#OR it’ll be a third option I don’t even know about

[blametheeditor]

Mike finds himself looking through the schematics he took from Afton Robotics for the fifth time that week.

Not because he can’t understand them, but because he can’t help feeling like he’s missing something. Despite the mechanical voice that’s now a permanent part of his consciousness answering all of his questions, elaborating on what ‘storage tank’ and ‘parental voice sync and replay’ meant, even with a big if he can trust the information given, it’s still not making much sense.

Sure, Mike can get behind the fact William Afton designed animatronics specifically to lure people in for nefarious reasons. But there’s no answer as to why.

And while there might be people out there who don’t really need a reason, William wasn’t one of them. Not a person who wouldn’t do something like this oh no this has William written all over it, but the man needs a motive.

On top of all of that, there’s a very distinct lack of anything concerning spaghetti wires. Aka, the robot acting as his organs was either a top secret project, a random creation that’s the equivalent to a doodle made by an artist, or a fully sentient machine that went rouge and/or built itself.

Option 1 seems most likely, but Mike really likes option 3.

How to make the amalgamation of wires tell him the truth about its origins...

You can always just ask me.

Nah, he can make a foolproof plan that guarantees answers he gets will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

That may be hard to do considering I know your every thought.

Right. Well he’s fucked.

[saetoru]

✩ ‧₊˚ ✩ PARTNERS — GOJO SATORU. (rich boy! au)

contents. college! au, rich boy! gojo, established relationship, you and suguru are partnered for a project instead of satoru…and he doesn’t take the news lightly, dramatic toru and INSTIGATOR suguru

satoru is sulking—you’d find it a little amusing any other day, but he seems a bit more upset than usual. and quite frankly, suguru isn’t really helping things out either, so you feel just a little bad.

“baby,” you poke his cheek, “it’s not our fault! we just got randomly assigned—”

“whatever,” he huffs. you tug at his arm, but he pulls it away.

it just so happens that the three of you seem to share a class this semester—but unfortunately, suguru is assigned as your partner for a project. it’s the same project satoru wanted to be paired with you for. he seems convinced it’ll be you and him that are called—which, in all honesty, the likelihood of being paired with you out of the multiple people in the class is low, but it’s only added insult to injury that suguru had the odds in his favor.

satoru is not handling it well.

“toru,” you insist, pinching his cheek in hopes to cheer him up. he scowls at you—as if this is your fault, “c’mon, cheer up! now that it’s suguru, you can just tag along when we work—”

“tag along?” he cuts you off, tone bordering on hurt, “so now i’m the third wheel?”

oh dear.

“n-no!” you say quickly—suguru has the audacity to snicker, earning a warning glance from you, “you’re never the third wheel, toru. you’re the first wheel! the only wheel. really!”

“y’know,” suguru starts—you already know whatever he’s about to say is going to make things ten times worse. you try (and fail) to glare at him until he’s silent. “if i recall, the two of you got together through a project, didn’t you? who knows, maybe you’ll have the biggest crush on me after this is over.”

suguru drops the bomb and winks. you look at him like you want to kill him. satoru’s face is devastated.

you think this might be the end.

“what?” satoru gasps, turning to you quickly, “tell him that’s impossible, tell him! tell him he’s hideous and that you only have eyes for me—”

“toru, of course i only have eyes for you, don’t listen to him, he’s just pushing your buttons—”

“hey, you never know. i might charm you,” suguru adds fuel to the fire—this time, you throw your water bottle at him. he catches it with ease, throwing you a smug grin that makes you scowl deeper.

“you’re hideous, suguru,” satoru spits, “no way anyone would leave me for you—”

“that already happened. remember your girlfriend in middle school?”

“that doesn’t count! we were too young to know what love was back then!”

satoru is practically inconsolable now—you consider dropping out of this class just for the sake of peace. maybe you can take it over the summer and be paired with a random stranger that won’t bother your dramatic boyfriend. maybe you can evade the project altogether with a different professor. maybe you can kill suguru and the misfortune of a dead partner can grant you an automatic exemption from this assignment.

you weigh your options as satoru slumps with a pout.

“whatever,” he grumbles, “i don’t even care. have fun without me.”

suguru chuckles, shaking his head in amusement. you sigh before cupping satoru’s cheeks and giving him a small kiss to his forehead to cheer him up.

not surprisingly, it doesn’t seem to work.

“cheer up, baby,” you reason, “at least since it’s just suguru, you won’t have to leave us alone to work! it won’t be awkward if you’re there too.”

“but you’ll be too busy working with suguru to talk to me,” he says bitterly.

“at least i’ll have a handsome face to keep me motivated,” you grin, kissing his jaw—now that…that seems to cheer him up considerably. he brightens, plastering that usual smug grin he sports, as if the world around him wasn’t ending just moments ago.

“i am handsome, aren’t i?” he hums, wrapping an arm around you—mission accomplished, you think happily.

“yeah,” you nod quickly, “and suguru is hideous anyway. i’d never leave you for someone with a tacky man bun—”

“hey, leave my hair out of this—”

“it is pretty tacky,” satoru nods and agrees.

suguru crosses his arms, glaring at the both of you before he opens his mouth to retaliate. you cut in before he can say anything else to worsen satoru’s mood any further.

“and maybe you can help me—you’re smarter than suguru too.”

“he is not—”

“you’re right baby,” satoru hums, “maybe this is for the best. i’ll save both of your grades this way.”

suguru’s vein all but pops. “we don’t need your help—”

“don’t worry suguru,” satoru grins confidently, pointing to himself with his thumb, “i’ll save your grade. no need to thank me—ow!”

you watch tiredly as suguru throws your water bottle at satoru’s head—it’s going to be a long project.

i already know the switch boy! au people are gonna start the “suguru definitely wants reader” comments. i’m waiting for them i can sense them already

[malum-forev]

Hi, can I request ex husband!bucky x reader with the prompt “what makes you think you can…” from the bingo card??

Hi hiii thank you sooo much for your ask! Sooo, I kind of blacked out and ended up writing something that's over 3k words long. Hope you like it! It's kind of a part 2 to this story I wrote! I thought this prompt fit perfectly! get ready for ANGST CENTRAAALLLL

“Please don’t pick up, please don’t pick up, please don’t pick up.” (Y/n) begged, hearing the third ring on her side of the phone. 

She didn’t know what to say. Hell, she didn’t know it was happening until this week! It would have gone completely unnoticed if it hadn’t been for an especially excited teacher. (Y/n)’s stomach just about dropped onto the floor as she heard her daughter’s teacher say how generous and kind Bucky was. 

Another ring, one more and I can hang up. She thought but no, nothing with Bucky was ever simple. He couldn’t not answer the phone when (Y/n) wanted. Was that too much to ask? For Bucky to read her mind?

“Hey, do-“ Bucky stopped himself, trying to mask it with a cough. He couldn’t call you that anymore, he had to remember that. “What’s up?”

“Hi, I just wanted to ask you about something but I guess you’re busy so I’ll just-“

Bucky laughed. “I’m never too busy for you.”

(Y/n) rolled her eyes, talk about nothing being simple. He couldn’t even make the divorce that he wanted easy!

“So, I didn’t know this happened or better yet how it happened but,” She took a deep breath. “Peanut’s school is having a gala, a fund raiser and somehow P put your name down.”

The line went silent for a couple of seconds.

“I tried to explain to the school that you would be busy and that you don’t even go to your work galas.” She tried to joke, gnawing on her bottom lip nervously.

Bucky broke the silence with a noise. “Mhm.”

“But they said that when the parents saw the school was auctioning a day with an Avenger, ticket sales went up like 200 percent.”

“Oh Peanut.” Bucky groaned. 

“I know you’re probably going to be busy,” (Y/n) said. “I just had to ask. P threatened to paint her hair blue if I didn’t give you a call.”

“She gets that from you.” Bucky’s low chuckle sent tingles through her body. 

(Y/n) leaned on the wall behind her with a deep breath, she could always count on Bucky to calm her nerves. “Sure, we can say P gets her determination and ability to blackmail from me and not her father, James ‘Bucky’ Buchanan Barnes.”

Bucky’s belly laugh warmed (Y/n)’s heart, it had been a long time since she’d heard it. 

“When’s the thing?” 

“It’s next Friday but don’t worry, we can auction off something from that old box I have in the attic. Maybe that old leather jacket-“

“Don’t you dare.” Bucky playfully growled. “Never get rid of my lucky jacket! If I remember correctly that thing is the reason I got a second date out of you.”

Her mind went to that moment in time, all those years ago. It was Bucky’s favorite but he said it looked better on her. 

“Is P going to the gala?” Bucky interrupted (Y/n)’s thoughts.

“Yeah, kids can go too.” She continued. “How about you ask Sam to submit a signed shield. The prototypes that no one uses-“

“I’ll be there.”

“What?” Her eyes just about bulged out of their sockets.

“I’ll be there.” Bucky repeated casually, like it wasn’t the first time ever he wanted to go to any of Peanut’s school events. Let alone a gala!

“You do know you’ll have to wear a tux, right?” She noted.

“You’ll be there, right?” Bucky asked. 

“Mhm.” (Y/n) brought her bottom lip in between her teeth. 

“Then I’m sure I can find one or two in the back of my closet.” Bucky smiled thinking about his options. She won’t be happy, but it’ll be worth it. He thought. 

“Oh-okay. So I guess I’ll see you next week.”

- 

(Y/n) smoothed the fabric of her dress nervously. Did Bucky forget he was supposed to be here? Was he sent on a mission at the last moment? She looked over at Peanut at the kids table, so excited that her dad was finally going to something at her school.

When she first started, some of her classmates and teachers didn’t believe she was Bucky’s daughter. (Y/n) and Bucky had chosen an extremely protected private school for the same reason, they didn’t want someone else telling P about the Winter Soldier, not before she was old enough to understand. 

After the first tear dropped from Peanut’s eyes, when she told her dad no one at school believed her, you best believe Bucky picked her up every single day. He would often take off his jacket as soon as he got to her school just so everyone would shut their mouths. No one was to make his little girl cry, ever. 

(Y/n) turned to the bar behind her and ordered a glass of champagne. 

“Do you think he’s actually going to come?” One of the women next to (Y/n) asked her friends. 

“Honey, if he does, you gals better take out a loan because that man is going home with me.” An older woman laughed into her drink.

“A recently divorced hunk? Sign me up. I don’t need the full day, just a couple of hours with him and it’ll be enough.” Another one said.

(Y/n) cringed at their words. She obviously has eyes, she knew what her ex-husband looked like but did people have to talk about him like he was just a piece of meat? 

The whole room suddenly got quiet. (Y/n) looked left and right to see what had happened and it wasn’t long until she found out. Bucky strolled into the room. 

He did not. (Y/n) thought.

Bucky was wearing the tuxedo he wore at their wedding. The black-on-black combination made him look even more mysterious than he already was. But every ounce of his dark persona disappeared once he heard the two magic words.

“Hi Daddy!” Peanut came running towards Bucky at full speed. With a small umph Bucky picked up his daughter and twirled her around. 

“Hello princess.” Bucky smiled, melting for his sweet little girl. “Why don’t you tell me where mommy is?”

Peanut pointed a chubby finger towards (Y/n) and she held up her champagne glass, the murmurs and gasps of the women next to her didn’t go unnoticed. 

Bucky placed Peanut back on the floor and set his eyes on (Y/n), it was like everything and everyone around him became blurry. He could only see her. 

“You’re late.” (Y/n) looked up at him. 

“I’m the talent, I am never late.” Bucky smiled at her, the kind of smile that made women all over the world want to drop to their knees, for various reasons. 

(Y/n) laughed, pushing Bucky away with her left hand. Bucky took her hand in his and brought it to his lips, kissing the spot on her third finger where her ring used to sit.  

“You look radiant.” Bucky came closer to (Y/n) placing a kiss on the corner of her mouth. 

She took in his intoxicating smell, it had been forever since she’d been this close to him. (Y/n) took a deep breath, the memories coming to life again. But before she could get lost in the past, the present came into view. 

(Y/n) cleared her throat and took a step back before turning to the women gawking next to them. “Ladies, may I introduced you to my ex-husband, James?” 

Bucky rolled his eyes and turned to them, a forced smile playing on his lips.

(Y/n) slipped from the group with a light laugh and sat down at her table, the auction about to start. 

It wasn’t long before Bucky’s category came up, women desperate to cheat on their husbands without actually doing it. (Y/n) smiled cheekily as she saw Bucky fidget on the stage, the bright lights made him feel like he was a show horse. 

“Mr. Barnes was kind enough to auction a day with an Avenger, the winner of this would spend the day at the Avengers Compound and meet some of the people responsible for our safety!” Peanut’s principal spoke into the microphone.

“I can’t assure a tour of the compound.” Bucky’s raspy voice said through the speakers. 

“We’ll see the details later.” The principal waved him off. “How about we start the bidding at four hundred dollars?”

“Five hundred.” A woman way too old to be with Bucky, and that’s taking into consideration that he’s over a hundred years old, raised her bid card. 

“Six hundred.” Another woman said. 

“Seven hundred.” A third spoke.

Bucky’s eyes kept getting bigger and bigger, he hadn’t considered the fact that women would actually bid to be with him. He turned to (Y/n) with pleading eyes.

“Mommy, aren’t you gonna bid on daddy?” P asked her. 

“Honey-“ (Y/n) was about to explain how for some people spending a day with her Dad would be the experience of a lifetime, when one of the women she heard speaking so vulgarly about Bucky raised her card. 

“One thousand dollars.” The woman had a smug look on her face. 

“Going once-“ The principal said. 

“Mommy do something.” Peanut whispered. 

“Going twice.” Bucky threw his head back. Fuuck. He thought. 

“Go-“

“Two thousand dollars.” (Y/n) raised her card. 

Bucky’s head snapped forward at the sound of her voice. His scowl turned into a smile. 

“Sold, to the lady in the back.” The principal’s eyes just about turned into dollar signs.

- 

“I didn’t get the chance to thank you.” Bucky whispered, hiking Peanut’s body up. At some point in the night she had fallen asleep and now her father was carrying her to (Y/n)’s car. 

