#I will say I am more excited for this special than the other ones we’ve gotten in the past year

[creativity-deficient]

I think my main complaint with all these specials coming out is that they no longer feel…special?? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to be getting new content and I always end up enjoying them regardless (and I’m sure I’ll enjoy this one too it looks like it’ll be very funny) they just lack any sort of nuance to me. Like the plots to them feel like fairly ordinary episodes, just longer, and they’re always either Randy or Cartman focused. I get that they have a contract and are obligated to put out a certain amount of specials, I just wish they’d change them up a bit? Like they just don’t hit like past specials anymore.

[8mks1tm]

my baby!

release date - 8:30 am, 1/21/25

tags - soft!mingi x reader

warnings - none just fluff

wc - 1.04k

genre - fluff

dividers by - @bernardsbendystraws

a/n - intro being released today!

There’s nobody mingi prioritized more than he did that of you. his baby, to say the least. sure, some could say his behaviors were a bit over dramatic in the way he protected you like glass everywhere you went. but, in his opinion, there were way more than just five love languages. he thought his ‘overbearing’ and protective ways were a love language in itself, and nobody could tell him otherwise.

one day, the two of you are preparing to go out. nothing seems to be out of the ordinary when he’s helping you get your heels on, or when you’re driving to the restaurant. not even when you guys are ordering your food or eating it. in mingi’s eyes. the night was going to end as normal, and there was nothing to worry about.

but, as the two of you are leaving, you tell him that you want to get a few drinks at the bar before you head out. mingi shakes his head. “i have to drive us home, baby. i can’t have any drinks.” “well, at least let me have a few. you can have a virgin martini and i can have a… martini martini,” you argue, tilting you head. you tug slightly on mingi’s shirt sleeve. “c’mon, one drink can’t hurt.”

mingi can’t help but give in, ‘specially not with you looking at him like that. “fine, go on. i’ll pay.”

so mingi walked over to the bar with you, without a second thought. “hey, two martini’s. uh, make one virgin, please,” mingi muttered to the bartender. The bartender stood there for a second, and then looked over at you. “and what can i get you, pretty girl?” he says, leaning on the counter. he was so clearly hitting on you, ineffectively of course. “uh…” you look at mingi anxiously. “he’s ordering for both of us.” the situation should’ve ended there. the bartender should’ve just made the goddamn drinks, and then they should’ve just left. but of course it didn’t.

“mmm, i’m sure you can order for yourself. something better than a virgin martini, yes?” mingi could see that you were getting over whelmed, so he stepped in immediately. “the virgin martini’s for me. because i’m driving my girlfriend home to our shared apartment,” he says, making it very clear that you were taken. “wasn’t askin’ you, bro. let the pretty girl speak for herself, hm?” “if she did, she would tell you to your face that she doesn’t want you,” mingi snarks. “now do your damn job and get us those martini’s, you creep.” the bartender turns away and starts to make the drinks with a grumble, but then you cut in. “no, that’s okay. i don’t trust his drinks anyway.” mingi follows you out with sharp eyes, making sure to take note of everything, just in case some other creep tries to make a move on you.

he notices how upset you seem when you get in the car, and he knows he should say something about it. “is something wrong, princess?” you roll your eyes, sighing. “i was just… y’know, kinda excited about those martinis. its been awhile since we’ve gone out and shared drinks. i just wanted to have that again, and that guy ruined it.” “aw, my baby…” mingi coos, resting a hand on your knee, rubbing it a bit to comfort you. “hey, we can make martinis when we get home, ‘kay?” you shake your head, looking out the window at the stars outside. “i appreciate it, but it’s just not the same, you know?” mingi sighs. he wants to help, but he doesn’t know how. there’s no point in trying to go to another bar, because that mood is definitely ruined at this point.

“i’m sorry, baby. i wish i could help somehow.” you smile at mingi. “it’s okay, mingi, ‘s not your fault. I just hate it when creeps like that ruin our night.”

when the two of you got home, mingi tried his best to cheer you up, and you were trying your best to make it clear that you weren’t upset with him specifically. and of course he knew that. but that didn’t make the night any easier to get through. “hey, princess, you wanna watch a movie�� or something?” you looked at him with tired eyes and he immediately regretted even asking that. “no, baby, i’m just gonna go to bed.” mingi sighs and gets up from the couch wrapping his arms around your waist gently and nuzzling into your neck. “hey, ___?” you bring a hand up to his hair. “...yeah?” “i’m sorry. for all this. for ruining your night, for ruining your mood. this, this is my fault. should’ve shut that guy down before he even had the chance to go that far.” you immediately shake your head. “don’t apologize. none of this is your fault. i’ll be in a better mood in the morning, i’m sure.” mingi kisses your shoulder, and then looks up at you with big boba eyes. “i can take you shopping tomorrow, princess. d’you think that’ll cheer you up?” you smile as you look up at him - i mean, who wouldn’t. “you don’t gotta do that, babes.” he nods. “i know. i still want to though. just to make you feel better, yes?” you laugh, reaching up to hold mingi’s fluffy cheeks. “yes, of course.” you can’t help but stare into each other’s eyes, and mingi swears he falls for you again, looking into your eyes like that. “alright,” mingi says with a breath. “let’s get to bed, hm?”

the two of you are laying together in bed, you’re scrolling on your phone whilst mingi is cuddled against your side, eyes closed and breathing slow. you weren’t paying much attention to him, fully engrossed in your phone. pinterest, tiktok, youtube, maybe a video game here and there.

though mingi told you not to have too much screen time before bed, you really couldn’t help yourself. i mean, come on, that amazon cart wasn’t going to fill itself, now was it?

you would’ve believed that mingi had already fallen asleep, with the way he was steadily breathing as he squeezed the air out of you if you didn’t hear him muttering;

“my baby…”

[ciaradream8]

Where Are You?

A/N: So I wrote this to let off some steam because Zayne didn't come home. I lost the 50/50 badly! I usually write fanfic in private, but I never posted before so this is a first for me. Please keep in mind that I really didn't proof read cuz like I said I was just letting off steam. I WAITED TIL MIDNIGHT OF THE NEW YEAR FOR THIS MAN AND I LOST THE 50/50. The fact that this was the anniversary is what hurt most :') I was so excited too. I apologize for being too dramatic in this haha. Also, sorry for the terrible writing.

Warning: Angst

Words: 1.5K

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A sigh escaped my lips after taking a quick glance at my phone for what might be the millionth time. It was a half hour before the new year came. I glanced at the counter where I had made the homemade macarons specifically for a special doctor I had kept close to my heart.

Zayne. Where are you?

Zayne and I made plans together for the new year. We just wanted it to be the two of us. I had it all in my head; make dinner together, watch him eat the macarons I made, steal one from him after he took a bite as we wait for the countdown for the new year, countdown, gaze into each others eyes with the fireworks in the background, and promise to be together for years to come with a kiss. Nothing could be more perfect than that. Or so I thought.

Surprisingly, the sight of wanderers has been low which meant I mostly did paperwork or took missions outside of Linkon City where I was needed. I was able to get off work on time or Captain Jenna would let us go early as a reward for all the hard work we’ve been doing for our city. I had a bit more free time which was a luxury. Zayne, on the other hand, was more busy than ever. He would always try to respond to my texts as fast as he could, but I knew he was doing what he does best and that was to save lives. Yet it’s been different lately.

Zayne rarely responds to my messages now and every time we go out or we visit each other’s places he takes out his laptop to do work. I call out to him, but he always says “I’m almost done. Just give me a minute.” Then he started to sound a bit annoyed with me. I stopped asking him to hang out for a while, but I found the courage to invite him for new year’s eve a few days ago:

“Are you going to work on new year’s eve?” I asked him over the phone.

“No. I have the day off unless I am called for an emergency. Why?” He asked.

“Um…” I took a deep breath. “I was wondering if you wanted to spend it with me. That’s all. It’s been a while since we had a date after all.”

There was a pause over the phone. I bit my lip out of nerves and was worried he would say no. This would be our first new year’s together and a week after that it would be our first anniversary as a couple. After another moment of silence I heard him speak.

“It has been a while. I hadn’t noticed. I’m sorry if I made you feel sad.” He said. I could hear his tone. He sounded guilty.

“Oh! It’s okay. You’ve been busy after all.” I awkwardly laughed. I didn’t want my true feelings out. A part of me felt sad that I hadn’t seen him, but another part of me was angry because of the tone of annoyance in his tone of the last time we spent together. He told me I was in the way and that he had to focus. Yet I was the one to apologize and made up an excuse to leave.

“No, it’s not. In fact, why don’t we celebrate our anniversary that day as well?” He said.

“Isn’t our anniversary the week after?”

“It is, but I want to make it up to you. I could wear that butler outfit with the cat ears you bought not long after what happened with me being turned into part feline.”

My heart leaped as I smiled. I could feel my body being light as a feather from joy. Since the cat evol incident he always dressed up as a butler with the cat ears to cheer me up whenever I was upset with him. It was a rare yet welcoming occasion.

“Yes! I want to see kitty Zayne again!” I exclaimed.

He chuckled, “Alright now. Settle down. It’s the least I can do for a certain hunter who has been working hard to ensure not only Linkon City’s safety, but other cities as well. Where do you want to celebrate?”

“Just the two of us. My place if that’s okay.”

“Well…”

“I’ll even throw a plate of macarons for a certain doctor who is keeping his patients alive not just in Linkon City, but other cities as well.”

I could hear his smile over the phone, “Well, an offer like that is difficult to turn down. Very well. Your place. I’ll be there at four in the afternoon. We’ll make dinner together and wait for the countdown. Together.”

“Yes. Together. I’ll see you. Take care.” I smiled.

He chuckled, “You as well. I’ll see you then.”

I stared at my phone screen. It was the two of us at the photo booth where we took photos with animals. I remember that day well. I cupped his cheeks, catching him in surprise, while I smirked at the camera. I let out a soft laugh, but this doesn’t make me laugh the way it used to. All I can feel is pain in my heart just by looking at this. I unlocked my phone to see the wallpaper of my homescreen: Zayne kneeling to feed Clopidogrel. I smiled sadly at this until I went back to frowning. Then I looked at the text messages from today.

12:30 - Can’t wait to see you!

5:43 - Was there an emergency at the emergency room? I totally understand if you’re running a bit late. Do what you gotta do doc! You got this!

9:52 - Zayne? Are you okay? Do you need help? Are you hurt? Please tell me you’re okay

11:26 - Zayne? Where are you?

“Where are you, Zayne?” I whispered. I hear the announcer on the television set telling the audience that there was five minutes left on the clock. I used my hands to cradle my head. It took everything in me not to cry. He’ll be here. Even if it’s one minute before midnight. He’ll be here. I thought to myself. Just a small glimmer of hope. I took a deep breath and walked towards the window to look down. His car wasn’t there, but I was waiting for it to show up and for him to come out running to me. Next thing I know, I heard the announcer and the audience behind him counting down.

5…4…3…2…1…Happy New Year!

At that moment I collapsed on the floor and could feel the tears spilling out. No matter how many times I tried to wipe my tears away it wouldn’t stop. It was a never ending stream. “He didn’t come. He didn’t come.” I kept mumbling to myself. Why? Why did this have to happen? Was I no longer good enough? Was he tired of me? Did he only agree to spend New Year's with me so I would stop bothering him? Was this his way of telling me that we were done? So many questions were swirling in my head.

After I was done crying I went to the bathroom to splash water in my face and looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were puffy and red from all the crying I did. The worst thing was that I knew I could keep crying. I took a couple of deep breaths without breaking the gaze to myself. I thought of all the memories we made together: going to the amusement park, him kissing my cheek when I got drunk, our first kiss in his car after our third date, him teaching me pool, everything. I clenched my fists and furrowed my brows. No longer did I feel disappointment, but instead I felt anger. I walked to my bedroom to see the two snowmen on my bed. The blue one was him and the red one was me. I picked up the blue one and held it in front of me.

“I devoted myself to you. I couldn’t and still can’t see anyone else for me except you. But if this is how you truly feel then fine. I don’t need you.” I threw the snowman across the room. I went to grab my phone and began typing a message to Zayne:

Next time you want to break up with me at least tell me. Before you lecture me on doing this kind of thing in person let me tell you something. At least I have the decency to let you know SOMEHOW. Unlike some people. Good bye, Dr. Zayne.

My thumb hovered across the sent button. I didn’t want to end it. I was in love with him. But there is no point in being with someone who doesn’t love you back. After a few seconds I finally managed to push send. My emotions were all over the place. I changed my lock screen to a photo of Tara and I after the escape room and changed my home screen to a video game character I liked. I went to my photo album to delete the photos, but I couldn’t do it. That was too far for me. I didn’t have it in me to go that far. I decided to not delete the photos and go to bed with a broken heart. Knowing my love for him would never disappear.

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A/N continuation: So yeah. I'm pretty salty as you can see XD For the time being I'm mad at Dr. Zayne and put him in the doghouse. I might write another part for when I'm no longer upset with him or to continue to be salty. I don't know. Or you could give me a request. Again, sorry for the terrible writing. Didn't proofread it. If you guys give me something I will look back on it carefully I promise. If you have any questions as well ask and I will answer as best as I can. Happy New Year everyone!

[hsr-texts]

find your cinderella

꒰‧₊˚✩彡‧꒱ ┊ ━━━━ prologue

꒰⸝⸝₊ʚ♡ɞ ┊ streamer!reader x mystery hsr character ꒱

꒰⸝⸝₊ʚ♡ɞ ┊ otome event ꒱

꒰ ☰ WORD COUNT ┊1.4k ꒱

꒰ ☰ DESCRIPTION ┊ ━━ When you do an unboxing livestream for your subsribers, you find an invite to an exclusive event called the "Find Your Cinderella" masquerade gala where you are guaranteed to find your supposed true love, as a rather enthusiastic manager told you. ꒱

꒰ ☰ NOTES ┊HIII omg you guys THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT!! Getting 1k followers is so crazy for me because I've never had a blog be received with this much love and support before so I've decided to make an extra special otome game style fanfic! ꒱

“Guys, look! The package just came in!”

You rushed into your studio, holding a sizable metal box. Inscribed on the sides was a logo of two masks, resembling a certain Aeon. Placing it down on the floor, you gave a sigh of relief. “Aeons, that was heavy!”

Your eyes glanced at the live chat and saw all the messages, curious about the package.

“Seems like you guys are more excited than I am,” You couldn’t help a small chuckle leaving your lips. “It took me quite a lot to get a hold of this limited edition package from LumiPro. Like, do you guys know how much it cost?”

A few comments popped up trying to guess the price.

You shook your head. “100,000 credits.”

The chat then flooded with shocked emotes and comments. It was more than a fair reaction. You found yourself silently thanking the stars that your current occupation as a streamer granted you a steady income. Otherwise, you probably would’ve had to eat the same type of cup noodles for months.

“Anyway!” You clasped your hands together. “Let’s open it up already! I’m dying to see what’s inside. What could possibly warrant such a steep price?”

Your index finger pressed on the button at the top and heard a voice.

“Vocal identification. Please state your name.”

You uttered your name. It was a good thing you added an auto-censor to your setup so that any sensitive information that could get you doxxed would be redacted in the stream. You didn’t want stalkers showing up at your home after all.

“Permission granted.”

Faint clicks of metal against metal could be heard as the mechanisms worked to unlock the box. A hissing noise came from it as the lid opened. You watched, feeling anticipation and eagerness bubble within your chest.

A hologram was projected from the box, showing a person wearing professional attire. They smiled.

“Thank you for purchasing from Luminous Productions. We’ve curated a package that we believe would be of most use to you. For further questions, you may contact support on our site. We hope you enjoy it to the fullest.”

You took a peek and gasped at the sight. “Guys, oh my god, they just gave me a new PC!”

They must’ve done their research because you did mention in your stream a month ago that you were looking for a better PC.

