#Then when I got home I IMMEDATELY turned it on

[coconut530]

Sulk in the sea of your sadness, starlight

textless/bg under cut

[underseaandearth]

The bulk of my attention

Last night: two hours of dance class then a social dance. Salsa, where we did inside turns. Familiar and not a challenge. I find salsa music easy to dance in time to and it sounds better to my ears than most other types of Latin music, although that's painting with a broad brush. Then bachata, where we learned how to do head rolls and body waves. A small handful of the leads I danced with did body waves with me, challenging themselves. A man I immedately took a liking to had good clear leads and a rigid frame- easy to read and subsequently follow. He was short, had a neatly trimmed dark beard, glasses and soft voice. I made an appreciative noise that I hoped was encouraging when he timed his body wave to be in sync with mine. During the head roll part he placed his palm on my trapezius and I rolled my head in time with the instructor call outs. My hair, untied, fell into my face and he helpfully used his other hand to brush it out of my face. We were giggling a little. It's hard not to when you're doing slow close dance moves with a near stranger in a friendly environment. What's your name? I asked just before we had to rotate to a new partner. He said something before I moved along but I can't remember it now.

After class the studio was officially closed, but unofficially open for a little longer to practice. They played some bachata songs and turned down the lights. People paired up to practice furthur or chatted idly before leaving for the night. I changed into my sneakers and looked up how to get to another studio that had advertised a social dance in the evening. It was slightly North and not a long trip. I found Mateo, who said he was gong to the same social dance after class, and made a silent signalling wave to him to let him know I was going. He was in the middle of a dance but waved back at me. I have learned to wait for no one when it comes to things like this. If I make my attendance conditional on weather other people are coming I'll never go to anything.

The bus luckily arrived less than three minutes after I arrived at the stop and dropped me a few metres away from the studio. From the street it looked quiet, but when I opened the door to the building I could hear the music float down from the second floor. I climbed the stairs and wondered if I had enough energy in me for a few more hours of dancing, enough to justify the door fee. The studio was lit with coloured lights and the dancefloor wasn't overcrowded, which made me happy. I found a couch to put my things down and changed into my dance heels. I remembered how new I was to bachata and felt briefly self conscious.

I danced with a few different people and went fine, but felt occaisionally underskilled compared to the rest of the people at the social. I quietly admired a woman who looked to be in her seventies dancing bachata in time with the music. Mateo arrived after a few songs and we chatted and danced awkwardly, getting used to the music and the feel of the other. He treid out some unconventional leads that he'd seen on Youtube which ended unsucessfully but made us laugh helplessly. He bought me a vodka soda. We people watched and recognized some faces from the Latin dance scene in our city that we'd seen around before. I tried to dance with a variety of leads as I feel that's what improves me most and got into dances with some apparently unimaginiative and unexpressive leads. My last dance was with a quiet tall man who let me be as expressive as I like to be and was generous with his leading, good at signalling clearly when he wanted it. During the last few bars he held me to him and dipped me in a slow controlled motion, cradling my head. I followed it gingerly but on time. I am not used to dips and still find them a little scary. I got tired enough around midnight, put my sneakers back on and waved goodbye to Mateo. I got home at about 1 and tried to write about last night but was too tired, so dribbled some disjointed words in my journal instead. I could feel my shirt soaked with sweat. I always feel filthy with sweat after dancing for prolonged periods- my cardio earned. I smoked the loeftover weed in my little glass water pipe, brushed my teeth, showered, then sent myself to bed.

[hazardworld]

It’s that time again where i haven’t posted gay for awhile so all the bots start following me. Conveniently, it’s also WIP Wednesday, so here’s two WIPs for the world:

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1. Graduation

(As HS class of 23 also I claim the modern au kids as HS class of 23 because none of us returned to school after freshman spring break either)

Dustin groaned awake as his alarm blared in his ear. He scrubbed the sleep out of his eyes and squinted at the bright light of his phone screen—9:00 am—pressing the stop button.

He sat up and yawned, then reached for his glasses. The world came into focus as he put them on, both physically and mentally.

Today was May 26, 2023.

High School Graduation.

Dustin leapt out of bed, comforter flying. He put on his pajama pants and swept out of his room to the smell of breakfast food, specifically pancakes (or possibly waffles; the hard yet better option).

He was about to make his way out to grab a plate, but an alarm blaring further down the hallway caught his ear.

He made his way down to Max’s room, careful to open the door quietly. Her alarm was the worst one: the one that sounded like some sort of jail alarm, and it was always at max volume. Dustin plugged his ears (as best he could) and turned it off before shaking Max awake.

“Max, Max get up,”

A groan. Dustin rolled his eyes.

“Max, it’s grad day!!”

No response.

“Max,” Dustin smirked and whispered in her ear, “Lucas is wearing a sexy Sailor Moon costume,” he singsonged, and Max jolted awake.

Quickly, Max settled herself back down with a groan, and Dustin’s heart sank.

“Fucking fuck,”

“Wheelchair?” Dustin asked, resigned. Max had been trying to build up her strength the past few days to maximize the possibility of having an aid-free day. After 2 1/2 years of PT, aid-free days were just as common or crutch or wheelchair days, but planning one was near impossible. It was lucky Max had them in the first place anyway: she’d been told the day she woke from her coma that she’d never walk again.

What the doctors hadn’t realized was the best place for her to stay (one story, not in the middle of the woods, two people) was the Henderson home, and Henderson blood was some of the most stubborn around. Claudia and Dustin (plus Steve when he still lived with them, and the rest of the Party) all made sure Max got as much practice walking as she could get.

Max nodded solemnly, and Dustin grabbed the chair—the Party decorated it ahead, just in case—from the corner of the room. As he did so, Max put on her own glasses and re-sat up slowly.

“So, graduation. You ready?” Max smirked lazily, and Dustin raised his eyebrow.

“What do you think?” Max laughed, and seamlessly scooted herself into her chair.

“Push or no push?” Dustin asked.

“I’d take a chauffeur,” Max responded cooly, and Dustin pulled a section of her hair in retaliation. He was not a chauffeur. “HEY! Okay, okay, jeez. I should be fine,” Dustin nodded and walked towards the door so she could change.