(Y/n) waved her hand. “It was nothing. I couldn’t let you spend a day with that hornets’ nest. She would’ve eaten you alive. 

“Still- thank you.” Bucky’s kind eyes were one of the first things that drew (Y/n) to him, the same shade he now shared with his daughter.  

(Y/n) unlocked her car so he could strap Peanut in. 

“So, when should I pick you up?” Bucky opened (Y/n)’s door so she could get in. 

Her eyebrows furrowed. “Oh, about the auction thing. You don’t have to do that, I’m sure you’re going to be busy.”

“How’s next Thursday at 8 sound? We can take P to school and I’ll give you an extremely memorable ‘Day with an Avenger’.” Bucky’s smooth words coated her heart.

“I’ve already had a couple of ‘Days with an Avenger’ and they haven’t been that memorable.” She teased.

“I can think of a couple of memorable days where you would beg-“

(Y/n) clamped her hand over Bucky’s mouth. “You can’t say that!”

“Would I be lying?” Bucky’s muffled voice said proudly.

“I’ll see you next Thursday.” (Y/n) rolled her eyes with a smile. “Please don’t be late.”

“Promise.”

-

The doorbell rang at 7:50 am on Thursday. 

“Be careful Peanut!” (Y/n) yelled as she opened the door. “Don’t fall from the stool! I don’t really feel like visiting the hospital right now.”

She huffed as she opened the door. Mornings were always chaotic but now, without another pair of helping hands it felt impossible. But here he was. 

Bucky stood at the other side of the door, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. A bouquet of her favorite flowers on one hand and balancing two coffees on the other. 

“Good morning.” Bucky placed a soft kiss on her cheek. “Need help with anything?”

(Y/n) stepped aside with her jaw on the floor, letting Bucky come inside. 

“Hiya Daddy!” Peanut beamed, shoving another forkful of French toast in her mouth. 

“How’s my number one girl doing this morning?” Bucky asked, placing a kiss on the top of her head. 

(Y/n) stepped into the kitchen, feeling like she’d walked into another dimension. 

“Sorry doll, you’ve been bumped down to the number two spot.” Bucky winked at (Y/n) and her eyebrows shot up. “You still keep the vases on the top cupboard?” 

(Y/n) slowly nodded, the shocked expression never left her. 

Definitely an alternate dimension, it’s the only explanation. She thought. 

Drop off was perfect and the ride to the compound was actually pleasant. 

“You got a new car.” (Y/n) hummed, looking around Bucky’s new SUV. 

He nodded proudly. “I can’t ride around on a bike forever. Plus, you asked me to get a car.”

“I asked you to get a car over a year ago.” She snorted. 

Bucky shrugged, the relaxed smile on his lips never faltered. “Took me a while but I got it.”

(Y/n) eyed her ex-husband curiously. Fresh haircut, cologne, pressed t-shirt. New car, more present. Something changed. “Okay, who is she?”

“Who’s who?” Bucky’s forehead creased.

(Y/n) rolled her eyes. “I’m not a child, you can tell me who she is.”

“If you’re trying to say I’m dating someone, I’m not.” Bucky looked a little offended.

“I never said anything about dating.” (Y/n) laughed. “You can get some without making it official.”

“I’m not doing that either.” Bucky grumbled, his grip on the steering wheel made his knuckles white.

“I’m sorry for asking. I didn’t know you not getting any was a sore subject.” She held her hands up in surrender and laughed. “You do know you can do that right? I’m pretty sure the papers we signed mean that we’re no longer together, meaning you can have se-“

Bucky’s groan interrupted her, he ran his palm through his face. “Can we not talk about my sex life please? I actually have a nice day planned, and it doesn’t include this topic of conversation.”

“You. Have a day planned.” She emphasized the words. 

“Please feel free make me sound more like an asshole.” Bucky chuckled. 

And what a day did he have planned. 

It started by taking her to the newly renovated Avengers Museum on the compound. Bucky showed (Y/n) a few never before seen pictures of himself from the 40’s. 

“The investigators dug these up.” He smiled. 

“You were a baby!” She laughed, posing for a picture next to the blown-up print of him.

“You think Peanut will look like me when she’s a little bit older?” Bucky came up behind her, resting his head on hers and tossing his arms over her shoulders. 

(Y/n) relaxed into his body. “You want her to look more like you? She’s basically your twin.” 

His laugh made her whole body vibrate. “What can I say? We should have tried to get a boy after P, maybe he would look like you.”

Afterwards came a late lunch by the lake followed by a tour of the new wing dedicated to Steve Rogers. Bucky had thought of everything. He asked Sam to pick up Peanut from school and make sure she did her homework, took a bath and brushed her teeth before going to bed. 

The sun was setting as Bucky drove (Y/n) home, he rested his hand on the center console hoping she would take it. It wasn’t long until she intertwined their fingers. 

Bucky opened her side of the door and helped her down. (Y/n) leaned on his car. 

“Thank you for a lovely day.” She smiled. “Don’t know if it was worth 2k but, I had an amazing time.”

Bucky fake gasped, clutching the left side of his chest. “You don’t think I’m worth two thousand measly dollars?”

“Some of us actually have to work to get two thousand dollars, not just pose around and look cute.” She bit the inside of her cheek to stop a smile from forming.

Bucky stepped closer to her. “Well I would pay you way more than that to pose around for me. You already have the cute thing down to a T.”

He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, dragging his knuckles against her cheek and stopping at her lips. Bucky pulled her closer to him and placed his lips on hers. At first it was soft but once his brain registered what was happening, it turned dark and hungry. It was like he was running out of oxygen and the only thing that could breathe life into him was her kiss. 

With a gasp, she pushed him away.

“What are you doing?” (Y/n) asked breathlessly, bringing her fingers to her throbbing lips. 

“(Y/n), please.” Bucky sighed. “I want you, I need you. And I’m not talking about stupid sex, I’m talking about you. Talking to you every day, telling me off for things I do or don’t do, I want us. Together.”

Her eyebrows creased, she felt her body heat up with rage. “What makes you think you can kiss me like that? Like nothing’s ever happened. Like you’ve forgotten we’re not together anymore.”

“Please.” Bucky’s crystal blue eyes reddened. “Do you want me to get on my knees? Because I’ll do it. I’m begging you, please take me back. I want to be with you, forever.”

(Y/n) sniffled, tears of her own threatening to fall. “I’m not falling for this, not again. I’m about to finish mending my broken heart, I’ve just finished putting the pieces back together and for you to come here and-“

“I’m trying-“ Bucky cried. “I’m really trying to show you that I’ve changed.”

(Y/n) let out a dry laugh. “Does going to one gala and buying a car mean you’ve changed? I asked you to buy that thing for a whole year and you never even thought about it.”  

“But I’m doing it now, does that mean anything?” Bucky asked with saddened eyes.

“Yes, it means that you only want me because you can’t have me.”

“That’s not-“ He tried to argue but she turned towards her door. 

“Thank you for the nice day James but, I have to go to my real life. The one in which we’re still divorced and you have to leave for some undisclosed amount of time to a classified location. Do you remember? Your reallife.” (Y/n) opened her front door, thanking Sam for taking care of Peanut. 

Bucky was left on the driveway with tears running down his cheek. 

Part 3 here!

Hi hii! I've tagged everyone who commented Pt2 on my first fic and reblogged! <3 Hope you guys like it, if you do remember to like reblog and comment! I'll love you forever if you do <3

tagged: @kpopgirlbtssvt @shara-ne @namelesssaviour @aimeekatee @learisa @deadspeed @happinessinthebeing @multitargaryen @ajordan2020 @almosttoopizza @empollito @jbbarnesgirl. @uniquecroissant @mavrellover91 @angstysebfan @buckswhore-com @coffeebooksandfandom @azenpal @stanofmanythingslol @msknb-blog @intrepidacious @ladyloki3 @buck-fics @honeyglee @vileepponine @sebstanwhore @helium-queen @lokislady82 @crazygirlinthisworld @superforgottensoul @bibbidibobbidibucky @mdc-203081

Hi hiiii This is part of my 1k Celebration, if you like this please be sure to look at the Bingo Card and ask for a prompt! Love y'all <33

And you can find the Bingo master list and what prompts are still available here!

[theother-victoria]

LOVE IS CONCOCTED FROM ESTERS AND KETONES- CH. 00: PROLOGUE

NOTES: I hope this chapter gives you an idea of the setting and what's to come!

TAGLIST: @tragedy-of-commons, @mitsvriii, @harque, @nariism, @vxnuslogy, @akutasoda , @flowery-jazz , @gabile18 , @khoncore

Somewhere within the heart of the universe lies a perfumery on an unremarkable planet, its simplicity belittling its fame. From its exterior, it looks like any other shop on the street. Simple, with a cute sign and clean exterior. They’re closed on Mondays but for the rest of the week, they open at ten am on the weekdays and close at six pm with extended hours on the weekends. 

The inside, however, tells a different story. It’s far more spacious than the outside would lead one to believe. The poor, overworked air purifiers can be heard running 24/7 to prevent the air from becoming suffocating. The shelves go as far back as the eye can see and are stocked with bottles of different colors, sizes, and designs- each of them hefty and works of art in their own right. Each of them have different scent profiles and all of them are handcrafted by the enigmatic owner who formulates and tests each scent in the lab located behind the shop. 

… The test subjects just happen to be the two shop assistants who are more than happy to be their boss’ guinea pigs. 

The shop itself is split into three sections- male, female, and unisex. Perfumes are arranged based on the fragrance family- fresh, floral, woodsy- before being further arranged by notes- green, fruity, gourmand- since people often walk in wanting to smell like a specific note, which the owner and shop assistants are happy to work with. However, there’s a rumor that you’ll get the best results when you come in with an idea, a concept, in mind. 

“I want to smell like worn, old, musty jewelry that’s probably tangled.” There’s a scent for that.

“Do you have anything that smells like a day at the fair as a kid?” Yes, there is.

“How about a warm rock?” Second display case in the unisex section, fifth shelf down, third bottle from the left, the green one. 

There’s also the option to get a custom-made fragrance, although it’ll carry a heftier price tag than the already-pricy wares. But for many, it’s a small price to pay for something that’s uniquely personal to them. 

All of this has led to celebrities, politicians, and other rich and famous people from across the galaxy to flock to this store, which has been the biggest reason for the store’s meteoric rise to fame. It started off as the name being shared among circles and it gradually rippled out from there until it reached the level of renown it has today. Celebrities often quote a bottle from the store as their signature and/or favorite scent in interviews and the paparazzi always snap a bunch of photos whenever a particularly high-profile person leaves the store with a bag in hand. 

Rumor has it that the advertising benefits for the shop are top-tier too, which is why they practically jump at the chance to promote the newest scents. 

But while the shop’s fame is undeniable, there isn’t much known about the owner. They’ve dodged the media’s questions ever since the shop’s popularity exploded and even the two assistants don’t know much besides what’s publicly available. It seems as if they intend for things to stay that way as well. 

Not only do you want to keep your secrets close, but you also want to preserve that sense of monotony that comes with running a business for as long you have. Wake up, get ready, open the store for business, and handle the various customers that come into the shop until closing.

But unbeknownst to you, there’s a wave of new customers coming, each with their peculiarities that you’ve never quite had to deal with before, and they’re interested in more than just your wares.

Keeping your inventory stocked and your heart guarded is your modus operandi for running your business. But between running your business, staying on top of orders, and dealing with these new customers… this may be a difficult task to follow for the foreseeable future. 

the taglist is open for this series and the rest of my works!

@ theother-victoria, do not copy, repost, modify, translate, or feed to ai

[isalisewrites]

TERRIBLE, BUT GREAT - CHAPTER THIRTY

SUMMARY:

“Harry Potter.” The cold burrowed into his flesh, the scent of cloying death and molding earth clogged his senses.

“The Boy Who Lived.”

A strange sense of loss and disappointment rose within him. That brilliant, yet cruel boy could’ve been so much more if he’d not stepped down this bloodied path.

Terrible, but great. He pitied this creature.

“Come to die.”

Harry Potter faced the flash of green light with the bravery of a Gryffindor and the broken heart of a Hufflepuff.

---

When Death gives Harry a third option, one that can save everyone he ever cared about, he takes it unflinchingly. Even when that means doing the impossible: falling in love with the enemy, Tom Riddle.

---

THIRTY EXCERPT:

“And you, Hatchling,” said Nagini, her eyes on Harry now. There was an air of contentment surrounding the two of them, as Tom stroked her scales. Harry’s heart swelled with warmth at the fond gaze Tom held for his familiar. “Have you agreed to learn how to better speak my language, Hatchling?”

“I’ve agreed to lessons, yeah,” said Harry. “It’d be nice to learn how to control it.”

“We’ll practice parseltongue tomorrow while everyone has gone to Hogsmeade.”

Harry sank in disappointment. “What?” he said, looking directly at Tom and not noticing his switch to English. “But I’ve been looking forward to the Hogsmeade trip. Aren’t you going? Don’t you have a plan for it?”

Tom raised an eyebrow. “Plan?”

“Yeah, do you want to get some sweets or check out the bookstore?”

“I’m not going.”

“What?”

“I don’t need anything,” said Tom, shaking his head. “Why would I go?”

Harry was at a loss now. He wasn’t sure why he felt so disappointed about the fact of missing a Hogsmeade trip. It wasn’t like he really needed to go either. But… I’d like to go with Tom. “I dunno,” he said, scrambling for a reason. “Uh, for a change of scenery?”

Tom folded his arms. “Harry, have you seen the grounds?” he asked with a sardonic lilt. “There’s plenty of scenery to take in. If you’re in dire need of the outdoors, we can always take the lessons to the grounds.”

“Not quite what I meant and you know it.”

“You know it’s rude to exclude the other party in the room from your conversation. Are you two fighting again?”

Huh? Wait, I wasn’t speaking in parseltongue?

Tom rolled his eyes. “This is ridiculous. You are not convincing me.”

“Yes, yes, forget I exist again, why don’t you?”

“Nagini, he’s being difficult.”

“Me?” protested Harry, shifting back to parseltongue when his gaze rested on Nagini. “I just would like to go to Hogsmeade.” With you. “And the others are going, too. Come with us. It’ll be fun.”

