#I don't know much about Christmas-themed toys like this

[bootlegpals]

An animated plush of Rudolph playing “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”.

It strums a guitar, shakes its head, and the light in its nose also flashes. I’m not sure if it’s licensed.

YouTube

[seat-safety-switch]

Have you seen the crap they're putting on children's television nowadays? When I was a kid, TV shows made for us were meant to do one thing: sell toys. Now they're all about doing fun activities with your friends, and learning about your responsibilities to greater social harmony. No wonder capitalism is flaming out like a Boeing stock option.

Thing is, even with this renewed focus on teaching children not to be useless, cranky ultra-consumers, the shows don't exactly teach valuable skills. Yeah, yeah, I know, interpersonal discussion, knowing about recycling, outer space, Freudian psychoanalysis, how to make change. All that stuff is covered, and it's fine, but it seems like shows are expecting parents to fill in the gap with these skills. Skills the parents often don't have. The cycle needs to be fixed, and it's television's role, as always, to tell people what to do.

Kids should be learning about the different kinds of screwdrivers, basic wiring, how to replace floor moulding, and what sorts of chemicals might inadvertently create bombs. If there's time, they can cover less practical information, like how to drive an unsynchronized manual transmission in a Detroit Diesel. I'm not asking for too much: I think children do not necessarily need to know how to operate a Lenco unless they're planning on going drag racing, which is a sign of excellent parenting already.

That's why I've bought the rights to the entire back catalogue of The New Yankee Workshop, and recruited a pop starlet to sing a new earworm of a theme song. We're gonna chop up the existing episodes with lots of fast transitions, exploding effects, and a dance party at the end. Wouldn't you rather your toddler ask you for a scroll saw for Christmas?

[michellemisfit]

WEEKLY TAG WEDNESDAY

Happiest of birthdays to our dear @energievie who created today's birthday themed tag game. WHOOP WHOOP! 🥳

Thanks for the tag @deedala 🎉 @gallapiech 🤩 @vintagelacerosette 🙌

---

When is yours? 1st March

Where were you born? Switzerland.

How do you feel about your legal name? Are you using it online and/or IRL? Michelle is a nice name. I'm perfectly happy with it. I do however absolutely hate the Beales song I was named after. Think it's one of their worst songs. And I regularly forget that I have a middle name, not even cause I hate it or anything, purely because I think it's pointless. It's Aline.

How about your sign? Do you feel it "fits"? I'm Pisces. And I guess so..? I don't really know much about signs, but people who do tell me it fits, and I believe them. @celestialmickey - come and weigh in! haha

What's your earliest memory related to your birthday? Weirdly enough my earliest *birthday* memory that comes to mind is actually my brother's birthday, when he turned maybe 6? And I would have been 3? My parents had a weird thing about getting me small gifts on his birthday, because I was younger and they didn't want me to get upset I guess? Anyway. There's a photograph of him blowing out his birthday candles and me holding a little sheep stuffed toy that I got for his birthday. I remember loving that sheep a LOT! For my first birthday memory I actually don't really have one until about age 6 or 7? I had a birthday party in our party room and my mum made me invite the whole class, even though I wasn't friends with anyone at school. One of the girls gave me a doll as a present and I genuinly just didn't know what I was supposed to do with this thing and had no idea how to react when I unwrapped it... it was very awkward and I'm sure I was less than graceful. Not the best memory lol

What's one of the best gifts you've ever received? When I first moved to London I felt like I was required to go back to Switzerland for birthdays and Christmas celebrations, even though those were difficult, associated with a lot of bad memories, and never ever fun. I moved to London at the beginning of October with a suitcase of clothes and not much else, and we pretty immediately went on the Dirty Pretty Things break up tour, so i didn't even sleep in my new London room very much for the first 8 weeks. Going back to Switzerland for that Christmas was particularly hard because I hadn't been in London for long, I had barely any stuff that belonged to me, and there was a certain feeling of 'maybe it was just a long holiday, and I'm gonna wake up and live in Switzerland again', because I did a lot of extended holidays to follow bands around the UK in the two years leading up to my move so... yeah, it was rough. And then when I returned home to London Ruth and her mum had bought me my own bedsheets (zebra striped), and made up the bed in my room, and put a big bow on it, and I'm basically in floods of tears just thinking about it now. They made me a home that I was welcome in. And I’ll never forget that.

How about one of the best you've given yourself? I honestly can't think of anything that was a "birthday" gift to myself. hmmm. When I quit smoking I put £5 into a jar every day, that I wasn't spending on cigarettes, and then Ruth and I went to New York and attended Elsie Fest with my 'No Longer a Smoker' money, buying VIP tickets that came with awesome seats and a tonne of free booze... that was EXCELLENT! haha

What's your favourite cake flavour? Not a big fan of cake. I like raw cake batter an awful lot better than actual cake. So I now always ask for chocolate mousse for my birthday :)

How about your favourite flowers? Wild Flowers. And I quite like interesting twigs, too.

Have your ever thrown a birthday party? If yes, tell us about your favourite one. Oh yeah, I throw awesome parties. Here's just a few recent ones, or you can check out the Mys in the Kitchen tag for what may get served at my birthday parties... haha Though actually a couple of years post pandemic I wanted to have a brithday party, but keep it small and covid friendly, so I had a Cocktail & Cookie Icing party, which was so much fun!! I highly recommend everyone to throw a party at least once in their life, that includes like a fun workshop element. We had such a good time!

What's the ultimate birthday song?

Because it’s my birthday and people have to let me play it haha

There we have it! Birthday fun! Now it's your turn @deedala @ian-galagher @iandarling @darlingian @celestialmickey @crossmydna @too-schoolforcool @rereadanon @rutherinahobbit @the-rat-wins @tsuga-of-mars @heymrspatel @gallawitchxx x @iansw0rld @ohkate @palepinkgoat @lynne-monstr @loftec @sickness-health-all-that-shit @faejilly @junemermaid @jrooc @mikhailoisbaby @creepkinginc @francesrose3 @callivich @blue-disco-lights @sleepyfacetoughguy @stocious @spookygingerr @lingy910y @suzy-queued @greentealycheejelly @thepupperino

[scoobydoodean]

I was wondering if you, as a Dean fan have opinions about the different writers? Mostly because I see a lot of Dean fans really strongly dislike Dabb for some reason and I don’t really understand why. I’ve never seen a concrete explanation beyond “he can’t write Dean/doesn’t understand Dean/actively hates Dean” but with no examples as to what he does that’s so bad. And I see this in every shipping lane. I don’t have a strong opinion about him as a writer one way or the other.

I'm exploring this more as I rewatch the show (currently on season 6) so I'll speak mainly from that perspective on my most recent thoughts. I am not a big fan of Dabb or Loflin, but have tried to be fair about things so far when talking through each episode. I am a fan of "Alpha and Omega"—it's my favorite finale (it's also... a finale for a season Carver started as showrunner? So I don't know what the implications are there as far as storyboarding). Also points for having demon Dean stab a guy through in 10.02.

I'll focus on the negatives you asked about in this post, but in the links you'll find me moving the narrative this way and that toward much more charitable readings... I think. (I do have a tag #dabb disk horse which you can either peruse or blacklist at your leisure). What I can tell you is something almost always strikes me as a off about Dabb/Loflin episodes so far in this rewatch in terms of character work.

Dabb/Loflin's first ever episode was 4.06 "Yellow Fever". In the aftermath, Kripke felt the need to release a definitive interpretation of their episode to the public, stating, "Dean is not a dick... he's a hero." The whole episode toyed with, to an extent, the idea that all the victims of the MotW were bullies. You can take this other directions—for example, queer meta, or meta about Sam as the real bully. However, the story a lot of fandom latched onto was that "Dean is a jerk and deserves to be humiliated and punished for that" which obviously didn't make Dean fans watching live in season 4 happy—and this theme of Jerk!Dean continues into their next episode, "After School Special", where they once again parallel Dean with a bully literally nicknamed "Dirk the Jerk" by Sam, and throw what I think is transparent shade at Kripke's issued statement from before the Christmas break (post here)... or maybe they mean to throw shade at the Dean fans who got angry. In this episode, they also make illusions to Dean wanting to have sex with barely legal high school cheerleaders, which also did not ingratiate them to Deanfans at the time. I said on my last rewatch, "In After School Special, Dean seems more unlike himself than any episode ever in the history of Supernatural up to this point" (post explaining that here). I carry similar sentiments about portions of 5.06 "I Believe The Children Are Our Future". Yes—I am aware of performing Dean meta. I just... feel like they try a little too hard. It feels hamfisted—desperate. To the point it doesn't feel like Dean anymore sometimes. In 5.06, they also have Dean (guy who is generally very protective of kids) suggest to Jesse that he'd be good to have in a fight???? I can see how they got there, but again—it just feels... off. The last episode I rewatched that they authored, 6.04 "Weekend At Bobby's", also leaves a bad taste in my mouth—not in what it's trying to do with Bobby or what it's trying to do on a meta level—but once again, with dialogue from Dean that just makes me think "he would not fucking say that" (post here). I think looking at all of these, you can probably see deangirl ire toward Dabb has a long history. It's been around as long as he's been around, whether he deserves as much ire as he gets or not.

I haven't circled back yet on this rewatch, but Dabb and Loflin also penned season 7's "The Girl Next Door"... do I need to say anything specific? Maybe I'll just link my entire #amy tag. What narrative did they want you to get from that episode? Who the fuck knows. And that's often the problem:

When you watch various episodes I've mentioned, you can work around to a meta that tells you something different than you might at first think the page conveys—something hidden and maybe contradictory. The thing is... you could also... not do that? And that wouldn't be so bad, except that sometimes the two narratives you can most easily grasp completely contradict each other. "After School Special" can be an episode that points to Sam's envy of Dean and John deep down and foreshadows Sam becoming a bully, but on a meta level, it also just as easily says Sam becoming a bully is somehow Dean's fault, and Sam is some poor captive baby. Dean is a creep and a bully and a cheater but we should all coddle him because he saw his mom die when he was a child and he's sooo sad. "Yellow Fever" can be a queer meta story and might also foreshadow approaching Bully!Sam in 4.14, but it also very much does call Dean a jerk (should we take that seriously? should we not?) and implies Dean should be punished for the outcome of three decades of reality-bending torture. Even if it's a queer meta underneath... it's just as easily one about how closeted men should be humiliated for cowardice or how being closeted turns you into an asshole.