The chat seemed to be as excited as you were, knowing this meant you’d be able to go back to your regular streaming schedule.

You could tell this was a real high end PC after seeing the graphics card and CPU model. Not only that, but it came with a new headset, keyboard, and mouse. You took out the stuff and gently placed them on the floor, letting the viewers see it.

After noticing that there was more in the package, you rummaged around for the other objects. Your hand made contact with some sort of fabric so you pulled it out.

Your eyes widened as you realised that it was a fancy outfit. Upon looking, you could estimate that it was your size too. Was this tailor made?

“Holy shit…”

It seemed like it was for a real special occasion, not even just your run-of-the-mill party that regular people go to. This outfit would probably fit right in with a red carpet event for rich folks or celebrities. Well— One may say, “Hey, aren’t you a celebrity too?” but you weren’t cocky enough to claim the same status as those with inter-galactic levels of fame.

A slip of paper fell out of the outfit’s pocket and you turned to see what it was.

You squinted in confusion. A ticket…? After picking up, you couldn’t help but notice the holographic shine to it first. How pretty.

“Find Your Cinderella Masquerade Event?” You mumbled in confusion. Who was Sugo? You couldn’t recall knowing anyone that went by that name.

Suddenly, the screen flickered for a moment and a new window popped up next to your stream.

A person showed up, wearing what you could only describe as a pink clown outfit that somehow combines cuteness and gaudiness in one. They grinned at you with amusement.

“Heya to all those viewers watching at home!” Even the way they spoke seemed to have a theatrical ring to it. By the way the chat was going insane, the people watching the stream could also see them.

“My name is Sugo and I’m the event organiser of the Find Your Cinderella Gala, or the FYC Gala for short,” they introduced themselves with a flourish. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“Uh… hi?” You didn’t know how to respond. This was quite a bizarre experience to have someone hijack your stream to introduce themselves. Was this legal…?

They chuckled. “Yeah, sorry for the sudden appearance but I figured that it would shake things up a little. I’m sure your dear fans appreciate having two exciting things happening at the same time. You can bet that this’ll go viral too~”

“Right… So what exactly is this Find Your Cinderella Gala?”

“Glad you asked, dear anomaly!” They beamed. Eh? Why were they calling you anomaly?

“See, I’m doing a collaborative project with LumiPro. I proposed to them a large-scale event with celebrities from all over the galaxy, which would be broadcast to every streaming platform out there. The premise is simple, all attendees are there to find their one and only, their true love, their Cinderella, you get the idea.”

“So it’s a speed dating event for rich people?” Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It sounded like a stupid idea. And yet, a part of you was intrigued.

“Right on the money! What a clever streamer, it’s no wonder you got such high compatibility ratings with the other attendees~”

“A what?”

Their eyes gleamed with amusement. “So, we didn’t just pick the celebrities at random. I bet you’re wondering why a small time streamer is getting an invite to such an exclusive event, right?” They tilted their head, leaning on their desk.

You nodded slowly. It was still a mystery to you why you’d be invited when there are far more famous people in the galaxy.

“Behind the scenes, we’ve been developing an advanced algorithm that can find your best match in a group. How it works is that we pick a participant, feed it available information on said participant, then it calculates how well the person would get along with those within the group,” they explained, “What’s interesting for your case is that your average compatibility score with the group is 90%. Most folks that got tested only came up with a 60% average compatibility rating.”

You raised an eyebrow at this in skepticism. “Don’t you think that’s just a bug or something?”

They shrugged. “It could be, but we’ve done several tests and it always came out the same. We were hoping to add you in to act as an outlier to our pool of data.”

“So I’m just a guinea pig for your weird little experiment?” You gave them an unamused look.

“It’s just to see if your results were really true or if it was just a mistake on the algorithm’s part.” They shrugged. “I’m sure it’ll be a fun time for you regardless of my motives. A win win for all parties involved, don’t you just love that kind of thing?”

“I guess but doesn’t this come with strings attached?”

Sugo whined. “Ughhh, you’re gonna make this way less fun if you go in already knowing what you’re getting!”

“What kind of sane person would do something without knowing the full details?!”

A groan came from them. “Booo, that’s so boring! Life needs a special surprise factor that keeps things fun and interesting.”

They sighed after. “But fine. If you’re so skeptical, then I can throw in a 500,000 credit compensation if you end up not enjoying it. So even if you do lose, you still gain something!”

You stayed silent, trying to figure out if this was really worth the trouble of dressing up and going to a party.

“Anyway, that’s all the information I’m contractually allowed to give out. It’s your choice whether you want to go or not.”

“Can I have some time to decide this?” You asked them.

Sugo nodded, smiling in amusement. “Of course! It’s not good for a show to spend too much time on exposition, after all. Let’s give the player some time to shine, hm?”

“I have no idea what you’re saying.”

They giggled, ignoring what you said. “Bye bye! I’ll see you at the gala!”

Their window disappeared, leaving you with your viewers again.

You sighed. What a strange person. Did you really wanna go? It’s not like you had much to lose. Plus, you would be lying to yourself if you said you didn’t want to find out what that compatibility rating was all about.

“What do you think, chat? Should I go?” You turned to the screen, waiting for their input.

[fluentmoviequoter]

Hey, I just got another idea: Deacon introducing his new girlfriend to his kids over dinner and game night.

But from the point of view from one of the kids (as a little challenge😊)

- 🥰

This is such a cute idea! I wrote it from Lila's perspective (1st person POV) and it was certainly a challenge; I haven't written 1st person in a while. I hope it turned out alright, and thank you for the request and the challenge, I enjoyed writing this! Please let me know what you think and enjoy! :)

Warnings: slight angst, fluff, I imply that Annie is dead but I think you could read it differently. bad writing?

Word Count: 2.2k+ words

EDIT: Part 2 Here

A/N: Writing from Lila's POV was harder than I thought it would be, but I kind of like how it turned out for some reason? Feel free to send feedback or constructive criticism; I admit that this isn't my usual writing style but I'm open to suggestions for improvement!

Picture from Pinterest

Masterlist Directory | Deacon Masterlist | Request Rules & Info

The Kay Princesses

Dad has been smiling more. Matthew thinks it’s because his friends at work are doing a good job, but I don’t know if that’s it. Sometimes, when Dad gets home after work, he isn’t smiling, but then he looks at his phone and gets all smiley. Maybe Dad likes his new phone. Or he found a new game!

“Hey,” Dad says as he opens my door. “Ready for dinner?”

When we walk together, Dad always holds my hand or carries me. Today, he tosses me over his shoulder and makes me laugh. Whatever it is that makes him happy, he's more like he used to be.

“Before we eat there’s something I need to talk to you about,” Dad says as he puts me in my chair. “So, a few months ago I met a girl.”

I knew it.

“She’s… she’s amazing. We’ve been getting to know each other and doing fun things. But she and I think it would be nice for her to meet you.”

“Are you replacing Mom?” Matthew asks, crossing his arms. (I want to kick him. Can’t he see Dad is happy?)

“Not at all,” Dad says, smiling at Matthew. His face changes as he adds, “If you don’t like her, then nothing else will happen. Okay?”

Matthew nods, but Dad’s smile is gone.

“Dad? Is she like mom?” I ask.

“Kinda. She’s also smart and beautiful, but she’s different.” His smile is back. “She likes different things, she talks differently. But she is going to love you guys.”

“We might not love her,” Matthew grumbles.

Dad takes a funny breath before tapping the table and walking to the kitchen to get dinner.

“Stop being mean,” I tell Matthew.

“He shouldn’t be talking to someone else. She isn’t Mom and I don’t want her around.”

“She’s not replacing Mom,” Samuel says. “Dad said so.”

“Well, he is. If they’re dating and they get married, then she’ll be our stepmom, meaning replacement,” Matthew says meanly.

“Dad said he’d stop seeing her if we wanted,” I remind him. “But we should meet her first. We might like her.”

Matthew rolls his eyes, which makes him look weirder than usual, and nods. I’m excited to meet her because if she makes Dad smile, she must be extra special.

“Here you are, Samuel,” Dad says when he sets Samuel’s plate down. “Matthew, Princess Lila.”

“Hey, why is she a princess but I’m just Samuel?” Samuel pouts.

I laugh at him, and Dad says, “Why am I not King Dad?”

“Wait, can I see a picture of her? What’s her name?” I ask.

Dad tells us her name, and it’s pretty. Then he shows us a picture of her, and she’s as beautiful as her name.

“She looks like a princess!” I say.

“No, she doesn’t. Princesses wear big dresses and crowns,” Matthew argues.

I want to kick him again, but Dad smiles at Matthew and puts his phone away.

✯✯✯✯✯

Matthew and Samuel are in my room with me when she gets here. I watch out the window as Dad opens her car door and squats to talk to her. 

“I’m going to meet her,” I tell my brothers.

“Dad will introduce us,” Matthew grumbles.

I don’t listen to him, so I walk down the hall but stop when the door opens.

“What if you’re wrong?” she asks.

Dad closes the door and laughs. “I’m not,” he answers. His voice sounds different, happier.

“They’re going to hate me, David.”

Dad laughs again, and I peek around the corner. His arms are around her, and she’s leaning against him.

“They’re not. Everything will be fine.”

“I just want them, and you, to be happy,” she says quietly. “Even if that doesn’t include me.”

“Hey,” Dad says, the same way he does when I’m sad or after I get hurt. “I want you here. I’m happy with you. And the kids? The kids are going to love you.”

“Even Matthew?”

“Especially Matthew.”

She laughs at that, for some reason, before she steps back from Dad.

“We’ll be right back,” Dad whispers. He steps around the corner and stops when he sees me, shaking his head and smiling. “Go say hi.”

While he goes to my room, I step out and wave at her.

“You must be Lila. You’re even prettier than your dad said,” she says. She’s kind, like Dad said.

“I am Lila. My dad says that you’re smart and beautiful and going to love me and my brothers.”

“Well, he’s right about the last thing.”

“How did you meet my dad?”

“We just ran into each other one day. He was working and I was nearby.”

“Can we be on a team for game night? I haven’t been on an all-girls’ team in a while.”

She smiles, which makes her even prettier, and says she would like that. My brothers come back, and Dad introduces everyone to each other while I sit beside her.

“Why do you like my dad?” Samuel asks.

“He’s really good to me, and for me. I think he’s the best guy I’ve ever met.”

She looks at Dad while she talks, and he smiles at her. I like her. She doesn't treat us like little kids, and I like that.

“Why do you want to replace our Mom?” Matthew asks.

She looks at Dad before she answers. “I don’t, Matthew, I promise I don’t. Your dad has told me about your mom, and she sounds amazing.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

“I want to be with your dad and try to make him happy like he makes me happy.”

“By replacing my mom,” Matthew says as he gets up and walks away.

She looks up at Dad, but they’re not smiling anymore. Dad raises a hand and nods before he follows Matthew. I put my hand in hers, and she looks over at me.

“Do you love my dad?” I ask her.

Her smile returns as she says, “I do. More than anything.”

✯✯✯✯✯

Dad hugs her tightly on the porch before she leaves. I stand beside the window so I can see and hear them.

“If they don’t want me here, I understand. They’re the most important things in your life and they shouldn’t be uncomfortable or upset. I understand if you don’t want me to come back and we can be friends, right?”

“That’s not going to happen. We’ll work through it. Lila loves you.” That’s true. “And Samuel thinks you’re great. Matthew, uh, Matthew just needs some time.”

“I get it. Take all the time you guys need. You’re worth waiting for, Deac.”

They get quiet, and when I look outside again, Dad holds her while they kiss. He pulls back and wipes her face. I think she’s crying.

I decide to help Matthew with his time and walk into his room.

“We need to talk.”

“You always need to talk,” he says.

“Why don’t you like her?”

“You wouldn’t understand, Lila.”

“Who says? You won’t let me try.”

Matthew sighs and rolls away from his comic book to look at me.

“No matter what they say, even if she isn’t a replacement, she’ll end up in Mom’s spot. And I don’t want that.”

“Why not? She’s nice and she loves Dad and he loves her.”

“What are we doing?” Samuel asks as he comes in and sits beside Matthew.

“Talking about Dad’s girlfriend. Matthew doesn’t like her,” I answer.

“She’s nice, and super fun,” Samuel says. I nod and look back at Matthew.

“I never said I didn’t like her,” Matthew says quietly. “I just don’t want her to replace Mom.”

“She can’t replace Mom. They’re so different. It would be like another Mom, not a new one.”

“She even said that she can’t replace Mom and wouldn’t try to. She wants to make Dad happy, which involves us being happy,” Samuel explains. Matthew and I look at him, confused by his wording. “That’s what she told me,” he adds.

“So, you do like her?” I ask.

“I do,” Matthew says quietly. “I’m just scared.”

“There’s nothing to be scared about. Dad loves us and would never do anything without telling us or making sure we’re okay. That’s why he brought her to meet us. You should give her a chance.”

Matthew nods and stands up. “Let’s go talk to Dad.”

We walk together to the kitchen, where Dad cleans up after dinner and game night.

“Dad, can we talk?” Matthew asks.

Dad dries his hands as he nods and waves his hand toward the couch. When we all sit down, he sits on the table in front of us.

“What’s going on?” he asks.

I look at Matthew because I know he’ll answer the question. “We like her,” he admits, “and I’m sorry for being mean.”

“It’s okay, bud. This is a big change and you’re allowed to have questions and need time to think,” Dad says, putting a hand on Matthew’s leg.

“Is she coming for game night again?” Samuel asks. “Because I want to be on her team this time.”

“No, I do, she’s good,” Matthew argues.

Dad laughs and pats their knees. “If you want, she’ll come for two game nights so you can take turns.”

We nod together, and Dad smiles. She said she wants to make Dad happy, but I think she already is.

“Thank you for meeting her and being open to new things, guys. It was very grown up of you.”

“I didn’t get to tell her she looks like I princess,” I remember.

“You can tell her next time, munchkin. Maybe she’ll even play dress up with you… if you ask really, really nicely.”

That sounds amazing. I can’t wait to see her again. Maybe getting a new mom could be even better than I thought.

✯✯✯✯✯

I can hear Dad talking after he tucks me in. Dad says her name, so I must check if she’s back so soon. Creeping down the hallway, I realize I can only hear Dad.

“I told you Matthew would like you. He just needed to figure out that you’re not trying to replace Annie,” Dad says. “They really, really like you; they want you to come back for game night so you can be on Samuel and Matthew’s team next time.”

He’s quiet for a while before he asks, “Are you crying?” And then, “Are you sure? Because even when you said no it sounded like you were.”

Dad laughs like he used to, but a little different. I guess that’s how the whole thing works: he’s happy but differently than before because you’re different, and now he’s different.

“I told you they’d love you,” Dad says, “just like I do.”

They really do love each other. Dad made a good choice, and we did too.

✯✯✯✯✯

It’s finally game night again, and Dad and Matthew have decided to treat it like a “do over,” so they’re acting like they haven’t met her before. I think that’s funny, but I’m glad that she’s coming back either way. I’m by the window watching for her while Dad and Matthew set up the board game.

“She’s here!” I tell Dad.

He thanks me and then walks to the door. Matthew follows him, and I turn to watch. Dad opens the door and smiles.

“Hey,” he greets, a weird tone he only uses for her breaking through. “This is Matthew.”

Matthew shakes her hand, and they smile at each other.

“Nice to meet you,” Matthew says. “Sorry about before.”

“No apology necessary, Matthew. It’s very nice to meet you, too. Your dad has told me lots of good things about you.”

“Really? Like what?”

“He said you’re really good at tonight’s game. So, I was wondering if you’d want to be on my team? I need a lot of help.”

“Sure!”

Matthew leads her to the table where the game is and shows her where he’s sitting. Dad looks at me and winks.

“Dinner first, Matthew,” he says as he walks by. He drags his hand across her back as he passes her. He never did that with Mom, but she isn’t Mom.

“Will you be on my team next time? I get to choose the game next week,” Samuel tells her.