“A Hogsmeade trip is a waste of time if you’re not buying anything in particular,” said Tom, shaking his head. “I’m not interested.”

Nagini’s eyes were sharp as she eyed them both. She uncurled from Tom’s lap, slithering away silently, until she disappeared from the curtains. Neither Harry nor Tom noted her absence.

“But aren’t there other interesting places to visit? We could get a butterbeer.”

“It’s frivolous spending.”

Oh.

Harry blinked. Oh. That was right. While Harry knew what it’d been like to live without money of his own as a child, that had changed when he’d gotten his Hogwarts letter and discovered the wealth his parents had left him. He hadn’t exactly been ‘frivolous’ with his money, but he hadn’t paid attention to it either, not like Ron had often worried about money.

Even now, with his funds somewhat limited, he hadn’t really thought about it too much or what he’d have to do in the future to earn a living. But Tom, on the other hand, was on an assistance fund here at Hogwarts. The only reason he could attend the school at all was because of that fund. Though Tom had always appeared immaculate in his appearance, Harry couldn’t help but wonder now if his belongings were secondhand.

“Right,” whispered Harry. “I forgot.”

Tom frowned. “Forgot what.”

“Well… you haven’t got any family, so I forgot that also probably means you haven’t got money either.”

A mixture of embarrassment and anger flushed through Tom’s cheeks. His chest puffed up; the light in his eyes grew flinty.

[just-the-mage]

Something I think about often when it comes to the current election and the mentality of ‘vote them out to punish them’ or ‘it’s worth another Trump term to send a message’ or even ‘it’s worth it to tear it all down’ is the question of who suffers. Who will suffer as a result of this? Who actually gets hurt if this ‘message’ is sent? Because it sure isn’t top level Democrats. The people at the DNC making decisions, the socially liberal big business owners, even Biden himself-none of them will suffer from this. The message means nothing to them. It won’t change their opinion on Palestine, and it won’t change the way they handled protests or how they’ll handle protests in the future.

You know who it’ll hurt? The people who are already marginalized. The people who are already struggling, and suffering. Queer people, POC, disabled people, illegal immigrants, hell, even legal immigrants would be unquestionably endangered by another Trump term. I’m amazed that people seem to have forgotten how frightening it was to have possibly the most unstable man ever to be in politics controlling the fucking nukes. The man who is barely intelligible, lies constantly, and can easily be swayed by any extremist who manages to bend his ear for even a second. If you think for one second that putting a white supremacist racist bigoted unstable terrifying man like that in the highest position of authority in this country will help anyone aside from a chosen few, then I don’t know what to tell you. Stop watching Fox News.

I strongly believe that anyone who is pushing to teach the democrats a lesson is either a republican spreading propaganda, or perhaps a neoliberal sitting in a place where they believe that another Trump presidency won’t affect them. Unfortunately, it will affect all of us-but it’s the marginalized who will be truly hurt by this. If you care at all about minorities, or queer people, or anyone listed above, please, please vote democrat in the upcoming election. I wish we had the luxury of choice, I really do. I wish we had the option to try and elect someone more progressive than Biden. But we don’t. And abstaining, or voting third party, even…is contributing to a Trump win.

Stay safe out there everyone.

[maximoffcarter]

Messy.

Pairings: Peggy Carter x Natasha Romanoff, Peggy Carter x Steve Rogers.

Summary: Peggy lost so much when she decided to sacrifice herself to save the people she cared about, years later and living a new life, she finds what she has lost; but she was not sure if she truly wanted it back or if she wanted a certain redhead that always stood by her side.

A/n: Well, well, well…here we are again, after a whole year of not posting anything, I’ve made my comeback. Will I continue posting? We don’t know, but this is a first step🫡 Happy new year everyone!✨I decided to write what the writers didn’t give us in the episode. I was really hoping for them to give us peggynat but they were too cowards to give us that, hopefully in the third season🥲 So this is a ‘What if…Peggy’s episode turned out a bit better?’ but…written by me🤪 Haven’t written anything in so long so give me a chance. Hope you guys enjoy and…request will be open🫡✍🏻 Also, I added some scenes from the episode but it’s also sort of changed, enjoy!

Natasha moaned the moment her back hit the coldness of the wall, feeling a rush of excitement as she looked at Peggy taking off her shirt and showing part of her stunning figure. Peggy lost no time in going back to her lips, her hands gripping her sides to pull the redhead closer once again, not wanting to be any inch away from her. Both women moaned as the kiss became more heated, both trying to undress one another to get rid of the heat they both have been feeling all day. But just as they worked on each other's clothes, both phones went off. They both pulled away and groaned loudly.

“Is this gonna keep happening every time we try to have some alone time?” Natasha asked with a very annoyed tone and throwing her head back against the wall.

Peggy looked at her and chuckled. “Desperate much, my darling?”

“Eh. Just a bit. Not like I’ve been waiting all day for this.” Natasha smirked as she looked at Peggy, shocking her head and reaching to the floor to grab her shirt. “We better get going before Fury sends someone to find us.”

Peggy nodded. “Right.” She went on to find her shirt but stopped her movements when she heard Natasha chuckling. “What’s so funny?” She turned to look at her with a confused look.

“You might wanna get some makeup on that neck of yours. Wouldn’t want the team to ask what happened.” Natasha smirked as she grabbed her bag and kissed Peggy’s cheek before she left the room.

Peggy moved to the nearest mirror she could find and sighed. “Bloody hell, Nat…”

____________________

“You know she’ll be pissed, right?” Natasha asked as she looked again through the small window the new discovery.

“We don’t have any other option. She’ll find out one way or another, either way, she’ll get mad at us.” Fury said on the other line, hearing silence before a big sigh from Natasha. “We can’t hide it, not when we now know this is not a myth anymore.”

“I know.” Natasha shook her head as she thought about it for a second. “Okay, I’ll go find her.”

“Good luck.”

Natasha hung up the phone and went to find Peggy. She knew the moment Peggy saw what was inside, it’ll be the end of whatever they had. After all this time of knowing each other, Nat and Peggy became closer than anyone else, not that they didn’t get along with the rest of the team of course, even Hope was a good friend to them, but what Natasha and Peggy had was different, unlike any other thing. The moment they met each other, they had their backs no matter what, Natasha was not one to get close to just anyone, she had her story and had her doubts, but Peggy was so easy to get along with, they understood each other in a way that made them be closer.

That closeness of course became something more, but not enough for both women to conclude what they had going on. No one knew about their encounters at night, about the sleepless nights on their apartments, the secret going outs or anything about their relationship outside work. They didn’t know what they were doing either, but Natasha knew a thing for sure; whatever was going on between them, she couldn’t get enough of Peggy. 

____________________

Peggy felt a rush of anger and confusion as they went back to the quarters. How could he still be alive? How come she never found out about this? Did they know about this the whole time and that’s why they sent them to this mission? Everything was confusing, so many thoughts were running through her head, her legs bouncing with anxiety and nervousness and her hands gripping into each other. Natasha noticed the state Peggy was in, still wet from the ocean and the towel laying just beside her. Natasha went on and grabbed the towel, wrapping it around Peggy, making her come back to the reality she was avoiding to be in.

“You alright, Peg?” 

“What do you think?” Peggy looked at her and sighed. “Sorry, Widow. I know it’s not your fault.”

Natasha’s heart sank as she heard those words. Of course, it was partly her fault. She knew about this, but how could she make her go through that again? 

“I need to speak to Fury as soon as we get there.” 

“Peggy, you need some rest, we’ll go to him in the morning.” 

“This can’t wait. All this time I’ve been here and he’s…he’s been here too. For way longer. For me it was just a second, for him…I’m not sure what happened.” Peggy shook her head. “I should’ve known.”

“How could you, Peg? It’s 2014, you came from the 40’s. How would you know?” Natasha placed her hand on top of Peggy’s, knowing everyone else were either distracted or asleep. “Don’t do this to yourself.”

Peggy nodded as she looked down at their hands, feeling a sudden warmth. “You’re right. I’m just exhausted. So much happened today.” 

“I mean, other than Fury interrupting us and then your fight with that mustache guy, not sure what else happened unless you got something to tell me.” Natasha smirked as she saw a little smile coming from Peggy. 

“Right. I’m just tired.”

“You’ll get some sleep, you can go straight to your apartment.” Natasha paused for a moment as she looked down at their hands. “Or you could come to mine.”

Peggy looked up at Natasha, questioning what was better for her to do at the moment. She wanted to go so badly but she knew what would come down if she did, but going back to her place would be torture, she knew her mind wouldn’t be able to rest one second. 

“You know I don’t mean that, right? Just saying you can come back to my place, so we sleep. I know you.” Natasha grinned.

Peggy smiled and nodded. “That sounds good.”

Natasha smiled. “Good.” 

____________________

“Peg, think about this. We’re not sure what we’re gonna fight with, this is not the Steve you knew.” Natasha said as she followed Peggy through the hallway. 

“You didn’t tell me anything about this. You hid it from me, knowing perfectly how I felt.” Peggy felt upset, confused, the one person she trusted the most had hidden this information from her.

“I told you; I didn’t want you to overthink this and blame yourself for not doing something.”

Peggy stopped and turned to look at Nat, making Nat suddenly stop right in front of her. “And how do you think I feel? Happy? I could’ve done something; I could’ve found him sooner.”

“I don’t want to keep arguing with you, you perfectly know why we did what we did.” Natasha said with a serious look on her face. 

Peggy sighed. “You can either follow me or stay here, your choice.” 

Natasha rolled her eyes as she saw Peggy walking away. She would literally do anything for her, but she had her doubts about this. Of course she wanted to see Peggy happy, but not exactly with Steve. She knew why Peggy was doing this, she could finally have what she lost, which was still doubtful as to how he had survived for so long, but Peggy wouldn’t give up on this, she’d do anything to get him back.

As in with Peggy, she was still very confused about the whole situation, she was not sure what she was supposed to do or how she’d react when she came face to face with Steve. She didn’t mean to be upset at Nat, she didn’t want that, but how else was she supposed to feel? Everything happened so suddenly, the fight with that Ultron robot, meeting another Nat and new people from different universes, to coming to find that Steve Rogers was still alive and inside the Hydra Stomper. How else was she supposed to feel? 

It even felt wrong, unreal, like this was not supposed to happen, but slowly learning now about new universes made her realize that things happened for a reason. If she was destined to meet with Steve again, there was a reason. She was just confused as if she felt happy or scared or sad, so many feelings mixed that she could not comprehend, she couldn’t figure out she felt, but one thing she knew, is that she felt guilty for not looking for him sooner. Both Bucky and Peggy thought he was definitely gone, she was making her new life, even if that new life was having mission after mission, no social life other than hanging out with Natasha, which…if she was honest…she truly didn’t mind at all. 

____________________

“Are you with me or not, Widow?” Peggy asked as she walked to her.

Nat drank from her cup and looked back at Peggy. “Before I joined SHIELD, I spent five days in a Hungarian sewer tracking down and killing the head of the Red Room.”

Peggy raised her brow. “Are you certain that you killed him?”

“I mean…” Natasha shrugged. “I stabbed him in the carotid artery with a corkscrew. So, yeah, I think I did.” She grinned. 

“You should write a memoir.” Peggy grinned.

Natasha grinned. “At the end of the day…it meant nothing. The Red Room is still there, somewhere. No one could find the location.” 

Peggy sighed. “We have to try, Nat. We need to figure out what to do with Steve.”

“How are you so sure that it’s really him and not someone who is controlled by the Red Room? I don’t wanna tear you down with this, but Peg, you need to be conscious that this might not be right to do.”

“I know. I’m aware of the consequences, but you know me, I need to find a solution to all this.” 

Natasha looked down at the floor. “This is blinding you, Carter. But you know I’ll do anything to help.”

Peggy smiled. “I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t.”

“And leave you here alone? You kidding? You need me.” Natasha winked as Peggy laughed softly. “So, what’s the plan? Where should we start?”

“I can take you there.”

Both Peggy and Natasha turned to look at Steve. He looked so tired, his face looked different, they were right…Steve looked so different, but Peggy still felt some kind of comfort to hear his voice. Peggy walked to him as she smiled. 

“Peggy.” Steve smiled as he looked down at her. “It’s so nice to see you.”

“Likewise.” Peggy smiled. 

Natasha only looked at the scene in front of her, feeling her heart sank as she wished she had Peggy’s heart and not him…

____________________

“So, this place…”

“It was built to look like an American town straight out of a John Mellencamp song.” Natasha grinned at Peggy. “He’s a rock ‘n’ roll musician.”

“Oh, I know. Barton introduced me to dad rock.” Peggy chucked. 

As the three of them walked into the small town, Peggy looked in horror as it seemed out of a horror movie. It was completely silent and empty, aside from having the company of robots and American look alike houses. Nat decided to check the place for a moment, make sure that no one was there, leaving Steve and Peggy alone for a moment. 

“So…it’s a whole new and modern world. Howard really did see the future.” Steve smiled.

“I suppose so.” Peggy smiled as she looked at the town. “Technology took over and music is a bit better. It’s not so bad.”

“Good music to dance?”

Peggy looked at Steve and felt a bit sad about the thought of them losing the chance to dance. “Perhaps.” She smiled. “Why didn’t you continue your life? Like Bucky and Howard.”

Steve shrugged as he looked at the beautiful sunset. “It wasn’t for me. I was looking for a purpose.”

“Did you find it?”

“Not yet.” Steve smiled as he turned to look at her again. “But at least I found you again.”

Peggy smiled. “You did.”

“What about you?” Steve noticed Natasha going back from checking the place. “New partner?”

“What?” Peggy looked at Natasha and smiled. “Oh, uh…yes. She’s a good friend.”

“I can tell.” Steve smiled. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of this.”

“I should be sorry. I didn’t know you were out there.” Peggy looked down at her hands as her fingers played with each other. 

“It wasn’t your fault. It just happened. I did some terrible things.”

“Haven’t we all?” Peggy shrugged. “This world is full of evil and as much as we fight, there’ll always be another.” 

“And you’ll never stop fighting.”