Actually…he probably should too.

Stained pj pants and no shirt wasn’t really a look the school was looking for onstage.

“Call for Ma or me if you need anything,” Max rolled her eyes as she nodded, and Dustin left grinning. He made his way back to his room, shutting and locking the door behind him. He grabbed the dress shirt and pants he’d washed and hung up the previous night from his closet. The dress shirt was a light lavender with small vertical stripes, and was brand new for the occasion. His dress pants were black, and the same dress pants he’d used for choir or any other special event for the past 4 years.

God…4 years. 4 years at Hawkins High and now it was all over.

His thoughts weee interrupted by a heavy bang-bang-bang on his wall.

Dustin rolled his eyes and grinned, zipping up his fly before going back to Max’s room.

“Pants?” He asked immedeately as he opened the door. Sure enough, Max was in her pink floral blouse and pajama pants, with her own pair of black dress pants laid haphazardly on her bed.

She nodded. “Pants.” Dustin nodded in response and shut and locked the door.

When Max had a moderate amount of pain or more, usually it meant she needed help getting her pants on. Sometimes there were days where she needed help with nothing or everything, but if she needed help usually it was just for pants.

Dustin lifted her out of her chair and squinted his eyes shut while holding her sturdy from behind.

“Done!” Came Max’s voice, and Dustin opened his eyes to help her back into the chair. Dustin snatched her palm gloves from her bedside drawer, and chucked them in her lap.

“Thanks, ass,” Max smirked and slipped on the gloves, and wheeled herself out the door Dustin held open for her.

The scent of heavenly fatty food wafted through Dustin’s nose once again as he followed his sister out to the kitchen. Ma had her back turned, frying up something—sausage or eggs, probably.

“Ma!” Dustin called, before noticing her earbuds in.

“We should not have introduced her to noise cancellation.” Max commented.

“Agreed. She’s deafer than Steve with those things in,” Ma had forced Steve to go see a ear doctor after she noticed him not hearing anything unless he was facing her---something Dustin regretted not noticing sooner. Apparently, all the concussions had lead him to being hard of hearing, which lead to him wearing hearing aids and everyone in the Party learning sign.

------

Sibling Summer Camp!

(A modern summer camp au with an inhuman twist. This excerpt is from the first chapter, where everyone is first arriving at camp.)

They parked and got out, walking to their luggage in the back. A few seconds into opening the van door, and another van raced past them, parking close on their right. Whoever was inside was blaring music, and singing along so loud Suzie could hear every word they said.

"Put your hands up and reach for the sky, CRY FOR ABSOLUTIOOOON!"

Rock music wasn’t Suzie’s fave, but yikes.

Suzie noticed their Florida license plate as the van shook to the song’s beat. 

Typical Floridians. Probably.

There were a bunch of various rainbow magnets and bumper stickers, though, so at least the rockers were safe. Their van was maroon and tan, though Suzie could see hints of washed off paint across the side and back. Had it been graffitied?

“Hey, Suze, a little help?” Oh, shit. Suzie pulled away from her people watching to help Argyle unload their suitcases. He had taken care of the larger few, but the smaller ones were all the way in the back. They were here for a month, after all, and while they were promised laundry service for their clothes, there were many things neither of them wanted to leave behind.

Suzie shuffled a bag sounding like a bunch of glass bottles, and paused, sighing.

“Argyle, how many bongs did you bring?” Argyle smiled and shrugged.

“I didn’t bring my whole collection, if you’re asking.”

She hit him with a glare.

“How many?” 

“…13?”

“YOU BROUGHT 13 BONGS?" Suzie exclaimed, and Argyle shrugged.

"Could be more, could be less, I dunno,"

Just because the two of them got on swimmingly didn’t mean they never got into disagreements. Usually, these disagreements had to do with bongs.

"Why are 13 ish bongs something necessary for camp! I’m sure you won’t even use half of them!” Suzie grumbled angrily. She couldn’t expect Argyle to not bring his stash, but an entire bag of 13 bongs??? In a state where recreational weed wasn’t even legal??

“I heard 13 bongs,” Suzie looked up, and standing at the mouth of the van was a lanky tall boy with the darkest color palette she had ever seen. Seriously, the black hair, band tank, and jeans were so stark against his pale skin, he almost looked like a vampire.

“Who the heck are you?” and “Wanna borrow one?” were said at the exact same time. Unluckily for Suzie, the boy only heard Argyle’s question, and not hers.

"Nah, I packed a few myself, but nice to know I’ll have a smokin’ buddy!" This guy—obviously from Florida—had southern slang with a midwest accent. Weird.

"EDDIE! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!" Called another voice, and Suzie’s question was answered. "YOU AREN’T LEAVIN’ ME TO DO ALL THIS WORK, YOU SLIMY SACK OF DICKS!" This was likely Eddie’s sibling, left to do all the work unloading their things. Argyle and Eddie exchanged goodbyes, and Eddie ran off to his sibling.

"I found a weed guy!" Argyle grinned, and Suzie shook her head while smiling. 

"Yes Argyle, you found a weed guy,” Suzie panned to the remaining luggage in the back, “now can we please get the rest of our bags out? Otherwise you won’t be seeing weed guy for a month,” Argyle nodded and started pulling the luggage onto the ground.

[maygrcnt]

sorry had to reblog again with a comment because actually i think we should be acknowledging that taylor kelly very much did understand the depth of their relationship. when she found out eddie was the one who got shot she immedately understood it was a different circumstance to buck than if it was any other firefighter. shes the only buck love interest weve ever seen interact with eddie in his home, and the only one to ever interact with christopher. she did see how close they were, she didnt care, and people still turned that on her anyway.

tbh the funny thing about the "tommy will be So Gracious and Accepting about buck and eddie's bond" coming from the same people who were convinced that ana, taylor, marisol, natalia etc would be bothered by it is that most of these women were actually very chill and/or didn't fully comprehend the depth of their bond so they were never threatened however tommy DOES actually know that something is up with buck and eddie so he's actually primed to be jealous or bothered by it...but no one wants to talk about that...