Jumping way ahead, I have to mention 15.10 "The Hero's Journey" just because. Yes, it is full of jokes and Garth goodness, but also tries to sell you the story that nothing about Sam and Dean is real, to a degree that feels like you are being flipped the bird for ever watching this show. And again—you can make meta that it's all a ruse! But is it? Or is Dabb actually just telling you to go fuck yourself? Like he totally wasn't when, after the SPN finale when fans were Not Happy™️, he tweeted a sign reading, "Don't feed the baboons"? Yet again—we play into the motif of the "hero" who isn't a hero at all but some pathetic loser who deserves to be publicly humiliated, bookended with Dabb's opening episode in his opening season. I'm not saying that's what it is on purpose—but I am saying you can make these arguments easily, and that leaves me consistently annoyed with Dabb for being fucking sloppy and leaving me to deal with some of the most insufferable meta imaginable that carries little support outside of episodes written by Dabb or the Dabb/Loflin writing team.... Yes—I am in fact saying that Dabb and Loflin's hamfisted episodes (regardless of their intentions) are largely responsible for some of the most insufferable, loathesome fandom metas about Sam and Dean's relationship around.

Look at 5.16 "Dark Side Of The Moon", and 7.08 "Time for A Wedding!" and 8.14 "Trial and Error", 11.17 "Red Meat", and 15.20 "Carry On". Along with 4.13, while they might or might not say something deeper or contradictory on a meta level, on a surface level, every single one of these episodes sows the narrative that Dean is needy and clingy and needs Sam more than Sam needs him—something I intensely disagree with for a multitude of reasons... but I'll just link this. Many of these episodes also follow a surface level narrative of "normal life obsessed Sam" (and here I'll link my entire #sam the hunter tag and #in which sam is not a helpless little waif with his hands cast over his eyes being carried along by the tides of the immutable sea). When I look at this episode list, I also don't find it at all difficult to believe that Dabb wanted Dean to die in the finale. There is nothing at all shocking about that. And yes—you can argue he's pointing to the opposite—that this fate should be subverted and that's what makes 15.20 the dark ending, but I think you can just as easily argue that yes it's a dark ending and yes Dabb has always dreamed of this ending. A "tragic" ending where Dean dies and Sam goes on to have a white picket fence... while also leaving you little hints along the way that maybe it's all a big ruse because how could he not? He never has to explain anything. Someone else will pick up the story and make it make sense. He's already fucked off to piss all over fans of Resident Evil.

That said, when I mention what I feel is off character work, I mainly mention Dabb/Loflin episodes from my recent rewatch, which suffer from the two of them being newer to the series (coming onto the writing team in season 4) and also leave questions about whether, perhaps, they had conflicting ideas about characterization. Was Dabb the one penning these lines? Was it Loflin? Was it both? Did they trade out who took the lead? I didn't really say anything negative about "Sam, Interrupted" or "Jump the Shark"... (though "Sam, Interrupted" also calls Dean "codependent") who wrote those? Is it possible that the messiness of the meta comes down to two writers at war? I have to imagine though, that they got along, or else they wouldn't have written together for four fucking years. If they didn't get along...? My mind always comes back to their first solo episodes, right after splitting up in season 8. Dabb's first solo episode is "Hunteri Heroici"—the only episode to lend any perspective to season 8 Sam's reasons for abandoning everyone—paralleling him checking out with Fred's catatonia, which Sam has to save Fred from. It is the only episode that lends Sam sympathy in the early part of the season. He follows it up with "Trial and Error"—where Sam promises to save Dean from suicidal thoughts. Loflin's first solo episode is what I would regard as the most scathing solo episode commentary on Sam in the entire series—"Citizen Fang". Then he writes again right after Dabb's "Trial and Error"—penning "Remember The Titans" where Sam tells Dean to get over the promise Sam so passionately made in Dabb's episode and face reality.

This is why we're exploring this rewatch.

DISCLAIMER: Now I just devolve into bitching because I'm writing at 3AM. Proceed at your own risk.

It seems like these days, everyone demands an explanation for disliking Dabb (something about some sort of destiel battle... I don't know what that flamewar is and I don't give a damn tbqh.) I guess I've just been wondering what's actually so great about him. Because it feels like people have overcorrected to basically acting like he's god's greatest gift to mankind. People point to how meta his episodes can be, but I think other writers easily best him on that front on multiple occasions (particularly enjoyed by me so far on this rewatch: 3.10 "Dream A Little Dream Of Me", 4.04 "Monster Movie", 4.12 "Criss Angel Is A Douchebag"), and without leaving their meaning so up in the air that you don't even know what the hell they were actually trying to tell you because there are two different completely incongruous narratives you could just as justifiably claim were the intended one. Some people may find that duality praise-worthy. I don't. I find it sloppy—and when I add in mediocre character work, I just land on the side of him being, at the very best, mid.

Add him in as showrunner, you have... at least two of my least favorite seasons (13 and 15). Add that he's a one-trick pony in terms of the Sam and Dean conflicts mentioned above that he continuously rehashes rather than come up with anything new or fresh, and the same conflicts between Dean and Cas being played out until they both die (shut UP I'm not talking about canon destiel as the alternative—I am literally just asking for more diverse conflicts). I can't say I understand what I''m supposed to find so impressive.

(Before anyone so much as breathes this near me, Berens also sucks and I am going to tear off your nose hairs if you start bringing him up as if disliking Dabb for some reason means wearing rose colored glasses about Berens. Berens can eat a whole cactus raw over "The Trap" alone.)

[anime-aus]

More Twisted Wonderland Events I Think Should Happen:

Part 1

Photo Album Event: The first years find a photo album that shows the third years' first year (technically Leona’s second year). The first years ask their third years about it. We get to see what happened in the past as they’re telling the story. I think it would lead to a lot of interesting interactions and I really want to know what everyone looked like and how they acted during their first year.

Haunted Mansion Event: This would definitely be a Halloween event based off of the rides or movies. Multiple characters come across a haunted mansion and get trapped inside. They definitely meet a few odd ghosts (and a few terrifying ones). They soon realize that they have to escape the mansion before they become trapped inside for all eternity!

Pirate Event: This would have to be Peter Pan themed or Pirates of the Caribbean themed. A bunch of students get a chance to sail around the island. One of the students among them is Kalim. Unfortunately for him Kalim gets kidnapped (again), but this time it’s by pirates. The rest of the students go on a mission to save him and Kalim gets a side story where he interacts with the pirates/tries to escape himself. I love pirates, so I think this would be a really fun even to play.

Cowboy Country Event: Realistically, this would probably based off of Toy Story because of Woody, however I would love for an event like this to be based off of Home on the Range! (Please tell me some of you remember that movie.) A bunch of characters go to a town out in Cowboy Country. One of them has to be Epel because he is very much a country boy. The NRC students learn different things, including how to ride horses. Turns out some of the cattle have gone missing and after some talk with the sheriff (and talk of a promising reward) the characters are out to catch the crook.

Dorm Swap: Crowley begins to notice that there have been a handful of student fights recently. In hopes of bringing the student body closer together he creates a Dorm Swap Program. For a temporary amount of time a random group of students is chosen to swap dorms. Some characters adapt to their situation easier than others. At the end everyone learns something about how the other dorms run.

Muppets Event: I just got this idea while watching Muppet’s Family Christmas. I just think a Muppet’s event would be cool. If we can somehow get Stitch and Tsums in Twisted Wonderland we can absolutely get Muppets. I just know Miss Piggy would love Pomefiore.

Cinderella Event: This one is pretty self indulgent, but I just had to share it. There is a party event where Yuu isn't invited due to some unavoidable reason. A fairy godmother finds a teenager who is upset because they can't go to a party. That's just begging for a fairy godmother to do something! With or without Yuu's permission, this fairy takes it upon herself to get Yuu all dressed up sends them to the party. The fairy also uses a spell that would make Yuu unrecognizable so they don't get in trouble for being there. Yuu has a lot of fun, but the next day they come to find that everyone is trying to unmask the identity of this mysterious party crasher. Yuu has to keep it a secret to avoid getting into trouble, but some of these people are making it so difficult.

[safetycar-restart]

I’m k combining yesterday’s ask slightly with today’s ask: Littles at Christmas!

So, the slightly more boisterous littles such as Lando and Mick, I think, would love Christmas. They’d love the decorations, music, gift-giving parties etc. Maybe, they also love playing with their little!friends with the new toys they received.

However, I particularly wish to talk about the softer, more sensitive little such as Arthur and George perhaps? Personally, from what has been said, I think that whilst they do enjoy all the festivities of Christmas, it can be overwhelming at times: particularly with how little they both tend to regress?

Imagine little!George with a special pair of Christmas earmuffs that his mommy bought him so that when they have guest over, maybe the fellow drivers, he can get wear them so that he isn’t too stressed out and can enjoy the fun? Though, they may have a signal between them in case George needs time away.

Arthur, as we’ve said, is very happy so longer as he’s with his Mommy. I’m thinking that maybe they always wear matching Christmas pyjamas so that Arthur knows she’s always there for him? Or they spend a lot of the time cuddled under a festive blanket? Then, any guest can come and give Arthur affections and gifts without him having to stray.

Anyway, that’s a very long ask so I’m sorry, but I will always take the chance to talk about littles (Little!Arthur just has my heart ❤️ and you write him so beautifully)

-🎞️

Aw yes!! All of these thoughts are so on point I love them. I'm gonna discuss a bit about each little mentioned here and then I can always discuss any of the ideas more if you guys would like :))

LITTLE!LANDO:

Of course Lando loves Christmas!! He loves presents and spending time with family and all the Christmas activities. He just loves the whole season so so much.

However I don't think that Lando would be good with sharing his toys, at least not at first. Because they're his new toys!! He wants to play with them by himself and with you and no one else. A few weeks later he'll be willing to share his new toys, but at first no!

(Except with little!George, little!George can play with his new toys)

LITTLE!MICK:

Mick loves Christmas too! But he's the complete opposite of Lando in that he LOVES to share his toys. The moment he opens a gift, he immediately looks around to see who is around and who might want to play with him.

You actually have to remind Mick that those toys are for him, because he'll always want to give them to others. He just wants to make others happy!!!

And of course he always wants to help you! He wants to help make Christmas food and decorate the tree and even clean the house after guests come over. He's just the sweetest little boy.