“I’d love to!”

While we eat dinner, she answers our questions and asks us some too. She tells us about where she’s from, her job, her favorite food, and (my question) who her favorite princess is.

“Who is your favorite princess, Lila?” she asks.

Dad smiles at her every time she asks us a question. By dessert, it feels like we’ve known her forever. She agrees to come over just to hang out with me, and I feel great; I stick my tongue out at Samuel, and he laughs at me.

“You take the first turn and I’ll watch,” she whispers to Matthew when we start playing his favorite game.

She watches him and asks him a few questions, then watches Dad as he takes his turn.

“Hey, when do I get to be on your team?” she asks Dad, smiling at him.

“You’re always on my team,” he answers, winking at her.

“Gross,” Matthew whispers.

His eyes widen, and he apologizes quickly before she and Dad start laughing. She tells him it’s okay and asks for his help with her turn. When she’s not talking to us, she looks at Dad.

As he walks her to her car, he kisses her, and spins her around. She’s always been pretty like a princess, but Dad loves her enough to treat her like one, too.

[twentythree-yearoldlizard]

so based off the poll results, majority wanted me to write these one shots for a Marauders' Band AU. So here's the first one:

Remus Lupin does the BuzzFeed Puppy Interview:

Remus shoots the camera his shy smile that makes people’s stomach do the thing. “Hi there, I’m Remus Lupin and I’m here with Buzzfeed to answer some questions with puppies.”  

He’s wearing an all-black outfit: a black knit sweater that looks warm, paired with black trousers and sturdy black boots. His right wrist is adorned with bracelets; a plain black one with the word ‘moony’ next to a full moon, a beaded one with a star and moon on the centre and a band that reads ‘The Marauders’ with a wolf, dog, deer and rat. His left wrist is free, but he has multiple rings on those fingers.  

“I’m really excited and also a bit nervous, because I love dogs. I really do. But I want them to love me too, so,” he ends with a chuckle.

“I don’t know if they’re going to like me.”

Cuts to a clip of a puppy licking his entire face.

“I don’t know if we’ll connect.”

Cuts to a clip of Remus carrying two puppies, with another in between his legs.

“And I doubt I’m going to be able to answer your questions in any form, when I’m-Oh my god!” He’s cut off as a golden retriever runs towards him.

“Hi,” he says, letting the puppy smell his hands.

Remus coughs out a breathy laugh as the golden retriever jumps into his lap. Just then, a pair of corgis start nibbling on his shoelaces, to which Remus laughs and mutters, “You two are trouble, aren’t you?” They reminded him of James and Sirius.

Remus laughs for ten seconds as a Jack Russel walks slowly towards him and wastes no time on laying his head on Remus’ thigh and starts to fall asleep.

 “Hi loves, I’m Remus” he says, as one of the corgis joins the golden retriever on his lap.

Question 1- What’s your favourite thing about meeting fans?

“It’s just this…really nice feeling I get. Like I feel giddy, whenever a kid waves at me or some fans who’ve said that our songs helped them in tough times. It just gives this sort of nice feeling,”

“No..no,” he says as a corgi pulls on his sleeves, “this is one of my favourites, you can-okay then.” He finishes in defeat, as it manages to pull out a string.

Question 2- What’s the hardest part of being in a band?

“No privacy,” says Remus, he himself startled by how fast he answered. “I mean like...” he says, rubbing the Jack Russel’s belly, “When you live with James and Sirius, who have co-dependency issues, and Peter, whose love language is physical touch, you’ve got to throw personal space out the window.”

Question 3-Describe the way you see your bandmates.

Remus is quiet for a while, as if he’s thinking, while letting the puppies climb all over him.

“There’s James, who I connect with like a brother. He is a ray of fucking sunshine and if I am insecure or sad, he makes me listen to all the 764 reasons for why he loves me. And then there’s Peter, who is like the calmest person I know. He is the friend you need when you just want someone to listen to you. He is always there for you, even if he never says it, you’ll still know that he’s there for you.”

He smiles as the golden retriever settles on his shoulder and one of the corgis has decided to take a nap on top of Remus.

Remus starts with a smile, “And well there’s Sirius, who is one of the most beautiful souls out there. He’s one of the first people that made feel valued and always looked at my scars like they were some kind of treasure. He’s also made me realize a lot of things about myself and uh…yah, our bond is a bit more…special than the rest, and we’ve come a long way, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.”

“I am scared to move,” he whispers, as the Jack Russel snores loudly on top of his thighs, golden retriever asleep on his shoulder, a corgi on his belly and the other held within his arms.

Bonus puppy stuff:

The corgis start fighting with each other. “Am I supposed this stop this or something?” Remus asks, looking lost. Just then one of the corgi trips and falls on the sleeping Jack Russel. It opens its eyes, confused. Remus bursts out laughing, which ends up making his face as red as a tomato (and that's a win for all the video editors out there).

PS: Its my first draft btw. i guess ive done good. lmk if its bad, i need honest feedbacks. also gonna put this on ao3, which is my first time ever. and this is set in pre-wolfstar period or they are established but hiding it from public (choose whichever you want)

[smallishzine]

hey guys thank you for the lovely responses to the interest form, I appreciate everyone calling me handsome and amazing and tall, and also to everyone calling me an idiot you’re in fact correct but guess what you’re the one filling out the form and I’m the one who made it so shut up shut up hahahaha. Sorry. I don’t mean that, please don’t shut up I’ll be very sad if everyone shuts up and I’ll have no one to talk to. This post is to address some of the things that you pointed out as us having forgotten, and we preemptively apologize for burying important info in this mess. It’s like a scavenger hunt! Or bureaucracy. Take your pick.

how humble we are (true, true. So humble. The humblest.)

smallishbeans (I’m fairly certain we remembered this one)

an ego check (yup, still there)

Eefo (you’re so right it’s a crime that we’ve forgotten him we will rectify this mistake immediately)

many variations of “timeline?” which we answered in this post

that you, the form fillers, are tall and handsome as well (indeed)

that one of you was watching shrek 2 as they filled out the form (good job. We approve. Not that you should care what random people on the internet think of your taste in movies, but 👍)

more smallishbeans (it’s like they knew)

how much one of you loves ldshadowlady, sparkle heart emoji (true and real. Only correct take. We also love ldshadowlady)

chicken murder (we decided to put the chicken murder before the form rather than in it, so as not to distract from your form filling experience. We apologize if this isn’t what you wanted, we will be sure to include more chicken murder in future forms.)

A spot for obvious professionals in form filling to rate the form, so they had to do it in the what did we forget box. we received the following ratings: 5/10, 10/10 (< a genuine thank you to whoever submitted this one), 0/10 (:(), 7.3/15, 6/20, and several more

multiple variations of “age limit?” Which we answered in this post

Jeremys blessing (which we actually didn’t forget you stupid idiot haha I’m sorry I don’t know what came over me I promise you are not a stupid idiot even if you don’t finish reading forms before submitting)

that one of you likes shrek but is cooler than us so really the form is egregiously incorrect (egregious is a bit harsh. More, stupendously incorrect! Or, fantastically incorrect! Also, if you’re so cool, why don’t you prove it by participating in the zine huh? Huh? Thought so. 😎)

That I am cool, and I haven’t forgotten but you wanted to remind me (I am mod Dinn and I approve this message)

our epic arson related plan of action for when the ship burns (I’m afraid I have some bad news for you…)

“Can I join??” (yes)

hey it’s you dailyboatboys let you in let you in let you in (absolutely)

other words of affirmation that we greatly appreciate. Everyone who called me cool, handsome, amazing, and other good things or who complimented the form or who expressed excitement and interest in the zine hold a special place in my heart. I read through every response so far and to every person who said that I was really cool, or that they were super excited for the zine, or that the interest form was really good, or that they were so down participate, thank you. Now enough with being sappy back to answering questions, lightly worded hate mail, and people who are also obsessed with Joel smallishbeans!

you’re all idiots (due to limited funds we cannot afford to purchase our own suggestion box, so we are currently borrowing the permit office’s. Did you hear that sound that sounds exactly like sizzling lava consuming a piece of paper with your eloquently worded submission on it? That’s the sound of our complaints department hard at work to remedy this issue. Thank you for filling out the form!)

can you write ships? (This is a really complicated question which we have a lot to say on so we’ll make a separate post explaining more in depth, but the gist is: yes, but that yes has an asterisk attached with a footnote a mile long)

a spot for ideas about what pieces you may contribute, which is actually a good point we’ll probably poll about what things people most want to see/art pieceify (writing is art too) at some point. As for your admission of obsession, gender-neutral-dude, what do you think we are?

these are just some of the responses we received, thank you to everyone who has filled the form out so far, and you haven’t, what are you doing here go fill out that form!!

-mod Dinn

[nattinatalia]

Urban Wyatt x Sister Harlow : We Did Something

A/N : A concept request from my buttercup @harlowcomehome turned out to this so thank her for it lol 😝

“Urban, do you take Y/N to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to love and cherish her, in good times and in bad, in sickness and health, for richer for poor, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only to her, for so long as you both shall live?”

Urban smiles and winks at you, “I do.”

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You can kiss the bride now.”

“Say less” he smiles cheekily, reaching for your waist. “Come here baby.” He pulls you in and kisses you deeply.

***************

“So I know we brought you all out here, out of nowhere and we gave you no explanations as to why.” You start your speech.

You were standing in the middle of the hall you and Urban rented out for the night, looking at all the familiar faces.

Urban grabs a hold of your hand, giving you a squeeze. Catching on to your nerves, he takes over. “What we have to share is something we’ve been keeping to ourselves for a while now.”

“Oh great.” Jack mumbles from his seat at the table.

“Jackman.” Maggie warns, staring at him sternly.

You smile at your mom as she throws a wink your way.

“Some have their assumptions.” Urban continues, “I hope you all don’t hate us for the way we did things. But we wanted it to do it for us, for ourselves and have our moment.”

“Just say it already, because I hope you’re not pregnant.” Jack mumbles, sounding annoyed but deep down he’s hoping all the comments he’s been reading online are true.

“Dude, would you shut up?” Urban snaps.

Sunni, Clay and Copelan start laughing but shut up once Maggie throws them a glare.

You start getting annoyed at your brother now. “We got married.” You yell into the microphone. “We’re married. There we said it.”

Everyone gasps and claps, getting out of their seats they all start surrounding you both and congratulating you.

Jack is the last to come up to you both, giving a glare.

You sigh, “I know, we hid the fact that we were dating and you got mad. I did promise no more secrets but this was really a special moment. I know deep down you don’t believe that Urban and I will make it work. But I can’t li-“

Jack smiles and hugs you, giving the top of your head a kiss. “I’m happy for you both.”

You turn your head towards Urban in confusion.

“Well don’t look so shocked.” Jack laughs, giving Urban a bro hug. “I had to learn the hard way that you two will stay together no matter what.”

“Geesh, thanks.” Urban mumbles out.

Jack rolls his eyes, “What I mean is that, I’m starting to accept the fact that you two are meant to be and nothing is more important than seeing you both happy, and if being with one another makes you happy, then who am I to hate that?”

You smile at your big brother, “Aww thank you-“

“Don’t get too excited, I don’t want to witness y’all kissing each other or anything nasty.”

You and Urban share a look and laugh.

“Come.” Urban pulls you away from the crowd.

“Babe, we cannot have a quickie while everyone is out there.”

“I do love some public sex, but it’s not for that.” He pulls you into another room. “We talked about this when we were kids.”

You look at him, then to the set up and start getting emotional. “Matching tattoos?”

He nods, “Cope found a good artist, and it’s the sketch we did when we were kids, obviously it’ll be better done but the concept is the same we came up with.”

You pull him down towards you by tugging on his bow tie. “I love you husband.” You peck his lips.

“I love you, wife.” He smiles at you, “So what do you say? Want to get something else that’ll bond us for life?”

“With you?” You take in a deep breath, “I’ll do anything if it means I get to do it by your side.”

“To the world and back?” He asks, saying the words you two one shared and made up when you were kids running around, hiding from your brothers.

“And beyond that.” You finish the phrase.

You can’t help but fall in love even more.

Once upon a time, you didn’t believe in love.

You didn’t want marriage.

You didn’t want kids.

You didn’t want the white picket fence.

You didn’t want any of that if it wasn’t with the one person your heart would beat for.

You didn’t want any of that if you couldn’t have it with Urban.

••••••••••

TAG LIST

@heavyhitterheaux @harlowsbby @arination99 @cmalass @jackharloww @minkookie95 @deannaard @jacksmoviestar @harlowcomehome @fdl305 @httpkoylinnn @xoxokiaraaxoxo @hoodharlow @automaticpeachsong @amethyst09 @aliciacat20 @allyson15 @gabbylovesreading @stefansalvatoresgf @violetdreamsworld @carma-fanficaddict @jasminxts @itsaaliyah2 @itsyagirljaz @harrycanyonmoonn @neon-lights-and-glitter @awhore4moree @toocriticalharlow @thefemalestorywriter @lightsoutstyles @violetslays818 @fantasywritersstuff @vanwritesfan-fiction

[tsutsumi-kurose]

Tsukasa being bloody just makes me think he was beaten or something even worse.

ooh interesting… by who though and why I would wonder… by the well god? it does seem like the well god has more of a physical tether to the living world and tsukasa in this timeline. it would be interesting to get more information about the well god this arc!! its personality is already really interesting, but one of the most interesting aspects of it to me has been how... it never really struck me as particularly vengeful? at least not toward tsukasa.

on that note, this arc may also give us more insight into what made tsukasa special among the kannagi in the red house… how and why he was able to escape the cavern and interact on some level with the god and with the outside world when the others weren’t. though that’s probably a question for later in the series lol, I’d be thrilled to get a hint about it though!! especially bc that’s probably part of answering what happened to him!! the god didn’t say anything (that we’ve heard/read/seen yet anyway) when tsukasa decided to leave the red house, but was it really okay with it? could amane have changed something that angered the god and caused it to hurt tsukasa? or was the god already upset and the changes to the timeline just gave it the power/opportunity to act on that anger? we’ve never seen the god doing its own dirty work, really, other than bargaining with/manipulating tsukasa, but maybe that doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t do its own work? or maybe it can affect people physically after a certain condition is met? certainly it’s been more hands on this arc, with possessing students, so is that really all the ritual summonings? or maybe it has a unique relationship to tsukasa that gives it more power in this timeline? who knows how it acquired that or why it changed…I wouldn’t be surprised if it involved hurting tsukasa, given the state he’s in ): so you may be onto something ):

if it is blood that tsukasa is covered in, there is the possibility that it could be someone else’s, though i think you’re probably right that it would be his, because the people lost to the ritual don’t seem to die? at least not bloody deaths? though the paper used to summon tsukasa kun bleeds, which is interesting!! I wonder what/who the source of that blood is, and if it's connected to tsukasa's current appearance…

i don't think it necessarily is blood that he's covered in though!! it could be soot or dirt or something else entirely!! not that any of these options bode very well for him... no matter what, i think tsukasa has definitely gone through something pretty horrible in this timeline ): i am both excited and scared to find out what it is ):

[lopez-richter-fangirl]

Starkid innit: the most magical experience

It took me a full day to even begin to know where to start with this post and then took me all day yesterday to type out. Normally to do one of these posts after a show I frantically note down everything I can remember in the interval and as soon as I can afterwards, but I was too overwhelmed by this show to even do that. And thank god so many people filmed so much of the show so I don’t have to rely on memory for all the little things. This will be kind of stream of consciousness thought dump of everything that made this experience so incredible, feat. a lot of Feelings. It’s much too long! Over 2500 words - you’ve been warned!

