#I don’t talk about it much here but that’s basically a dog whistle dude

[jaredthebc]

Watching a video on pride flag discourse (which I agree with all their points flag discourse is so stupid)

But also they started off with “Idk why we are focusing on this as an issue when there are bigger issues…like kinksters at pride being a thing”

And I’m just. How can you make so many good points but also invalidate it all with such a dumbass take I’m sorry

[cadyrocks]

So the McSweeny’s piece was very much tongue in cheek, and not to be taken literally. It was directly mocking Bethany Mandel’s interview with Brianna Joyce Gray, where Mandel utterly failed to define a term she has railed against at length in her latest published book, and while most of what it has to say likely applies to shitheels like Mandel, Crowder, or Shapiro. It’s likely a bit less applicable to the average republican voter who doesn't bitch about wokeness for a living.

There’s apparently a very large number of Republicans who are worried about, or willing to be worried about “wokeness” (I’m irritated that real politicians are using the term it is absurd) but *not* because they are using the term as a secret racist dog whistle; in fact, if they heard regular racism within the range of their hearing they’d rebel.

The missing trick here is that the range of their hearing basically boils down to “a Klansman shouting the N-word at a cross burning”. That’s obviously abhorrent, and they don’t support that. At the same time, they will support laws that make it impossible to talk about systemic injustices. They will accept excuses and reasons for policies that have racist outcomes. They will look at a policy that disproportionately negatively affects black people, and say, “well, it isn’t targeting them...”, even if it very likely is.

They’re the kind of folks who will crack wise about starving an immigrant by hiding their food stamps under their work boots, but will insist “it’s just a joke” and grouse if you try to make them think about it. The kind of folks who will insist that, no, really, it wasn’t a “don’t say gay” bill at all, they just don’t want their kids hearing about gay sex in elementary school. It is my consistent experience that most bigots do not understand how bigoted they are, and are far more willing to give bigots the benefit of the doubt than they should be.

This is why "wokeness" as an ideology or concept is so useful. It being a vague, amorphous snarl word makes it very easy to complain about any leftist policy as "woke" - especially any anti-racist, anti-discriminatory policy. Similarly, policies that are anti-anti-racist (i.e. racist) can be passed off as "anti-woke" - as seen in Florida.

There’s a huge number of people who are against *both* white supremacy *and* wokeness and I think it is vitally important to actually think about why that might be.

“Wokeness” has become an all-purpose snarl word for things they don’t like on the left. I mean, go by that other dude’s absurd definition, and wokeness is clearly awful - essentially an ideology that completely subsumes and replaces the reason and logic of most folks on the left. Go by FdB’s definition, and again, it sounds horrible. Anything and everything leftist that might annoy people gets labeled “woke” as part of an intentional culture-jamming strategy by the right. Is it any wonder that it gets a bad rap? It’s like mentioning that “political correctness” isn’t particularly popular.

But of course, when it comes time to legislate against “wokeness”, all that fluff fades away, and we get a real, workable definition. And it is blatantly a matter of upholding system injustices, including white supremacy.

@rationalismizationism

This terrible article is an example of a grift very similar to the one it is satirizing.

A big part of my break with mainstream leftist politics is the inability to explain the "crypto" in crypto-racism.

"You see, you’re missing the main point here. Woke is a secret code word, a whistle of sorts, that alerts people who look and think like me that we’re on the same side without ever having to use a racial slur in public."

Why?

No, really, why not just use the racial slur in public? Why not just advocate for segregation? Or slavery? People were able to do that for the vast majority of our nation's history, so why wouldn't Ron Desantis just start quoting Bull Connor?

"Well, he knows he'd get into trouble if he did that..."

Oh, so people like you have the leverage to get national opposition party presidential candidates to tailor their speech to some extent?

If the answer is "yes" or "no" we both get to some awkward places.

If Ron DeSantis avoids saying racist things, even though he doesn't care about what the lefties think, then we might be forced to confront the idea that he, you know... isn't actually itching to say racial slurs?

If he is itching to say them, but he doesn't because he's scared of the woke left, then...

Clearly they actually have a lot of power?

The clearly stated central idea of this piece is that people who disagree too strongly with the author is probably just a secret racist.

So, can you get in trouble for being a secret racist? Is disagreeing with the author (Or a certain teacher, activist, HR person, coworker etc) sufficient evidence of being a secret racist that it could get you or me into trouble?

If the answer is yes, we've kind of just found a pretty good non-racist reason for concern with wokeness.

If, on the other hand, a lot of people disagree with this author for non-racist reasons, then they are part of a fairly large group of demagogues passing along a completely false view of America, which is also a non-racist reason for concern.

Don't think I'm letting the right wing off the hook here, they have a very similar problem which is that if they defined "woke" in a coherent way and followed that definition to the end, they'd have to acknowledge the ways in which the "woke" have been politically marginalized for the last half-century and their own fear based grift would fall apart.

That's what I was saying below; if the national Democratic party has been completely co-opted by woke people, and wokeness is (as @whitehotharlots said) a desire to Defund the police, abolish prisons, create restorative justice, enact hate speech laws, enact gun control laws, and create an atmosphere where you can get fired for suspicion of racism, why aren't they, you know, doing most of that?

How do we explain the complete inaction by the national Democratic party on prison and police abolition?

The political aims of both the woke and the anti-woke require the cultivation of a sense of powerlessness against an enemy.

But if that enemy were defined concretely either side would be essentially required to admit that they *already* wield significant power in *some* areas, to the point where they've already succeeded in boxing that enemy out of key areas (cultural and administrative power belong to the woke, political power to the anti-woke).

Why this admission is so impossible is my major obsession right now.

[thegreencanary]

Here, let me show you.

Based on a request that is here from @youreapipedream I’m gonna do the others as well but this is 1st on the list.

A/N: This is my work and I don’t give anyone the permission to post it anywhere claiming to be someone else’s. I worked hard on this, if you enjoy it please interact. Requests are open.

Summary: You think Eddie is a bad ass because of how he plays guitar and you want him to teach you. It’s a lot harder than it looks…

TW: Curse words is pretty much it. I’m keeping this thing FLUFFY

It’s short and the end is kinda shitty but it is what it is!

There was a roar of applause, and you whistled over the screaming noises to cheer on your best friend. Corroded Coffin had to win this years battle of the bands, there’s no way they couldn’t; the crowd wasn’t nearly as loud for anyone else. Eddie’s big brown puppy dog eyes were lit up with joy as he scanned the screaming crowd, trying to find his favorite adoring fan. His smile got even bigger when he laid eyes on you and saw how happy you were, he blew a kiss and the band got off stage.

“Congratulations!!!” You ran up to Eddie and jump hugged him. He caught you without even hesitating and you could feel him smiling.

“We did it baby! We’re all going out to eat to celebrate. Come with us?” God how could you say no to those eyes, or that smile? His pet names for you always mad your heart flutter. Eddie had been your best friend for as long as you’d known him, and you’d been in love with him for the last 2 years unbeknownst to him. He was to valuable to lose so keeping your mouth shut about it was the best way to handle it. Ignorance is bliss…right?

You helped the band load up the gear and hopped in the passenger seat of Eddie’s van. Jeff took the other car with Gareth so you two had plenty of time to gush about the show.

“Dude you were so good!! I swear to God you’re such a badass up there. I can’t wait until you’re in arenas and I get to watch you from a sea of people.” You could talk about Eddie’s skill for literal days, it was so dumbfoundingly awesome to watch him play and see that he really loved it.

“Babe, you’d be backstage. There’s no way you’re not gonna be a VIP when that happens. I’ve got to take care of my baby.” He winked and your heart and stomach did a few flip flops. He talked to you like that all the time but nothing ever came from it.

“Yeah we’ll see how long that lasts Munson. You’ll get famous and ditch this town and everyone in it.”

“Almost everyone.” He smiled.

“Okay Henderson doesn’t count.” Eddie laughed out at your comment and put his hand on your thigh, squeezing it.

“You’re my good luck charm. I need you.”

Again: stomach, heart? Olympic Gymnastics.

“Shit just pull me on stage next time. While you’re at it teach me guitar so I can just play with you.” You we’re only 1/2 joking. Eddie’s love for playing made you want to learn so desperately but the few times you tried you realized how hard it was. All the more reason you admired him for how fuckin talented he was. You didn’t realize he would get so excited at the idea of teaching you guitar.

“Are you serious!? I’d love to!! We can get together tomorrow after hellfire and I can start with the basics for you! I have a lot of really good tips and tricks and we can…”

He rambled the whole way to the restaurant and you two settled on the next day. He called it a date, you almost fainted.

——————————-

“…..”

You stood in front of Eddie’s door and tried to pluck up the courage to knock. You’d been in there 10000000 times but now your nervous. Why did he have to call it a date, why did you get dressed up? You knew he was joking…right? Right before you actually knocked the door flew open and Eddie stood before with a smile on his face and a guitar in his hand.

“School is in session!”

You laughed and stepped into the trailer. The two of you shared brief conversation about Wayne and how he was at work. Eddie offered you food and you declined, too nervous to eat.

“Well, let’s begin!”

—————————

“I’m gonna fuckin break this god damn guitar how in the French fried fuck did you ever get good at this I swear to god.”

You angrily mumbled a slew of curses because you just kept. Messing. Up. Eddie had tried a few different ways to show you and it resulted in you both on the floor and Eddie wincing at the wrong notes. He chuckled softly at your pissy comments.

“It takes a long time. Plus my fingers are calloused from years of practice. You still have soft hands.”

That definitely made you blush so you tried to change the subject.

“Well the guitar is heavy and I just can’t hold it right and I suck at this.” You let out a defeated sigh.

“No you don’t…hang on.” He shuffled around his room, and you tilted your head to the side. The ukulele made you groan and lay flat on his floor, his laugh popping any pride you had left.

“Wait it’s not as bad as it looks….here, come here.”

He sat down and motioned for you to sit in front of him. You did and holy hell your heart beat started tap dancing. You were basically sitting in his lap but his legs were just splayed out. He put the Uke in front of you and wrapped his arms around you.

“Here. Let me show you.”

Taking your hands he guided you on a much easier to maneuver instrument but all you could focus on was him. His scent, his hair, the way he hummed the song in your ear. Once he finished you were as red as a beat, but he didn’t move away.

“This is…comfortable.”

You just nodded, afraid if you spoke it wouldn’t come out coherent at all.

“Look…can I…would you think it’s weird…I mean I know I’m not…”

He was fumbling through trying to say something but you had no idea what he was doing. You moved your head just a bit more so you could see him better and his eyes locked on to yours. The next thing you felt were his lips on yours. The shock lasted longer than the kiss and he pulled away.

“I’m so sorry I’ve been wanting to do that for forever and I didn’t even ask if it was okay I’ve just been like consumed with the thought of you for so long I wanted to just-“

You shut him up by kissing him again. This time you felt his body relax and he returned the kiss. You two separated and he had a smile you’d never seen before. One just for you.

“Thank God, I didn’t want the night to be a complete waste.” He laughed and kissed your forehead.

“Huh?”

“Babe. You’re hopeless with the guitar, but maybe you’d let your new boyfriend show you the ukulele tomorrow?”

He still had some nerves in his voice and you flushed the deepest red; but you were so happy.

“Maybe. I think my boyfriend and I have a lot of other stuff I want to do tomorrow.” You winked at him.

He smiled and gasped. “You temptress!!”

The two of you laughed and eventually you went home with his denim jacket because he wanted you to use him for warmth whenever your cold. What a cheeseball…but he was now officially your cheeseball.

[lifewithdavefarts]

DaveFarts - Episode 10 “The Elevator” [Episode List] After visiting a friend’s house, Tim and the gassy-as-usual Dave take a really slow elevator together.

The Elevator

I took a quick sip of beer as our friend Adam left the living room to get another can in his fridge. What was left was a weirdly awkward silence and Dave, with his own beer, glaring at me.

“Dude,” he whispered. “It’s been a hour. I thought you were gonna tell him.”

I chose Adam as the first non-Dave bud to come out to, but it ended up being surprisingly hard to do. It’s not like Dave was forcing me or anything, or that Adam was a bad person; on the contrary, Dave was simply there with me as my emotional support in case things go south (but we both know they won’t) and Adam was, well, just Adam. Dave’s rightful reaction to me not coming out as planned didn’t bother me and as I said he wasn’t there to intimidate a confession out of me.

“Look, I don’t feel ready, okay?”

“You’ve been talking about the weather for 20 minutes.” he hissed. “What’s next? Geology?”

I chuckled. “Actually, this reminds me that they found this weird rock in South Amer-“

“I can’t believe this.”

“What’s not to believe? You take a big shovel and-“

“And I’m gonna dig my own grave if you start talking about rocks.”

I chuckled again. I know he wasn’t really mad.

Annoyed? Maybe. But mad? Nah, that’s a stretch.

He had all the rights to be annoyed though, but in the end it was my decision to make and he knew this.

We kept whispering as we heard Adam rummaging the fridge like some kind of raccoon longing for a cold drink.

“Look.” I said. “it’s late now anyway. Let’s just leave. Sorry I wasted your time.”

“Fine.” he replied. “Let’s finish our beers first at least.”

“That goes without saying.” and I took a long sip.

Truth is that I hadn’t any real reason to hide my homosexuality from Adam or any other of my buds actually. First, we’re in our 20s, we’re all mature and open-minded here. And in the end, excluding the whole fart-thing going on with Dave, they were all like him, chill guys. Adam, despite always sounding like someone who wants to have none of your shit, or anyone’s shit really, more than once proved that it’s just a facade and not-so-deep down he’s always ready to listen and back you up whenever you needed it. He did just listen to me talking about the weather for 20 minutes, so either he’s fascinated by the subject or knows I’m trying to tell him something else and is just patiently waiting.

The thought of wasting both of my buds’ time in a way or another kind of bothered me to be honest, so I was more than okay with wrapping things up and just leave, which me and Dave did mere minutes later.

“See you bro.” my bud said to Adam, standing by the door, as we went outside in the hallway, not far from the stairs and the elevator “Tim wants to talk about rocks so I’m taking him out of here before he kills you with boredom.”

“The one they dug up in Colombia?” Adam asked, much to our surprise.

“Yeah.” I answered. “They know it’s andesite but it has some interesting carvings on the surface and-“

A startled “What the fuck.” from Dave echoed in the hallway and the entire apartment building.

“What the fuck indeed.” Adam uttered, rather excitedly, completely missing the point. “This could change the archeo-history of the entire region.”

“I heard enough.” Dave said as he walked towards the elevator.

Both me and the other rock-enthusiast laughed at his reaction.

“By the way, I’m going to join you for a bit as I gotta walk the dog.” Adam remembered, reaching for a leash behind him.

“We’ll see you outside then.” Dave replied and then turned to me. “Tim, elevator, now.” he ordered.

“You sure, guys? You remember that thing is slow as shit, right?”

“We’ll be fine.” my bud said, patting my back. “I guess I’ll make Tim last longer then.” he joked.

“That only happens when you call me ‘daddy’” I joked back, as we walked towards the elevator, leaving our common friend behind.

“Rrrright.” Adam said. “I’ll get the dog while you two solve your sexual tension. See you outside.”

I pressed the button to summon the lift, Dave’s arm still around my shoulder as if he had something to show me. Truth to be told, I somehow knew where this was going.

As the panels of the door opened, we stepped into the elevator cab. I pressed the “G” on the control panel. I heard a mechanical noise and the elevator started its long, slow descent (we were at the 10th floor), after the doors closed behind us of course.

It was a cold evening and the cab wasn’t any warmer. I turned to Dave, who was wearing a dark blue hoodie and a pair of grey jeans. He looked at me with a smirk, hands in his jeans pockets; he raised his eyebrows and, without warning, a loud thunder echoed in that enclosed moving space.

