#Nash Farm

[apartmentsmoke]

where is my bathena and bucktommy double date where bobby starts telling the chicken story, buck is cracking up, and tommy's feeling a little embarassed so he says, no, actually the funniest part was athena's reaction when bobby handed her the chicken

and bobby and athena take a moment to think wow. that really is how we met. thanks maurice

[ireton]

undefined

Credit to - Stephanie Nash

No Farms - No Food

An estimated 18,000 cattle were destroyed vs the 180,000 as stated by Stephanie.

[larryshapiro]

East Nash FD, Wilson, NC

[johnjhalseth]

1948 Nash Ambassador https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_Ambassador

L. Norman Dillon Farm Museum Fall Festival Oct 15 2023

Dillon Farm Museum - Home

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[the-joy-of-knowledge]

Becoming an Intelligent Woman

My Dears,

There is no greater goal than being a fine woman who is intelligent, kind, and elegant. As much as we all want to be described with these adjectives, it takes a great amount of discipline to get there. It is very doable only if you are ready to put in the work.

Here are steps you can add to your routine in the next 4 weeks that will make you 1% more intelligent than you were before. This is a process that should become a habit not a goal. It is long term, however, I want you to devote just 4 weeks into doing these steps first and recognize the changes that follow.

Watch documentaries: This is the easiest step, we all have access to Youtube. Youtube has a great number of content on art, history, technology, food, science etc that will increase your knowledge and pique your curiosity. I really did not know much about world history especially from the perspective of World war 1 & 2, the roaring 20s, Age of Enlightenment, Jazz era, monarchies etc but with several channels dedicated to breaking down history into easily digestible forms. I have in the last 4 weeks immersed myself into these documentaries. Here are a few I watched:

The fall of monarchies

The Entire History of United Kingdom

The Eight Ages of Greece

World War 1

World War 2

The Roaring '20s

The Cuisine of the Enlightenment

2. Read Classics: I recommend starting with short classics so that you do not get easily discouraged. Try to make reading easy and interesting especially if you struggle with finishing a book. Why classics? You see, if you never went to an exclusive private school in Europe or America with well crafted syllabus that emphasized philosophy, history, art, and literary classics, you might want to know what is felt like and for me this was a strong reason. Asides that, there is so much wisdom and knowledge available in these books. In these books, you gain insights to the authors mind, the historical context of the era, the ingenuity of the author, the hidden messages, and the cultural impact of these books. Most importantly, you develop your personal philosophy from the stories and lessons you have accumulated from the lives of the characters in the books you read. Here are classics to get you started:

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

Candide by Voltaire

Paradise lost by John Milton

3. Study the lives of people who inspire you: I dedicate one month to each person that fascinates me. I read their biography (date of birth, background, death, influences, work, style, education, personal life) For this month, I decided to study Frank Lloyd Wright because I was fascinated by the Guggenheim Museum in New York. I began to read about his influence in American Architecture (Organic architecture, Prairie School, Usonian style), his tumultuous personal life, his difficult relationship with his mentor (Louis Sullivan), his most iconic works etc. By the end of the year I would have learned the ins and outs of people I am inspired by through books and documentaries. Here are other people I plan to learn more about:

Winston Churchill

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Ada Lovelace

Benjamin Franklin

Helen Keller

John Nash

Isabella Stewart Gardner

Caroline Herrera

Ernest Hemingway

Catherine the Great

Ann Lowe

My dears, I hope you enjoyed this read. I cannot wait to write more on my journey to becoming a fine woman. I urge you to do this for four weeks and see what changes you notice. Make sure to write as well, it is important to document your progress.

Cheers to a very prosperous 2024!

[krispyweiss]

Neil Young to Appear with Stephen Stills at Light up the Blues for Autism Speaks

- “We’ll be there,” says Young, who hasn’t performed since 2019

Neil Young is making his return to the stage in a big way.

Not only is he appearing at Stephen Stills’ Light up the Blues benefit for Autism Speaks, Young’ll be sharing the stage with his old Buffalo Springfield and CSNY partner.

“We’ll be there to ‘Light up the Blues’ with Stephen, (his wife) Kristen and the family, doing our first show in four years with old friends for our autistic people around the world,” Young told Rolling Stone magazine.

Young, who hasn’t played live since 2019 and dropped out of Farm Aid in 2021 and ’22 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, is also slated to appear at Willie Nelson’s 90th-birthday shows April 29 and 30 at the Hollywood Bowl.

Light up the Blues is set for April 22 at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre.

“Stills and Young ride again,” Stills tweeted.

2/13/23

[cultureconnoisseurs]

On August the 15 1969, the Woodstock Music & Art Fair took place on a dairy farm in Bethel, NY. Over half a million people came to a 600-acre farm to hear 32 acts (leading and emerging performers of the time) play over the course of four days (August 15-18). Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, the Who, Janis Joplin and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were among the line-up. Woodstock is known as one of the greatest happenings of all time and –perhaps- the most pivotal moment in music history.

Joni Mitchell said, “Woodstock was a spark of beauty” where half-a-million kids “saw that they were part of a greater organism.” According to Michael Lang, one of four young men who formed Woodstock Ventures to produce the festival, “That’s what means the most to me – the connection to one another felt by all of us who worked on the festival, all those who came to it, and the millions who couldn’t be there but were touched by it.”

By Wednesday, August 13, some 60,000 people had already arrived and set up camp. On Friday, the roads were so clogged with cars that performing artists had to arrive by helicopter. Though over 100,000 tickets were sold prior to the festival weekend, they became unnecessary as swarms of people descended on the concert grounds to take part in this historic and peaceful happening. Four days of music… half a million people… rain, and the rest is history.

[middlingmay]

Runaway!Gale Part 2

Read part 1 here.

The next day, Gale heads to the local recruiting office. He hasn’t quite shaken his perception of the military as a brighter future. But it comes tumbling down like wet cardboard when they tell him he needs a permanent address, and can’t enlist without parental consent before he’s 21.

And just like that the spark that had been getting bigger and brighter since he stepped on that bus is all but snuffed out.

John finds him staring into nothing on a park bench later that day. His hands and ears are freezing and John shoves a dark knitted cap over Gale’s head and makes sure the tips of his ears are tucked inside. And he just sists with Gale, until he can finally tell John what happened.

Not cruel or dismissive, John checks Gale's shoulder with his own and says, “I don’t know what you know about the military, but they’re not big on individualism, buck.”

But he might know of a job going, if Gale is any good on farms. His buddy, Crosby’s family are looking for a stablehand as their last one is heading off the college. John is be happy to put in a good word for him.

In fact, he takes Gale to meet them that day.

Crosby’s family see what he’s like with their most cantankerous horse, a grumpy old mare, and offer him the job on the spot.

John beams with pride beside him.

The Crosby’s ask where he’s staying and when they hear he’s looking for somewhere more permanent, they offer him the converted barn loft, with food and board at a discounted rate. And if Gale accepts with shiny eyes, they’re polite enough not to say anything.