Peggy shook her head. “Not really.” She chuckled. “That’s my specialty.” 

“You could have a new life. Another chance.” Steve looked at her and smiled. “Doesn’t hurt anyone.”

Peggy smiled and as she was about to say something, they heard Natasha calling for them. Suddenly the robots started gathering around them and started shooting at them, the three of them tried to destroy all of them but at some point, it became too many to fight. Peggy fell to the floor and looked at Steve who was still fighting and then she turned to Nat, who was also on the floor and trying to protect herself. She was about to move to Natasha when she suddenly felt a strong wind, and looking up the sky, there it was; the Red Room.

“Home sweet home.” Natasha walked to Peggy as she looked up the sky. And then her heart stopped for a moment as she heard a familiar voice.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Natasha.” Melina smirked and then turned to Steve. “Mission report, soldier.” 

“What?” Peggy turned to Steve, who was already pointing at both Natasha and Peggy, ready to fire. 

From there it all came down when Melina started talking, it had all been a trap, one where they had easily fallen into, all thanks to Peggy. She felt guilty knowing this was not easy for Natasha either, coming face to face with a past that she had avoided before and had never talked about, but here they were now. No going back even if she tried to. Peggy stared at Natasha for so long that she didn’t notice Melina walking to her, almost running, prepared to hit Peggy since she was concentrated on making sure Natasha was okay. But before that could happen, Natasha stopped Melina’s hand, making Peggy come back to reality and turning to look at Melina.

“Ah, so your job is to protect Captain Carter. You’ve become someone else’s dog, I see…again.” Melina laughed.

“I can defend myself and Natasha is very capable of doing anything she’s willing to.” Peggy said as she looked at her with anger. 

“Right, right. Cause she’s a…what is it called? Guardian? Security? Slave?”

“She’s an avenger.” Peggy felt her blood boiling the more Melina talked.

Melina laughed. “Right! So…Natalia. My sweet girl.” She turned to look at Natasha with a defiant smile. “I thought you would be the greatest assassin. You were one of the best. No…” Melina shook her head. “YOU were the best…but you left the moment you had a chance…how pathetic that was. A big mistake.”

“That was not what I was meant to do.” Natasha tried to keep a straight face, but she never imagined she would have to face the women she grew up with for so long. 

“You were not meant to have a life!” Melina screamed. “What? You wanted to fucking run around the streets? To be a stupid simple girl who fell in love and had a happily ever after? We owned you the moment we saved you on the street. No one wants you, Natalia. You were nothing and we gave you a purpose. “

“That was not a life.” Natasha shook her head, taking a step back as Melina continued talking. 

“A life? We gave you one. I gave you one! I raised you! I trained you! You were meant to be the best and we worked day and night for you to become the best. To serve Dreykov. But now…” Melina smirked. “Your purpose is to serve me. You could lead by my side, Natalia.” 

“To what? Take more innocent people? Take away the chance of a life that those little girls could have? Yeah. No, thanks. I’m good where I am.” Natasha grinned a bit.

Melina’s blood boiled as she heard Natasha, at this point she knew nothing would make her come back to her. “Turning against your family for what? Protecting our enemies as a fucking mutt.” Melina took a deep breath. “You betrayed us. To go be a slave of someone else. That…is a shame, Natalia. You know how disappointing that is? You’re nothing but a waste of time. A waste of space in this world. I raised you better than this. I cuddled you too much, and now you’ve become a softie.” 

Peggy knew that those words could mean nothing to Natasha, or they could mean everything…but to her ears, they were nothing but pure lies and manipulation to weaken Natasha. She was done with it. The more she talked, the more she felt anger taking over her body, looking at Natasha trying to stand still but noticing how she kept taking a step back, she couldn’t hear more of this nonsense. She put her shield back and threw herself against Melina, punching her face hard enough for her to fall to the ground and whine in pain. Peggy kept hitting her but before she knew it, Steve grabbed her and the fight began, both Steve and Peggy fought each other while Natasha was faced with the Widows and Melina stood up, cleaning the blood from her face. Peggy tried to go back to Natasha but Steve never let her, she knew she had to go over Steve to get back to her. The sudden denial rushed over her again, what was she supposed to do now? How was she supposed to end this? She didn’t know what was best for her, lose Steve again or lose Natasha, she knew she couldn’t have both. 

“Steve, listen to me. This is not you. You can’t do this.” Peggy pleaded. “You know better than do this.” She breathed heavily as she kept fighting. “Steve, I know you’re in there. The sweet guy I met, the guy that wanted to find a purpose, this is not it. And you know better.”

Steve stopped for a moment as he looked at her. “No.”

“Steve. Please, do it for me. I need you.” 

Steve opened his mask and looked at Peggy, guilt washing over his face. “Peggy.” 

Peggy looked at Natasha through the dust, Melina was now fighting with her. She then looked up at the Red Room and sighed as she was coming with a plan. 

“I need something to destroy the Red Room.” 

“Peggy, you can’t do that.” 

Peggy let her shield fall to the ground.”I’m done fighting. I need to do this.”

“No. This is not your end; this is not where it ends.” 

“Steve…” Peggy sighed. “I have to fight for this. I have to get this over. I can’t let them keep going.”

“But this doesn’t have to be your fight. I can do this for you. For her.”

“What you mean?” Peggy looked at Steve confused. 

Steve sighed. “Peggy…you know I have to do this.”

Peggy shook her head in denial, this couldn’t be happening again. “I can’t. Not again.”

“This happened for a reason. You belong here, you made a new life, you need to continue doing that, you were given a second chance and you cannot waste it.” 

Peggy felt tears in her eyes as she looked down at the floor. “I don’t know what I want.”

Steve shrugged and smiled. “I do.” 

Peggy looked up at him with a confused look. “What you mean?”

“Peggy, we had our moment that sadly didn’t last long. I never stopped looking for you, and you always had that place in my heart. But I can tell you have someone else in that place.” 

“I don’t know what you mean. I’m-“

“Peg.” Steve chuckled. “You’re too stubborn to accept it. But even with the little time we had together, I know you.” Steve smiled. “I’m happy I got to see you again, but we both know this is not what you want.”

Peggy finally let the tears roll down her cheeks, feeling heavy pressure on her chest. “For so long…I’ve been grieving for what I lost. I didn’t know what to do with myself when I appeared here, so many years later. I thought I wouldn’t get back my life, that I’d suffer in here.” She smiled sadly. “But I found my people. They made me feel like home.”

“She made you feel like home.” Steve whispered.

Peggy smiled. “Yes.” She sighed. “And for so long I’ve been denying it because I thought my purpose was to fight to get over my past, but I didn’t notice that I was already finding a new purpose to live.” 

“Oh Peg.” Steve smiled.

“Steve…I love you…”

“But not the way you love her.” 

Peggy nodded. “Perhaps…in another universe…we got to be together.” 

“But in this one you belong to her.” Steve nodded. “I get it.” 

“But you don’t have to do this.” Peggy tilted her head. “I can’t bear the thought of you sacrificing yourself.”

“You did it once, I don’t want to live like this. So let me accomplish my purpose.” 

Peggy heard an agonizing scream and her heart stopped when she recognized it. “Natasha…”

“Go. She needs you.”

Peggy looked back at Steve. “Steve…”

“Enjoy your life, Peg. Don’t waste another second.” Steve smiled. “I’m glad I got to see you one last time.”

Peggy smiled as more tears rolled down her face. “Likewise.” 

Steve nodded and flew away directly to the red room. Peggy grabbed her shield and ran to find Natasha, scared that it was too late already, but just when she saw Natasha, she saw how Melina flew away, screaming Natasha’s name before disappearing into the sky along with Steve. She looked back at Natasha who laid in the floor in pain, running to her and dropping to her knees. She then heard a loud explosion and pieces started to fall on them, Peggy rapidly helped Natasha and covered both of them with her shield, running to a safe place. Once she found a safe spot, she helped Natasha sit on the floor and checked on her. 

“Nat…are you alright?” 

“Pegs.” Natasha smiled. “Where’s-“

“He’s gone.” 

“Oh…right. I’m sorry.” Natasha groaned as she laid her head back.

Peggy wrapped her arms around her carefully, helping her to lean on her so she wouldn’t lay on the cold floor again. “I think you have a concussion.”

“Maybe so. Cause I see some tears in that pretty face.” Natasha chuckled softly.

Peggy rolled her eyes as she tried to hide her smile. “Let’s get out of here.” Peggy picked her up carefully and walked away.

____________________

“Captain, I’m very sorry about this.” Fury walked to her as she walked out of her checkup. 

Peggy nodded. “I know. It’s alright. Things happen for a reason.”

Fury nodded. “Natasha is out of her checkup too; she was asking for you.” He grinned. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow?”

Peggy smiled as she looked at him and shook her head. “No, I’m taking tomorrow off.”

Fury chuckled. “Very well. Natasha also took the day off.” He said with a playful grin before he left.

Peggy blushed slightly but turned rapidly so he wouldn’t notice the redness on her face. She proceeded to walk to Nat’s room, hoping she was still there and to her surprise, she was. She smiled softly when Natasha looked at her, a small smile on her face. 

“Are you alright?” Peggy asked as she walked inside. 

“Yeah, just some bruises and a hurt knee. Melina told them about me hurting it when I was a kid so.” Natasha shrugged. “But I’m okay.” She looked up at Peggy. “Are you okay?”

Peggy nodded. “Yes.”

“You sure, Pegs? I-“

“I know what happened…” Peggy sighed as she tried to find the right words to say. “I know that- that was the last thing I wanted. I didn’t think I could live with losing Steve again, I was glad I got to see him again but truth is…you were right. It’s not him anymore. For a slight moment, he was back, but he didn’t want to live like that.” 

Natasha nodded. “I’m sorry you had to go through that again.”

“Well…he did say something that made me realize that all this time I was stopping myself from.” 

Natasha got up from the bed and raised her brows as she looked at Peggy. “Which is?”

“I was given a second chance. I could’ve died back then, but I didn’t. I was presented this chance to live, and all this time I’ve been trying to avoid it and try to make up for the time I lost. What I didn’t know was that…I was given a second chance, and I wanted to to live that second chance…with you.”

Natasha’s heart stopped for a moment as she stared at Peggy. That beautiful and sweet smile of hers, always wearing that beautiful red lipstick that captivated Natasha every single day. “What?” 

Peggy laughed. “You…really didn’t get what I just said?”

Natasha shook her head. “No, I just- I mean I did. I just…didn’t expect that.”

“I know it took me a while. It’s always been there, but I was too scared and a coward to accept that I want you. I can’t bring back what I lost, but I can move on and live my future.” 

“Well…gotta say I need to thank Steve for that. You wouldn’t have come to that conclusion yourself.” Natasha smirked.

“Oh for God sakes. Is that all you have to say?”

Natasha chuckled. “No. I have a lot to say.” She walked over to Peggy and wrapped her arms around Peggy’s neck, bringing their lips closer. “But I’d rather show it than talk.” 

Peggy smiled as she let Natasha pull her closer for a passionate kiss. They both knew all the times they have kissed before meant more than what they thought, but this time they were sure that kiss sealed whatever doubts they both had. Of course, they still had to talk about what they were, if they’d keep it private or not, though she knew one or two people already knew what was going on with them, but at this point, they really didn’t mind. Peggy pulled Natasha closer by wrapping her arms around her waist, Natasha smiled against her lips and caused the kiss to break, but it didn’t matter, because there would be more of those kisses from now on.

Peggy smiled as she looked at Nat. “So…yours or mine?”

“How about yours for tonight?” Natasha grinned.

“Sounds about right.” Peggy smiled as she grabbed her bag and Natasha’s, not being able to contain herself as she held Natasha’s hand softly. 

“So…is this enough for a long day?” Natasha asked as they walked together. 

“Well, I actually gotta tell you something that you possibly won’t believe.” Peggy chuckled.

“I’m sure I will, let’s but some pizza and a bottle of tequila.” Natasha looked at her with a smile.

“Yes, my darling.” Peggy smiled as she looked at Natasha. Life started to make sense again.  

[beauty-and-passion]

Tackling The Magnus Archives

I hope you’re satisfied, TMA fandom.

For a lot of time, I’ve seen this fandom everywhere: posts, fanarts, even more fanarts, people mentioning scary stuff and an overall positive reaction about this series.

At first, I didn’t pay it any attention. It seemed just like any other series, with nothing exceptional about it. But the more time passed, the more fanarts I saw, the more they got my interest. I still had no idea what the series was about, but it looked interesting. Maybe there was something I didn’t notice before.

So… why not give it a try?

Cool, what’s the plan?

From the moment I decided to give this series a try, I ran away from all spoilers. That means I am currently facing a series I have no idea what will be about. I know nothing about the plot, nor the characters.

Well, nothing except for a few things I accidentally learned before:

Jonathan Sims is the protagonist. I think?

There is a Michael somewhere

Also, a Martin doing stuff

There are a lot of names

And a library

I’ve also seen a spider lady

Someone explores a dungeon? Is there a dungeon in this story?

There is a homoerotic story too

I also recently found out there is a season 2 - or a related series? No idea what the plot is about, but we will find out along the road.

How?

I had two choices: to analyze every single episode (and die of old age because it would take an eternity) or listen to the whole series first, then write one/several posts analyzing it. But it would still take a lot of time and I will inevitably forget a lot of stuff or don’t cover things as well as they deserve.

So, I chose a third option: to tackle the series ten episodes at a time and write a post with my impressions about all of them. (a bit like I do for Eurovision, only for TMA). This way:

I’ll cover every episode

I will remember more stuff

I will post constantly, so you won’t have to wait forever for me to finish the whole thing first

It will be funnier and more entertaining

Is there something we should/shouldn’t do?

I want my impressions and comments to be as genuine as possible, but in order to do that, I shouldn’t know anything about what I will read.

That means I will actively avoid every little information about the series. It doesn’t matter if it’s about harmless or well-known info: I won’t read it, period.

So please, do not write me anything about this series. I will not read any ask regarding TMA. You can still ask me stuff and write comments, sure. And you can put spoilers if you want, but please: be kind and put a big warning before them. Do not spoil the fun.

What’s the timeline?