LITTLE!GEORGE:

I fully agree that little!George can be very overwhelmed at Christmas time, especially because of how many people come over and how many people he has to see. George usually likes to regress at least once a week with you, and when its Christmas and so many friends and family want to come over, that's not always possible. Which leads to George feeling awful and desperately wanting to regress and then being so overwhelmed.

Having said that, you do get him to enjoy Christmas with you! You introduce him to cute Christmas movies and let him watch you bake cookies.

We said a while ago that he would love to play animal crossing with you? He doesn't play, he just watches you and comments and points at pretty things. You show him that animal crossing has special Christmas items and Christmas events and he loves those! Together you redo your entire island to be Christmas themed and that becomes a Christmas tradition.

LITTLE!ARTHUR:

I love the idea that you sit in a corner with Arthur while all the other littles play and interact with others. Arthur doesn't enjoy doing that because other littles are loud and scary!! Even Charles!

So you cuddle with Arthur and watch all the others, and people can come up to you to chat or give Arthur some affection. Arthur happily accepts all the head pats and cuddles and babbles happily when Lewis comes over to ask how he's enjoying the Christmas party.

[oldiesstationlover11607]

okok i may have gotten ahead of myself with the christmas themed ask LMAO even tho you totally killed it and may or may not have put me into a holly jolly mood- ITS OCTOBER I NEED TO SLOW DOWN (slowtown reference?)

in honor of spooky season, may i request tyler x reader on tour during october, where reader totally goes crazy with the spooky decorations?

stickers, fake spiders and spiderwebs, fairy lights, and other decorations allll over the tour bus, backstage, tyler's instruments, etc.

maybe a bit of that tiktok trend of people covering their partners car and face with cutesey stickers lol!!

imagine tyler appearing on stage in Serious Clancy mode with cute halloween stickers all over his face, arms, and mic 😭🥹

trust, this will not be the last halloween themed ask i conjure up this month 😌

i look forward to seeing this come to life!!

hope all is well 🫶🏼

🕸🕸🕸🕸

Haunted Bus - Tyler Joseph x Reader

Warnings: none! :)

Word Count: 2614

A/N: This was so much fun to write lol I had so many ideas - halloween is my favorite holiday so I was so excited to see this request. I made it a bit niche by adding that the reader is from NZ like me where we don't really tend to celebrate it which explains why she goes crazy :) also featuring debby and josh bc we luv them! can't wait to see the next request!

It had taken everything in me to stay home while the boys were touring in October. Tyler knew how much I loved Fall and Halloween—it had become our thing. Every year, we’d transform our house into a spooky wonderland, with pumpkins lining the porch, fog machines hidden in the bushes, and skeletons dangling from the eaves. No matter how hard we tried to adjust the schedule, this time, it just wasn’t possible. The best he could do was promise we’d be home by October 14th, just in time to celebrate. But in the meantime, I was determined to bring Halloween with me, no matter where we were. By the time October rolled around, we were only a few weeks away from the end of the American leg of The Clancy Tour, and I was itching to dive into the spooky season. Debby, always my partner in crime, knew exactly what I needed. That morning, we woke up early, leaving Tyler fast asleep, and made our way to Target.

“Oh my god, look at all this!” I practically squealed as we entered the Halloween section, grabbing a red basket and darting toward the decorations. “This is like… heaven. We don’t have anything like this back home!”

Growing up in New Zealand, Halloween had never been a big deal, so the over-the-top decorations in American stores still blew my mind. There were aisles of fake skeletons, glowing ghosts, fog machines, and everything in between. It was like stepping into my dream version of Halloween.

Debby chuckled, shaking her head. “I still don’t get how you survived so many years without a proper Halloween, Y/N.”

“I have no idea,” I replied, pressing every button on the animatronic toys until they were all blinking, buzzing, and screeching. Halloween had become a serious obsession for me. The first year I started dating Tyler, Debby and Josh invited me to their legendary Halloween party, and ever since, I was hooked. Now I talked about the holiday year-round, planning decorations and themes months in advance.

“We should totally make the buses look haunted,” I said, grabbing a couple bags of fake spiderwebs and tossing them into the basket. “We could go all out.”

Debby laughed. “You know we don’t have that much space, right?”

“I know, but we have to get spiderwebs. At least those will fit!” I said, grabbing a few more packets just to be sure. Debby picked up a few boxes of orange fairy lights and handed some to me.

“We used these last time around Josh’s drum kit, and it looked amazing. He told me to pick up more. I’m sure you can find some use for them on your bus.”

Before long, our baskets were overflowing with decorations—candy corn, ghost window gels, pumpkin stickers, and all the spooky essentials. The thought of surprising—and slightly annoying—Tyler with a fully decorated haunted bus made me feel like a kid again. I was practically buzzing with excitement as we headed back, already plotting out how to turn our bus into a Halloween wonderland.

When we got back, Tyler was still fast asleep, so I tiptoed into the bus, trying not to wake him. I got straight to work, channeling my inner Halloween decorator. I stretched fake spiderwebs over the cabinets, stuck glowing ghost decals onto the windows, and placed a pumpkin spice candle on the counter. The bus was starting to look like a Halloween explosion, and I couldn’t help but grin as I imagined Tyler’s reaction.

Tyler eventually stirred, letting out a groggy groan as he reached out, his hand searching for me on the other side of the bed. I crawled beside him, watching as his sleepy eyes blinked open. His brow furrowed slightly, and I could tell he hadn’t noticed anything yet.

“I’m right here, hun,” I whispered, smiling as I leaned in closer.

“Good morning,” he croaked, his voice thick with sleep. His nose wrinkled, and he squinted toward the kitchen. “What’s that smell?”

“Pumpkin spice candle,” I said, biting back a grin. 

Tyler stretched and yawned before his eyes finally took in the scene around him—the fake spiderwebs stretched across the kitchen, the ghost decals on the windows, the plastic spiders scattered across the counter. His sleepy expression morphed into one of amused disbelief.

“How did you…?

“Debby took me to Target,” I said innocently, suppressing a giggle.

He shook his head, his lips curving into a small, knowing smile. “Of course she did. You just love spooky season, don’t you?”

“More than anyone,” I declared proudly.

Tyler sighed, running a hand through his messy hair as he surveyed the Halloween transformation. “You’re going to drive Josh insane with all this.”

“Josh will love it,” I shot back, hopping off the bed and heading toward the kitchen. “Besides, Debby helped me pick everything out, so he doesn’t get a vote.”

Tyler chuckled, rubbing his eyes as he padded toward the shower. “I don’t know what I’m more scared of—the haunted bus or how far you’re planning to take this.”

“You have no idea what’s coming,” I teased, winking as he disappeared into the bathroom.

Once he was gone, I pulled out the rest of the decorations Debby and I had picked up and headed to the venue. Debby and Josh were already there, decorating Josh’s drum kit with the orange fairy lights, while I set to work sticking pumpkin stickers across Tyler’s bass and even sneaking a few onto the piano keys. We scattered more fake spiders and webs throughout the dressing rooms and across the arena, adding to the overall spooky vibe. By the time Tyler joined us, he was stumbling across Halloween decorations every few steps, muttering under his breath each time he found another sticker or plastic spider.

But no matter how much he tried to act annoyed, I could tell he was secretly enjoying the chaos. Every now and then, I’d catch him peeling off a sticker, only for me to stick another one somewhere else when he wasn’t looking. His exasperation was growing, but so was that mischievous smile he couldn’t hide.

As the afternoon wore on, the whole crew had gotten into the Halloween spirit. Josh was drumming with little skeletons dangling from his kit, Debby was sticking glow-in-the-dark bats onto his drumsticks, and even the crew had added their own decorations to equipment cases and dressing room doors.

Tyler, meanwhile, was wandering the venue with a bemused expression, fake spiderwebs clinging to his jacket and tiny pumpkins stuck to his guitar case. I had to stifle a laugh when I saw a bright green ghost sticker on his shoulder that he hadn’t noticed yet.

“You’re really pushing your luck, Y/N,” he teased, giving me a playful glare when he caught me giggling.

I grinned, leaning back against the soundboard. “You love it. Admit it.”

He opened his mouth to argue but was interrupted by Josh shouting, “Tyler, look at your uke!”

We all turned to see Josh holding up Tyler's ukulele, now with a large spider sticker plastered right at the base of the neck. Tyler groaned, running a hand through his hair, but he couldn’t hide the smile tugging at his lips.

“How did I not see that earlier?” he muttered, shaking his head.

Debby and I exchanged a mischievous look before bursting into laughter. “You were too busy focusing on the tiny pumpkins I stuck on the piano keys,” I teased.

Tyler sighed dramatically but couldn’t stop himself from chuckling. As the evening approached and the fans started filling the venue, the spooky decorations spread everywhere. The stage, the dressing rooms, the buses—everything had a touch of Halloween madness. Fans even showed up in costumes, snapping pictures of the stage decked out in orange fairy lights and haunted decor.

When it was finally time for the show, Tyler stepped onto the stage, falling into his intense Clancy persona. The crowd erupted in cheers, and for a moment, he was completely focused. But then, mid-song, he noticed the bright orange pumpkin sticker I’d placed on his mic earlier. His lips twitched as he tried to maintain his serious expression, but I saw him bite back a smile. It got worse when he caught Josh’s eye. Josh, sitting behind his drum kit surrounded by glow-in-the-dark bats, was giving Tyler a look that screamed, What have we become? Tyler cracked—he turned away from the crowd, pretending to adjust his in-ear monitor, but I saw the laugh he was holding in.

As the night wore on, the decorations became part of the performance. Fans pointed out the tiny pumpkins and skeletons strung across the stage, snapping pictures and laughing at the haunted spectacle. Tyler, still fighting to keep Clancy intact, kept getting caught off guard by the random Halloween touches I’d added. His mic, his guitar, even his water bottle had tiny pumpkins and spiders stuck to them.

During the encore, he finally gave in. As he came back onstage for the final song, he raised his arm to reveal the black cat temporary tattoo I’d sneakily applied earlier. The crowd erupted in laughter, and Tyler just shook his head with a grin.

“You’ve really outdone yourself,” he said into the mic, holding up his arm for the audience to see.

The fans cheered louder, and I felt my cheeks flush with pride as I stood offstage, watching him with a satisfied grin. Tyler finished the set with the stickers still plastered all over his gear, and by the end of the night, I knew I had succeeded in turning the tour into the ultimate Halloween experience.

