#IT'S MY THIRD MOST LISTENED SONG THIS YEAR ARE YOU KIDDING ME TAYLOR

[cruell-summers]

taylor swift saw my blog with "the albatross #1 stan" on it and chose the one day i decided to go out with my friends for once to play it live WITH DANCING WITH OUR HANDS TIED

[ivy-diaries]

‎ ⁎ ‎ ‎ 𓍼 ‎ ‎ ๋ ‎ ◜ &.&. THE IVY INCIDENT ep 1. ◞ ‎ ... ‎ ‎

The intro plays, and Ivy appears on the screen smiling and leaning into the mic to speak. “Hello guys, welcome to my new podcast, 'The Ivy Incident!!’ This has been in the works ever since I stepped into the dive podcast studio when I came here to film the kpop daebak show with Eric so it's soo exciting to finally show you guys this project!” she laughs as the other staff there are heard clapping.

Laughing, she continues "so in this podcast, I invite my friends from the industry and we just you know, talk and share stories! It's a lot similar to Eric's but mine is more personal if you will because all these people are very very close to me and I've known them for a pretty long time! This episode is just gonna be me cuz this is like an introduction for all the first-time listeners who don't know who I am!" “So I heard Diane has some questions prepared for me, so let's get into it!” 

“let's start with the basics, yeah? Who is Ivy Jennifer James?” Diane asks her. 

“Oh we’re going back to the beginning okay! So as you’ve already mentioned, my name is ivy jennifer james. I was born in New Castle, Australia where I lived till I was five and then I moved to the US where again I lived for five years before moving to Korea when I was eleven. And in korea, i signed with bighit entertainment and when i was asked if i was ready to debut when i was 14 i think? I was like imma do it. So i debuted at 14 under both jype and bighit and the rest is history! And i'm here today hehe”

“What motivated you to pursue a career as a solo artist?”

“Hmm i think ever since i got into bighit, i've always wanted to be a soloist? I'm not really sure why but I always saw myself as a soloist for some reason. Even till now, if you ask my dad he’d say that i was born to do this” ivy laughs and continues “i think ever since i was little ive wanted to something in the field of music and performance”

“Was being a kpop idol your first choice?”

“It was actually! I mean keeping in mind that i started this since i was a literal child, it actually was my first choice. The kids at school did tease me for this but look at me now” ivy chuckles

“Who are your music inspirations?”

“That's a great question and I was literally talking to Jun about this this morning! I dont have one specific inspiration but i think i draw inspiration from any and all artists! I've been pretty inspired by the Beatles and Rolling Stone pretty recently and obviously, Taylor Swift is one of my biggest inspirations out there.” 

“Are you a sweet or savory type of person?”

“It honestly depends on my mood if i'm being honest” she laughs hard “now, im craving something savory! I'd kill for some fries right now oh man you’ve perked up my cravings now diane!!”

“What's the last song you listened to?”

Ivy laughs hard and almost tears up laughing “this is actually so funny oh my god the last song i listened to is actually a helium ingested cover of let me love you by justin bieber which yeonjun sung for me yesterday after a party we went to and let me tell you, it was soo funny!!”

“According to you, tell me 3 flaws and 3 qualities about yourself”

“Ooh, three qualities of mine would be, one, I think I'm kind I guess? Second, I'm somewhat responsible, and third and finally, I think I'm a human sized golden retriever because I'm very bubbly and very smiley smiley most of the time! And three flaws of mine are, one, i’m a big overthinker, i just rethink about every single choice or word of mine a little too much. Second, my moods are based on the weather…”

Ivy laughs at the look on Diane's face “yea.. My mood everyday kinda depends on how good the weather is.. That's why I'm not as fond of the rain because it makes me kind of depressed and I just shut myself off most of the time. Third, im a bit of a perfectionist so i expect any and all things to be a little too perfect.. If its not what i expect it to be, i just leave that and will not ever touch on it again and i know i should change these things and i am trying so.. yeah “

“okay, something similar but three things you like and three things you dislike”

 “I don't like these types of questions!!” she laughs “it makes me think too much to give an answer!! But anyways… hmm three things i like are, one, my husband” she giggles as a small blush is seen on her cheek “well it's true!! I wouldn't have married him if I didn't like him would I?” she giggles “second, i really love what i do so, my career and third, my loved ones! I love my friends and family because they've stuck with me through thick and thin and I'm really grateful for that!” she smiles and gives the camera a little hand heart

“three things i hate are.. Hmm lets see… one, people who do not value privacy. I've said this multiple times and i'll say this again but I do love my fans.. I love them a lot and I wouldn't be here without them. But there are some people who claim that they are fans but do unhinged stuff to get close to me. And like that's why I've sued some people for not valuing my privacy. I got hate for it but honestly I don't care when the privacy and the lives of the people i love are at stake."

"Second, coming back to a slightly normal side, I absolutely hate the smell of fish. I don't know if it's cuz im vegetarian but I always throw up whenever I smell it and third, coming back to a more serious side, I hate the fact that most people on the internet feel like it's their right to comment on us as celebrities or idols or as performers. It's so irritating that they don't even feel sorry for what they say. They don't know how much we over think it and it slowly becomes an insecurity that takes years to wear off.”

“Okay this is your second to last question and the question is, For listeners who may not have heard your music before, can you recommend a few songs that best represent your sound and artistic vision?”

“That is a really good question, oh my god! So I think my discography is quite diverse and I have a lot of songs for different kinds of people who like different things. So the top three songs that i’d recommend to people are, one, vengeance as its called. There's no explanation for that song but I loved making it and loved singing it so that's the first song and second, I have a song called lovers in the night  that i co wrote with seori which I absolutely loved and we had a great time writing the song. And third I think is, my whole album called “for us.”  which i wrote with yeonjun and its songs dedicated for each other and hence called for us!”

“Okay… last question, can you give us any hints of the upcoming guests you have here?” Diane asks, smiling knowingly. Ivy giggles and wiggles her fingers across the camera

“Well I guess I can.. But most of my friends have not given me exact dates of their free schedule so even i’m not really sure on whos coming” she laughs at herself “so that's all i can tell you now because that's just all i know so” she just shrugs as she smiles.

“That's it for this episode and I hope you guys enjoyed this. I'm so excited for all the things we have in store for you guys and I hope you look forward to it!! So this has been ivy so far and thank you for listening to the ivy incident! Have a good day or good night bye!!”

⋆ ivy taglist ˒ @stealanity @alixnsuperstxr @riikiblr @skz-libby @escapetheash (lmk if u wanna be added or removed)

⋆ priya says ˒ so this is not proofread so read at ur own risk lol <33 but if you've come this far,, please reblog with the bow emoji (🎀) so I know that readers are interactive and writers get the credit they deserve!! so lmk who you want to see on ivys podcast and any feedback tbh!! Happy reading!!

[expressions-lsr]

‧͙✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧‧͙✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

The Team; Introduction

‧͙✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧‧͙✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Events and Logistics Team

Meet the Heads:

Annesha B Bhuyan

Hey kids! This is Annesha, but I prefer going by Lishahahaha—because why not throw in a little laughter every time you say my name? I’m a self-proclaimed book nerd, who's always got her hands full. When I’m not lost in pages, I’m blasting Taylor Swift and decoding every lyric like it’s poetry. Oh, and I have a special talent for annoying Sunshine with endless belly rubs and random chatter—pretty sure she secretly loves it!

When I’m not off daydreaming or faking focus in my Political Science classes (guilty!), you’ll catch me hanging out with my friends at the exhi, happily scarfing down Veni Aunty’s Sambar rice. Oh, and of course, I’m always yapping away, keeping my friends entertained. Honestly, what would they do without me? *sighs* *giggles*

I wouldn’t call writing my superpower, but you’ll always find me scribbling random thoughts about some faraway muse. Whether it’s a quirky metaphor, a plot twist that sneaks up on you, or a Tay Swift lyric that hits a little too close to home, words have a way of capturing me. And honestly, I’m constantly in a state of monologue—like I’m the lead in my own indie film, narrating life with those 2 AM thoughts that make you laugh so hard you snort.

At first glance, I might seem a bit standoffish or unapproachable—just a façade to keep the world at a distance. But underneath that, I’m all about diving into conversations about books and soul-piercing quotes. Cuz, this is just me trying <3

[Read Annesha's piece here]

Avantika Kumari

Hi, I’m Avantika, a third-year Sociology Honors student with a passion for creativity and storytelling. I love expressing myself through writing, capturing fleeting moments through photography, and turning even the most serious situations into something lighthearted. I also enjoy experimenting in the kitchen, blending flavors with kindness and creativity. Whether it's through words, images, or shared laughter, I strive to find beauty in the ordinary and make every experience a little more joyful.

[Read Avantika's piece here]

Meet the Sub-Head:

Athira

“She doesn't exist! She never existed!”

Athira is a person who loves to wander and express in the empty silences of everyday life. She is not a writer but finds writing to be the only and most honest medium of communication for her. Her favorite themes to write about include love, light/darkness, contradictions, human existence and experiences of all kinds.

She appreciates the color white, and happens to delude herself every once in a while about how everything in this world belongs to the abyss of white hues. However, the white color that she extensively talks about isn't the dye that colors us, but the color that leaves us colorless.

Lost in the multiple realities of her dreams, the only place you can find her is the space in which she interacts with music. Recently, she seems to be quite interested in listening to songs composed by Coke Studio Pakistan.

Flowers, flowers, flowers all around! Athira is in love with flowers, floral scents, and ornamental gardens. She secretly wishes to be a plant in another life, and keeps saying how plants are superior to beings with their beginning and ending quite inexpressible in all ways.

Oh, I didn't tell you my relationship with this nobody! She seeks me at night, as an attempt to heal her ‘confusing’ thoughts, herself or something beyond her understanding. Initially, I thought she considered me as a way to negate reality, making me quite displeased with her. But, soon I realized that I happen to be the only way through which she can transcend her nightmares, and express herself in the most honest way. So, whether it's blurting out random stuff, questioning ideas of all kinds or penning down her innermost thoughts or dreams, I am always by her side. Moreover, with her I am no longer a string of letters but a meaningful moment that spends time with her as her lover, her childhood friend, her lost dream, and a lot of other characters that seem to identify Athira in different spaces and time. I am her collection of words!

Adding some facts to bring Athira to the space of reality…

She is a third year Journalism (Hons.) student trying to figure out the purpose of her life/life in general while wondering about her new travel destination/career. Her favorite pastime activity is looking up at the sky, and wondering where ‘that flight is going’.

She wishes to take off and fly to a home that feels like roses that bloom in December.

[Read Athira's piece here]

[thefandom-casserole]

Episode 49 Notes-

Heheheh I had a snow day so I got to listen early!!!!!!!!!!!

THE INTRO SONG OMG

We are winning with the dndads music lately hehehe

“Like there’s a Druid in my mind saying it’s gonna be oak” SOBBING

Oak this is a bop actually

Holy shit there were so many things bad that happened to normal lately 😭 

They’re in the past!!!!!! Oh my goddddddd

Taylor’s Teen Fact: Taylor was the runner up of the Teen High Teen of the Year award (which Margarita Pizza won). Taylor is a very good cup stacker (third place in a competition)

We forget that Taylor is canonically the most popular kid 

Freddie’s facts are always the craziest of all time. I love it

Linc’s Teen Fact: Linc had to do things other than soccer playing so Marco and Grant got him into artsy stuff. Of course he only would pain/sculpt soccer type things. So he decided to start selling them on Next Door (with an account called Foot King). Marco and Grant took him off of the app. He’s a good painter basically

Normal’s Teen Fact: Normal always keeps his hot glue gun on him

Scary’s Teen Fact: Scary doesn’t have a New Years Resolution because she decided it was too resolute (too firm, too definite). She wants to be able to choose whether or not to do something 

Daddy Fact: Anthony’s goal is to write a porn thing and he was reached out to by a porn website to write for them. He was gifted a care package (picture as you will)

He’s already written the script 😭 

OH SHIT TAYLOR AND SCARY AREN’T WITH THEM

Ooohh AU where they ARE the four horseman of the apocalypse 

THE DOLPHIN CULT YAYYYYYYYYYYAGAJAHHSJDND

Sitcom staring the Porpy and Flippy: Cop sidekicks

NO DOOD HAS DOODLERIZED EVERYONEEEEEE

Well Willy did but whatever

Screw Willy

Grill Master the Dolphin!!!!!!! Ayyyyyy

Dang Willy is God

They’re in a five person (well four person now) marriage don’t judge the dolphins!!!!

Awww they’re only like. Fifteen. 

Heh Glenn Close/Jodie Foster (a good guy) in charge of Hell, Willy Stampler (a bad guy) in charge of Heaven

Yoooo wait the FBI is apart of the Hell now 

Lark still hates Henry omg

Sparrow!!! Omg 

Normal and Scary are so similar omg omg omg

Damn Good Omens much

What is it with Willy getting at the Oaks?

OH IS IT BECAUSE THEY HAVE PART OF DOOD IN THEM!?!?!?

“Brother” AYYY THEYRE BACK

The codependents of all time

HENRY NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

This dumb spell my goodness I love their debate

Why are they so set on killing Henry 😭 

Oh only 49 damage that’s not that bad 

TAYLOR BREAKS LARKS ANCLE OMG

Scary noooooooo

SPIDER BOIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Scary’s gonna die 😭 😭 😭 😭 

Taylors such an ass omg

Scary got 44 damage 

“I say no once in six years of podcasting” 

TEHYRE ON FUREEEEEBSJAJAHIWIW

SCARY AND HENRY A DUO I DIDNT KNOW I NEEDED

Lark and Sparrow make me so unwell omg

NO LARK LETS GO OF SPARROW NOOOO

Begging for Lark to have a whole thing about Sparrow with Normal

No one catches Lark 😭 

Taylor is so funny omg

TAYLOR WITH SPARROW OMG

They seriously are having season one vibes I missed this so much omg

Nooo that was such a good transition 

Taylor having his own mini adventure is because they played a Taylor Swift song for their intro

CASSANDRA OH NO

TAYLOR JS GOING TO KILL WILLY IF HE DOES ANYTHING ELSE TO HIS MOM

This whole Taylor thing is giving off BIG Leviathan Fabian vibes with Chungle Down Bim

YOOO THE MARRIAGE THING OMG STRIKES AGAIN

Please say this works 

Roll high

Ohh a 12

LINC JUST PRAYED TO WILLY

Voicemail box 😭 

Of course Taylor is going to find his name 

OMG WAIT FREDDIE’S PLAN WAS LITERALLY OREDICTED BY SOMEONE ON TUMBLR I SWEAR

I DUNNO WHO

BUT MAY APPOLO’S VISION BE UPON YOU OR WHATEVER

Nooooo and it’d be easier for Taylor too because HIS MOM MARRIED WILLY OMG OMG

HIS LAST NAME TECHNICALLY COULD BE STAMPLER MUCH EASIER NOW BECAUSE OF THAT

SCARYA ND HENRY YAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYSGHAHWHSHSHSHSVSAHWJHAHSB

Henry stopppppppp you’re messing with Scary :cccccccc

Nooo scary still has the hat omg oh dear

Oh dear Willy’s God now he could probably control someone’s mind through their sleepppp

Oh god I hate Barry so much. He sucked so much I hate him

AHHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHSHHAHSHHSHSH SCARY BEING A SOCCER OEROSN OMG OSBAKAJSH

Taylor squints so hard that someone dies 😭 

AYYY THATS CANON

I wonder if he’s gonna get the original daddies as well as the Kiddads 

Scary’s pulling what Riz did with Biz ayyyy

Aww that would’ve been sick if he believed her

NO NO DONT TELL HER SHE WAS LIKE YOU FUCK YOU WILLY

FUCKING GET HIM SCARY GET HIS ASS GET EM

Scary just wants attention :ccccc

“Good luck” ANTHONY THAT HAD NO BUSINESS BEING SO OMINOUS OMG

Noooo remembering the thing with the cheese :ccc

I miss early season two

NO THATS WHERE EVERYRHING WITH HERMIE HAPPENED AYLGHHHHHHSVSHHSHS

“YOU BITCH” omg normal 😭 

“Give me an L” “You’ve had enough Ls” “I’ll give you one of mine”

No the way it fits the intro

AHHH NORMAL USING HIS CHEER TO CHEER UP LINC

This episode is making me giddy omg /pos

Linc is getting so sad this is worryinggggg. He’s acting like Grantttttt

This whole eye thing is seriously the math questions on my tests 

A happy normal is something I’ve missed so so much

I think literally all of these kids (except maybe Taylor) have a guilt complex (Scary/Willy, Normal/Code Purple, Linc/im not quite sure)

DARRYL AUYYYYYAYAYAYYAYAHAHABBSHSJSJS

JODIE AND GLENN YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYABSJAHWH

Omg Jodie and Glenn together 😭 

WIAT WAIT OKG WAIT

THE THING THAT MAKES THEM BELIEVE JN SHIT

THE WHOLE THING WITH THE CLOSE FAMILY DID THAT FOR TAYLOR

AND HE GOT THE PERSUASION THING

DOES THAT MEAN THATLL HAPPEN FOR THE OTHER TEENS WHEN THEYRE THING IS COMPLETED

ITS LIKE WHEN IN FH THEY GIT TO REROLL A STAT AFTER SOOHMORE YEAR

Scary looks like Larry!!