[handelplayssims]

Another day and Supriya is the first one up. Only two hours before work and school and this one, everyone has to go in. ...she also got the fitness one from just simply stretching while energized and I don’t really like deciding that a Sim should be super into something when it’s as simple as a stretch but she is active so it is sort of her thing anyway. Also incidentally, that sentence took so long to write that I didn’t actually get to say if Supriya should work from home or not. Thankfully I believe that defaults to going in for work. Anyway just having everyone vaguely do whatvever while managing Curtis needs before he also goes into work. And now we have a fully away household yaaaay!

Ooooo. Haven’t seen this one. But then again, haven’t played with this job a lot. Hmm, sketchy testimony huh? Let’s go easy shall we?

Hehehe. Success! Anyway Pierce came back from school utterly mortified and Evie stressed so that’s lovely. Time to at least set Evie to her favorite pets. Which she did and hmm. Now what else to do? What do kids do when stressed? We got shout forbidden words or throw a tantrum. Ehhhh perhaps a little bit of yelling. Perhaps playing with toys will help and playing with emotions. Curtis is also back from work and- love getting the fear of a dead-end job just as you get a job promotion. Though to be fair, he does have a low fun need. The only person in a good mood in this household is Supriya, all energized and ready to go. Oooh, but having said that, Evie immedately cheered up upon seeing her step-dad. Ah, it’s the clingy trait working for her.

Ah, and Evie giving a heartfelt compliment about how good it is that he’s such a good step-dad immedately perked Curtis up. -claps hands together- They will now become besties. Oooh, I just checked the parenting for anything good and you can encourage giving compliments. Nice. And I got them up to friends at the very least. So that works!

Curtis’s next whim is to chat with a non-household sim. Which hey, we got someone right at our doorfront. Makes things convenient and nice, because I don’t think he’s got enough energy in the tank for a full go-outside bit. Daniel is a vegetarian history major at Britechester. Good to know! Evie cut in on their conversation to be asked to put to bed by Curtis. Which awww. By the by, Curtis does have the adoring sentiment with Evie now. Again, very cute. Annnd Lazerwolf wants to go for a job after I got Supriya and Blue back from one. But ack, it’s time for sleeps! In the morning Lazerwolf. In the morning.

Neighborhood Watch!

Nothing of note has happened recently. Check back tomorrow.

...let’s make this an extra-long one, shall we? It’ll be our final turn with this household! Evie’s up first and heh, she wants to be better friends with Curtis. Sweet whim but he’s asleep. She says, just as he wakes up. Well, I can at least set him to make breakfast for everyone. I even have time to set the table so everyone will sit nice and comfy aroun-

...of course. Anyway hour until work and school and- oh Curtis takes different hours now. I suppose he would wouldn’t he! Well then he could join Supriya in her regular university visits to a law class that’ll go quickly!

RIGHT. I still have yet to plan a wedding! But here’s the problem, we only have one more day with this household. Welp. That’ll be a plan for next time. Perhaps. Ohp, and Lazerwolf still wants that walk. Go for a jog with Supriya, then we’ll head off to Uni. ...Curtis’s other whim is to volunteer. I would want to do that with Evie but he goes to work as soon as she comes back from school. ALAS. Now is the only time to do it.

Oh and just got a notification that All Haunts Day is tomorrow. My spooky holiday will be our last day with this household! Now we head off to Britechester for work and more! First the automatically fulfilling uni class, -grumble grumble- Then, we study! First to make up for said class and then to research legal issues for the second thing for work. I’m going to do the latter at the local library instead of at the university though. Just because I feel like doing that! And then we do that. Had a casual chat with some students nearby, both programming majors but in different universities. I’d suggested they date. It didn’t go over well. Alas.

Supriya goes home for supper and gets a tense moodlet from being around Pierce? I suppose it has something to do with perhaps being invisible while off at work but eh. Evie just wants to get confident from her earlier gained charisma skill. ...I’m going to leave her to just do things freely because I want to see if she’ll ask Supriya for advice at this point. Supriya, meanwhile, wants to share ideas and talk to Brant Hecking. Well, that’s an easy invite over to the home...despite the fact that I could go out and talk and befriend their pet dog but we’ve spent enough time with Supriya alone.

Oooh, I have a thought in my head upon seeing this. And it’s basically that Curtis is Self-Absorbed yeah? Why wouldn’t he cater an event himself, yeah?

...yeah if the goal was being a celebrity chef, I would have stuck him in that career.

Amusingly, he’s more sad about being fired than he is about gaining fame! Probably a result of my Meaningful Stories mod, that ups the ante on emotions and makes stronger moodlets much more harder to ignore. I would get the potion to solve it but he literally does not have the aspiration points available for it. Alas!

...and I know I should go for the career and skills gain but I really want to try for the socialization one first for celebrity lifestyle. Gah, play it safe. Go for the skills and career based one. -immedately takes notes at all the Charisma-based careers- Hmm. We have so many normal ones like being a business man with a business suit. We also have straight up fanciful fame based ones like being an Actor or an Athlete. We could have a Secret Agent sty- hmm. Good people don’t work in the shadows for the state. Could also stick him in Retail or Babysitting as an inbetween. Double back to the Business career and well, good people don’t become CEOs. I don’t feel inclined to put him in the Politician career since that was literally my track for Bella and Geoffrey...but I could start him in business and has he gets higher up the chain, gets feels more out of place with it’s competetive nature and bounce over to being a politician. Yeah! That feels like an arc!

Anyway Supriya still hadn’t talked to someone about brilliant ideas and Pierce was up at the computer. And so she went over to a moody teen, who was wanting to get his needs fullfilled after the end of a long week of work and school and no time for himself. And ask him to do his homework, with her assistance. Which she managed to do at least. (And me realizing Pierce didn’t have a homework book somehow) And with that homework, they managed to become good friends again. Yaaay. And now, with Pierce in the red of sleepiness, he finally went to bed. While Supriya just cleared out the litterbox first before heading to bed herself.

Neighborhood Watch!

Branden Barrow in the Barrow household has died. Branden let it go and froze solid.

Emmanuel Rios in the Rios household is now a Freelance Fashion Photographer in the Freelance Fashion Photographer career.

Ooooh, nice pick uni-boy!