Asap: I will write a new post and add it to the main masterlist. This new post will seve as masterlist for TMA and include this introductory post, as well as all other reactions. So If you ever miss one of them, you will read all of them there.

In the next couple days: it will come out the first post with my reactions about chapters 1-10. I’m already working on it, so it should come out very soon.

I will try to keep up a consistent schedule, but can’t promise you anything. I am preparing two exams and my final thesis too, so it might take me some time to post. But I will end this series. By now, you know that when I start something, I finish it.

In conclusion

Thank you in advance to all the people who will follow me in this adventure. If you already know about TMA, you can have fun, by mocking me for my ignorance or wait for the moment I will face the real shit. If you don’t know about TMA, maybe you will find the inspiration to start it - or to do it with me. It’ll be fun! And even if the series ends up being bad, at least we can laugh together at how terrible it is.

See you very soon with the first post about chapters 1-10.

(How about a coffee? ☕)

_______________________________

TAGLIST:

@royalprinceroman @mudpuddlenl@allmycrushesaredead @aquatedia@whatishappeningrightnow  @effortiswhatmatters @bella-in-a-bag  @doydoune @forever-third-wheeling​ @payte @hypnossanders​  @idontreallyknow24​  @imcrushedbyarainbowoffical​ @patton-cake​  @hereissananxiousmess​  @purplebronzeandblue​  @cynicalandsarcastic​ ​@lost-in-thought-20​ @andtheyreonfire​ 

@riseofthewerewolf​ @rosesandlove44​​  @chewy-rubies @groaaaaan​ @arya-skywalker  @csi-baker-street-babes @queen-of-all-things-snuggly @reesiereads

@dracayd-universe​ @starlightnyx​ @stubbornness-and-spite​ @averykedavra @joyrose-fandomer @mihaela-tbg @igonnatalknothing

@thatoneloudowl  @grayson-22  @softangryfuckingdepressed @theotherella  @boopypastaissalty @nevenastark @varthandiveturinn @roses-bubbles @cuter-on-the-inside  @coldbookworm  @snixxxsmythe @charmingcritter  @analogical-mess @emphasis-on-the-oopsie @selfdestructivecat @yangwalkerao3 @the3rddenialist

[mamawasatesttube]

happy wip wednesday thursday!!!

tagged by @deadchannelradio ty monty ily :D i'll tag... who do i know that writes. @misspickman @loisinherlane umm... im definitely forgetting some friends sorry for not having a brain but est quod est and all that. if you wanna pretend i tagged you feel free tho wahoo!

“What’s the prognosis, doc?”

Kon rests his arms atop the back of the pilot’s chair, leaning forward to peer at the yoke in Tim’s hands. The ship is flying steady for now, but the several red, flashing alerts on the screens make it pretty clear that’s not gonna hold forever, not with the damage they sustained getting the hell outta Dodge.

Kon rests his chin atop Tim’s head. “Think we’re gonna make it?”

Tim grunts. “Mn. We’re steady for now, but we don’t have more than maybe… two hours, before that last fuel pump gives out in engine three.”

Well, damn. Those Denebian space pirates just had to hit the engines, huh?

He can feel the struggling fuel pump, shuddering on the fringes of his TTK aura. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot he can do for it, even with his telekinesis; sure, he could pump the fuel through to the converter himself, but without the rotating component from the back of the pumps that completes the circuits, power won’t go through the engine, and the thrusters won’t actually ignite. So he can’t just try to pump the fuel himself to give the overworked last pump a break, and the other two that are supposed to help it are already toast.

“Well, worse comes to worst, I can always get out and push,” Kon offers, only half-joking.

Tim quirks a tiny half-smile at the front window. “I don’t think it’ll come to that, but good to know it’s an option.”

Cassie, leaning in the doorway, sighs and rakes a hand through her hair. “So then, what’s the plan? Did you find somewhere we can stop and hopefully get some spare parts to do repairs?”

“Yeah.” Tim points at the navigation screen to his left. Kon peers at it, then out at the stars. “Planet in the Goldilocks zone in orbit around Albireo.”

“Oh, Erysimon.” Kon nods in recognition. “Yeah, cool.”

“You’ve been?” Tim quirks an eyebrow.

Kon shakes his head. “Nah, not me. Heard a lil about it from Kal. He fought off Brainiac out in the Albireo system a few years back—apparently there was some time travel bullshit, you know how it is—and the Erysimians were real grateful to him for it. He said they’re a nice bunch.”

Cassie snorts. “I mean, not to doubt you, but I think he’d say that about most people. Even ones I’d wanna punt.”

Bart suddenly appears at Kon’s side, shoving past him to plop onto the armrest of Tim’s chair. Tim makes a mildly disgruntled noise but makes no true effort to dislodge him, and Bart rests his elbow on Tim’s shoulder, peering at the navi-com. “Who are we punting?”

“Nobody, Bart.” Kon lightly flicks the back of his head. “We’re talking about landing on Erysimon so we can get some scrap and fix up the third engine.”

“Oh.” Bart hums. “Yeah, we should do that. No point in me having a space-chauffeur if my spaceship is broken and won’t fly.”

“Space-chauffeur?” Tim repeats dryly.

“That’s what I said,” Bart agrees.

“You don’t even pay me.” Tim taps something on the navigation screen, then sits back in the chair, folding his arms over his chest. “How am I in your employ?”

“Classic Tim, being a space capitalist. I should’ve expected this, but it’s still disappointing.” Bart shakes his head. “Obviously I pay you in love, friendship, and taking extra fries off your hands so you don’t have to worry about them. Duh.”

 Kon can feel Tim’s shoulders shaking ever-so-slightly with repressed laughter. “Oh, right. my bad. Obviously.”

[cyten0]

A Symphony In Crimson

Act 1: A Movement in Black

Chapter 5

Your on the third floor again, just about to pick up the keyknife again. You found that book in the secret library for that craft to shield you all. You think that will be enough, but you don’t know. You have no idea what other tricks the king has. Still, your all-sadness diet is starting to kick in, and the smell of your party is starting to get a touch distracting. It should be fine though.

You enter the room with the change god statue, and as the party prays, you do too. You don’t know for sure if they’ll give you the dagger a second time, but you hope they’ll open the path in some form again at least. You still don’t have a better option...

In a flash of light, the Keyknife re-appears in your hands! As you all are hurtled back to the entrance, you watch the rest of your party confused. Your still surprised as well.

✦ “Thank you. I won’t let you down.”

As you prepare to cut open the door, a thought occurs to you. If this dagger’s power can cut through the kings hair, maybe it can also hurt the king better? But...

◉ “Something up Siffrin?”

✦ “Just noticed the blade is dull. It can cut us through, but it’ll break doing so.”

▲ “Maybe you could sharpen it? You did grab that sharpening stone on the first floor.”

You did! You were planning to sharpen your normal dagger to hurt a little more, but it’ll work here!

✦ “Right! That just leaves some water to dampen the stone.”

You could do so without it, but it could degrade the dagger, and you wouldn’t want that.

◆ “We have some crafted water. A bit costly, but given it’s clearly not a normal blade, might be worth it.”

✿ “No problem! Here you go!”

As Bonnie hands you the bottle, you carefully coat the stone and begin sharpening… Ok, that’s odd.

▲ “Huh, not doing much. Maybe it’s cause of it’s blessing?”

◆ “Hm… The water has also been drained of craft energy. We’ll likely need something with more craft energy in it to work. I don’t think we have anything like that.”

Hm… You do have one idea. It’s not pleasant, but it just might work. might work.

✦ “I think I have something for this, actually.”

The others look rather surprised, as you quietly tuck the empty bottle of craft water under your cloak. Out of sight, you use your claws to cut open one of your tendrils, letting out your inhuman blood, and refilling the vial before closing up the wound.

Pulling out the dark substance, you pour it over the stone and begin sharpening it again. And everyone is surprised to find it sharpens with absolute ease! As you suspected, eating mainly sadnesses has saturated your blood with craft energy!

✿ “Woah! What is that stuff!”

Well you can’t tell them, but you have something both close and believable enough to work.

✦ “Sadness blood. Their filled with craft energy. Hard to get though.”

They all recoil in shock!

✿ “WHAT”

◉ “W-WHY?!?”

◆ “Why do you even have that?!?”

▲ “HOW do you even have that?!?”

Oh stars, you did not think this through! Quick, come up with something!

✦ “I-I just wanted to see if I could?”

▲ “...I guess? Still, sharpening a gift from the change god with blood, especially from a sadness.…”

...Oh STARS! That IS kinda messed up! You REALLY hope the change god isn’t offended!

✦ “S-Sorry Change God! Oh stars, I really hope it was worth it...”

You take the newly sharpened blade, and slash it across the hair with your full might. And sure enough, it stays intact… And uh. Kinda breaks the wall a little?!? Wow, that sharpening was effective!

✿ “Holy CRAB! That’s AWESOME!!!”

◆ “I daresay worth the heresy.”

You nod in agreement, and continue on. The king will fall!

>>>

You stand in front of the king. You play your part the same as last time, and just as before, the king snaps to you, and with a voice dripping with ice, he speaks.

♔ “You….. Bright one…. Do you remember?”

...You have to know...

✦”Do you?”

♔ “Oh….. That is fair, yet unfortunate……..."

You guess not then. Neither your loops, nor their home.

♔ ".........In this battle between eternity and the end…… We shall fight…..”

As he lifts himself from the ground, is voice becomes booming, filling the room.

♔ “AND WE SHALL SEE WHICH SIDE THE UNIVERSE FAVORS”

You all pull out your weapons, and the Knifekey hums with power in your gasp. The king prepares their attack, but you have a plan right now. You bet the king doesn’t know that, so maybe you can leverage that to get some information? He basically thinks you’re all already dead.

♔ “… For the sake of the rest of you, I shall be merciful, and give you time to come to terms with the end.”

✦ “Then one question. How did you know?”

The flow of energy towards his hand pauses, as he turns towards you.

♔ “Ohh….. Surprised I recognized you?…… I may only have the endless nightmares….. But after a while…… I noticed details…..”

◆ “(What are they talking about)”

✦ “Like what?”

♔ “Ohhhh….. The others would not be able to notice…. But…..Your voice….. There is always something…… underneath it when you speak, regardless of what form you take….. “

◉ “Huh?”

▲ “Wait, what does that mean??”

Uh oh! You need to distract them now, before they think on it!

Wait, the king’s been charging the attack secretly this whole time!

✦ “Mira, Shield now!”

Mira is surprised, but quickly crafted the shield just before the wave of energy crashes into you all. It still knocks the wind out of you, but it’s manageable now! The others pick themselves up from the blow.

▲ “Was... that a distraction?”

♔ “Oh…...Oooooohhhhhh………. Your still here…. Good. To the death then.”

You don’t hesitate, charging forwards, tearing a hole through his armor like butter. You smell his blood from the wound, and feel him recoil. That blood smells delicious, you want to- No, focus. Before he can focus on you, Odile fires off a craft directly into the opening you made. The king strikes back, landing a painful blow onto her! ODILE! Oh, thank goodness, Mirabelle got her back up, Ok. You take the moment to shift your body towards papercraft, mimicking some sadnesses you’ve eaten, and start fighting on instinct while you all have the king off balance.

Your voice. Of course your voice is a tell! You already struggled with talking, and don’t talk often on the worry you’ll say something wrong and upset people. So of COURSE it’s the one blinding thing that’s still not human! Now that it’s been pointed out, you can’t stop worrying about it... It’s fine, focus on the battle, and if someone else talks, you’ll just pay attention, see if you can’t figure out how to fix it.

You refocus. The king is looking somewhat injured. And you didn't deviate notably from human while fighting like that! You’re all chipping away at him rather well, and the others are holding out alright. The king begins crying, and tears begin to fill the air.

♔ “Why….. Why must you all still fight?….. You don’t understand!!!!”

▲ “Crying still, huh?”

You hear bonnie mumble under their breath, before shouting in anger.

✿ “STOP CRYING!!! YOU CAN’T!!! You hurt so many people!!! People who won’t come back unless we beat you!!! My village, my sister, EVERYONE!!! Their all trapped because of YOU!!! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO CRY!!!!”

...You know why he’s crying. But still, Bonnie’s right. And it’s time he stopped! You take the dagger, and try and get rid of the tears protecting him. But they keep coming!

▲ “Sif! Stop him!”

You nod and Isa uses a defense debuffing craft, making the king unstable. You go in, dodging through the tears, and leap into his face. You need to make him lose focus on maintaining those tears! This is less for damage and more show, so it’s time to leverage a little fear factor! You plunge the knife into his shoulder, but have a tendril split off and worm it’s way into his armor through the gash. It can’t do much with how weak you are, but…

Sure enough, he noticed it and instantly loses it! His hand crashes into the spot your standing, and while you avoid being crushed, the impact still knocks you pretty hard. You fall to the ground, somewhat injured, but watch as he claws at the opening desperately. The tears fall into inanimate water instantly as his concentration drops. Success! Cheap trick, took some energy, but after that first attack, it’s fair play!

Bonnie tosses you a sour tonic, and you drink it to heal yourself back up. An herbal scent fills the air as Mira and Odile ready paper crafts, and Isa uses his gloves to add paper craft to his strike. You’re still a little weak from that last attack, and can’t muster up anything big, but you still join in, at least to let the Knifekey do some work.

As the king stumbles from the combined blow, he picks himself back up and begins to speak.

♔ “Ohhhhhh…….Why… Why do you all fight against me?”

◉ “What do you mean WHY? After EVERYTHING?”

♔ “Yes…. You all wish to live…. You fight for those you care for…. Do you want to see them die?”

Everyone is taken aback.

✿ “W-What does that mean?”

♔ “Ooohhhhh….. Time kills everything, sooner or later….. They fall apart…. They are forgotten….."

◆ "I suppose but what does-"

♔ "If time does not move, they will survive…... The Universe itself has given us this chance, to save them all. Are you all willing to let them all die?”

...None of you know what to say to that. But you all hold your ground anyways. You need to stop them, no matter what they say.