Omg Freddie is genuinely so smart omg

HAMILTON AYYYYYYYY

Yam ya

I’m gonna use that

He had a flying spell wowwww

REVERSE GRAVITY AUAGAHHAJAHAHHAHAHJW

OhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHH

Will and me both man

Larry is so cool omg

Dood nooooooo 

RONNNNAHGAHAHAHAHHSHS

FUCK YOU WILLY

FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOUHAGSJSHHAHAAHAHS

Mfer admits that Ron posed a threatttttt

Honey badger waits for no one 

I’m gonna start using that too

GO BETH OMG 

Willy likes the science kid oh my god I’m gonna sob

Larry gives off church camp vibes

Willy’s doing the spaghetti thing 😭 

OMG OMG

WILLY TAYLOR IS GOING TO KILL YOU IF YOI HURY CASSANDRA PIOE THAT HOLY SHIT

“You’d be a lot prettier if you smiled Cassandra” GET HIS ASS TAYLOR GET. HIS. ASS.

You know I hated Willy before 

But this is a whole new fucking level 

Awww that’s so sweet at the end <33

AHHAHAHAHHAHA THIS EPISODE MAN

I don’t know how I’m gonna be able to wait for the next episode ahhh

IVE LISTENED TO THE ALBUM BUT OMG IM SO EXCITED TO HEAR THE ONE THEYRE RELEASING TO ADVERTISE IT

I’m betting it’s either the Potatoe one or Dead and Gone

Hmmmmm

January 30th!!

Oh screw off siri

AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAIT IS DEAD AND GONE

YAYAYAYAYYAYAYAAYAYAYYAYAYYA

THIS EPISODE IS MT ABSOKUTE FAVORUTE THIS SEASON

[tortoisebore]

i love ur little rambles so what do u think the losers coffee orders and music taste is (in hey sharpshooter or otherwise) 🤲

ooooo oooo ooo yes yes yes

((TORTOISE LORE on the days i have to work onsite at my job i almost exclusively set up shop at the coffee place across from the office & listen to my little music & drink my little beverages all day so this particular set of questions resonates with me so bad))

for consistency's sake coffee-wise let's say we're talking starbucks. i think most days sirius would go for something high in caffeine but with a little sweetness to it. a venti iced shaken espresso with oat milk and three pumps of classic sweetener, perhaps. maybe switch that classic out for chestnut praline at the holidays bc he's feeling festive. other days i think he'd want an absolute sugar bomb as a reward for getting through a rough week or bc he was really mature today and refrained from screeching at people in the street when they didn't walk fast enough & blocked the sidewalk when he was in a hurry. on those days he requires a big ole mocha cookie crumble frap or an iced cinnamon dolce latte with an extra shot for fun.

on his walk home he's listening to one of three playlists depending on the day. the first one is a fourteen hour pop girlie playlist that starts with style by taylor swift and ends with kiss me more by doja cat, with some ariana, gaga, spice girls, charli, no doubt, & even some abba thrown in the middle for spice. the second playlist is for mocha cookie crumble days and starts with your best american girl by mitski and features lots of phoebe, lots of taylor, lots of lana, some ethel cain for sure, some select fleetwood mac, maybe some stuff from the 1975's a brief inquiry album. it's all stuff he can dig into & be angsty with & have strong feelings to.

the third is a more generic thought-dump kind of playlist where he just throws in songs he likes. buttercup by hippo campus. the view from the afternoon by arctic monkeys. concussion by girlhouse. ilysb by lany. like....,.,moonage daydream. 6 inch. pink pony club. bring it on home. just a mix of vibes and genres & things he gets stuck in his head.

contrary to popular belief i do think remus is a coffee girlie and would pick a mug of good dark roast drip over tea any day. i think he's simple for the most part & would go after a good tall americano on days he needs the kickstart but a grande drip with light cream would be his everyday go-to. during the summers he switches to a cold brew or plain iced coffee with cold foam if he's feeling fancy. he likes to pretend he doesn't like the frilly expensive drinks but every time he & sirius get coffee together, sirius orders him a grande mocha with two extra pumps of mocha and whipped cream on top & he downs it in about eight seconds.

remus is a hozier stan confirmed. remus is a boygenius stan confirmed. he likes poetic lyrics more than anything so sirius puts him on mitski and taylor. i like the idea that his music taste was a little outdated most of his life bc his parents had a huge record collection that they inherited from his grandparents so he just....played music all the time as a lonely little kid looking for things to do. when he was nine the only album he listened to all christmas break was otis redding's the dock of the bay & that made him gravitate toward stuff like leon bridges & amy winehouse as he got older. he learned about spotify four years after everyone else did & still only has two playlists. his parents loved the 90s rock girlies and they listened to a lot of the cranberries and fiona apple CDs around the house, so all those albums are really nostalgic for him now. he puts sirius on jeff buckley & regrets it instantly bc literally all he does now is play remus' grace vinyl full-volume and remus is afraid they're going to get a noise complaint. you can hear it in the stairwell sirius the neighbors are going to get mad please

[liaromancewriter]

Hey! Loved your fics. Am already halfway through your Maxenna ones already 💕 Would love your HC using prompts from 35 OTP questions: 10. What’s each member flirting style? 13. What was the most surprising thing they learned about one another once they started dating?21. What articles of clothing do they "borrow" from one another? 29. How likely are they to have fur babies? How many and what kind? 33. What is their sex life like? 35. Choose one song that perfectly describes their relationship :D

Hi Nonny! I'm so glad you're enjoying my fics, especially Maxenna. I'm so sorry for taking so long to reply. It's been a busy few months, and I've been in a bit of a brain fog. Here goes.

From this OTP Ask list.

10. What’s each member's flirting style?

Ethan: Unintentional flirt but I suppose Subtle Flirting is the closest. He has a dry wit, which can be appealing to some (aka Cassie). When he puts his mind to it, he is very successful, but he also doesn't have the patience for it.

Sienna: She's a mix of Sincere and Polite flirting. She pays attention, active listening, eye contact and compliments. She's all about building deeper connection, but Max brings out her playful side.

Cassie and Max: The twins are very flirty and always have been. It just comes naturally to them (and often gets them into trouble). Their styles are a mix of playful, physical and witty.

13. What was the most surprising thing they learned about one another once they started dating?

Ethan was surprised by how much Cassie treasured her alone time and quiet time. He always assumed she was an extrovert who needed people around her. But she likes the balance and is happy to stay home and read or watch TV. Cassie was surprised that Ethan enjoys cuddling on the couch (or in bed) and feeling connected physically. Physical touch is one of his love languages.

Max and Sienna knew each other extraordinarily well before they started dating because they had been friends for so many years. As such, there weren't any major surprises. Still, Sienna was surprised by how serious he could be, and seeing him in his world was eye-opening. Max was equally surprised by her stubbornness.

21. What articles of clothing do they "borrow" from one another?

Cassie often borrows Ethan's old tee shirts and refuses to give them back. He thinks she looks better in them anyway. Sienna tends to sleep in Max's shirts when he's traveling. She also borrows his old college hoodies when she's chilling at home.

29. How likely are they to have fur babies? How many and what kind?

Cassie wasn't allowed to have pets for the longest time because they would run away. But one day, in the distant future, she'll have Watson (who technically belongs to her children). You can read about that here.

Max gets Sienna a Westie for her birthday, which she named Bailey. I did a text fics/edit about that here. Bailey is the sweetest dog. I haven't decided if they will have more pets. They have four kids and busy careers/lives. But I hc that Amelia (the third child) likes animals and will convince her parents to get her a cat.

33. What is their sex life like?

I've answered a few asks about this, so I'm linking the main post here about both pairing's sex life.

35. Choose one song that perfectly describes their relationship.

It's so hard to pick one song! My mind is blanking now, so here's a post about their songs.

These are the songs I listen to the most to put me in the mood for their relationship when I'm writing their fics:

Ethan & Cassie:

Labyrinth - Taylor Swift

Sanctuary - Serena Ryder

The Only One - James Blunt

Maxenna:

Me and You - Jake Bugg

Eyes on You - Chase Rice

Unforgettable - Thomas Rhett

Thanks for the ask!

Character Asks: @bluebelle08 @cariantha @crazy-loca-blog @coffeeheartaddict2 @lucy-268 @jerzwriter @lady-calypso @quixoticdreamer16 @rookiemartin @tessa-liam @trappedinfanfiction

[pinonhallow]

Episode 1.01

“Yeah, I can pick that up.” She pursed her lips and closed her eyes as she listened to the voice on the other end of the call. “Mom, I got it. I know what size Fallon wears.”

She tapped the end call button and dropped her phone into the opening of her tote bag. She paused for a moment before collecting her bearings of where she was in the mall. She was only a few stores away from Imagination, the children’s clothing store. Pop music filtered over the different speakers until she was closer to the store, and she heard more of the kidz bop version of songs, than the actual songs.

The store smelled like cotton candy; the walls decorated with pictures of kids who looked like they had just walked off the set of a Disney Channel show. Bright smiles, perfectly done hair, bold colored clothing. This wasn’t really her first choice to shop for Fallon, but it was the one her mother wanted her to shop at. Try and keep Fallon a little girl as long as possible, she was almost a teenager though and most of what was available at the shop screamed preschooler instead.

“Shopping for Fallon?”

The friendly voice caused her to turn around, “Hey Maggie, yeah, Mom wants her to have some more cardigans.”

The blond nodded as she led her deeper into the store, “These should work. They’re a bit mature, classic, they should grow with Fallon for a year or two before she becomes a teenager and wants to pick her own stuff.”

She chuckled, “Oh, I sure did. I think that might be why my mom is so insistent on what exactly Fallon wears. Trying to keep her tame before she does something silly and dyes her hair teal.”

“Abby Adams with teal hair? I can’t see that.”

“I was fifteen, I was rebelling.” She searched through the rack for Fallon’s size, “But things happen, like becoming an older sister suddenly.”

“You’re a good older sister.” Maggie reminded her as she pulled out two cardigans in different colors and handed them to Abby, “if Fallon asks these are very Taylor Swift.”

Abby smiled, “She’ll love them.”

“Let me know if you need to find anything else.” Maggie looked around the store to see a customer going towards the register.

“Thanks Maggie, hopefully this is it.” She moved around the area of the store, finding a few more things that would suit her sister, and her mother would approve of.

After she paid and left the store, she made her way to the bookstore. Right on the front table was a display of all the books written by Chad Davis, a giant picture of him. He was a hometown name after all. She picked up the latest title and turned over the back, reading the synopsis; Teenage Wick wasn’t sure he could survive without his girlfriend Sketch. Yet their families kept them apart. Years later Sketch has been kidnapped, and Wick is an FBI agent sent to find her. Will he find more than just his first love?

Rolling her eyes she opened the dedication page, “To the real Sketch, I’m so sorry.” She kept the book in her hand as she moved to another table, looking for a copy of Fourth Wing for her book club. She found one, collecting it with a couple of other books she had found for herself as well as a few she found for Fallon and a book her mother wanted for her own book club.

After leaving the bookstore she walked towards the food court, stopping in at the coffee house. She needed a caffeine boost. “Abby, here you go.” She hadn’t even ordered yet and her best friend since the third grade was handing her a cup.

“Thank you, how did you know I was coming in?” She took a sip of the cold coffee, feeling her body relax as she ingested it.

Pam smiled, “I saw you pass by earlier. I knew you wouldn’t leave without stopping in. Mom, have you shopping for the sister again?”

“And some other errands.” Abby shrugged, “I had to get some stuff for my book club, for Mom’s too so at least I got to the bookstore.”

“You get Chad Davis’s new book? I heard that Marcy wants to make it next months pick.” She rolled her eyes, “Like that is going to help win over his brother Kip, or anyone in that family. I don’t think Chad has stepped foot in Pinon Hallow since high school.”

Abby shrugged, “No clue, and I saw it. I don’t know, his stuff isn’t my usual read.”

“Neither is Fourth Wing.” Pam snickered, “Just be glad that’s not the one your mom will be reading.”

“Wait why?” Abby took another sip of her coffee, “Her book club is doing some Hockey Romance or something. I think it was called Icebreaker.”

Pam covered her mouth with her hand, “Oh Mrs. Adams is going to be reading Icebreaker? Who picked it?”

“I don’t know, why?”

“It’s supposed to be spicy; I mean so is Fourth Wing, but that from what I have seen online is tame in comparison.”

Abby put her cup down and started laughing, “Constance Radford picked it, I think. Oh, I bet she has no idea.” She looked in the bag from the bookstore, “Oh I bet she saw the cover and thought it was just cute and sweet. I might have to just steal this copy from my mom once she realizes what it is and is scandalized.”

Pam put her arm around Abby’s shoulder, “I’m going to be honest; I don’t think your mom will be scandalized, but it will be glorious when Constance Radford is, isn’t this for the Church book club?”

“Yeah, it is.” Abby tried to keep the laugh in, but she couldn’t. “Oh, that will be a fun night when they meet.”

Pam didn’t respond, she kept her eyes on the guy walking by. He had several other guys their age walking with them. One had a camera out.

“Seriously Pam, still? Do you not remember what he was like in high school? Plus, have you seen what his videos are like? Maybe it’s an act, but I doubt it. He’s still the same slimeball he was when we were younger.” Abby watched her friend; she could see the defeated expression coming over her.

“I could fix him.” Pam finally suggested.

Abby groaned, “Oh Pam, you don’t want a man you need to fix. You want a man, that wants to build something with you. Create a life with you. Not one that just wants to create content.”

“You know he tried to revive the cinnamon challenge last week.” Pam kept her eyes as he stood in front of the shoe store across the hall.

Abby shook her head, “Think about all the stupid stuff Kip did when we were in high school. We’re in our late twenties now Pam, he’s still doing that stupid kind of stuff and posting it on YouTube.”

“Point taken.” Pam shrugged, “Are you going to join us at Moonlight tonight?”

“I don’t know. I must finish a project that’s due on Monday.”

“Then why are you at the mall right now?” Pam countered.

Abby looked at her bags, “Had to get out of the house. Mom was working from home too and it was just too much.”

“Move out. Why are you still living with your parents?”

Abby sighed, “I’m a freelancer, I don’t have steady work now. I’m just trying to save what I can so one day I am not worried about money.”

 “I could always give you a good deal on an apartment.” Pam reminded her.

Abby looked towards the fountain in the middle of the food court, “I know, but right now I need to still be at home.”

“Whatever you say. Please tell me you at least got Fallon something cute and not like a four-year-old would wear?”

“Yeah, Maggie helped me out a bit.” Abby felt a chill through her body for a moment, someone near the fountain caught her eye, but they were gone before she could see who it was.

Pam heard her name called from behind the coffee bar, “Text me later.”