As the last notes of the encore rang out and the lights dimmed, Tyler came offstage, still shaking his head in amused disbelief. He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me close as we made our way back toward the dressing room. The sound of the crowd's final cheers still echoed in the air, filling me with a sense of joy that felt as electric as the Halloween lights strung throughout the venue.

“You're lucky I love you,” he murmured, his lips brushing against my temple, a sweet reminder of how special moments like this were to us.

“I know,” I replied smugly, tilting my head up to meet his gaze. “And you’re lucky I didn’t cover your entire face in stickers.”

Tyler groaned dramatically, rolling his eyes. “Please don’t give them any ideas,” he said, nodding toward Josh and the crew, who were still cackling about the Halloween chaos. “I’ll be peeling stickers off my stuff for weeks.”

I shrugged playfully. “Totally worth it,” I replied with a wink, letting go of his waist to gather up a few stray decorations left behind.

We entered the dressing room, which was still littered with remnants of our Halloween takeover. Fake spiders crawled across the table, and a few pumpkin stickers had managed to find their way onto crew members' gear. The atmosphere was light and buzzing, filled with laughter and excitement from the show.

As I started collecting the decorations, Tyler leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching me with a smile. “You know, this has actually been kind of fun,” he admitted, a hint of sincerity in his voice. “Even if it is a total disaster.”

I shot him a teasing glare. “A total disaster? This is a masterpiece! Wait until next year; we’ll have the whole tour bus covered in cobwebs and pumpkin lights.”

“Next year, huh?” he mused, clearly already imagining the chaos I had in store. “You might need to start planning now.”

“Oh, I definitely will,” I replied, laughing as I tossed another handful of stickers into a bag. “I’m going to need an entire month of preparation for the ultimate Halloween tour.”

As we finished tidying up, Josh sauntered in, his hair still slightly damp from the post-show shower. “You guys seriously went all out. I can’t believe how many stickers you managed to get on our stuff,” he said, shaking his head in amusement.

“Hey, you’re just as much to blame for this,” Tyler shot back, gesturing toward the decorations that surrounded us. “You encouraged her!”

Josh held up his hands in mock surrender. “I’m just here for the fun, man. But next year, I’m putting my foot down. No more pumpkin stickers on my kit, alright?”

“Challenge accepted,” I said with a grin, leaning closer to Josh as I started to plot out my next Halloween invasion.

The conversation shifted to plans for the next few shows, but I could feel the warmth of Tyler’s arm resting around my shoulders. As he leaned in closer, I felt a flutter in my stomach. This was what I loved most about being on the road with him—the spontaneous moments, the laughter, and how easy it felt to share the chaos of life together.

After a while, as the laughter faded and we began to wrap things up, Tyler turned to me, his expression softening. “You know, it’s these little moments that make everything worth it,” he said quietly, glancing around the dressing room, now a blend of spooky decor and lingering laughter.

“I couldn’t agree more,” I replied, leaning into him, feeling his warmth seep into me.

With the decorations finally packed away, we made our way back to the bus. The excitement of the show still hung in the air, and I could see Tyler’s contentment reflected in the twinkle of the fairy lights strung up in the bus. He opened the door, and we stepped inside together, the cozy atmosphere wrapping around us like a warm blanket.

“Okay, but we have to leave a few decorations up,” I said, grabbing a couple of leftover spiderwebs and tossing them onto the couch. “Just to keep us in the spirit till we get home.”

Tyler chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?”

“Not a chance,” I replied, smirking as I sank into the couch, pulling him down next to me. “This is only the beginning.”

As we settled in, I snuggled up against him, the bus rocking gently as the night wore on. We spent the rest of the evening recounting our favorite moments from the show and joking about the fans’ reactions to the Halloween madness. With each laugh and shared glance, I could feel our connection deepening. The world outside faded away, and in this moment, it was just us—wrapped up in our own little universe, where the spirit of Halloween reigned supreme.

“I can’t wait to see what kind of trouble we’ll get into next year,” Tyler mused, a playful grin spreading across his face.

I smiled back, feeling a rush of excitement. “Next year? Just wait until we turn our house into a haunted mansion!”

“Bring it on, spooky girl,” he said, kissing the top of my head. “Just promise me you’ll let me get through one more tour before you unleash your full Halloween arsenal on me.”

“Deal,” I replied, biting back a smile. “But I can’t make any promises about the off-season.”

As the night wore on, we sat in comfortable silence, the glow from the pumpkin spice candle flickering softly around us. I leaned my head on his shoulder, soaking in the warmth of the moment. Halloween may have just begun, but this tour had already turned into an unforgettable adventure—one filled with laughter, love, and more than a few stickers.

And I knew, deep down, that as long as I had Tyler by my side, every season, every tour, and every moment would be just as magical, chaotic, and full of laughter as this Halloween had been.

//

REQUESTS OPEN

[yelenasdiary]

Different Kind of Love || Part VII 2/2

Pairing: CEO! MobBoss! Natasha Romanoff x Assistant! Reader (Platonic)

Summary: Working for Natasha was never easy and being a low-level assistant for the CEO wasn’t where you thought you’d be after working your hardest for 2 years. After catching you in tears on Christmas Eve, Natasha’s cold ways start to warm up.

DARK Themes | Language Warning | DARK! Natasha | Mentions of Blood | Details of Torture | Murder | Violence | SA Mentions | Brief Mentions of Anxiety | Dark Thoughts | Mentions of Suicide | Mentions of Depression | 5K | 

Notes: Dylan’s dialog is meant to sound like how a 5-year-old would talk and his nickname is Dyl and not a misspell.

I want to give a HUGE thank you to @daddynattt for helping me so much with this last chapter! It means a lot to me and I just know my readers will also be thankful xx

Different Kind of Love Masterlist

"Are you completely sure?" Natasha asked just to assure herself she heard you correctly as you stood in front of her. "I don't want to hear a single word about it. Do it, but don't tell me when or how or where. I never, ever want to hear his name come from your mouth again" you explained, your stomach turning at the idea, knowing you just asked Natasha to murder somebody for you. 

"That fee-"

"Save it, please. By morning, I want to take my son home and you and I" you paused for a moment after cutting her off, "you are my boss, I can't get involved with this" you added. 

"Y/n, you already are" Natasha informed you, "you're asking me to k-"

"I know what I'm asking of you" you stopped her from saying that one word. "I need space from you, I need space from all of this. Please understand that I'm thankful for everything you have done for Dylan and I…but I need you to just leave us alone" 

Your words hurt Natasha deeply as she nodded slowly, losing you as her best friend wasn't something she thought about if you had ever found out about her true business. She watched you walk away before downing a shot of vodka and for the first time in her life, she hated what she did for a living. 

Morning came a moment too quickly for you, Dylan woke up with a burst of energy as he woke you from the 20-minute nap you managed to get in from overthinking all night. "Mommy!! It's breakfast time!!" He shook you the best he could with a sparkle in his eyes, "come on mommy!!" he added. 

"I'm awake, you cheeky monster!" you attacked him with kisses over his cheek just to hear his precious giggle and just for those short moments you forgot about the world, just for a moment. "Can I please have ice cream for breakfast?" Dylan asked once he had calmed down, giving you his signature baby face and puppy eyes in hopes of convincing you. "I don't think so Mr!" you smiled softly while shaking your head, "how about we go out for breakfast this morning?" you suggested. 

"Can aunty Nat come?" Dylan pouted slightly. You looked at your son and did your best to let him down easy, not wanting to worry him about anything that you knew. "She's got work today darling, so I think she's a bit busy this morning but I'm sure we can do something with her again another time" you said, brushing his messy bed hair back, "lets to pack up your toys and get home for a bath then we can go to iHop for breakfast" you added. Dylan sighed as expected when a child doesn't usually get their own way. 

You were able to get yourself and Dylan out of Natasha's condo without seeing her, telling Dylan that she would've already left for work. He was sad that he couldn't see the woman he called his aunty, and you could only hope with some deep distractions, he'd get used to her not being around much anymore. 

----

"Can I dress myself today?" Dylan asked as he played with his bath toys while you washed the shampoo from his curly locks that you adore so much. "As long as it's not summer clothing" you smiled before pouring another jug of water through his hair.

While Dylan took his time finding his own fashion statement for the day, you took a moment to tidy up your apartment and charge your mobile. It wasn't a surprise when your phone was charged enough that you had plenty of unread text messages from your mother and Natasha. You couldn't help but stare at Natasha's worried messages for a moment without thinking about what she could possibly do to Kane. Would she torture him? Or would she make it something quick and he wouldn't feel anything? You snapped out of your thoughts when a text from your mother popped up at the top of your screen.

"Honey, please call me when you can! Your father and I are worried about you xo – mom"

Feeling like a young teenager again, you did what the message said and waited patiently for your mother's voice to bring you comfort. 

"Darling! Oh my god, are you okay?!" 

"Hey mom, I'm so sorry about not being in touch. I had a work meeting come up and Dylan was up sick last night, so I haven't had a chance to look at my phone" You've never lied as well as you did just now. 

"Oh, my poor baby, is he okay?" 

"Yeah, just a little too much ice cream" you chuckled, "I was wondering, are you and dad free today for me to drop Dylan off for a few days?" You asked already knowing the answer, but you just had to be sure. 

"Of course, honey but that's a long drive, will you stay with us too?" Your mother asked in her worried tone. 

"I have a lot of work to do so I can't stay, but I promise when I come to pick him up, I'll stay for a while" 

"Is it the court stuff? Because if so, your father and I want to be there for you. We'll come stay at a hotel if you need" Your stomach dropped, and your mind instantly thought about Natasha and what she would likely be doing today. 

"It's okay mom, I would rather keep Dylan away from it all but I promise to keep you guys updated on everything" you did your best to keep a convincing tone. "We should be at yours a little after lunch time, I promised Dylan breakfast at iHop on the way" you added with a soft smile on your face. 

"Alright darling, we will make sure we have everything he needs. What does he eat? Toys he likes? Anything I can get him, I will" 

"He loves his fruit and veg so he'll love your roast dinners for sure! He loves fire trucks at the moment but I'll make sure to pack him with plenty of toys and clothing. He is allergic to honey but I'll write down what he likes and doesn't" 

"Honey? That's new" 

"Trust my son to be one with a rare allergy" you chuckled just as Dylan came out into the living room dressed in sweaters, an orange t-shirt on inside out and his firefighter helmet. You chuckled at your son who stood proudly with a smile, "I'll send you a text message when we're on our way, I love you mom" you added and hung up after your mother said she loved you too. 