Looking at all the pictures and videos from the show, it feels surreal that I was there in a way that I don’t think any other shows I’ve gone to have. Maybe because I can’t believe we finally got a full UK Starkid show. Maybe because it was Starkid selling out the fucking London Palladium, twice (and the added production value that came with that). Maybe because we got the concert premiere of new stuff alongside iconic moments included from previous concerts that I’ve watched a hundred times and now got to see live. Whatever it was, I still can’t quite believe it and I’m so grateful I got to be there. And my GOD was luck on my side getting a front row centre seat in that ticket hell 🙏😭

Right from the staple sing-along outside the theatre before the show the excitement was as palpable as you’d expect from a crowd where so many people had been waiting such a long time to see these people live. And I think a lot of Starkid fans but especially international fans have had the feeling of isolation that comes with being a fan of a relatively “niche” group (though their popularity is only growing), so to get to be in a room full of people who understand the references and scream as soon as the opening notes of a song play is the best thing

Starting with tgwdlm feels like an excellent choice being from the show that created a new wave of fans while still catching some of the people who might not be caught up with the newest shows. And I know we had it at jangle ball too but love love getting to see Brian and Meredith be part of the hatchetfield stuff

And having NPMD songs performed live for the first time was just as exciting and special as I was expecting!! Was not expecting HSIKM WITH some OG choreo but I am grateful for it. Jaime messing up the Literal Monster lyrics at the matinee is 100% understandable and I thank her for that because Lauren cracking up at the complete nonsense lyrics she made up was too good. Love the OG choreo there including Lauren grabbing Joey for no reason whatsoever 😌 Slay of Lauren to bring out the Ruth voice too. Jeff gave a killer performance of NPMD and we understood the assignment with the Richie part

And Together 😭 TOGETHER 😭😭 I said that was a song I’d absolutely love but was definitely not at all expecting them to play so I got UNBELIEVABLY excited seeing it on Mere’s playlist and it was EVEN better than I imagined 😭 Angelic!!!! I love women!!!! Seeing their friendship shine through on stage is so special and Lauren supporting Mere through the lyric mess up in the matinee and also her laugh were the cutest things. And then from the front row at the evening show I don’t think I even breathed. They sounded amazing in the OG show but EVEN better now and I truly could not be more grateful to them for putting that on the setlist. A literal dream that I will be thinking about for the rest of my life. I still can’t believe it. AHHHHHH!!!!!!

Happy we got Our Doors are Open cause I love that song!

Jaime singing Harry but dedicated to Nori was very cute and making that a flashlight moment is one of the sillier things we’ve done

So glad Clark got his moment with I Was where we all sat in enraptured silence listening to his magical voice and some never before heard lyrics

I will be so honest and say there was the tiiiiiiiiiniest part of me sad when Joey started introducing Sidekick because I knew that meant my Status Quo hopes were dashed. However had I not seen it at homecoming I probably would have been rooting for Sidekick because it is the better *performance* for Joey, he absolutely owns the stage and it was still a delight to hear it again, and with his continued vocal improvement. Audience participation on point too of course. And when I saw Lauren standing in the wings before he started I knew I could not let myself keep looking over there but shoutout to everyone who did get footage of her being the proudest wife there is

Oh lordddd the Rogues Medley update we’ve been praying for (even if not in the way I expected). I had a feeling that’s what was coming when they started Not Over Yet based on the interview Brian did but to hear that transition into Feast or Famine was crazyyyyyy. Rogues Medley is such an iconic piece of Starkid history and it’s so cool that they gave us that. Fucking of course Brian fucked up the verses in Not Over Yet but he is a master at styling it out and him making Lauren laugh with that song feels like time honoured tradition (okay I’m just thinking of that leaky 2017 performance). First Feast or Famine in concert was so good although Joey and Lauren leaning on each other at EVERY little duet bit… relax babes. And Rogues, I knew if we got it we’d have Lauren doing the harlots and the hussies bit and I still did not adequately prepare myself

Brian calling Meredith wifey in We Got Work to Do was gold. SO so so happy to hear climate change, they did that because I stopped myself from spending a stupid amount of money to go to jangle ball. Still obsessed with Lauren’s little riff. And her moves? HOT. And we LOVE Meredith’s music getting so much love as it SHOULD

The forgotten songs section was hilarious but could have been about 20% shorter Brian was not wrong about them milking that bit Biggest of shout outs to the person who yelled Boy Toy for Lauren to respond “don’t make me do that” and I believe the same person who yelled fucking Airport 4 Birds and had her momentarily stunned. Her rendition of Hideous Creatures was heavenly no joke. Brian doing his soundcheck song did not read so well at the matinee lmao but I personally thought it was perfect. And Lauren joked about the open vibe but genuinely I love that they were confident enough they could do some obscure songs and not have an absolutely dead audience. Can’t believe we got TWO MAMD songs although they really should have let Joey sing Even Though (I know it wouldn’t have been *funny* okay)

What did not need to be even one second shorter was the shirt bit. No notes. Especially Brian trolling Lauren with “roll on the floor like Draco”

Back on top was amazing, they all sounded so good and again, love to see the Ani music getting recognition. And at the evening show I was watching Lauren do the choreo in the wings which was absolutely adorable

What if I now write the entire length of this post just about Granger Danger lol. Didn’t even realise until this post that they had the two OG Starkid couples back to back (at least I’m going off the order of the setlist I saw on twitter I do not actually remember the order lmao) Their whole “brand new song” bit was everything to me, I really could watch them riff off each other for hours. And honestly it was the perfect thing to do KNOWING what the reaction would be to the two of them coming out because what fucking else would they be singing. Apart from the person who genuinely thought we were getting Priceless because they forgot Granger Danger existed, you know who you are. As in my other post, I had said I wouldn’t mind if, as long as I got to see one married Granger Danger live (which I then did), they stopped singing Granger Danger, but that was only if they were getting sick of it and on the condition they did in fact replace it with Priceless. But I will NEVER get sick of watching them do it (even if the heart eyes on stage continue to make me a little sick) and I love that they do still have fun with it. The universal excitement with those opening notes is the best thing. Continuing to say “it gets different” was funnier than it should have been, they are comedians. And how far back she leaned on him at that evening show was truly insane and I thank them for giving me one of my new favourite pics (even if Lauren laughing and Joey’s hand going back to make sure she wouldn’t fall made me want to sobbbbb). 15 years of this song and it’s still getting more iconic and you all know how deeply special it is to me and I’m so happy to have gotten to see it again. King and queen of Starkid for real for real

Corey Show Stoppin Number was CRAZY he killed it

Jaime’s speech before Not Alone was incredibly special and I think Darren would agree that the song actually ended up exactly where it needed to be. But her saying she’s been singing it for 15 years of course had me thinking about the same thing for granger danger which is absolutely not something I was emotionally strong enough for in that moment!!! But blessed to get the beautiful harmonies and as always the audience singing Darren’s parts is the best

Superfriends is ofc so fun and Jeff nailed the Robin parts (unlike someone else there might have done (sorry Joey)). And again, there’s something so nostalgic about seeing it with that classic choreo too

And mashing it up with WANNABE oh my god. I did see someone say they didn’t know why they did that song and I’m like,, do you know how to have fun?? I get it we’re there to hear Starkid songs but this isn’t like a once in a lifetime situation (love that performance but it was a song for them not the audience and they knew it lmao), it’s actually perfect for Starkid. “Friendship never ends” you’re fucking right it doesn’t, 15 years of making stuff with your friends. And I’m being so serious when I say it’s one of my favourite performances they’ve ever done. I also might never get it out of my head and I’m fine with that. The accents? The boys in the back? The dancing? Brian? And then Brian and Joey?? (and ofc the evening performance where Lauren was touching Joey after “if you wanna be my lover” and where he put his hand on her back as she was stepping up on the stage and I once again wanted to sob) It was JOYFUL

And then GBTH as the encore we all knew was coming because no way were they leaving without singing that one. Whatever some people might have to say about it, it is SUCH a special song to hear in a room full of Starkid fans, and especially this version where we sang the beginning. No doubt they couldn’t have imagined performing that song on a stage like this when they were singing it in Studio 1, but it’s so deserved because they’re all absolute superstars. And their friendship and the fun they have onstage together has remained so integral to what makes them work and it never gets any less special to witness. I love that after over a decade of singing this song they STILL get the words wrong and it doesn’t even matter because we’re singing it so loudly. I love the sheer power Lauren radiates every time she sings her part and her happiness when we scream ours. And then I watched her smile looking out at the audience during the train part and I’m just so proud we were part of making this show so incredible for them and proud of them for doing it 😭 Singing happy birthday to Jeff in the middle was really cute too

Also, can’t believe we got to witness the most INSANE shirt pic happen live??!!? A shirt pic in front of a crowd of 2000 people, I keep looking at it and I’m like how is that not photoshopped?? But it’s real!! I was there!! And it’s honestly the most Starkid move of all time to perform their sold out Palladium concerts in matching pyjama shirts. Ngl there was a tiny part of me that didn’t want the matching shirts because I wanted to see the Concert Fits but I didn’t even need to worry because Lauren still came to serve. Hottest girl I’ve ever seen but also just the cutest human. And her hair looked so good too. (Jaime was also serving with the sparkly tights and cowboy boots)

Clearly they’re such a well oiled machine and the show ran SO smoothly that they were ahead of schedule and ended up doing a little more vamping in the evening than at the matinee. Why they chose Together (Lauren and Meredith are “too old” to want solos), Clark’s explanation of I Was originally being a solo (thank god because I felt insane at the matinee thinking ‘I’ve never heard these lyrics before’), even more references to Brian’s lack of solos. But the fuck ups in spite of that rehearsal really are just part of the Starkid charm. We love it, they know we love it, there’s no pressure to make it perfect which means all of us are just having *fun* together. But none of that takes away from how genuinely talented each and every one of them is

I do also think there’s something to be said for Brian and Lauren being the producers. They’ve really been through it all with the company and they know what works and how to serve people’s strengths. And of course we can trust Clark to put together an incredible setlist (yes there was a distinct lack of certain shows but I do think all the songs they did were a really good showcase for them and everyone had an opportunity to shine)

And Lauren of COURSE nailed the choreo for the whole show, it would be impossible for her not to. Honestly cannot reiterate enough how much of a queen she was in every aspect of this show. So fucking proud of her!!!!!!!!!!

And because this post wouldn’t be complete without mention of the M&G, Joey remembering my nameeee bearing in mind this is only the second time I’ve met him in person where he’d actually know me and yes the first time was only 7 months ago but I still don’t know how he recognised me there either. He seemed so proud to remember it too. And I knowww it’s not special to me he just has a good memory for that but the fact is he DOES make you feel special and I love him!! The best man. And I’m glad I got to give them the bracelets I made, Lauren’s reaction to seeing hers said precious angel was the sweetest and I really am trying to be normal about Joey only wearing the one from me (but it said Diane’s dad and was in michigan colours so… I think I nailed it) It was the sweetest thing seeing how many bracelets some of them were wearing during the show though

All this to say I fucking love Starkid and I love the community they’ve created. As soon as I saw the crowd outside the theatre (which was phenomenal!!) I knew it was just gonna be one of those days it was too overwhelming to talk to many people and while the people I did talk to were lovely I think I gave out a grand total of 8 bracelets which is my second biggest regret. But @pazazzalil and @laurenlpz, meeting up with you was like being with old friends even though we hadn’t met in person in 5/6 years. Love you both (and maybe we can actually get seats together next time)

And as one last little note, while it did feel extra special having people who have been with the company for all/the majority of these last 15 years, I have loved seeing the newer Starkids being so proud of their friends 🥺

I don’t know how I’m ever getting over this show. There was no way it was going to be bad with how highly anticipated a UK show was but it went way beyond my expectations. Pure magic. And I really do believe that after that it won’t be long before they’re back here, and I can’t wait

[crystalninjaphoenix]

The Christmas Special - Part One

Paranormal Preteens AU: Episode Twenty-Six

A JSE Fanfic

I absolutely did not intend this adventure to be a two-parter but in retrospect of course it is, a lot happens. It's Christmas Eve and the guys have varying feelings on it. Chase and Schneep are excited for their family Christmas party! But JJ and Marvin are not as enthusiastic about stuff. Fortunately, it looks like things will be a bit exciting for them as JJ gets a visit and gift from a pair of strangers. This chapter is a lot of setup for the next one and it's still 7200 words. That should tell you all about how excited I am for this! :D Hope you guys enjoy!

More of this AU | From the Start | Read on AO3 at CrystalNinjaPhoenix

++++++++++++++++++++

Over the next few days, relatives from Chase and Schneep’s extended family started pouring into the small town of Hollewych. They would always stop to say hi at the house before going to the hotel they were staying at. Chase had forgotten how overwhelming it was to see everyone in the same location. Or maybe this was just the first time he really noticed how many people were in his family.

By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, everyone from Mom’s side of the family had arrived—save for the ones who weren’t invited. But though Mom assured Chase that he invited his dad’s side of the family, he hadn’t seen one of them stop by yet. “Flights across the ocean are really hard to get around Christmas,” she assured him. “They probably couldn’t afford it. At least we’ve got cards from most of them.”

Even with her reassurances, Chase couldn’t help but feel disappointed. There was one person he’d really been hoping would show up who hadn’t yet. He was still hoping to see him, though! Maybe he would show up on Christmas Day.

But at least there was stuff to do to distract him from that! Mom and him made gingerbread houses with Schneep, who had never done it before. They showed some of the visiting relatives around the city—Grandma and Grandpa said the nearby church was prettier than any they had back home—and Mom even offered to take the two of them caroling, though they both declined since it didn’t sound interesting. The living room had been decorated and the tree had been put up back near the beginning of the month, but Mom went shopping with both of them so they could buy ornaments for themselves.

“It’s a tradition we’ve always done!” Chase explained. “I get to pick out a new ornament for the tree every year. Mom said that it’s so when I grow up, I have ornaments for my own tree. It’s only fair that you get one too.” This year, Chase picked out an ornament in the shape of a skateboard. Schneep looked at a bunch of ones, almost overwhelmed by how many there were, until he settled on one that looked like a rocket ship.

On the 23rd, it snowed overnight. Mom said that the weather predicted a lot of snow tomorrow and on Christmas too, so Chase insisted that they do fun outdoor stuff today before the storm really rolled in. So, after Mom made some calls, the three of them headed down to the park to meet up with some other family members.

“You should really join in and stuff,” Chase said to Schneep on the car ride there. The two of them were sitting in the back together instead of Chase being in the front. He wasn’t sure when they started sitting together in the car. But he knew this wasn’t the first time. “I don’t think any of the kids in the family really, uh, got to know you much before. Jordan is your age I think. Maybe he’s a year younger.”

“We are the same age, Chase,” Schneep said, grinning.

“...well not exactly,” Chase said defensively.

Schneep laughed. Then he looked out the window at the street. The glass was starting to fog up. “I do not know.. . I think I would not enjoy snowball fights and snow angels. I do not like the cold.”

“Uh well when you move around a lot you don’t feel as cold,” Chase said. “That’s like... science. And also like—Bella and Jordan and the twins and the girls probably don’t know you too good. They might think you’re, like, a nerd.”

Schneep nodded. “I am a nerd.”

“You know what I mean!” Chase sighed. “They won’t know that you’re cool.”

Schneep smiled. “Thank you Chase. But I... I-I do not know if...” He sighed. “I am not good with other kids.”

“You get along with the Jacksons and Jackie and Stacy just fine,” Chase pointed out.

“That is true. But the family feels... different. I should know them, but I feel I do not.” Schneep looked down, kicking his legs for a little. “Chase, can I... ask you a... question? You do not have to answer.”

“Uh, sure.” Honesty, Chase wasn’t sure how to respond to Schneep’s issues, so he welcomed the change.

“Why did your papa leave?”

And now he regretted it. “I... I-I don’t really know,” he said quietly. “Mom and Dad were... They said that they ‘fell out of love’ and that it wasn’t because of me. So... that’s why, I guess.”