The roaring fart had a slow start, with some interruptions, actually a sign for how big it was, but Dave, being an expert, quickly tamed the gassy beast and properly “tuned” the sound of the blast after a couple of seconds, keeping a consistent pitch, while also making it sound loud and deep. It felt like he was ripping one of those huge “when the girl finally leaves” farts, only, well, Dave-sized, which is always a sight to behold… hear? In this case there was no girl so he probably simply held all of his farts in to not ruin “the moment”, in case I wanted to come out back at Adam’s place (with beer acting as a bonus fuel).

A silly smile was drawn on my bro’s face as the fart kept going strong and proud, sometimes reaching some incredibly loud moments. He chuckled a bit and even winked at me when the blast made some particularly “meaty” noises, if that makes any sense. The fart was impressive on his own but Dave “interacting” with me while still masterfully passing gas was incredible as well (and, of course, hot).

The number 6 on the control panel lightened up and only in that moment I realized two things: the first being that the elevator was indeed slow as fuck; the second is that around 40 seconds passed and neither Dave nor his fart “flinched”. I was widely aroused by that and I felt the air around us getting more and more “polluted”, but not in an unbearable way actually. The blast kept echoing inside the elevator and I’m pretty sure that it could have been easily heard, albeit a bit muffled, by anyone taking the stairs.

Dave farted in my face many times, but no fart reached the length and power of this one, which is saying a lot. My bud’s butt-burps normally last around 6-12 seconds and don’t get me wrong they’re amazing, but man, maybe this one rip would have been too much to endure even for me: it simply wouldn’t stop. It’s like there was a loud engine in the elevator which couldn’t be turned off as I couldn’t hear anything else.

I was instead the opposite of turned off and teasing bastard Dave Maning knew this and, as usual, had no issue with it. At this point it was a race between Dave’s longest fart and the world’s slowest elevator.

We were now at the 3rd floor and my bud probably wanted to do a “big finale”; he was visibly pushing the blast out now, as if he wanted it to last as long as possible, a smirk still drawn on his face. He closed his eyes and the sound made it look like another fart was ripped over the sound of the previous fart, as if two audio channels in his ass somehow overlapped. The sound was of course louder than ever; the smell now, and only now, getting a bit hard to get used to. But to be honest, Dave’s skills as a sound designer alone were impressive enough.

A big part of me, mainly the one between my legs, wanted to get on my knees and plant my face in his denim ass before the fart faded out, but I knew that would have been too much even for such a chill guy like him. I’m sure he wouldn’t hate me or anything at this point but we both know there are some untold boundaries and honestly it’s better this way. I know how lucky I am to have someone like him around (farts or not).

My farting bro probably read my mind as he slowly turned around and got closer, again without affecting the fart’s quality and, being a bit taller then me, basically farted on the upper part of my hip. It almost made my entire body shake due to its power and it felt good. Now I really wanted to bend down as if I was tying my shoes but what stopped me this time was also the thought of… not surviving. I was familiar with Dave’s farts but this was absurdly powerful even for him.

And finally, as Dave resumed his previous position, again looking at me, the fart stopped, followed by my friend letting out a relieved whistle, and then an immature cackle.

Not even 2 seconds after that the elevator reached its destination, stopping as well. I jokingly clapped my hand and shook my head in disbelief. “Bravo!” I said, as if I just watched some fancy stage play.

Dave simply smiled and turned his back at me to face the exit, as we both waited for the just-as-slow panel doors to open.

“At least not all the time here was wasted.” he laughed.

“Bro, we had a beer together. That’s never a waste of time for me.” I replied.

“Wow. Rocks, gay and cringe. You got it all, Tim!” he replied.

We both laughed at me being needlessly cheesy and finally stepped out of that gas chamber. Someone stepped in the cab as we left it and the doors closed, leaving us in the hallway at the ground floor. We heard muffled coughing noises almost immediately and we laughed again, as we knew the disgusting reason. Poor, innocent soul.

“Ok but bro” Dave then said, looking a bit more serious. “You gotta do it someday. Trust me you can trust all of us.”

“I know man.” I replied, as we walked towards the exit “Next time I meet Adam, doesn’t matter where and when, I’m gonna tell him that I’m gay.”

My voice echoed in the building and through the stairs, but I didn’t care.

“You’re… gay?”

Okay, I cared.

We both turned around, puzzled.

It was Adam, right behind us (with this dog on leash), descending one last set of stairs before ending up in front of us. Somehow he’s been slower than the elevator, which both me and Dave found hilarious but I also had other emotions going on that moment.

Dave patted my shoulder encouragingly and stepped back: it was my time to shine.

“Yep.” I simply said. “I wanted to tell you hours ago but I didn’t have the guts to do it.”

Adam just stared at me with a confused expression.

I didn’t feel as nervous as I anticipated. “Yes, Dave knows it…” I quickly added, noticing him staring at my other straight bud. “And I asked him to not tell anyone.”

A moment of silence followed and those always feel like they last hours.

“I mean you two clearly have been dating each other for years” Adam joked. “So it’s no surprise, really.”

“WHAT WE HAVE IS SPECIAL!” Dave shouted, jokingly faking a desperate reaction.

I simply laughed and before I could process how well everything was going I felt Adam doing something very unusual for him: he hugged me.

“I’m glad you told me, man.” he simply said. “You know you can count on us.”

I know times have changed and all but this felt like a victory. Every time I’m gonna come out to a friend of mine it’s one step closer to the peak of a mountain and once at the top I will finally-

“Fuck, I forgot my phone.” Adam said, patting his pockets. “I’ll just take the elevato-“

“NOOO!” both me and Dave screamed, knowing that it was still a deadly gas chamber.

Adam simply replied with an annoyed expression and went for the stairs, the dog just behind him.

“Oh hey by the way.” I asked. “What took you so long? You said the elevator was slow but somehow we made it here before you.”

“Don’t underestimate me.” he replied. “It’s just that I heard some weird noises echoing through the stairs and me and another guy tried to understand what it was.”

Dave tried to not to burst into laughter, while I simply smiled like an idiot. Adam and his dog then went up the stairs and left us in silence, not until my gassy bro decided to break it the way he usually does.

A loud fart erupted and echoed through the building, only lasting around 4 seconds this time.

“There it is again!” we heard Adam say, a couple floors above us.

Me and Dave shared an amused look and went outside trying to not laugh like immature idiots. I felt the cold weather all over me, which was relieving considering the gas trap I’ve been trapped into only minutes earlier.

Despite a slow, yet really entertaining elevator ride, and my awkwardness, no time went wasted today.

“I’m proud of you, bro.” Dave said, this time serious, but still smiling.

“Wow.” I replied. “Straight and cringe. You got it all, Dave.” and winked at him.

“Don’t get too cocky now, rock nerd.”

I was rock-hard, to be more precise that’s for sure, but that was a detail I’d take care of later, perhaps thinking back of that absurd elevator ride. Whenever I’m with Dave, I’ll make sure we’re never taking the stairs again.

End of Episode 10

[theseviolentdelights597]

Black Widow Thoughts and Spoilers

🔹Why don't they have Russian accents?

🔹Natasha never had a Russian accent

🔹Bio-goomin-feasants

🔹why does SHIELD want them?!

🔹 God why do all the best superheroes have an extensive amount of trauma?

🔹ok now they're russian

🔹Wait they were just undercover

🔹Not even 10 minutes in and I'm already sobbing. TY

🔹She went to Norway

🔹Yelena!!

🔹*Sees dude sleeping in her bed* No no no no no no no no. Why why why why why why why? You you you you you

🔹So Budapest was a safehouse

🔹The Budapest pronunciation thing is literally the best thing I've seen in my entire life

🔹THE HAIR DYE

🔹Natasha reciting James Bond is just *chefs kiss*

🔹Well I guess we'll never find out about Budapest

🔹Well Taskmaster came earlier than I expected 🔥💥

🔹Does Sokovian head tilt

🔹It's the flip for me!

🔹This girl fight is too dramatic 😅

🔹Nat speaking russian is just 👌🏻

🔹"What bullet does that?" "Not bullets. Arrows." 🏹 CLINT

🔹Maybe in English next time. Speaks in Russian

🔹Yelena says Tony Stark. Me: "Don't speak his name!"

🔹SHUT UP, BUDAPEST WAS AN ASSIGNMENT WHERE CLINT AND NAT WERE SUPPOSED TO TAKE DOWN DREYKOV SO SHE COULD BECOME A SHIELD AGENT. I CAN'T

🔹Roof scene!!

🔹Hits multiple things, still nails the superhero landing

🔹She's still wearing Clint's necklace 😭

🔹my plan was to drive us away. That's a shit plan

🔹Ok here comes the human battering ram

🔹Oh shit he's back 😂

🔹Ok Cap

🔹Now he's going to track her like a wounded deer

🔹Tik tac toe lmao

🔹it's like fighting a mirror

🔹 Well, the truth rarely makes sense when you omit key details

🔹BARTON!!!!

🔹The braided pig tails 😭😭😭

🔹Ha bullshit

🔹Did you ever wish for kids? I want a dog. Same Yelena, same

🔹Yelena's "Ha" is hysterical

🔹Me thinking tab means life. "You know, you're getting dangerously close to running out your tab." Me: "Nah, she's got two more movies before that happens."

🔹Ursa coming in clutch like the fandom does when we run theories

🔹Those white suits came faster than I had plans for holy shit 😍😍

🔹 it's okay, the girls won't make a scene but the men will

🔹Oh wait she was talking to Alexei 😂

🔹Superhero landing!!

🔹Yel you look like you're from star wars

🔹HA

🔹Yelena sees avalanche: "That would be a cool way to die."

🔹Save the GSD!

🔹Farewell douchebags!!

🔹Alexei trying to talk but the girls have their headphones on is basically every adult ever

🔹A: "What's with the aggression, huh? Is it your time of the month?" Y: "I don't get my period, dipshit. I don't have a uterus." N: "Or ovaries."

🔹A: "Whoa look at you all business." N: "Trust me this isn't pleasure."

🔹Y: Can we throw him out the window now?" N: I think we should wait till we get to a higher altitude."

🔹I'm not crying you're crying 😭

🔹Y: Crimson Dynamo. A: It's the Red Guardian. Y: Get out!

🔹Fires dart. A: "They think...." Fires 7 more 😂

🔹Melina is such a traitor

🔹The Red Room isn't down, it's up

🔹Y: " this is a much cool less way to die."

🔹PLOT TWIST!! I did not see Natasha using the camouflage to pretend to be Melina

🔹The ear piece debacle 😂

🔹The fact that all of Nat's earrings are real because Scarlett has those same piercings

🔹Taskmaster is Dreykov's daughter!!

🔹DON'T YOU DARE HIT HER

🔹 They took phenomenal care in making Taskmaster look as masculine as possible

🔹Wakanda Forever! 😂

🔹*Uses hands* Damn it

🔹Superhero landing! Y:"That was disgusting." 😂

🔹ACA SCUSE ME

🔹Babe stop letting yourself get hit

🔹Damn girl you smart but OUCH

🔹She did the cap shield thing

🔹YOUR SAVIOR IS HERE!

🔹I didn't realize you could unbreak your nose like that

🔹The music during this air fight is amazing

🔹Character arc redemption: BW leaving Antonia the first time but not the second

🔹You can't kill off Yelena, I saw the trailers B

🔹When Natasha saves Yelena but then Taskmaster comes to fuck up a cute moment

🔹I KNEW she was going to let her go

🔹ok, let's go

🔹Okay, but her pulling TaskMaster's sword was hot

🔹It was real to me too... I'm sorry I'm sobbing 😭

🔹N: "Everybody good?" M: "I am clearly injured."

🔹 "Besides, if it can work out for the four of us, you know, there may be some hope for the Avengers. Little bit." 🖤

🔹Y passing down the vest like I read that she was going to 😭

🔹N: Don't worry I got this. Me: Not in two movies you won't

🔹The whistle 🗣

🔹she died her hair and I'm sobbing 😭

🔹She's in Yelena's vest too omg

🔹If no one gets off that jet to greet her then it's not worth it

🔹So she did help Steve break everyone out of prison

🔹 if the post credit scene isn't Yelena finding out that Nat's gone was the movie really worth it?

🔹Yelena is at her grave and I'm sobbing

🔹Go away Val you aren't even supposed to be here

🔹Now she wants Yelena to go after Clint.. He didn't kill her, he didn't have a choice 😭😭

🔹Omg killing Dreykov's daughter was the red in her ledger

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Whoo boy, been a little bit. I can’t really say much besides IRL sucks, so. Back to something that doesn’t suck, which is BNHA. This chapter is dedicated to the good bean Tenya, especially his little smile which forced me to change my pfp on discord because I just couldn’t.

I was kinda planning on doing arc summaries between sections, but honestly, the BNHA wiki already has those, so if you don’t want to go back and read through all the posts I’ve done for the pre-USJ chapters, just head over there and do a skim of the summaries there, I guess?

[No. 12 - Yeah, Just Do Your Best, Iida!]

I just love how his hand gestures are actual effective tools against enemies, I cannot even. Also, a good and friendly reminder that carbonated drinks stall his engines! I have never seen that used in fanfic, whether for crack or whump purposes… a shame.

We head right into the next morning from that battle training, with the kids being held up by the media as they ask about All Might. Izuku is a bundle of nerves as he awkwardly excuses himself to the nurse’s office, Ochako is a darling who describes All Might as super muscly, and Tenya goes into a whole ass speech with a lot of fancy language to explain the honor of being at UA and learning under All Might. 

(Honestly, I find it hard to determine whether this is genuinely earnest or if he’s picked up media warding skills from his parents and older brother. It’s probably genuine, but I just love the idea behind low-key troll master Tenya who learned from the best, aka his older brother.)

Katsuki, unfortunately, is still known as ‘the kid from the sludge incident’, which I mean. I am so fucking baffled at how long the media in this have held onto that 'sludge incident' thing, like, you'd think they'd have moved on to other things by now and don't really think about it much.

It’s the same with the general public (as seen in chapter 3), like, yes, I too would have a fucking complex and anger issues if all anyone thought about in relation to me wasn't my high grades or my skill in combat or anything, but that one time a year ago where I was almost suffocated to death while the people who were supposed to save my life did fucking nothing. I mean, Katsuki has always had a complex, but This Didn't Help.

Moving on, we see the media wondering who the fuck this messy looking dude waving them off is, while Aizawa just. Fucking shoos them like they’re dogs or kids or something. His words seem like a vague attempt at being polite about shooing them, but with the hand gesture, well. Basically comes off more as a chastisement. 

...honestly, this feels so weird that no one knew about it even though the kids who got in got a message from All Might saying he’d be teaching there. The only thing I and the others can assume is that there was an NDA on him teaching until it was announced to the newspapers on the first day of classes. Which would explain why it didn’t hit the news until said day…

Whatever, it’s weird, let’s just move on.

One of the reporters steps forward, asking/demanding a chance to speak to All Might about his sudden shift to teaching, only for the guy behind her to try and call out a warning - just a touch too late, as the sensors over the gate react, causing the daunting hunk of metal serving as a gate to slam closed right in front of her. Gonna guess she’s new to the reporting scene. The guy explains that the UA barrier locks down if someone without a school ID approaches the gate, and that supposedly there are more sensors throughout the campus.

The panel gives us a diagram of the three ‘levels’ of sensors - the gate/wall around the school, the walkway to the school, and the school itself. Which I think correlates to the security levels that come up later, since it’s a ‘level three’ breach, which means the school was broken into. Was it… always that fucking simple and I just totally glossed over that detail until now? orz

While the newsfolk complain about not getting comments from UA, we get to see the back of a ~mysterious figure~ who definitely isn’t the primary antagonist of the entire series. God, you can see his individual neck vertebrae.