When they go, Gale hugs John. He can't remember the last time anyone hugged him, let alone when he initiated it, but John is the kindest person he’s ever met. And he tells him so.

He also asks if he can buy John something to eat as a thank you, finally prepared to eat something more than the odd bag of chips or piece of fruit now he’s gainfully employed.

John says no, but he can buy him something to eat as a date. If he wants, and when he's ready.

It goes well. John has him laughing until he nearly snorts milkshake out his nose. Gale flushes with embarrassment, but John looks delighted, like it's an achievement. They talk until closing and have to be kicked out.

John walks Gale back to his motel - for the last time since he’s moving to the Crosby’s barn tomorrow. Gale thinks it’s very sweet and when John says goodnight, John has to bite his lip and force himself away from Gale.

They take things slow. Even though things are on the up and up, Gale is still going through a lot of upheaval. He has a whole new life ahead of him full of potential, so John follows his lead.

Gale does start to let John push him out his comfort zone a bit. He lets John talk him into going to a party with his friends. Crosby’s there and still sweet and friendly. He meets Rosie who’s clever and a good conversationalist. He meets Curt who is full of life like John, with a little more bite, and Ken and Brady and Benny and Meatball.

Meatball loves Gale. Benny and John get jealous.

Gale also lets John take him to a baseball game. Gale keeps his anxiety under wraps, waiting to see if John is a betting man like his dad, but John just buys them each a hot dog, and sits with his arm around Gale's shoulders the whole time.

John also nudges Gale into social situations, to allow him to get to know more people. Gale already knows more people than he ever has in his life and doesn’t quite think it’s necessary, but he indulges John. In a way.

He gets to know Chief Harding and Alderman Huglin and Helen Nash, the Principal of the local high school. And Bucky teases him for making friends with all the straight laces. But the first time Gale manages to talk Harding out of writing John up for a ticket - for something he’d definitely been warned about approximately two dozen times before - he stops teasing Gale. And probably starts plotting a hundred ways to have fun with that development.

But through it all, John never tries to kiss Gale. He’s too afraid to scare him off.

It comes in a quiet moment.

John is hanging out with Gale at the ranch. Gale isn't on the clock, but he likes spending time with the horses whenever he can.

John asks Gale question after question about them and what Gale does with them. Eager, Gale leads John over to see them, to introduce him to them, excited John seems so interested in them and maybe this was something they could share.

But the closer they get, Gale notices a bit of fear in John’s eyes, and the horses definitely notice and they snort and stomp and John gasps a small, nervous, “Fuck!” and takes a step back.

And Gale realises John’s not asking because he’s interested in horses. He’s asking because Gale loves them, and he wants to let him talk and talk and talk about them.

Right there, in the barn, Gale kisses John with one hand in his hair and the other cupping his jaw.

John is dazed when Gale pulls back. Gale smiles sweet and walks away. He’d like to think he’s being coy - but inside he’s panicking and just doesn't quite know what else to do.

John snaps out of it and tackles Gale into a pile of hay, then Gale gets good and kissed, John's weight pressing down on him and a laugh on his lips.

John crowds Gale’s head with his arms, and his legs lay either side of Gale’s. John’s lips are a warm, pillowy pressure against his own and when John draws one lip between his own and sucks, Gale gasps at the tingling burst of pleasure.

And that’s all John needs. He licks inside Gale’s mouth, against Gale's own tongue in a firm, thick stripe. Gale feels full in a way he never knew could be so satisfying.

So he scoops up his own taste of John, greedily sliding his tongue over John’s, suckling on the pleasure there and pushing it into John's mouth until his kiss couldn’t possess, claim, take John any further.

Then Gale pulls his tongue back and softens his kiss, just so he can enjoy those needle like shocks that come as just the very tips of their tongues flirt and touch and tease.

John full damn body shudders and he whines and violently jerks his hips away from Gale as they break their kiss.

They stare at each other, breathing hard and heaving and Gale beams. John topples off him and collapses into the hay beside him. It prickles against his skin.

John jokes, “Who knew you could kiss like that?”

And Gale says, “Had to find out sometime, and you were taking your damn time about it.”

And John is already so gone on this man, but that’s where he decides he’s keeping him.

[stardustbuck]

who’s going to write a bucktommy fanfic where the 911verse is just a small farm town.

athena’s the mayor, eddie runs his abuelas bed & breakfast, hen and chim run the local clinic and tommy’s the local mechanic/handy man. buck’s new in town after taking up a job on bobby nash’s ranch.

i’ll pay you in “i thought of the idea and i’d like to see it” if that’s cool.

[mask131]

What Oz could have been: the 1939 movie

Last time I talked about what Disney's "Oz: The Great and Powerful" would have originally looked like, based on the first version of the script. But today I want to talk about THE big Oz movie, THE classic: the 1939 MGM movie.

Everybody knows this picture, it became iconic and cult, and is such a big part of culture today... Yet, you might be surprised to learn that the movie could have ended up looking VERY different from the one we know today.

Indeed, the "Wizard of Oz" script kept being written and re-written and re-re-written by a dozen of different authors and co-authors, to the point that when it came time to credit who was behind the script problems arose to find an exact name to put on there... If you want to know the detail: a first draft was by William H. Cannon, Mervyn LeRoy's assistant, before the contracts were set and when everything was just beginning. Once the project started, the first full scenario was written by Irving Brecher, but he was then overtaken by another project and replaced by Herman J. Mankiewicz, who worked for one month over the script until a co-author arrived in the form of Ogden Nash. Then a third author joined the team: Noel Langley (he was the one who had the idea of changing the Silver Slippers in Ruby Slippers, and he brought the idea that the three Oz companions would have counterparts as farm helpers in Kansas). HOWEVER Mankiewicz ended up quitting the team. He was replaced by Herbert Fields, who only stayed for three days and didn't change anything, before being also replaced by Samuel Hoffenstein, who also only stayed for a few days without modifying much (or anything). FINALLY Noel Langley gave back the final product of the writers' team... Which of course was edited, rewriten and modified by a second team, formed of Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf. They were then brutally moved to another movie, and the script returned into the hands of Noel Langley to be again rewriten and adapted. One month before the movie started Noel Langley was given another co-author, Jack Mintz, and the second "final" scenario was delivered... Before being corrected and modified by a new author recently brought by Victor Fleming, John Lee Mahin. And THEN it was done!

Of the fourteen different authors that worked on the script, only three ended up being given credit in the final picture: Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf.