He never knew if he believed what Mom told him, though. He often heard the two of them fighting upstairs while he was in the living room playing video games. They didn’t shout, but their voices still carried. He would sit there with his game paused, listening to Mom throw around words like “irresponsible” and “dismissive” and, most importantly, “a bad example for Chase.” Dad would say things like “uptight” and “pressuring” and “it’s not a big deal.” They were fighting about him, in some way. About... how they should take care of him? Something like that. So... he knew it wasn’t really because of him. He hadn’t been a bad kid or anything. But sometimes he thought that, maybe if the two of them didn’t have a kid at all, none of the fighting would have happened.

“We’re here,” Mom announced. Chase jumped in surprise. He forgot she was driving the car for a minute. He wondered if she heard any of what he said.

“Uh—cool!” Chase said, quickly opening up the car door before the car even fully came to a stop. “Come on, Schneep! We can figure out something for you to do!” He undid his seatbelt and hopped out.

“Alright, alright, I am coming!” Schneep undid his own seatbelt, then scooted along the car seat until he was able to climb out the door. “I will follow your lead, unless it is too cold.”

To his credit, Schneep did try to join in, but he clearly wasn’t enjoying the snowball fight so Chase assured him it was fine if he wanted to just sit next to Mom. He did that for a while, but evidently just sitting on a bench was too cold, so he got up again and started walking around, kicking up the snow. Until he decides to make a snowball of his own. And to see how big he could make it by rolling up. Chase soon left the snowball fight to help him, and suggested they make it into a snowman. Schneep had never done that, so Chase took it upon himself to teach him. Soon, they had a three-ball-tall snowman and the other cousins were competing to see if they could make a taller one. In only a couple hours, most of the snow in the park had been rolled up into an army of snowpeople of varying heights and designs, and all the kids were shivering. Mom lured Chase and Schneep into leaving by promising to get them hot chocolate from Zelly’s on the way home.

All in all, Chase thought this was a great start to Christmas. And judging by Schneep’s smile, he thought the same. Tomorrow, the party would begin. Chase couldn’t wait.

++++++++++++++++++++

It was hard to ride a bike through the snow, so JJ ditched the bike on the way back and instead walked alongside it. Christmas Eve morning was cold and crisp. JJ needed a big winter coat to keep warm.

Mam and Dad didn’t know where he was, for once. And he relished that fact. He’d snuck out early that morning, asking Marvin to cover for him if anyone asked. “Huh? Where are you going?” Marvin had asked. JJ just replied that he wanted to be alone for a little bit, and that was hard to do while in their house. Marvin blinked, probably not entirely understanding why JJ would want that right now, but he nodded and said he’d pretend JJ was still in their room if anyone asked. JJ ran into Granmam for a moment when getting his bike, but she said nothing, only smiled and wished him a happy holiday.

Even when biking, the doll followed him. His bike had a basket in the front—he’d wanted it so he could put his bag there, but he’d deliberately left his bag behind for once, only taking the cell phone in his pocket. Nevertheless, when he let his attention wander to the side for a bit, the doll appeared in the basket, wearing a small version of his winter coat. Frustrated, JJ shoved his coat into the basket, hiding it from view. He tried to forget about it for the rest of the bike ride. But eventually he had to get off and walk.

He hadn’t been fond of Christmas for a while. When he was younger, he remembered it being so exciting, but over time, both he and Marvin got tired of seeing it everywhere for two months straight. And, just like with their birthday, they both became... aware, over time, of how... their parents got them different things. And how it was never really what they wanted. That really killed their enthusiasm for the holiday. And also, the two of them were never too keen on the celebrations their parents insisted on. Church was boring, opening presents took too long, and dinner was good but always a bit awkward. All of this, combined with the doll issue he’d been facing recently, and he’d almost been dreading Christmas. He just... he had to get out of the house for a little bit. He had to think.

But he couldn’t stay out all day. Not just because it was cold. He didn’t want to make Marvin cover for him all day. And lunchtime was approaching, which is when Mam and Dad would start to ask the most questions. He had to get back before then.

He turned his bike onto the street where their house was, walking down it towards home. A couple cars passed by, but besides him, there were no pedestrians on the street. No, wait. That wasn’t exactly true. He could see a couple of people lingering near the front of one of the houses.

...That was his house. There were people standing in front of his house.

JJ stopped walking for a moment, freezing, unsure what to do. Who were they? Part of the Circle? He stood in place for a moment until the cold started to bite at his coatless arms, and then he started to walk again, mind scrambling to come up with what to do if some of the Circle people tried to command him to do something.

But... no, wait. The pair of people weren’t adults, they were just teenagers. About Jackie’s age, maybe a bit older. The Circle wouldn’t let teenagers join, would they? So it’s probably not them. But still, that begs the question: why were a couple of teenagers hanging out by his house? Were they friends of Jackie’s? JJ couldn’t remember what Jackie’s friends looked like off the top of his head, but he didn’t think this was them.

As he approached, he noticed something. One of the teenagers was speaking in sign language. Huh. That was... unusual. He’d never heard of any teenagers who knew BSL. And while he clearly didn’t know everyone who spoke in sign—that was just absurd—he couldn’t help but think that he would have heard of someone like that. If only from other teachers in school mentioning it. There was only one secondary school in Hollewych, after all, all the kids would be taught there eventually.

He gave the two teenagers a look-over as he kept walking closer. They were both guys, both with dark hair. One was wearing a lot of black, with sleeves that had white stripes on them, and even a streak of black in his hair. The other was wearing a blue t-shirt over a white button-up, and had some sort of necklace or pendant. He was soon able to hear and see their conversation. “...won’t be any, like, consequences for this?” asked the one in black.

If we’re very careful, the one in blue replied.

“I dunno, like, it sounds a bit risky.”

Well we’re already here.

“We can just fucking leave. It’s so easy to not do something.”

Look, honestly, I think there will be more problems if we don’t do this. It’s going to start opening up questions if memories don’t line up, you know?

“Hmm... yeah, I gue—oh shit!” The one in black saw JJ approaching and jumped in surprise, staring at him with blatant shock. The one in blue spun around and looked at JJ with that same expression.

JJ walked up next to them, looking back and forth between the two teenagers. Now that he was closer to them, they looked a bit familiar. He wasn’t sure where he knew them from, though. Maybe he just saw them around school? He decided to be blunt. Why are you outside my house? he asked.

“Uh—well, uh—” The teenager in black hesitated. “...fuck, we didn’t actually come up with what we were gonna say.”

The one in blue laughed. Maybe YOU didn’t, but I’VE been thinking about this for a while.

“Well of course you have, fucking...” The one in black started to grumble.

The teenager in blue reached up and took off his pendant, briefly looping his arm through it while he signed. This is going to be very hard to believe, but we’re here to help you. You and your friends are currently dealing with a group called the Circle, right? And some annoying guy named Anti?

JJ started. How do you know that?

It’s hard to explain, and I don’t know if you’ll believe us, anyway, the one in blue continued. But we really are here to help. We know that something is going to happen tonight. This could help with that. He held up the pendant.

...What is that? JJ asked, eyes narrowed.

I’ve left some instructions for you on the inside, the one in blue said. I think it’s easiest if you read those. You’ll know when to use it.

JJ frowned. He didn’t like how vague these guys were being.

“Uh... J—my friend?” The teenager in black tapped his friend’s shoulder. Or—actually they were probably family. No, they were definitely family. They looked a lot alike. “Maybe explain a bit more?”

Well how do I do that without sounding crazy or threatening? The one in blue asked.

“Uhhhh...”

Exactly.

So, you want me to take that necklace thing? JJ asked, looking at it warily.

The one in blue nodded. You don’t have to. Here. He walked over to the front door and put the pendant down, inside an empty flowerpot (Mam always said she was going to put plants in there but all that ever went in was dirt). Then he walked back over. You don’t have to pick it up if you don’t want to. The two of us will be back here around ten thirty to pick it up from that same spot. If you don’t want to use it, just leave it. If you do, just remember to put it back by that time. You should be back home by then, if I remember correctly. Understand?

JJ blinked. Back home? From what? Was he going somewhere? He didn’t have any plans to. Christmas Eve was blessedly less busy than Christmas Day. You said you knew that something was going to happen tonight, JJ recalled. How?

The one in blue hesitated, so the one in black jumped in. “Look, it’s complicated, and we don’t even know how much we can tell you before fucking weird shit starts happening. It’s greenlight stuff.”

You know about greenlight?!

“We know about a lot of shit,” the one in black said. “Now. The longer we’re here, the bigger the chance that Mam and Dad might see us. And that’ll make shit weird.” He glanced at the front windows of the house nervously.

You don’t have to do anything you do want to, the one in blue said. Not just with this situation. With any situation. You can do what YOU want. He smiled, the expression unusually soft. Things will get better with time.

JJ just stared at him. He looked at the other teenage boy. The two of them really, really looked like each other. And they seemed to know what was going to happen. No... surely they couldn’t be... A lot of weird stuff has happened but that must be impossible...

“We’re, uh—gonna go now.” The one in black grabbed the one in blue’s arm. “See you!”

We’ll be back at ten thirty! the one in blue said quickly. Goodbye! Good luck!

And with that, the two of them ran off down the street, dodging patches of ice and snow. JJ stared at them until they suddenly ducked into the gap between two houses. He saw a faint flash of green light. And then nothing more.

...Somehow, that was the strangest thing he’d experienced yet.

He turned back to the house, walking over to the rain gutter and chaining his bike there next to Marvin’s before hurrying up the front step. The flowerpot sat there. Totally normal. He crouched next to it and looked at the pendant curled up inside, on top of the small layer of dirt and snow. The pendant was silver, totally circular. After a moment’s hesitation, he reached in and picked it up, sticking it in his pocket. If he was right about who those guys were, he should probably trust them. And besides, they weren’t pushy about what they wanted him to do. He liked that. So he felt he should at least check out what this thing was.

Upon heading inside, he immediately locked onto the sound of voices from the second floor. He froze for a moment, panic surging through his heart. That was Mam and Dad and Marvin. They were talking. Did they notice he wasn’t in his room?

Granmam poked her head out of the kitchen. “Scared of the stairs, lad?” She asked. “I don’ blame ye, given the birthday incident. Want me to walk up with ye?”

JJ nodded. He’d take any support right now. He hung his winter coat up on the coat rack, then together, he and Granmam walked up the stairs to the second story.

Mam and Dad were standing in the narrow hallway, looking at Marvin, who was standing in front of their closed bedroom door. Just the three of them was enough to block the hallway going forward. “—very important that both of you know the Christmas schedule,” Dad was saying, emphasizing his point.

“Well you can tell me, and I’ll tell him, that’s so easy!” Marvin said with the air of someone who’d been saying the same thing over and over and gotten nowhere with it.

“It’s much easier if we tell you both at the same time,” Dad replied, with that same air. “That way, nothing gets lost or forgotten.”

“It’s the same schedule as every year anyway!” Marvin folded his arms. “I don’t wanna argue anymore! I’ll just tell JJ, you don’t always have to talk to him!”

“I—Now—Listen here, young man,” Dad stammered, also folding his arms. “You don’t understand the value of—”

Granmam cleared her throat. All three family members turned to look at her and JJ. “Oh, um—Yeah I forgot! JJ wasn’t even in the room!” Marvin improvised. “He went down to—to—Granmam wanted to talk to him!”

“Oh my—Mam.” The boys’ mam sighed. “You couldn’ have said something?”

“T’is is me sayin’ somet’ing,” Granmam said, chuckling. “I jus’ wanted to ask the lads if t’ere was anyt’ing they wanted to do today, and JJ was the only one who came down the stairs. But I can’ blame Marvin for t’at—I would be worried around the stairs too, in his situation.” She stared at Mam and Dad very deliberately. “Wouldn’ ye also cut him some slack?”

Mam and Dad glanced at each other, looking a bit embarrassed. “Well... we just wanted everyone to be on the same page for Christmas,” Dad said awkwardly. “It’s easiest to discuss it with the whole family.”

“You two must’ve been talking for a while,” Mam said. “What about?”

“Oh you know, all the lads’ little friends,” Granmam said, smiling down at JJ and Marvin—though not too far down, JJ realized with a start. When did he and Marvin get so tall?

“Yeah, uh—Chase is having a Christmas party tonight!” Marvin said. “And we—want to go!”

JJ’s mouth dropped open. He stared at Marvin in shock. Had he lost his fucking mind?! They couldn’t just say that! What if their parents said no and didn’t let them hang out with the others at all from then on?! Marvin glanced back at him and subtly signed, Sorry, panic.

Mam blinked in surprise. “JJ, is this true?”

JJ didn’t answer, mind scrambling for what to say.

“Come on, JJ,” Granmam urged gently.

“Yes, tell us what you feel,” Mam said.

He felt that weird spell from the doll kick in immediately after Mam said that. Against his will, his hands began to sign. I really like Chase and Henrik and Jackie and Stacy and I want to spend part of Christmas with them instead of having it all be here. And I’m scared you won’t let me go see them because you want me in pictures or something else that happens every year. These are our first real friends and I think it’s more important to be with them for our first Christmas together than it is to do more of the same things we always do that never change.

The rest of the family was dead quiet as he signed. And the silence continued even after he was done. He looked back and forth between Mam and Dad, suddenly pale. Why did he say that? Why did he say any of that? The only good thing about any of that was that the compulsion only made him say what he was currently thinking, and didn’t force him to spill all his feelings. Even so—Mam and Dad would be mad about all of that, wouldn’t they?

“...well, then,” Mam said awkwardly, glancing at Dad. “I suppose... socializing is important.”

“Bet on my bollocks it’s important!” Granmam said.

“Mam!” Despite their mother’s shocked gasp, Marvin and JJ grinned and had to hold back laughter. Luckily, their parents either didn’t notice or didn’t care enough to chastise them.

“The lad just said it was their first friends,” Granmam continued. “They deserve t’spend some holiday time with them!”

“Well surely it’s not their first friends,” Dad said. “They get invited to all sorts of birthday parties.” Evidently he didn’t realize that they hadn’t been invited to a party since they were seven. “But... I guess they’ve never gone to someone’s house for Christmas... It might be a refreshing experience. What sort of party is it?”

“Uh... it’s for his family,” Marvin said awkwardly. “So like—there will be a lot of adults there, and stuff.”

“Hmm. A lot of supervision.” Mam nodded approvingly. “Are they going to serve dinner?”

“Um... I dunno. JJ, do you know?”

JJ shook his head. Chase hadn’t mentioned anything like that.

“Surely there will be dinner, Emma,” Dad said to Mam. “Who hosts a party for Christmas Eve and doesn’t serve dinner?”

“I suppose it will be less cooking, then...” Mam mused. “Alright. If you get permission from Chase and his mother, you can go over for the evening. As long as you’re back by your school holiday bedtime.”

Marvin made a fist pump, unintentionally sending a few greenlight sparks into the air. JJ jumped, glancing around nervously, but none of the adults seemed to see that. “Thank you!” Marvin said. “JJ, call them right fu—well I mean message them, but also, I wanna talk too, so—I-I don’t know! Contact them right freaking now!”

JJ smiled a little bit. He nodded, taking the phone out of his pocket. Then he inched past everyone else in the hallway, reaching for the bedroom door.

“Oh sorry.” Marvin scooted out of the way.

“We do still have to go over the Christmas schedule,” Dad said.

Let us reach our friends first, to be sure we can go, JJ said.

“Hmm. Good point, son.” Dad nodded, smiling approvingly. He patted JJ’s shoulder. “We’ll wait to hear from them.”

JJ smiled weakly back, and went into their bedroom.

Despite him leaving the doll in his bike basket, it was sitting on his bed when he walked in.

++++++++++++++++++++

“...huh.” Chase looked at the text he just got from JJ. Then he looked up, scanning the living room. The Christmas party was going to start soon. Well, technically it already started but only Grandma and Grandpa were here so far, Grandma sitting on the sofa next to Chase and Grandpa having claimed the armchair. There were some folding chairs set up around the perimeter of the living room for more visitors, since there weren’t enough seats in the living room normally. “Mom? Where’d you go?”

