down your cheeks. A simple blink sent them trailing down your cheeks as you stood upon shaky legs. “Can’t worry about that now.” You muttered, eyes filled with determination as you gathered the excess fabric of your dress to gird up your loins. “I need to find a way out of here. The tunnels might not be able to hold for long.”

Lifting your arm, you pressed one of the materia into your forearm, like you’d seen a few SOLDIERs do before, marveling at how the orb of power sank into the flesh of your arm. Smiling at how seamless it was to merge flesh with Materia, you pressed the other faintly glowing orb into your other forearm, concentrating for a bit before casting Cura upon yourself.

Newly rejuvenated, you back tracked through the metal corridor to find the ladder leading down. “Welp, there’s no time like the present,” you mumbled to yourself as you descended further into the tunnels below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[nerdie-faerie]

After seeing that post about untaught racism in british history and talking to Ana about world history I have come to the realisation of just how shit and lacking our lessons were so here is a rough guide of what everyone I know was taught in history pre-GCSEs in vaguely chronological order cus my memories not that good

ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, then ANCIENT GREEKS and then ANCIENT ROMANS who invaded england to expand the roman empire

the original settlers were the CELTS who were pushed out by the ROMANS who were pushed out by the VIKINGS who were pushed out by the SAXONS leading to the ANGLO SAXONS and the name angloland who were then pushed out by the NORMANS whooo

Brought WILLIAM THE CONQUEOR englands first king after winning the BATTLE OF HASTINGS (we all have the date 1066 imprinted in our heads everything else is irrelevant) and started the DOOMSDAY BOOK

Then everythings kinda irrelevant for a while theres the DARK AGES and the first bought of bubonic plague called BLACK DEATH

Then nothing again until the WAR OF THE ROSES which was won by HENRY 7TH whom we nothing else about except that he was HENRY 8TH’s dad whos claim to fame is having six wives and introducing divorce after changing the religion of england the point in the six wives being that he wanted a son who ended up being super sickly was on the throne young and died young I couldnt tell you which of the KING EDWARD’s he was. then was the nine day queen  LADY JANE GREY who was eds cousin chosen because she shared the same religious views as henry rather than mary. BLOODY MARY then had jane killed changed the countrys religion back and thats the extent of what I know. Next was ELIZABETH 1ST who changed the religion back again (no i dont know which is which one of the christianity branches) and is generally remarked upon for never marrying.

All that happened during the RENAISSANCE you know that period of ENLIGHTENMENT and the FRENCH REVOLUTION? Yeah none of that gets mentioned because england

Then another bought of bubonic plague this time referred to as the GREAT PLAGUE this is the one where they BANNED CATS AND DOGS thus increasing rat populations, BURNED TAR in the streets and PLAGUE DOCTORS which didnt end until the GREAT FIRE OF LONDON

Of course at some point there was the spanish inquisition and Napoleon but thats not england so it doesnt get taught I mean we dont even get taught about wales or ireland and the only mention of scotland is that there were a lot of battles so you can understand why world history gets ignored.

Then everything becomes irrelevant again until the VICTORIAN ERA in which you learn that QUEEN VIC was the longest reigning monarchy and about the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION a brief nod to SLAVERY but mainly focusing on the few figures who attempted to abolish it and of course the BRITISH EMPIRE but we dont discus of course how exactly one comes about owning the majoprity of countries did they lose their rights in a bet? doesn’t matter because information would surely demonise england so we dont talk about it. and hey WORK HOUSES were also a thing

And of course FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE was around and doing stuff. And there was that all thing with the ROUNDHEADS and CAVALIERS that happened at some point again hella vague

Then nothing matters until WORLD WAR 1 skipping over the fact that really britain had no need to get involved the whole thing was super convoluted. Then we ignore the ROARING TWENTIES and oh look WORLD WAR 2 lets ignore the fact that germany got the idea of concentration camps from britain and instead talk about how horrific the NAZIS were and how shocking it was that anyone could treat a fellow human being like that *cough cough*

Then a brief brush over the following decades the FIFTIES in which the focus of SEGREGATION is all on america completely ignoring any and all racial issues in the uk. then onto the SIXTIES moon landing then SEVENTIES. But what about  the cold war with america and russia? Who cares wasn’t england. And the international tensions over nuclear war? Not england. What about the assassination of president kennedy? We don’t learn about our own political leader aside from a brief nod to churchil and thatcher so nope. 