“I will, I got to get going anyways.” Abby thanked her for the coffee again before leaving the coffee house. The mall was surprisingly busy for a weekday afternoon as she made her way past the fountain towards the outdoor promenade of stores, past the valet parking towards the lot. She felt the wind blow, and a shiver go through her body as she got into her Jeep Grand Cherokee.

She attempted to ignore the feeling as she started the engine. Maybe it was just the conversation with Pam, or the display in the bookstore. Yeah, that was probably it.

####

Maggie checked the time on her phone as she left the store. She was feeling rushed this afternoon as she made her way down the hall to the bookstore. She had scoured her bookshelves the past two nights looking for her copy of Emma, only to get a text message from her sister that she’d borrowed it for a book report.

Normally Maggie wouldn’t care, and would be thrilled that Cassie cared to read, let alone read Jane Austin, however it was this month’s selection for the book club she took part in. They had decided to read all of Jane’s books, starting with Emma. She did chuckle to herself at the selection, thinking Pride and Prejudice would be the first pick.

At least getting another copy would be easy enough. Though she wasn’t expecting the store to be as full as it was when she walked through the doors, moving around the display in the front, trying to dodge the booktok table, and almost getting knocked into a selection of cookbooks by people with failed daytime television shows.

“You good Maggie?” Conner McKay had caught her before she took out the pile of discounted cookbooks.

She gulped as she got lost in his eyes for a second, that was all she could allow herself to have, “Yeah, sorry just trying to get to the classics.”

“Cassie has your copy, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah.” Maggie shrugged as she ran a hand through her blond hair, “I’m thrilled she borrowed it; the timing could’ve been better.”

“Which one is it?” He walked with her to the section, feeling the crowd thin out.

Maggie looked around, “What has the store so busy today?”

Conner rolled his eyes, “New Chad Davis book got released. People still think he’ll show up to do a book signing. He never has. I only do the display right in front to keep Adel happy.”

“I fear the day that Kip knocks one of his groupies up and she or he wants a clothing sponsorship.” Maggie confessed as she reached for a copy of Emma.

“That is scary for a number of reasons.” Conner laughed, “I’m going to let you browse, I have to go check on Eric up front.”

“Thanks.” She bit her lip as she watched him walk towards the register area. She had been flirting with him since they met, and well nothing. For now, she would just have to stick with having a book boyfriend, if she couldn’t even get the attention of a real-life man.

Conner was silently cursing himself again as he walked away. Why could he never actually ask her for a cup of coffee, or a drink, or what did people even do these days for dates. He hadn’t gone on one since he was in college—and that had led to a baby and marriage shortly after. A daughter who was now sixteen, who only saw her mother in TikTok videos of all places—at least it wasn’t only fans.

“You didn’t ask her out again, right?” Eric shook his head as he worked on stocking the reusable shopping bags under the counter.

“No, I didn’t.” Conner sighed as he looked around the sales floor. “Lysa adores her, Bethany is never coming back—and I wouldn’t want to repeat that anyways. I don’t know what I’m scared of.”

“Moving forward.” Eric started to shrug and then stopped midway as he looked at the entrance of the store.

Conner followed his glance to the entrance, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Eric shook his head, “Shouldn’t she be trying to live in some random country for like $200 a month?”

“Yeah, last I knew.” Conner rolled his eyes as he walked over to the one woman he didn’t want to deal with. “Hey Bethany, looking for a travel book?”

She smiled, “Hey Conner, I was looking for you.”

“You should’ve called.” Conner crossed his arms over his chest as he looked down at his ex-wife, even in heels she was still tiny. “Have you spoken to Lysa?”

“Not yet.” She adjusted her purse strap, “I wanted to talk to you first.”

“Are you even going to see her this time?”

“I am.” She took an unsteady breath as she looked at him, “I’m going to be in town for a little bit. I’m working on a travel book. I have a deal with a publisher in Denver.”

“I hope you found a nice Air B&B or something like that.” He was terrified she was about to ask to stay with him and their daughter.

“I have my parents house.” She told him, “When they moved to Arizona, they sold it to me.”

Conner bit the inside of his cheek as he listened to her, “Good for you. If you want my help with Lysa, I can’t give it to you. You need to be the one to call her, to tell her you’re in town. You want to see her; you work to set it up. She’s sixteen now, she can make the decision to see you or not herself.”

“She’s fourteen Conner.”

“Sixteen Bethany, you’ve been gone for twelve years.”

Bethany was frozen for a moment, “You’re right.” She couldn’t believe she had gotten her only daughter’s age wrong. “I’m still jetlagged obviously. I will call her and set up a lunch this weekend.”

“Good luck with that.” Conner looked towards Eric, “The sooner, the better. People have seen you. It’s only a matter of time before Lysa finds out you’re in town. The longer you wait to tell her, the less likely she’ll be to talk with you or see you.”

He didn’t wait for her to reply, he walked back to the register desk. If Bethany didn’t call Lysa by tomorrow night, then he would sit her down and let her know. It really was a matter of time considering Eric, who loved to spill the tea as he said mentioned something if she dropped by the store.

“Is she gone?”

“Yeah Boss.” He passed him his phone, “Lysa was calling while you were over there. I didn’t answer.”

Conner looked at the young college student in the eyes, “Do not mention that Bethany was here. It’s the last thing Lysa needs to find out.”

“Yeah, Maggie didn’t look thrilled either while she checked out.”

“Maggie knows about Bethany, everything she’s done.”

Eric lifted himself onto the back counter to sit, “Boss, if you and Maggie are close enough that you can tell her about the ex. You’re close enough your daughter likes her, then just ask her out. She is clearly crazy about you.”

“I doubt that.”

“Fine, she’s just trying to get to you for the book discount. She did buy five books today.” Eric picked up his phone, “Yes, my food is almost here.”

Conner rolled his eyes as he checked the time, “I have to go. Can you handle this on your own?”

“Yes, I’m not going to burn the store down or anything.”

Conner knew Eric wouldn’t burn the store down, he really did. He just was afraid he would get sucked into whatever hot social media app was at the moment.

####

“Thank you for coming Detective Lane.” The officer led her under the crime scene tape as they moved through the wooded area of the local park.

“What do we have?” she pulled her dark hair back into a short, tight ponytail as she got closer to the crime scene.

“White male, early thirties we believe, beaten, left for dead.”

She nodded as the paramedics started to transfer the body. “Any ID?”

“Just this.” He passed her a Colorado Drivers Liscense.

“Shit.” She saw the name and then looked at the victim, “Get him to Memorial, we’ll work on notifying the family. Hopefully they’ll have some answers about what happened.”

“It doesn’t look like this is where he was attacked, just dumped.” One of the crime scene engineers pointed out several aspects of the scene. “If he hadn’t been found when he was, he would probably be dead.”

“Who found him?”

“He did.” The uniform pointed to the young man giving a statement to another uniformed officer.

“This kid, seriously?” She shook her head.

“Something wrong Siobhan?”

The thick voice caused her to turn around, “Lucas, you’ll never believe who discovered the body.”

He followed her glance, “Wait, seriously? The delivery boy?”

She nodded, “I can’t deal with that kid, will you please take his statement?”

He chuckled, “Fine, I got this but that means you notify the family.”

“I got it.” She watched as he was loaded into the ambulance before she took out her cell phone and walked away from the crowds of people. She searched through her contacts, she had lived in this town for so long, she almost always knew a victim’s family. This one though, he hadn’t been in town in many years.

The number she selected dialed, and the line started trilling. Before she had even taken one deep breath the call answered, “Hey, perfect timing.”

“Not really.” She didn’t give a greeting, “I’m actually calling on police business.”

“What’s going on?”

“Brighton, he’s on his way to Memorial Hospital here in town. He was found beaten, near death this afternoon.” Siobhan looked over as her partner laughed with the witness. She felt herself shiver.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“If you give me your parents number I can call them. They can probably make it faster from Arizona.”

“I’m in town. And my parents won’t help Brighton.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll see you at Memorial then.” Siobhan hung up, processing the information she’d just been given.

“Lane, you, okay?” Lucas waved his hand in front of her face.

She blinked a couple of times, “Yeah, I’m good. I just wasn’t expecting this family member to be in town.”

“We’ve got to get over to the hospital, see what the situation is, okay?”

“Yeah, you got the kid’s statement?”

“I did.” Be shook his head, “I don’t know why he irritates you so much.”

Siobhan looked back at him as he got into his Nissan, “He was delivering a pizza three weeks ago to a house just as we went in for a raid on their drug lab.”

“Wait, that was--.”

“And then, he was the one who witnessed that incident downtown when that guy drove into the shoe store.”

Lucas nodded, “Yeah, he’s got some bad luck.”

“Anyways, let’s get over to memorial and hope that Trista is on duty.”

####

“I don’t want to lose them. They’re a major anchor store for the mall.” Adel Davis paced around the living room of her family’s large estate, her phone on speaker.

“We understand, but we might not have a choice.” The person on the other end spoke.

“We need to keep them, and if God forbid, we can’t then let’s make sure we can get that space filled within a month. An empty space like that could ruin us.” She ended the call, for a moment wishing for the days when she could slam the phone down.

“The mall is always bustling Mom, no need to worry.” Her youngest son came into the room, for once not followed by the so-called camera crew he usually had trailing behind him.

“Kip, what brings you away from the cameras?” Perhaps she should’ve sent him off to school with his brother, at the very least he had a career, but he never came home.

“Getting ready to go and meet the guys for Taco Thursday.” He picked up one of the decorative glass balls sitting on the coffee table, “I saw dear Brother’s new book came out.”

“Yes, it did.” Adel braced herself, never sure what Kip would notice, say, bring up.

Kip tossed the glass ball in the air as he leaned on the arm of the white sofa, “I read it on my Kindle this morning. What a silly story. I can’t believe people buy his books.”

“Your brother is a very talented writer.” His father told him as he came into the room. “You are a talented content creator, even if I still don’t really get it.”

Kip rolled his eyes, “About that.”

“Yeah?” Adel perked up, perhaps her son would finally use that college education he had for something, anything besides sitting in his room and streaming video games all day.

“I was wondering if I could use the pool house, turn it into my studio. I’m looking to expand the kind of content I create.”

Adel looked towards her husband, mentally trying to tell him to tell Kip no.

“Go for it. It could use an update anyways. Redecorate it and use that for content too Kip.”

“Thanks Dad.” Kip smiled before looking to his mom, “You cool with that?”

“Yeah honey, though any thought of using that business degree?”

Kip shrugged, “I use it every day. I know you don’t think streaming is a job or anything, but I haven’t even touched my trust fund in five years. I sell merchandise, I have paid subscribers. I get it you want me working under you or under Dad, but it’s just not going to happen.”

Adel, “It’s getting late, you two figures out the logistics for the pool house. Just please Kip don’t knock down any walls.”

“Whatever you say Mom.” Kip slowly sighed as his mother left.

Doug sat next to him on the couch, “She loves you; she’s concerned, she doesn’t get it.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“Just maybe no more prank videos, especially done in the mall.”

Kip nodded, “Yeah, that probably doesn’t help her take this seriously.”

“Not at all.” Doug turned his iPad on, “Figure out what you want to do with the pool house, I mean besides move in it to get some distance from us.”

“You figured that part out huh?”

“Kip, you’re beyond old enough to have your own space. Okay yes you have a suite of rooms upstairs, but it’s time for you to move out. Even if it’s just to the pool house. Let’s be real that’s as far as your mother will let you move out without interference.”

“But Chad lives in New York, she sent him off to private school when he was in high school. He never comes home.”

Doug took a moment, “Chad’s situation is very different. What I can say is that might be why she holds on as tightly as she does to you.”

Kip tried to remember what he could about when his brother had been sent away. Whatever it was had to be bad, really bad. Kip had his own hiccups and scandals in high school, yet Chad had been sent away. “Think Chad will ever come back?’’

“When the time is right he will. Don’t know when that will be.”

“Thanks Dad, I’ll see you in the morning.” Kip gently put the glass ball he’d been playing with back in the bowl on the table.

“Be safe.” Doug called out as his youngest son left.

####

“Has he been disposed of?” she questioned as her chair faced the wall of Higher Education Degrees.

“We did exactly what you asked us to do.” He told her, his hands behind his back, “Unfortunately luck was not on our side this afternoon.”

The chair spun and she slammed her arms on the desk, “What do you mean?”

“The police have already discovered his body. Someone passing by running on the trail caught sight of him.”

“Why wasn’t he deep in the river?” She ran a hand through her white, blond hair.

“It’s April, the runoff hasn’t really started, and so the river is not as deep as we would’ve liked for this. We were hoping the current would take him downstream a bit more before he washed up.”

She rubbed her forehead, “Take care of this. We can’t be found to be connected to him in anyway.”

“Don’t worry, everything will work out in our favor.” He told her as he left the office. He knew he’d just lied to her. But that was everything he did these days, lie. He lied to her, to the people around him, none of them knew the truth. He was surprised he had reached this high in the organization, gotten in deeper.

Once he was alone in his car, he pulled his phone out and pressed stop on the recording. If Carla ever found it, he would play it off as him covering his ass if she ever turned on him. Really though he was uploading it as part of the case his department was working to bring against her.

“Hart” he answered his phone as he pulled out of the medical suite parking lot, “yeah, that’s good to hear. Yeah, I’ll swing by the hospital.”

####

Siobhan paced in front of the nurse’s station while Lucas had gone to get them coffee. She had let her hair down once they were back in their car, giving her the chance to twist it around her fingers as she put together the information she had already about the victim and what had happened to him.

She couldn’t ignore the fact that his sister was back in town, the same day he washes up on the edge of death in the river. Not that Siobhan realized he was even in town either. What the hell were either of them doing here? Was it a coincidence or a connection?

“Detective?” the doctor stood in front of her, “You, okay?”

“Yeah, just going over the pieces. What do you know?”

She frowned as she put her hands in the pocket of her black scrubs, “He is in a coma right now, a lot of swelling in his brain. He’s got broken ribs, and a lot of bruising and swelling. Right now, it’s touch and go.”

“Trista, any idea of what caused these injuries?”

“I’m not a medical examiner, but these aren’t the kind of injuries in a car accident, not even the kind that lands you in the water.” Trista looked around, “I’m still waiting on the tox screen.”

“You think he was high?”

“I’ve seen a growing number of patients you wouldn’t expect.” Trista confessed as her name got called over the speaker system, “I’ll check back in with you soon.”

“Thanks.” Siobhan called out as the doctor walked away.

“I’m looking for Brighton Simpson.”

A voice crossed Siobhan’s ears and it was not the one she was expecting as she turned around. “Holdon Hart?”

She saw him cringe at the sound of her voice as he turned to look towards her. She tried to ignore how good he looked in the tight white T-shirt that stretched across him, the leather jacket he wore. He had total bad-boy appeal all over him.

He gave her a smile, hoping to thaw the freeze he saw from her, “What a small world.”

“Why are you asking about my victim?” She had a new piece of the puzzle and at this moment she wasn’t sure she would like where this could be going.

He looked around, trying to see who was around him, them before leaning in close. “I’m just asking about a friend.” He knew he couldn’t tell her in such a public place. “Where’s your partner, or do they have you going on cases alone?”

“He’s getting coffee.” She kept her eyes steeled on him, “Why are you even in town, I thought the feds cut you. Shouldn’t you be somewhere disgraced?”

He smirked, “If I remember correctly Siobhan, you liked my disgraced side.”

“Shut up Holdon. I don’t have time for your nonsense. Or maybe you know exactly what happened to Brighton.”

“I promise you Siobhan, I don’t. I just wanted to check on him.”

“How do you know him?”

“We worked together.” That was all he could tell her; all he could say. It wasn’t a lie; it was the truth. He just knew that Siobahn Lane wouldn’t be ready for the truth right now, and not in such a public setting.

“He’s alive, for now.” She finally let her eyes go to the entrance, wondering why she had believed his sister would show up quickly.

He nodded, “Thanks Lane, I’ll see you around.”

“Hart, how about we don’t count on that?”