"Look at you! Come here so I can fix your t-shirt" you opened your arms wide for him to come running to you and that he did. "Do you like my outfit mommy?" he asked with his smile still wide and proud, "I love it honey! We just need to get you a hoodie or jacket and you're all set" you kissed his forehead before taking off his inside out shirt to fix. "I couldn't find my red hoodie" he pouted, his favorite hoodie that you had a struggle getting it off him and into the wash. "That's because it needed a wash but it should be in the tumble dryer" you pulled the t-shirt over his head and put his helmet back on, "there you go my little fire fighter" you smiled. 

"Can we go to breakfast now mommy? Please, I'm hungry" Dylan picked at the herm of his t-shirt as if he was nervous. 

"We will, but first we need to go pack some toys and clothes. You're going to go have a big sleep over with grandma and grandpa" 

"I am?!" Dylan's eyes widened at the news with excitement, "you are buddy! Why don't you go back some of your favourite toys in your paw patrol backpack, I'll get your red hoodie from the tumble dryer and pack you some clothes" you suggested with a soft smile. Dylan nodded quickly before racing off to his room once again. 

----

Natasha knew you and Dylan were gone before she even made her way to her large kitchen, dismissing her personal chef and making herself a pot of coffee as she tried to keep herself from tearing up. Her phone buzzed with messages from Bucky asking what the plan was only made her sigh deeply. She took a shower and took a moment to clear her mind. She was going to kill somebody today and not just anybody. 

She would kill Kane in a heartbeat if it meant she still had her closest friend but the thought of not being close to you anymore dawned on her, not seeing Dylan's adorable little smile, not being able to feel like she finally made a friend on her own and not from the illegal acts of her business. 

Natasha had to remind herself why she was about to kill Kane. The hurt he brought you and your son, the fear she saw in your eyes when she read you the email he sent, the panic you had at the thought of Kane taking Dylan away from you. Knowing that since Dylan came into this world you weren't ever able to feel safe, always looking over your shoulder and wondering if you'd wake up to your son missing. All thoughts of your fears ran through Natasha's mind as she looked at herself in the mirror with a faint smirk on her lips as she felt herself soon start thinking about a world without Kane.

----

"Please stop!!" Kane begged, his face beaten and bruised and covered with his own blood. "If you're going to kill me, just do it already!" he spat with tears streaming down his face while Natasha sat down in front of him. It had been hours of harsh torture for Kane as Natasha soaked up his cries and begs to stop, she loved the sound of his life in her hands and knowing she had full control over his final moments. 

"Oh, I am going to kill you, don't worry about that" Nat winked before rolling her wrists, releasing a cracking sound. "Then what are you waiting for?! I've admitted to everything, I know I'm not leaving this hell hole alive so just do it! DO IT ALREADY!" Kane begged once more as Natasha stared him down coldly. "I like hearing you beg, it's fun. If I had it my way, I would've liked to let you go and have you look over your shoulder every fucking day wondering if anybody is watching everything you do. I'd love to keep you on your toes and tossing at night wondering if it was safe to be in your own home. But, killing you sounds just a lot better" she smirked as she leant back in her seat. 

It surprised Natasha how long Kane was able to serve the brutal torture she delivered to him. Plying most of his fingers off, breaking both of his legs with a sledgehammer, multiple stab wounds including two combat knives still stabbed through his hands that kept him even more combined to the chair he was chained too. Kane passed out a few times only for Natasha to drench him in cold, dirty water keeping him from any form of comfort. 

She could see the fear she installed in him, the loss of hope in his eyes, the trembling in his bottom lip, the shakiness in his voice, she had him right where she wanted him. Completely begging for her to end his pain. 

"You're fucking sick!" Kane threw his head back slightly, "what else do you want from me?!" he asked. 

"I already have what I wanted" Natasha chuckled leaving a smirk on her lips just before her phone broke the moment of silence between the two. Seeing your name lit up on her phone was the last thing she'd see today; Natasha left the room and took a deep breath before answering. 

"Hey" she spoke softly. 

"Don't do it, Nat! Please tell me you haven't already done it, please!"

"Woah, Y/n calm down, nothing has been done. Is everything okay? Have you changed your mind?"

"I…I want to talk to him, please" 

"Are you sure? I don't know if that's a goo-"

"Please Nat….if you're going to do it, I need to speak to him before you do it…please" you begged.

"Alright, where are you? I'll come get you" Natasha finally replied after moments of silence. 

"I just got home; Dylan is with my parents until things die down" 

"I'll be half hour, are you sure you want to do this?" Natasha asked once more. 

"I'm sure, Nat….please" you begged one last time. 

"Okay, I'll see you soon" 

"Thank you, Nat" you replied before the call hung up. 

Natasha walked into her office where Bucky had made himself a little too comfortable with a pizza and beer to keep himself 'busy' as he would say. "You're done already? I thought you would've been a lot longer" he looked up at the redhead with a cold smirk. "Y/n wants to talk to him" Nat grabbed her coat, "What?" Bucky asked in a confused tone as he quickly sat up, removing his feet from Nat's desk. 

"I'll be back. Don't let him fall asleep or die" she ordered as she grabbed her keys. 

----

The drive back to Natasha's bunker was silent. You could barely look at her, even for a second without the feeling of your stomach-turning upside down. She notices the way you couldn't stop rubbing your hands up and down the top of your thighs and the way you couldn't stop blinking or trying to swallow the lump that was stuck in your throat. 

"You don't have to do this, Y/n" Natasha broke the silence as she looked over at you for a short moment before her eyes focused on the road in front of her. "W-what?" you asked with a stutter when her voice broke you from your thoughts. Natasha pulled the car over, turned the car off and turned to you. "You don't have to do it" she repeated. 

"I do, it's something I feel I need to do before…you know" your eyes struggled to look at her for more than a second, "he needs to know what he did was wrong, and I don't mean that I don't love Dylan because I do. Without him I probably would've done something really bad" tears start to build up in your eyes, "but I've been hurting for so long and I need him to know that. This whole situation isn't how I imagined telling him, you've kil-…you did, I me"

"I know" Natasha interrupted making you look at her once again. 

"Please don't do it" the tears now streaming freely, "I can't live with the thought of it. I know you might be able too, but I can't, please" you added. Natasha nodded softly, "how can you do it? How can you live with yourself?" you asked before Natasha could open her mouth. 

"I" Natasha was speechless, she'd never thought about how she was able to torture people and take their lives without it playing on her mind. She got a kick from it all but she couldn't admit that to you, you'd think she's more than just sick. "W-what I do, what I have done…I, it's…I don't just target anybody. Everybody has something and honestly, they deserved what they got" she struggled to explain. 

"But you can't decide who lives and dies Natasha. You're a lawyer, there's rules, there are legal ways to deal with people. Kane needs prison time, nature will take its course, not you" 

"If you don't want me to do it, I won't. But I can't risk letting him free, you have to understand that" Nat reached for your hand, "you can't keep him forever" you frowned with worry as you pulled your hand away from her. 

"Y/n, I can't let him go. He'll talk and with the injuries he has, it would be believable"

"H-h…how bad have you hurt him?" You looked at her with fear while your tears kept streaming. "Can you please take my word for it?" she looked at you with pleading eyes, "I know you want to talk to him and you can but I don't want the image of him to scare you" she added.

"He's bad, isn't he?"

Natasha nodded. 

"He going to die anyway, isn't he?"

Natasha nodded once again, "I should've waited, I'm sorry" she spoke while you wiped your tears. "Let's just go before it's too late" you turned away from Natasha and kept your attention to the passenger window. 

The rest of the drive was just as silent to begin with, every now and then Natasha would look over at you and wish things were different. She wished you never found out. 

----

Natasha walked you to the room where she was keeping Kane, the only sounds that could be heard throughout her bunker were your footsteps and Bucky blasting some old radio tunes from her office. 

"Y/n, please wait" Natasha gently grabbed your hand and turned you to face her. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry that you found out about all of this. I didn't want you to know and I understand if you don't want anything to do with me again, I do but please…you're my best friend. I just want you to know that" she looked into your eyes hoping that you could see that she never meant for any of this to harm you. 

"Can you wait here? I need to talk to him alone" you replied almost shrugging off her words as she nodded. You took a moment to prepare yourself before opening the door, gasping to yourself when you saw Kane's condition. 

"Y/n?" he mumbled, covered in blood and smelt awful as you slowly turned away from the door to face him. A chair was placed in front of him, one you can only assume that Natasha used to intimidate the man. "Wh-what are you doing here? Y-you have you leave! Your b-boss, she's fucking cr-crazy!" he added in a stutter while you took small steps towards the chair. The sight of him made your eyes fill with tears once more, as much as you hated Kane, you'd never seen anybody as beaten and in pain as Kane is right now. 

"I mean it, Y/n! g-get out of here!" he choked, spitting out blood to the floor. 

"I..I need you to listen to me" you spoke as you sat down in front of him, his face swollen from the torture Natasha's fist delivered. "I'm sorry, okay?! I'm s-so, so, s-sorry! I hurt you and Dylan; I know but you h-have to get out of here! P-please!" 

"You hurt me, Kane" you ignored his pleas for you to leave, "you were my friend…I trusted you and you didn't listen to me….I said no, I begged you to stop" you added while remembering the night your life changed. 

"I k-know"

"You don't!" you spat with tears streaming down your cheeks, "you don't know! You didn't care! You laughed at me, held me down while you and your…friends…Kane, you hurt me in ways I didn't know I could be hurt. You broke my trust, my confidence, my safety net, you broke me. Do you know how scared I was when that pregnancy test came back positive? Do you know how sick I felt? Knowing that I was pregnant by one of my…r-rapists…you made me grow up when I wa-"

"Please d-don't do this"

"LISTEN!" you shouted at him, even Dylan had never been yelled at in such a high shout. "I need you to know all of this, so please…just listen!" Kane struggled to keep eye contact with you as you waited for him to response, "can you do that? Can you listen for a moment?" you asked, finally Kane nodded. 