Odile suddenly notices the king was secretly charging that devastating attack again, and signals to Mira to craft the shield again! Just in time, the wave hits you all, knocking the wind out of you but leaving you standing. You get up to retaliate, but notice your moving sluggishly! The king used a slowing craft on you all in the commotion. You try and use a speed craft to get you all back, but the king instantly freezes you before you can. The others, still slowed, struggle to maneuver so slowed, and the king swipes the battlefield, hurting everyone! No! You have to MOVE!

Mira gets herself back up, and unfreezes you, and you snap your fingers, getting you all back up to speed. You then channel extra craft into a flick of your wrist towards Odile, and her awareness quickly perks up! Your running a little low, but it's worth it as she throws out a potent paper craft. Bonnie throws out a Pepper juice, and as you all feel the strength flow through you, Isa leaps up and slams his fist directly into the kings face, knocking them down.

♔ “Ah……!!!…. No….. This can’t……”

Mira walks forward, with a determination in her stance that feels palpable.

◉ “King… I don’t know how much you know about our belief. But I believe in Change. Without a future, things may not be able to get get worse.

She swings out her rapier and points it directly at him!

◉ “But they’ll never get better either! There is no change in your world! They’ll never grow, never change, never be a part of this world! They might never die, but they’ll never get to live! And I want everyone to Live! I will NEVER let you have your half dead world! I want Change!”

You sit there, somewhat shaken. Life. That’s always been what matters. Saving people.

▲ “Nice try there, but this isn’t the end of our story! Not by a long shot!”

◆ “How very foolish of you to invent a new form of death and pretend it’s to save people.”

✿ “Saying all those things to convince us… Your the worst King! Your just a dumb idiot baby who froze everyone for dumb idiot baby reasons!!!!!!”

...Heh...The verdict has passed, and it’s time to close the curtains on this monster of a man.

✦ “Sounds like there’s nothing for me to add, huh? So all you need to do now is disappear.”

You channel almost all the remaining craft energy you still have into the palm of your hand, ready to share it with the others. They begin to follow suit.

✿◆▲ “Disappear!”

Mirabelle raises her hands, gathering the craft energy and channeling it into a single powerful point.

◉ “Disappear!!!”

♔ “NO!!!!”

As the ball of craft slams into the king, he crashes to the ground, and starts to fade.

♔ “No, I can’t….. Not yet… No t w h e n…. I s t i l l c a n’ t….”

The king.

Dissolves.

...The world around you begins to fade back to normal, the curse unraveling. You all sit there, flabbergasted.

▲ “… Did… Did we win?”

✿ “… The king is… gone!”

◆ “… I think... we won!”

You all pause… And then burst into laughter and excitement! You did it! You actually did it! Your a little off right now, having spent so much energy, but you give Mira some congratulations on the final blow. Bonnie talks about how scary it was, Odile remarks how close it got, and Isa is jumping around like crazy. You all kind of are!

◉ “Oh! Wait! People are unfreezing, s-so that means the head housmaiden-!!!!”

She breaks into a sprint farther down the hallway.

▲ “And there she goes…”

✿ “Let’s follow!”

You start to follow along…. Oh right! You remember to listen to them talk among themselves a little. Need to get that last little bit of monster out of your voice! Right now their chatting about the fight, as expected, and you think you noticed what’s wrong. Remove a tiny bit of tissue from your improvised voice box and…

◆ “On a side note, Siffrin, you managed to scare the king quite a bit there. What was up with that?”

Perfect timing, time to test the new voice out!

✦ “Oh, I just mimicked the voice of an old horror monster. Surprised he caught on, so I played it up!”

▲ “Huh! He acted like he’d actually met it... That’s kinda scary.”

✿ “Nah, monsters aren’t real. Bet he just got scared of a nightmare like the crabbing baby he was.”

◆ “Hm. Must have been subtle, I didn’t even notice.”

Time to REALLY flex. You quickly change your voice box back, and go a little over for effect.

✦ “Weľ̶͎̙͚̃̉l, It’s p̴̙͔͑͂robably easier, if yo̸̜̜̰̿̄u know tȍ̵̧̠̍̔ look f̸̣̗́̈́̽or it.”

◆ “GEMS!!!”

▲ “CRAB!!!!”

✿ “HOLY CRAB!!!!”

You do a little bow as you adjust your voice back to normal.

▲ “… Yeah never-mind if I heard even a hint of that, I’d freak out too.”

You continue onwards, until you exit out into a corridor. Oh stars! Your really high up! You block the view from Odile quickly!

◆ “T-thank you Siffrin.”

▲ “Oh! Ma'dame, Look at the ground and take my hand! I won’t let you fall.”

Mirabelle calls out from up ahead.

◉ “Are you all ok?”

✿ “You gotta slow down for Odile, Belle!”

◆ “G-Give us a bit. You can... go on ahead.”

◉ “Oh change, right! Um…Ok, take your time.”

You lead Odile across the room slowly. Fear of heights is no joke! Would not want her fainting right after beating the king! You can hear her heartbeat race, even now. Like a scared animal ready to-Nope. Ok, you might have used too much energy there. Your pretty hungry.

You make it to the other side, and hear Mira talking with the Head House-maiden. She towers over Mira, yet has a gentle grace to her stance.

◉ “Oh, there they are!

◎ “Ah, Welcome! You are Mirabelle’s companions? I am so thankful to you all for getting her this far. You have my thanks, and all of Vaugarde’s!”

✿ “hehehe…”

▲ “No problem at all, m’dame Head Housemaiden! It was an honor!”

◆ “Truly, it was nothing”

You nod, a little bashful. You guess this mean’s Siffrin’s a hero now! That’s a very good addition to their story!... No, stop thinking about eating, focus!

◎ “Hohoho!…. Soon, you’ll be able to go back to your normal lives, away from battle and strife. Finally, you’ll be able to go home! If there’s anything Dormont can do to thank you, please do not hesitate to ask. But for now, take your rest, it must have been very difficult!”

Everyone nods, and goes to different corners to relax a little.

...So… You’ve beaten the king, saved Vaugarde, and made Siffrin a hero… You guess that means it’s time for you all to go your separate ways… Probably for the best, you spent enough energy in that battle your hunger has finally caught up in full... It’s… a little hard to think...

...This will probably be the end of Siffrin’s journey… Your too hungry to maintain being them for long... You should make sure to talk to all of them before that happens…

You walk over to Bonnie. Maybe they have a spare snack they can give you? No, it’s fine, best not enter eating mode right now.

✿ “...It’s over, right? Like, really REALLY over?”

✦ “Yep. King’s gone, your sister will be back, and I bet she’ll be very excited to see you again!”

✿ “… You sure?”

✦ “I’m sure. If she’s not, you can punch me as many times as you want.”

✿ “Deal… Wait, that’s such a long journey though, how am I gonna find you if your crabbing wrong?!? That’s dumb!”

✦ “Almost as dumb as your sister not being OK after we won.”

✿ “oh. OH!!! Ok, I’ll believe you, but if she’s not I’m gonna punch you so much!”

You chuckle. You doubt it’ll be needed, but as soon as you can get yourself back to human, whatever form it is, you’ll make sure they can keep that promise. You just hope their OK waiting.

You decide Odile is next. Her sweat from her exhaustion catches you. You shake it off and clear your head.

◆ “… Ah, yes, woop woop, we did it, we won, ect… Urgh…. This has been quite the workout. My body is screaming at me”

Same! Though for very different reasons. God why do they have to be so- NOPE, push those thoughts back.

◆ “Savior of Vougarde is quite a nice addition to my list of accomplishments, but I’m quite looking forwards to traveling again. I’d be interested to hear more from Vaugardian cities after an event like this. Though, I’m not sure I’ll be used to traveling alone again. Or I could head back to Ka Bue?”

Now or never to find this out…

✦ “To do your research?”

◆ “Are you hoping I’ll tell you now the journey is over? Heh. Keep dreaming.”

✦ “Boo.”

◆ “Ha! Ha… I’ll miss you Siffrin. You’re a little strange, but your a good kid. Maybe try letting down your walls sometime? And come to Ka Bue anytime, maybe we’ll meet again.”

She smiles at you gently, and you smile back… If Siffrin will be missed, you guess you did your job right. They made an impact, even after…

You decide to go talk to Mira next. She smells sweet as ever, so entice-Nope, focus.

◉ “… I’m not dreaming, right? It’s over? It’s really, actually over?”

✦ “It’s over!”

◉ “Oh change, I’m having a hard time believing it. I- It’s just- It’s been such a long journey, and I can’t believe it’s finally over and that we won and-

Oh no, she’s crying! You have to do something.

✦ “Breathe with me?”

◉ “o-Okay…”

You both breathe slowly in, and out.

◉ “hah…. Hehe, you can be so nice Siffrin!”

!!! Oh, you can feel your cheeks burn!

◉ “Oh your blushing!!!… Ahem. I know we haven't known each other for all that long. B-But I hope you know I really treasure your company! I do! I really really do! And so… Thank you! Thank you for accompanying me on this journey!”

You feel really happy! You’ve done so well!

◉ “… I’m sure you’re excited to get back to traveling on your own… But don’t forget me, ok? Come see me at Dormont anytime! I’d love to hang out! Promise?”

…. You know you can’t promise that. You can’t keep being Siffrin for much longer. Your too hungry. It’ll be months before you can put together a human guise again, and you wouldn’t be able to get it exactly the same. They’d notice the differences.

She noticed your hesitation, and is looking at you strangely.

✦ “I would love that. I’ll try.”

◉ “… Ok. I’ll see you when you do!”

You wave them goodbye…

Finally, you decide to talk to Isa. You can’t help but listen to his heartbeat, hear his breaths, take in his scent... NO. Focus.

▲”Sif! We did it! We stopped the King! We can finally go back to our normal lives! Isn’t it great?”

✦ “It is!”

▲ “Yeah!…... I uh. I said. Do you remember what I said? At the Clocktower?”

Yes! You do! He says something each time at the clocktower, that he would tell you something after you beat the king! You really want to know!

✦ “I remember! What did you want to tell me?”

▲ “Yes. Um… Yes. Okay. Phew…… Sif. Siffarooni…. Siffrin….”

▲ “...I… I… I lo-”

✿ “ARE YOU GUYS DONE TALKING ALREADY??? CRAB!!! I wanna go so I can eat dinner!!! I’m super duper hungry!!”

Isabeau makes a bunch of incoherent noises of frustration, face in his hands.

▲ “………. It’s fine. It wasn’t that important.”

But…. But there might not be a later! This might be the last time you get to see him as Siffrin!

✦ “A-Are you sure?”

▲ “… Yeah. Besides I have some thinking to do. Gonna be heading back to Jouvente after this!… Just, make sure to say hi if you ever drop by, alright?”

...You can’t tell him. And you don’t have a reason to press him on it. So...

✦ “Sure.”

You wave him goodbye, even as your heart stings. You’re… Going to miss all of them. You don’t want to say goodbye, but you don’t have much choice.

You head over to the Head Housemaiden. Your barely holding it together, but you can handle one more conversation. Before you have to leave. You guess it’s time for the journey to end.

◎ “Traveling one! I’d like to thank you for accompanying Mirabelle this far. I’m very grateful.”

You nod thankfully.

◎ “Siffrin, yes? If there’s anything I can do to thank you, please don’t hesitate to ask. I know you will be going back to your travels soon, but I do hope you’ll keep in touch, if only for dear Mirabelle… But no matter what, know that Dormont will always be welcome to you! Please come back.. any… time…”

She gives you an odd look, and then her face shifts to that of shock! Oh no! What did you do?!?

◎ “Oh… Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no…”

✦ “W-what?”

◎ “I-I’m so sorry! There’s no way we can stop it now…!”

You suddenly notice it. The room has been slowly smelling sweeter, something is shifting, twisting!

✦ “What’s happening? What do you mean?!?”

◎ “Your going back! Back to when it all started!”

No. No! No, not with how you are now, you can’t-!

◎ “I know you thought your quest is over, but it can’t be! Something is broken, failing, rotting!!! I can’t fix it on my own, not before it all ends… If I had noticed it sooner!!! I should have seen it, prevented it!!!”

You feel a tug on your heart. You want to flee, but you can’t move!

◎ “It’s my fault you have to suffer like this. I just hope that one day, you might lea《rn to f《or《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《

《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《

《《《《《《《《《《《

《《《《

《《

《

… Your… Back...

[atmilliways]

Wrong On The Money (25)

part 25 of ?? | 653 words | Teen+

Blackmail fic on Ao3 | on tumblr

Summary:

“You had a really bad fever, you’ve been sleeping it off for a day and a half,” Lucas adds unprompted. Probably because Steve hasn’t asked. “The bites got infected. Fair warning, Robin is really mad at you for letting that happen.”

25.

The first person Steve sees upon waking is Lucas, bruised all to hell. 

“It’s okay,” Lucas says quickly, standing and moving closer. “Steve, it’s okay! Vecna’s dead. You’re in the hospital, everyone’s here, everyone’s fine.”

Steve looks to his left and sees Eddie, asleep in the next bed over. “Ed,” he mumbles with a sluggish tongue. 

Brown curls, denim, cigarette and weed smoke, Bambi eyes, tattoos, exaggerated movements, and big words. Red on Steve’s hands, the taste of blood. He isn’t supposed to be so still.

Lucas falters, then rallies. “He’s gonna be okay. You got him out, Dustin told me all about it.”

Reassured by those words (and the steady beep of machines from that side of the room), Steve looks back at Lucas. “Max?”

Piercing glares, skateboard wheels on concrete, and the threat of a lawyer that he knows is a bluff but caves to anyway. Hanging in the air above the cemetery, crying after she falls. If that monster crumpled her like tissue paper, it’ll break Steve too.

Wincing, Lucas tells him. About Max’s broken arm, and the fight with Jason, and Andy tackling Erica in the park across from the Creel house. About Dustin’s sprained ankle. About Mike coming back with the Byers boys and some guy named after a sweater pattern in a pizza van, and Joyce turning up with an emaciated Hopper and that sarcastic conspiracy dude a day later. 

He promises not to tell anyone that Steve cries at hearing Hopper is alive after all. 