“Oh, but you can count on it.” He licked his lips as he walked out of the hospital. He had gotten way too close to blow his cover. And now he wouldn’t be able to sleep because he would be haunted by memories of his former police partner.

####

“Enjoy your stay in Colorado.” The attendant at the rental kiosk handed over a stack of paperwork and a car key.

“Thanks.” He gave her a smile before throwing his carrying on over his shoulder and dragging his wheely hardshell behind him. He knew he still had over an hour drive to Pinon Hallow—if traffic on I-25 wasn’t bad. He couldn’t be sure of the reception he would get when he arrived.

He found the car he’d been assigned and loaded his bags in. His phone automatically connected to the Bluetooth system in the car, and he listened to the messages he had received while in the air. He would deal with it all tomorrow.

He set the phone to play a podcast, listening to the story of a woman who ran away as a teenager to join a cult. Her family didn’t know what happened to her for a decade and a half.

He was almost at the end of the podcast episode when the familiar silhouette of Pinon Hallow came into view. It wouldn’t be long now; he would be home soon. He moved down the streets he’d known for his entire childhood. He was surprised by how familiar and foreign they were at the same time.

He pulled up the long driveway towards the stone mansion. The lights were on in many rooms, but he knew there weren’t people to fill them. Not now at least. They wouldn’t tell him they didn’t have room for him, unless they had turned it into a hotel—which his mother would never have done.

He parked in his favorite spot from when he was in high school and took out his carry-on bag. He locked the car out of pure habit as he went to the door. He let himself in, the foyer that led to the living room was empty. He glanced at the time on his phone, if his father was around, he knew exactly where he could find him.

Moving through his childhood home he stopped outside the bowling alley. He could hear the pins falling. “Alright Adel, let’s see what you’ve got.” His father’s voice was older, how had he missed that in phone and video calls.

“I will get this turkey.” Her voice teased.

He watched as his mother took her ball and moved up towards the lane, and then let the ball sail down the hard wood and got a strike. He started clapping as he walked into the room. “Good job Mom.”

His parents both turned, instinctively they knew it wasn’t Kip interrupting them. Instead before Adel and Doug Davis, for the first time in over twelve years was their oldest and first-born son Chad.

“I’m home.”

“Welcome home son.” Doug moved to give his son a hug, unsure if he would accept, but grateful he did.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming home?” his mother moved in for a hug of her own, holding him tightly.

“I wanted to surprise you. Why did you turn my room into something else?” He put his bag down as he picked up the blue bowling ball sitting to the side he had used throughout his teenage years, before he’d been sent away.

“No, though Kip did try.” Adel smiled.

“Ahh yes, probably wanted a room for his video games.” Chad put the ball down, “I don’t know how long I’ll be in home. I just knew it was time to come home.”

“We’re glad you did.” Doug told him. “I’ll call Simone and get your room ready for you.”

“Thanks Dad.” Chad watched his father leave the room before he looked at his mother, really looked at her. She was older of course, A sadness over her. “Is Kip home?”

“No, I think he went to get tacos with his friends.”

Chad nodded, “So probably making a stupid video with them.”

“I wouldn’t call them stupid.”

“Uninspired then.” Chad suggested, “Is that bookstore still in the mall?”

“Of course, why?”

Chad shrugged, “I might go sign some copies of my latest book, or if they have any of my past ones.”

“They do, they have a huge display of your stuff.” She gushed.

“Wow, I never would’ve guessed.” But he knew why, it was to stay in her good graces. Sure, he’d made the New York Times list three times already but here in Pinon Hallow, his mother had a lot of pull. Any attention he got, at least in a positive sense, was of her will.

“Do you have any dietary needs or requests. I can make sure Simone has a grocery delivery done early so you have what you want or need.”

“No, I’m not that fussy. Unless you’ve all gone gluten, meat, free.”

“Nothing like that, next week with your brother who knows though.” She sighed a little. “I do wish you had told us you were coming. I could’ve set you up with a proper book signing.”

“I prefer this way. I don’t generally enjoy crowds of people.”

“Simone is getting your room ready.” Doug informed Chad when he came back in. “She already has fresh towels in your bathroom and the sheets are being put on the bed as we speak.”

“Thank you. I think I’m going to go take a shower and go to bed. It’s been a long travel day.” He left the room before they could protest or say anything else.

He made his way up to his childhood room, unsure what he might find. The room had been cleaned up, cleaned out. It had been updated to a more mature style. Almost like his mother had expected he would return—which he had.

He dropped his carryon bag by the door, bypassing the bathroom for a moment. He needed to know if it was still here, after all these years.

The books on the bookshelf didn’t appear to have been traded out. He pulled out a copy of The Hunger Games, and as he flipped through the pages something fell out. He picked it up, the blue in drawing of himself, sitting under the tree at the high school courtyard.

It was here.

It still existed.

All this time he had told himself it had to be gone.

Was this a sign he should try to find her?

If he could, maybe he could apologize about how things ended.

It hadn’t been his choice.

Would she even want to see him now?

She was probably married, had kids.

She probably left Pinon Hallow.

She was probably in Paris or Sydney, exploring the world.

But she was why he came back to town. She had been haunting his dreams for months, years really.

It had to mean something, and Chad was determined to find out what. He would find his high school girlfriend. He would apologize for what happened. It was the least he could do all these years later.

####

Abby sat at her desk, staring at her computer screen, willing the inspiration she needed to finish the project in front of her. It just wasn’t coming.

She read over the client’s information sheet again, sighing. What was in front of her was perfectly acceptable, yet something was missing. She just couldn’t decide what it was.

She turned the monitor off and moved over to her bed, she looked at the bag from the bookstore she hadn’t unpacked yet. Pulling out the book by Chad Davis, she opened the dedication page again, letting her finger drift over the text.

She closed the book and put it on the shelf above her bed. The same shelf that had every other book he had written. Next to them was a box of notes she had received in high school, along with the breakup letter from her first boyfriend. On the other side of the books was a baby picture of Fallon, simple and classic.

Simple and classic.

That’s what her current project was missing. She went back to her desk, turning on the monitor and getting lost in her art.

Tomorrow would be a new day, and she wouldn’t feel the past encroaching on her the way she had today.

[emma-hahn]

15 questions and 15 mutuals

I was tagged by @andallthatmishigas

Were you named after anyone?

Technically no but apparently my father wanted to call me Laura because of a song by Johnny Hallyday written about the daughter he had with Nathalie Baye. Fun fact, there’s a lot of people who named their daughter Laura for that reason (it’s a very beautiful song ngl). So my mother wanted to call me Emma, my father Laura, in the end my mom won (like always) so Laura is my third name (Emma Mathilde Laura is my full name).

When was the last time you cried?

Two days ago after watching season 5 episode 8 of Downton Abbey (the end with the memorial and Mrs Patmore always gets me) and also after watching a crazy amount of time a video of Taylor Swift singing Long Live at her concert in Kansas City. I cry about approximately everything really.

Do you have kids?

Nope. I am very happy with seeing my nephew and my nieces a couple of times a year and giving them back to their parents afterwards.

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

I think yes but it depends with whom.

What's the first thing you notice about people?

Their shoes I think because I’m usually walking with my head down.

What's your eye color?

Blue-green

Scary movies or happy endings?

I hate scary movies can’t watch them without being traumatized and not being able to sleep. So I’ll say happy endings but I also love sad movies.

Any special talents?

I asked one of my best friends and he said : I have a very good memory, I’m a good dancer, I’m very curious and love to learn new things and also that I was creative. (Don’t really know if those are talents but I didn’t know what to answer to that x))

Where were you born?

Strasbourg, Alsace, France.

What are your hobbies?

Watching movies and shows, reading, dancing, listening to music, writing (well more like making dozen of scenarios in my head and then being too lazy to write all of them). I’m kinda basic x)

Have any pets?

Nope.

What sports do you play/have you played?

Did fencing for about 10 years and dance since I was 5.

How tall are you?

163 cm (which is 5’ 4” I think)

Favorite subject in school?

History

Dream job?

Film director and screenwriter, kinda go together, in France most of the directors are also the screenwriter or co-screenwriter of their movies

Tagging: @bella-caecilia @ohtobealady @cobertaddict @abumperprize @adoracora-elizabeth @downton-bridgerton @ladyccrawleyy @corasorangejuice @whydidnttheyaskcora @writingisartdarling

It’s not 15 but anyway x)

[ecreau]

December 31: State of Grace

I wanted this blog to be the most special because it would be my last blog this year and next year. I decided to be on hiatus next year to rest, to regain my creative juices. Though every artist needs to recharge, I had the most fun doing my 365-day drawing challenge.

Do not worry, though, because I have scheduled surprises once a month to make this blog active! Until then, I hope you guys keep healthy, fun, and optimistic this coming 2023! It's the bunny year (in the Chinese zodiac sign)! I hope 2023 will be as cuddly and adorable as a bunny, haha; my fingers are crossed.

Anyway, I would divide this blog into three sections: announcement, recommendations, and message. I am excited to share my thoughts, so here it goes!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The first announcement

As I mentioned, I will be less active next year on my social media accounts. However, I would still post surprises once a month to keep a few of you who support my blog active. Yay!

Second announcement

I will close some social media accounts next year, specifically Twitter and YouTube, as I want to focus more on Tumblr, Deviantart, and Instagram.

Third announcement

I am still deciding whether to change my blog's name. Until then, let's see what happens from 2023 to 2024!

RECOMMENDATIONS

This has been a tradition for me to list everything I wanted to recommend to you guys.

Podcast

Talks in Class by Jenna Barclay

If you are a millennial like me, this podcast is perfect for you. Ms. Jenna is probably the mother of the early 2000s nostalgia for me! She's funny, creative, and witty! Listen to her podcast and reminisce about your cringe early 2000s memories.

The Bald and the Beautiful with Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamo

I am not a follower of drag race, but I love these two fabulous creative queens. Suppose you like listening to random and crazy topics about life, the internet, mainstream media, or anything. In that case, this podcast is totally for you. There are no boring seconds in this podcast. You'd cry while laughing so much.

Eons: Mysteries of Deep Time

Fossils, dinosaurs, cavemen, and whatever knowledge from the past you wanna know, Eons doesn't disappoint, as always. I love their YouTube channel I am glad they now have a podcast. I wish they would continue uploading more content on Spotify. Totally worth your time.

The Kit & Krysta Podcast

If you followed Nintendo Minutes on YouTube, you would recognize these two amazing people. Do you like Pokemon? Zelda? Or any games? This podcast is totally for you! I love how I also learned some tips about games because of them.

Series

That 70's Show

I just started this series and am now in season four going five. I love this because, as someone who wasn't born this year, I appreciate all the popular things in the 70s. I love the cast and the writing because the tone is similar to Malcolm in the middle. You won't know what's coming next, haha! My favorite character is Kitty Foreman! :D

Wednesday

I love this series. I was iffy to watch this because I thought it would be full of gore, but it wasn't! I also like the casting here. It's close to the comics! I love actor Hunter who played Tyler. He is so hot and talented!

Adventure Time

I know I am 10 years late or something, haha! But I really loved Cartoon Network in the 2010s; they had such good shows. I am glad I watch this series without commercials or a season break. If you like Steven Universe, Regular Show, Adventure Time would be your thing too! It's so good!

Albums/Songs

Midnights

My first Taylor Swift album. I have previously listened to her album but have yet to be this in-depth. I just turned into a Swiftie now. Almost all my liked songs on Spotify are from her! I love Karma, Hits Different, and You're on your own, Kid.

Red

I am 5 to 6 years late, but this is my favorite album this year. I love almost all the songs here. Taylor Swift, you are talented! My favorite songs are State of grace, Red, and Message in the bottle.

The Loneliest Time

I love Carly so much! This album is such a chill vibe for me. 10 out of 10 for me!

Celestial

Ed Sheeran doesn't disappoint! I was happy when he released a song for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. It's so nostalgic same with Post Malone's music for Pokemon.

That's all my recommendations this year that I have listened to and watched many times. I would love to have a book recommendation soon as well!

MESSAGES

I always say this, but I am genuinely happy even though I have few followers on my social media accounts. You guys still make time to respond, like, and share my artwork. I cannot thank you enough for doing this. I often feel emotional every time I get likes passed 10. It is silly, but your 'likes' and 'follows.' Make artists like I inspired and fuel me to do more creative stuff.

Thank you so much for being part of my 2022 adventure. It was not a perfect year, but we had fun learning from our mistakes, challenges, and goals. 2023 would again be our year together.

This blog's title it's inspired by Taylor Swift's song in the Red album, State of Grace. It's one of my favorite songs of hers, especially the lyrics, "This is the golden age of something good and right and real" I wanted to manifest this next year. Let's go, 2023!

Talk to you later!

- Please do not repost my artwork/design. Ask me first. ⁠

Thank you!⁠

-

Linktree(if the link does not work please remove href)

“Nostalgia is my favorite thing."

[glaivenoct]

( fanfic writer ask game ) ✏️ , 🎧 , 🔬 , ✍🏽 , 🌾 ?

Thank you so much for sending some in! ;u; (Fanfic Writer Asks Here)

✏️ The first fanfiction you ever wrote? (doesn’t have to be a posted fic)

Heh.. back in 2005, a show aired on Discovery Kids that became my favorite show in the history of ever. Wee 9 year old Brina did not understand or even know of the concept of Fandom or Fanfiction - but this show is what I consider my first Fandom ever.

Did any fellow millennials ever watch Flight 29 Down on Discovery Kids (2005-2007)? Man, I loved that show so fucking much. I wrote silly little fics for it in my spare spiral college ruled notebooks! AUs before I even know what an AU was lmao. My favorite was one I called "Agents in Action" where I pretended all the characters in the show were recruited as Secret Agents after being rescued lmao.

I also wrote fics for my favorite ship in the show. Again, I didn't really know what the word ship was, but I knew I liked two characters enough to write fics of them getting together and referring to them with a pairing name. I shipped Jackson/Taylor aka Jaylor! Jackson was the Tall-Quiet-Mysterious foster kid with a questionable past and a sense of being an outsider among his peers, and Taylor was the seemingly shallow rich Mean Girl, who turns out not to be as mean or shallow once you get to know her a little more and she learns some more empathy/self-awareness.

When I wrote these fics, I had no idea what fic even was. But man oh man was it such a happy place for me to write them at the time. I wish I still had them, but I don't know where they went. I used to draw pictures at the back of every page and everything. Good times, good times ;u;

🎧 A certain song you listened to while writing a fic?

MUSIC, YAASS. So! Rare is it for me to make a playlist for just a one-shot, but for my NyxNoct Masquerade Fic I really needed a decent chunk of songs that captured the right vibe to help me write it, if ya know what I mean!

Young and Beautiful is the star of that playlist. I not only imagined Nyx and Noct dancing to the song in the fic, but the playlist also features two different instrumental versions of it too! It was such a big help with that fic uwu.

🔬The fic you had to make the most research for?

Hmm.. there's honestly 3 contenders for this, and the Masquerade fic is definitely one of them - but that was research in the sense of looking up a lot of visuals for inspiration. Outfits/ballrooms/mask designs and things like that

The second has to be cagefighter AU because of the fight scenes. I looked up articles about boxing rings/MMA tournaments/different styles of martial arts and things like that. I think I put at some point in the fic that Nyx leans more towards a boxing style while Noct kinda knows a mix of things thanks to Cor. Come the next time I need to write a fight scene, I'll probably be looking up martial arts/self defense videos again. Which is usually fun for me!

The third would have to be my old and Very Incomplete NyxNoct Wings AU that only has one chapter and no proper plot to this day ;u; Researching wing anatomy and all that. Visual references for different wing designs too.

✍🏽 How much do you plan your fics beforehand?

If we're talking about outlines, never have I ever in my fic life done a proper outline ^^; I'm very "I have all the backstory in my head, the rest of the details of the actual plot will unfold as I go" :'D

🌾 A fic you really want to write but you haven’t (yet)?

So Many ;u; but right now, the main things on my radar after I finish the current WIP are: -An assassination attempt prompt that's been sitting in my inbox for too long -A new possibly probably definitely spicy NyxNoct fic ideally for Valentine's Day. Buuut there's a good chance I chicken out of that one and try writing the next chapter of Cagefighter AU instead.