Greg Thorpe in the Thorpe household has died. Greg was so angry he burst into flames and died.

Ohhhhh! I know that name! RIP RIP RIP!

Last day! And it’s a holiday! Neither of the adults are particularly excited for this holiday but Pierce and Evie absolutely are. Sounds about right!

Anyway since Pierce actually has the décor based want, I did go the extra mile to get the front yard a little bit more spooky. No big inflatable ghosties or skellies. Yet. Anyway, now we have the all important question for Pierce. Vampires? Ghosts? Or werewolves? I think with his neat sensibilities, he’d go more for the refinement and decorum of the vampires. And hey, we do know of one or two vamps!

Anyway, Curtis is sad from being fired and Evie is back to being terrified. -grumbles grumpily- Curtis’s whim is to gain handiness so I’m focusing on that and Evie will focus on the dogs. As her usual source of comfort. Anyway, needs management happens between the whole household, getting food and such. And afternoon rolls around. Time to put on some costumes! If there isn’t one I like within the premade ones for the holiday, I’ll put one on to fulfill the holiday tradition and then make a custom one within the party outfits. Most of the family worked well the offered Star Wars and space themed ones. But Evie...eh.

Wasn’t really feeling this one but ehhhhh. WAIT A MOMENT!

Here we go! Werewolf Evie! I’m a genius!

Oh hey, our werdio vampire friend is here! Let’s chat and invite her in and we shall get the Spooky Tradition out of the way for at least the adults. I have plans for the kids.

Aye! Evie managed to clear off Curtis’s sad mood! Nicely done kid! And now’s a bit of socializing for the family before my plan begins. Oh and I should stick Curtis in the Business career while I’m at it.

You look away for two moments and son and mother are at it again. Damn it. I wanted things to be better now but alas! Anyway Curtis’s next whim is to actually get married to Supriya. Sadly, we are out of time because I want these two to have a proper ceremony and stuff.

Oh and normally you have to deal with trick-or-treaters yourself when they knock on your door but if you set up this specific candy bowl outside, they’ll take it from there.

Oh what would Supriya say to that? Also, how does getting a ninja outfit raise empathy? -shrugs- A or C strike me as the most practical responses for this silly question. Anyway, it’s 6PM! It’s time for me to enact my plan. My plan of going to the teen hangout park! Mostly for one reason. Later in the evening when you have Spooky Spirit tradition on, ghosts and vampires will spawn around the lot. And maybe werewolves. I doubt it as it was made post-Seasons and I don’t know if they backfill those events but not likely! For awhile, Evie played around and poked at a teen but when curfew called at before 9, she headed home. Not Pierce! He’s out to find more vampires/ghosts/werewolves! Will we be successful? I dunno but we’ll find out!

Oh there’s one! I know Sophie is one! Buuuuut it seems Pierce is super distracted by chatting about how excited he is about All Spooks Day to Olivia Kim-Lewis. Anyway, we at least made friends with Olivia so let’s head back to the park to see if we can spy any spooky things. And if not, there’s at least Harrison, his vampire friend! ...and then they autonomously kissed so uhhh, welp. I was going to take a picture but I accidentally pressed the speed up button.

And so we return home. I was going to have Supriya punish Pierce with a grounding but alas, the time to punish ended as soon as I attempted to do it. That was a very long session, as most of my family-with-kids visits tend to do. Next time we’re visiting the...wait first!

Neighborhood Watch!

Nothing has happened recently. Check back tomorrow.

Well dang. Anyway, the next household we’ll visit will be the Zest household once more. Oooh fun.

[jupitermelichios]

So I’ve been playing a lot of skyrim lately, because it’s video game comfort food, and I decided it was time for my Redguard Dovahkiin to settle down. (Actually I specifically just wanted to be able to adopt some of the random orphans you meet because I felt guilty about them, but you need to be married before you can do that so that there’s someone at home to take care of the kids while you’re off galivanting).

So I travelled around a bit, chatting up likely looking npcs until I found one I both liked and didn’t feel guilty about marrying (I feel bad if I marry one of the warrior adventurer types, making them be a stay at home mum) and settled on an obnoxiously cheerful argonian called Shavee because her life was frankly shit, and I thought she’d probably be good with kids.

So off I go to Riften to the Temple of Mara to arrange the wedding. I book it in for the next day, realise I didn’t bring anything nice to wear, and spend the night before the wedding robbing every house in the city in the search for something to wear. Eventually decide everyone in Riften has terrible fashion sense and break down everything I stole into raw materials and use them to craft myself an outfit and some jewellery that i’m pretty happy with. I even carefully pick out my fanciest looking sword to wear.

(don’t know why I bothered, frankly, shavee turned up wearing a shirt covered in suspicious stains and weilding a pickaxe, it’s like she doesn’t even care about this marriage)

(also for comedy purposes, bear in mind I play with survival mods that mean my character needs to eat and sleep to live, and I literally spent the entire ingame night on this and forgot to eat and drink anything either and then just downed four bowls of wolf stew right before entering the temple so I didn’t starve during the ceremony. also I discovered during the wedding that I am dying of rockjoint, which I contracted from sleeping in a pile of hay on the floor of a skeever infested cave, so even being six foot tall and jacked can’t make up for the fact that I am exhausted, running a fever, and probably covered in wolf which I spilled because my joints are slowly atrophying, and even the fanciest clothes in the world aren’t going to cover that up)

so I enter the temple, and my finance is there, and Lydia my housecarl, and some random NPCs the game thinks are my friends because I did fetch quests for them

One of the random NPCs is Lisbet. Atfter I did her fetch quest, I then did another quest in which I discovered Lisbet is secretly a cannibal and part of a demonic cult that worships the daedric prince of decay by kidnapping priests, sacrificing them, and then eating their corpses. Raw. I think the raw meat is the sticking point for me here honestly.

I ultimately decided not to sacrifice the random priest to a daedric prince in exchange for one magic ring and all the raw human I could eat, because frankly, that doesn’t sound like much of a deal to me. I was expecting there to be some kind of dialogue choice where I could nope out at the last minute, but it turns out there isn’t one, so after they drugged the priest and tied him to the altar, I just got out my sword and started swinging.