“I’m in the kitchen!” Mom called.

“Okay!” Chase got up from the sofa. Grandma gave him a friendly wave as he went into the kitchen.

Mom was busy setting up the snacks. The other family members had been asked to bring some food as well, so she was leaving spaces for their stuff. So far, there was only a platter of cheese and crackers and a mound of jello. Schneep was in here too, looking at the red gelatin with fascination. “Hey, sweets, what’s up?” Mom asked.

“I got a text message from JJ and Marvin,” Chase said, holding up his phone. “They want to come over for the party. Can they?”

“The Jackson twins?” Mom said. “Sure, they can come. They have to be prepared to stand, though, I don’t think we have many seats to spare, especially if more family members show up.”

“Cool!” Chase grinned. “Oh, can I invite Jackie or Stacy, then? We can all do stuff with the cousins!”

“Sure, but you have to be prepared for them having plans of their own,” Mom said. “Jackie might be having a Christmas party of his own, and Stacy might have plans with her family.”

“Got it! I’ll message them all!” Chase started with typing a reply to the twins. Mom says yes so you can! Then he paused. “Oh, uh... when should they come over?”

“Whenever they want, don’t worry about it,” Mom said.

Chase nodded and added that. “You don’t mind them coming over, do you, Henrik?”

“Hmm? Ah, no, I would like them to be here.” Schneep tore his attention away from the jello to look at Chase. “I hope they do not feel too awkward surrounded by all our family.”

“Eh, they can leave if they want.” Chase finished up his message and sent it, then looked up at Schneep. “Why are you staring at the jello by the way?”

“I have not seen it in person before,” Schneep said. “Or not one so big. Sometimes Mama would let me have those little cups as a treat. I liked the red ones.”

Mom smiled. “Strawberry, right? That’s what this one is too.”

“Is there enough for everyone?”

“There’s enough for you to have a big slice,” Mom assured him.

Schneep smiled up at her, then looked over at Chase. “Should we have gotten presents for all our friends?”

Chase’s eyes widened. “You’re asking me that now? On Christmas Eve? It’s too late to go shopping!”

“Well I did not expect to see them until after the holidays! I thought that we could go shopping afterwards!”

Mom laughed. “Don’t worry about it, you two. At your age, you don’t really get friends Christmas gifts. But you should start to think about it soon. If you guys are really concerned about it, we could get them a little thing. Soap, maybe. Or candles.”

Chase groaned. “I don’t think any of them would like soap or candles.”

“Well, Marvin might, they seem witch-like,” Schneep said.

“Just think about it,” Mom said. “No pressure. Like Henrik said, we can go shopping after Christmas.”

Chase’s phone pinged with a new message. He checked it. Great! We’ll be there around 4 then! =)

Sounds good! Chase replied. “Mom, they’ll be here around four o’clock.”

“Got it.” Mom nodded. “Now go on and ask your other friends.”

“Yep.”

After a few minutes, Jackie and Stacy both said they would stop by for the party. Though Jackie said that he would stop by closer to dinner, and Stacy said she would come over around 3, so they wouldn’t all arrive at the same time. But that was fine. The family was also arriving at different times, though Chase knew that soon the house would be bursting full of people.

Over time, that guess proved to be true. Uncle Terry and Aunt Eva were next to arrive after Grandma and Grandpa, bringing with them all their kids. Theo and Tommy, the younger cousins, saw all of Chase’s consoles and begged him to play some video games with them. He showed them some of the multiplayer party games they had, mostly Mario Party. Bella and Jordan also wanted to play, so Chase essentially got kicked out of using his own console since there were only four players. He didn’t mind, though. It was fun to just watch them go crazy trying all the minigames.

Stacy did show up around three, shortly after Uncle Bob and Aunt Kathy. She looked around, seeming a bit lost. “Hey! Stacy!” Schneep shouted, and he and Chase ran over to greet her.

“Sorry, I know it’s crowded,” Chase said, laughing. “You can take your shoes off here if you want, or leave them on, the grown-ups like to keep them on, I dunno why. Oh! And your coat, of course! Put it in this closet!”

“Hey guys,” Stacy said, taking off her white puffy coat and kicking off her pink boots. “Is this all your family?”

“On Mom’s side, yeah, almost all of them,” Chase said. “There’s just two more coming, our cousins Corinne and Maddie and Maddie’s uhhh... what was that word, again?”

“Fiance,” Schneep said.

“Right yeah. Her boyfriend who’s gonna be her husband. So three more people.”

“Wow. Your family’s a lot smaller than mine,” Stacy said. 

Chase shrugged. “Well, like I said, this is just Mom’s side. Dad’s side is a lot bigger but they live all over.” He tried to not sound disappointed that none of them had bothered to fly out to visit them.

“We still have a pretty big family, I think,” Schneep said. “My Papa’s side of the family only had my Opa.”

“What’s that word mean?” Stacy asked curiously.

“Oh, grand-papa,” Schneep said. He paused. “I wonder if I should send him a card for Christmas... he was always very nice when I saw him. But, ah, h-he could not—His house was not good for children, so we... did not see him often.” Another pause. “I-I will ask Aunt Jess about the card later. F-for now, ah—” He looked at Chase for help.

“Come on, I’ll introduce you to our cousins!” Chase said. “You’ll like Bella, I think!”

“Bella?” Stacy leaned to the side. “Oh good! I’m not gonna be the only girl here!”

The cousins immediately took to Stacy, though as expected, she and Bella bonded quickly over being the only two girls of the same age in the house. They immediately started talking about something called Bratz that Chase thought sounded boring but maybe it was a girl thing? Corinne, Madison, and Zeke arrived soon after that, and Stacy seemed happy to meet the older girls too. At one point, Schneep nudged Chase and chuckled, “Stacy looks at Corinne the same way you look at Jackie.”

“What? What does that mean?” Chase asked.

“Like they are the coolest person ever.”

“It’s not the same thing,” Chase grumbled. Though they did seem to be getting along.

JJ and Marvin showed up after that. Marvin had his cape on over his coat. “Hey guys!” Chase greeted. “Come on in! Put your coats in the closet and take your shoes off over here if you want.”

The twins did so—though JJ did so first, stiffening and following the directions robotically. “Duuude your family is so much bigger than ours!” Marvin said. “We just have Mam and Dad and Granmam pretty much.”

“Really? Wow. Stacy said earlier that our family was small.”

“Well I mean everyone is different, aren’t they? When we went to visit Jackie for his birthday he had a bunch of family there and there were more people there than here.”

Thank you so much for letting us come to the party, JJ said. Today was a bad day.

“You were having a bad day?” Stacy said, walking over with Schneep just in time to catch the sign. “I’m sorry. What happened?”

Just a bunch of stuff, JJ said vaguely.

“Oh come on, tell us!” Chase encouraged.

JJ immediately began signing. I’ve been having a bunch of bad feelings about how much this doll stuff sucks, especially with my parents always wanting me to do exactly what they say—

“You do not have to tell us!” Schneep hurriedly said. “If you do not want to!”

“Oh, shoot!” Chase winced. “Sorry JJ!”

JJ sighed, stopping his signing. See, this is what I mean. It’s so frustrating. I was getting bored of Christmas anyway but this is making everything really bad.

“It’s really shitty,” Marvin agreed.

“Well uh... maybe the party will make you feel better?” Chase offered awkwardly. “Our cousins are getting bored of Mario Party.” As he said that, Theo and Tommy started running around, eventually going upstairs. “Yeah, see?” Chase glared up after them. “Hey! You better not be going into our rooms!”

Schneep laughed. “I will go make sure they do not. You all can play video games if you want.” He headed upstairs.

“We always play video games while we’re here, do you guys have anything else?” Marvin asked.

“Uhhh we have cards?” Chase suggested. “We could do a card game? Maybe with the others?”

Marvin looked at JJ. JJ nodded. “Sounds great!” Marvin said excitedly.

The group of kids spent the next little while with card and board games at the dining room table, though they had to clear out after a while as the adults started setting it for dinner. Only then did they return to playing video games. They were halfway through a Mario Party game when Jackie arrived. “Jackie!!” All the kids shouted at once, even JJ signing his name as they all rushed over to greet him.

“Whoa! Hey, little guys!” Jackie laughed, shaking off some powdery snow from his reddish-brown coat. “There’s a storm starting up out there. I’m probably gonna be staying here for a bit longer than I wanted, don’t really want to drive in that.”

“Hey Jackie!” Mom smiled at him from the dining room entrance. “Good to see you made it! We were putting a plate out for you.”

Jackie waved. “Thanks for having me!”

“Your dad is fine with this? You don’t want to spend some time together?”

“He said he could go to a work party while I hung out here, we’ll probably be home at around the same time.” Jackie shrugged. “What are you guys having?”

They were having turkey (which Mom and Grandma had been working on basically all day), pork, mashed potatoes, rolls, some vegetables, the jello, and Aunt Kathy had brought some pies for dessert. There wasn’t enough room for everyone at the dining room table, so a card table was set up in the living room, and even then, there wasn’t enough room. The kids and Jackie decided they’d rather sit huddled around the coffee table to eat instead of fighting for space at the two tables. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but they didn’t mind.

Jackie brought his camera with him, and throughout dinner, he took pictures of the kids and the party. This continued as the party went on, with everyone snacking on the desserts and playing more games, both video games and cards.

“Oh hey, by the way, JJ, I was wondering,” Jackie said, looking at the last picture he took. “What’s that chain coming out of your pocket?”

JJ glanced down, mildly surprised. Not at the chain itself. More like, surprised at seeing it falling out of his pocket. He grabbed the chain and pulled it out, laying it on the table. It’s a weird pendant I got earlier.

Marvin blinked. “When did you get that?”

It’s a strange story... JJ told the others how he got the pendant as quickly as he could.

“Two teenage guys?” Chase repeated. “Do you know either of those guys, Jackie? JJ said they looked around your age.”

Jackie shook his head. “I don’t think so. That’s a pretty vague description of them, but I think I’d remember a guy who also used sign language.”

JJ nodded. That’s what I thought. 

Schneep stared at him. “Do... did you have some idea of who they were?”

It sounds crazy, but... I think I do. You guys have to promise you won’t laugh, but I think—

There was a knock at the front door.

“One second!” Mom called, leaving the dining room and hurrying over. 

The kids all watched, curious, as she did that. Chase had told the visitors earlier that no other family was expected to come. He perked up. But maybe—it was an unexpected visitor? Maybe from the other side of the family. Excited and curious, he got up and ran over to the front door—

But it wasn’t who he thought it’d be. There were four people on the front step outside. All grown-ups. Chase didn’t recognize three of them, but there was one he did: it was one of the doctors from the basement. One of the ones who’d almost poured Marvin’s blood into the Fissure. Chase froze.

“Oh, hey Chase.” Mom looked down at him. “Is everything alright?”

“Wh-what’re they doing here?” Chase stammered.

“I was about to ask that myself. Apparently they’re not just here to visit for the holiday.” Mom turned back to the strangers. “Is there anything we can help you with? We’re a bit busy with a party.”

One of the strangers reached into his pocket and pulled out—is that a badge?! “We need to search your premises, I’m afraid,” he said. “There’s a chance that there are dangerous goods inside.”

“What?!” Mom gasped. “Dangerous—but I’ve—we’ve never gotten involved in anything illegal!”

At that shout, many of the guests inside turned their attention to the doorway. Chase quickly ran back to the coffee table where the rest of the gang was. “What is it?” Stacy hissed.

“There’s people saying that there’s dangerous stuff in here!” Chase hissed back. “And one of them is one of the dark doctors! From the secret hospital basement!”

Marvin’s face immediately turned paper white. “Wh-what? What are they doing here?”

“I don’t know! I think they want to come in?”

“Well don’t fucking let them!”

“How?!”

“I don’t know! Tell your mom to kick them out!”

Jackie frowned. “If they have a warrant, then she has to let them in, no matter what. It’s the law. She could get in trouble for breaking it.”

JJ shivered. He picked the pendant up off the table again. Those teenagers had said he’d know when to use it. Maybe... was this the time? He just had to figure out how to open this.

After a brief talk, Mom stepped to the side, and the strangers walked into the room. “You’ll really find nothing in here, I promise,” she was saying. “Please, try not to disturb the guests. They’ve all traveled so far to be there for our family.”

Schneep looked over at the four strangers, then ducked down, dragging the others with him. “Should we go hide or something?!” he whisper-shouted.

“I think they’ve already seen us!” Chase whisper-shouted back. “It’ll look suspicious if we leave.”

Mom was still talking. “—the four of you could split up, if you want, I’m sure that will speed things up.”

The doctor frowned. “The four of us?”

Suddenly, one of the strangers turned white—she didn’t suddenly go pale the way Marvin did earlier, she turned white, hair and clothes included. And then—she bursts.

A blizzard erupted in the middle of the living room. Screams filled the air. JJ found himself flung backwards until he hit a cabinet by the TV and slumped to the ground. DVDs and games clattered on top of him. The room was suddenly freezing. JJ squinted through the white storm that was filling the room. He could see Schneep nearby, trying to stand up, but a layer of ice was spreading across his legs, sealing them together. “W-what is this?!” Schneep gasped.

Some tall figure ran forward, only to get their head snapped backwards. They fell to the ground and didn’t get up again. Ice was growing over the furniture. People were shouting in alarm as they were frozen to the floor and chairs they were sitting on.

This must be it! If there’s any time to use the pendant, this is it! JJ turned around, putting his back to the rest of the room, and fumbled at the seam he’d noticed in the pendant with numbing fingers. The pendant popped open—revealing that it wasn’t actually a pendant at all. It was... a watch? Like an old fashioned pocket watch.

A piece of folded paper fell out, and JJ quickly scooped it up before the ice froze it to the snow-covered floor. He unfolded it and read a note in familiar handwriting. Turn the minute hand back and press the button at the top of the watch to activate the power. Maximum time is an hour. You cannot use it again until you get back to the time you used it. If you concentrate, your friends will remember, too. Good luck. - You-Know-Who

Yes, with the familiarity of this handwriting, he did, indeed, know who had written the note and given him this watch.

Someone screamed. JJ’s head snapped up. Was that Chase?! Bright greenlight was flashing through the air. Was that Marvin?! He could see a tall figure helping a small one, and a pair of pink glasses frozen to the coffee table. His own legs were being bitten by ice. He had to hurry!

Without really thinking, repeatedly mouthing the words Let my friends remember, he pushed the minute hand on the watch back about fifteen minutes. Then he pressed the button at the top, where the chain looped through a metal ring on the top of the watch—

Everything went dark. JJ felt the rush of wind around him, and something tugged on his stomach, like a rope was suddenly wrapped around it and someone yanked on it.

And then, he was back sitting at the coffee table.

“What the fuck?!” Marvin gasped. “How—what—huh?!”

“H-holy shit!” Jackie stood up and looked around. The guests at the party all stared at him, confused. “Um—”

“What just... happened?” Stacy said quietly.

Chase patted himself down, looking at his chest with alarm. “Huh?!”

Schneep blinked. Then he looked at JJ. “What is that? You are holding the—the locket thing?”

JJ looked around the room. Everything was... the same. The strangers were not in the room, and most of the plates from dinner hadn’t even been cleared up. He glanced down at the watch in his hand. Part of the clock face had turned pale green. About a quarter of it. It started at the spot where the minute hand currently was, and ended at the spot where the minute hand was before he turned it back.

Turned it... back...

This is a time travel device! JJ said excitedly.

“It’s a wha-huh?” Chase blinked.

JJ stood up. Let’s all talk about this upstairs, away from everyone else.

“Okay!” Marvin nodded and also stood up. “Come on, everyone, we’re going upstairs.”

Jackie’s eyes were wide. “Holy... oh my fucking god,” he breathed.

Quick! JJ said.

The rest of the kids all got up. Without saying anything to anyone else, they all headed for the stairs.