"I had plans, I had dreams and you took all over that from me. I couldn't bear to look at my parents after finding out I was pregnant; I couldn't leave my house because of you! My father wanted to kill you himself when he found out, when my mother found me on the floor in the bathroom begging for a god to just take me, she broke. You did that! I thought about hurting myself so many times that my mother had to sleep in the same room as me because she didn't trust me, she took me to my first appointment and the moment I heard my, MY baby's heartbeat, I knew I had to be strong for him. 

Since I found out I was pregnant I wanted nothing more than to get rid of him and hope I could somehow move on. I hated knowing I had a child growing inside of me, but hearing his heartbeat I realized he didn't deserve the hate and anger I had for him. I promised him, before I found out he was a boy that no matter what was going to happen, I would love them, I would protect them and I would do anything for them. 

Dylan is MY child, MY son. He is nothing like you! He's beautiful, he's caring, he's so full of life, he reaches for the stars with everything he does! He doesn't have a bad bone in him, he once made me look after a squirrel that was hit by a car and I did it for him, to see that beautiful smile he has. So don't you ever think for a second that Dylan is your son or that you have anything to do with him. Everything Dylan is comes from me!

I kept him safe; I kept a roof over his head, I gave him everything I had while you made things harder for me. I knew the moment he was born, the second I saw him I knew that it was your DNA. But for the first time since that night, I wasn't mad, I didn't wish for a god to take me, I was happy. I had a healthy, strong and beautiful baby boy" Your eyes stared heavily into Kane's while tears had now made a river of your cheeks. 

"I want you to hurt like I did, to only see darkness, to fear everything you do! I want you to never feel safe, I want you to wonder what you might wake up too in the morning. I want all your hopes and dreams to be crushed" you added when Kane's eyes dropped to the bloody splattered floor in front of him. 

"Y/n…I…I was drunk, we all w-were. Y-you said you wa-"

"No!" you stood up, your fists in balls of anger, "Don't you ever say I asked for what you did to me! You drugged me! You forced me to say I wanted it, that I liked it! Every day I remember something from that night, and it breaks me all over again!" you added in anger before slowly sitting down again. "You're going to feel guilty, are you? You're never going to see the wrong you did, the hurt you brought, are you?" you asked. 

"You d-don't think I'm hurting?!" Kane spat, "LOOK AT ME Y/N!" He shouted, "You did THIS TO ME!" he added. His words only confirmed your thoughts, "I didn't do this" you spoke as you stood up again, "you did this" you added before making your way to the door. 

"Y/n, I'm s-sorry! Pl-please! h-help me out of h-here! I'll leave y-you and D-Dylan alone forever, I pr-promise" he begged, his injuries causing his stutter of words. His begs only got louder as you ignored him and opened the too to see Natasha and Bucky waiting outside. With one hand you did your best to wipe your tears while the over closed the door behind you, draining out Kane's begs for help. 

"Are you okay?" Natasha asked as she took a step towards you. "Just do it" you nodded before your eyes dropped to your feet, "he didn't care" you added in a mumble, your legs felt wobbly as if you were about to fall, Bucky looked at Natasha who gave you a soft nod.

"He didn't even try to care" you started to sob as you started to walk away, "I'll wait in the car" you added without looking back at Natasha. "Hey, come here" Bucky opened his arms for you, without a second thought you crashed into him and cried as he held you. 

"I've got her" Bucky mouthed to Natasha who didn't want to leave you but it was only a matter of hours before Kane's body would shut down. She nodded to Bucky and waited for him to take you out of the bunker before she entered the room where Kane's cries for help came to a stop. Nat closed the door and locked it before walking over to the countertop and picked up her favorite combat knife and began to sharpen as Kane watched in fear. 

"Please stop, I'm done okay! You win! Just fucking kill me already!" He began to cry when Natasha turned and looked at him with a dark smirk on her lips. "I already told you, I'm going to kill you but after that I think it's only fair we deal with the reason you're here in the first place, right?" she chuckled as she walked over to him, kicking his chair over. He yelled in pain as his head smacked the hard flooring, not hard enough to knock him out but enough to give him a headache later on. 

"What t-the f-uck are you doing?!" He panicked as Natasha unzipped his trousers and harshly grabbed his cock from his boxers. "No, no no! PLEASE DON'T!" Kane yelled at the top of his lungs as Nat brought her knife closer to his penis, "I told you. It's only fair we deal with that got you into this mess first, didn't I?" She looked over at him and smiled as she kept her eye contact with him while her knife made a clear slice from the base of his genitals. Blood splattered everywhere while Kane screamed in pain, almost passing out. 

"Oh, stop your fucking crying!" Natasha as she pulled Kane's chair up from the floor before dangling his penis in front of his eyes, "Y-YOU CUT OFF M-MY D-DICK?!" Kane shouted while Nat chuckled, "it's not like you're missing much" she joked as she walked back over to the countertop of weapons. Kane's penis was tossed onto the counter as if it was a useless item that Natasha couldn't care less if it broke. She put a face mask on and grabbed the blow-torch before testing its blue flame causing Kane to squirm and shout louder for help, help he knew he would never get. 

"Since you think you know how to use this ugly thing" Natasha grabbed his penis from the counter with her free hand, the blow-torch in the other as she turned around and faced her victim once again. "You can watch me destroy it" she smiled before letting the blue flame turn orange as she lit Kane's member on fire. Kane was losing blood by the second, his skin turning pale as Natasha tossed the body part in flames onto Kane's lap, he screamed and squirmed as the flames came in contact with his thighs, setting him alight. 

Natasha watched by the door as Kane's screams were something she'd never heard from anybody before, she watched as his entire body became covered in flames. She let out a deep breath and left the room and waited for his cries to stop, when she knew that Kane had finally died, she turned the roof sprinklers on putting the flames out.

----

Bucky waiting outside your apartment door, not wanting to leave you alone even though you begged him to leave and slammed the door in his face. He didn't take it personally; he knew you were going through more emotions than he could even imagine. Natasha arrived to see him guarding your door while your sobs could faintly be heard from the inside. 

"She wants to be alone" Bucky looked at Natasha, "I couldn't leave" he added. 

"Give me a moment" Nat replied in a soft tone. Unsure if it was a good idea, Bucky moved aside, and Natasha let herself into your apartment. She could hear you crying from your bedroom and slowly made her way, knocking softly on your door. You ripped the covers off from over your head and looked at Natasha with wet, puffy eyes. 

"Is he?" you asked, unable to say the word.

"He is" Natasha confirmed, "I wanted you to know. You don't have to worry about him…or me anymore" she added. Slowly you sat up still looking at her, "please stay" you spoke before Natasha could walk away, she looked at you with surprise. 

"Y-you're my best friend and friends fight, we have up and downs but…. but I love you even if right now I'm a mess and have no idea what to do. You're my best friend, Nat. I'm mad at you, I'm confused, and it might take me some time to come to terms with things, but friends fight, right?" You smiled brokenly at her. "I don't want to be alone right now, I need my best friend" you added. 

Nat smiled softly with tears of her own filling her eyes, she took her coat off and placed it on your dresser before she made herself comfortable in your bed, letting you rest your head on her shoulder. For the first time in a very, very long time Natasha felt love, a different kind of love that she didn't know she longed for. 

"I'm right here" she whispered as you cried, letting yourself let all those built-up feelings over the past 6 years out. You were free, Dylan was free, and you have Natasha, your best friend to thank.

Taglist: @marvelogic | @randomnessbecausewhynot | @blackwidow-3 | @lilsmeaux | @mmmmokdok | @wandanats-goodgirl | @toouncreativeforausername | @agent99galanzo | @marvelwomen-simp | @its-just-geek | @fxckmiup | @loneliestafterparty | @pikachooo3 | @monaekelis | 

[fishyishy]

A3! Event Translation - memory of toys (2/11)

Toi: Ah, sorry for startling you. I am Toi, the owner of this shop.

Toi: I really would have liked to give you a gift certificate, but to be honest, the toy store is going through some financial difficulties right now...sigh....

Yuki: Well, it looks like a lot of money was spent on the interior of the store.

Citron: This must be very hard to maintain.

Toi: I’ve been thinking of ways to somehow make a comeback, but there just aren't any seasonal events this time of year.

Toi: I'm worried about how to liven things up.

Yuki: Well, what have you been doing up until now?

Toi: In the summer we have a beach themed special, with toys you can play with at the beach! For Halloween, we collect items like scary ghosts!

Toi: Christmas is a big event, so I collect a lot of interesting toys from around the world!

Citron: Oh~ How nice~!

Yuki: When you hear it like that, it sounds pretty interesting.

Toi: Right!? But now... in this day and age, you can get anything you want on the internet.

Toi: Besides, nowadays everyone wants to buy things with good reviews, so lesser known foreign toys get ignored.

Toi: These are some of the things I collected while traveling around the world because I thought they were just so wonderful....

Yuki: Hmm, so you buy your own toys?

Citron: Amazing! Sharing your travel memories with everyone!

Toi: Thank you. I inherited this store from my parents, so it still has that same luxurious interior that was popular a long time ago.

Yuki: I see. But, it seems difficult collecting toys from all over the world.

Citron: I also had no idea such a world of dreams existed in a place like this!

Toi: I guess I do need to let more people know about the shop....

Toi: With that being said, i wonder if the shop can make it through this month. The store can't afford to be advertising, so I'm kind of at a dead end.

Toi: As a last resort, I asked the shopping district to hold a raffle, but to be honest, the customer turnover isn't that great.

Toi: Ah.... perhaps you two will be our final customers......

Citron: Oh, it is still too early to give up!!

Toi: Eh?

Citron: Our fight is from now on!

Yuki: That's not what people say when things are about to close down.

Citron: It would be too much of a shame to close down such a wonderful store! Yuki thinks so too right?

Yuki: Me? I don't really care...

Yuki: But... it's just that there's a collection of toys you don't see very often, and the store is cute, so it's a shame...

Citron: That is right! I will...no, we will figure something out!

Toi: Ehhh?

Yuki: Ha?

Citron: Three people together create a spell of wisdom!

Yuki: Is that even a real proverb? You mean three heads are better than one.

Citron: I would like us all to cooperate!

Toi: Thank you... I'm happy you feel that way. The store is destined to close soon, so do whatever you like.

Citron: I will do my best~!

Yuki: .....This has gotten troublesome.

previous I next

please let me know if anything was wrong !