I killed most of the cult (including the town butcher, because I had brought meat from him before and was extremely pissed off that he might have been secretly feeding me humans) but a couple of them got away, which I figured was fine because they weren’t trying to kill me.

Except it turns out, if any of them escape, then every time you see them in the future there’s a random chance that they’ll fly into a violent rage and try and murder you.

Lisbet is at my wedding. Lisbet decides that clearly me marrying this random argonian woman with two lines of dialogue is the happiest day of my life, and she cannot allow me that happiness, when I’ve taken so much from her.

So she tries to kill me. Only she can’t, because I’m stuck in a pre-rendered wedding animation, and also she’s sitting next to Lydia, my faithful retainer and owner of a really big axe.

It also turns out that Lisbet is essential, meaning she can be knocked unconcious but not actually killed because she’s needed for some quest or other. And the minute she wakes up from unconciousness, she tries to kill me again, so Lydia knocks her unconcious again, and I’m stuck, I can’t move, because I’m supposed to be in the wedding animation.

Except Shavee has, not unreasonably, see all this and decided that she doesn’t like me enough to risk getting murdered, and has done a runner, leaving me at the altar, but more importantly, leaving me trapped in a broken pre-rendered animation, so all I can do is stand there at the altar, staring at the space where my fiance was supposed to be, listening to the sounds of Lydia trying and failing to beat a cannibal to death behind me.

Okay, I think, clearly this wedding isn’t going to happen, I’m going to go for the registry office option and complete the wedding using the dev commands. I do this. The priest gives me a wedding ring, and I can finally move again. I chase after Shavee, who has an impressive turn of speed on her, and eventually catch up right by the city gates. I try to talk to her.

Apparently using the console has completed the wedding for me, but not for her, because she still only has the same 2 lines of dialogue she usually has.

Clearly this is working, I can’t leave my kids with someone who can only say 2 things and doesn’t even know she’s their mum, that’s irresponsible.

I try loading from inside the temple. I get the same problem.

Eventually I figure out that I need to use the dev controls to disable Lisbet’s entire existence in the universe.

Shavee and me get married. As the priest reads the vows, I stare at Shavee and wonder why she couldn’t even be bothered to put on a clean shirt. I wonder what kind of mother she’ll be.

Once the ceremony is over, and I’m happily married to the dirty green lizard of my dreams, and we’ve agreed that until I can make her recognise my extremely nice modded house exists I will share her single bed in the unheated flophouse in Windhelm she calls home, I re-enable Lisbet, because I’m worried I’ll forget if I leave it too long.

Fun fact about skyrim, it loads in quite a lot of npcs and objects by dropping them from the sky. I have no idea why this is the case, but it’s objectively the funniest way to load in objects.

I re-enable Lisbet. She falls from the sky, clips through the roof of the temple, and lands in the pew beside Lydia, stands up, draws a knife, and is immedately beaten unconcious.

I no longer care, because Shavee now has all the exciting new spouse-only romantic dialogue options like “Could you cook something for me” and “have you made any money lately”, and I know she’ll be a great mother.

I limp to the door of the temple, while around me the guests not involved in the Lydia-Lisbet murder cycle scream and duck for cover.

I open the door to the temple, immediately collapse and ragdoll down the steps, which is how I discover I am dying of rockjoint.

I limp to the orphanage down the street, adopt two kids, and then finally remember that I’m carrying garlic bread, which as we all know, cures all known illnesses.

When I emerge back into the street, full of the joys of motherhood and garlic bread, I find the town in disaray. Lydia is chasing Lisbet through the streets with an axe and a dragon is circling overhead, burning npcs to death. People are running for shelter, screaming, while the guards try to take down an entire dragon using only the worst bows and arrows in the game.

I decide that as a parent, I have to think of my own safety first and leave them to it.

I head out of the city, intent on returning home and figuring out why Shavee refuses to move in with me. A man hanging around the stables challenges me to a boxing match. For want of anything better to do, I agree.

Halfway through the fight he dodges at the wrong moment and I punch one of his horses in the head.

Two guards attack me while I desperately try to surrender. My kids will miss me, but I’m prepared to go to jail for my horse crimes, I’m an honest citizen. Also my horse crimes seem somewhat less important than the dragon.

The guards refuse to accept my surrender. I am stabbed to death. As I collapse in front of the indifferent horse, Lisbet exits the city, followed by Lydia. The last thing I see before I die is Lydia swinging her axe at Lisbet’s face.

[gallusrostromegalus]

Can we get some facts about the yami/yugi/seto ship?

About two years after the events of the fic, at about 5 PM on a Saturday, Seto kaiba posts to Warblr (the in-universe version of Twitter) : BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 5:00 PM: "I have made a miscalculation."

Kaibacorp stock goes haywire. Seto Kaiba is a proud man and does not admit to mistakes easily. What is it? Finances? Scandal? Is he getting divorced??

BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 5:02 PM: "I was at the fundraiser for the Los Osaka ASPCA today."

Kaibacorp stock skyrockets. Nobody even knows what's happened yet but this is shaping up to be Good.

BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 5:03 PM: "This is Animal."

Attatched is an image of a spectacularly ugly dog. It's some kind of sighhound, all long and noodly with a head like a bicycle seat. She's blind from cataracts in one eye, the other one a manic bug-eyed ice-blue. There are bald patches from scars and burns in her fur, her face is contorted into a permanent snarl, drooling a bit. She is approximately the color of old gym socks.

The internet is immedately in love.

>That sure is an Animal alright. >When did Baba Yaga get turned into a dog? >OF COURSE you of all people manage to find a Blue Eyes White Dragon in Real Life.

BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 5:05 PM: The vet says it's probably just as well that I have never had a dog before, because I have "no prior expectations of Normal Dog Behavior". BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 5:05 PM: "Which I take to mean that sitting in one's lap like a human infant is perhaps unusual." BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 5:05 PM: "The miscalculation here is that Animal is very heavy, and my arms are only so long." BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 5:06 PM: [Image cross-posted from Mokuba's Warblr (@StonksDotMeme) of Seto attempting to type on his laptop at his desk while reaching around a 90lb dog who is, indeed, sitting in his lap and hugging his shoulders like an attention-seeking toddler.] [She also has her head twisted around at a peculiar angle so she can watch his screen.] [It looks tremendously awkward all around.]