Horrifying.

We transition to 1a’s homeroom, with Aizawa going over the battle training as well as their grades / evaluations. Aizawa calls out Katsuki and tells him to grow up and stop wasting his talent, which Katsuki grudgingly accepts. Izuku jolts at being called out next over his broken arm, and accepts the chastisement of learning to control his quirk, because trying isn’t going to cut it. Aizawa does soften the blow, however, by repeating that Izuku has potential, assuming he overcomes that issue.

With that done, Aizawa ‘Plus Extra™’ Shouta gets the whole class tense by drawing out the next class announcement. While I think it’s a translation error, the whole class sweating as they wonder whether it’s another brutal pop quiz is hella funny. (I’m guessing it was meant to be ‘test’ which would reference to the quirk assessment as well as the battle training, but ah well.) The whole class sighs in relief as one as Aizawa finally reveals that their task for the morning is to choose a class president - a normal, school-like thing in comparison to the past two days.

Pretty much the entire class has their hands raised to volunteer for the position, with Katsuki being particularly aggressive about it (as per the norm). Even Izuku has his hand shyly lifted up from the desk, while his narration notes that the position in normal schools entails mundane tasks, but in UA’s hero course means leading the group - a position suited for a top hero in the making.

Tenya calls for them all to quiet down, drawing attention as he goes on to explain how leading people is a task of heavy responsibility, but that ambition is not equal to ability. He is so intense it’s hilarious as he explains how the office demands the trust of its constituents, and that if it’s to be a democracy, then he puts forward the motion that they choose their leader through election.

Seriously this is just so fucking hilarious, I love this boy so much. And I love whoever it is that calls out that this is a classroom, not congress. 

Tsuyu points out that the class hasn’t known each other long enough to build trust, and Kirishima notes that everyone will vote for themselves. Tenya points out that that is precisely the reason that anyone who gets multiple votes will be the best suited for the job. He then checks with Aizawa if this is allowable, which the teacher agrees to so long as it’s quick. And a quick transition, we reveal the winners-

Izuku with three votes, and Momo with two.

Everyone else, it seems, still has one vote, which was their own (as predicted). Izuku is shook. Katsuki is shaking in anger as he demands to know who the hell voted for Deku. Ochako is whistling and looking away, thinking that she’d better not let Katsuki find out.

(Also of note is that Sero is already approaching Katsuki and making a joke here about it being obvious Katsuki wasn’t one of Izuku’s votes, and then seemingly laughing a bit when Katsuki’s temper turns on him?

Hard to say for sure, but it seems Sero is the first of Katsuki’s future friend group to approach him and get away with poking at his temper. Which I feel is something very much overlooked by the fandom in favor of Kirishima for fairly obvious reasons.)

Tenya, meanwhile, is in a funk as he notes he has no votes, and that that is the harsh reality of office. Momo is concerned as she notes that zero votes meant he voted fro someone else, while Sato points out that Tenya was the one to suggest the election, so what did he seriously want? Izuku and Momo go to the front of the class - Izuku a nervous wreck while Momo’s just exasperated with the situation. Aizawa confirms their positions as he gets out of his sleeping bag, and the class talk a bout about the suitability of the chosen pair while Tenya continues to sulk in his seat.

With that, the first half of the chapter is done, so I’ll call it here. I can certainly say I learned a thing or two today, and I hope y’all did as well!

[stars-in-my-universe]

I Hope: part 2 Tyler Seguin

The long awaited sequel of I hope. This will be the final part, I feel like we all needed some closure. I hope you all like it and please let me know what you think, I hope I didn’t disappoint.

Part 1

“McKayla, are you serious? You’ve known about these plans for over a month!” He watched as the blonde parades around the bedroom putting on the last touches of her make Up. Tyler sat on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands as he waited for her to hurry the hell up.

“Tyler, I have to go meet my sister! She’s going through some stuff okay?’ Tyler was very understanding and had more than enough patience but the fact that she was canceling on Tyler's friend’s barbecue after knowing about it for over a month...it irritated him to no end. He watched as she walked out of the bathroom in heels.

“You’re meeting your sister in heels?” He arched an eyebrow and looked at his fiancee.

“We’ll probably go eat honestly. What is the big deal?” Tyler shook his head and grabbed his keys from the dresser.

“I’ll see you later, if you get home before me let the dogs out but do not leave them outside til I get home. Let them in, Mckayla.” Tyler rolled his eyes as he heard her let out a ‘mhmm.’

Tyler knew this wasn’t working, he knew something else was going on behind his back but he hadn't caught her in a lie nor was their proof plus she still wore her engagement ring. It still didn’t excuse the fact that all they did was fight, constantly. He was tired of it. He drove To His friends barbecue, tapping his fingers to the song and thinking of what he should probably do about the whole situation.

Past

“Tyler, I don’t like fighting with you and I also don’t like the silent treatment you give me every time. We’re adults, we should talk about shit like this.” The two had just gotten into a fight about how she was planning to go to school in California and not Dallas, news that Tyler had no idea about.

“I’ve always planned to go to school in Cali once I saved up enough, Tyler. That’s always been my plan, the plan my Parents and friends always knew about. I didn’t think I’d ever change my mind.” He knew he couldn’t ask her to give up her school for Him, she loved it.

“Y/n I want you to go to school, I want you to have your dream. I just-“ she watched the anger leave him and watched as sadness and uneasiness washed over him.

“I just wish you didn’t have to go so far.” She sighed and moved to sit in his lap. Her hands found their place on his shoulders and his on her hips.

“I would look at schools in Dallas Tyler, but if I had some sort of I don’t know long term commitment from you? Like if I looked at schools here we’d have to be in it for the long run.”

“Deal. You could move in.” He watched her eyes widen.

“Y/n, I’m here for it. For you. I love you. You can move in and look at schools here, anything to get you to stay.” You bit your lip and nodded, you two were really doing this.

“I love you.”

Present

Tyler shook His head as he pulled up to the house, the music already blaring from the back yard.

He may have been engaged to Mckayla and it may have been months since it happened but the past couple of weeks he hadn't been able to get you out of his head.

He hadn't seen you since the last time you said goodbye to him; you stopped showing up to the parties and you stopped hanging around the same Crowd. You had let Him go and Tyler didn’t realize how much it had hurt to not see you around anymore . He had fucked up and he knew that. He knew that the moment you found out about him cheating, he knew that the moment you looked at Him sadly and told him you were going to be staying with your best friend and you’d come back for your stuff which you never did, he knew he ruined it all when you bent down and kissed his dogs goodbye for the last time.

Tyler knew you were done with him when he came Home one day and the pair of house keys were on the kitchen counter, the engagement ring next to it and the wags jersey that you’d specially wear to his games folded neatly underneath it all.

He wasn’t an idiot, he had fucked up Something good and lately he had been wondering if it was even worth it. If what he did was worth breaking your heart, because as cliche as it was he never meant to hurt you.

x-x

Tyler threw his phone against the wall and threw himself onto His bed. He had been home waiting for her, when his phone binged with a text message. And then another and then another. When he finally locked it and looked at his messages he wished he hadn't. ‘Dude Mckayla is here, you coming?’ ‘Bro whose the guy with your girl?’ ‘Segs, wtf is going on?’ It was officially, she was cheating on him and she didn’t even care to hide it. Going to the same spots his friends did, probably not thinking about covering her tracks. He had called her several Times and no answer, all going to voicemail. He was sick to his stomach, he was hurt, and angry and a little bit disgusted. He knew he needed to end it, not like it would come to a surprise, they were both unhappy to the point where she was seeing someone else, Something Tyler had expected for a while.

Picking up his phone, he had called her again, which was sent to voicemail again. Shaking his head he threw his phone on his bed and made his way downstairs, whistling for the boys to come. All three labs greeted him at the foot of the stairs, their tails wagging happily. He was getting restless and angry so he figured waking the dogs would help Him calm down a bit.

Past

“Why is he so fat, ty? Like where did you go wrong?” He shoved you gently making you laugh.

“I left him to my mom and sisters one summer and I guess they over fed him.” The black lab was happily laying at your feet on the grass in Tyler’s back yard. Marshall was chewing on a dog toy in the shade and Gerry was jumping in and out of the pool every time Tyler would throw the toy in.

“You would think having three of them, they’d be a lot crazier but it’s almost as if the more there are the calmer they are.” Tyler nodded and looked over at you.

“Yeah even when Gerry was a puppy he’d just follow what Marshall and Cash did and it was so much easier to train him.” You ran your hand along Cash’s back making him let out a sigh.

“Maybe one day, you and I can get one...together.” You looked up at Tyler.

“You already have all the colors though.” He let out a laugh making you smile.

“It doesn’t have to be A lab, it would just be nice to adopt one with you and raise one.” You nodded.

“Honestly I think when we’re more settled, I think it would be a good idea.” You watched his face light up, Tyler was such a dog dad.

“On one condition.” He raised an eyebrow at you.

“It has to be a girl, this time.”

“Noooooo!”

Present

“This isn’t working mckayla and you know it. Cheating on me, running into my friends and basically ignoring them. Ignoring my calls, late lunches with your sister what the fuck.” He watched as she rolled her eyes.

“What did you expect Tyler? All we do is fight, it’s exhausting.” Tyler didn’t say much else. He knew what a healthy relationship was supposed to be and this wasn’t it. He had one and he ruined it.

“McKayla give me the ring, get your shit and get out.” McKayla stopped folding the clothes she had in her hand.

“So that’s it? You’re not even going to try to work things out?” Tyler gawked at her, she had to be kidding?

“No, I’m not. Because this hasn’t worked out for a long time and you know that. You hate my dogs, you don’t even try to spend time with my friends, but yet we always have to run to your sister’s? A relationship is a two way street, McKayla.”

Past

“Relationships are a two way street, Tyler. I’m tired, I’m tired of chasing you, of begging you for attention. I shouldn’t have to!” You were fed up with his partying. He had stopped caring about the dinner dates, ranked on dinner with your friend, You had even taken a skype call from his mom for him having to lie as to why he wasn’t there to talk to her. All because he was out with his friends partying till 3am.

It had all started when the Stars lost the game against the Blues eliminating them from the Playoffs. They had all taken it hard, but the team decided to go to Vegas before summer started which Y/N could deal with. She encouraged Tyler to go, saying he needed it but then he came home and he was cold, and continued to party well into the night; you would come home from work and people would be everywhere throughout the house and in the backyard, so you’d go straight upstairs with the dogs and go to sleep feeling empty and sad.

“I know that, I’m trying I just-” Y/n glared down at him.

“You’re not trying, Tyler. You’re hardly here!” You were mad and hurt and all you wanted was answers. The two sat in deafening silence as you chose your next words carefully.

“Who is she Tyler?” His head shot up in confusion.

“Don’t lie to me just tell me who she is or tell me you have no idea what I’m talking about.” Tyler didn’t know what to say and apparently his silence was your answer.

“I knew it…”

“Y/n wait, just let me-” Tyler looked up at you and expected to see tears and heartache but instead all he saw was...nothing. Your face was blank, guarded, your eyes cold.

“I will get my stuff tomorrow, I’m going to stay somewhere else tonight.”

Present

Tyler didn’t expect to run into you ever, in Dallas. He figured you would have either moved on or gone to California. But then he saw you at the park, with a cute little black lab puppy on a leash he felt like he could breathe again.

You looked good, healthy and most of all happy. You had that light back to you and the puppy that is currently jumping in your lap probably helped a lot. He didn’t know if he should go over and talk to you or just walk away and leave you, you seemed at peace.

Maybe it was the fact that he was nursing a broken heart or maybe he just needed something positive in his life, or maybe he just missed you but he decided to take the leap and go talk to you.

He watched you stand up and grab the leash off the ground and then it was like time stopped. You turned around and you looked up, the smile on your face immediately fall. Shit. Tyler sent you a small smile and stopped in front of you, his hands in his pockets.

“Tyler…” You didn’t know what to say.

“Y/n, hi.” He glanced down at the puppy who was nipping at the leash.

“Oh uh, this is Bella.” Tyler bent down to say hi to the puppy who happily licked his face.

“You finally got one?” You nodded.

“A girl, like you always wanted.” You let out a sad laugh, Tyler stood back up and stared at you.

“So how have you been?” You sighed and ran a hand through your hair.

“Tyler, let’s not do this.”

“I miss you.” You looked up at him and shook your head.

“Tyler.”

“I know it’s a lot and it’s been awhile. I just, I wanted to say sorry. I’m so sorry for everything I put you through. I messed up, bad and I just-” You chuckled to yourself and stopped him before he could continue.

“She cheated didn’t she?” Tyler was taken back, how did you know.

“You’re not wearing a ring, Tyler. Plus you wouldn’t be apologizing if you didn’t know how it felt, men don’t work like that.”

“I really am sorry, Y/n.”

“Tyler, It’s okay. I’m sorry you had to feel what it’s like but I just hope you grow from this. I hope you realize what this all means and you grow up and the next time you find someone, you keep her and treat her right…” You were smiling sadly at him, no malicious or anger.

“What if ‘the next time’ is standing in front of me.” You bite your lip hard, you would always have a soft spot for Tyler Seguin but enough was enough.

“I’m sorry Tyler. I’m seeing someone…” You watched the small smile fall and the confusion grace his face.

“I- uh, who is he?” You never heard Tyler stutter before.

“He’s a guy I met through school. He’s nice and funny…”

“Does he treat you well?” You glanced at him.

“Yeah, Tyler. He does. He makes me happy.” You could see the heartbreak in his eyes. You didn’t want to hurt him, despite all he put you through, you still didn’t want to hurt him but you needed to end this.

“I used to hope to run into you, Tyler. I would hope you’d run into me and we’d talk and you’d tell me you made a big mistake…” Tyler went to say something but you shook your head.

“I missed you every day after that night. I missed our texts, our phone calls, I missed watching you play hockey funny enough I still watch it because he’s a Colorado fan. But I missed your tattoos, I missed your laugh. And then one morning I woke up and I didn’t miss you anymore, I didn’t think about you, I didn’t hope, Tyler.” His breathing was ragged and he wanted to walk away and forget this ever happened.

“I knew what I was getting myself into Tyler, when I dated you. You loved to party, constantly had girls around you but I trusted you with everything in me and you threw that away.” Your voice was soft, no harshness detected.

“I loved you so much.  I loved the future we had planned, I loved you. And I will always have love for you. But you broke me Tyler in ways no one else ever had and I’m sorry McKayla hurt you. But I’m happy now Tyler and I won’t apologize for that.” You glanced down at Bella who was laying at your feet and then back up at him, his eyes rimmed red and his hand clutching his phone.

“We adopted her together, we live together, Tyler. I won’t go down this road with you again. I healed, maybe it’s time you do the same.” He blinked back the tears at the rejection.

“I won’t be yours again, but I hope you find someone that will. I hope you find a girl who is going to love you and support you. I hope she loves your dogs unconditionally-” He remembered the last time you told him something similar but this time around instead of sadness and hurt, your voice was filled with hope and empathy.

“She’ll treat your family how they should be treated and I hope she makes you happy. I hope you find her and I know you will, Tyler. Because you’ve never had problems in that department.” Both of you let out a small laugh.

“But when you find her, Ty. I hope you treat her right, I hope you learned your lesson and keep her close and for any reason I hope you never let her go. Let her in, let her see you, Tyler. Because despite everything I think there’s a good guy in there, he just wasn’t ready for commitment. But I hope when she finds you, you are.” Tyler looked at you and you could feel it in your bones, this was a final goodbye. He shook his head.