The result was a project that varied wildly in production. In fact, while the final movie is still vaguely faithful though a bit loose adaptation of the original novel - the very first drafts of the movie had NOTHING to do with the original novel. The "faithfulness" to Baum's Wizard of Oz can be considered almost an accident as each rewrite got closer to Baum's story, only in an effort to get away from the older script... Anyway, here are some highlights and best-offs of the Oz movie we could have had:

The MGM movie has a lot of deleted scenes and songs, that were recorded but not included in the movie. Hopefully a lot of them were released online and can be easily found on Youtube, or elsewhere on the Internet. Most of them were cool reprises that were cut short for time: for example the song "The Wicked Witch is Dead" had a reprise after the death of the Witch of the West, sung first by the Winkies Guards and then morphing into the song being sung by the Emerald City denizens (fragments of this reprise were still used in trailers for the movie). There is also the very famous "Over the Rainbow" reprise that a scared, crying Dorothy was to sing while trapped in the Witch of the West's castle, before the Witch taunted her with an image of Aunt Em in the crystal ball. The reprise is REALLY touching and Judy Garland really put her best in there. There are also alternate takes which reveal a lot about what the movie was intended to be - for example we have alternate records of the "Lollypop Guild" which shows that the high-pitched voice of the final movie was actually an intent to create a "little boys" voice, to match the little girls of the Lullaby League.

The most famous of all these deleted songs is without a doubt the "Jitterbug" song. It was only cut at the last minute, and this brutal removal leaves bizarre remnants in the final movie (for example the Witch says she "sent a bug" to take care of Dorothy and her friends ; and when the Flying Monkey arrive they look sweating and exhausted). This was because originally the Wicked Witch of the West was supposed to send to the heroic party a magical bug (the titular "Jitterbug") that would have forced them to dance until exhaustion, so the Winged Monkeys could easily pick them up. This was however removed out of fear this would date the movie, and they were very much right... Because the entire pun on which the scene relies does not work anymore today: the "Jitterbug" being a specific style of dance very popular in the 1930s and 1940s, but that stopped existing beyond the 1960s. However the "Jitterbug song" earned enough of a fame to get included into the recent "Tom and Jerry" animated movie of "The Wizard of Oz".

Originally, a child-actress was envisioned for Dorothy, and the first choice was Shirley Temple. She declined (but she would later play the role of Tip/Ozma in a Marvelous Land of Oz production). When Judy Garland was cast, there were attempts at giving her a makeup that would make her look more like a child - but everybody pointed out it made her into a ridiculous "baby doll". The first plans were also to have Dorothy be blond, as she was in later Oz books.

Everybody knows the iconic, creepy look of the Wicked Witch of the West, but did you know she was supposed to be... beautiful? One of the main and biggest inspirations for the MGM movie was the huge success of Disney's Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs. Since they attempt to recreate it, their original plan for the Wicked Witch of the West was to have her be a beautiful villainess evoking the Evil Queen of Disney. The original actres cast for this "glamorous witch" was Gale Sondergaar, and we still have shots of her in costume. However it was later decided to make the witch into an uglier, more grotesque character evoking a traditional fairytale hag. Mervy LeRoy was the one who wanted to have the "glamorous, sexy" witch but many (among which Arthur Freed) defended the idea that the witch had to be like Disney's old crone, not evil queen... So they decided to recast the role - leading to the arrival of the one of a kind Margaret Hamilton.

Speaking of the Wicked Wich: One of the original plans for the character was to have her be the Oz counterpart of... Aunt Em. Indeed, no Miss Gulch of any kind. Early on, Aunt Em was considered to be a meaner and colder caretaker to Dorothy, and the one who wanted to get rid of Toto - which explains why she became the Wicked Witch of Oz. (This idea was by Langley, the one who also had the idea of making Dorothy's companions into the farm-helps of Kansas) The Wicked Witch also had a son, Bulbo, an ugly and dim-witted man she wanted to make King of Oz, and who was... the counterpart of Uncle Henry. Later, when the character of Miss Gulch was created, she was given a son named Walter to match Bulbo, before the character was scrapped altogether.

The Jitterbug scene was actually a left-over of a much earlier version of the movie which would have put a strong emphasis on the "musical aspect". This version wanted Oz to be under the tyranny of a spoiled brat of a princess that would have outlawed all forms of music that were not classical music and opera ; young and hip Dorothy, however, would have brought the swing and the jazz from the 1930s USA and used it to win over the princess in a singing duel, and becoming a hero in Oz. Who would have played the princess? I had conflicting reports: some say Deanna Durbin (one of the early candidates for playing Dorothy, alongside Shirley Temple) was considered for the role ; others said it would have been Betty Jaynes playing a certan "Princess Betty".

The earliest version of the script we have (created by William H. Cannon) was heavily inspired by the 1925's Wizard of Oz movie (because yes, there were Wizard of Oz movies before the MGM one), and wanted to remove all forms of magic and supernatural from the story. The brainless scarecrow would have been a man so dumb the only job he could find was to scare crows in fields ; the Tin Man was supposed to be a heartless criminal that the law had forced to wear a suit of tin as a punishment, punishment which did encourage him to learn kindness...

Oh yes, everybody noted in the final movie how Dorothy favorizes the Scarecrow above the other companions. This is a remnant of the scenario drafts wher the final scene of the movie would have been the teary farewell of Dorothy to Hunk, as he leaves for agricultural college and she promises him to write him every day - implying a romance between the two...

People might note a bizarre editing during the scene of the companions freeing Dorothy - such as the door being axed down not corresponding to the door the group escapes from. This is due to yet another cut sequence: the door the companions axed down was to be a trap by the Wicked Witch, who was to imitate Dorothy's voice and song to lure the companions. Once she had captured the three friends, she would have used them as baits, forcing them to call out for Dorothy and to encourag her to take a magical "rainbow bridge" that appeared out of nowhere... Except said bridge would have been created by the Wicked Witch's magic, and while the rainbow was solid enough to walk onto for a certan distance, at one point it returned to being just light. The Witch hoped to kill Dorothy by doing this - but didn't count on the Ruby Slippers' magic actually preventing Dorothy from falling through the rainbow.

Before it was decided to have Glinda send snow to kill the cursed poppies, the original concept was that the Tin Man's tears would have awakened Dorothy (an idea that, as people pointed out, was reused in "The Wiz").

There was at one point plans for the Cowardly Lion to actually be just a... a regular lion that tagged along as a sort of pet with the team, and had dubbed lines, to be revealed as "Prince Florizel", a Prince Charming-type of character that had been cursed under the shape of a lion, and would in the end have married his lover, princess Sylvia (this version was one of Noel Langley's, and very influenced by traditional fairytales). This version most notably pushed Dorothy into being a secondary character: it was the Prince/Lion who was to kill the Witch, by somehow cutting her broom so it would fall into pieces while in the air. There was also a dragon the prince was supposed to fight. This version, being Langley's, was the one that included the Witch having a son (see above). In the older versions of this story, the Witch's plan to make Bulbo king of Oz was to have him marry princess Sylvia, heir to the Ozian throne (hence why Florizel's feud with the Witch is personal) ; later it was changed to the Witch planning to attack the Emerald City and dethrone the Wizard with an army of men, wolves and winged monkeys.

When the MGM learned that Disney was working on their own adaptation of the Wizard of Oz back then, there were brief talks of the two studios uniting their efforts to make a half-live-action, half-animated movie.

During the scene where the Wicked Witch threatens the companions at the cottage in the forest, the Witch was supposed to threaten the Tin Man by briefly turning him into a "beehive", aka filling him with bees, and after crushing one of the insects the Tin Man would have cried, causing his jaw to rust and be blocked.