And then its present day minus a decade or four but whos counting

So that completes our very shitty guide to English history lessons through the years

[theshapeshifter100]

Wolf and Raven Chapter 7

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Masterlist

A/N I had an idea of what this would be called if this was an actual Raven spinoff; Raven: The Winter's Heart

---

It had been days, and Raven was close to exhausted.

Wolf had apparently disappeared, leaving Raven to look after all four teams. Without Wolf’s runes it was now impossible to bring any of the Warriors back if they fell.

So Raven was flying between the teams, guiding them to their challenges and making sure all their camps had the proper wards up. Ravens Eye help them if a demon showed up, but they’d been oddly quiet since Wolf disappeared.

Raven of Old hadn’t been able to spot her either. There was some relief that he couldn’t sense her in the desolate realm that he had been trapped in, but he hadn’t seen her in the talisman. Something was blocking his view.

It made a worrying picture.

“WOLF!” Raven flew to the edge of the corruption, calling for the other shifter. The sun was almost fully set at this point. “WOLF! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!”

All that answered was the hoot of an owl behind her.

Raven shifted to her bird form and took off again, hoping to maybe spot Wolf. If she could be spotted.

As she flew, something caught her eye. Something that rang a bell of familiarity in her mind. A naturally occurring ridge within the corruption, sounded by a handful of large boulders. The boulders themselves shone like a beacon among the black rot, as they appeared to be unaffected.

Curious, Raven flew down, landing on one of the boulders. It did not burn her feet to do so.

A ring of grass encircled the rocks, highlighting a complex system of runes carved into the ground that must have taken days to set up, protecting this place from all that was a threat.

Raven hopped down from the boulder and shifted, standing to her full human height. Among the boulders was a small gap, just large enough for a human to slip through. She glanced over her shoulder before shuffling her way inside, pulling back the flap of leather that sealed it from the outside world.

She stepped down into a small space, but as Wolf has said, larger than the outside might suggest. It was a single room, mostly dominated by a rough wooden table in the centre that looked like it had been repaired several times. A fire pit sat near the entrance way, angled so that the smoke would leave through the door if the flap was pulled back. The pit was cold, not that it was needed; the inside was significantly warmer than outside.

At the back was a pile of furs, likely where Wolf would have slept, comfortable in either form. From the ceiling hung herbs and dry meat, while on the shelves were clay jars and dishware, cups and plates. Small wooden figures had their own shelf, as well as random odd bits of unfinished craftwork or seemingly random pieces of the forest. A particularly large pinecone, a stick naturally in the shape of a trident, a bunch of dried flowers.

A rune was carved into the ceiling, and when Raven got closer it began to emit a warm light, like a candle, only it was the light of several candles, easily.

Raven ran a finger along the table, picking up a film of dust as she did so. Wolf had not been back here in some time.

“Where are you?” Raven asked thin air. “I have hope that you are safe, that you somehow escaped, and yet I fear that is not the case.”

Raven continued to wander, ending up looking at the small figures. Two of them caught her attention, a raven’s head and a wooden crown. Both of them appeared blackened and burnt in some way, but not destroyed. The raven’s head was familiar, it was the shape Raven’s Staff of Power had taken when Raven of Old had wielded it. The crown she did not recognise.

Raven sighed through her nose and glanced at the rest of the figures, recognising none of them. She stood up straight, glancing around one last time. It almost smelt of Wolf in here, there was a slight smell of damp dog, and fresh carved wood mingling with the herbs.

Shaking her head to clear it, Raven walked out of the den. She had wasted enough time in here.

She kept searching until the moon was high and the stars shone before giving up and going back to her camp.