If I add anything else, I'll be getting too ahead of myself and overwhelmed lol. To anyone who's sent me prompts in the last several months: bear with me please I swear. I either get them done sorta quick or... Not Quick.

Thank you again for indulging me with these! ;u; <3

[thebookofivy]

What keeps you awake at night?

Dear Reader,

We're down to 38 days until Christmas! But before getting bejeweled with all these shining, shimmering, and splendid things, let's talk about your labyrinth thoughts or what keeps you awake at midnight rain?

Hello there! Welcome to a November Mayhem with me which I will be talking about the things that keep me awake at midnight aside from being an architecture student procrastinating her plates. If you're a Swifties, I know you catch that clues.

On the last 21st of October 2022, our godmother T.S. released her 10th studio album titled Midnights, all about different stories about what she feels at midnight, and for the record, it's been on my Spotify repeat from the day it has been out.

Since you're already here, I will be sharing the top 5 songs from the Midnights album that resonate with my Architecture journey.

1. ANTI-HERO

The first one on the list is Anti-Hero. The legendary lyrics from this track are the line It's me, Hi! I'm the problem it's me. We can all relate especially me ever since I've been in architecture school. Being an architecture student is tough. Honestly, in all the battles that I've encountered the battle within my inner self is the most destructive. It keeps me awake at night and it's either I am having a breakthrough in my thoughts or just me breaking down because I don't know what to do exactly. Especially being in my thesis year. I can say that aside from the topic of my thesis, I am the most of a problem. It's a continuous battle between me versus me. It's exhausting rooting for ourselves. But, knowing the fact that I am the drawback, maybe the only thing that can also solve it is myself. 

2. SNOW ON THE BEACH (FEAT. LANA DEL REY)

The second song that I will be featuring is Snow on the Beach (ft. Lana Del Rey) which is on the 4th track of the album. According to Taylor Swift, the song is all about falling with someone as they fall in love with you at the same time. "sort of in this sort of cataclysmic, fated moment where you realize someone feels exactly the same way that you feel," she said,  "Kind of like it would be if you were to see snow falling on a beach." Isn't lovely? I hope Architecture is the same for me. Kidding aside, it's nice to have someone that you can lean on after a dreadful day caused by academic stress. Someone to talk to outside architecture, someone to talk about the simplest thing or about how their day went, someone will accompany you every midnight when you're doing your plates or just be there with you willing to listen to whatever you just have to say. Just like snow on the beach, it's weird but fucking beautiful. 

3. LAVENDER HAZE

The third song is from the first track of the album. It is one of the best for me. Taylor Swift said that Lavender Haze was used in the 50s when you describe that you're in love. You're in the Lavender Haze. But even though Taylor wrote it with the interpretation of being in love. I relate it to living the dream I've been dreaming about. In the lyrics, it said, "I feel a lavender haze creeping up on me, Surreal, I'm damned if I do give a damn what people say" and it hit me, sometimes dreaming awake keeps us awake at midnight, sometimes we don't realize that the place exactly where we are, are the ones we've been dreaming for the longest time and it masks the thought when we're struggling. I know that architecture has been difficult but imagining that all these things will be worth it made me want to stay in the Lavender Haze and don't think about the people who doubted me.

4. BEJEWELED

Just like Taylor Swift, fantasizing about revenge is one of the reasons why she's awake at midnight, for me the best revenge is the relief of getting away from the heartbreak that I experienced when I am in college. Being the best version of yourself is liberating although I can say that I'm still not into the best version of myself but being polished up really nice could go a long way. Realizing that even the things that made us alive the most then, could shatter us into a million pieces when they left. To tell you honestly, it hurts me but I know there's a reason behind all of it. Focusing on myself is the best way that I cope with that situation. Now, I am happy to say that it taught me some lessons even though I miss the memories, what I really miss the most is being bejeweled by the most important things in my life and that will make the whole place shimmer! 

5. PARIS

Where down to the last song, and that song is Paris! A bonus track from the album. Who's architecture student doesn't want to go and dream about Paris? Maybe not all but I am one of those people that like to travel and someday go to one of the most historic places that contribute to the history of Architecture which is Paris! Even though Taylor wrote it with the means of being in Paris with someone she loves. For me, I like to imagine myself even if I am alone, in Paris. Walking and observing the beauty of it. Traveling is one of the things that fascinates me. I love the thought of going around the world and discovering the most random things. Feeling every moment of being alive chasing dreams, wasting time, and having a good time. Falling in love in Paris. Just falling in love with the universe.

Hello there! Thank you for staying with me this midnight! I'm thankful that you joined me until the very last song. 

Manifesting all the good things for you and I hope that not just sad things that always keep you awake at night. 

THAT'S ALL FOR OUR NOVEMBER MAYHEM

Again, hello. This thing is one of my activities at school since I want you to read it too, I tweak it a little and decided to post it here. Enjoy!

[blindrapture]

next excerpt from The Essay

VI- The Hidden Surprises

Viceking's Graab was conceived as a blog, but from the start I thought it would be essential to include multimedia content, to provide a subversion on the vlog format. Rather than have vlogs that grab your attention and gather a following, I would hide the good stuff within a maze so you'd have to work for it (or so the videos could stand as rewards). This was, perhaps, peak Trickster behavior on my part, and how worth it this proved is debatable, but I still find the idea funny.

There are two original videos within Viceking's Graab, and originally there was supposed to be a third but I wasn't able to produce that one. There's Telephony (or "the Genera video"), But there's still nobody home (or "the Jordan Eats video"), and the never-produced Credits video.

Let that be Figure 3, Telephony. Its original context is as the central splash feature of Topography Graab Center East, pastiche of the central Genera blog, which can be found rather early in the Personal Gain path.

Telephony is a three-part video based on the format of Topography Genera's primary video entry, the Answering Machine message. In the first section, Liquid Len (played by Lindsay Taylor) leaves his answering machine prompt: "Hello, this is Liquid Len. You've called the Viceking's Graab. Everyone is dead and thus unable to answer the phone, but if you leave your feedback to our blogs after the beep, we'd really appreciate it." When he says "Viceking's Graab," the subtitle on the screen reads "Topography Genera Center East," which is a little bit of further dissonance. There is then a BEEP, and the caller leaves his message: My voice reads a passage from Genera short story "Hell's Kitchen," as follows: “It’s easy to get delusional down there, to get these ideas about who has what authority, who should listen to whom, what guidelines which stories should fall under… the most common delusion, of course, is where these people are. They never want to accept it. 'Prison.’ 'Prison’ is such a strong word. 'Prison’ means they did something wrong, they’re being punished, they’re paying their dues.” The subtitles in the video do not follow along, instead displaying a glitchy white block. There is now one more BEEP, followed by the final section, which is a tinny loop of a crowd of people making chit-chat.8

The intention of all of this was to provide atmosphere for the maze, that not even a video will necessarily provide context. Videos here are old material recycled, a sense of people who were once present that you can now no longer reach.

Let that be Figure 4, But there's still nobody home. In its original context, the video is located in My, Either Eating's New Again, the pastiche of Jordan Eats Normally Now tucked away pretty deep in the maze.

But there's still nobody home goes for a similar effect but with different techniques. Its format mimics the videos of Jordan Eats, being found footage from video cameras. This video has two sections, the first being, inexplicably, a garble of footage of kids making videos (RND Media in their early days). The original video for this has since been replaced with a slight edit, to remove a slur said by one of the kids; I replaced it with a clip of an unreleased Sunsetters song. As the footage proceeds, it jumps from shot to shot as the tape I pulled the footage from was warped, until finally the footage breaks entirely and it cuts to section 2: Me, playing the part of the Fictional Me from Jordan Eats but years after that story ended. This content is canon. I sit by a door in a black jacket, purple scarf, and boxers. I have clearly just put the camera on and started talking. The audio does not sync up, as it is still on a warped tape. This lasts for the rest of the video.

The contents of Jordan's speech is difficult to make out, and incidentally I did not actually intend for it to be so difficult to hear, but that tape was a lot more warped than I expected. Years later, I did go back to this video and make a serious attempt to transcribe the speech, which is as follows:

I'm... I don't know what to say, I just turned the camera on. (When was the last time???) (It at least soothes my mind???) (I must be alright???) (I guess it doesn't look too pretty?) I guess it can be considered "artistic" or something, to just make some videos of me sitting here talking to the camera, vaguely saying nothing don't know why I'm ??? being artistic I'm not really in the best mental state to do that I guess (I'll soon?) find out There's something about a camera that kind of... wakes me up, kinda forces me to.. attach a persona to myself, a persona that I've long known who he is You know, the persona that I show to everybody Except for whenever I'm alone It goes away, and I..... come up with crazy ideas and try my very best not to follow through on them. As long as there's nobody here, as long as there's no camera on, then this door will never open. I'll be trapped inside my own mind. (For the endgame...?) I can't keep the camera on all the time, can I? And I can't.. I can't always have people with me. (I should ??? look out for myself, I guess,) I've got to figure out my own mind. You know? But.. I mean, what is there to figure out? I'm out, I'm free, I'm slowly slipping out of sanity and being dragged back in, but I'm-- [video cuts off]

I know for a fact that I decided to keep the video's garbled format and not simply refilm it because of the mood it sets. I found it deeply frustrating that this is what happens when I actually get in front of a camera and talk about my feelings-- my message gets distorted. There is a Fear, The Choir, that distorts a victim's speech in order to isolate them. That.. frustration and isolation, that felt too pertinent. So I kept it this way. In the end, the video feels like proof of the Jordan trapped in the walls. It. It works, I think.

Then there's the Credits video. Obviously, as this never got made, I have nothing to show you, unless I can find the old storyboard I sketched for it back in the day (and if I find that, I will add it here later). This was to be a live-action video (on professional cameras) produced by RND Media, my friends at the time. It would begin with a shot of a funeral procession at late-day, featuring a bunch of actors in costumes to look like Fears, solemnly carrying a casket while some serious music played in the background (probably "X & Y"). The Fears would reach a destination in a grassy field, place the casket down standing up on its feet, and gather in mourning. They would maintain this solemn posture even as the music abruptly changes to Genesis's "Duke's End" and the casket bursts open, the Slender Man (me) leaping out of it and breaking into a jiggy dance. I do not remember if any Fears would have joined in the dance or if they'd all just remain grieving and serious at the sides. As the Slender Man dances, credits for the entire Viceking's Graab project would have scrolled over. It all ends with the Slender Man striking one last pose and the music ends. "Thank you for reading" or something of the sort as the final text. The end.

I'm sure you can agree with me that this would have been an absolutely incredible ending. Unfortunately, RND Media moved to London by this point and I did not follow them, and my life went a different way. There was no other reason for this video not being made, as it was well within our abilities. And going for some halfway compromise on my own wouldn't have had anywhere near the same effect, as this was meant to be one last celebratory blow-out, this was at the time supposed to be my final blog, the end of my contributions to the Fear Mythos. And in its context, it would have actually been the climactic reward at the very center of the maze. I still hold in my heart that this was the real ending, and I want you to picture the video yourself when thinking of how Viceking's Graab ends. God, it's such a beautiful idea, and a good capstone to round out the other two videos of increasing production quality..

Instead, when the time came for me to construct an ending to the Graab, I opted for a far more subdued and enigmatic route.

Honorable mention goes to the two audio entries on The Endless Graab, pastiche of Genera-themed audio play The Endless Obsession. The pastiche is located in a deep pocket of the Hell of it path. One audio entry is titled mutt.wav, and the other what the thunder said.wav. The "transcripts" on the blog are lies and are in fact unique text (inspired by Gabriel Marcia Márquez's The General in His Labyrinth). mutt.wav has me read the Finnegans Wake Mutt and Jute dialogue quoted in Section 2 of this essay. what the thunder said.wav has me reading parts 4 and 5 of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land.

I'm pretty sure that's it for the new multimedia parts of the maze. God, there's a lot of content in Viceking's Graab.

[frankterranella]

Facing the reality of getting older

Stopping to smell the roses at Sissinghurst Castle Garden, England.

The Rolling Stones had a hit in 1966 with a song called "Mother's Little Helper." The song was essentially about the epidemic of tranquilizer abuse. Librium had been introduced in 1960 and was an instant hit, particularly with depressed housewives. The verse of the Rolling Stones song begins: "Kids are different today, " I hear every mother say Mother needs something today to calm her down And though she's not really ill, there's a little yellow pill She goes running for the shelter of her mother's little helper And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day Listening to this song today, what strikes me is the line that opens the song and separates each stanza of the verse -- "What a drag it is getting old." That line hit me last week as I watched James Taylor sing on television. Taylor recently celebrated his 75th birthday. Up until now I have been happy that his voice seemed unaffected by age unlike formerly great singers such as Gordon Lightfoot (84), Neil Diamond (82), Paul McCartney (80)  and Linda Ronstadt (76). But now I can't deny the fact that age has finally caught up to James Taylor. His voice was thin and sounding old in two separate performances this week. And that's sad. Between the number of singers of my generation who have been dying recently and the number who have lost their voices, it certainly is a drag getting old. Actually, I think one of the worst things about getting old is not being able to do things you used to do. And it's bad enough watching the aging process in others when you're young, but as you reach retirement age, aging becomes real for you. Climbing stairs, getting into cars and just walking great distances are progressively more difficult. I think the physical deterioration is worse for people like athletes, singers and dancers, whose great talents are dimmed by age. Next month I will celebrate my 70th birthday. I have to acknowledge that I have a much closer relationship with doctors that I had a decade ago. Although I have no life-threatening illnesses, in a few days I will have my third surgical procedure of the year. This one will attempt to ease my sciatica. So I have all the aches and pains and physical breakdown that comes with getting old. But I also have the pleasure of having time to enjoy life. I can wake up every day and, after walking around the house to get the blood flowing and the sciatic pains to subside, I can go for a walk in a park and literally take time to smell the roses. I can drive to spend time with my three grandchildren. I can enjoy the museums, libraries and restaurants in my area on a weekday without crowds and without rushing. I even have time to devote to volunteer work in my community. All in all it's a wonderful life, despite the aches and pains. No stress; no anti-anxiety drugs needed. I have seven decades of memories to contemplate. I can look back at wonderful trips by land, sea and air to some of the most beautiful places on earth. I have pictures on the walls to constantly remind me. And best of all, I can plan new trips without having to worry about the demands of a job. So while from a physical standpoint it undoubtedly is a drag getting old, from a fulfillment and happiness standpoint, it can be some of the best years of our lives.

[cyarskj1899]

There’s some songs that are worth listening and others that ain’t worth your time and ears

The 5 best and 5 worst songs of 2022

2022 boasted a variety of musical gems from artists like Noah Kahan, Maggie Rogers, and Taylor Swift.

The year also gave us duds from artists like Leah Kate, Panic! At the Disco, and Drake.

The five best and five worst songs of 2022 are listed below, with each batch in chronological order.

Ethel Cain's "American Teenager" skewers the so-called "American dream" with gothic imagery and biting wit.

Ethel Cain is the artistic persona of 24-year-old Hayden Anhedönia, invented as a vehicle to explore both the beauty and danger of patriotism, religion, and idealism — especially in the Bible Belt of the American South, where she was raised.

"American Teenager" is the crown jewel of her debut album "Preacher's Daughter." It's a catchy, searing satire about growing up with visions of greatness, all while surrounded by violence.

"When 'American Teenager' dropped, I quickly started seeing people be like, 'Ethel Cain makes me want to grab a Bible and go to church, buy a gun and praise the American flag.' And I was like, 'That is absolutely not the point at all,'" Cain told i-D.

"I know the bad things that have happened to me in the South. I know the negative connotation that I get when I look at a Bible or I look at the American flag," she continued. "The private reclamation of my home, of the little things in between the cracks that I was coming back to loving, was being misinterpreted as me just going down South, guns blazing, flag waving, taking all of it back into my arms... it's something I have to be wary of."

"Girls Against God" by Florence + The Machine is a powerful ode to feminine rage.