Early on, there were plans to keep Oz as an actual magical place that truly existed - but the movie-makers of the time considered fantasy was not "sophisticated" and "serious" enough for the audiences, and so they added the entire idea of Oz being shown as a dream-world so adults could "buy" the movie.

[ireton]

undefined

Stephanie Nash - No Farms, No Food

Credit to: Stephanie Nash - ADVOCATE FOR AGRICULTURE - COUNTRY SINGER/SONGWRITER

 https://www.tiktok.com/@stephnashmusic/video/7194483800871554346?lang=en

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Anderson Bonner

Prominent Texas landowner and businessman Anderson Bonner was born enslaved in Alabama around 1839. Not much is known about his younger years. Family history states that Bonner was given as a wedding present to the daughter of his former master, who moved him from Alabama to Arkansas. Anderson may have been “refugeed” in Texas during the Civil War when nearly 100,000 enslaved people from neighboring states were forcibly brought there by slaveholders to avoid the Union Army freeing them as it gradually occupied more of the Confederacy. If Bonner was in Texas by 1865, he—like other Lone Star state enslaved people—gained his freedom when Union General Gordon Granger and Union Troops under his command arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865 and pronounced the end of slavery. That announcement became the basis for the Juneteenth holiday.

Sometime in 1865 Bonner married a woman known only as Eliza. Over time the couple had ten children, Anderson Jr, Newton, William, Ed, John, Andy, Mary, Martha, Charlie and Nash. Bonner arrived in Dallas, Texas, around 1870 with his brother Louis, and sister Caroline and they worked on a farm in the White Rock Creek area. Bonner by this time had acquired modest wealth. The 1870 Census lists his financial worth at $275 or approximately $5,456 in 2020 dollars. On August 10, 1874 Bonner purchased sixty acres of land, signing the deed with an “X”, as he never learned to read or write. He soon began leasing his land and the houses on it to cotton growing sharecroppers. With the money he earned, he bought more land. Bonner eventually amassed over two thousand acres of land in what is now North Dallas and the Dallas suburb of Richardson. The Medical City Dallas Hospital now sits on what was once the Bonner farm and the North Central Expressway divides Bonner’s original property.

Census records in 1900 reveal that six of the ten Bonner children still lived on the Bonner farm. Cotton, corn, and fruits were grown on the family farm worked mostly by Bonner, his children, and sharecroppers. Bonner’s sister, Caroline married into the Fields family, and one of her children married into the Giddings family, both prominent African American families of Dallas in the late 19th Century. In 1903, Eliza was killed in a oil lamp explosion in the family home. Sixty-four-year-old Bonner then married a woman named Lucinda, but the couple had no children.

Anderson Bonner passed away at the age of 82 in 1920. He was buried in White Rock Colored Union Cemetery (now White Rock Garden of Memories Cemetery), in Addison county. His descendants established the Anderson Bonner Endowment Scholarship that helps support Richardson Public School students who attend Prairie View A&M University. The first public school for black children in the North Dallas, the Vickery and Hillcrest school was renamed the Anderson Bonner School before its closing in 1955. The city of Dallas officially named the park west of Medical City Hospital, Anderson Bonner Park in 1976. The park consists of 44.1 acres of Bonner’s original land.

[perfectlysunny02]

I would like to request one sentence for each wip please please please (and thank you 🫶)

ellie now why would you do this to me?

👀- “God, you’re so pretty,” Eddie gasps, his teeth lightly scraping the skin on Buck’s shoulder as Buck whimpers. “So fucking pretty.”

🤠- “I’ll fix your jeep,” The gruff farmer tells him. “The mechanics here will overcharge you, and you’ll be lucky if you see your car within the month. I’ll fix it. But not for free. You can help out around the farm, cowboy. Earn your keep. I’ve got a spare room, you can stay in.”

🥺- “Your son has the flu, Mr. Nash.” The doctor says.

“No,” Bobby insists. “No, this is more than that. He’s had the flu before, this is different.”

🫡- “Tommy, you sly dog, why didn’t you tell us you were married?”

🎬- “How’d the date go, Buckaroo?” Hen asked him the following week. Eddie tensed up. He didn’t want to hear about it, didn’t want to hear about Buck with anyone but him.

🧃- As they lay there panting in the aftermath, Buck realizes this didn’t make him feel better. It’s made him feel somewhat worse. He fucked his ex in his girlfriend’s apartment, in her bed. He thinks he’s going to be sick.

🚓- “Tommy,” Buck whined. “I need to fill up the jeep.”

“Hold on, baby, I’ll be right there. You at the Shell off Kingston?”

❤️‍🩹- “No,” Tommy interrupts, tiredly, reaching out a hand to him; he just wants to be held. He doesn’t care about the rest of this bullshit or whatever self-sabotaging idea he had months ago. “No. I want you, Evan, wanna go home with you. Please, I just-“

⚡️- He loved that kid. That kid was everything. Bobby couldn’t even fathom a world where Evan Buckley wasn’t in, and that may have been the entire issue.

[larkingame]

here to hopefully help out with some spare change for the RO scenarios- how'd they be as parents? thanks and have a lovely day!

thank you for your spare change lol.

so what I'll say is that not all of the RO's would like to be parents--and I'll specify which ones would/wouldn't, but I'll write about the ones who would :)

nash: would love to potentially have kids one day. he's an uncle to a niece (that he's unfortunately yet to meet :c but is very desperate to.) He'd be very hands on I think--and big on his kids education. I think he'd prefer to raise them out west, beneath the big open skies he's fallen in love with, but he also wouldn't mind heading back to buffalo so that his kids could be more connected with his parents and brother. He'd want a couple kids--he wouldn't think it fair to leave behind an only child when he passed away--and his relationship with his own brother is one of his most treasured friendships.

cyrus: he's...well...he's complicated about kids. on one hand, he'd love to have them, he thinks...but on the other...he's not sure if his heart could take that. not again.

rose: rose took a large part in raising her five siblings, to a point where she views them as her own children, and doesn't think she could handle having any more of her own, nor does she really want them. as a parent she's a hard-ass, very tough on her siblings (but that's only because she loves them so much) she's very protective--but she also believes in pushing them to their fullest potential.

dominic: could not imagine himself as a parent. he can barely handle himself (?) and you expect him to look after another living thing(?) secretly he thinks he wouldn't mind it...but he doesn't trust himself to not fuck it up.

celina: never in a million years would celina sokolova be caught with a child. she is much too happy with her animals. (if this were modern times you KNOW she'd be like a millenial dog mom with an instagram account for her shih tzu and it'd be named something stupid like placek)

hollis: similar boat as dominic--they wouldn't mind a family--but they do not trust themselves to not ruin their kid.

ace: kids was the dream--especially with abrams. a little farm somewhere where they could run around, and ace could grow old surrounded not only by their children, but their grandchildren as well. they'd be loving, much like their own parents were--but tough.

ethel: has a habit of spoiling her kid. not to say that she's a quintessential Boy Mom TM but ethel is a boy mom lmao. Arthur is her little prince, who in her eyes can do no wrong. She wants him to have more than she ever had growing up, and she'll do whatever she can to make that happen.

cassidy: views arthur as his own, so there's a pretty clear indicator of what he'd be like as a father there. Cassidy's father was an evil son of a bitch, so cas is determined to break that cycle with arthur--he's gentle, he's kind--and doesn't behave the way he does with arthur with anyone else.

reyes: she's ambivalent about kids. on one hand the staunch catholic in them very much subscribes to the 'be fruitful and multiply' mindset...but on the other--they're afraid she'd ruin them.

montero: would definitely be on the r/childfree subreddit LMFAO. not a fan of kids, not in a million years.

adam: he's always been curious about fatherhood--he'd like to one day, to have something to call his own, to have a child...he supposes that is most likely the end goal here--but is he ready? he doesn't know.