Back as human she drew the cloak around herself, feeling the cold as she stepped towards the dead campfire. A quick wave of the staff re-lit it, and she sat down, huddling in the cloak as the fire began to warm her.

She played the last time she’d seen Wolf over and over in her head. She had been frantic, distracted, afraid. It had been alarming to witness.

Raven herself had not been kind, jumping to the conclusion that Wolf had attempted to orchestrate a trap in return for her staff. Worst case scenario, she had and was feeling Nevar’s wrath. On the other hand, the trap may also have been for her.

Raven was no longer sure which was most likely.

She had already asked Raven of Old for his counsel and aid, which had so far yielded nothing.

Raven squared her shoulders. Perhaps the next course of action was to consult the Giants. Wolf had pointed them out to her, and Raven could fly up to them. Perhaps the combined counsel of the Giants and Raven of Old would yield some results.

 ---

The Warriors were close to reaching the edge of the corrupted zone, mere days away from the fortress. This was the last of the Giant’s Trials, and Raven watched them all as best she could. Not all the Warriors made it, demons had appeared now and on top of everything else, Raven had to fend off most of them.

Finally, a team of eight made it across the last trial, half of the original Warriors. Raven gathered them all together.

“Well done Warriors, you have completed the last of the Giant’s Trials,” Raven informed. “However, from here the real quest begins. In the heart of the forest lies Nevar’s fortress, and you will be split into two teams to infiltrate it. One team will approach from the north, one from the south. You will have to navigate Nevar’s defences, work your way to the centre of his fortress, and use the seeds you have gathered to revive the Heart Tree that lies within the grove there. Along the way, you may use the seeds you gathered to heal parts of the corruption, and doing so may help you on your journey, but be careful. If you use too many seeds along the way, you will not have enough to revive the tree.”

She looked at the remaining Warriors, tired, hardened, but ready. “I will speak with the Giants tonight, but for now, you are no longer Lynx, Stoats, Bears and Hawks,” she waved her staff, and the coloured tunics changed into either dark green or grey. “You are now split into Ravens, and Wolves,” she allowed herself a small smile. “Now, get some rest, I will inform you on the Giant’s words in the morning.”

With that the Warriors split off to make camp, talking together as they did so. Most of them were talking about the upcoming journey and comparing how many seeds they all had. Others were asking, not for the first time, where Wolf was.

Raven made a portal and stepped through to the base of the mountains. She looked up, seeing the peaks disappear into the clouds. They truly were giant.

Changing to a raven, Raven flew up into the clouds, hoping to find the heads.

The cloud cover obscured her view, and for several minutes she was unsure of where she was flying to. Until an eye much larger than her current form appeared in front of her.

Raven came to a startled stop and hovered in mid-air. A rumbling sound like thunder roared from the Giant, and it took Raven a moment to realise that the Giant was laughing.

With crackling rumble an enormous stone hand rose up underneath her, where she landed and shifted.

“Raaaaveen whooo iiis nooot aaa raaaaven,” a voice echoed in the sky. “Whaaaaaat brriiings yooouuu heeeeere?”

“I came to inform you that the Warriors have completed the last of your trials,” Raven squared her shoulders. “We will begin to advance on the fortress tomorrow, with your blessing.”

“Eeexceeeelleent. Theeeeeey aaaaaarree reeeeeaaady,” the voice rumbled. A rune flared in the Giant’s palm, and a small bag appeared in front of Raven. “Thiiiis iiiiis aaaaan eeeemeeergeencyy baaag ooof ruuunessstoooooness. Ssspliiit theeem beeetweeen theee Waaarrrriorrrs. Theeeey wiiiil alllooow twwooo aaaattaaaacks froooom deeemooons foooor eeeeaaach hoooldeeer. Theeeee oooootheeeers wiiiilll proooooteeect aaaaagaaaiiinssst theeee coooorruuuptiiiooon. Ooooone foooor eeeeeeaaach.”

“I see,” Raven scooped up the bag, feeling its concerningly light weight. “I will pass them on to the Warriors in the morning.”