From the very first verse, it's clear that "Girls Against God" is one of Florence Welch's most honest, eloquent, and arresting songs to date: "What a thing to admit that when someone looks at me with real love / I don't like it very much / Kinda makes me feel like I'm being crushed."

The song is packed with sharp observations and turns of phrase that capture the exquisite rage of womanhood: "In my darkest fantasies / I am the picture of passivity," "When I decided to wage holy war / It looked very much like staring at my bedroom floor."

Florence makes it clear that her pain is compounded by isolation, and the song doubles as an appeal for solidarity.

Noah Kahan's "Stick Season" is a stunning display of nostalgia and vulnerability.

"Stick Season," the lead single and title track from Noah Kahan's third album, is a monument of confessional songwriting.

The folksy hit is driven by energetic acoustic guitar and Kahan's fearless sincerity. He talks about running into his ex's mom, confesses to playing the victim, and opens up about the "darkness I inherited from dad." He turns each bite-sized phrase into a revelation: "Once called me forever, now you still can't call me back" is one of the most concise and acute summaries of heartbreak I've ever heard.

More than a breakup song, "Stick Season" captures the empty feeling of being left behind, drawing a parallel between the man in the rearview mirror and the Vermontian trees, standing barren in the cold air.

"Anywhere With You" is the best song Maggie Rogers has ever released.

"Anywhere With You" is the blazing core of Maggie Rogers' excellent sophomore album "Surrender."

The whole album is imbued with intense emotion, but "Anywhere With You" is the one time when she's not trying to find anything — she's just feeling everything, knowing exactly where it will lead.

Rogers pours herself into a homemade volcano like a kid at a science fair, building towards an explosive moment of catharsis: "You tell me you want everything, you want it fast / But all I've ever wanted is to make something fucking last."

The structure mimics the lyrical narrative with piercing precision. This is a product of an expert songwriter following all the right instincts.

"Would've, Could've, Should've" by Taylor Swift is the best song of 2022.

I have already written extensively about the brilliance of "Would've, Could've, Should've," the 19th track on Taylor Swift's extended version of "Midnights."

The more I listen to it — the more chills run down my spine every time I hear Swift wail, "Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first" — the more I feel it belongs in the pantheon of Swiftian masterpieces alongside "All Too Well," "Clean," "August," and "Tolerate It."

So of course, in the grand tradition of "All Too Well" and "August," "Would've Could've Should've" easily claimed the top spot on our ranking of the year's best songs. Read the complete list here and listen to the playlist on Spotify.

"Twinkle Twinkle" by Leah Kate is an unpleasant and unimaginative take on the pop-rock resurgence.

"Twinkle Twinkle" is a transparent ploy to recreate the success of Gayle's "ABCDEFU," which was itself an attempt to recreate the success of Olivia Rodrigo's "Good 4 U."

Unfortunately, Leah Kate possesses neither the marketing finesse of Gayle nor the lyrical prowess of Rodrigo. "Twinkle Twinkle" is as generic and derivative as it gets. 

"Middle of a Breakup" is the lowest point on Panic! At The Disco's newest album.

"Middle of a Breakup" sees Brendon Urie doing his best impression of Freddie Mercury if the Queen frontman starred in a '70s musical.

If you're like me, this already sounds like a disaster. If you're a show tune enthusiast and this sounds appealing, you'll still be disappointed — Urie doesn't have the chops to pull it off. He strains his voice to reach uncomfortable falsettos, only to deliver melodies that are more suited for a Target commercial than a Broadway stage.

"Staying Alive" by DJ Khaled, featuring Drake and Lil Baby, is reductive and lazy at best.

2022 was the year of the gimmicky sample and "Staying Alive" was the worst offender.

DJ Khaled's take on the 1977 disco classic is completely devoid of originality or personality, and the song's two featured artists do nothing to save it. Drake delivers the Bee Gees' iconic hook with such profound laziness that it makes me question whether he is, indeed, alive.

"Circo Loco" includes one of Drake's most distasteful lyrics to date.

"Circo Loco," the ninth track on Drake's joint album with 21 Savage, "Her Loss," includes a repulsive, blatantly sexist lyric that accuses Megan Thee Stallion of fabricating her own trauma.

"This bitch lie 'bout getting shots, but she still a stallion," Drake raps in a thinly veiled jab at the "Savage" hitmaker, who accused the rapper Tory Lanez of shooting her in 2020.

Megan harshly criticized the song in a series of tweets, shortly before she gave a heart-wrenching testimony at Lanez's trial. (Lanez has pleaded not guilty to two counts of felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm.)

"I wish he would have just shot and killed me if I would have known I would go through this torture," Megan told the Los Angeles court. "I've been made to be the villain. He's the villain."

Kanye West doubles down on his dangerous rhetoric with "Someday We'll All Be Free."

Ye teamed up with the widely discredited conservative pundit Alex Jones to release "Someday We'll All Be Free" on InfoWars. The song came in the midst of the rapper's descent into dangerous conspiracy theories, anti-Black rhetoric, and antisemitism, including explicit praise for Adolf Hitler.

"Wakin up to 'I can't do this any more' texts," Ye raps over a sample of Donny Hathaway's 1973 track with the same name, which was inspired by Hathaway's battle with paranoid schizophrenia. "You knew I follow God, so you should follow me," he adds.

The song ends with an audio clip of Ye telling Jones, "There's a lot of things that I love" about the Nazis.

As Andre Gee wrote for Rolling Stone, "The song's lyrics reflect a double-down on the conservative, antisemetic rhetoric Ye's been expressing in recent months."

"One may be sympathetic to his mental health trials," Gee continued, "and how they may be affecting his judgment, but his latest track also feels like an abhorrent subversion of a song that has been celebrated as a beacon of hope for Black people amid the white supremacy that Ye is so devoutly amplifying."

Sent from my iPhone

[aijamisespava]

10 "Things" About My Wrapped That I Wanted To Bring Up

It's that time again! I love how once the fun of Wrapped dies down, I sit down and think of ten things that happened on my Wrapped that I just want to bring up. It's kind of like a closing ceremony of sorts. And this year, with my music taste shifting a LOT, there were some things that I wanted to say. But all in all, it was a good Wrapped season and I cannot wait for next year! Here are the 10 Things About My Wrapped That I Wanted To Bring Up.

1. Silhouette Went And Did It: All I said in January after Silhouette was released was that it had to be on my Spotify Wrapped. I never said where. It could have placed 100 (or even 101) and I still would have been happy. And here we are, it was my top song. The one I listened to the most during the tracking period. But, I will acknowlege here that I was listening to the song nonstop in the early months of the year. It's also funny that in my Review Interactive it said it was love at first listen like "DUH!" Will it also be my personal song of the year on New Years Eve? Wait and find out!

2. A Little Number Game: Here's a little...fun fact about my 3 Spotify Wrappeds. Before this year, I have had songs called "22" and "25" make my Wrapped, neither of which landed on their respective numbers whenever they appeared (the closest was "25" in 22nd last year). That changed this year with the song "29" by Loïc Nottet, which landed in...29th. I wish I was kidding. I laughed for a solid minute when I saw it. But then I felt a little bad about it because the song is actually a really sad breakup song...BUT 29 WAS 29TH YOU CANT MAKE THIS STUFF UP!

3. Impressive Debut: Every year, my Wrapped has things that I know will always happen. Taylor Swift will always show up a lot, Evanescence will usually be right behind Taylor, and there will be plenty of artists appearing for the first time. One artist (the artist in question being Loïc Nottet) had a really impressive debut on my Wrapped. 13 songs total on the list, 2 of them in the Top 10 (Mud Blood at #3 and Rhythm Inside at #9), and taking home two of the three tied Album of the Year wins with both of his albums. Another impressive debut was Gjon's Tears taking the top 2 spots, two more top 10 spots, and 12th.

4. A Three Way Tie: No, I don't think I will ever shut up about this. In 2020, Panic! At The Disco took home Album of the Year with "Pray For The Wicked." In 2021, Evanescence won with "The Bitter Truth" by just one song over "Fearless (Taylor's Version)." This year, however? Three albums appeared the most times. Both of Loïc's albums "Selfocracy" and "Sillygomania" and Evanescence trying to defend their win with "The Bitter Truth." Now, there were many different ways to break the tie. But since I love all three of the albums, and they all had the same number of songs appearing on the chart, I decided that there would not be a tiebreaker.

5. Different Podiums: The top 3 artists that Spotify gave me was "1. Taylor Swift 2. Evanscence 3. Panic! At The Disco." But, I also do this thing where I look at my top artists based on how many songs appear on my Wrapped. Usually, there are small discrepancies (one artist would score higher than another by ONE song despite the results being switched on the interactive). And this year, it's weird. Panic! At The Disco may have had the thirdmost minutes streamed (to that I have Viva Las Vengeance to thank), they only had 6 songs appear on my Wrapped...which was the fifthmost artist on the list. With that in mind, Taylor Swift still has the top spot with 22 appearances. Evanescence is still 2nd with 16 appearances. Who took third and fourth? Loïc Nottet with 13 appearances and My Chemical Romance with 8. Not to mention that Loïc's longest song (Poison, feat. Shogun) was number 42 on my Wrapped, which I consider rather high. Plus, Loïc showed up a lot in my top half while P!ATD all showed up more toward the bottom. The math isn't mathing correctly here....

6. A Little Glow Up: If you remember last year, since Taylor had just released Red (Taylor's Version), I had emergency backups in case any unrecordable demos made the list. I picked out a mystery artist who only had 4 songs, and when one of those songs started appearing in my stats, I put in a reserve song...just in case. Well, it didn't end up being put to use since the demos never appeared on my list. BUT! I did write down who they were (the artist was Gjon's Tears and the reserve song was "We Could Be The Same" by maNga). Gjon released two more songs between Wrapped ("Silhouette" and "Pure", however "Pure" was released Oct. 28 and didn't have time to make Wrapped), and all his songs made the Top 12, even snatching the top 2 spots. As for "We Could Be The Same", they took home 5th.

7. The Mysterious 101st Song: Spotify gave me quite the shock when I saw that they had added one more song on the top 100 "just for fun". I thought that it was a chance for songs that may not have had time to be streamed to get there. I even put that I would cry happy tears if songs "Mélodrame" by Loïc Nottet or "Would've, Could've, Should've" by Taylor Swift were "Song 101". That was not the case as it ended up being "Run Away" by Sunstroke Project (aka, Epic Sax Guy Meme). I was fine with it! Laughed really hard at it, and it did fulfill a prediction I had of that very song making it, just ranking low. I then thought that maybe there was a tie between "Run Away" and "Liar" by Loïc Nottet (which was Song 100). But nope! They legit put it in there for fun! I'm cool with it!

8. The Eurovision Effect: This year, we had quite our fair share of Eurovision songs. All of them came between 2010-2021 (a shocker here is that none from 2022 made it). Not so much a huge deal, but it's something you're probably going to have to get used to. We have plenty of countries that made it too so that's pretty neat! In total, there were 20 songs from the contest that had made my Wrapped. Ranking as high as 2nd and as low as 101st.

9. THE VIDEO MESSAGES: I loved these! This was a great idea! *as you can tell I am still VERY wonderstruck!*

10. Taylor's Album Division: This may become a tradition. So...0 from Midnights, 1 from Debut, 1 from Speak Now, 1 from 1989, 2 from reputation, 2 from evermore, 3 from Red (Taylor's Version), 3 from folklore, 4 from Fearless (Taylor's Version), and 5 from Lover.

[thegreatestsandwich]

A Guiding Sea (Dream of Endless x Corpse Bride!Reader) - Part 1

Pairing: Morpheus x Corpse Bride!Reader

Word count: 8k

Summary: In a desperate attempt to free himself from the Burgess prision, Morpheus decides to wed the ghost of a bride who haunted the basement he was being held at. But not all decitions are bright, and Morpheus soon would learn that freedom came at a cost.

Warning: Mentions of blood, sacrifice, vaguely death, characters you will hopefully hate and more stuff

A/N: So this is part 1! it took me quite a while, I know, I know, it’s not as long as you hoped but I promise there would be more things to come, I actually pretty proud of the second part and the third one (spoiler, the third one is still my favorite by far.) I recomend listening to really sad taylor swift songs, and I hope you can feel a few specific ones on this one as I listened to them in repeat. By the way, every comment, reblog or even question is happily accepted! And ignore my english, I really suck at it :’)

Every story has a sad beginning

“I think I've seen this film before And I didn't like the ending” -Taylor Swift

In the world of symbolisms, the sea represent the beginning of life itself, it represents the darkness paths of the human life, the beautiful formlessness chaos that surrounded all living creatures, a world of unknown.

His arrival became the town’s gossip, a man who just lost his wife on a fire that burned everything he had, a father with two little kids to take care of a man of business. He bought Fawney’s Rigs manor from a local demon exorcist, yet he was never seen before. Some claim he needed a bit of time to arrange a few things before he made his grand introduction, others said he was a demon himself and his kids were two orphans he kidnapped. But in reality, he just love the solace of the unknowingness.

Roderick Burgess was his name, a tall and slender man, one look at him and you would understand that this man never spend a day working under the sun to survive in this world, his dirty blond hair and blue eyes full of secrets was his part of his charisma, he was not handsome yet he attracted the attention of the others with his way with words. He was smarter than he portrayed himself as, a genius in other words. Rich and warmness laced around his voice wherever he spoke. His smile captivating and his movements always with grace.

He introduce himself on one of the town’s festivities, paying for all the towns drinks, a courtesy from his persona, a token of his gratitude as he appreciated these few days without interruption. He introduced his sons, Randall and Alex, both a perfect image of his father.

But his sons were different from him, Alex, the youngest one of the two was a complete reflection of his father, yet his nervousness made him difficult to achieve his same results, while Randall was a complete opposite, always rebelling himself from the mold his father created for the two of them. He was proud of his mistakes, always bragging he was the only one who could made them right. Tall and charismatic as his father, Randall always thanked the lord every single night that he looked more than his mother than his father. He inherited her dark unruly hair and her green eyes. An image of a perfect future husband.

Within the years, Roderick Burgess gain the town’s trust, some described him as a man who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted, his hard work and his insistence of achieved perfection only gained him the reputation of a honorable man. There were rumors in the darkest parts of the town of his insistence of conquering Death, of wanting to keep cheating his way around it and live years beyond what was known at the time.

As the years passed, his popularity grew, the town began worshiping the path he walked on, whatever he said was sacred and anything he despise was burned to the ground. With time he formed a secret club, most believed he was destined to greatness, to domain the art of magic, while those who began questioning his sanity became banished from society.

Your parents were part of his most devoted followers, both grateful of his actions, as it was his hand and his words that helped them to become pregnant with you. The moment you were born he was present, and he was the first one to welcome you at the land of the living, whispering how you would have a beautiful path ahead of you. You were raised believing everything he said, his emotions were yours, his words were law and his actions were meant to become history. You hated him with passion.

Your constant presence on Fawney Rig’s manor became the catalyst of your doom. Randall became infuriated with you, at first it started with the typical children’s fights, a tug of your hair here and there, the stealing of your sweets and in result you wanted to punch his face, your father approved of your dedication and encourage you, asking to come get him when you decided to get your revenge while your mother grounded you because of your violence.

Randall became a constant presence on your life, he force his way into the position of best friend and on the first night of snow, he gave you a scarf he knitted himself without any help, it was a horrible scarf, a mismatched creation of colors and too breakable for usage. But you loved it anyway and used it with much care.

He kissed you under the mistletoe and declare his love for you.

You accepted it and gave yours to him.

It was forbidden but exciting, both of you knew that your parents (especially your dad who claimed he would strangle any guy who would dare to kiss you) would killed both of you. Randall loved the secrecy, the secret meetings on the middle of the night, he would always tell you he didn’t need more, that you were enough and he was hoping he was enough for you.

On your twenty-one birthday he planted a whole garden for you, he went beyond himself and looked for beautiful and exotic plants, claiming that they could be beautiful but nowhere near as you.

That garden became your sanctuary. The moon became your only witness, and he became what you needed to survive.