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

oh you have A LOT OF TIME? 😁😁😁😁😁😁🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳😘😘😘😘😘😘

If you wanna, I'd love to read

🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺

⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️

👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑

🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸

🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐

I genuinely hope you have a lovely weekend, writing or not 😍😍😍😍😍

HAHA yay! THank you! I hope you have a wonderful weekend, too!

30 for CRANBERRY 🦮:

---

It takes longer than Buck would like to make it to the hospital. It’s further away. Not their usual destination when someone is hurt. Apparently they were at a call at an old property, some sort of farm, on the outskirts of the city. Pretty fucking random that the 118 got called there. 

When he arrives, finds a spot to park, and gets Cranberry out of the car, he finds himself practically jogging to find them. Which is slightly uncomfortable for him, he will admit. For anyone else, he wouldn’t bring Cranberry. He’d have left her home and dealt with it. Hospitals can be complicated with dogs. But if Eddie is upset, he’ll want her to be there. He’d never say it, but he’s grown pretty attached to her. They spend a lot of time together these days. 

“Bobby!” Buck calls, when he sees his old captain in the ER waiting room. It looks as though he’s waiting around, and everyone else has gone back to the station. Which means it must not be that bad.

Bobby turns to see him and looks relieved. 

“He’s just being discharged. You’re right on time.”

“What happened?” Buck asks. 

“Little boy fell down an old, out of use farm well. We had to drill down, and Eddie went in after him.” Bobby explains. 

Buck frowns, thinking of the weather. “But all the rain…”

Bobby nods. “We thought we’d taken precautions against him ending up stuck. You can ask Eddie what he did to circumvent those."

---

30 for ⚡️:

---

Buck makes a little moan of complaint and clings to him.

“Buck,” Eddie rasps. “Move.”

“So comfy,” Buck complains.

“I might puke,” Eddie admits.

Buck rolls off of him like he’s on fire. Eddie sees how it is. 

“You okay?” He asks.

“Mhm,” Eddie replies, peeling himself off the mattress to stumble towards the bathroom. “Still a little drunk.”

Buck yawns. “Me too maybe.”

Standing vertical without Buck on top of him, Eddie’s nausea subsides. He turns on the sink tap and drinks directly from it. 

“We’re too old for this shit,” Eddie decides, trying to remember how many shots Ravi kept handing them last night. Someone should probably check on him. He might be seventy percent alcohol this morning. He’ll text Adriana later and tell her to get a big ass pack of Gatorade. 

“Good thing it’s our only bachelor party ever,” Buck replies. 

Eddie peaks out of the bathroom and sees Buck has turned the right way in the bed, head on the pillow, snuggled under the comforter. Eddie would very much like to rejoin him. He splashes some water on his face, pees, washes his hands and brushes his teeth, then searches his bags for a small bottle of Tylenol they packed for exactly this reason. He grabs two tablets, dry swallows one, and takes the other to Buck. 

“Open up.” Edie instructs.

“That’s the worst way of asking for a blow job I’ve ever heard,” Buck replies without even opening his eyes. 

Eddie sighs. “Fine. Have a headache, then.”

---

24 for 👑:

---

He should have called in sick. He should have left them in a lurch, just this once. He has the staggering feeling that he’s blowing a rather important shot. 

Work is fine. They meet the new captain, Bobby Nash. He seems okay enough. Friendly, confident, competent. He doesn’t look disappointed to see Hen or Chim in his station, and that’s more than Chim can say about a lot of the jack asses he’s under. He seems to pay them equal regard before they have a call, and on their first call, actually watches them work and appreciates it. Chim will take it. He hopes the guy actually sticks around. 

Until the mid-afternoon, everything is just sort of okay. Chim wishes he wasn’t here, but that’s only because he has somewhere he’d rather be. It’s his own damn fault. 

Things take a bit of a change during some downtime. With their chores done, and not much going on - which will surely change as the night progresses and parties wind up - Hen and Chim take some time to sit and chat at the kitchen table over a coffee. He tells her all about running into Maddie at the bakery. The egg tart, the conversation, the party invites. All of it.

“Wow,” Hen says. “You really like her.”

“I really do,” Chim says. “Is that crazy? I barely know her.”

---

27 for 🩸:

---

Eddie rolls his eyes. But she’s right. He does feel that pressing need. He’s not sure how much of it is a natural calling, something to chase, or how much of it is a lifetime of conditioning. If he did something purely selfish, would he find that he likes it? Or would he be miserable? 

“Maybe there’s something,” he shrugs. 

There’s always the hot vampire trophy wife lifestyle to fall back on, as per Buck.

“You’ll figure it out,” May assures him confidently. “You’ve literally figured out way harder shit.”

“I guess that’s true,” Eddie admits. 

“Maybe like a telehealth sort of thing,” she continues. “You’re not a nurse but you’ve got a lot of knowledge.”

That’s not a bad idea. 

“Guess I’d have to look at the requirements.”

“Worth investigating,” May smiles.

Eddie takes a sip of his tea and begins Googling. 

It’s not just work he’s been thinking about. He’s taken all of her advice to heart. Hobbies, and all that. Finding things to look forward to that are just for him. He doesn’t want to be lonely and dependent on his family to come home to feel any joy. So he’s going to take May’s advice and run with it. 

One thing he thinks he’ll try is getting back into reading. He did it a decent amount as a teenager, before baseball and then Shannon took over his brain. With Sophia working at the library, she can pretty much bring him home whatever he needs, like she does for Chris. He certainly has the time for longer, more developed series.

---

27 for 🔮:

---

He sits cross legged on the church floor in front of Bobby. Like a dog, keeping vigil. Normally, this would be uncomfortable for him. Beyond the hard stone flooring, this position irks at the old wound in his leg. But, adding to his suspicion that this is just a coma dream, his leg doesn’t bother him at all. 

Although, what sort of coma allows insight to someone else’s memories?

To be fair, in his first coma dream, he could see Bobby, too. Hadn’t that been real? Bobby praying with his rosary beads. Buck doesn’t understand it, but he knows what he’s experienced. 