“You had a really bad fever, you’ve been sleeping it off for a day and a half,” Lucas adds unprompted. Probably because Steve hasn’t asked. “The bites got infected. Fair warning, Robin is really mad at you for letting that happen.”

Day and a half my ass, Steve thinks, because despite all that sleep he feels exhausted. But everyone’s okay. . . . They even got someone back, and that’s a fucking first. 

“And I didn’t even have to get a concussion this time,” Steve says with a smile that falters just as much as Lucas’. He feels shaky, fragile, and hates it, because he doesn’t want to break in front of one of the kids. 

Lucas offers a strained grin. “Guess I inherited that along with your basketball skills.”

“No, seriously? You’re stealing that from me too, Sinclair? It’s like nothing is sacred anymore.” 

And he’s trying so hard, but he’s so tired. He’s trying to sound light but his voice breaks in the wrong direction when the inflection is supposed to come out light and a little sarcastic. 

“You okay?” Steve whispers around the lump in his throat. The answer is obvious, he has eyes, but he wants to give the kid the option of how seen he wants to feel. These kids never seem to get any choices in all this shit, beyond survive or don’t. 

Lucas spends a moment looking everywhere but at him, but then—“No.”

So Steve motions him over, does his best to give Lucas the kind of hug he always needed after everything was over, but never got until the third time around gave him Robin. Because he gets Lucas’ desire to fit in, to appease the popular crowd in the hopes of being allowed to just be—except it’s never enough, you either wake up and get out or stay in and lose sight of who you wanted to be in the first place, and at least Lucas handled that part better than Steve had. He gets the way Lucas worked so hard to protect Max and his sister, protect all the people in his life who matter, and mostly succeeded but came close enough to failure to fuel the nightmares. 

And he’s so, so proud of the kid for not trying to fake being fine now that it’s over, as though what happened didn’t still matter and what he’d done, what he’d sacrificed was nothing.

[alexmeeksmartin]

chosen family - pt i

pairing(s): wes hicks x male reader, slight chad meeks-martin x male reader

synopsis: the one where y/n roberts, survivor of the 2011 woodsboro massacre and brother of ghostface killer, jill roberts, is roped into another string of murders when his friend, tara carpenter, is attacked by someone taking on the moniker

a/n: new series! not sure if i’ll end up finishing this, but i would like to at least do a couple parts! hope u enjoy <3

wc: 1.9k

it was more than enough to struggle with the fact that your sister, jill roberts, had decided to stab you alongside your mother when you were only eight years old. ironically enough, your fame-hungry sister’s sickening plot to become a sole survivor is what thrust you into the limelight. for years, the media hounded you about the ghostface killings of 2011. it took you forever to get a group of friends who wouldn’t try abuse your connections. you were finally in a stable position…

…but now some fucker had decided to put on that damned mask and go stabbing again.

“that was sam.” your boyfriend, wes, let everyone know. you were all together, minus tara, obviously. you, wes, chad, mindy, amber, and liv. and nobody was taking this seriously, not even you at this stage. none of you had really processed it all properly yet.

you watched as amber’s interest was immediately piqued. “she’s coming?”

“yeah.”

“watch everything get worse.” amber says with a sigh, clearly unhappy about sam’s upcoming return to woodsboro.

“listen, all i’m saying is, with everything going on right now, i think it’s time we take our relationship to the next, most intimate level!” chad pleads with liv, doing his best to convince her.

“yuck.” you add across from the happy couple.

“it’s fine, y/n. he only wants me to accept his ‘find my fam’ request.” liv explains to you, removing the expression of disgust from of your face.

“it’s the smartest option with a would-be killer on the loose. you know exactly where i am and i know exactly where you are.” chad continues, building up his case.

“aw, you can stalk me like a jealous boyfriend.” liv giggles.

“and you can stalk me like a jealous boyfriend.” chad jokes as you and mindy make eye contact, signalling to each other your repulsion towards chad and liv at that moment in time with just one look of your eyes. it’s funny how much two best friends can say in just a glance.

“is this because you two aren’t having sex yet?” amber bluntly asks, looking between the two of them.

“you actually bring up a very good point! not that i want to sound like a stereotypical jock, trying to get into his girlfriend’s pants-“

“great!” liv says, stopping chad.

“come on, wes, you get what i mean?” chad asks, trying unsuccessfully to get some back up, but you shoot wes a death stare, making him think carefully about his next words.

“absolutely not. i wouldn’t dare.” wes begins, clarifying that he doesn’t agree with chad to you before moving onto liv, “don’t do it, liv, there’s some pyscho out there. you make yourself harder to find. delete social media, tape over your phone camera, disable gps-“

“yes, thank you very much, edward snowden.” chad says, cutting wes off. “actually, your mother just interrogated me about tara’s attempted murder.”

“i’m sure she’s asking everybody, i mean, ghostface is back.” wes responds. a chill goes down your spine at the very mention of the masked murderer.

“she hasn’t asked me.” you chuck into conversation, noticing how the sheriff hadn’t even seemed to have looked your way yet.

“yeah, because you’re like sheriff riley’s adoptive son. plus, you and her went through the same thing.” liv says.

“ex sheriff riley.” mindy adds, “also, the press still isn’t saying ghostface.” and another chill.

“my mom doesn’t want to cause a panic.” wes explains.

“it’ll get out by the second or third killing.” mindy says, nonchalantly.

“mindy, come on.” you say. you loved her, but her insensitivity could be an issue on occasion.

“jesus, mindy, there wasn’t a first killing. tara’s still alive.” amber says, slightly angry.

“that means she could still die.”

“what the fuck?” amber is progressively getting more and more agitated at this conversation, you note.

“or the killer could come back for her.”

“fuck, mindy!” chad says as you screw your face up, “come on.”

“i’m just telling you, arm up, okay? pepper spray, check, taser, check-“ wes lists off his weapons.

“y/n in the bedroom repellent, check.” amber cuts in, laughing at him.

“again, ew.” you say, turning away from amber to wes, “i’m glad you’re keeping yourself safe.” you smile at your boyfriend.

“keeping us safe.” he says, pulling you into his arms.

“oh, shit, is that… vince?” liv asks.

“wait. that creep you hooked up with last summer?” chad asks liv, concern immediately showing on his face.

“yeah, he worked with me and tara.”

“he worked with tara?” amber asks inquisitively.

“he’s been stalking my instagram the last couple weeks, posting the creepiest shit.” liv adds.

“probably time to introduce him to hobbs and shaw.” chad says, flexing his biceps.

liv puts his arm down to his side. “maybe not the best idea to incite violence right in front of the sheriff. looks like he’s leaving.”

“plus, i don’t think ‘hobbs and shaw’ are scaring anyone with names like that.” you say, laughing at chad.

“oh, please. you’d love to take hobbs and shaw for a spin.” chad retorts, smiling back at you.

“tara says she fought back hard. you’ve got bruises.” amber states, observing chad’s somewhat battered and blue arms.

“from football practice.” he says, defending himself.

“oh, sure-“

“tara’s awake! she just texted.” wes says, his face lighting up. “i’m going to the hospital, you guys coming?”

mutters of ‘yes’ and ‘sure’ are said by your friends, but what stands out is liv saying: “i can’t, but i’ll meet you guys later.” another thing to take mental note of.

“alright, i’ll see you later.” chad says, kissing liv on the cheek goodbye. you wait up for chad as wes, mindy, and amber walk on ahead and descend into playful conversation him.

you were all gathered in tara’s room at the hospital, with wes’ arm draped around your neck as you sit on the chair right beside tara’s bed. amber stands over you with a very concerned look on her face as the twins make small talk on the other side of the room.

the door opens, and everyone looks to it. sam. sam and- who?

“you came.” tara says with a small smile.

“of course i came.” sam says, giving her sister a very gentle and light hug. “this is my boyfriend, richie.”

that explains who the random guy is.

“it’s so nice to meet you, i’m so sorry if i’m intruding.” richie says to tara.

“nice to meet you too.”

“hi. thank you for calling.” sam says, giving wes a hug.

“of course.”

“look at your hair! i like it.” sam compliments, ruffling your boyfriend’s hair like she’s his mother.

you get up and embrace sam. god, you’d missed her. even though she had her own shit going on, she never failed to be the big sister you wish you had - a loving, protective figure. not jill.

“these are chad and mindy, the twins, wes, and y/n. i used to babysit them all.”

“which is always how i like to be introduced.” wes says, to which you let out a slight laugh.

“and amber.” sam finishes her introductions, locking eyes with the dark haired girl. “hey.”

“hi.” you can feel the tension radiating between them. they do not like each other at all. “nice to see you.”

“hi, um, i’m richie.” richie says, amber looking him up and down. you weren’t too sure if you liked the guy either, seemed a bit fidgety. maybe just nerves, with ghostface going around and all.

“hi.” amber says.

“where’s mom?” sam asks tara, a worried expression crossing her face.

“she’s stuck in a conference in london. she called me earlier.”

“yeah, for all of ten minutes.” amber adds with a judgemental tone to her words.

you look over at tara, who looks tired out of her mind, probably from the painkillers. as someone who had been in a similar position, you knew that it’d be best to make an exit right about now. not only that, the reality of the situation was starting to kick in now. how were you all going to navigate this and stay safe?

“guys, maybe we should give tara a little space. getting a bit crowded in here.” you say, concerned for tara.

your friends respond with a chorus of ‘yeah’s, and you all begin to head for the door.

“not you, sam. i want you to stay.”

“okay.” sam says, sweetly smiling at her sister before sitting herself back down.

“but the rest-“ chad says, looking back to you, mindy, and wes affirming that you guys should go.

you all walk outside of the hospital, and it’s really starting to hit you now. this couldn’t be happening again. you couldn’t lose anyone else to some stupid fucking legacy. to ghostface. you lost your mother, your aunt, and even your sister - all because a pair of stupid, deranged, psychopathic men picked up some halloween mask in 1996. it wasn’t fair.

you start to walk slightly ahead of the group, with none of their conversation registering in your mind. tears start to form in your eyes as you hear them calling out your name. this isn’t fair. you don’t deserve this. tara doesn’t deserve this. nobody deserves this.

you’re brought out of your trance when you feel mindy’s hand touch your shoulder as she walks in front of you.

“hey, you good?” she asks, but sees the tears in your eyes. you shake your head, and she turns to the boys and amber. “we’ll just see you guys at the bar later, okay?”

“you sure? i can stay.” wes says, but you turn around to speak to them.

“no, it’s fine. i’m fine. i’ll see you guys later.” you say, putting on your bravest face and best smile for them. you can tell they’re not quite buying it, but they know mindy’s got you so they keep walking. you see chad turn back multiple times to check on you again, and can tell amber and wes are already bickering again by the time they get in the car.

when they’re gone, it’s just you and mindy sitting against a tree.

“mindy, i don’t think i can do this again.” you say, sighing.

“it’s fine. we’ve got you. me, wes, chad, amber, and i guess liv have got your’s and tara’s backs. we’re here for whatever you need. especially me. you’re my best friend, y/n. nothing is more important to me than your well-being. got it?”

“i love you, minds. you’re the best.”

“i love you too, y/n. and remember, we understand if you need space, support, anything right now. sam’s got tara, and we’ve got you. okay?”

“thanks.” you say, a real smile making its way onto your face.

“anyways, i need to go show chad that i still am the king of eight ball. you coming?” mindy says, getting up and sticking her hand out to you.

“i wouldn’t dare to miss chad getting his ass handed to him.” you laugh, letting mindy pull you up as you head to the car.

maybe it wasn’t so bad. it was cheesy, but maybe with your friends by your side you’d get through this again. maybe.

a/n: hope you all enjoyed! have a couple parts already in the drafts for this so shouldn’t be too long till the next is posted !! thanks for reading 🫶

[callsign-rogueone]

Directors cut for Letters From Samara? I know you’ve already talked about my favorite love birds a couple of times, so if you don’t want to dive into them again, I completely understand. That one just had me in the worst emotional chokehold, and the way you balanced the sadness of them being separated with the goodness that is their relationship was 🤌🤌

-fw-gt

@fw-gt you know I’m always happy to talk about my og’s!!

I was so nervous to post this one because I was worried this would be ooc for Gare since he’s this cocky sassy ladies’ man in the books — but I think that makes him being a total sap for Angel even more impactful. that’s what I tell myself to help me sleep at night, at least 😅💗

I will start with what I know you’re most worried about: I am alive, I am safe, and so is X. He’s brooding in the corner of the room right now -- he’s not taking it well being apart from Vi, but command has allowed them visits every two weeks for Tairn and Sgaeyl’s sakes. 

-> he knows that she’s an anxious girl and that she’d probably be scared to open it for fear of bad news, so he’s soothing that worry first before saying anything else 🥺

I’m sure the gardens would appreciate your attention as well; I swear you could make roses grow in dry sand as long as you smiled at them every day. 

-> he’s giving her ideas of things to do to pass time time apart and to keep herself from being depressed. roses in dry sand is a nod to her signet (remember that I wrote these out of order, so they don’t know about the full extent of it right now) she has a green thumb, because she’s attentive and careful and loving with all beings, including plants, but there’s just something about her presence that makes flowers grow even in poor conditions.

-> this line is also a nod to her nurturing capability, with Sweets and the youngins, but also with Gare and Xaden. she provides that safe, loving space for her big tough boys to be soft and vulnerable.

I just got off a 12-hour patrol shift, and I’m exhausted, but it’s hard to sleep without you here. I don’t think we’ve ever been apart this long in our lives. Being without either of you has never even felt like a possibility before; it’s always been us three together through the good and the bad. Someday it’ll be like that again, I know it will.

-> case in point. he needs her and can’t rest without her being there 🥺 and this is the first time they’ve been truly separated — they were always together as little kids, and then the two of them were fostered together but they visited Xaden frequently. they’ve never been this far apart, ever.

Brennan is the best mender I have ever known. If you choose, he can help you strengthen your ability, but please don’t push yourself too far. I need you to be in one piece when I get back. 

-> he knows that she hasn’t had good experiences with Carr and Nolon in the infirmary at Basgiath, but they both know and trust Brennan, so he would be a better option, IF she wants to work on it. he knows it‘s physically difficult for her to use her signet (but he doesn’t know the full extent of that difficulty), and that it’s a point of insecurity and anxiety for her, being a third year who is still struggling to get it to work.