StonksDotMeme at 5:07 PM: I didn't get a picture of it earlier, but if she stands on her hind legs, she's taller than Seto.

KuribohDefenseSquad at 5:13 PM: PUPPY? BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 5:14 PM: Oh right. I keep forgetting that you used to have dogs. BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 5:15 PM: Also please get home soon I can barely feel my hands. KuribohDefenseSquad at 5:16 PM: PUPPYPUPPYPUPPYPUPPY KuribohDefenseSquad at 5:17 PM: I shall teach her to eat steak off a fork. BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 5:17 PM: ATEM NO. StonksDotMeme at 5:18 PM: Animal is so skeletal she looks like an animated Halloween decoration. She could stand to see him try.

The rest of the evening is filled with delightful images of various members of the household holding Animal like a baby, with varying degrees of sucess. Atem has the easiest time of it, having handled animals before, even if she handles like an animated bicycle. Mokuba isn't actually tall enough to get all four of her feet off the ground. Seto is very affectionately kicked in the face hard enough to take the couch with him when he falls over.

Until Yugi logs in from where he's visiting Téa while she's on tour with the London Philharmonic and in a tournament in Oxford.

KingOfGames at 9:01 PM: I WAS GONE FOR TWO DAYS.

---

A few days later, a series of Images are posted to Seto's Warblr, of the various members of the household adjusting to life with Animal.

Image 1: Caption: "board meeting rehersal." Mokuba Kaiba, at his desk, with his laptop screen turned to Animal so she can see what he's doing, and he looks like he's explaining his presentation to her. His feet are dangling from his chair a bit. She's got all four feet flat on the ground and it just. Appallingly Tall.

Image 2: Caption: "Some guard dogs keep people away by intimidating them with barking or teeth. Animal keeps people away by being an enormous eldritch horror that makes people too uncomofrtable to commit assault." Noah Kaiba, visiting in his android body, looks at the camera with disgust and just a little bit of fear as Animal sniffs him with interest, tail a blur with excitement. The top of his head does not actually come up to her shoulder.

Image 3: Caption: "Organic weighted Blanket. He has been sleeping better since she came home." Atem is alseep on the couch, and Animal is sprawled out on top of him. Atem takes up two cushions and an armrest at his maximum hands-over-head sprawl. Animal has her front paws hanging off the armrest with his, takes up all three cushions, and her tail is draped over the opposite armrest. Atem looks ridiculously comfortable for someone being lovingly crushed by a small carnivorous horse.

Image 4: Caption: "Handicap." The image looks it was taken from behind the TV where videogams are being played. Yugi is sitting on the floor in front of the couch, holding a videogame controller. Atem and Seto are on the couch on either side of him, also with controllers. Animal is sitting in Yugi's lap, oblivious to any size concerns, forcing him to hold the controller in front of her and peer around her side in order to keep playing. It is clear from everyone's facial expressions that he's still winning.

TheDarkArtOfTechSupport at 4:01 PM: @ BlueEyesWhiteDynamo, Did you get Animal because you felt like Gulliver among the Lillputians?

BlueEyesWhiteDynamo Replying at 4:01 PM: Hang on let me look some stuff up. BlueEyesWhiteDynamo Replying at 4:05 PM: LMAO Yeah it was getting lonely up here.

--- A few months later, Yugi is in Moscow for the International World Chess Championships and to see Tea at the Bolshoi Theater.

KuribohDefenseSquad at 8:12 AM: @ KingOfGames I'm sorry, and this isn't my fault. KingOfGames Replying at 8:12 AM: WHAT. KuribohDefenseSquad at 8:14 AM: [Image of Animal next to the car at the local state park, looking ecstatic. Next to her is a second, equally leggy sighthound, but this one is a smooth black to Animal's curly white. Where Animal looks like she posesses forbidden knowledge of dark magic because she is a witch transformed into a dog, this dog looks like his head is full of the Mii Chanel Theme Music and Lint.] KingOfGames at 8:15AM: GODSDAMMIT. KuribohDefenseSquad at 8:16AM: We were on our usual morning run and Animal took off for the Canyon and found him, then refused to leave without him. No collar, no chip, no Lost Dog signs, the vet thinks he's been out here for weeks. KuribohDefenseSquad at 8:16AM: So this is actually Animal's fault. KingOfGames at 8:17AM: YOU GUYS CAN'T GET A DOG EVERY TIME I GET ON AN AIRPLANE. KingOfGames at 8:20AM: @ BlueEyesWhiteDynamo, What do you have to say about this? BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 8:30 AM: [Image of both dogs sitting on chairs at the kitchen bar. Seto is making them pancakes.] BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 8:31 AM: His name is Thing. KingOfGames at 8:35 AM: I'm never leaving the country again.

---

Mai-Own-Valentine at 2:08 PM: Important Question: Do you guys ever do 'voices' for Animal and Thing?

BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 2:08 PM: No. KingOfGames at 2:08 PM: Liar. KingOfGames at 2:09 PM: Seto and Atem have decided that both dogs talk like ancient cursed souls forced to wander the earth until they've completed some task they have long since forgotten. Animal sounds like if Baba Yaga smoked five packs a day and Thing sounds like Elmo.

KuribohDefenseSquad at 2:30 PM: [Video Post]

The video starts with Atem coming back into the house after a morning run with the Dogs and is following them through the house as they jog with a great deal of Intent to a specific room.

Atem, gleeful: "Yes! Yes, go get them! It's time to get up!"

Thing launches himself at a double-door, slamming it open before bounding onto the Alaska King bed, shoving his nose under a heap of pillows and blankets, tail wagging furiously. Animal joins him, both dogs affectionately whine-grunting at whoever they're prodding.

Yugi: "Ugh, yeah, okay, okay, I'm getting up... Love you guys too. Come on, let me up."

Yugi gets up, disheveled, affectionately gives Atem the finger before heading into the bathroom. Atem turns the camera back to the bed, in time to see Animal crouch, jamming her face under the blanket at the other, Seto-sized lump and bellow. Thing jumps on him with all four feet and wails too.