What just happened... had never actually happened. Not anymore. But they knew it could. Now, they could figure out how to deal with it.

Maybe this would be a good Christmas after all.

[stalkedbytrains]

The Riddles of a Sphinx

It seems like everyone else got paired with a more helpful companion. Eli knew a couple of people with dragons, there were even a few unicorns roaming around the area with their riders’ noses stuck permanently up in the air; hell, he was even friends with a badass chick who had a griffon! A griffon! It is a combination of like three different animals and it is all deadly and graceful.

Why did he have to get stuck with a sphinx?

Don’t get him wrong, Eli loved Klea. She was a great companion. It was just that he could never get her to do anything. So many riddles. And Eli was awful at riddles. Like not just bad at them, he was atrocious.

He had gotten Klea’s egg when he was five (like all kids do), and the adorable lioness bodied, girl face creature instantly bonded with the small boy. At the time he was excited, he had gotten a sphinx! No one else he knew had a sphinx. He was special, and Klea was special. The pair grew up together and had lots of fun and even more adventures. When he was seven and Klea was two, she was able to speak in simple riddles. At the time he was good at the simple riddles.

But as the pair grew up the riddles had gotten harder. Eli was not a clever man, and it was now impossible for him to get his sphinx to do anything.

In fact, he was twenty-two at the current time, and was trying to figure out something to wear out that night.

“Klea?” he asked as he looked at his disheveled and mildly attractive face. “Can you grab me the dark jeans from my closet.”

The sphinx was currently occupying almost all of Eli’s bed. Klea’s dark brown eyes narrowed on Eli’s back.

“What’s the best way to keep a hat from falling off your head?” she asked in that deep, almost purring tone of voice that she had.

“By not having a hat,” Eli said.

“Wrong.”

Eli let out a long and loud, “Ugh. Why can’t you ever just be helpful?”

Klea frowned and stretched out on the bed, letting her large eagle wings expand to almost their full wingspan. “It’s my nature. I can’t do anything you ask until you answer the riddle. I don’t like it any more than you do. You know this, we’ve been over it a million times.”

“I know. I was being rhetorical,” Eli moaned as he walked around the wings and carefully avoided stepping on Klea’s tail.

He got the jeans out of the closet, along with a t-shirt that was hanging up next to them. After dressing he looked at himself in the mirror, and tried to flatten his dirty blond hair.

“How do I look?” he asked.

“Acceptable,” Klea responded lazily. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was about to fall asleep.

Eli frowned.

“What are you so concerned about anyways?” the sphinx asked.

“What are the two things you can never eat for breakfast?” Eli asked back mockingly.

“Lunch and dinner,” Klea responded and then waited patiently for him to answer.

“We are going out tonight. The whole gang is supposed to be there,” Eli said. “Except that Angela and Ste already canceled. Phil is going to be his usual flakey self. Mark and Jacob will be all over each other so who can really say that they’ll even be there.” He sighed. “And then Maia will be there.”

Klea opened her eyes and studied her companion. “This is the woman you fancy, yes?”

Eli nodded. “She’s the one with the griffon.”

Klea nodded. She climbed off the bed, which squeaked in protest. She put her head on Eli’s shoulder. “You shall be fine.”

“Yeah, sure,” Eli sighed as he gave the sphinx a scratch under the chin. The large lioness purred. “Ready to go?”

“Almost,” Klea said as she licked the side of Eli’s head a few times to get his hair to sit just right. It looked like the stylish ‘just got out of bed but I showered and gelled my hair so it will look like I got out of bed when I actually didn’t’ look. “Better.”

Eli smiled. “Thanks. And I’m sorry about before.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Any chance you can give me a ride to bar?” he asked.

“I am at the beginning of the end, the end of every place. I am at the beginning of all eternity, the end of time of space. What am I?” she asked. She would very much like to give her friend a ride, to take off into the sky on her massive and impressive wings, so Klea gave Eli an easy riddle. Something even a child could get.

 “Your mom,” Eli said.

The sphinx chuckled. “No, but that was funny.”

“Thanks. Any chance I can get a hint?”

“No.”

“I thought not. I can do with a walk anyways.”

Twenty minutes later, Eli and Klea sat outside at the bar’s patio. He was drinking a rum and coke while Klea had a small saucer of Egyptian honey beer she would lap at every now and again.

Mark and Jacob were there, but they were already engaged in a very quiet, very close conversation punctuated by awkwardly making out in front of Eli. Their companions, a Pegasus and a Iele (a kind of nature nymph) were also getting along great, but leaving Klea to sip her beer with Eli awkwardly alone in company.

By the end of his first drink, and no sign of the pretty Maia or the impressive griffon, Eli was going to quietly excuse himself when the chair next to him was pulled out and Maia sat down next to him with a large beer glass.

“They’re already going at it, huh?” she asked as she briefly watched Mark and Jacob being all touchy-feely.

“Yeah,” Eli replied. “At least there is someone else here to share my pain.”

“Everyone else dropped out?” Maia asked.

Eli nodded silently.

“I was about to get another drink. Possibly a shot or two. You want anything?” Eli asked.

“Yeah, I’ll come with you,” she said standing up, not wanting to spend more time watching the loving couple, who had just un-broken up for the third time.

Maia was a tall woman, but with her boots (with an impressive heal) she was even taller than Eli who proudly boasted he was over six feet tall. Her ponytailed hair was dyed white, which gave her the impression of being much older than twenty-five, and made her stunning jade green eyes positively stand out. She was incredibly attractive, and Eli felt suddenly nervous.

Klea put a paw on his back and pushed him forward a bit.

“What’s your name?” Maia asked the sphinx. “I don’t think we’ve ever been properly introduced.”

“Klea,” the sphinx said as she extended a massive paw to shake the woman’s tiny hand.

“I’m Maia, and this is Cheiron. Would you mind keeping him company for a bit? He gets nervous in crowds by himself,” Maia said as she pet the griffon’s feathery neck who cooed quietly into the hand.

“I take what you receive and surrender it all by waving of my flag. What am I?” Klea asked instantly.

“Sorry, if you ask her to do anything, she won’t do it until you answer a riddle,” Eli said as he blushed.

Maia just smiled and thought for a second, “A mailbox.”

“Correct,” the sphinx said with more than a little surprise and a smile. “I shall wait here with Cheiron.”

“Let’s get something to drink,” Maia said as she grabbed Eli’s arm and lead him to the bar as the two companion animals turned to each other to sniff and inspect each other the way animals do.

“I don’t see many griffons around,” Eli commented.

“Cheiron is something special,” Maia said with a smile after a shot of tequila. “What about you? I don’t see any sphinxes around.”

“Klea is my best friend, but all the riddles get pretty annoying,” Eli admitted after he let the burn of the alcohol fade. “But other than that she’s basically a big, lazy cat. Nothing, however, could ever shake the loyalty and dedication of a sphinx. I mean she’s put up with me for all these years.”

Maia smiled. “Same with Cheiron, I know I’m not the easiest person to get along with, but he’s just bared it all with constant grace.

“I propose another shot, to our companions.”

“An excellent decision.”

Eli and Maia talked the night away; he got to talk about his studies in companion animal sciences and his hope to work with the agency that handed out the eggs to every child at age five, and she got to speak about her work as an artist and the difficulty of life of being only a painter. Eli had more to drink than he usually did, which was why he was so chatty. And for that matter, so did Klea, who was found at the end of the night playfully trying to fight the mostly quiet griffon in the way only a thousand-pound lioness with eagle wings and woman’s face could.

When it came time to end the evening’s festivities, Eli bid farewell to the lovely Maia who got on her sober griffon and flew off home.

“That was an interesting evening,” Klea said as she stumbled a bit while trying to stand.

“Hehe,” Eli laughed, “drunk sphinx.”

“You’re one to talk,” she said dryly.

“Yup, I talk a lot when I drink! Ya learn something new every day. Come on let’s go home,” Eli said as the pair stumbled home.

A little while later they stumbled into the apartment, and Eli flopped on the couch.

“Klea,” he called, “I want a pizza.”

“What’s orange and sounds like a parrot?” she asked reflexively.

“A carrot!” Eli yelled with his head in a pillow.

Two minutes later Klea was struggling to open the frozen pizza box with her large lion paws. The plastic packaging was not cooperating with the paws that were easily larger than the entire pizza. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on her enemy: mass produced, frozen food commodity. Sometime later she dropped a warmish pizza on the table next to Eli’s drunk form on the couch. She crawled up on the couch and flopped on top of him.

Without looking at the pizza, Eli grabbed a piece and ate it. “It tastes like sphinx,” he muttered as he pulled out a long, tan sphinx hair.

“That’s what happens when a sphinx cooks for you,” Klea said. And then suddenly, “You solved my riddle!” She happily licked his face like a happy large cat.

“Yay me,” Eli said with a mouthful of half cooked pizza, utterly failing to grasp the ramifications of what just happened, bearing the sphinx’s show of gratitude with a calm indifference. “Klea… What should I do with Maia? I don’t think she likes me the way I like her. Give me some advice, some ancient sphinx wisdom.”

“What building has the most stories?”

“A library,” Eli said without even thinking about the question or the answer.

“She obviously likes you. You spent the entire night together. Like a date. And her griffon told me as much.”

“Griffons can speak?” Eli asked, mouth open in shock, only to close it on another slice of pizza. “I had no idea!”

“You should do it,” Klea muttered.

“We should go to bed,” Eli murmured. “Carry me.”

“I have a tongue but cannot taste. I have a soul but cannot feel. What am I?”

“A shoe. I’m still wearing them,” he said as he tried to pry off his shoes, while still being covered by a large, drunk sphinx.

Klea opened her eyes halfway, and got off of Eli and the couch. She grabbed his shirt in her teeth and, with some delicate drunk maneuvering, put him on her back. She padded into the bedroom and flopped on the bed.

Eli didn’t use blankets ever, since the sphinx next to him was practically a furnace. Klea put one large arm around him and the pair fell asleep.

When they woke up in the afternoon, Eli looked at the mangled remains of what could have once been a pizza.

“Who made food last night?” he asked.

Klea looked up at him with tired eyes. “I think I did.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t you ask me to?”

“Then why don’t you clean up after yourself?” Eli asked.

“I am lighter than a feather and yet the strongest man cannot hold me for more than five minutes. What am I?” Klea asked as she laid down on the carpeted floor in a sunbeam.

“My bladder,” Eli said as he stomped off to the bathroom.

“Wrong,” Klea said as she fell back asleep.

[smoshkidtv]

i caved and decided to post my opinions on tumblr (again) BUT i have a lot of Big Feelings so i need to share it somewhere (even if it’s to a wall)

- i’ll preface by saying i’m actually really excited for this show! it looks like the cast is having a lot of fun and it looks like a good mix of sketch and unscripted content. i think to me, even as a smosh fan who’s mainly here for i&a, seeing the overall success of the company makes me happy and more than willing to support it.

(more thoughts under the cut. i otherwise wanna say that i’m hopeful things will be okay! please keep any discussion friendly and respectful ^^)

- i am gonna miss more ian & anthony centered content, but i can’t deny that i think we’ve been kind of primed for something like this happening. i&a have often said in videos that they don’t want to be the singular faces of smosh anymore, and want to elevate their talented cast. to me, that’s fine as long as i see them in other content like pit and games, and we still have lwspod where it’s the two of them (+ erin).

- whatever’s happening to the main channel is still up in the air. we don’t know if we’ll get i&a sketches or not, but like what a few others have said, it’s understandable that sketch takes a lot of time, money, and effort. even looking at bit city, this show has a lot of production value that surely was not cheap. maybe it’s testing grounds for something new, since the show does feel like a variety show of some kind.

- i also hope they don’t leave paying members hanging. i know the description said there would still be bonus content for members, but it’s unclear for what tier that’s for. i’m hoping they introduce an extra special incentive for those who are smosh royalty.

- i guess to me, i&a holds a very special place in my heart and i will always look for them in upcoming videos. i’ll still watch smosh videos they’re not in, but i’ll obviously cherish the ones they are in even more. i know no one is saying this, but i don’t think i&a are leaving at all, or it doesn’t really feel like they have plans to? they both have talked about how fun it is to work at smosh, so i’m hopeful that they will continue being in content (even if they’re not the main focus anymore).

[littlebeelife]

Daily J2 Breakdown

Day 6

This interview has my whole heart.

"We’re best friends, period. He’s my best friend for life. I don’t think it’s that remarkable, but it’s definitely special."

***

Supernatural siblings

WE ARE BROTHERS FOR LIFE, SUPERNATURAL HUNKS JARED PADALECKI AND JENSEN ACKLES TELL T2 Priyanka Roy What Would You Tell Jared And Jensen If You Met Them? Tell T2@abp.in   Published 19.10.13, 12:00 AM

Through nine seasons, the Winchester brothers — Dean and Sam — have battled demons, busted metaphysical myths and redefined chills and thrills on the small screen. In an email chat, Jared Padalecki (who plays Sam) and Jensen Ackles (who plays Dean) tell t2 about the show (Season 9 currently airs Monday to Thursday at 8pm on AXN) that’s made them a household name across the world.

When you were first approached to play brothers who bust ghosts and hunt down devils, did you ever think that Supernatural would become the show it is today?

Jared Padalecki: We’re one of the longest running shows on television! When I turned 31 (on July 19 this year), I remember thinking, ‘Wow… I’m 31 and this is my ninth season. This is a third of my life!’ It’s pretty amazing. I feel that what we’re doing this season could go on for however long the writers, and the fans, want to keep it going. We’ve opened so many doors and we didn’t close any... we didn’t kill this or stop that, we just left it so that we can do anything. What the writers have chosen to do is so awesome. I want to strangle them because I’m really excited about it — but I’m not allowed to tell you anything more at this stage. My hands are tied.

How does Season 9 carry the drama forward?

Jared: Season Nine is really cool! I’m more excited about shooting this season than any other season of Supernatural. I was really excited when I read the first five scripts and I think they are the best five episodes I’ve ever read, including Season One. As an actor, and as a fan of the show, I’m really excited about it. I am certain that the fans are going to think the storyline is badass this season. And I’m really hoping that they like my choices as an actor when they see what happens.

At the end of last year, Sam was not getting better. Well, this storyline will explain how Sam gets better. Dean says, ‘Hey buddy, stop the trials and you’re not going to die.’ And so Sam does stop the trials, but clearly he does not get better. We know that at some point between then and the second episode of Season Nine, he gets better and you’ll find out why immediately.

How much of Sam is Jared and how much of Dean is Jensen?

Jared: I grew up with Sam — I started the show when I was 22. I even met my wife (Genevieve Cortese who played Ruby) on this show. In fact, now I try to find similarities between the character and my own personality.

Jensen Ackles: The longer we become these characters, go through so much on and off, we get a greater clarity about ourselves. Now I know the clear differences between Dean and me. The only exception being that we look exactly alike!

What’s been the most challenging bit about playing Sam and Dean?

Jensen: I’d say... just I think, the emotional toll that he has sometimes where he doesn’t think that he is of value, that he isn’t equal to the people that he surrounds himself with. He’ll put other people first before himself. He’s very quick to sacrifice himself, and that’s difficult. I think it’s also a noble trade. 

Jared: And I feel Sam is very pensive and he’s very fastidious when he’s trying to get a task done. And Jared’s like that. I read instruction booklets, I really do... when I get something, I can’t buy something and just go like, ‘Oh, I’ll figure it out.’ I read and re-read it and I try and really figure everything out. And I like that... Sam kind of takes that approach. And I guess before I started acting, I was going to be an engineer, and maybe that’s what it comes from, just that kind of break everything down to put it all back together, reverse engineering or whatever. However, sometimes I feel like I wish Sam would make a hard decision.

Do you believe in the supernatural?

Jensen: I wouldn’t call myself superstitious, but I do suspect there’s more between heaven and earth... even hell. I’m open for spiritual experiences, although I haven’t needed any salt yet to ward off evil spirits from my home!