The whole church part of this funeral seems to go on forever. It’s longer than any funeral service Buck has ever attended. After what feels like a lecture on Bobby’s father paired with Biblical references, they move on to the Jesus cracker thing that Buck doesn’t really understand, and has never wanted to ask Bobby or Eddie about. Bobby walks up to eat one of the wafers. He repeats the prayers that feature some sort of call and response mechanism. He participates. He moves through it all as though by muscle memory. But his eyes are dead. He isn’t really there. This might not be the Bobby that Buck knows, but he knows his Bobby enough to know this distance. 

Things end with a choir singing. At this point, Bobby’s older brother softens. Cries, despite his clear anger. His mother weeps, too. Bobby remains frozen. Buck sort of wants to shake him.

---

33 for 🚨:

---

The best he has are the people around him and his gut. Which, he thinks, are good resources. 

“You have to trust yourself,” Bobby tells him. “You make better decisions than you give yourself credit for.”

So when Hen comes to them with an idea, a suggestion, Eddie tries to trust himself. He tries to listen to the instinct that has somehow steered him right lately. 

“If things get worse, Karen’s work is going to send her home.” Hen explains to Eddie, Chim, and Buck. “Upper management has discussed it already, and they’ll be transitioning as much as they can to remote.”

“That makes sense,” Chim says.

“Denny’s school is already discussing shut downs, too. Moving to online learning.”

“Christopher’s too,” Eddie nods. 

“Not all of us have that option,” Chimney says. “We can’t just stay home.”

“No,” Hen agrees. “But we can keep our families safe.”

Everyone looks at her.

“Eddie,” Hen takes a deep breath. “Christopher is at a heightened risk. Chim, Maddie is definitely at a heightened risk.”

“I know,” Chim looks at the ground. Buck pats his shoulder comfortingly.

“Christopher could stay with Karen,” Hen says.

Eddie goes rigid. “What?” 

“If we all stay at your house, and Christopher goes to Karen, then all our families are out of the worst of harm’s way,” Hen explains. “I know it’s a lot to ask you. I know you don’t want to be separated from Chris. But I can’t think of a better solution that protects everyone we love.”

What she’s suggesting settles over Eddie like a spot of light through a thick cloud. She’s right. He knows she’s right.

---

27 for 💐:

---

“Resident Advisor,” May says. “There’s two of us. We’re responsible for, like, student life on our floor. If one of the freshmen needs help or something, we’re there. We do get togethers and stuff.”

“Oh,” Buck says. “Well, that’s nice of you.”

“Not really. It’s free living. It’s a good deal.” May explains. “That’s why I did it.”

“Right. Altruism doesn’t pay the bills.” Buck nods.

“So the other girl?” Hen asks. “That’s who you’re avoiding.”

May nods. “We share a little unit and she’s in three of my classes. I cannot escape her.”

“Well, what’s wrong with her?” Hen asks. 

“Oh, everything,” May answers. Completely objectively with no drama or exaggeration. “She’s the worst. She’s, like, if I was going to have a nemesis.”

[gossipsnake]

TIMING: Current LOCATION: Prickly Pear Acres PARTIES: Anita (@gossipsnake) Kaden (@chasseurdeloup) Monty (@howdy-cowpoke) and Ford (written by Nash) SUMMARY: Anita, Kaden, Monty, and farmhand Ford all sign up to take part in the three-legged race at the Prickly Pear Acre's party when a switcheroo throws everyone off their game. CONTENT WARNINGS: n/a

In her human form, speed was not something Anita was exceptional at - her shorter stature, while helpful in other areas, was certainly not an asset in this particular area. That did not stop her from deciding, almost immediately upon seeing the sign up sheet at the Prickly Pear Acres party, that she was going to compete in and win the three-legged race. She had arrived to Monty’s party alone which meant that she had the option to scope the party for the perfect race partner without having to feel obligated to sign up with whomever she had arrived with. She figured that would be the downfall of many race participants. 

Instead, Anita decided that she would find a way to make her height work for her by finding a partner of a near exact height so that their strides would be in sync. That resulted in much of her party chit-chat being height-based and most of her time checking out the woman at the party spent assessing their shoes for race practicality. Most, not all. Several of the first few people she approached thought she was being “too intense” about the race and needed to “relax” because “it’s just a party.” Their lack of commitment ruled them out as suitable race partners before their words could have, anyway. 

Eventually she had found someone of acceptably similar height with sensible shoes who was willing to race alongside her to victory, and Antia wrote their names down on the sheet - Anita and Dorothy - just in time before the event was getting ready to begin. She scanned the list for their competition which wasn’t particularly helpful as she only knew a handful of the names. That did not change her confidence in victory. “Is there a prize for the victors?” she asked, to nobody in particular, as she approached the area where the race was set up. 

—

As much as Kaden had hoped he could get away with not participating in too many of the more ridiculous games at the party, he knew there was no way he could avoid them entirely – not given who he was dating. Whatever, it would probably be fun, whatever it was he got roped into, even if he didn’t want to admit it. “Three-legged race, huh?” he said to his partner as they approached the sign up sheet. Putain. They were going to look ridiculous, weren’t they? Kaden wanted to be annoyed, but he couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he jotted down their names.

He recognized a lot of them but he wasn’t worried about anyone on that list. Sure, he was going to look stupid, but he was also sure they were going to win. They may be almost a foot difference in height between them both but Kaden had a plan. “Remember to stand on my foot. And if you can get your knee closer to mine, that should help.” He’d been strategizing a lot more than he wanted to admit for something so trivial but he knew damn well that Monty was as competitive as he was, if not more. 

Kaden had to admit, he was surprised to see Anita ready and eager to race. “Victors?” he repeated. “Pretty big title for someone winning a hobbling race.” Now that he considered it, he didn’t know a whole lot about her one way or the other. For all he knew she did this regularly and was a three-legged race champion. Wouldn’t be the weirdest thing in this town. “What makes you think you’re going to win, anyway?”

—

Monty was not especially familiar with American party games, or… party games in general, if he was honest with himself. What was the last party he’d been to? Anita had invited him to her birthday, but he’d ended up backing out at the last minute, too anxious to attend. It was partly the fault of his paranoia due to everything going on with the farm lately, but really mostly just social anxiety. He was awkward and quiet, at least until you put a fútbol in front of him. And that hadn’t been added to the roster of activities for tonight, for a number of reasons… one of which was maybe his excessively competitive nature. 

The joke was on everyone that had pitched in these ideas, though, because Monty was discovering that he could be competitive about damn near anything. 

Nodding along with Kaden’s suggestions, he could see them winning. Could feel it, and was grinning broadly as the other contestants lined up near the starting point. Anita was there (he was so glad to see her again, and glad she’d forgiven him for being too chicken to go to her extravagant party), her partner, and a few others. Seeing Ford hovering around with his partner as well, Monty gave him an energetic wave. Ford was… familiar with Monty’s “exuberance” when it came to their weekly games of fútbol. 