“You were it,” You smiled at him.

“If I was it, you wouldn’t have done what you did, Tyler. Love wasn’t enough this time around and that’s okay.” You stepped a bit closer to him and leaned in to kiss his cheek, his body spray and aftershave hitting you bringing back memories.

“You’re going to be okay, Tyler. But this is it, I won’t be seeing you again.” You pulled away and motioned for Bella to follow you which he puppy happily did.

“Goodbye, Tyler Seguin. I hope you get everything you want in life and more.” Tyler watched you walk away and he could feel his heart break. Tyler took in a breath and closed his eyes, glancing back, he collected himself.

“Goodbye, Y/n.” And Tyler knew it would be for the last time.

[winryofresembool]

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 4

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Leo makes a deal with Piper and Jason.

A/N:  Time to introduce more characters! I'm currently reading The Burning Maze (yeah, wish me luck) so I'm not gonna lie, I'm feeling for Jason and Piper more than before and that will probably show in this fic too. But worry not, no body is dying in my story (yet). Anyways, I had a lot of fun with this chapter and Leo's pov and I hope it shows! As usual, thanks to the lovely Cris for noticing my silly mistakes! Feedback would be really loved as it's the only way for me to know what you guys think of this (and it really motivates me!)

Characters in this ch: Leo, Piper, Jason

Words: 2100+

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort (in the future chapters)

Warnings: none

previous chapter / next chapter / AO3

...

“You know, when you told me you’d be moving out of our flat, I didn’t realize you’d be switching our modest mancave to… basically a mansion.” Leo whistled. He was visiting Jason and his girlfriend Piper’s new home for the first time, only to find out that the place was a new two-floor, 5-bedroom house with a big yard and a garage. Leo knew Piper’s dad was a famous movie star but even so, he couldn’t help but be surprised by the size and the fanciness of the place.

“Yeah,” Jason agreed, ruffling his short, spiky hair awkwardly. He knew about Leo’s background, the part about no biological parents and having to live on the streets for weeks between different foster homes until the police finally picked him and made him go to another family. That’s why Jason didn’t like to make a big number of living in such a place and about the fact that both his and Piper’s dads were rich and well known. As a matter of fact, Jason has moved away from his childhood home already at 16, living with his sister Thalia and working after school to pay for his living because he didn’t get along with his father well. Having Piper’s dad fund the new place had not been an easy thing to swallow for him and Jason swore that once he had gotten a job, he would pay him back. “I told Piper’s dad that we’d be perfectly happy with something smaller, but he refused to listen,” he told Leo too.

“Must be pretty great to have a father like that,” Leo mumbled under his breath, and Jason didn’t miss the tone of his voice.

“I know what it sounds like, but believe me, both of us have had our own issues with our parents.” It wasn’t a lie. Jason’s mother had died of a severe illness when he was young, and his father had always expected him to take over his business when he got older. However, Jason had never wanted that, which led to a huge argument and his father telling him he’d disown him entirely if Jason didn’t listen to him. 

Piper’s dad again was almost never home, being busy with his work, and her mother had left her family when she was a young kid. Piper had visited her occasionally until her teenage years, but these days she only saw her about once a year. From what Piper had heard, she was constantly running after new men and busy with her beauty business. All that meant that Piper was basically raised by a nanny, and she was suspecting that her dad had gotten the house mainly out of regret. 

Either way, even though Jason and Piper’s experiences hadn’t been quite as traumatic as Leo’s, perhaps the problematic family backgrounds had been an important uniting factor for the three of them when they learned to know each other. It was also a big reason why Leo wasn’t actually bitter towards his friends about this new luxury. He knew they deserved to have good things in their lives after what they had gone through.

“Yeah, I know,” Leo replied to Jason. “Don’t worry man, I was just surprised, that’s all. Now you have some space to invite Uncle Leo over sometimes too, right?”

“As long as you remember to pull your head from your machine clouds sometimes,” Jason jabbed back. “It’s been a while since I’ve heard anything from you. How are things going?”

“Busy busy,” Leo answered. “You know, the usual: the profs being a huge pain in my ass, people lining up to get me to fix their things that in reality would take them like 3 minutes to fix and… oh, I have a new flatmate.”

“You do?” Jason asked curiously. “What’s he like?”

“First of all, she’s a she and it’s a long story so I’d prefer to tell it when Piper is hearing it too so I don’t have to tell it twice,” Leo said, so that Jason wouldn’t ask more questions. The blonde boy simply nodded and gestured towards the entrance of the house. After that he gave Leo a quick tour on the first floor. 

“You have this much space here and no workshop? Holy Hephaestus, dude, you need to sort out your priorities!” Leo exclaimed once he had seen most of it. 

“Hephaestus? That’s a new one,” Jason said with amusement. 

“Yeah, well… my new flatmate is into Greek mythology… and Hephaestus is the god of blacksmiths… so that’s kinda cool,” Leo explained as nonchalantly as possible. 

 “Yeah, but did you really pay attention to the mythology lessons? I thought you only care about sciences and handicrafts,” Jason pointed out.

“Fine, you got me. Everything I know about Greek mythology is through my childhood nanny.” Jason couldn’t help but snort at that. 

Leo had to admit he was rather impressed by what he had seen even though the house was still lacking a workshop. Besides, Jason had already promised the guest room would be open for him any time he wanted, which was an offer he would definitely be using soon enough.

“Hi, Leo!” a brown haired girl greeted him happily as soon as he reached the living room. 

“Pipes, hi!” Leo greeted back, throwing her a high five as was their usual habit every time they met. “Would your dad be willing to buy me a place too so I could move away from that old, dusty building?”

“He’s a nice guy, Leo, but he has his limits too,” Piper noted, knowing that Leo wasn’t asking seriously. “Trust me, Jason and I don’t like owing him either. But I thought you liked it in your current flat? What’s the issue?”

“I guess it just isn’t quite the same without you guys hanging out there all the time,” Leo shrugged. “And my new flatmate seems to think after 10 PM is not an appropriate time to fix people’s machines. Go figure.”

“Yeah, why would anyone want to sleep at night?” Piper replied sarcastically but then smiled at him. “So, you do have a new flatmate?”

“Yeah,” Leo nodded, not elaborating more.

Jason couldn’t help but tease a bit: “And it’s a girl and he refused to tell me anything about her.”

“Oh,” Piper said, a curious gleaming in her eyes, “Is that so, Leo?”

Leo punched Jason on his bicep, which however only made him laugh. “Your boyfriend here is changing facts. I only told him that I’d like to tell the full story when you’re hearing it too because I don’t care about going through it any more times than necessary.”

“You’re being quite grumpy about it, though,” Jason retorted. “C’mon, we’re curious.”

“Fine.” Leo sighed. “Her name is Calypso and she’s a history student,” he said simply.

“Wow, I feel I basically know her already,” Piper replied sarcastically. “There must be something else too,” she urged with an encouraging tone that usually never failed to make Leo talk. “What about the long story?”

Suddenly Leo blurted the whole story from their meeting to her cold attitude to Festus breaking Calypso’s desk and to him fixing it and finally cracking her shell a bit. Not much, Leo felt, but at least she greeted him now when they were in the common area at the same time and didn’t seem quite as angry at him anymore. She had even smiled at him the other day. Briefly. Leo tried to shake that thought out of his head. Damn it, why did he always have a thing for girls who were way out of his league (and who hated his guts)?

“Tough luck, man,” Jason said when Leo finished his story. “Maybe she will come around, though.”

Piper, who was very good at reading people’s emotions, though, reacted quite differently.

“Try to think about it from her point of view. She has, based on what you just said, just moved to a new town where she knows no one, and then the first person she meets was – don’t take this as an offense - maybe a bit different than what she expected and then he also breaks what little she owns… I’d probably be pissed off too. So instead of firing back – if she’s still angry – you could try a different approach. You know, actually being nice to her and not making jokes at inappropriate moments.”

Leo frowned. “Hey! It wasn’t like I was intentionally trying to be rude or break anything! I did apologize and fix the desk! She just makes it so easy to be snarky sometimes…”

“Have you really tried to get to know her, though?” Piper asked. “She could be happy if you showed some actual interest in her.”

Leo blushed a bit at the word ‘interest’. “I’m really not so sure about that… To me she seems the happiest when I just let her be.”

“But you’re gonna live together for a while, you can’t just avoid her forever,” Piper pointed out.

“I hate it when you’re right, beauty queen,” Leo rolled his eyes at her. Jason decided to change the topic.

“Hey, how about a card game? If Leo wins, we’ll let you withdraw into your tinkering cave for one more week. If you lose, then we are challenging you to talk to her within the next 24 hours.”

“Sounds like a pretty unfair deal,” Leo muttered. “But knowing you guys you won’t be giving me a choice. However, if I win, I demand to get to live here from next Friday to Sunday, free food and foot massages included.”

“I’m not gonna touch your dirty feet!” Jason protested.

“But if I’m gonna have to talk to her either way, I feel it’s a fair deal.” Leo grinned as if he had won already. 

“Alright. You can spend here even a whole week if you want and we will buy your food BUT we are not gonna massage your feet,” Piper tried to compromise.

“Bummer. I was really looking forward to that. But fine, I’ll accept the deal.” Leo shook both Piper and Jason’s hands to seal it. “Now, let me show you what a real card master can do!”

…

Leo turned out to be an amazing card mixer (his hands always fiddled with something so he had definitely practiced card mixing too) and a good strategist (his main strategy was trying to distract his opponents with bad jokes) but Piper and Jason weren’t bad either. After playing for over 30 minutes, the winner still hadn’t been decided so the trio decided to go all in, the next round would decide the winner.

Piper dealt the cards this time, Leo and Jason taking theirs. A wild grin spreading to Leo’s face when he checked his cards.

“Woah. Sorry, Grace, but I’m afraid I won this game.”

“Is that so, Valdez?” Jason asked, rather confidently as well. Leo glanced at him with confusion only for a moment before he smashed his cards on the table.

“Quads!” he exclaimed happily as he spread the cards on the table for the others to see. Jason’s mouth twitched.

“Not bad, Repair Boy,” the blonde boy said, using the nickname Piper had come up with. “But I’m afraid that won’t win this.”

He showed his cards, revealing five hearts, numbers 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Leo’s face paled a bit and the grin disappeared.

“Straight flush! That’s impossible!” he yelped.

“It’s not!” Piper said. “But don’t worry, I think this is a win for both of us. We don’t have to buy your food and you get to stop being stubborn a bit faster. C’mon, this could be a good thing. You might have formed your opinion on her too fast.”

“Hmmph. But fine. I’ll talk to her. Tomorrow. Today, my pride has been wounded.”

Jason and Piper both muffled their giggles. Not much later, Leo decided to go home as he supposedly had homework to finish (in reality, he had already finished his physics exercises in class while bored of listening to the professor talk about something that was way too obvious to him) but the other two knew he was simply making excuses. When Leo had decided he didn’t want to do something, it was /really/ hard to get him to do it, because he was that stubborn. And clearly talking with that girl was one of those things.

Once Jason and Piper had waved Leo goodbye and watched him strut farther on the road, Piper asked quietly: “Should we have told him that the dealer may have been a bit partial and she’s also good at card tricks?”

“Nah, let him think it was a fair game. Otherwise we’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Yeah, you’re right there,” Piper admitted and the two burst into laughter.

[radiojamming]

I feel like the low-hanging fruit of a prompt to give you is something around the canonical presence of the Franklin Expedition in TMA lore. Everchase fic?

[GRABS THAT FRUIT AND SCURRIES BACK UP MY TREE WITH IT BEFORE U CAN EVEN BLINK]

also i picked my 3rd favorite franklin expedition boy as the main dude here :3c and this isn’t terror-centric so much as it lines up with MAG 133!

- - -

Tom doesn’t understand what possesses the men he sails with. Some of them have such a want; such a craving and a desire that he cannot fathom, what with his simple daily tasks and basic training. He sees it, sometimes, when he’s tying off ropes or painting or tarring. He sees their hunger, spies it when they look out at where the sea is caked in ice, threatening the end of a cold summer. Out beyond the grey mountains and glaciers, the knife points of broken ice, the strange creatures, the dancing lights that curtain the stars, he knows they see the Northwest Passage. They see it so clearly that they’re blind to what’s in front of them now.

He sees a job. He sees chores and things that years in the Navy have taught him to do. 

Of course, he also wants things. Everyone does. Tom wants to make it through the expedition in one piece, whether it end in the Sandwich Islands or England if they have to turn tail. He wants to collect his double pay, count it out from his hands to his mother’s, and feel safe and warm again before the next set of sails and ropes entices him back to the sea. 

And once, he wanted adventure. He wouldn’t have had the thought to sign onto Erebus if there wasn’t some part of him that craved it. It didn’t capture his senses the way it does for some of the men, but there was a thrill that ran a gauntlet through his heart when he saw something truly strange, like the auroras or the twirled horns of narwhals peeking up through the ice. Sometimes, he would eagerly run down to the orlop after his watch ended and pen out a quick letter to his sisters, his brother, his mother, or his cousins—just hurried observations of the Arctic and how different it was from Gillingham. 

He wanted adventure. The past tense is deliberate and fierce. He wanted, because the only reason it was ever in the present tense at all is now buried under six feet of frozen gravel some two hundred miles north. If he must want something presently, he wants his brother back from the dead.

No, he doesn’t understand the men who seek the Passage like hounds on a scent. What’s the use of wanting something you’re not meant to have?

- - -

They freeze in for the second summer in a row. The sun kisses the horizon, pressing rosy lips to grey shale and pink ice—then draws back up into a powder blue sky to wink above them. 

That’s when people start to disappear.

First, it’s Sir John. He dies in June—or so Tom’s told. He apparently dies in the night, long after the dog watches take place. Captain Crozier tells the men that they’ll be burying Sir John right away, but Commander— no, Captain Fitzjames’ face is fixed peculiarly when the announcement is made. Dreadfully ill, Crozier tells them. He can’t be seen.

It doesn’t make sense. Many of the ABs echo the sentiment, but the mates and lieutenants are quick to quash their concerns. The burial is hasty, committing a simple wooden box to the gravel with only a large stone to mark the grave itself. This strikes Tom as stranger than all the Arctic’s oddest traits combined. His brother, a lowly able-bodied seaman, was afforded more decorum than Sir John Franklin. 

More disappear after that. Fairholme and Osmer apparently die on a hunting expedition. Aylmore, Goddard, and Kinnaird aren’t far behind, disappearing into that sun-soaked horizon with only whispers left behind. 

Reddington makes the oddest display before his disappearance; honestly, he’s the best hint to Tom that something very, very strange is happening. The night before he goes missing, he wakes half the ship up with a maniacal laugh, practically screaming in pure incoherence before Lieutenant Le Vesconte drags him into the Wardroom, presumably to calm him. Le Vesconte opens the door only once to ask for Captain Fitzjames and a glass of brandy before he shuts them both in and the screaming starts again. All Tom can catch is the howl of, “It’s there! It’s there! I’ve seen it!” before Fitzjames arrives.

The next morning, Reddington is gone. Fitzjames says he broke loose and ran off after the second dog watch, presumably having gone mad.

A few days later, Crozier says they’re going to abandon ship and begin a long walk south.

- - -

The craving begins in September, Tom thinks. 

If there even is such thing as September. 

In his mind, it’s The Craving, titled like a book. In this book, he thinks the plot would be about men so far gone in their hunger that all the humanity in them decays to nothing, leaving them crazed husks searching for the impossible. At this point, what with men falling into the stones and dying halfway through the descent, he feels they shouldn’t be like this. They should be tending their wounded and ill, making camp more often. But The Craving is in Crozier’s eyes, dragging them further and further towards… something.