“Gooooood,” there was movement above and some rocks falling, making Raven think that the Giant was nodding. “Weeeee weeeerreeee woooondeeeriiing, wheeeerreee iiiiis Woooolf thaaat isss noooot aaaa wooolf?”

“I do not know. I last saw her a few days ago.”

“Neeevaaaar’ssss pooweeeer waaaas strooooong theeeen. Thiiiiis iiiiis wooorrryyiiiing.”

“Is it possible, that Wolf is working with Nevar?”

“Iiiiit iiiiis uuunliiikleyyy,” the Giant informed. “Ssshheee dreeeeaaams fiiiitfuulllyyy. Ssshhee feeeeeaaarss hiiiim greeeeaatlyyy.”

“I see,” Raven thought for a moment before taking off her cloak, laying it down on the stone hand. This almost entirely paranoia, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask, “May I ask you to see if there is magic in this cloak?”

The fingers on the hand flexed for just a moment. Several runes flared and flashed around the cloak, and as quickly as they appeared, they faded.

“Theeereee iiiiis noooo maaagiiic. Iiiit iiss juuusst aaaa clooooaaak.”

“Thank you,” feeling relived Raven swung the cloak back on, blocking out the cold.

The hand began to lower, and Raven considered the audience finished. She shifted to a raven and flew back to the Warrior’s camp.

The staff was glowing purple when she landed, so Raven summoned Raven of Old.

“The Warriors must be finished with the Giant’s Trials by now,” Raven of Old commented once he appeared.

“They have. They will venture into the corrupted area in the morning.”

“This is good news. Have the demons been giving you problems?”

“Some, but they are manageable.”

“I would assume that Wolf has not yet reappeared.”

“No, she has not,” Raven sighed. “Have you seen her?”

“No I have not. Whenever I use the talisman to search for her, it turns dark. She is beyond my eyes.”

“I fear for her Raven.”

“It is likely she is with Nevar. Whether of her own free will or not, it hardly matters. If she is with Nevar she will be inside his fortress.”

“When the Warriors breach the walls, we can attempt a rescue.”

Raven of Old’s eyes narrowed. “Be wary if you take this path. If she has joined Nevar willingly, or has been turned, then you may have to fight her as well.”

“I am certain it will not come to that.”

“We can hope that it will not. I have searched the desolate realm to learn of Nevar’s plans, but I do not think he has been there for several days. The more magic he drains, the more time he will be able to spend in this realm.”

“Then we must move quickly. We will leave at first light.”

Raven of Old nodded. “I will watch from afar, and inform you if I have any news. May the luck of the Raven’s Eye be with you.”

“And with you,” Raven bid, and Raven of Old disappeared into purple smoke.

---

Giant Speech

"Raven who is not a raven," “What brings you here?”

“Excellent. They are ready,” “This is an emergency bag of runestones. Split them between the Warriors. They will allow two attacks from demons for each holder. The others will protect against the corruption. One for each.”

“Good,” “We were wondering, where is Wolf that is not a wolf?”

“Nevar’s power was strong then. This is worrying.”

“It is unlikely,”  “She dreams fitfully. She fears him greatly.”

“There is no magic. It is just a cloak.”

[miraculoustails]

So remember that huge sense8 gush post?  Yea, well here comes another.  Except this one has a different focus.  That post was about how amazing the characters were.  This post is about the impact it’s made on me, and surely so many others

First off, since this show is about people connecting, it’s extremely diverse.  There’s people of all nationalities, genders, and orientations.  Their culture and their cultural problems are brought to light in this show.  