Atem, in a low, croaking voice as Animal: "FATHER! THE BAEFUL EYE OF HORUS HAS TURNED HIS WRATHFUL GAZE UPON US AGAIN. IT IS THE HOUR OF THE FEEDING RITUAL. BRING UNTO US THE FLESH, AS HAS BEEN FORETOLD." Atem in a high, squeaky voice as Thing: "I DESIRE OF ENTRAILS FATHER!"

Seto: "I'd ask what the hell was wrong with you, but I was there for most of it- OW!" Animal has decided to stand on his Kidneys. "...Animal I do not need canine chiropractry. Off."

She climbs off his back to jam her long face into his, licking up his nostrils like an anteater. He groans but only gently pushes her away as Thing starts jumping up and down on the Bed.

Atem, still as Thing: "THE ETERNAL CIRCADIAN CYCLES ARE AS INOXERABLE AS MY HUNGER FOR FLESHMEATS, FATHER."

Seto, slightly muffled from both dogs standing on his abdomen: "Bullshit. Thing isn't smart enough to know a word like 'inoxerable'."

Atem drops the phone laughing and the video stops.

KingOfGames at 2:33 PM: If you're wondering why Seto is handling this so well- he sets the hounds on Atem if he falls asleep on the couch instead of coming up to bed. King of Games at 2:33 PM: I'll try to get video of it next time because he does Animal's voice much better. KuribohDefenseSquad at 2:34 PM: :( BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 2:36 PM: You're both lucky you're cute.

---

SEVERAL MONTHS LATER: KingOfGames at 11:24 AM: [Video Post]

Yugi is holding the phone up to his face. He's outside in front of a beige building. There's the sound of traffic and dogs in the background. He looks gentle and affable as he usually does.

Yugi: "So, Seto is in New York for beta testing some cool new stuff this weekend, very exciting, and Atem is in Egypt doing archeology with Grandpa and Dr. Ishtar. He's going to be extremely sunburned when he gets back. And I miss them, but having the house to myself this week means I *finally* have the opportunity to do something I've been thinking about for over a year now."

He tilts the phone up until the "LOS OSAKA HUMANE SOCIETY" sign is visible over his hair. He laughs, a blatant parody of a Ming The Merciless Style villian, before tipping the camera back to his face, now full of manic glee.

Yugi: "MY TURN."

KingOfGames at 12:34 PM: Okay, I forgive Seto a little bit because she literally climbed out of her enclosure and onto my shoulders and that's REALLY hard to say no to. Atem still let Animal bully him into taking home a random dog out of the state park, and that's just. Sad.

KingOfGames at 12:36 PM: [Screencap of his phone. There are notifications that read "27 Missed Calls" "14 New Voicemails" "136 Text messages" and "More Notifications"] KingOfGames at 12:36 PM: LOL KingOfGames at 12:36 PM: LMAO

KuribohDefenseSquad at 12:37 PM: ...Another Puppy? KingOfGames at 12:38 PM: Not A Puppy :) BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 12:40 PM: IT BETTER NOT BE A SNAKE. BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 12:45 PM: DO NOT LEAVE ME ON READ. BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 12:47 PM: YUGI. BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 12:48 PM: WHAT IS IT YUGI. KingOfGames at 12:49 PM: Not A Snake :) KuribohDefenseSquad 12:50 PM: That's a relief. Odion said that if you hadn't gotten me back by your birthday he was going to gift you a Cobra. BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 12:50 PM: ABSOLUTELY NOT. BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 12:51 PM: YUGI WHAT THE HELL DID YOU BRING INTO THE HOUSE. KingOfGames at 12:55 PM: Nothing yet, I'm still filling out the paperwork :)

KingOfGames at 1:44 PM: The Initial Reviews are in: KingOfGames at 1:44 PM: [Image: The couch that Animal can Normally sprawl the length of, but now Animal and Thing are huddled together on the far side of it, Animal reared back in alarm. Thing is mostly behind her, but has angled himself around to peer with extreme confusion at something on the other end of the couch. It's been covered in a black box that reads [REDACTED] but the size indicates it's smaller than the hounds, at least.]

StonksDotMeme at 1:46 PM: That might be the most baroque image of the dogs I've ever seen but seriously Seto is about to throw an executive out a window. Please reveal the beastie. KingOfGames at 1:47 PM: [The same image as before, but the box has been removed to reveal a laughably small and extremely fluffy kitty the exact color of chocolate milk.] StonksDotMeme at 1:48 PM: LMAFOOOOOOOOOOOO StonksDotMeme at 1:48 PM: Seto just asked if that is a chinchilla? KingOfGames at 1:50 PM: [New Image of the Kitty, looking up at Yugi. She has large, yellow eyes with wide purplish pupils. Her tiny ears are barely visible through the Fluff. She's being held in just one of Yugi's arms, indicating she can't be more than six or seven pounds.] KingOfGames at 1:51 PM: This is Purriboh. KuribohDefenseSquad at 1:51 PM: YES!! BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 1:52 PM: what. KingOfGames at 1:54PM: The shelter says she's probably five or six years old, and is just really tiny. She's really smart, she already figured out where her litterbox and food bowl are, and how to open the dog food bag. She's not blind but her vision isn't very good, so she sort of follows the dogs around. I think they've lived with cats before because they flinch if she tries to pat them, so they know about the knife hands. BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 1:55 PM: Knife? Hands? KuribohDefenseSquad at 1:55 PM: Cats have very sharp retractable claws. KingOfGames at 1:56 PM: [Image: Close-up of one of Purriboh's paws, which Yugi is delicately pushing the Beans of to extend her rather impressive and fully-functional claws.] KuribohDefenseSquad at 1:56 PM: Like That! KingOfGames at 1:58 PM: [Image of Purriboh demonstrating the use of said claws in holding Thing's face with them extended while she lovingly grooms him.]

---

ForesightIs2020 at 6:34 PM: So, how is Purriboh settling in?