Tom doesn’t think they’re looking for the Passage anymore.

He follows along, as he always has. Ever the seaman, now ever the AB, following orders from a boatswain with lips scarred from his whistle freezing to the flesh and tearing away. 

Then, The Craving gets carnal when their last food stores begin to dwindle. Tom barely notices, watching as if in a dream as the man who used to be Daniel Arthur cracks marrow out of a bone, greedily clawing it out of the hollows with his frostbitten fingers. He eats like an animal, and stops only when they begin to move again. 

Tom doesn’t eat with them. Every time he thinks of it, his mind plays some terrible trick. He thinks of John, entombed in ice and rock, emaciated and torn open like an animal was the one who pried his ribs from his body, and not a surgeon. He thinks of what John’s marrow would taste like, and imagines his brother watching him, eyes unfocused behind the mists of death, jaw unhinged in that silent scream of a corpse—judging him.

Tommy, he thinks John would say. Always stealing off my plate, huh?

He doesn’t eat. When the hunger saws at his stomach with iron teeth, he bites his hands, his lips, the wool from his coat, the copper-tasting metal of his buttons. He swallows snow until he vomits. 

And somehow, impossibly, he lives on.

- - -

There are no days.

No weeks.

No months.

Maybe years, but Tom’s stopped counting.

There are only steps, one after another. There are bloody footprints thousands of miles behind them. They abandoned the sledges back in the snow and gravel, leaving useless cargo and a trail of broken bodies. Men still die, but there seems to be no real reason why they do. Tom should have been dead… ten? Twenty? Fifty years ago? He can’t remember. All he knows is that he’s still walking, following behind Crozier and Fitzjames and a dwindling party of men still dressed for the Arctic weather.

They’re in a desert.

Surely they should have found the Passage by now? Tom thinks this as he sees a lizard scurry up a strange plant, spiked like a well-used pincushion. The sun bites his blistering flesh, scrapes its glowing teeth along the back of his neck. Still, he’s never felt the need to take off his slops. There’s something comforting about the What Was, after all.

Why is he here? He doesn’t Crave the way the others do. They always talk about the Passage. It’s over that hill, surely. It’s along this river. If we just walk over there, it will be within sight. He knows it won’t be. It never is.

So why does he walk?

Because you Want, something tells him. It’s a deep, odd thing set in his soul, prone to ring out when struck like a bell, reminding him that he Must Always Walk.

For what?

For the Wanting, it says. And what do you Want, Thomas Hartnell?

Somewhere beyond a flat-topped mountain the colour of blood and bile, he thinks about that question. What does he Want?

He wants his mother to kiss his forehead and tell him good night. He wants Charlie to take apart their father’s pocket watch and put it back together, just in time to proudly show it to Tom. He wants to hear Mary Ann sing old shanties while she kneads dough on Friday morning. He wants to sit at the base of an apple tree while Betsy throws down the fruit, giggling as she does so.

He wants John to come back from the dead.

He wants to go home.

And Home is over that next mountain, says The Craving. Tom looks up at another blood-red mountain, the winking sun pressing a kiss to the slant of its neck. Don’t you want to see it again? Gillingham? Kent? The River and the Sea?

Of course he does, but it isn’t—

Well, maybe it is.

So Tom Wants, and he Craves, and he Walks.

[bedbellyandbeyond]

Emotions

Ruben didn't leave Dante's room for anything else but dinner and the restroom. It had been two days already and Dante hadn't woken up. Köbi had healed his wounds, but dark scars were still left over his body. They didn't mangle his skin, it was more of a pigment change, like a tattoo. Ruben was assured that he wasn't in too much pain, his body was just taking it's time recovering. A surprising side effect of the ritual was that Dante's hair had grown out incredibly faster than normal. Köbi had said it was part of the healing, bodily processes had been sped up to heal him faster. What was unusual was that while Dante dyed his hair, the new hair was coming in entirely white. When Ruben asked about it, Sydryn said it was likely that the trauma had whitened his hair. He'd also attained two months worth of beard in two days.

“If his body keeps doing this so fast, won't he run out of energy and stuff?” Ruben asked as Sydryn came in to check on Dante's monitors. “The process has already slowed,” Sydryn said. “It's the main reason he's still asleep. He sleeps now to regain that energy.” “Okay…” Ruben he stood beside Dante's bed and put a hand through his hair. “So, it's just sleep, right? Not a coma?” “No… If we really needed to, we could wake him,” Sydryn explained. “He just really needs the rest so it's best to let him wake himself. But when he does wake up, he may not stay awake too long.” Ruben nodded. “Will the scars go away?” Sydryn sighed. “They may not… They could fade perhaps but they're not like your typical scar… They were created by the blood of demon. It's safe to assume they're permanent.” “Oh…” “Do you find it unappealing?” “No, no… If they're not hurting him…” Ruben rubbed the back of his neck. “They're kind of cool… I could get some kind of tattoo maybe. To match.” “Mmhm…” Sydryn looked at Ruben. “Could you do me a favour?” “What?” “Would you mind walking my dogs for me?” “Oh. Um…” Ruben looked down at Dante but it was obvious he wasn't waking any time soon. “Sure…” “You can take them down to the courtyard,” Sydryn explained. “You don’t have to scoop. Their excrements are very good for the flora.” “Good to know.” “They don’t have leads. They know where to go. Once you’re out of the elevator, just follow them until they tire themselves. And do not visit the other floors.” “Right…” Ruben scratched his elbow. “It’s Rozovyy…” “Rozovyy, Arbuz, and Fandango. Just call them. They’ll come. I trust them to you.” Sydryn smiled. “I know you’re a dog lover.” Ruben pulled a face but left and whistled for the alien pets. All three night dogs bounded over and jumped up excitedly around him. “It’s walk time, weirdos. Let’s go.” He called the elevator and when the doors opened, the dogs all barrelled in. He squeezed himself among them and pushed the button for the ground floor as the doors closed. The elevator immediately dropped and they were falling quickly down to the awaiting outdoors. The doors slid open and the dogs bounded outward, each going in separate directions. Rozovyy started sniffing around the flower garden while Fandango and Arbuz decided to chase some hummingbirds. Ruben just kept an eye on them while taking in the fresh air. He looked up to see if he could spot Sydryn's floor, and low and behold it was the pinkest stripe along the inside of the building. Going one up, he still couldn't figure out how such a large space could fit into Azeros's floor when the story seemed no taller. Some kind of magic was definitely about. Matter of fact, it would definitely be late autumn in Europe but the plants were all in bloom and Ruben was comfortable outside in a tank top. Ruben took a look around at the other animals Sydryn kept here. Up close, it was much less a zoo than one big enclosure. All the animals shared the open space and it didn’t seem that anyone was interested in eating each other. They all seemed content just to go about their business and chill, enjoying their pinkness. It still seemed unnatural to keep them all there, but it didn’t look quite as cruel as Ruben expected. At the far end of the enclosure, there was a little tool shed and a bench. On that bench, Dusty sat quietly, reading a book. Ruben hadn't seen much of Dusty for the last couple days, but that was mostly due to Ruben not leaving Dante's room, so he wouldn't have known Dusty had been MIA for some time now. If he had known, he'd figure Sydryn sent Ruben out with the dogs to find Dusty. But he hadn't known so he didn’t figure. Arbuz had found him first and was curled up on the bench beside him, putting their doglike head in his lap. Dusty noticed Ruben approaching and put a bookmark in his page before looking up. “Hello.” “Hey.” Ruben didn’t know yet how to feel about Dusty. He was glad he'd been unbound from Dante, but it still felt like it was his fault Dante even had to go through all this in the first time. “I'm just reading,” Dusty stated. “I can see that. I'm just walking the dogs.” “Yeah…” Dusty closed his book. “Do you read, Ruben?” “Mmm… Not really,” Ruben admitted. “I used to read a lot as a kid. Fell out of it after middle school… Does reading to my kids, count?” “Sure. I don't see why not.” Ruben shrugged. “I don't really have the time for a book for myself.” “Fair enough…” Dusty stroked the spine of his book. “I had a lot of time to read when I lived with Syd. You'd be surprised how many books were published with pink covers.” “I can't imagine… Listen, I'm not really a small talk kind of guy…” Ruben stated. “If you want to talk to me about something, might as well get to the point.” “I'm lost, Ruben,” Dusty said. “I feel really empty. I thought maybe I could read and find something inspiring in it to help me through this, but it's not working. I can't enjoy the things I liked before right now.” “That's a lot…” Ruben shooed Arbuz off the bench and sat down. “But it sounds like depression.” “Azeros said the ritual took my emotions away temporarily. I don't feel like they're back yet,” Dusty said. “I want to want something but I don't know what…” “What about Grey?” Ruben offered. “Grey?” Dusty stared blank for a moment then his head jerked up and tears started falling from his eyes. “Oh god… I forgot about Grey…” “Dude.” Dusty wiped his eyes and turned to Ruben. “I didn’t think I'd forget my son!” “Well… If you lost your emotions, they're back,” Ruben stated. Dusty sobbed and rubbed his knees. “I want to go home…” “Hell, me too. Couldn't you though?” Ruben said. “You're not bound to Dante. You could just leave.” “Sydryn said I need to recover first…” Dusty stated. “And I know they're right… I don't feel right inside. I'm…a little too strong, if that makes any sense.” “Sure, you sucked the life out my boyfriend,” Ruben stated. “Ruben, the ritual—” “I'm messing with you.” Ruben smiled. Dusty looked at him shocked. “Wow…” “What?” “I've just… I've never seen you smile before.” Ruben frowned. “I smile.” “Not around me. Everyone says you don't like me.” “I don't. I didn’t…” Ruben rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, I'm a simple guy… I went through shit as a kid and it messed me up so I was pretty happy just to have a decent normal life after that. But then I met Yori, and I love him, but it wasn't until my kids were born did I get a really big reality check. It's like every day, there's another…supernatural thing going on, and yeah, I mean I knew this alien business was happening in the news, but none of it really affected me until Yori. While I wouldn't want to live without him, I am constantly reminded that I'm… I'm literally just a man. A human man. No powers, no special abilities. A normal regular human. But I live in the same house as a hyper intelligent alien. My partner and my children are basically dog gods. I’ve met a mermaid, an angel, a dragon... And then all of a sudden I find out my boyfriend was bonded to a demon. Then…on top of that… They have a child together.” “Ruben…” Dusty bit his lip. “I didn’t realise—” “Of course you didn’t,” Ruben huffed. “No one else seems to know how fucking terrifying all that is. I'm sick and tired of it! I'm literally just a man! And all I want is a fucking drink!” Dusty blinked. “A drink? Just have a drink.” “I…” Ruben licked his teeth. “Ah, fuck… Yeah. Let's have a fucking drink.” “Let's?” Dusty perked up. “Me and you?” “Yeah. Can demons get drunk?” “Yeah, sure.” “Good.” Rusty looked up at the building. “One of these dragons has got to have something good… Maybe one of them has an alcohol hoard.” “You want to raid another dragon's hoard?” Dusty was suddenly both terrified and terribly excited. “Sure. Isn't there one with a basement floor or something?” Ruben said. “There's gotta be a cellar down there.” “We really… We really shouldn't…” Dusty muttered, hating every word. “You're a demon. My parents thought I was too,” Ruben said smirking and standing up. “You were born to indulge yourself. Am I wrong?” “Well, no… But don't you have the dogs?” “When they're done shitting, we'll just drop them back in Syd's and sneak out,” Ruben said. “You…Dante told me you could teleport.” “Oh. Yes, yes I can. Only where I've been or can see though.” “Then just take us back down here after we lose these dogs. Deal?” “I haven’t done something like this in a really long time,” Dusty said. “Me neither. I miss it,” Ruben said. “Are we fucking doing this or not?” Dusty nodded quickly. “Yes! Definitely!” “Alright. Awesome.”

[michealharrypotter]

Clingy and Cows Chapter 5

Sorry about the POV’s, they’re a little choppy. 

Harry POV

The wind whistled in my ears as we ripped down the highway at 45 miles an hour which doesn’t seem too fast but when you’re in an open vehicle it is. Trust me. I watched as we passed pasture after pasture. Each one was unique. Some already had golden hay in neat lines, some fresh green still growing, and others completely different.

I was actually truly amazed by what I saw. 

We took a right onto a dirt road and continued up it until we came to this ring like thing. 

I am not scared. I am not scared. I am not scared……. I’m scared. 

I looked at everyone around me and they all had accumulated sunglasses at some point and I don’t know when. 

“Babe? Should I have a pair of sunnies too?” 

“Probably. That is why I packed yours. It gets really  dusty on the trail if you haven’t noticed already,” Laurie said. 

“Wow, okay. You are really prepared”

“Yep. I mean I spent my childhood here. I know the ins and outs of everything in this damn county”

We set off with us in the lead and everyone else behind us. 

It’s truly beautiful. 

There were sunflowers covering the whole mountain. As we got further up into the mountain, we started seeing huge pine trees. I mean huge. 

I felt extremely bad for not wanting to come here sooner. I assumed it was only going to be dead grass, but boy was I wrong. 

“Laurie. This is just so... “

“Amazing?”

“Yeah. If that’s even the word to explain it”

“You know, we’re coming up on this part where as a little girl I always imagined getting proposed to”

She pointed to a field to my left that was covered in wildflowers. 

Good Lord. She wasn’t kidding when she said she dreams of wildflowers. I would too if I had grown up here.

Laurie’s POV

We rode past the field of wildflowers that I have dreamed of getting proposed to for years. Jake and I used to talk about how one day he would propose to me. Although Harry didn’t need to know that detail

What would it have been like if I had never met Harry? Would Jake and I actually be married right now? Would I have my books? Would I be going to university to get my Phd? God, Laurie you need to stop. You are happy with him. You wouldn’t change it for the world. 

I snapped out of the trance when Harry said, “I need to pee.”

I nodded then signaled to my fellow riders that we were pulling over. 

Sammy pulled up to my side, “Why are we stopping?”

“My boyfriend has the bladder of a two year old, that’s why,” I said. 

Sammy rolled her eyes.

Jake’s POV

I wonder what would have happened if she hadn’t met that dickwad, Harry? Would we have been married? I mean probably, I love her still. I would have proposed to her in that field,  then   we would get married in my backyard with all of our friends.  We would live in a nice house with our dogs and horses. 

“Hey mate,” said Harry.

“I’m not your mate,” I said bitterly.

“Jesus, I’m just trying to be friendly,” Harry snapped back. 

“Well it ain’t working. So I suggest you move along now and stay out of my way. Okay?”

“Look if this is about Laurie coming over the other night crying, I’m sorry. We made up. We’re okay now,”

“Does it look like I give a fuck whether you made up or not?” I asked.

“Actually no. Let me answer that for you. I don’t care because either way, you made her sad. Men aren’t supposed to hurt their women. You hear me? So if I hear one more damn time that you were treating her wrong, boy you don’t even want to know what I’ll do.”

“God. You know what? I thought you were a cool dude at first but guess I was wrong,” Harry said.

“ Get out of my face,” I said back

“Or what?” 

I took a step forward ready to swing. 

“Jake no! Do you really want to do this? Laurie is less than a mile up the road with Sammy. I know damn well it would hurt her more than anything to see you beating up her boyfriend,” said Evan. 

“Fine, Styles. Be grateful I let you go so easy this time,” I said while glaring at him “Next time, I won’t be as forgiving” and with that I walked back to my fourwheeler. 

Laurie’s POV

“Hey we heard what sounded like arguing, everything okay?” I asked Harry? 