To the others, this day was no different to the others, but for Randall, the moment the moon step into the sky, this night would mean everything to him, hoping his plan would go swiftly. He began whistling around the empty halls, taking full advantage of his father’s meeting.

His feet carried him towards his father’s office, opening carefully and he went inside. Randall closed the door carefully and observed his surroundings, his father was an organized man and he was grateful for that.

After grabbing what he needed, Randall walked faster towards the kitchens and looked for your basket. His eyes found it.

‘Meet me at our place when the moon is at its highest point?’

Randall placed the little note inside your fruit basket, he tried to memorize your schedule but your mother always changed it each week, he knew she suspected your meetings, and there were a few occasions she almost caught the both of you.

After your first meetings, both of you became noticeable tired, bags under your eyes, words suppressed by a few yawns and your movements weren’t sharp. Perhaps your parents gave you a bit more freedom but Roderick wasn’t your parents, he was more strict and harsh with his sons. Wanting them to learned his footsteps, Alex was in the right path, always seeking the approval of his father but Randall was different.

If you put Randall and Alex against each other, you would notice the differences between the both of them. Alex always followed Roderick’s words, his words were his law and even as Randall understood why his little brother wanted to succeed like his father, he also wanted more for him, Alex was smart on his own way, but his true self was far more empathic than the grand Roderick Burgess. Randall always was thankful of the moments he manage to had with his mother, she was a beautiful lady, inside and outside, and sometimes even wonder why a pathetic man like his father was able to get an intelligent and charismatic lady.

His mother was soft and always accepted their mistakes, Randall didn’t care to make his father proud, he only dreamed to make his mother proud and happy with the decisions he took on his life. His ideologies always lied somewhere else, far beyond the beliefs of his father, he wanted to be free, to travel the world, to discover the secrets out there. He didn’t care about the magic or the society, he didn’t want to be trapped, Randall was a free soul, he deserve to fly far away from this prison.

Sometimes he pity Alex, as he idea was to stay behind. He really pity him.

  You tried your best to be quiet as you opened your window. There was bad ideas and going out of the window to meet your secret boyfriend was one of those. The first leg out was easy, the second one was easier, but the fall and pain that comes with your idiotic decision began questioning your intelligence.

A part of you hated not changing for something more comfortable but you needed to made the impression that you were actually going to bed, and even then you actually had to pretend to sleep as your father stayed with you a few minutes, talking about completely random stuff, you loved your father and appreciate his way of trying to understand parenthood but tonight, you just wanted him to go to bed.

You landed on your back, silently cursing Randall for all he was putting you through, you stood up limping and quickly fix your night dress. The night was cold as the beginning of winter was approaching fast. You began walking towards you meeting place, the first steps were hard as your legs were screaming in pain but you ignored it. Your mind beginning to form a huge speech of how he was at fault with your pain.

You saw him sitting under a tree, his eyes were close but you notice how tense he was, the words on his note were simple and you hoped whatever he wanted to talk about this late at night was something light and not heartbreaking.

“Excuse me good sir,” You deepened your voice, it sounded funny as his face began breaking into a smile. “You seem to be far away from your sleeping quarters.”

His head turned towards your voice, smile full on display. “I am truly sorry officer, I am afraid I’ve been waiting for this fair maiden and I did not notice how quickly time passed.”

“Fair maiden?” You asked, still faking the voice. “Perhaps this fair maiden had some trouble walking fast?”

He hummed in contemplation. “I do not think so, she is quite slow and looks like a org.” His smile widened. “You might have seen her, a tiny little bit, when she gets mad she turns green, drools while she sleeps.”

You frowned, taking off your -his- scarf and began hitting him with it. “You idiot! Here I am, really late at night -thanks to you- and you compare me with an ogre?!”

Randall began laughing loudly, “Wait! Wait!” You paused, your eyes squinted. “You would make a really cute ogre.”

“You ass!” You began hitting him again but he didn’t care, he grabbed both of your arms and put them around his neck. Randall began swaying softly, gently massaging your waist.

“You are late.” He whispered against your temple. “One more second of waiting and I would have left”

You scoffed at his antics, closing your eyes, “Well, do not let me stop you, oh mighty Randall Burgess, I did not know your time was gold.”

He hummed in contemplation then playfully sighed. “So, how do you plan on repay me for my kindness?”

“Repay you for your kindness?” You gasp offended.

“Well, of course,” He put a strand of hair behind your ear. Still whispering “As the greatest and kindest soul here on Fawney’s Rig, I stayed here, waiting for your arrival with eagerness. So,” tilted his head down, lips softly touching yours. “How will you repay me, my darling?”

You closed the distance smiling, finally kissing him. You slowly back away but still having his arms around your form. “Better?” You whispered.

He hummed, his eyes still closed, enjoying the feeling of your warm body against him. “Love the kiss, still no close to repay me for my kindness.”

“Oh you little shi…” His hand quickly covered your mouth, he felt your laugh against it.

“Dear Lord! Who would teach such unhinged words to this young, pure and lovely lady! I must find them and punish them for their sins!”

You playfully pushed him away “You sir, are an idiot. Now,” You began walking towards the fountain. Sitting carelessly on the concrete basin, ignoring the fact that you were getting wet. “Are you going to tell me why did you ask me to come here? Because it’s later than our usual meeting time.”

Randall smiled happily, holding three fingers in front of his chest, “You now the game, my darling. Three guesses, two clues and one price...Please indulge me, I really prepare a lot for this.”

You sighed tiredly, “Fine.”

He kneeled in front of you, clearing his throat. “And now, please present your first guess.”

Your lips pursed in concentration, trying your hardest to not laugh at his antics. “My first guess is that your father decided to finally move back into his real true home…Hell.” You sarcastically smiled.

“Ha, funny and as much as I want that to be true, sadly it’s not.” He grabbed your hand and kissed one finger. “You may now ask for your first clue.”

“Is your father part of this surprise?” You flickered his nose, softly laughing at his frown.

He nodded in response. “Yes and no, ready for your next guess?”

“Hey! That’s not helpful!”

“I don’t make the rules sweetheart.”

“You invented this game, these rules are practically yours but fine, play dirty, I don’t care–,” You paused again, there was only two more guesses before the finishing this game, you needed to be smart about this. “My second guess is that you are cheating and you faked this surprise to just come and see me.”

“Clever but not quite,” He sat at your feet, his arms laid on your knees, his fingers playing with yours. “Second and final clue?”

“Mmhh, did you buy it?”

“Buy it? No, did I acquire it? Yes, that third clue was from the generous of my heart, by the way.”

“Generous, sure.” You kissed his forehead. “I’m ready to make my final guess.”

“Go ahead, gorgeous.”

“Are we finally leaving from this place?” You whispered, hoping his answer was yes.

“Soon, you know I always keep my promises, but no, not yet.” His eyes shined with happiness, “Ready to see your surprise?” You nodded, the hand that was kept behind his back moved between the two of you. It was a small black velvet box, you gasped, your eyes widened in surprise at his actions. “It’s not much, kinda had to stole it from my father’s security safe. It belonged to my mom, was her favorite ring or something, don’t have the full story, my grandparents are really bad at telling it.”

He opened the box, it was a simple ring gold ring with a small purple stone. It was perfect. “It’s an amethyst, my mom always believed that amethysts were supposed to help opening the heart to experience love, corny; I know.” He paused, his hand grabbing yours, searching your eyes for confirmation, you nodded with a soft smile. He smiled back and carefully put the ring on your finger. “I know this is not what you wanted, that you really hoped to just grab our stuff and leave this place, but I am working on it, it has taken some time but I almost finish with some things before that. I just hope you can wait just a bit longer.”

“So your idea of asking me to wait longer is to propose?” You laughed.

“Not really, this is my idea of finally have grown a pair and ask you to be mine, which you just accepted and there’s no going back now!”

“That’s not how proposals work Randall.” You rest your forehead with his. “I could still say no.”

“You could, but between you and I, we both know I am not a good-looking crier.” He kissed your ringed finger. “Give me a few days and we go somewhere far away, change our names with something completely outrageous, get married and had days and days full of love making, yeah?”

“I can’t wait.” You smiled.

Silence surrounded both of you, his fingers still caressing your new ring, you loved these moments between the both of you, imagining a future with Randall, away from your crazy families.

“I have to talk you.” He whispered, it was so quiet you almost missed it. “My dad talked to me yesterday.” You hummed, turning your attention towards him. “It’s about the war.”

“What about it?”

“He wants me to go,” Randall paused, noticing your body becoming tense at the words, “Look, I know, but the sooner I go the sooner I can comeback and take you away from here.”

You stood up, pushing him away. “Are you demented? One does not go to war and come back in one piece.”

“Well I will be the exception!”

“No.” You firmly stated. “No, Randall, just no!”

“My father promise me…”

“Oh yes, of course! If your father promise you something then he will fulfill it! Just like he promise I would stop cleaning the floors! And guess what Randall? I am still cleaning them!”

“You don’t understand.” He grabbed your hand. “He knows there is someone, he knows  about my feelings, he knows I plan to ask someone to marry me, okey maybe I just asked you and he doesn’t know, but still. This is progress, he is willing to let choose my own fate.”

You scoffed, walking away from him. “This is your father, he would never stop choosing your path.”

“Why is it so hard to believe?” He whispered, “I don’t want to fight, not with you, never with you.”

“Then stop, think about this.” You hissed angrily. “This is no child’s game Randall, this is war, people die in war.”

“And I’m not going to die, I’m coming back.” Randall tried to assure you.

“How can I trust your words? War is no forgiving Randall, your father knows what he is doing sending you there.” You chocked around your words. “How can I be sure you will come back?”

“Because I’m coming back for you, only you, no matter how broken my body ends up, I’m coming for you.” He grabbed your hands, tugging you against his body. “Trust me, you think I’m planning to let you go after you said yes to me?”

“I don’t like this.”

“You don’t have to like it, you just have to have faith,” He placed his forehead against you, cleaning away some tears from your eyes. “Have faith in me.”

“I…”

“You will leave this place with a wedding ring on your hand, with the most beautiful vows a man can muttered. Trust that.”

“You are asking too much.”

“I’m asking what I know will happened, you will be the most beautiful bride in the whole world.” You sobbed against his chest. “I can already see it, your hair in a beautiful braid, flowers adorning it, a veil covering your flushing face and the most beautiful wedding dress on your body, so just trust me in this.”

“I want to but…”

“Shhh, just promise me, when the time comes and you hear the words, you will leave this place with a happy smile on your face.”

You shook your head, muttering a soft ‘I swear on it’ against his chest. Randall kissed your forehead, leaving his lips there for a second.

“Let me see that pretty face.” He whispered and you complied, your eyes were puffy from your crying, your nose red and your lips still trembling with emotion. “Would you look at that? Such a pretty little lady there.”

“Shut up, I’m still mad at you.”

He tenderly smiled, “That’s a shame, I wanted one more kiss before we go back.”

“You don’t deserve my kisses.” And he laughed.

He walked you back towards your window, it was difficult as he refuse to let you go. He set the pace, it was slow as he demanded a bit more time with you, and reluctantly let you go, helping you climb up your window.

“Sweet dreams, my lady.” He told you once you settled safely inside.

“I’m still angry at you, you will have to do a lot of nice things for my forgiveness.”

“And I will happily do them without any question.”

“Stupid.” You said smiling and left the window, straight to bed.

 You woke up startled at the sound of your door opening brusquely. “You better get yourself ready girl, Sir Roderick has invited the family to breakfast” Your mother harshly told you, throwing a dress at your direction. “I expect you to be ready now!”

You groaned, it was way early and you had a few hours of sleep, reluctantly getting ready, the dress your mother throw at you was way fancier for a simple breakfast but you knew better that contradict her in any form.

You left your hair down as the dress your mother gave you revealed your shoulders and a part of you felt a bit weird with sitting on the same table as Roderick Burgess and him watching you. You step out of your room and walked towards the kitchen, your father was reading some newspaper, apparently your mother force him with his fanciest clothes as well.

“Good morning dad.” You greeted him with a kiss on his cheek.

“Morning peanut,” His eyes left the paper, watching your dress with a frown. “Huh, I sense your mother’s fashion on your persona.”

You nodded biting your lip.

“Knew it, I still don’t get why are we dressing like this, we must look like those weird high society people, who drinks tea with their pinky raised.”

“Mom said we have to make an impression.”

“Your mother said I had to make an impression while cutting wood, tried to make me put on a tie and everything, she’s getting the madness disease.”

“Madness disease?” You asked him confusedly.

Your father stood up and walked towards you, “The same one that Burgess man has, crazy people, I’m telling you.”

“Where is mom?”

“Oh, she left minutes ago, complaining that you took too long but I stayed behind to wait for you. So, shall we go and face our own personal hell?” He offered you his arm, you link it without question and both of you went towards the great dinning room. “I have a plan if we need an escape, I will swallow a grape and you help me with it and we leave because you are so worried for this old man. Deal?”

“Deal.”

The dinning room was one of the places you truly despise inside the manor, shamelessly big with the floors you always hated cleaning, your mother, as your father told you before, was sitting quite comfortably next to Roderick’s left, batting eyelashes like a teenager next to her first love, you felt your father tense at your side but decided that it wasn’t worth trying to call her out as Roderick wasn’t paying her any attention. Randall and Alex were sitting in front of each other, the youngest one looked tense and nervous, while the older one looked bored.

Your father cleared his throat, managing to separate your mother a bit from Roderick, yet she didn’t move far away from him, you nudge his side and sat beside your mother. The air was tense as you looked at the breakfast plate that was already been served, it was cold and you suspected it was just sat there for some minutes. It was soggy and unappealing but when your mother kicked your leg from under a table, you force it down as best as you could.

It was awful.

“When I bought this manor I knew it would bring challenges,” Roderick began, his voice demanded attention, it was forceful and harsh, his kids tensed at his words, your mother sighed contently, nodding along. “and loosing my wife along the way made them even harder. I became a single parent and tried to navigate my life around them.” He cut a piece of bread. Chewing it loudly. You winced at the sound, trying not to gag in disgust.

“Everything I did, I did them for my children, I never lied to,” Roderick turned towards Randall. “And I always hoped for the same.”

“You are such a good example for your boys and for my girl, we are so grateful to let us be here.

Roderick ignored your mother’s words, “I noticed something quite particular yesterday as I walked to my office.”

Randall tensed. “I consider myself an organized man, I know where the things should go and when someone moved them, so imagine my surprise to see that my safe box was moved just a tiny bit.”

“What are you implying Burgess?” Your father stood up offended. “You invited us here to what…accused us of stealing you?”

“Well, yes.” Roderick simple stated. “You have something belonging to me girl.” He turned to you. “I opened the doors of my home to you, to your family and you have the audacity of stealing for me.”

“No!” Your mother exclaimed, “I mean, my daughter would never steal from you, she is not that stupid to do so.”

“Shut up,” Your father harshly said, “Watch your words Burgess.”

“Why should I?” He smiled. “She’s wearing my wife’s ring.”

Your eyes turned towards your hand, you didn’t took off the ring. “I…”

“Father stop.” Randall stood up, “If you want to blame someone, blame me, I did it, I went into your office and stole the ring.”

Before his father could said anything, he continued, Randall straightened his back, trying to ease the tension around his shoulders, his eyes met yours and saw the fear behind them, your father stood protectively in front of you, waiting his reasoning to gifting you a ring that didn’t belonged to him.

“I asked to marry me.” He whispered, “We’ve been seeing each other for quite some time.”

Roderick was quiet, his eyes turning to you. “I see.” He walked towards the exit and left without a word.

“I…” Randall began.

“Not a word kid, not a word.” Your father stopped him and dragged you away from the diner, your mother walking behind quietly.

  “What were you thinking?!” Your father exclaimed angrily, he began pacing. “You could have chosen anyone. Anyone (Y/N)! Why him?”

“I’m going to stop you there,” Your mother intervened, huge smile on her face. “She made a magnific choice! You are seriously thinking our daughter could end up with a nobody? This is the son of Roderick Burgess, we should be excited she at least know how to choose them.”