[blorbologist]

Just gotta gush here;

I'm DMing my first oneshot next Friday and I am SO excited and SO scared! It's for my fellow grad students in the lab, including one newbie who has never played any TTRPG before, so I'm. Very Nervous about that. But she requested a Christmas theme, so even though I don't care for the holiday I had Ideas and I'm just.

Having SO much fun trying to balance encounters around a low-level, inexperienced party, and making battlemaps, and instead of minis we have candy instead (I've got a surprise Big Chocolate Santa to destroy if they decided to go for a boss fight), and loot tables for Santa's Workshop (with cheeky references like a Ring of Invisibility addressed to one Frodo), and integrating backstories into this as best I can, and figuring out how I'll vaguely keep things on track, and preparing some music (including old favorite Wrath of the Lich King and Narnia tracks) and JUST!!!

WOW this is so much fun but so nerve-wracking!

Santa's elves unionized, so he sacked them and replaced them with gingerbread men constructs... which attracted mimics.

Seeing the cookie-carnage, Santa fled with his bare-minimum number of reindeer, abandoning the workshop a week-ish before Fantasy Christmas.

A dragon, finding this wealth of gold and toys unclaimed, decided to move in with her goblin entourage, and obviously everyone thinks she ate Santa. The dragon, meanwhile, is quite happy descending into her deep winter slumber knowing her hatchling has a toy-hoard to keep it occupied. And as for the goblins, they have gotten in touch with their artistic side and are throwing themselves into making toys.

Also the mimics are all very small toys and keep eating goblins that are out of sight. And really want to eat that baby dragon.

So that's what three adventurers are going to walk into after braving the blizzard to 'save Christmas'. What happens next? Up to them!

[leggerefiore]

Gift-Giving

cw: fluff, christmas holiday thing, n x reader

----

You watched the green-haired man curiously as he stared at the glowing tree in the Gear Station. He was unsure about how he felt riding the trains around Unova instead of getting around above ground, but you managed to convince, as the winter weather made you uncomfortable in trying to walk from Nimbasa to Lacunosa.

“Have you never seen a Christmas tree before, N?” you asked him, curious as to whether he had even celebrated the holiday. Ghetsis… certainly was not the type to enjoy such a holiday, you felt. He was quite lacking in more cultural knowledge, too. His pure excitement over you explaining the fireworks show on summer had been a pleasant one.

“No…” he nervously admitted, blue eyes glimmering with reflection of the lights, “What is it for?”

“You put one up and supposedly a special Delibird brings you a gift if you have been a good kid,” you told with a soft grin, “Of course, that's just what parents tell their kids to get them to behave.” His eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. You knew there was some time to kill before the next train arrived for Lacunosa, so you decided to let him enjoy the tree for a moment.

“Ah, love,” he suddenly asked you, “What is that supposed to mean?” He pointed to a giant nutcracker standing beside the tree. You stared at it. Whose choice was it to put this up? It would haunt your nightmares at how it stood just taller than you.

“I'm not sure, and I don't think I want to know,” you admitted and grasped his hand.

Perhaps it would be better to wait at your platform after all.

~

You stared around the shops with a worried thought plaguing your mind. Christmas was fast approaching, and you needed to get gifts for your friends and family… and N. He was completely absorbed in the holiday spirit, you would say. You did not think he was much a holiday type, but it seemed the idea of celebrating Delibird and giving gifts was enchanting to him.

Decorating your home with him was fun, but it struck you hard that he needed a gift.

What did he like?

Pokemon. Sweets. Unovan history. Not things you could really box for around a week or two.

Well, you did already plan to make a Christmas cake for the holiday, but that was not necessarily a gift for him. A shudder ran down your spine as you recalled his “room” in the castle Team Plasma had built. His struggles with maturing were perfectly understandable, but it felt mocking and cruel to get him a children's toy for Christmas.

Maybe… you pondered a certain toy store with something sitting in its window.

Maybe he would appreciate something like that.

~

You waved off the last of your friends and family as you shut the door to your home. Snow piled up outside thickly, as it did every year in your part of Unova. Many blamed the Giant Chasm, but Kyurem had since been captured. It could not be their fault. Unova's climate just enjoyed being torturous.

You re-entered the living room to find N sitting in his sweater warmly while a Darumaka tried desperately to crawl inside of it. Apparently, the little guy had got a bit cold. You grinned at him when he gave you a gentle smile. Walking over to the tree, you ignored the random television show put on as background noise. The gift was wrapped in Delibird themed paper. He tilted his head when you approached him holding out the box.

“What is this?” he asked, eventually daring to take it from your hands. It laid neatly in his lap as N considered it curiously.

“A gift from Delibird,” you joked and sat down beside him, “I got you something since you seemed in love with the holiday. You've been pretty good this year.” N… N was never a bad person per se. Just a deeply confused and misunderstanding one. He devoted himself to learning about the world and who he was, which led to vast improvements with himself. However, many, many scars remained on his identity from the upbringing Ghetsis forced upon him. You hated how confused he had been from the isolation and lies of his youth.

Now, you felt excitement as he tore into the wrapping paper to reveal the box proper. He opened the box and his eyes went wide. Pulling out the plush Zorua, he gazed at it brightly. “Oh… How cute,” his voice was soft as he observed the little details, “Thank you…”

“Not a problem! Haha, you look adorable,” you pecked a kiss on his cheek. His arms came around you tightly as he buried his face into your neck. Poor Darumaka whined from between you both, but you happily returned the affection to him.

“Merry Christmas,” you told him, and rested your forehead to his.

“Merry Christmas, too?” he attempted to respond.

You gave another laugh.

[loublu8]

can you just ramble? ramble for as long as you want. as a fellow late 00s brit who's into some of the same interests as you (specifically vida the vet, charlie and lola, me too, balamory, abadas, and literally just any other cbeebies show i grew up with) i'd love to hear it!

if it's a ramble you want, a ramble you shall get. In other words here's like, my complete history with CBeebies. As a 08' kid, I was born in a weird transitional period for the channel. This was one year after they introduced the now iconic blocks of Get Set Go, Discover and Do and Big Fun Time, and Chris and Pui were going to move on from pres in 09' to work on Show Me Show Me. Postman Pat was just fresh from it's big SDS overhaul, which people either loved or hated (I think I liked it as a kid but looking back on it, it's nothing to get worked up over IMO, I just don't get why Pat can do James Bond-esque stunts now and is perfectly content riding a motorcycle.). Oh, and there was this little show about a garden of the night that began the year prior, I doubt that you've heard of it. Yeah, In the Night Garden was probably the first major CBeebies show I remember getting obsessed with, and looking back at it? I honestly don't know why. It's not a bad show at all, don't get me wrong, but I don't know why I was so obsessed over it to the point of having this dancing Igglepiggle toy as a kid.

Also, I remember loving the Hahoos as a young'un, part because a CBeebies magazine I got ages ago had little Hahoo toys. I took them on holiday to Turkey with me, yeah can you tell I'm autistic? I don't think I have them anymore, and if I do they're probably all scuffed up and missing paint. But that's okay, I can easily buy them on eBay to fill a place in 2 year old me's hear- HOW MUCH FOR 5 SMALL PIECES OF PLASTIC?

Yeah I didn't know these things were going for this much until my mum saw someone on Facebook ranting on how stupid expensive they are nowadays about a year ago. Anyways, on the topic of CBeebies' Bedtime Hour (and A Quarter nowadays), there's one elephant in the room I must discuss, the closedown screen.

This slightly green thing telling you to get some sleep absolutely terrified me as a kid though, it wasn't on the same level as the Eastenders theme's doofs and Christmas crackers if I remember correctly, but it still gave me PTSD for years on end. (Hey, at least I wasn't around for when the channel started, I really wanna meet whoever thought it was a great idea to make this screen bright blinding pink right after the goodnight song settled everyone down, just so I can tell them how dumb that idea was.)

Like all things I was spooked of as a kid, I got over it when I was getting nostalgic for the brand. Speaking of closedown screens, how is the closedown screen for the 2023 rebrand really good? Like, it would make a great screensaver without the text. You can say what you want about the new logo (which I think is fine, it fits in with the rest of the modern BBC branding so it succeeds in that aspect), but you gotta admit they did a really good job with revamping the idents for the channel.

Anyways, onto more of my favourite CBeebies shows. Charlie and Lola is easily up there as one of my favourites. It'sMy mum distinctly recalls taking me to the live stage show (which, live stage shows are a whole other can of worms I can talk about), and I couldn't remember much about it so I researched it, and it looks like they did a ridiculously good job of translating the show to a stage play while keeping the show's unique artstyle.

Balamory, obviously as a CBeebies viewer prior to 2016, I know what a Balamory is. I don't need to explain it. Though one weird memory I have is I remember going past the local barbers one day and seeing a Balamory rerun airing. I dunno why they showed CBeebies in the barbers of all places. On the other hand, Me Too!, which to me always felt like Balamory, but a wee bit worse (because that's exactly what it was!), and I don't remember my exact feelings towards it as a kid, but as a teenager, I became obsessed with it after found the Me Too! YouTube channel after I was pretty much done binge-watching Abadas. It quickly became my main comfort show, like if I'm not in the mood for anything else, just stick an episode of Me Too! on, there's like 150 episodes and I'm not sure if I've even seen over half of them. I've seen more MT! eps than Balamory though, probably cause it's more easily accessible. With Balamory, you gotta go on the internet archive for episodes of that. Abadas was one of the shows I distinctly remembered the intro for, though I misremembered it with Baby Jake of all shows (they came out around the same time). I went and revisited it one January day in 2023, around the time I was starting to put my Bubble Guppies hyperfix on the backseat as the show was about to end, and instantly fell in love with it. Really wish the production company behind the show didn't go bust as there was a lot of cool supplementary material with the show as well, they did a bunch of shorts on Vimeo which I happily recommend.