“Yeah, no problem here baby”

“Okay” 

I was a little suspicious, I knew the boys don’t like each other all too well. 

“Alright, everyone ready?”

“Yes ma’am”

“Yep”

“Okay, do y’all mind if I take the lead with Harry”

“No that’s alright,” said Evan. 

I looked over just in time to see Jake rolling his eyes. 

What the hell was that all about? 

I dismissed it and started up the ATV again. 

Harry’s POV

We had gotten back to the house just over a little bit ago and everyone had gone home. 

“Laurie?” 

“Yes baby?” she asked while hugging me. 

“Do you have any idea as to why Jake wouldn’t like me?”

“Well not really. I’m sure he’s just being over protective. I mean he’s basically family. I’m sure he’s just looking out for me” 

“Okay. Thank you baby” 

“Mhm. Would you like  to take a nap with me. I’m quite tired ?” I asked her. 

“No thank you baby. I think I’ll just head on outside to the porch and read for a bit”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, come and get me if you need anything”

“Mmm” I kissed her lightly then headed upstairs to take a nap. 

Laurie’s POV

I walked to the kitchen to get myself a cup of tea to sip on while reading my book. I chose one of my favorites, gingerbread tea. 

Once the tea was done, I grabbed by book and headed outside. I was currently reading Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan. It is quite lovely, yet amazingly sad. It’s about a young woman who is sold into a marriage but then her husband dies. The poor young girl has to live with her evil mother-in-law. The mother-in-law can’t stand her anymore and abandoned her in a city for widows. 

I had finished by tea and had gotten to the end of my book when I was letting myself indulge in the serenity around me. 

I have been blessed with this beautiful earth, loving boyfriend, and friends. 

I got so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t hear Jake coming around the house to sit me. 

“Laurie,” Jake whispered. 

I jumped quite high in my chair, “Good lord man, I think you about killed me”

“Sorry, sorry,” he chuckled. 

“What are you doing here Jake?”

“Oh Laurs,” he said while looking at me. 

“Jake, why are you here?” I asked again. 

“You have no idea how much I love you do you?”

“Jake, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I love you Laurie! And have since the day we met. I have never stopped loving you. And when I drove past that field today, it just reminded me how much I miss you,” he paused for a second. “Laurie, I love you”.

“Jake don’t do this” I said quietly. 

“Why? Why not? I love you Laurie. Do you not love me?”

“No Jake, I love you, just not like that. I’m not 18 anymore Jake. I’ve grown. I have a new life in Utah. I have a boyfriend of whom I love very much”

“Oh fuck your boyfriend. The guys a dumbass anyway”

“Excuse me? You do NOT have the right to talk about him like that. I love him Jake. Why can’t you just wrap your head around the fact that I love Harry?”

“Because Laurie, it was supposed to be us. We were supposed to be here right now. I was supposed to be the one to call you baby and to ride with you through the canyon. We were supposed to be getting married in the summer of ‘17,” he said while his voice raised. 

“Jake, you can’t tell me that you still think after all these years that we are going to get married. God Jake, we made that promise when we were like 16. For God’s sake let it go. We were innocent. We didn’t think we would ever find love outside of ourselves” I yelled. 

Just then a sleepy Harry opened the door, “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing Harry, just please go back inside”

Instead of going inside he walked over to me and stood by my side. 

“No, I want to know why I was awoken by the sound of Jake telling my girlfriend why he loves her and planned to marry her” 

“Baby, it’s nothing” 

Jake interrupted, “Actually, it’s not nothing. I was just about to say that Laurie deserves so much better than you. She deserves a gentleman, like me”

“Oh good Christ, would someone explain to me what I missed?”

I turned towards Harry, “Well baby, when we were younger, Jake and I used to be together. We were together for about 2 ½ years. We were convinced that we were going to get married. But then I got accepted into Uni, started writing my books and met you. I stopped loving Jake like that and loved him more as a brother. Although, Jake here, still loves me in not such a sisterly way”

Harry just stood still for a second then turned to Jake. 

“Mate, let it go, She’s mine”

“I’m not going to let it go” 

“Please, it isn’t worth it” I said. 

“Laurie, please. Tell me you still love me” Jake said desperately. 

“That’s the thing Jake, I can’t”

Jake quickly grew red in the face. 

“This is all your fucking fault, Styes,”He said, pointing a fingre at Harry, “If you hadn’t come along and charmed your way into Laurie’s life she would still be mine! We would be married! We would have kids! We would be living the dream!” He shouted. 

“Mate, you clearly don’t know anything about Laurie. She has told me on many occasions she doesn’t want kids. She told me she didn’t want to live the ranch life” Harry said. 

I looked Jake in the eyes and said, “Jake, please go home. I’m begging you. If you truly want me to be happy, leave me alone”

He looked at me for a while, then turned on his feet and walked back to his truck. 

Just when we were about to back inside, Jake turned back around and swung at Harry. 

“Ah fuck he hit me proper in the nose”

“Jesus Christ, Jake! Get the fuck out of here!” I said. 

And with that, Jake got in the truck and left. 

“I can’t wait to tell the boys about this,” Harry said while holding his nose. 

[thehivemindwrites]

A  Series of Disconnected Thoughts, Cast into the Void in No Particular Order

1. I’ve been finding myself thinking more and more about Kill Six Billion Demons recently. Not just because it’s absolutely gorgeous artwork and Moebius-meets-prog-metal stylings are extremely my shit (KSBD is responsible for adding Gojira to my rotation of workout music, and that alone has me in its debt), but because I can really appreciate a main character who is a walking disaster coming to some kind of enlightenment through a combination of getting her ass handed to her repeatedly, making questionable decisions, and basically just deciding to struggle forwards because I don’t know, what the fuck else is there to do? It’s hardly original (see: basically any shounen about The Power of Friendship and Not Giving Up) but damn if the presentation of it in this particular case isn’t particularly delightful. Plus it gave us the image of a giant hulking demon wearing a jacket that says KILL BOSS and that’s rad.The creator of KSBD is also co-creator, as it happens, of the newly released Lancer TTRPG, which I backed on Kickstarter and will, one day, get a rad fucking hardcover copy of (but for now I’m reading through the pdf and swearing oaths that one day I will play it). Anyway, as someone who also got where he is through a series of questionable decisions and getting his ass handed to him by life in general (oh, and an enormous amount of luck), I can relate. Plus the phrase “Reach heaven through violence,” while kind of terrible on the surface, feels good to shout at yourself while you’re off for a run. 

2. Part of this whole exercise thing - a side-effect of it, if you wanna call it that - is that generally I feel better about myself like in general. I’ve mentioned that before. What it doesn’t do, of course, is magically mean that I’m now 100% good and not still dogged by a persistent sense of self-loathing that I’ve just had to accept will never really go away. Like for example: I’ve lost 35 kg since starting this whole gym thing, except you might remember the goal was 40. I still haven’t hit that goal, and frankly I’ve spent the last like three months bouncing around the same like, 3 kg zone because I’ve been traveling a lot and that basically fucks up my workout and eating routine. It’s frustrating, and it sure does let the part of me that knows deep down that I’m a fat fucker and always will be no matter what I do run wild from time to time. Which is, I’m coming to understand, just gonna always be there. This stuff doesn’t go away! Ever! 

Which doesn’t mean it’s right, even a little. You tune it out and throw yourself into battle with it over and over again. You get bloodied and broken and claw back and then you get bloodied and broken some more. Insert that gif from Princess Bride of Westly saying LIFE IS PAIN, HIGHNESS here. Thing is, there’s something about the struggle that’s nice. I am not sure how motivated I’d be to do anything if part of it wasn’t motivated by the desire to prove my dumb brain wrong about, uh, me. If I wasn’t fighting the various little demons that plague me every so often, I doubt I’d be so well-adjusted. I certainly wouldn’t be mentally healthy. None of this makes sense as I read it back, of course - it sounds like I’m saying “boy it’s nice to be miserable,” which isn’t true. Being miserable sucks shit! I don’t recommend it! But it is nice to see misery coming and punch it in the face (metaphorically speaking). Sometimes I think the thing that makes me go to the gym and work so hard (this sounds like I’m bragging, but I can assure you I’m not - “work so hard” means “not collapse and fall off the elliptical after five minutes because oh god I don’t want to be here”) is out of some desire for self-annihilation through pushing myself past my physical limits. Reach heaven through violence (see, I told you it sounded cool).

3. The world has gotten really fucking bad for a lot of people, and I don’t know that it will get better for them any time soon. In fact, given the latest talk from the ol’ UN Climate Change report, it’s gonna get even worse. I would very much prefer that were not the case! It’s motivation enough to get out and vote and shit, at least for me - and as someone who is, you know, ridiculously privileged, that’s the absolute least I can do. Which is why I try to do more, mostly involving donating money to causes that seem like they’re able to cause the sort of trouble that needs to be caused. Or just use expertise to protect the people I don’t know how to protect, because I’m a lot of things, and one of them happens to be smart enough to know that I don’t know shit. So I make sure people that do know shit have the money they need. Pretty straightforward, I think. 

The other thing I try to do, because giving money isn’t really something I think about much at all (I’m stupidly fucking fortunate to have a job that pays well, remember), is occasionally go out and actually be present at protests and the like - there are a lot of climate protests and they’re all a good time. Occasionally it’s worth overcoming one’s intense social anxiety to do so. Lord knows it’s significantly less of a risk for me to be out shouting at cops than most. 

4. She-Ra might be one of the best shows out there. There’s something nice about a show that both does and does not present a simple world. Yes, the Horde is bad. Like, objectively bad! They do a lot of looting and subjugating and are generally just deeply not chill people.On the other hand, the people who make up the Horde are still people, and I have a lot of time for a show that can manage to humanize its Big Bad Villain whilst still making it very clear they are  still, you know, not good. It’s messy, and complicated, and sad, because sometimes you have to fight people you used to be friends with! Sometimes you have to make the call that hey, we can’t be friends anymore, because I can’t support the things you’re doing anymore. I’ve made that call before - I bet everyone has, at some point (if you haven’t, I’m sure you’ll have to eventually). Fortunately for me, it’s never been that difficult of a choice, if only because the people I had to go against weren’t people I’d known for very long. 

Anyway, that’s part of it - you gotta just cut people out sometimes. There’s more to it though, because the other thing the show believes is that everyone - even the real shitty people - can change. It doesn’t mean everything’s forgiven, and it doesn’t erase all the bad shit, but they can still change. It’s worth changing, even if it isn’t a cure-all. 

So yeah, I like She-Ra a lot. It’s also just well-written, and funny, and it’s a real good time to see a bunch of diverse characters running around having adventures and being fuckin’ rad. Plus, they’ve shown an incredible willingness to completely change the stakes from season to season - the end of season four in particular is  the equivalent of detonating all the things you thought were important. It pulls a bait and switch so ruthless that I might have applauded if I wasn’t so self-conscious about making noise that my neighbors might hear. The combination of season 3 and 4 was a masterclass on raising the stakes and then explaining that actually, you were playing for stakes even higher than you could’ve thought possible. Oh, and the people you thought you could trust were just using you, and hey, what if we got rid of the thing that you’ve more or less defined yourself by for the entire show? Good luck in season five, motherfucker! I’m a fan, is what I’m saying.

6. Work on Vanquisher 2103 continues apace. I mentioned this before, but we’re doing a once-a-month schedule while the holidays and work beat my ass into the ground, and as it turns out I really enjoy taking a full month to write a chapter. It’s a comically slow pace, but it’s working for me and hopefully the fact that the chapters have tended to be a little longer (and allowed me to expand on ideas a little more, and do a little more research here and there) makes it worth the longer wait. I’d like this thing to be good! There’s a part of my brain, again, that will always insist that nobody reads this and it’s bad and I’m fucking up, constantly - that point, at least, is probably accurate. I am writing characters who in theory have life experiences that are very much Not Mine, which involves a lot of reading things from people who would know better than I do. It’s nerve-wracking, and the only thing I am bone-deep certain of is that I’ll fuck up and hopefully y’all will forgive me for fucking up when that happens. I’ll keep reading and refining and eventually maybe it’ll be okay. Hopefully, anyway.

7. I went to Ireland and guys, Ireland is bullshit. I am offended by its gorgeous cliff-sides and open grasslands and heart-rending beauty. The immense friendliness of the people I met and the fact that you can’t sit in a pub without hearing some dude play a jaunty reel on a tin whistle or accordion or something is a personal insult. I was Arthur Dent angrily demanding to know why this bloody fish is so good the whole time.

I cultivated an immense drinking habit while there. I was also approached by a random German tourist who somehow clocked that I could speak German and we shouted about socialism for an hour auf Deutsch. I met some woman from Louisiana and we ended up having drinks a couple nights in a row to talk about traveling in general and Germany in particular, because her ex-husband is German. There were some Swedish retirees who were both very pleased by their country’s social safety net and also depressingly sour about the fact that refugees got cheap dental care - we might have had some harsh words exchanged before more drinks helped smooth over our frank discussion of differing viewpoints. I had to explain American health care to some people from the UK who were surprisingly gung-ho about the idea of privatized medicine until they talked to me (one of them talked about how the UK used to be an Empire and could be again in such a way that made me want to throw things. We did not talk for very long because I couldn’t fuckin’ handle it). These were strangers that I willingly engaged, because I was having an adventure, and I guarantee none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been going to the gym and committed to the idea of proving the voice in my head that tells me I’m an awkward mess that nobody would ever want to talk to in their life wrong (also, let’s be honest, if I hadn’t had several pints of cider at the time). 

By the end of the trip if I heard one more pub singer’s version of Whisky in the Jar though, that I was gonna produce my pistol and fucking shoot myself in the head.

Go to Ireland if you can. If you live there, fuck you how dare you live somewhere that rad.

8. I didn’t have an eighth thing but I’m committed to this “each thing is numbered” bit which means that even the end of this thing has to follow the trope. This is the end of the post where I say “okay bye I’ll be back the next time I get the urge to throw a bunch of highly unpolished ideas out.” 

[thegreen1969pontiac]

L’appel Du Vide Chapter 6- Remember How We Said “I Hope”

                                         Eventual Dean x OC

Summary: When Hope’s sister is killed in a less than a normal house fire, and Sam, her sister’s boyfriend, disappears with his brother after her death they’re her number one suspects. When the cops declare the case cold she begins her hunt for the Winchester boys. She follows them in hope for some evidence pointing to the death of her sister, but will she find more than just the cause and the killer? Will she find out more than she wanted to?

Warning: language, filler chapter, Winchester perspective

Word Count: 11652

The boys pull up to a gas station, Dean starts talking,

"All right, I figure we'd hit Tucumcari by lunch, then head South, hit Bisbee by midnight. Sam wears women's underwear." Dean teases, looking down at the cellphone in Sam's hand.

"I'm listening, I'm just busy," Sam says eyes still glued to his phone,

"Busy doing what?" Dean asked,

"Reading emails," Sam said with a monotonous voice. Dean got out of the car so he could begin to fill up Baby's tank. Dean squints his eyebrows together,

"Emails from who?" He asked slamming the door,

"From my friends at Stanford." Sam raises his voice,

"You're kidding, you still keep in touch with your college buddies?" Dean asks reaching for the pump and walking to the back to hook it into Baby.

"Why not?" Sam asks looking at Dean,

"Well," Dean leads on, "What exactly do you tell them you know, about where you've been, what you've been doing?" And Dean walks to where Sam's window was rolled down and leans on the car.

"I tell them I'm on a road trip with my big brother, I tell them that I needed some time off after Jess." Sam looks at Dean from within his seat in the Impala. Dean looks down at his brother smiling,

"Well, so you lie to them?" Dean says with a smirk,

"No," Sam says as his voice raises an octave in disbelief, "I just don't tell them everything." "Yeah, that's called lying," Dean says chuckling, "I mean hey man, I get it. Telling them the truth is much worse." And Dean looks at the numbers rise on the gallons dial.