Jared: I firmly believe that things happen for a reason. That may sound melodramatic, but I don’t believe coincidence exists. And I also believe we’re not the only living creatures in this universe.

Which have been your favourite moments on the show so far?

Jensen: My favourite moment is when the brothers made a commitment to each other in the church. This is a commitment that they’re going to check in with each other... that they are going to remain partners and stay on the same track and not be like, ‘You go do this while I go and do that, and we’ll all try to solve the world our own way.’

Is there anything you would want to change about Dean and Sam?

Jared: There’s a term we use, to “man up” — “man up and get the job done”. Sam ends up making a decision, but I don’t think he takes a stand. There’s a small difference, and I wish he’d take a stand sometimes.

You guys have been sharing screen space through nine seasons. What kind of a dynamic do you share off screen?

Jensen: That’s almost impossible to explain. Nine months a year we’re stuck with each other literally 24 hours a day, seven days a week because we’re working on the show. Even doing stuff for ourselves in between isn’t possible. We’re constantly together. And even when we’re not actually working together during the nine months, or the other three months out of the year for that matter, we always find ourselves choosing to hang out and be together. But what I’m saying is, if you compare our relationship with Dean and Sam’s relationship on the show, there is a huge difference. Jared never drives me up the wall.We can talk to each other about anything.

Whenever we’ve fought, it’s been for each other! Like, I’ll do or say something and he will too and the other one might not like it, but in the end we’re doing it to help or protect them and it’s never against him. I think we do have that loyalty and I can honestly say you know, I’d trust my life with this guy and I guess in relevance to Dean for Sam, I would jump in front of a bullet for him any day and never think twice.

Jared: And the best part about Jensen and my relationship is it’s gonna be that way when we’re on the show and not. I mean, unfortunately for him, he’s stuck with me for life now and that’s important. But look, brothers and sisters, for that matter, sometimes fight. Or worse... they can’t get along at all. Between Jensen and me there have never been any issues and I think that’s rather special.

Jensen: We’re best friends, period. He’s my best friend for life. I don’t think it’s that remarkable, but it’s definitely special.

Are you aware that you have a huge fan following in India?

Jared: I was so surprised when I was informed that we have a huge fan following in India. Until recently, I had no idea that the show was even airing in India! It feels so good to know we have fans across the continent.

Jensen: I had no idea either. Jared and I both found out about it together! We are dying to come to India... it would be amazing.

What’s the craziest thing a fan has done for you?

Jared: The people will come up and be like, ‘Oh, my gosh! I saw an episode where this happened and it made me think of this time when I saw this.’ And you’re like: ‘What did you do? Get the salt?’ So the fans are pretty funny. The fans of the show are certainly. They’re not casual fans. People, if they know the show, they know the show, which is nice. It’s wonderful to have such a dedicated audience and a loyal following. It’s become part of the show and we’ve made episodes about our fans. So that’s fun, and they certainly share their stories with us.

Source: telegraphindia.com - October 19th 2013, written by Priyanka Roy

[tamberlanecomic]

September Newsletter

Happy September! Here’s an update of everything that’s going on behind-the-scenes.

Kickstarter Status

The book is pretty much our entire focus at the moment and is moving right along. Right now I am focusing on editing and laying out annotations while Ari is fine-tuning the comic pages for print within the safety margins. Once the annotations are done, I’ll be re-laying out the Q&A section, then adding Trissol and Growl, and then judging how much space we have left for other goodies.

I also have some exciting news to share: We’ve officially signed on with Lakeshore Printing and Publishing/Artron! This is the printer we will be going with to make the books, and the support and care I’ve received from them so far has been absolutely phenomenal, better than other printers I’ve used before. 

As we speak, they’re sending me samples of ribbons and H&T (head and tail) bands, which are the ribbon that goes along the edge of where the paper meets the spine in a hardcover book. This is one of those details you don’t usually think about but it makes a huge difference in the finished product, and I’m thrilled to be able to have that element of control in making these books extra special for you!

Health Update

In between working on the book, comic, and other duties, I’ve been back at the doctor. I have my very own Dr. House (with less illegal action, lol!) helping me try to pin down all of my many, many symptoms to see if we can circle in on diagnoses. My appointments have included blood draws, biopsies, and consultations, so needless to say, it’s been a bit of a busy month! 

I have also been doing more treatments to alleviate my fibro symptoms, which does take time away from work. As always, thank you for your patience with me. I know I don’t have to apologize, but it helps knowing I have a supportive community of friends and fans while I deal with all of this. 

Tamberlane News

I have two pages in the pipeline at the moment, but to give you something while you’re waiting, I’m going to be posting the thumbnails and sketched pages to Patreon for $10+ patrons to look at while these pages are being completed. If you’re not already a patron and want to see these when they’re shared, be sure to sign up!

Become A Patron

New Art

Patreon pieces are being worked on, apologies for the slowness! Here’s one I just completed for Demonchilde999:

I also took some personal time in between projects to make a new ref sheet for myself: 

That’s pretty much it for now, though I’m sure I’ll be sharing any breaking Kickstarter book news when I have it. Hope you have a wonderful month ahead!

[emmy-dekarios-bg3]

Heart of the Weave - a Baldurs Gate fanfiction.

CHAPTER 16 - an outing and a dance

After about an hour of Gale and I enjoying each other’s company, we hear Jenevelle wake up from her nap. Rather than being fussy, she seems happy and full of life. Gale gets her a warm bottle ready while I get her dressed and ready to hang out with Karlach. I hand her to Gale so he can feed her while I finish getting ready for our outing tonight. I put on my maroon dress with gold braces on my arms, feeling dapper and delicate, actually rather happy with how I look tonight. My dark hair is pinned up, and I decide to actually have my bangs pushed out of my face for once.

I’m finally done getting ready and walk into the baby’s room, noticing Gale burping her and snuggling her against his chest. He is speaking to her in such a soft voice.

“Your mother is something special to me,” he murmurs. “Oh, how I’m glad I chose her. How I fell for her. How she swayed me away from trying to please Mystra. One day, when you’re much older, I’m sure you’ll find that person. When you do, never let them go. You’ll know.” He kisses her forehead as she stares up at him with sincere eyes. “I am so glad we have you. I am so happy to be your father.” I smile as I watch them both, and notice him stand up with her in his arms. He turns around, noticing me standing by the door. He blushes, then stares at his feet for a moment.

“Hi,” I say, still smiling at him.

“Oh, you heard me. Well, I meant what I said, by the way.” I laugh lightly, approaching him with a soft kiss on his lips. “You look beautiful.”

“Why thank you. Your words… They make me so happy. Thank you.” A sudden loud knock at the front door startles the shit out of me, which means Karlach has arrived. Leave it to me to be easily spooked, even when I knew it was going to happen. We walk to the living area to open the door and not only is Karlach there, but so is Shadowheart and Astarion. This could make for a rather interesting evening.

“I know what you’re thinking. ‘Where’s Wyll?’ He went to visit with his father, so it’s just us three. Yeah!” Karlach says, trying to contain her voice volume. I roll my eyes and smile. “I hope that’s alright. Sorry for the unexpected visitors.”

“I’m not opposed at all, I’m just curious why all three of you are here. Like I said, I don’t mind,” Gale says. “Just don’t destroy the tower and keep the baby safe at all costs. Which I imagine you’ll do.”

“Well, Astarion and I… We’re going to adopt and could use the practice,” Shadowheart chimes in. What? They’re together? I think another important question would be: Since when did Astarion want children?

“Emmy, you look just as surprised as I do. I didn’t even know these fuckers were together until a couple hours ago when I went to snatch them from their house.” I can’t help but chuckle at Karlach’s words, but I’m also glad I’m not the only one in shock at this news. We knew Shadowheart was planning on adopting, but had no idea her and Astarion were even together. They’re good at keeping situations private, I’ll give them that.

“That’s so exciting! Wow! Congrats, you two. I’d have more input but alas I’m at a loss for words. In a good way,” I mention.

“Completely understandable,” Shadowheart says with her soft voice.

“The usual schedule is written down and on the kitchen counter. She had some unusual behavior that caught us off guard earlier, and we believe she was afraid of something. Please advise us if she shows any sign of peculiar behavior,” Gale says.

“Aw, we’ve got this! Little miniature Dekarios will be fine. Good ol’ Karlach is here to provide top quality entertainment.”

“Why in the Hells am I so nervous all of a sudden?” Astarion questions, followed with a sigh.

Gale and I walked out of the tower and shut the door behind us, ready for a lovely romantic night out in the town. The sky is a beautiful shade of lavender as the sun begins to descend, leaving a vibrant yet calm aura throughout Waterdeep.

“Hm, so what is the destination, may I ask?” I ask Gale, curious as to where he’s taking us for dinner. We hold hands as we walk through the outskirts, admiring the quietness of the city.

“Oh, just a fun little place you haven’t been to yet. I don’t suppose you’d be opposed to some live music, maybe some dancing, all while having a delectable dinner?”

He ends up taking me to this exquisite restaurant and bar just a couple miles down from the tower. I’m trying my hardest not to worry about Jenevelle, though I’m sure she will be alright. We make it inside the building and sit at our table, with Gale sitting across from me looking handsome as ever.

“Thank you so much for taking me out on yet another wonderful date night,” I say, smiling as I look up from my menu. “How about I buy this time?”

“No, no, my love. You just sit there looking beautiful.”

“I’d like to buy. Please? You do so much for me and I’m dying to.” He hesitates for a brief moment, but smiles at me sweetly. It’s about time I returned the favor, though he tells me I do enough already.

“You win this round, but I’m buying next time.” Right past Gale is a bar and the bartender resembles an image of Raphael. I think I’m either paranoid or this man is a mirror image of the corrupt devil. He looks at me with an expression I’m all too familiar with, flashing a grim smile as he notices my eyes on him. I blink and notice a totally different man standing there; just a wood-elf with long brown hair, attending to the patrons.

“Hmm, I think I’m going to fancy a delectable bowl of the Neverwinter venison. How about you?” Gale asks. I snap out of the weird moment I just had and stare down the menu, trying to figure out what sounds delicious to the taste buds. I don’t want to tell Gale I may have seen Raphael, though it could just be an illusion my mind decided to make.

“I’ll probably have the same as you. It all looks incredible.” There is a fun band of bards playing live music on stage and it reminds me of Alfira. She was so passionate about music and they’re playing one of her tunes she performed for us once. I observe the tieflings and elves dancing within the tavern, some are a little tipsy, some are more than just that. I observe them, smiling as they’re having fun and being themselves. This brings me an immediate idea. I stand up and take Gale’s hand, nervously smiling.

“Dance with me?” He chuckles and takes my hand, standing up in agreement. I lead him to the dancefloor and he places his left hand on my waist, his other hand pulls my face in to kiss him. As we dance, I notice myself nearly falling on my arse a few times, other times I’m wondering what the hell I’m doing.

“Just follow my rhythm, baby. Like this,” he says, guiding me with his hand. My feet follow his as he slowly moves me around with his hands, twirling me and then catching me as I fall backward. “There you go.”

“If I were a bard, maybe I’d be proficient in performing some insane dances.”

“Eh, perhaps. Though it’s safe to say, not all bards can dance either.” Our bodies sway with one another, and he stares deep into my eyes, holding my gaze as we continue to dance. “Just focus on me.” He moves both hands to my waist, our feet moving back and forward to the calming beat of the music.

“I think I’m getting the hang of it.”

“Remarkable. You’re a quick learner.”

“It’s a good thing I didn’t dance at our wedding.”

“On the other hand, Karlach did take over when it came to the music and she…may have had a few glasses of champagne. You weren’t exactly keen on wanting to take that spotlight anyway.” I laugh, reminiscing of Karlach’s insane dance moves at our reception. “You are my heart.” I look up at him, his eyes sinking deep within the depths of mine, as if he’s staring into my soul.

The entirety of our evening was amazing. The food, the music, the presence of being with my incredible husband…all of it. As we leave the restaurant, a familiar voice growls within my ear: “See you soon.” It seems Gale did not hear it, but boy am I feeling rather horrified right now. Okay, well I can confirm I’m being targeted, but by who? Why?

We make it home, and as Gale opens the front door, we notice Shadowheart on the sofa holding Jenevelle, smiling down at our cooing daughter. Astarion is next to her but unsure how to process her holding a baby. I’m curious as to why he agreed on an adoption, or if there’s something I’m not quite seeing.

“Oh man, did we have fun! Once again, happiest baby ever. Little one didn’t have any issues, but…” Karlach pauses, as if she’s blanking on what to say. Astarion sighs, placing his hand on his face.

“Is Raphael a frequent visitor by chance?” he asks. “No particular reason really. Just wondering if he’d want to come by and have tea sometime.”

“Um, explain please,” Gale says, bewildered at what Astarion is implying.

“Oh. You didn’t know. Delightful. Well, we saw images of that rancid devil – and a few others – in the mirror. They went away after like, two minutes.”

“Shit,” Gale and I say at the same time, feeling a sense of overwhelming stress.

“The good news is they don’t want anyone dead. At least, that’s not what it looked like,” Karlach chimes back in. “I’m sure they would have killed someone by now if that was the case.” I sigh, feeling beyond frustrated as I try to figure out what the hells they want with us. Shadowheart hands our tired baby over to Gale and smiles.

“Emmy, I wouldn’t worry too much. I’ll come by and check on you tomorrow.” She and I exchange hugs, and I begin to take a few deep breaths. She’s right. I am looking forward to having her come over for a visit; maybe then my mind will become clear of all this.

Everyone leaves and heads back to their comforting homes, and I’m actually so thankful more than just Karlach was there, just in case. While no one actually expected the devils to pop up, I feel like Karlach had an inkling something would happen and that’s why she invited Shadowheart and Astarion. Or, maybe I’m overthinking it, and she did it to help them prepare for parenthood. Either way, I suppose.

I can’t help but feel anger and fear within me after knowing the devils have been keeping tabs on me. I worry about Jenevelle’s safety. Gale and I head to Jenevelle’s room to prepare her for bed, and we are both silent for a moment as we try to process what we heard.

“Well, we may have to stay up to see what these hedonistic devils want from us, given they actually approach us. It would be delightful to live in peace without their obnoxious interference. Answers are at least deserved, is that too much to ask?” He’s right. Our infant is only three months old and being exposed to the dangers of devils. This shouldn’t be happening, but why is it?

“Agreed. I thought I saw Raphael at the restaurant, but assumed my mind was playing tricks on me.” Gale’s worrisome expression faded after he placed a kiss on my forehead, trying to hide his irritation. I can sense his frustration at the situation.

“Let’s just be alert and keep our eyes open, at least until we get answers. I know at some point we will need to sleep, and if it comes to that…let’s take turns.” Gale places Jenevelle on the mat by her crib to get her changed for bed. Her sweet, sleepy face puts a smile on his, and who could blame him? Having her puts us in a trance it seems like; it’s hard to be upset when she’s as happy as she is.

It sucks. We can’t summon ourselves back to Avernus, for I made an oath to Raphael we wouldn’t invade anymore. If I break that promise, I’ll be his little torture toy against my will. So what do I do? What do these devils want? Gale puts our daughter in her crib and we both watch her drift into a deep slumber. Sigh. To be unaware of the horrors of the world and sleeping without a worry would be nice, but I’m glad she isn’t afraid. I’m thankful she’s at peace.

Gale has to work tomorrow, so I try to convince him to just go ahead and get some rest, but he wouldn’t give in. I head to the restroom before going to our room to lie down – I’ll be awake, mind you – and as I walk in, an image of a devil I’m not familiar with pops up in the mirror. From the way this devil was described by Karlach before, I imagine this is Zariel. Shit, I was hoping I’d never come across her in my lifetime. Her fiery eyes stare me down as I try to process seeing her in front of me. I body feels numb, my heart is pounding, and I can feel sweat drip down my forehead. Oh Gods.