We see a gay man, an actor, trying to make his way through the world

He’s constantly judged and beaten down.  He lived in fear his whole life, hiding behind “girlfriends”.  He constantly denied being gay, even in the moment when it was extremely obvious he WAS gay.  He was terrified.  Then his fears were brought to life.  He was kicked from the agency, he lost his followers and fans, he was scorned and mocked... You see the struggle of trying to be yourself in a world that is judgmental and against you.  You see Lito fight against the hate, stand back up time and time again.  His friends constantly pull him back onto his feet when he can’t anymore.  You find him slowly gaining confidence in himself.  He learns it’s ok to be gay, and he shouldn’t have to live in hiding.  His character is so empowering, showing love trumps hate.  His character and his development can bring hope in the hearts of sense8 fans.  His character can give others courage to be themselves and fight against the world’s hate.  Not to mention, he’s a scared, yet brave, gay person ON AN ACTUAL SHOW.  The show isn’t solely about gay struggles, it’s just shown as a part of his life.  It shows this is who he is, and it empowers others.

Next, we see a man from Kenya.

Capheus inspires those around him.  He’s a literal ray of sunshine.  He yearns for good to be done.  When there’s a water riot, he’s there, picking people back up onto their feet.  His situation shows the struggle of poverty and wealth.  There’s such a sharp contrast constantly made throughout his story.  You can start to imagine what the people in third world countries have to go through every day.  It’s horrible.  Getting clean water is so expensive.  There’s so many horrible ways that business people can cut corners and earn money over useless products.  It shows the injustice, and the constant danger due to the missing justice.  You see Capheus working INCREDIBLY hard just to get his mother the meds she needs.  He’s the justice his home needs. Yet... despite this horrible situation he was brought into by no fault of his own... he’s still happy.  He’s still optimistic, he still believes in people and the world.  He longs for right, he always sees the good.  His character shows viewers how despite any hardships in your life, you can still have hope.  His character shows you can find good almost anywhere, and if you can’t, you can make it.  He gives courage to sense8 fans, showing them they can get through the rough patch, and they can find happiness in it.  He shows there’s always hope and goodness around no matter how horrible the situation.

Then, we have this beautiful woman

Nomi is such an amazing character.  She’s played by an actual trans actress.  Do you know how rare that is???  Most TV shows just hire someone cis to play the character, and don’t write the character well.  But Nomi?  Her whole story just gives me life.  Her struggles and the discrimination are so realistic that it brings me pain and support all at once.  Her parents are accepting of her for the longest time.  They call her by her dead name, taunt her, and mentally abuse her.  They tell her she ruins everything, and sometimes she fears they’re right.  She worries she only screws everything up.  Luckily, her girlfriend is always there to support her.  A gay transwoman.  The representation is just so beautiful.  You’ll be lucky if you get someone that isn’t straight, or someone that isn’t cis, in TV shows.  Nomi however, haha.  She’s neither straight nor cis.  She’s a gay transwoman.  Her sister’s wedding comes along, and we see her struggle with her parents.  We see that look of pure, overwhelming joy when her dad finally accepts her.  We see that hope that parents can change, and they can come to accept you. We see the judgmental stares, all the questions from family friends.  Yet she braves through it all.  She’s so strong and it’s amazing.  It shows the sense8 fans they can be strong enough to fight the discrimination.  It shows all the fans that are trans, that they’re valid and they can get through the hate. You not only see the hate, but you see the trans fetishization.  It’s shown multiple times, and it’s shown that it’s not ok.  Nomi’s just such an amazing character.

And here we have this precious woman

Sun, precious precious sun.  At some points you just want to give her a hug, tell her everything’s gonna be ok, and fight anyone trying to harm her.  But then when she’s defending herself... WHOOO BOY.  She’s this perfect mix of child-like innocence, and destroy-everything-in-her-path strength. Her character shows her as this strong independent women, battling the stereotype that Asian women aren’t able to take care of themselves.  But that isn’t the only side to her, she’s also seen as this happy child.  She loves her dog, and at one point would even go to jail for her family.  She’s just a girl who wants to be happy, and cuddle with her dog all day, but instead she’s thrust into this constant hell.  She always has to watch her back and lay low.  Her brother murdered her father in cold blood.  The brother she tried so hard to raise, and blames herself for how he turned out.  She just wants love, but she’s so so so so strong and she can survive by herself.  She shows that people aren’t just one sided.  Her character shows people have layers, it reveals how injustice can seep in through cracks and destroy lives.  Her character shows you can be strong and weak at the same time, and it’s ok.