"So, what am I supposed to do? Just cut everyone out of my life?" Sam asks watching his brother as some of his hair gets in his eyes. Dean shrugs his shoulders and looks down on to Sam with a fond smile.

"You're serious?" Sam asks in disbelief,

"Look it sucks. But a job like this, you can't get close to people." Deans says shaking his head,

"You're kind of antisocial. You know that?" Dean looks back to the rushing numbers,

"Yeah, whatever." He says with faux suave. Sam's eyebrows knit together as he looks back to his phone,

"God," Sam mumbles to himself.

"What?" Dean bends down so he is looking at the phone through the window.

"This email from this girl Rebecca Warren," On the phone it read,

hey sam -

wanted to update you: wasn't sure if you heard the news. Zach was arrested for killing his gf. sounds crazy, i know-but he's charged with murder. cops say they have dna, fingerprints, all kinds of evidence-- he didn't do it!! this all feels so unreal. just thought you'd like to know.

"She says Zach has been charged with murder, he's been arrested for killing his girlfriend," Sam says in shock from the email.

"Rebecca says he didn't do it, but it sounds like the cops have a pretty good case."

 Dean raises his eyebrows now in surprise,

"Dude, what kind of people are you hanging out with?" He asks looking at his shaggy-haired brother. Sam answers,

"No, man. I know Zach. He's no killer." Sam still looking at his phone in surprise,

"Yeah, well, maybe you know Zach as well as he knows you," Dean says teasingly. Sam looks to his brother,

"They're in St. Louis, we're going," Sam says with urgency. Dean chuckles,

"I'm sorry about your buddy, okay? But this does not sound like our kind of problem." Dean says with an ordering tone,

"It is our problem. They're my friends." Sam says, he flashes the puppy dog eyes that he knows that Dean can only resist for so long,

"St. Louis is 400 miles behind us, Sam," Dean says raising his voice and resting his hand on the Impala. And then they were driving back to St. Louis.

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

Following Sam and Dean tended to become a tedious task, the boys would drive during all hours of the day on only take 5 minute stop around every three hours, this proved to become an issue after only around two hours in which after drinking all the diner coffee had become a large regret of mine.

 I traveled behind the boys leaving enough room as to they couldn't see me wishing I had a more inconspicuous car but knowing I would never drive anything but Theo. As the boys pulled off for gas I pulled off to a convenience store and practically ran to the restroom. As I was washing my hands the restroom became about three degrees colder and I felt as if the already cool water was about to freeze. I look into the mirror and see my face staring back at me, something that after the freak accident in the car the other day proved to be something to celebrate. I saw the glinting though, from my neck, it was my sister's necklace, I found it at the evidence lock-up back before her funeral, it was one of the few things that survived the fire, it wasn't her favorite or anything, but I always liked it, it was a gift from mom and dad to her for getting into Stanford, just a small diamond hanging from a chain, it was simple and I liked it. Jess though never really wore it she was into statement pieces.  I shook my head and headed back to Theo paying for some Diet Coke and a candy bar. Just as I got back outside I see the black impala spinning around heading in the opposite direction they were heading. Are they serious? I groan but hop into Theo, and begin driving behind them again.

Over the past week since Jess died I have let loose a bit more, I turn on the radio now instead of sitting in silence and I have repainted my nails with the same red polish that was already on them, I allowed myself to wash my clothes around twice a week seeing as I had only around four outfits that I brought not including the dressy one. But, I still haven't allowed myself to sleep. 

Sleeping was always something that came quite naturally but in the past year due to my uncle's disappearance and due to my sister's death, I can't seem to sit still for more than an hour, in the car, it's worse. 

We drive for only a little while before we come to a stopping point outside a house that looks to be up on the higher end of the market. Sam and Dean exit their car begin hiking up the steps to the house's front porch. 

Sam knocks and the door swings open and when it does I can feel my eyes rolling into the back of my skull. God dammit. When the door swings open it reveals Becky one of Sam's friends. The one that Brady told me to talk to when he was too busy with his preppy lacrosse practice, she looks at Sam and smiles, She laughs with him and they hug he basically bear-hugs her due to her tiny stature and his giant one. Dean butts in and it seems like he introduces himself, shaking her hand, you could tell which one of the Winchester brothers she had a thing for, seeing as when he does give her the Winchester smile she quickly turns all of her undivided attention back to Sam. She waves them in and the two walk through.

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

" I decided to take the semester off. I'm gonna stay until Zach's free." Becky states, walking with Sam, Dean trailing behind.

"Where are your folks?" Sam asked looking at her, as Dean looked around the mansion like house.

"They live in Paris for half the year, but they are flying back for the trial." She said, looking at Sam with adoration,

"Do you guys want a beer or something?" She asks walking towards the fridge. Dean's face lights up and he points at her,

"Hey," Deans says smiling then immediately Sam says,

"No thanks. So tell us what happened." Becky walks closer to Sam leaning in so she was looking directly at him,

"Well, Um, Zach had come home, and he found Emily tied to a chair, and she was beaten up and bloody, and she wasn't breathing. And so he called 911 and the police showed up, and they arrested him." She said her eyes filling with tears that just screamed truth.

"But the thing is, the only way that Zach could have killed Emily is if he was in two places at the same time. The police they have a video, it's from across the street. And it shows Zach at 10:30 coming home. Now Emily was killed just after that. But I swear that he was here with me, having a few beers until at least after midnight." She said her voice breaking and tears filling her eyes.

"You know, maybe we could see the crime scene -- Zach's house." Sam says leaning on the table long arms supporting him.

"We could?" Dean buts in looking in between Sam and Becky. Both look to him and Becky carries on ignoring Dean,

"Why? What could you do?" Becky asked.

"Well, me, not much but Dean, he's a cop," Sam said directing her attention to the shorter Winchester. Dean chuckles looking between the two,

"A detective, actually," Dean says smiling.

"Really? Where?" Becky asks. Dean nods,

"Bisbee, Arizona. But I'm off duty now." Dean says looking at Sam accusingly.

"I don't know. You guys, it's so nice to offer. But I just -- I don't know," Becky said shaking her head,

"Beck, look. I know Zach didn't do this. Now we have to find a way to prove that he's innocent," Sam said slowly. Becky looked from Sam to Dean and then back to Sam and smiled,

"Okay. I'm gonna go get the keys." Becky said turning on her heel. Dean whistles,

"Oh yeah, you're a real straight shooter with your friends," Dean says with his eyebrows raised.

"Look, Zach and Becky need our help," Sam says,

"I just don't think this is our type of problem," Dean said smiling as he said it.

"Two places at once?" Sam said stopping his brother, "We've looked into less," Dean raises his eyebrows and turns away.

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

I haven't been doing much stalking, other than following the boys from town to town I didn't interfere at all, mainly only focusing on them when they are directly involved in something, but in St. Louis it didn't seem like much was going on, the murder happened before the boys got there. I made sure of it. I completed my third hour of research just five minutes ago, I had not only been studying mysterious deaths that all started with fire but also human psychology. 

The diner where I had stationed myself seemed to be nice, the place was cleaner then my motel and the coffee wasn't too bad either. Plus I was able to work without being interrupted by the "fun" my neighbor was having through the thin walls.

The main topic of my research has been the symbolism of fire and its meaning in different religions, fire was important was the main thing I stumbled upon during my research, many Greek philosophers referred to it as one of the four elements to life, representing passion and power. According to ancient myth, fire was so important that Prometheus stole the fire from the heaven's and gave it to the human beings that he had made. 

A Greek philosopher, Heraclitus found that the soul is connected to fire just as it is with water, he was ahead of his time apparently his theory was then later used in Wiccan religion, both related to the theory of unity of opposites that in Wiccan culture was worded, "As above, so below." Many Eastern philosophers although believed that fire was a primal and feral sort of power that it refers to one's drive or compulsion. Fire was often referred to as immortal, and nearly every religion had at least one god that was related to fire. The abundance of deities made figuring out a motive to Sam Winchester's crimes an intimidating task. Traditionally though, fire represents anger, fury, and dominance. In Chinese culture, it is referred to as Yang. I learned that fire is traditionally represented by a sword or dagger which would explain the cut in Jess's stomach.

It was time to get to the bottom of this mystery, if they wanted to play the villain then I sure as hell am ready to play Scooby Doo.

So I headed towards California in Theo.

[error04notfou]

Queer Representation- Why Can’t 2 Men Just Be Friends

All-fucking-right, folks. Let’s sit the fuck down and listen real close for a moment. Don’t worry! I won’t take up tooooo much of your time. I know how busy it is being accidentally an asshole. I’ve been there. I’m gonna be nice, I promise. I just swear a lot.

There are same sex friendships on TV that are healthy and loving. There are a wide variety of relationships that slide themselves along a range of healthfulness and lovingness involving people of similar or same sexes having friendships. If there weren’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation because there would be no writers making stories that queers become interested in that do not wish to create queer representation.

See the wikipedia page for the following categories: Bromance, Womance, Platonic Love, Bromantic Comedy, Buddy Cop. Google Guy Love. You’ll love it.

Merlin. Sherlock. Supernatural. Star Trek. Scrubs. Boy Meets World. Literally Every Children’s Show Featuring Sentient Creatures.

We wouldn’t have stories written that continuously hint at queer stories without providing actual representation. I’m sure none of you want to hear the term queer baiting right now but I promise ye, us queers don’t want to see it either. Fucken. SHIT, my dudes. Unless you are looking for queer representation- unless you have that reflexive search for queerness in life and in media- queer baiting is something you can miss or misinterpret as friendliness. It has to do with framing, lighting, the scoring, the word choice. There’s a lot of flags a writer can throw up that Hint at possible queerness without being explicit enough to sound any alarms for people not keyed to look for queer representation in media. 

Hannibal is Not A Good Example because their goal was to redefine intimacy and it is Gay AS FUCK.

Teen Wolf. Sherlock. Supernatural. 

Go to youtube. Type in queerbaiting. There’s lots of videos with info on it. Rowen Ellis has some shit. Sarah Z, The Fucking QueerTUBE CHANNEL EQUIVALENT OF DOES THE DOG DIE, Aretheygay, HAS A VIDEO ON IT. Somewhere in Hbomberguy’s FEATURELENGTH FILM on why Sherlock is garbage, he touches on queerbaiting. 

Because they got to eat their cake and have it too, shows, movies, and books keep doing the fucken thing. Continuously throwing out flags of possible queerness for main characters while simultaneously being offended at queer audiences for believing them and then asking where the queer representation was. As well, they get to have continuously running jokes about how haha it’s funny that these two men show affection for each other because that’s gay and they’re not they’re just guys being dudes! (Scrubs. Look. You do a great job, I’m not coming for you but I am coming for Every Film of Michael Bay’s featuring two men who are friends. Pain and Gain? Anyone?)

See Teen Wolf banning the signing of ship fan art. Literally any scene in Sherlock where John Watson no homos so hard he accidentally wraps back around to yes homo.

Here’s the skinny, my dudes. My most righteously dudely dudes. The reason why queers ask for queer representation in media is because they Actually Don’t Have Much representation. It is exceedingly rare to find queer representation. And to find queer representation that doesn’t have a tragic end? Even more difficult. Despite the rustled jimmies of people finding a singular queer in their straight salad and exclaiming about the infestation of queers in this restaurant (the health department aught to be called! Think Of The Children!) it IS rare- unlike same sex friendships in films. 

This is a capitalistic system. I know right? When is that going to stop being pointed out? Supply and demand is the basic tenant- or so I was taught in high school economics. I, as a fellow queer, will simply feel grateful that I live in a time where we can be considered a consumer base with a loud enough voice to be seen as providing pressure on an industry that has yet to supply for our demand. Especially since it is difficult for me to forget that it was not so long ago that our voices were considered an inconvenience for demanding the right to be able to live.  

What you’ve done above is simplify an incredibly complex issue into its most reductive and unhelpful parts. No one can argue that it’s good for people to be able to have friendships on TV or anywhere else. The problem comes in in that this argument ignores the part where Everyone is Arguing That It’s Not OK To Have QUEER Relationships On TV and that These Relationships are Unhealthy. That is the tacit argument here. That’s the dog-whistle you’re accidentally blowing when you say that. 

It’s similar to people who say things like: What about the children? How am I going to explain THIS to them? I’m OK with gays but do they have to shove it in my face like this? Gay marriage is alright by me but I don’t want to see them kiss! Why can’t two men just be good friends! They’re just gals being pals. Queers make up less than 4 percent of the population, why do they have to be in everything I watch? I’m not homophobic, I just don’t want to be inconvenienced. I’m all for queer representation but does it have to be in the shows I like? Why can’t they (the queers) be happy with the representation they do have? Like Brokeback (dead gay) and The Imitation Game (Historical dead gay) or Jack from Will and Grace (Gay Stereotype), or like a shit ton of Alfred Hitchcock’s villains (The Evil Queers (Dibs on that as a band name BTW))? Or the Sassy Gay Accessory Friend like in Riverdale, GBF, that weird alien dude from American Dad? 

These are dog whistles. They are silencing tactics. They are manipulation. They are used to implicitly say that queerness is not OK. 

So no. No one is going to say it’s bad to see two dudes being friends and expressing that closeness in any media. I can understand the feeling like your views and relationships are under attack. I can understand why people feel afraid to express affection. I feel afraid, too. The difference is when straight people say they’re afraid of seeming gay, what they’re saying is they’re afraid they might be mistaken for me. As if that’s somehow embarrassing or dangerous or immoral. 

The part you’re missing when you talk about how frustrating it is that queers see queerness in relationships depicted on TV that you like is that you’re afraid they might be just like you. And a part of your brain associates queerness only with sexual acts. That’s why we’re inappropriate. YOU’RE not queer so you don’t like queer sex! Why would you want to see queer sex on TV? You don’t want to see queer kissing! Queer hand holding! You’re not queer! 

That’s why it’s difficult for people to consider explaining it to their kids. That’s why it’s difficult to Accept that there are queer children. That’s why I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is PG 13 despite its r*pe jokes, half naked women, and continuous references to sex, but had they included a same sex kiss as they had initially intended it, the MPAA would have made it rated R (Literally just google it. trufax.) Because these are all facets of homophobia. It’s ingrained and sometimes unconscious. You don’t have to actively hate queers to accidentally help those who do silencing them. 

So yeah. Long fucking story short. It would be cool for queers not to have to grasp at any same sex relationship on TV for hints of themselves. I agree. I’m getting fucking tired as all hell having to Read Between The Straight Lines to see the gay subtext. I’d like some straight up gay text. We’ll stop having to come for your platonic friendships when Hollywood finally gets around to inventing actual queer people in its media. And no fucking blink and you’ll miss it Le Fou doesn’t count. Neither does well-they-said-in-a-tweet Dumbledoor. 

[mymisfortuneforyourenjoyment]

March 8, 2019, 4:31pm

I have a chronic illness called POTS - that’s postural orestatic tachycardia syndrome. In simple words, my nervous system is broken and the biggest problem it causes is with my heart.

My doctors have sent me to cardiac rehab. Which, apparently, is something I’m supposed to be ashamed of? At least that’s the impression that I got when a 60-some year old woman also at the rehab clinic whispered, “Are you here for... cardiac rehab?”

By the way, I’m not ashamed. Not one bit.

I’m annoyed, though. The last time I saw my cardiologist, he said to me, “I can’t prescribe exercise in a pill. It’s up to you. I can’t do anything about it.” True, doc. That’s true. But my good dude, stop acting like I’m not trying. Stop assuming that I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I have been exercising, to the best of my ability. He doesn’t believe me, though.