Eventually, I fell out of CBeebies around 2014 or so as, well, I was getting older and was ready to move on to more grown up shows (this is coming from the same kid who kept actively watching Nick Jr. well into his teenage years). But then I was channel surfing at my nan's around October 2019 or so and decided to stick CBeebies on for fun after deciding whatever was being shown on Challenge was too boring, I guess. Something Special was probably the show that launched me back into my CBeebies hyperfix, yea of all shows. Completely forgot the show used Makaton and as someone who was interested in sign language I went on a binge-spree to study all of Justin's signs. I became fairly competent at it. I got into Hey Duggee for a a bit as well, known as every parent's lifeline apparently. The game show episode is one of my favourites, mostly due to all the fun references they crammed into the episode. As a fan of the shows we people call game, it was a fun surprise. I also rediscovered some of my old childhood favourites that were still getting reruns. Swashbuckle was a bit too recent for me to have recalled watching it as a kid but my brother was certainly around for it and Tree Fu Tom, which was still rerunning at the time. Charlie and Lola still aired reruns, and back in 2019 I kinda just glanced at without much thought before realising a few years later that it was actually really good. Night Garden made me cry of nostalgia, and I also thought Baby Jake was the biggest feverdream ever conceived on television. I even was one of the weirdo's who listened to CBeebies Radio, though honestly there's no point in listening to it live as you can find all it's content on the Sounds app. Admittedly, I haven't gotten super into Bluey. Y'know, the most popular preschool show of this decade that didn't begin in this decade? Yeah I watched about 10-15 episodes of it, said "wow, this is one of the best preschool shows ever crafted", and then moved on to watching the same 40 Blue's Clues & You! episodes again. I'm sure if I force myself to binge watch it more I'll fall head over heels in love with it though. So if I haven't gone crazy for Bluey, what modern CBeebies shows have I gone crazy for? Funnily enough, two that released within the span of around 5 months. The Game Catchers was the first one I got into. I just kept binging episodes and instantly fell in love with it. Always thought the show's main concept was really, REALLY good. Teaching kids about outdoor games in the day and age of iPads is a really smart move. Don't really see many people in the fanbase yet unfortunately, it's certainly one my favourite CBeebies shows from the last 5 years. Also it has absolutely ruined me as any time I hear or say the phrase "so cute" I immediately have to connect it to Nina.

Vida on the other hand I pretty naturally got into. I checked it out, watched the first few episodes, and thought it was pretty good, but never intended it to become my next big hyperfixation. I was sooooooo wrong. I've always had a soft spot for shows with cute animals (Was a big LPS 2012 fan way back when) so naturally this was always destined to be a show I'd fall in love with. I also love all the characters in the show too. Pippen's my personal favourite, but Zigzag is a REALLY close second though. She's a cute bunny who canonically has ADHD. What's not to love.

Okay I think I've talked enough and I've been typing this out for like, 2 hours, I really need some sleep. I could talk about all sorts of other CBeebies shows I enjoy (LazyTown, Tish Tash, JoJo & Gran Gran, Carrie & David's Popshop's a more recent one I've binged from the days of old) but I've talked enough so yeah.

[commsroom]

since this is a pretty obvious topic, you’ve probably talked about it before, but I can’t ever remember you talking about how you think eiffel would be as a father to anne? pre the incident obviously. I’m assuming post that and maybe post hephaestus he gets like occasional visitation rights and nothing else, I’m not sure exactly what they said about that. it could very likely be that he’s not allowed to see her at all but I don’t remember them saying that? maybe they did and I just forgot lol

anyway though happy birthday as well :)

from limbo: "for a while, it was okay. doug was seeing little baby anne pretty much every other day, talking to her every day, teaching her to play the jaws theme on her little dinky kid xylophone, all the good stuff. hilariously... our man's pretty great at it."

i believe he means that, since it's not like... well, he's not making excuses in that particular telling of events. but. while i think eiffel sincerely believes he was a good dad, i'm not sure kate would agree?

i think eiffel was a loving dad, a dad who really wanted to spend time with his kid, but, even the way he tells it... i also think it's pretty clear that kate was always anne's primary caregiver. in one AMA, someone asked what the arrangements were for anne at christmas, and gabriel said something like... that kate knows eiffel's feelings about that day, and would have the attitude, like... if you want to be a grouch about it, whatever, but my kid is going to have a nice holiday. that feels true to me, and kind of... suggests a lot about his sense of responsibility and willingness to make sacrifices. or lack thereof.

so, like - i'm sure he took her to do fun stuff for her birthday, and i think he's, like... amazing at buying gifts for kids; realizing he had an excuse to go toy shopping was probably one of the most exciting things for him as a new dad. for the most part, i think he was attentive and supportive, and... well, fun? like. don't get me wrong. eiffel got sober for his daughter, that's a lot; i believe he would do just about anything to keep her safe and cared for. but he can be selfish sometimes, and eiffel is... not that great at taking care of himself. nevermind the day-to-day of raising a child. so i guess, like... i wouldn't be surprised if kate thought he only wanted to do the fun things, and that left her to do... everything else. i don't think that diminishes how much he loves his daughter, just... perspective.

and ultimately, post-canon... it's not really up to him, or kate for that matter. i love eiffel, and he loves his daughter, and i want him to have a good relationship with her again someday, but... it really depends if she wants him in her life. i hope she does. i don't think he'll ever stop hoping for that either. but i couldn't blame her if she didn't.

[emoprincey]

What's in the box?

Author’s note: Hello hello, I wrote a silly little thing based on the incorrect quotes video XD

Relationships: Romantic logicality

Patton was up to something. Logan could tell - of course he could, they’d been married for six years, he knew all of Patton's tells.

When he'd laid all of their mugs out on the lawn, he'd been suspiciously quiet all day, only humming the Flintstones theme every so often until he came into the kitchen and said, "it's a little muggy out today."

So, when Patton came through the front door whistling nonchalantly, Logan knew something was going on.

Patton had been home from work a little late, with only a cryptic text about going to help out one of his colleagues as explanation. Logan had decided to pass the time reading a book on the sofa.

"Did you have a good day, dear?" He greeted when he heard the door open.

"Mm-hm!" Patton called from the entryway.

Another tell. It was rare that Patton didn't immediately rush to greet Logan when he came in from work, dying to tell him all about his day.

Logan carefully marked his place in his book and put it on the coffee table, then went to investigate.

Patton was in the entryway, his shoes still on, holding an absurdly large cardboard box.

Before Logan could speak, Patton gave him a bright, if slightly guilty smile. "You remember Marlene from my work, right?" Patton said.

Logan thought for a moment. "The woman from the Christmas party with the orange blazer and that obnoxious One Direction song as her ringtone? Yes, I remember her vividly."

"Well, her dog just had puppies!" Patton exclaimed. "They weren’t expecting it at all, Bessie didn't even show any signs of pregnancy, but a couple of weeks ago she had a litter of six! Marlene and her parents don't have space for six more dogs in their house so the puppies needed somewhere to go, and-"

"Patton," Logan interrupted warily, already sensing where this conversation was going. "What's in the box?"

Patton's smile faltered, looking a more like a grimace. The kind of grimace he gave when he'd just been caught.

Logan took a step forward. "What's in the box, Patton?"

"I think you know," Patton mumbled, holding it out to him.

Logan peered into the box, and inside were six adorable golden labrador puppies, all curled up together. If anyone asked later, Logan would tell them that his heart absolutely did not melt in that moment.

"Well, I... suppose you can't really go back on it, now that you said you'd take them," Logan said. "How much did they cost?"

"Oh, nothing," Patton said. "Marlene just wanted them to go to a good home. She also gave me a bag of their food and leant me one of Bessie's old beds for them to use tonight."

"Right, well, we'll have to go shopping and get some more things for them first thing tomorrow," Logan said. "Let's see, they'll need a bowl each, plenty of toys, some proper beds, and- what?"

He noticed Patton was staring at him, a fond and look in his eyes.

"Nothing," Patton replied, shaking his head. "I'm just happy that you're happy, sweetheart."

[emberfrostlovesloki]

Hi!! Do you take requests?

Photo credit: @somberacademia

Hi Anon! I've been toying with the idea of taking requests for some time now. I'm most certainly willing to listen to any ideas or requests that you might have, but I can't always guarantee I can write them. There are certain things (themes and topics) I don't write about, but I haven't made a comprehensive list of those yet. Also, my ideas are often just based on one scene, a word, or a song that's sparked my interest, so I'm not sure what that writing process will be like. But I'll never know unless I try! So with that long-winded answer, this is my invitation to send me your requests, but please know that I may not answer them depending on what I'm comfortable writing and that I may take a while to write a story because my process takes time. I normally write longer stories. Hopefully, during Christmas break, I'll come up with a more formal request system! Currently, I am happy to write for:

Hotch

Emily

Spencer

And the genres I would be happy to write for are:

Fluff

Comfort/Domestic

Angst

Whump (nothing sexually explicit or exploitative and no major character deaths)

Romance (non-smut)

Platonic friendships (These I am happy to write for Derek, JJ, Rossi, Gideon, Penelope, and Elle - as well as those characters listed above.)

Character HC's

Moodboards (Will mostly likely be dark academia-themed to stick with the theme of my blog) but you could ask for a character and then a concept or aesthetic.

Lastly, in terms of reader types, I am happy to write for Fem/AFAB readers or gender-neutral readers.

Thank you so much for asking, and I look forward to your request if you have one already - ❤️

______________________________________________________________

Tag List: @tgskitten @geminitapestry

Want to be added to the tag list? Please see this post, CM Tag list (linked)

[alex51324]

Gift Ideas Help?

OK, so for Christmas, for the cousinsphere, I usually do a standard handmade/token gift, one item for adults and one for kids.

For adults this year, I have a crocheted shopping bag and a Penzey's spice set from a big sale they did. So that's good; I just have to finish making the bags.

I'm not sure yet what to do for kids. When they were younger, I made some fun stuff--hats based on their favorite animals, stuffed animals, little bags that looked like owls (which I stuffed with candy), etc. But now they're older--the age range is 12-17--and mostly boys, so they've kind of aged out of toys, but they aren't furnishing apartments yet.

Last year I gave up on the handmade concept and did pocket microscopes with agates and geodes, from American Science and Surplus.

For this year, all I've got so far is to continue the handmade theme with a crochet bag like the adults are getting (which they will probably not actually care about much), and then put some kind of cool-but-inexpensive thing in it.

The trouble is, I can't think of a cool-but-inexpensive thing.

I was hoping AS&S might have binoculars at a similar price point to the microscopes, and I could do something with that, but they don't. (Places like Amazon and Wish do, but I have no idea how to figure out if there's one that's any good.)

I'm not particularly interested in giving them cash, for a variety of reasons, and I don't know these kids well enough to pick out a book for each one that they'd like and don't already have.

Anyone have any ideas?