And let’s not forget, our amazing friend here

She’s this strong woman who tries so hard to have some sense of normalcy.  She’s in love with someone, but because of the culture where she lives, she pretty much needs to marry Rajan.  She tries and tries to love Rajan and hopes it’ll work out.  She does the best she can, but who can help love.  You see her torn between what she wants and what her life is.  You see this woman who’s supposed to be dainty but is hardcore and wants things she doesn’t believe are good.  Her character is just A+.  Her character shows the struggle of fitting in to her society, yet how she wants to carve her own path.  You see the struggle between her heart and brain.  It shows viewers that society’s one big hellhole that usually doesn’t let you have what you want.  You can fake normalcy, you can fake happiness... but you can’t deny the fact you’re uncomfortable.  It shows viewers they’re not alone in the struggle between what society wants, and what they want.  Who they are, and who society paints them to be.

For the next three, I don’t really have much to say.  Also, i’m making this very late at night and I just wanna post it at this point. But I will mention one aspect involving Will (hah, will Will... get it?? Ok sorry i’ll shut up now).

I’m really glad they added the affect drugs have on you.  They showed how he kept wanting more even after he didn’t need it.  He was so dependent on it, and he was willing to go back to it.  But he didn’t.  He kept fighting the urge to not depend on it.  And it can really give hope to those viewers that have trouble stopping an addiction.

If anyone wants to add anything about Riley, Will, or Wolfgang, please feel free.  I can’t think of anything super influential about them at this moment.  But let me just say, this show gives me so much hope, even when I don’t realize it.  It has so much positivity, diversity, and representation.  I was having a particularly bad day today, and being trans was really taking a toll today. But I turned on this show and just bam.  I felt happy, I felt like I wasn’t alone.  I knew others struggled, like Nomi and Lito, to be accepted by those around them.  I knew people like Sun and Capheus had to fight injustice every day, and they stood tall despite it.  I knew Kala was living in a society where she couldn’t follow her heart, and also where she trapped herself.  I’m heartbroken hearing that it will not get a season 3, because this show is so supportive and amazing.  Not only that, but the story’s constantly action filled and extremely entertaining.  I will definitely miss sense8, but i’m so glad it exists.  I hope one day, media will have this much representation throughout all their shows.  I’m specifically hoping for maybe some more a-spec characters.  And I hope that day comes soon.  Who knows, maybe sense8 can be a starting point to shows not just having characters with one layer and one side gay character.  I’m truly grateful for this show

[kellexplainsitall]

Whooo, I am tired today.

Yesterday was a LONG day. For an introvert like myself, being around people all day is draining. I finally got home around 6:30, and then had to finish up some work. Tim was also working late, so it was a real team effort to get everything done. But we did it! Laundry, trash, dog walking, dinner, lunch packing, dishwasher, cleaning up. I don't give Tim enough credit sometimes, he is a really good husband. We had a loooooooong talk Saturday after the fight with my mom and also discussed what to do about NYC Marathon, and he agrees that we will see how a long run goes this weekend and decide from there. He is a good listener and advice-giver.

I didn't have time to lift yesterday (since it involves going to the gym instead of the basement), and my FitBit totally died, so that was a bummer, as we are in the midst of a step challenge at work. Fortunately, my Garmin can be used as a step counter and also, FitBit is going to send me a new one (this is the fourth one that they have replaced!).

This morning's run was ......... rough. I felt OK at first, then my stomach took a turn for the worse. After taking care of that, I picked up Rebuck at  the Y for a few, and then we picked up Tim and then I suddenly felt super dizzy and was seeing spots. It was really humid and sticky, and I just wonder if maybe I was dehydrated. I am sure my nutrition has been off as I haven't been on my normal schedule. Tim and I cut a mile off, and I know it was the right decision, as I felt awful. Hopefully, I will be back to normal later. My foot is still a little sore, but feeling better.

I'm at the office all day for a video shoot, I am sure that will be buckets of fun. I just feel super drained, I haven't had nearly enough downtime lately, and I think it's catching up with me.