I’m also just pissed, frankly. I’m in shape. I can do whatever the exercise doctors asked me to do. It’s the day after that fucks me up. The “postural” in POTS means that my symptoms are tied to what position I’m in - laying, sitting, standing, moving. The “tachycardia” bit means that the more vertical I am, (so the longer I’m standing) the higher my heart rate goes. Anyway, all that to say that the day after exercising, I can’t stand for more than ten seconds without fainting. I started this exercise program twice before, at home. Both times, I ended up in a wheelchair for a month after because when I stood, and sometimes when I sat up, I fainted.

So now I’m going to the hospital each time I exercise. Today was the first day. It’s a 36 week program, three times per week. This is basically how my day went:

Bought a bus ticket on my phone through an app. I rush my service dog to do her business before we got to the bus stop. She nearly makes us late. The bus driver and I make eye contact. The bus driver sees my service dog. I give a “what the fuck” face and throw my hands up because she’s not slowing down. The bus skids to a stop. I get on, show her the ticket on my phone and say, “Thanks.”

I get off at the right stop. I rush to the office - I have anxiety. A man snaps and whistles at my dog. “Please, don’t.” Got there a half hour early like I was told to, perfectly on time. I check in at the front desk. The receptionist calls me by the wrong name, my given name. I cringe and try to correct her, but she doesn’t let me speak. She ogles at my dog. The receptionist says I’m too early. She takes me back to the gym anyway.

She tells me to sit down but then blocks the chairs, talking to a nurse. I feel awkward so I let my dog sniff around the equipment, it’s a new place and all. She’s not very interested.

“Is that a dog we can’t touch?”

“Right.”

“Can we talk to her?”

“No. It distracts her.”

“There’s a new girl here. She has a dog.”

I want to die.

I sit down and tuck my dog under my seat. Good dog. I forgot treats. I feel bad because it’s a new situation and she could use the encouragement. She does wonderfully, though. 

A woman wheels up and talks to the dog. She doesn’t ask to pet her. Another woman, the one that whispered cardiac rehab, insists on showing me a picture of her daughter because, to her, we look so much alike. We don’t. The daughter  has kinda short brown hair that resembles mine. “She has an easy smile, just like you.” I smile and want to say thanks, but choke on my words because I’m anxious.

The woman teases and guesses that my name is Chip. I thought about saying yes, but told her the name I go by instead. Took her three times to hear me right. My name isn’t hard. Just a bit too masculine sounding for her to accept that it’s my name, I think. She introduces me to everyone there. She’s trying so hard to be welcoming, but no one will shut up about my dog and everyone’s assuming I’m a girl and I’m anxious.

A man sits next me. He’s three times my age and reminds me of my grandfather. He asks what breed my dog is, boxer lab mix. I’ve had this conversation with strangers so many times, I swear I need to start counting just so that I can add that bit of information in the conversation so that people can better understand my annoyance. He struggles with his phone, wanting to show me a picture of his dog, a labradoodle. I explain how to get to the picture he wants to show me. The woman from before insists on showing me her dog, a mutt.

Three doctors finally stride into the room perfecting in sync together in a little pack, which is funny to me. I watch them in the mirror. I can’t see around the huddle of ten people waiting for them.

I’m handed a packet of information. I take my time reading it. My doctor is annoyed that I’m actually reading it and taking so long - I’m dyslexic. She sits down and runs over it with me. It’s a lot of information and I can’t remember any of it.

She takes me into the gendered locker room, the women’s, and shows me how to put on the heart monitor. It’s a chest strap that correlates to a watch. I lift my shirt and show my scars from top surgery as she puts it on. I wanted to say that I’m transgender and I use they/them pronouns, but the words catch in my throat and I say nothing.

She walks me through the rest of the process. It’s long and confusing. She teaches me how to use the recumbent bike, with all of its functions on the screen. She’s impressed that I do so well. I told her that exercising is not the problem. It’s the day after. She bids me good wishes for tomorrow as I leave.

I walk to the bus stop. The bus comes very soon after I get there. I am the only one at the bus stop. I make eye contact with the driver. He speeds past. “What the fuck!” I swear more and pace around. I feel bad that I’m acting the way I am around a teen boy that cannot make eye contact with me and sits on the sidewalk with his legs bent up in at weird angles. I think I’m making him nervous.

I look up on my phone when the next bus will come. I sit on a cement base of a flagpole nearby. I take out my phone, texting friends about being passed up completely. That’s the second time it’s ever happened to me. My phone is at 30%. It dies. Probably from the cold. My fucking bus ticket is on my phone.

I try to get into an education building. It’s a Friday, the university campus should be open. The building was locked. I walk back to the hospital in the cold. My dog is shivering.

I ask the concierge if there is a way to charge my phone. He says that there are no charging stations and apologizes. I walk up to a group of four people sitting in a cluster of chairs in a waiting area. A woman is on the phone. I stand awkwardly until I get up the courage to say, “Excuse me, I’m really sorry, but does anyone have an iphone charger?”

The woman on the phone says that she does. Her daughter, sitting next to her, says that her charger won’t work because her mother has an android. The mother pulls out a universal charger. I thank her profusely.

I sit on the floor by a plug. I hold my phone up by the plug that’s 2 feet off the ground. The cord is only 6 inches long. My phone turns back on. It’s at 24%. I want to wait 15 minutes at least and leave in time to walk back to the bus stop. I charge for my phone for 12 minutes. My phone is at 30%. The woman’s car was brought up by the valet and she needed to leave. I thank her profusely.

I rush to the bus stop, even though my dog pulled towards the grass, wanting to do her business. I tell her that we’re in a hurry - I’m anxious. We get to the bus stop ten minutes early. I let the dog pee and sit on the cement block by the flagpole. There are other people around. The bus comes. I pull my phone out and the app actually turns on without loading for 4 minutes. I board the bus.

My phone is at 24%. I turn on music because I’m anxious. My phone dies but I leave my headphones in. I get off at the right stop. I decide to begin chronicling my bad days and my bad thoughts on a public social media platform. I don’t care if anyone read it or if anyone follows me.

[probablymango]

Dungeons and Arcana

Chapter 2: Character Building

Muriel stared at the screen, idly petting Scout as he tried to see if there was any jobs in town. So far, most of them were for jobs he didn’t qualify for or gave him too much anxiety for him to consider. “..... ugh. That’s enough for today.” He closed the laptop and set it aside. After a few seconds of not staring at a screen, he got up and set Scout down. Time for chores. There wasn’t much to do, the apartment was small, but they needed to get it done. Feed and water the dogs and Faust, make sure Scout didn’t try to eat Inanna’s food, make the bed, put clothes in the basket for later, put the dishes on the counter to be washed later, make sure the dogs didn’t shit or piss in the house, take the trash out, and finally, walk the dogs.

As he walked, he hoped that they’d be getting a new home soon. It was cramped living in the apartment with two other people, a snake, and two dogs, but it’s what they could afford. His mind drifted off as he thought about the kind of house they all wanted: out of town, a big backyard, good insulation, and big enough so that they could each have their own room. It wasn’t going to be cheap, but it would be so worth it.

He was about to turn back when Scout stopped and stared at a person, the boofed, grabbing the person’s attention away from their phone. “Hey, Scout, no.” They looked up at him, small tail wagging. “No boofing at strangers.”

He looked up to find the stranger walking up to him with a smile. “Hi, awkward question, can you help me find a place?”

“Um….” Inanna gently nudges his thigh. “Y… yeah. Where are you looking for?”

“Do you know a place called the Rowdy Raven? My brother wants me to meet him there, but the map doesn’t think it exists.” They hold up their phone, trying to prove their point.

“.......” He taps their phone, putting in the address. “This map isn’t up-to-date… There.”

“Thank you!” They grin, bouncing in place, then turning and holding out their hand to him. “I’m Portia, she/her.”

That was the first time someone introduces themself like that, he like it. “Muriel, he/him.”

“Well, it was nice to meet you, and hopefully, we’ll meet again!” She runs off, red hair flowing after her.

Scout snapped him back to reality by barking and tugging on the leash, pointed towards the apartment. He smiles softly, following the terrier hom. When he opened the door, he was hit with the smell of lemons and strawberries. He lets the dogs off their leashes and wanders to the kitchen, finding Mordenkainen watching a pan in the oven. “Hey M.C.”

They look up and smile. “Hey, Muriel! How was your walk?”

“It was alright, someone asked for directions though.” He looked around the room and groaned. “Mordy.” The kitchen was a mess, cabinets and drawers were open, dirty dishes and ingredients were left out. “You can’t keep doing this.”

They look up with an expression that was hard to describe, but gave off the feeling of ‘I know I’m being a brat, but am trying to look as non-guilty as possible’. “Doing what?”

He gestures at the rest of the kitchen. “This aries mess! You know to clean up.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” They squat in front of the oven, as if that would hide their deeds.

“I’m a virgo, you can’t leave messes like this!” He groans, torn between laughing and mortification.

They wiggle a bit in place, smiling. Then a timer goes off and they pull out a cake, lemon with strawberry. Scout comes running into the room, boofing softly and watching the cake. “Not for you, it’s not for you.” They baby voice their dog, setting the pan on the oven. They run a sink full of water and soap, then wander around the kitchen for dishes to clean.

“Thank you.” He sighs, closing cupboards and drawers, then wiping off the counters. “Why did you make a cake?”

“Can’t I ever just make a cake?” They pouted, then nod. “It’s for Julian’s sister and the group, she had a birthday recently and I figured it would be a good excuse for a cake. That reminds me, Lucio agreed to let you join the group.”

He stops wiping the table. “Oh……” He was nervous, he knew there wasn’t that much to be worried about, but groups of people still made him nervous.

They stop and look at him. “We.. we can cancel plans with him, if you really don’t want to.”

He shook his head, he wanted to, but that didn’t stop the worry in his thoughts. “I… What do I need to do?”

They smile and sit at the table and urge him to sit as well. “Well, you don’t need to bring much, just a character sheet. Asra and I can get the other items, like dice and some snacks.” They tilt their head at the cooling cake. “Would you like help with a character creation?”

He thinks for a bit, then nods. “Please.. I don’t even know where to start.”

They leave the room, then return with a laptop. “He said to do a self insert, so you don’t have to really worry about choosing a personality or basic looks, other than your own. We basically just need to select a class, choose some equipment, and then wait for Lucio to give us information on the world so that we can make you a background. Also, at some point we need you to get in contact with him.”

He nods, looking at the sheet they pulled up. “Okay, okay.”

Within a few hours, they’ve managed to do the basics and have them explain some of the finer details. “Remember, if you get confused, just ask one of us, okay?”

“Okay…… You said that… Lucy? Wanted to talk to me?”

“Yes, Lucio, would like to talk to you. Would you like his number or to meet him in person? His discord maybe?”

“....... Discord might be best for now.” They give him Lucio’s discord, then leave him at the table to frost the cake. “What kind of cake did you make?”

“Lemon with strawberry pieces.” They grin, setting the frosted cake into the fridge. “I think Portia will like it.”

Portia.. Could they mean….? “What does Portia look like?”

“Not sure. Julian said that she was him, but shorter and brighter.” They sat down with him again. “He said that most of us will probably get along with her. Why?”

He shrugs. “Met someone who said her name was Portia earlier.”

They grin, leaning closer. “Ooooooo~ You met someone.”

He blushed a bit, pushing their face back. “It’s not like that. She asked for directions, then ran off.”

They laughed, patting his hand. “You met someone, and if it’s the same Portia that Julian speaks of, you’ll see her Saturday.”

He slowly takes his hand away. “Okay…. Can.. can you sit with me while I contact Lu… Lucio?”

“Sure thing, dude.”

He smiles, whistling Inanna to come over, he pet her for a bit, then sent a message to him.

Muriel: This is Lucio? glamorousCapricious: That depends, who’s asking? Muriel: Muriel glamorousCapricious: arsa’s friend? Muriel: yes glamorousCapricious: can you give me a few minutes? Busy at work with a drunk Muriel: ok

He sits back and sighs, he wasn’t sure if waiting was worse, but that’s all he could do. “.... go get some rest, M.C.”

They shrug, trying not to yawn. “Not that tired.”

“Maybe not, but I know you have work tomorrow. Go to bed.” He lightly pushes at their shoulder, urging them to bed.

“Fiiiiiine.” They yawn and get up, gently patting his shoulder. “Don’t stay up too late yourself, okay?”

“Okay, good night.”

“Niiiiight!” They wander to the bathroom, probably to shower.

He hears the notification on his phone and pulls it up. It’s from Asra.

Asra: guess who i found at work! Me: Julian Asra: no Asra: well, yes, but hes not the focus!

Asra sent him a selfie of himself, Lucio, and a vaguely familiar person.

Asra: found your cuz! Asra: did you know he was coming today? Me: I thought he was coming tomorrow

Shit, shit, shit! He got out of the seat and started trying to clean up the living room and extending out the bed from the couch.

Asra: apparently he had to cancel plans due to his break up and just came early Asra: is it alright that he comes to our house a night early?

No!

Me: yeah Asra: ill let him know! Asra: he says hi and thanks!

The shower stops, so he takes his chance. “Mordy! Where did we put the extra blankets?”

“Uhhhhhhh! I think they’re under the bed!”

He runs into the bedroom and looks under the bed, immediately followed by Scout. There was a plastic container filled with blankets. Scout crawled under and batted at the box. “Yes, good puppy.” He struggles to get it, but is eventually able to have the blankets. He picks out some of the warmer blankets and gets them onto the couch. “Pillows, pillows..” Those were easier to find, scattered all over the house. He found a few different ones, not sure what his cousin prefered. “.......... this should be good enough.”

Me: tell him I said hi Me: when is he and you coming over? Asra: after my shift or til he gets bored of this place, so in a few hours or less

That’s not comforting.

Me: ok Asra: i gotta go back to the music, ttyl! Me: bye

He was about to put his phone away when he got a text from an unknown number texted him.

Unknown: This is Muriel, right? Me: who are you Unknown: Lucio Me: how did you get my phone number? Unknown: Arsa. he gave it to me, probably didn’t know that someone else gave you my discord

Yeah, that sounds about right. He saves Lucio’s number.

Me: then why are you texting me? Lucio: texting is faster in here than discord Me: oh Lucio: can I ask you some questions for the game? Me: sure Lucio: do you have a character sheet and a general sense of a backstory? Me: yes, do you want a picture of it? Lucio: that would be perfect

He sends him a copy and a small blurb of the background he’d come up with.

Lucio: interesting Lucio: are you open to suggestions? Some details might work better in the world i’m trying to create Me: what changes? Lucio: instead of living on a mountain, would you be open to the middle of the woods? Me: yes, that works Lucio: also, what would you/your character ask for as a super power from a magical entity? Me: …….. Im not sure Lucio: i see.. Lucio: you wanted them to be an ex gladiator? Me: yes Lucio: do you desire an active part in the campaign or would you like a more passive role for now? Me: passive would be best for now Lucio: did they have a gladiator name and did the crowd like them? Lucio: or do you want me to decide that? Me: don’t have a name, but i think he was hated

It takes a while, but he does respond back.

Lucio: How does Scourge of the South sound? Me: sounds good

The rest of the conversation was determining some of the finer details, like his relation to some of the other characters, a bit more backstory, that he could bring Inanna to the game, and that he was now an accomplice for Lucio to move the plot forward for the others. In his words, ‘The others sometime go on a streak of not doing things and results in them not doing anything, but wanting more to do of what he didn’t plan for.’ He snorts. That sounds like M.C. and Asra.

Maybe this game wouldn’t be so bad.