-> also, Gare definitely gave the man a talking to about taking care of Angel in his absence. Brennan may be older and wiser and outrank him, but all that goes out the window when it comes to Angel and her safety.

You realize what an incredible risk it was to write to you at all. It wouldn’t take a genius to put together that X is Xaden, that you’re hiding in Aretia, that you’d faked your death, or rather that your friends had faked it for you. How many hands did these pages pass through to reach you? How many others out there are on your side? 

-> because of their situation, something as simple as writing a letter is a risk, but he took it, for her — and Xaden even put a letter of his own in there that you didn’t get to see. he’s endorsed this risk fully, because he knows how much his two best friends need each other, especially right now.

You set the letters aside for a moment, stacking up the books that you’d found in the house’s library about mending and placing them in a neat pile in the corner of the table you’ve been sitting at every evening for the last week. You fold the black cotton into quarters, setting it atop the pile -- you’ll try again tomorrow.

-> Angel is literally just that, an angel. it was important to me that she clean up after herself — as a courtesy to the other occupants of Riorson house, but also because she doesn’t like to take up space. she’s sequestered herself in a little corner out of everyone’s way, so she can do her thing without bothering anyone, and she’s still stacking everything up all nice for tomorrow despite being super tired.

Garrick is right, this is the longest you’ve ever been apart, but as you gaze out the window into the starry sky, holding the letters he’d written you, the distance between you doesn’t seem that far.

-> I wanted to add something here about how they’re looking at the same constellations, her in the library in Aretia and him across the country in his barracks room in Samara, but I couldn’t get it right. I’m now realizing that this continent is probably big enough to require multiple time zones, so he might be asleep… whatever. just know that they’re both sitting quietly and thinking about each other 🥺

.

that’s all I’ve got for now, since my brain has been reduced to strawberry jello by this mystery illness. but I hope it gave you some feels and a little more insight into your faves 💗

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Glenn Loury: The answer I’m taking from you, to my question of how do we get to antisemitism, is that the world is divided into oppressors and victims. The oppressors are white, the victims are BIPOC.

Jews are white, ergo, Jews are oppressors. Palestinianss, I guess by extension of this kind of logic, are people of color, are incorporated somehow into the BIPOC coalition, so they are the victims.

And that’s their account of this conflict that has sued over the last 75 years since the founding of the state of Israel.

I guess I want to say about that, that is a gross oversimplification that actually betrays the responsibility to educate here, regardless of "whose side you’re on," we can get to figuring out what we want to say and what we want to do about the conflict and what’s wrong and what’s right. But let’s just understand the circumstance.

And that is ahistorical and ignorant and should be objected to strongly, should not be tolerated in an institution of higher education.

Tabia Lee: Yes, and unfortunately, Glenn, it’s not only being tolerated, it’s being held up as the only way to understand these geopolitical and world issues in many institutions. And if you even suggest that there’s other ways to view this, that we don’t have to view everything through a matrix of domination and oppression, even just saying that got me labelled as a pariah.

This is the environment that people are working in, and often you don’t hear about it because what happens for us as faculty members, we're advised, at least I was, by many mentors, you know, Lee, just resign. It’ll be like this never happened.

I could’ve taken that option. I could’ve done that. But I felt like there were people who were being very unprofessional bullies and gangsters in a learning environment. So, if I just disappear quietly and save myself, right, then I’m contributing to the problem as well. So that’s why I chose to go public. I knew the risks, I knew that I would probably never get another tenure track position.

Once I went public, hearing from people across the nation that it wasn’t just California. You know, sometimes people say, California, you guys are a little weird over there. That's just the California thing. This is happening all over the place.

==

"Another aspect of the construction of whiteness is the way certain groups have moved into or out of that race. For example, early in our history Irish, Jews, and Italians were considered nonwhite—that is, on a par with African Americans. Over time, they earned the prerogatives and social standing of whites by a process that included joining labor unions, swearing fealty to the Democratic Party, and acquiring wealth, sometimes by illegal or underground means. Whiteness, it turns out, is not only valuable; it is shifting and malleable." -- "Critical Race Theory (Third Edition)," Delgado & Stefancic

This, partly, gives the game away. "Whiteness" is so malleable that activists can decide that anything they don't like falls under this banner, just as they declared everyone to be a Nazi (before becoming Nazis themselves).

[jurgan]

Slay the Princess and Process Theology

“You’re on a path in the woods. And at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a princess. You’re here to slay her. If you don’t, it’ll be the end of the world.”

“Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” -Matthew 9:13

I recently listened to a sermon about “process theology,” a subject of which I know little. The shortest summary I can give is that it holds God is not absolutely constant but changes in response to actions of humans and the wider world. This idea has quite a bit of biblical support- both Moses and Abraham successfully argue God into changing his mind, and Jesus at one point appears racist, calling a foreign woman a “dog” before being argued out of it. The preacher kept apologizing for the subject being dry and esoteric, but I was on the edge of my seat. He stated that people often see the God they expect to see, and that got me thinking about Slay the Princess. StP is a game I have played through several times over the past few months. I don’t want to get overly specific in case anyone reading wants to give it a shot, and its meaning is vague enough that each player will see it their own way. It’s a pretty easy game to play; there’s no real challenge, it’s more like a Choose Your Own Adventure book where the story unfolds and frequently stops to give you a list of options for how it should proceed.* What is interesting is that the Princess acts in response to your actions even if she couldn’t know what they were. For instance, if you approach her with a knife in hand, she is suspicious and cold, whereas if you approach unarmed she is hopeful and warm. This is not because she sees what you are doing, but because your own expectations color how you see her.

Through multiple replays, it becomes clear that the Princess is not one thing, but that she shifts between different appearances based on your own choices. There is a give and take between Player and Princess where each affects the other and is affected in turn. The third actor is the mysterious Narrator who instructs you to slay the princess with the claim that doing so will “save the world.” While he can occasionally force you to act, for the most part he is limited to trying to talk you into seeing things his way, and the Princess conversely tries to talk you out of killing her. The power of “persuasion” is, to my understanding, a major part of Process Theology. Each time you play the game, the Princess will seem different. It becomes clear that she is not a mere person, but something greater that you can only see one aspect of at a time.

“We are oceans reduced to shallow creeks.”

Am I saying the Princess is God? Maybe? There are a lot of valid interpretations, but this one might track. You’d have to play the game to decide for yourself, but what it comes down to is that her existence is only meaningful in relation to the player. These contrasts fill our lives. In Genesis, God separates the water from the land, yet the two are never truly separate. The world is full of these contrasts that aren’t really in conflict. Matter and energy. Particles and waves. The holy and the broken. The philosopher Heraclitus (thought to be an inspiration for the Gospel of John) was taken by the idea of “unity of opposites.” The player and the Princess are constantly at odds, yet their conflict defines each other.

“There is no constant! There is no center! Everything that is exists only in relation to everything that isn’t!”

And the world around you both also changes depending on how your relationship develops. Sometimes she is powerful and godlike and the cabin becomes a temple, sometimes she is vicious and feral and it becomes a cave. Sometimes you close yourself off to her, sometimes you become so close as to be inseparable.

“Does it matter where one thing begins and another ends?”

There is in fact a sort of theology in the game, a conflict between the Shifting Mound and the Long Quiet. The former is dynamic and impermanent, the latter static and immortal. You have the option of choosing between the two at the end, and neither can be reduced to good or evil. The Quiet is the traditional Platonic view of God as “immortal, unchanging,” while the Mound is the relational God of Process Theology. But the Mound allows for change and growth, while the Quiet promises a sort of eternal dullness. And if God values relationships and growth, the same must be true of us.

*https://www.slaytheprincess.com/ for a trailer and information about how to play. It’s available on Steam now.

[agaypanic]

Request for fem reader x Reese Wilkerson

Based on S4 E7 where Reese goes on a date with Allison (and technically Craig too) —> so instead it’s the reader and Reese going on the date with Crain tagging along but they all have a good time together :)

The Third Wheel (Reese Wilkerson X Reader)

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Summary: Y/n and Reese have been looking forward to a concert for months. When they need a ride, their night takes an unexpected turn.

A/N: this was a little hard to do bc if I was Allison, i would've been so pissed if someone purposefully made me miss a concert i got (probably expensive) tickets for lol, but i tried my best :) Also there’s no pronouns for the reader but they’re referred to as Reese’s girlfriend. also F/A means favorite artist

***

“Reese, I can’t believe you! Why couldn’t you have waited until after the concert to get your license suspended?” You asked, anger radiating off of you. Reese, being Reese, had gotten his license suspended for a few months after some dumb stunt he pulled. You didn’t even want to know what he did; it probably would have made you angrier.

“Don’t blame me, Y/n!” He threw his hands up, as if he couldn’t believe that you would be upset with him right now. “My public defender wouldn’t even try to use the insanity defense.”

“Yeah, because that totally would’ve worked.” You were only half sarcastic. Aware of all the things your boyfriend did, you wouldn’t be surprised if an insanity defense would actually work for him in court. Reese didn’t seem to pick up on the sarcastic tone.

“I know, right?” 

“Can’t you get one of your parents to take us? Mine are working that night.” You two had to find a solution fast. You saved up so much money for these concert tickets that nothing could stop you from using them.

“I’ll ask. Don’t worry, Baby, there’s no way we’re missing this concert.” He kissed you to seal the deal, and the anger you had felt towards his recklessness washed away.

***

“What do you mean, ‘Craig is our ride’?” You asked your boyfriend. It’s not that you had anything against Craig. He was just a character, to say the least.

“Babe, it’s the only way we can get to the concert. My dad’s car is in the shop, so he and Mom have to carpool to work.”

You sighed. You weren’t about to bite the hand that’s feeding you right now, but this was a less-than-ideal option.

“Okay, fine. It’s better than nothing.” Reese was about to speak, but you held up a hand and continued. “But if he starts acting weird, or weirder than normal, I should say, I’m getting out of the car. I don’t care if it’s still moving.”

“Deal.”

***

Two weeks later, you were waiting with Reese at his house to get picked up by Craig. You were wearing one of Reese’s jackets over your outfit to stay warm, and so Lois wouldn’t say anything about your appearance. You wanted to be a bit more dressed up, considering you and Reese were rarely able to go out to fun places by yourself.

When you two got into Craig’s car, you prepared yourself for the drive ahead. Craig seemed to be acting normal, or as normal as Craig could be. He made conversation with you and Reese as some nice music played in the background. It seemed like this would be a good night.

Until Craig passed the concert venue.

“Um, Craig, you just passed the concert.” You said, pointing out the window.

“Oh? I don’t think I did.” His tone seemed off, like he was hiding something.

“It said ‘F/A tonight!’ in the brightest lights I’ve ever seen.” You said, turning in your seat to watch as the venue shrunk to nothing as Craig kept driving away. “Craig, why aren’t you turning around?”

“Yeah, Craig, what the hell?” Reese said, staring him down from behind his seat. Craig shrugged, still driving.

“I’ve actually made some different plans for us.”

“But our plan was to go to the concert.” You said, starting to get angry.

“You can go to a concert any night, Y/n.”

“Not when this is the only night F/A is playing here for their tour!”

“Y/n, it’ll be okay.” Reese tried consoling you. The last thing he needed was for his girlfriend to kill their driver. You unbuckled your seatbelt and slid over to the middle seat to lean on Reese.

“I paid so much money for these tickets, Reese. I saved all that money for nothing.”

“Not nothing, Y/n,” Craig said, looking at you from the rearview mirror. “You can still make fun memories tonight! Now, I was thinking we’d start with a hayride. Then we have reservations at an Italian restaurant. After, we’ll finish the night off with a bonfire at the beach! How does that sound?”

You didn’t want to say anything; you were too upset. You’d probably say something rude, and this night would go even more south.

“We’re not getting out of this, are we?” You very quietly asked Reese. He sighed, which seemed to give you your answer. You put your head on his shoulder and looked at Craig in the mirror. “Fine.”

“Great!” Craig ignored that you were clearly unhappy with this.

***

By the time you got to the hayride, you had calmed down a bit. Reese had promised to pay you back for the expensive tickets and that he’d try to find a way to get you to see F/A in concert before their tour ended, even if it took an out-of-state trip. It warmed your heart that he knew how much this night meant to you.

The hayride was very pleasant, even though you still held some resentment for Craig. But at least he was paying for everything. It felt like a retribution in a way. 

The dinner at the Italian restaurant was absolutely delicious. Having some food in you calmed you down some more.

Now, all three of you were enjoying a bonfire at the beach.

“I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I’m actually having a kind of good time.” You muttered as you roasted a marshmallow. Craig had a bright smile at the comment. “But I’m still pissed about the concert.” His smile dimmed slightly, but he still seemed to be having fun.

“Craig, we’re gonna miss our curfew,” Reese said as he looked at his watch. Your boyfriend was seemingly madder about the night than you were now.

“Oh, Reese, there’s no curfew on a night like this.” Reese groaned, leaning on you as he pulled his marshmallow off its stick. You two watched Craig as he pulled a ukulele from behind his chair, starting to sing some tunes.

“I’m sorry about tonight, Y/n,” Reese whispered to you before eating his marshmallow, shoving a graham cracker and a piece of chocolate in his mouth. You smiled at your boyfriend’s actions. Reese always felt making smores in your mouth was more efficient and less messy. When he was done eating his smore, he spoke again. “I wanted this to be the best date you’ve ever been on. We were gonna go to the concert, have fun with your friends, and then go to that restaurant you like to go to when we go out of town. And then we’d make it back with enough time for me to drop you off at home without worrying about missing curfew.”

You almost frowned. Reese had been upset both for you and because the night had gone in a way that neither of you wanted. But you still smiled because even though he could be a dumb brute, he could be so thoughtful. You kissed his forehead.

“It’s okay, Reese. I mean, it’s not okay that we couldn’t do what we wanted to do. But at least we had to endure this together.” He nodded in agreement, and you continued. “I’m glad I didn’t jump out of the car.”

“Me too. I would’ve been pissed if you made me have to do all this with Craig alone.”

“You know I can hear you guys, right?”