“Yeah, Anita! Kaden and I have a plan… we’re definitely going home with… whatever the prize is. Is there a prize?” He had no idea — Daisy had been in charge of that. As if summoning her with a thought, the zombie smiled at his friend as she strolled up to the group, clapping her hands together to get their attention. 

“Alrighty, y’all! I see everyone has signed up with their racin’ partners… bettin’ you’ve all been busy strategizin’... which is why we’ve decided to throw a little wrench in your game. Folks, we are switchin’ y’all up!” Monty’s eyes went wide as Daisy started shuffling everyone around, grabbing him by the shoulder and dragging him over to where Ford was, and doing the same to Kaden, sticking him with Anita. “No! Wait! Our plan!” he complained, barely holding onto the rope that Daisy shoved into his arms with a smirk. 

—

When it came to pretty people, Ford was a sucker. All of his life, and undead one at that, he’d been willing to do the stupidest things just to put a smile on the face of someone he was trying to impress and it seemed party games were not an exception to that rule. As soon as the girl’s arm was around his waist, twisting him towards the sign ups for the three legged race, he was in. Generally, he didn’t care if they won or not, just as long as he got to be stuck to the woman’s side for the whole ordeal. Besides, if they lost he could at least console her afterwards.

Lining up, he flashed a bright smile over towards Monty and his boyfriend, noting that with those two entering the fun that he was definitely going to have a good time after the games. He didn’t have the fire in him to match his boss’ energy for competition, he was just there for a good time. Add Kaden into it and no one else stood a chance. Not even the attractive woman throwing smack their way. 

His grin was wiped off his face with Daisy’s words, the farmhand ready to have some words with her when she took the hand of his partner and led her away to someone else. He was still staring after the girl when Daisy brought Monty to his side and declared them partners for this one. It could have been worse he supposed but there was definitely no consoling the man if they didn’t win. 

Seeing the distress of his boss, Ford allowed his bright smile to slip back onto his lips and, after one more look at the girl he was trying to impress, he turned to Monty and shrugged. “So, tell me the plan, bud. We got this. I just hope Kaden doesn’t try to railroad us since he knows the tricks you’ve got up your sleeve.” Taking the rope from Monty’s hand, he bent to start tying them together as Daisy seemed to be pushing for things to start now so no more protesting could reach her ears. Man, she had some complaints coming her way. “What tricks are we talking about again?”

—

“Yes, the victors. That is how to accurately describe people who win at competitive events.” Anita huffed. She had never been able to put her finger on it but there was something about Kaden that ever so slightly irked Anita. But she liked Monty a great deal, so considering that he must have seen something redeemable in his partner, she opted to extend the benefit of the doubt. She smiled at Monty, finding his optimism endearing even if it was misplaced. “What makes me so confident?” she gestured towards her partner, then showed off their compatible height by standing back-to-back with her. “We will move as one down this racetrack. That is what makes me confident.” 

Anita had been sizing up the other competition -  literally, trying to assess if there was a more perfect height match pairing - when she heard the farmhand organizing the event say that they would be getting reassigned partners. “No, no, no! You can’t do that. There is nothing in the rules that said we could not strategize! There is no rule against informed planning!” She tried to reach out and grab her perfectly sized original partner's hand as Daisy dragged her away, but it was pointless. Looking over, and up, Anita saw that her new pair of shared legs belonged to Kaden. “Mierda. You are far too tall.” 

Not letting this shake her confidence, Anita began working on tying their legs together with the provided rope. Her eyes drifted over to Monty and his new partner. It was almost laughable how much better of a height match they were than she and Kaden. “You better not throw this race just so your vaquero can win.” 

—

“Putain de merde,” Kaden grumbled at the news. There went all the strategizing. Even worse, he had to look stupid with Anita instead of Monty. On top of that, he had to beat his hyper competitive partner now. Still, Kaden scoffed at the woman as she suggested that he’d throw the race. “Please. I couldn’t let his ego get that big intentionally.” He took a deep breath and tried to assess the new situation. He didn’t know Anita very well but there was no denying the competitive drive she displayed. That was going to have to be enough. 

“Okay so the best thing to do is for you to stand on my foot and then–” He barely got a full sentence out before Daisy was shouting at them to line up, walking by to double check the rope on each pair. Clearly Daisy didn’t trust them not to overthink that, too. Which, alright, that was probably fair. Before they could strategize much further, the countdown was starting. 

“Hold on and keep your knee here. No, here.” He wasn’t sure why he bothered, Daisy had shouted “GO!” well before they could get their shit together. All they could do was hobble as fast as they could. Kaden had his arm around Anita, gripping her waist possibly a little tighter than was comfortable. It was hard to temper his hunter strength completely while in the throws of competition. He wished he could say they were graceful and gliding across the field, but that was far from the reality of the situation. If anything, they were consistently on the edge of tripping over and falling flat on their faces. It didn’t matter because all that mattered was they were a hair ahead of Monty and Ford. Which meant they had to keep going, however stupid and ungainly they were in the moment. 

“Come on, come on, come o–” Kaden felt his toe hit onto a root and he did everything in his power to keep his balance, holding onto Anita for dear life. It was up to her to keep them upright and secure the win. 

—

“Oh, he’s going to try and railroad us,” Monty complained with a laugh, letting Ford tie their legs together and casting a good-natured glare in his boyfriend’s direction. “But that’s okay, we aren’t gonna take it lying down!” Before he could explain the tricks Kaden had come up with, Daisy was shouting at them to begin. Monty grabbed onto Ford’s arm and started to drag their restrained legs forward—they weren’t any closer in height than he and Kaden, and there was a distinct lack of coordination between them. Monty tried to get his foot on top of Ford’s but couldn’t position it without nearly toppling over now that they were all  already on the move. 

“¡Oye! Vamanos!” he hollered, seeing Kaden and Anita start to pass them up. He was half shouting and half laughing as he tried again to get his foot where it needed to be so that the taller of them could guide their steps. “I’ve got to—just—ah!” It was no use, and Monty was getting more and more stressed the farther behind they fell. He noticed Kaden nearly tripping on something and bent over, quickly pulling off the boot of his free foot in mid-step and hucking it at Kaden’s legs, hoping to trip him up even more.

—

“Oh, man, they don’t look happy.” To be fair, Ford hadn’t been very happy either but he at least liked his partner. Those two looked at each other like they would rather be anywhere else. It was more amusing than anything. He’d just secured the rope, the farmhand trying to listen to Monty as he listed off tips, but Daisy was in a menacing mood it seemed as she shouted for them all to go. Ford almost stumbled as Monty took off. He quickly found his footing but it didn’t seem he was quick enough as Kaden and his partner started to pass.

It was Monty’s shouts that had Ford grinning, amused at how wound up all of these people could get over a silly little game. “I’m going, I’m going!” He laughed out the words, trying his best to pick up the pace but things weren’t looking so good for the two of them as Monty tried to get a foot onto his own. “Come on, cowboy, you got this! I can’t slow down or I might get fired by the end of this.” It was all in good fun, of course…at least to him, it was. 