“You are not seeing the point,” He turned to look at you, “Why him peanut?”

“Dad,” You began, your fingers began playing with the ring. “I love him.”

“Honey, no, that isn’t love,” His hands cups your face tenderly, making you focus on him. “He isn’t worth it, please trust me.”

“No, no, he is worth,” You desperately said. “He is worth everything dad, I know, please, I know.”

“So you prefer your daughter end up on the streets? Let’s face it, this is the only shot she has, you think there would be another guy who would love her? That man does not exist, Randall is there, willingly gave her a ring, he’s going to take care of her.”

“There is more than ‘taking care of’, she needs to understand that the world is big, he might not be the one, come on! I need you on my side.” Your father begged, “She deserves better than that man and his son, she deserves someone who would willingly…”

“Willingly what?” She spat, venom on her voice. “Willingly die for her? Or maybe, I don’t know, defied death for her? Let’s be real for a second.” She paused, “She is not going to find that, that love does not exist, it never has.”

Your father looked at her quietly, his lips began to tremble, same with his hands. “So my love does not count then?”

“You knew this marriage was,” She never faltered her strong gaze. “And she needs to understand that as well.”

Your mother pushed your father away when he tried to reach for you, standing in front of you, hands on her hips. She didn’t said anything, just stood there watching your father, challenging him to say anything, to find a reason to win this argument. Your father stood there, his gaze turning between you and your mother, staying for a few seconds longer on your mother. Your eyes could see the heartbreak on his eyes, the betrayal that screamed ‘Roderick Burgess has won’, it was loud and painful, and a part of you wanted to apologize to him, to say you didn’t want to love his son but you couldn’t help it, you really tried to hate him.

Someone began knocking at the door urgently, your mother went to opened to find Randall standing there panting, her face broke into a smile and let him enter. Randall walked to you, grabbing your hands. “Could I speak to her for a second? Alone.”

“Of course sweetheart, have all the time you need.” Your mother left dragging your father away, he didn’t spare you a glance.

“Randall,” You began, shaking his hands of yours, “I told you so…”

“I know, I know, but,” He grabbed your hands again with desperation. “He just needs some time to understand, this news were a shock to him, he will understand.”

“No he won’t.”  You breathed heavily. “He would never understand.”

“He will.”

“If I asked you once again, to leave everything behind, would you say yes?” You tried again, hoping and praying he would say yes, yes to leave everything behind you, to just grabbed very little and start again somewhere far away from this nightmare.

Randall didn’t answered.

“Randall,” You whispered.

“The plan still stands, I’ll go to war and then I will come back and marry you, that’s the plan.”

You shook your head, trying to get away from him but he didn’t let you, wrapping his arms around your form, forcing you to stay still, tears began falling down your face, knowing what this meant. Yes, he will marry you, you trust that, but sadly, your lives would be revolve around his father and that would never stop and sadly, a part of you was ready to accept that fate.

 Randall left a few days after, after what happened at the breakfast, the both of you didn’t try and talk again, yet you still were there at the door, hugging him tightly as a truck came and pick you up, he kissed the side of your head before leaving.

It was harder than you thought it would be, you knew it would be difficult to continue your days without him, but the pain that came with his leaving was hurtful and suffocating. And most of your days you spend it crying his parting.

Everything around you was changing, some things for the better while others for the bad, your mother became more involve with Roderick Burgess and your father becoming more distant with her. You saw in first row how their marriages began burning out and sadly you couldn’t do anything to stop it.

It was past midnight when he first saw you breaking down. He sat down next to you, taking the letter that was on your hands. It was from Randall, explaining how it might take more time for him to come back home.

Your father stayed quietly and gently moved you onto his lap, tucking your face on his neck, he began humming softly, the same song he used to hum when you were a little baby. You kept crying, apologizing to him for hurting him with your feelings but he hummed louder, drowning your apologies on his voice. You were beginning to fall asleep when you felt him kissing your forehead, you felt like a kid in his arms again.

“I know peanut, I know.”

Your mom was a different story, she began moving upwards on the Roderick’s circle. The Order of the Ancient Mysteries was secret and only a few people were lucky enough to be part of it. Your mother was one of the lucky ones.

She began to change within the passing days, she became a totally new persona, more secretive, more sarcastic and more angry. After a few weeks of Randall’s leaving, your mother moved into another room on the manor, leaving your father and you alone.

Your father took it hard.

He became a shadow of what he used to be, faking a smile wherever you became preoccupied with him, promising you that he was just tired of how hard work has been.

You became a shadow as well, your faith in Randall’s returning was fading with each day and you began wondering if you two were truly in love after all. His letters became scattered, sometimes you would receive one each week, sometimes one each month, but now you were lucky if you receive one a month.

You stopped wearing the ring, opting for having it on a necklace, closer to your heart, you force the idea of having it there, closer to your heart. Not on your finger, where you would see it. A sealed fate.

The beginning of autumn was closer, and that meant the cold winds were around the corner, sometimes you think those two seasons were a reflection of your relationship with Randall was, beginning to get cold and uncolored.

You were putting some plates away when your father came into the kitchen, he was tired, you could tell but there was a glint on his eyes you haven’t had seen in a long time, he was trying so hard not to smile while having something behind his back.

“It’s apple season.” He began.

“It is,” You nodded, now paying close attention to him. “What has you so happy?”

“Well, I found your mother’s basket the other day,” Now it was ‘your mother’ not ‘my darling’ or ‘honey’ those stopped days back. “And I saw the apples and thought ‘maybe it would be good idea to grabbed a few’…in a manly way, of course.”

You tried not to laugh, fully sitting on the counter. “And what is a ‘manly way’ dad?”

Your father frown, trying to find a good way of describing his way with words. “Well, a ‘manly way’ is just that, grabbing apples…in a manly way.” He nodded, proud of his description. “Also was hoping you would bake a pie, as a reward for bringing such quality produce.”

You shook your head smiling, you missed this mood on your father, happily, free, joking. You missed him a lot. Your hop down the counter and grabbed the apples, you carefully looked at them, making your father nervous.

“Did I do a good job, peanut?” He carefully asked, finally sitting on one of the chairs.

“To be honest,” You began, trying not to smile. “You did an excellent job dad…so…”

“So…?”

“How’s mom?” You turned away, beginning to wash and peeling the apples. “Haven’t seen her for a while.”

Your father shrugged uncomfortably, “Probably with that Burgess…she spends most of her days with him anyway.”

“Dad…”

“No, no, it’s fine, I got used to it, it’s not like she’s my wife or something.” He rested his head on the back of the chair, looking at the ceiling before sighing. “She began saying she’s single, guess this is finally over.”

“Don’t think that” You turned, “Mom just needs a little push and she would come back. I know she would.”

“It’s really fine peanut.” He reassure you, trying to smile a bit. “But I would love if we don’t talk about this.”

You nodded.

“How’s the kid? Doing good?” He asked you, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

You shrugged, “I…really don’t know.” You glance at him for a moment, turning away quickly and blinking faster, trying to stop the tears from falling down. “Hasn’t wrote in a while.”

“Peanut…”

“It’s fine, he really needs to focus so he can come back faster.”

Your father nodded and dropped the subject.

“We could do some hot tea.” He said.

“I would love that.”

 It was later at night and you were still awake, your mind busying itself with doubts, was it worth it waiting for him? His feelings for you were real? Or were just a game to him?

You wanted to keep positive, you really tried but he was gone for far too long that you began questioning yourself, you wanted him here, with you, you wanted him to put you first and his father seconds. But he put his father’s needs and wants first, what does that mean? Would your relationship fail? Was it worth even trying?

You turned towards the window, your hands got under your pillow and you began watching how the light entered your room, it turned everything with a mystical shade of blue and white, your eyes traveled to that small box you kept his letters, you haven’t read them in a while, it was hard but you couldn’t do that to yourself.

You heard a noise from outside, you frown and sat down, your bed sheets pooled on your lap, carefully moving around them, trying to keep quiet. You glanced outside your window, your eyes only saw shadows and for a moment you swore you saw them move. You bit your lip, saying to yourself that you were tired and that was just your imagination playing games with you.

A hand grabbed you from behind, covering your mouth harshly and dragging you out of your room, you began kicking, trying to break free from the stranger’s grasp. You manage to bite onto his hand and when he let’s your mouth free you screamed.

“Dad!” You screamed with force, the strange closed your mouth.

“Shh pretty lady, we don’t want to wake the entire manor, do we?” He whispered on your ear. “Such a beautiful girl needs to learn her place with a man, and that is your silence.”

You heard footsteps running towards you and the sound of a shotgun.

“Listen to me piece of shit,” Your dad aimed the gun at the stranger, “Let go of my daughter before I shoot you.”

You saw shadows moved behind him, you scream ‘turn around, please turn around, there are more’ but you couldn’t the sound was muffled by the strangers hand. He laughed, kissing your temple.

“Sorry man,” The stranger smiled against your temple, “He said she was alone, no hard feelings.” You saw how someone appeared behind your dad and hit him on the back of the head. “Sorry about this sweetheart.”

 You were on the ground when you woke up, your head was throbbing in pain and everything was dark and it felt humid. You stood up and stumble for a bit, your hand looking for the wall to support yourself.

You didn’t know where you were, you didn’t even know if you were still on the manor. Your father, god you hoped your father was okey, that they didn’t hurt him. A sigh escaped you, a hand dragged across your face, trying to shake off the earie feeling.

“Good, you are awake.”

You recognized the voice, you tried looking for her but the room was so dark it was difficult. “Mom?” You asked the emptiness.

“Don’t call me that.” She responded, taking a few steps until she revealed herself to you, her face shown no emotion.

“Where’s dad?” You tried again.

“Your father met his fate when he intervened against the orders.” She replied, her feet carried her around you, that’s when you finally notice the bars.

“What?” You touched them, “Where is he? What’s going on? Why am I on this place?” You questioned her, shaking the bars hoping for something. “I don’t understand mom, what’s happening?”

“You have caused this,” She stood in front of you, “This is your punishment…the blood of your fathers is in your hands” Your mother whispered before she left, never glancing at you.

 The days passed or you thought so. It was harder to keep track when you didn’t see the sun or the moon. Sometimes a guard came here and brought you something to eat, something you didn’t eat. You just sat there quietly, still hearing her words repeating over and over again.

Your father’s blood was on your hands.

Your hands were full of his blood.

It was your fault.

A bag of clothes hit you in the face, forcing you out of your thoughts, your hands grabbed it.

“Roderick is asking for you.” Your mother came back, she was wearing a dark cloak while she waited for you to start dressing. “We must be on time, hurry up child.”

You stood up and beginning to strip, you didn’t care she was watching you, you didn’t care if the guard came and watch you too. Your mind was far away and you were so tired. However you could, you manage to put on what she throw you. It was a dress, the material was soft and you were grateful for a change of clothes. It was white and sleeveless, it didn’t fit your body as it was a few sizes too big but you didn’t care at this point.

“Turn around,” You did as you were told, your mother hummed, “Do a quick braid, Randall was right, you don’t look good with you hair down.”

She motioned the guard next to her to open up the doors and cuff you. She grabbed your arm and began dragging you away from there, it was hard to keep up with her steps as your body was too weak, malnourish and tired. You just wanted to sleep. Your mother force you to climb the steps, throwing harsh words at your direction if you stumble for a bit.

The light almost made you blind, your eyes closed in pain, it was far too long from the last time you saw the light, and it wasn’t even a bright day, perhaps closer to night time.

She kept dragging you until you were pushed you at the center, the room was filled with people, dressed the same as your mother, you began to feel uncomfortable as they were watching you closely.

They moved when Roderick stepped forward, his face was angry, you could tell from the way his mouth was making a disgust grimace. He looked you up and down, circling around you, he force your back to straighten up. “She is missing something.” He said, a few women stepped forward quickly, one putting a veil on your head, covering your face rapidly, another gave you a bouquet of white narcissus. You were confused but said nothing. “You know what you are here child?”

You said nothing.

“You are here to correct the mistakes of your sins.” His fingers motioned forward. “Bring him here.” Two men carried a coffin, putting it in front of you. “I thought you were meant for greatness but you only brought doom with your birth.” He opened the coffin, a corpse was laying there dressed on the finest clothes.

“This is your doing.” He continued, he grabbed your chin, forcing you to face the corpse, “My son is dead because of you.”

You gasped at the sight of Randall, his face wasn’t him, this wasn’t him, you couldn’t. No. You won’t believe this, you know Roderick is lying, Randall promise he would come back, he would come back for you. You tried to move backwards but were force to stay put. Two men grabbed your arms and forced you on your knees.

“Look at your doing!” Roderick screamed. “My son is dead because of you!”

Your mother stepped forward, handing him a book. “It is ready, my lord, the binding circle is complete.”

Roderick nodded content, he grabbed the book and opened it, “Brothers, sisters, please step back, we are about to begin.”

They left you there, next to Randall’s body.

“We are here reunited to do the impossible. We are about to be written in history as the greatest, as the ones who deserved everything. As the ones who capture Death and have it under our control.” He began, his eyes turning onto the open page. “We completed drawing the binding circle, the totem of Death’s calling, Death requires sacrifices, as its name said, ‘The one who guides you to the end.’ But today. Today we are going to capture it. Death separates the soul of the body, Death leaves the ones who doesn’t deserve to live here and takes the ones who truly were meant to be something away. Death took my son, Death took what belonged to me and we will have it return, Randall will return to us!”

His followers cheered loudly.

“This child was the true sacrifice, not my son. She deserves this punishment for her sins, she trapped my son onto her web of lies, and today, she will mend her mistakes today.”

He put the open book on a pedestal and his arms opened widely. “Chant with me brothers and sisters. ‘Ego te hac nocte voco. Cum sol occultavit. Mors venit ad me. Audite avocatos meo. Mors venit ad me. Tibi hoc sacrificium est, redde nobis quod amisimus.’ Again!” He demanded.

His followers said the words with force, chanting them with gleeful madness, following their leader, over and over again the voices were heard. The air felt cold and hot at the same time, the candles that surrounded the binding circle were blown off. Roderick smiled in madness. “Again!” He demanded again.

You were trembling with fear, they sounded lunatic. You couldn’t move away, something made your knees stuck on the ground, perhaps your body was frozen in fear, perhaps their words were doing something real. Perhaps Death would come and spare your life, perhaps it would take you away. You didn’t know.

Roderick stepped into the binding circle, kneeling behind you, he grabbed your chin forcefully, “Tonight Death will take what was wrongly left behind and in return it will bring what was taken away before its time.” You felt the blade of a knife against your neck, carefully caressing it. “You desperately wanted to be a bride so badly that your demands provoke my son’s death, you will bring him back, you were meant to be a bride but never a wife, you will doom whoever decides to wed you child. You are a mistake. You are a bad omen, you will be grateful for my hand.”

 The sound of a knife hitting the floor shut everybody’s chanting. “Did it work?” Someone asked.

Roderick stood up, pushing your body harshly on the ground, cleaning the remaining blood on your wedding skirt. He walked towards his son and gently patted his face. “Randall? Come on son, it’s time to wake from your slumber.”

Randall didn’t move, his face was still pale and his chest unmoving. Roderick screamed in frustration, kicking the pedestal where the book was being held. “Take that thing away from me,” His head motioned your slumped body, a small pool of blood was soaking your dress. “Pointless.”

Your mother took an uninterested glance at you, moving carefully to the angry man. “What should we do now, my lord?”

Roderick closed his eyes in frustration, “We will try again, brothers and sisters, Death will come and I will have my revenge.”

“And with the body, sir?” She asked, her head nodding at your direction. “What should we do with it?”

“Bury it, burn it, I do not care.” He began walking away. “Do what you like, in the end, that is your child, is it not?”

Your mother watched him leave, she sighed tiredly before turning to the others. “Bury her next to the man who gave her life. They deserve to at least rot together in hell.”

The others nodded before they began dragging you away, a trail of blood was left behind you. Your mother went to pick up the book, a random page. “Huh…I see.”

So! What do you think? Hope you like it!

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