It was impressive the way Monty was able to pull that shoe off and his laugh rang out to mix in with all the cheers of people watching the game as it was tossed towards their main competition. The dirty tricks gave Ford the idea to wrap an arm around Monty’s waist and carry him the rest of the way, running like hell, but he had a feeling that Daisy wouldn’t allow them to enjoy that win. With the stumble though, it looked like the two of them might pass and get their lead back. “Way to kick em’ while they’re down, boss. You want me to grab Kaden’s collar and pull him back too?”

_ 

Not having to be told twice to stand on Kaden’s foot, Anita got herself into position even as the organizer hurried everyone along to the starting point of the race. He wanted her to keep her knee in a position that was not realistic, though. “You are too tall!” She yelled very quickly into the race starting. His frustrating physical qualities did not stop her, however, from working as valiantly as she possibly could to keep pace and rhythm with him. But every move they made felt so clunky. She was overextending herself trying to match his stride and for a moment she felt like he was about to lift her right off the ground and carry her to the finish line like an american football. Which, of course, would be cheating. Three feet on the ground at all times. There were rules. This was a civilized game. 

It was working, mostly, until Kaden opened his mouth. As if Anita needed a verbal reminder to keep going. Monty and his partner, Ford, had just fallen far enough behind to no longer be in her peripheral vision when she began to see something far more troubling. Kaden lost his balance; killing whatever momentum the pair had been gaining. 

As he clung onto her waist tighter, Anita instinctively let scales replace the fleshy skin of her abdomen to provide a more sturdy base for him to cling to. But it didn’t matter because their host wasn’t interested in a fair race. The boot did more than just hit its intended target and after making contact with the back of Kaden’s legs, the weight of the boot’s heel came crashing down onto Anita’s ankle. The pain stung. Under better circumstances she may have been able to power through. Desperately, she tried to keep the two of them upright, grabbing onto Kaden’s arm to pull him forward and upright, but much like a Jenga tower that couldn’t stand to lose any more structural integrity their fate was practically sealed. 

—

“No, you’re too sh– Putain!” Kaden shouted as something hit his leg. The fuck was that? He craned around to see Monty with one goddamn shoe on and a boot sitting on the ground behind Anita and Kaden’s conjoined leg. “You little shit!” he called out as he scrambled to get himself and Anita upright. 

He wasn’t sure if he was imagining the chill down his spine or if that was just some weird result of being hit by his boyfriend’s boot in the back of the leg. There was no time to examine that. The only thing he had time to do was grab onto Anita and stumble forward for dear life. Obviously that’s what the three legged race was: a life or death situation. 

They had fallen behind, of course, but only by a little. Both of them had taken a tumble so they were practically neck and neck now. There were other people in the race, sure, but the only person he needed to beat was Monty. He only had eyes for him. “Two can play that game,” he grumbled to himself. “Hold on,” he told Anita as he threw his shoulder into Ford, trying to knock them off balance. Sure, it hadn’t helped his balance any but that wasn’t the point. 

—

Before Monty could tell Ford that he absolutely should grab Kaden’s collar, the aforementioned Frenchman was throwing his weight into Ford, knocking all four of them to the ground. Monty erupted with laughter, slapping the ground in defeat as he pushed Ford’s weight off of him, knowing there was no way they were even finishing this thing, now. The other racers were already crossing the finish line, leaving them in the proverbial dust. 

“Ah! You got too greedy!” he chastised Kaden, as if he hadn’t done the same exact thing. Daisy came walking their way, hands on her hips and her head shaking from side to side as she tried to look disappointed through her laughter. “Anita, I am sorry for hitting you with my boot.”

“Well!” Daisy exclaimed as she stood over them, “Ain’t this just a sight! Y’all cost poor Ford his win to impress his date!” She gave the other farm hand a wink, reaching out a hand to help him (and Monty) up. “That’s okay, though… she ended up winnin’ without you, so I think it’s your turn to be impressed, buddy.”

—

The impact of Kaden rushing into him threw Ford completely off. Normally he had better balance than this but with his leg tied to another and the surprise factor the zombie felt himself tumbling over his own partner, an ‘oof’ escaping him with the feel of the other two’s weight falling on top of him. Soon, after the dizzying stars had cleared his vision, his laughter joined Monty’s, glad that his boss had enough humor to see the fun in all of this. That’s what the games were about anyway.

He sat up after being pushed off of his boss, the palms of his hands hitting the ground between his legs with a sharp ‘slap’ as Daisy walked over to the four of them. Nodding at her words, Ford looked over to where his friend was jumping up and down with her partner and his grin grew wider. “Hey, even better. This means I get to give her the victory kiss.” His gaze went back to his coworker as he winked. “It’s a win-win, really.” And then he looked around at everyone else on the ground with him, grimacing. “Sorry, guys…you all just lose, I guess. But this was a lot of fun.”

_ 

Before she could even protest the clearly ill-conceived idea, Kaden was hurdling his body into Ford and Monty. His body, which was tied to hers. As they tumbled to the ground, a jumbled mess of limbs, Anita watched as her original chosen partner crossed over the finish line. She didn’t waste a moment untying herself from Kaden, fuming at the loss that she would surely attribute solely to him. “Your boot wouldn’t have been able to hit me if we had been moving faster.” 

The sting of the loss would wear off by the time she was able to get a margarita in her hand, but until that moment, Anita had little desire to sit around and collect grass stains while laughing about how quickly her winning strategy was torn away from her. In fairness, it was not really Monty, or Ford, or even Kaden who was to blame. Glaring up at the woman standing over them, the woman who cost her victory, she huffed “If anyone cost him a chance to impress his date it was you. Separating everyone.” 

Anita brushed off her dress as she stood up. “I cannot think of a good lie to explain why I am leaving, so I am just going to leave. Not the party,” she said, looking towards Monty, “there is much more to do here at the party. But you are an awful racing partner.” That time, directing her gaze to Kaden. Without waiting for a response, she turned and left, dispersing into the crowd of guests as she hoped to find a way to redeem her party ego. 

—

Despite everything, Kaden was doubled over laughing at how silly the whole thing was. They looked like idiots, all of them, but not the way he anticipated they would. No, in fact they looked stupider. He wanted to roll his eyes at Anita storming off, too, but he couldn’t stop cackling. “You’re welcome,” he shouted as she walked away, wiping the dirt off his pants (at least some of it) and pushing himself off the ground. “Sure sounds like you’re the real winner, though,” he said to Ford, giving him a pat on the shoulder before he headed off to go give Dorothy that kiss. 

Kaden wrapped an arm around his partner, relieved that they were no longer temporary rivals, and scrunched up his face to make it look like he was deep in thought. “You know, in that case, if she gets a victory kiss, I’m pretty sure that means I get a loser’s kiss.” He grinned ear to ear before leaning in to steal a kiss from his partner. “Yeah, still pretty good.” It was nice, to finally have a moment where they could all just relax, have a good time. Things had been so tense lately after the last month or so. The change in pace was more than welcome. And there was still plenty of time left in the night.