KingOfGames at 6:38 PM: [Image cross-posted from StonksDotMeme of them on the couch, which can barely support them. Seto is on the far end, with Purriboh snuggled on his shoulder. Yugi is napping in the middle, head on Seto's leg and a dog on either side of him. Yami is the closest, looking moderately dejected.] KingOfGames at 6:39 PM: Atem gets depressed about the fact that Purriboh likes sleeping on Seto more than him. I'm just glad when I wake up because sometimes I worry they're going to smother me in my sleep. BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 6:40 PM: LOL KuribohDefenseSquad at 6:40 PM: :(

StonksDotMeme at 7:01 PM: I love when Purriboh sits on Seto's shoulder like that because their hair blends together and it looks like he has a Mullet. KuribohDefenseSquad at 7:01 PM: :D BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 7:01 PM: DELETE THIS IMMEDIATELY. *BlueEyesWhiteDynamo Has Updated Thier Profile Picture!* [It's a close-up of him and Purriboh and that EXACT faux-mullet pheneomenon] BlueEyesWhiteDynamo at 7:02 PM: AND LOG OFF MY ACCOUNT RIGHT NOW.

[casasupernovas]

so i have been rewatching series 1 and 2 of doctor who and i have some thoughts about rose; rose is highkey bad vibes. like girl eye - okay so - you cried over thinking that micky was dead only to say "thanks for nothing" before leaving with the doctor, got jealous at that sickening tree lady, then forgot about mickey AGAIN when you got home and said to his FACE that the doctor is much more important than a boyfriend (yikes).

THEN! THEN! freakin' fathers day! i gave her a lot of sympathy in that episode because duh, it's tragic. but i completely forgot she said to the doctor when he told her off that she knew how "sad he was" (wtf!!! to anyone not used to british slang she basically called him a loser) and later when he told her to apologise her apology didn't feel very sincere, she literally put her head down like a kid and said "sorry" like a primary school kid. bless. and of course in boom town, she made that horrid comment about micky maybe dating a bigger girl. the nicest thing she did was not look for him when he decided to do what she did to him in the first episode. remember this moment because this is important...

we go further in and get to lynda with a y, and she was immedately jealous of her which i kind of get but it was a little catty especially when we had established that they were in a very dire situation. rip to poor lynda, and of course that very important scene which convinces jackie to help her get back to the doctor. i remember billie on the commentary saying that rose can be very harsh and i definitely agree, im talking of course rose telling jackie she met her father. she wasn't exactly tactful. and even in the parting of ways; of course rose loved him but rose was reckless - anyone who has seen torchwood and seen a smidge of the suffering jack had due to not being able to die...

fast forward to the christmas invasion - now again, i think rose is pretty valid in her grief and confusion but i found it telling that rose still thought she could have it both ways when she agreed to keep travelling. and tooth and claw. like SIS. one of the most annoying things i think the fans and the show did was make doomsday feel 'so unfair' when the truth was...it wasn't some cosmic the universe is so unfair moment. it was their own fault. it was their own doing. torchwood was created because rose and the doctor were acting like asses in tooth and claw. people are dying around you and you're laughing?! i was very surprised at this as rose used to be the one to tell the doctor to reign it in and inject some compassion before. oh how the turn tables.

anywho, we get to school reunion and dissing sarah jane has to be blasphemy right? lol. also when she started sulking about micky joining, i think that was the only time in the show where i genuinely disliked her. i know im making this post, but i dont dislike her, but in that moment i did. i just thought there was something completely unforgivable in rose hearing micky saying he wanted a chance to prove himself and not feel unwanted and for her response to be like a sullen child. it was very nasty and i didn't like it. moffat said he wasn't actually aware of this and said he would have written that into the girl in the fireplace if he knew.

but it also highlighted why im not too much of a fan of the 10 and rose ship, as whereas in s1, it seems very much that rose loved the doctor in all of his infinite alieness, but by series 2, she clearly wants something he cannot give her, and seemed to struggle more with his alieness when she appeared to accept it in the first season. and by giving the domestic life to her s4 as per the comics really didn't sit well with me. he is not human, so it felt like her love had become...i dunno? materialistic? artificial? she broke his heart to get that life. it was very selfish and again, it really shocked me. not too mention it was like a strange fanfiction. i have seen takes that it was very feminist to essentially make 10 created for her, but i dont think so, even if it is something we haven't necessarily seen before.

anyway, back to series 2, i give rose grace in the girl in the fireplace because steven wtf, and i dont like how he made classist comments about her. in the cybermen two parter i was rolling my eyes when she was even jealous of a character we never even see when the doctor quipped about finding info from another worker. like reign it in girl. i also think it's important to note that these episodes aren't kind to rose, and i think sometimes the show tries to make her have repercussions for her actions, but sometimes doesn't, like having pete reject her and jackie dig into her all over again. but here. this point right here:

remember when i said the nicest thing rose ever did for micky was not chase after him at the end of boom town? when martha leaves in s3, the doctor does something similar. he does not beg her to stay because he knows it would be cruel. but in the age of steel? rose suddenly tries to make him stay and even tries to make him feel guilty. rose never even had the courtsey to break up with him. "what about me, what if i need you." like baby are you serious?! you can't have it all? it is so selfish, and it's moments here i think billie was talking about when she said in her book that rose becomes more selfish in series 2. it was very telling of her.

and in the next couple of episodes, particularly fear her and the idiots lantern, there are some things that just dont sit well with me. like rose trying to get that boy with the abusive father to try and repair his relationship just because he was his father - it's not that simple and i was surprised that she had such a childish perspective. i know rose is young but she is not THAT young?? like dont try and make the poor boy feel bad. and fear her - this bit also links with what i said previously about rose wanting something the doctor can't really give her. in the impossible planet, the forums lit up when the doctor and rose spoke of a domestic life but i didnt think it was sweet. because rose would have known deep down inside he doctor wouldn't have been happy if that were something they got. it would be like putting him in a cage, and in fear her, rose even surprised the doctor by being so cold about chloe and the aliens pleas, which led to him revealing he was a father and rose could barely handle it. which. okay. sistren. how are you still shocked the doctor had a life before you? companions? the doctor hasn't exactly hid this but it's not like you ever asked him apart from the end of the world. in fact, it's martha who actually asked him about his life and gallifrey. gallifrey wasn't even mentioned by name until the runaway bride. are you telling me in all that time rose never asked the doctor what his planet was called?! it just doesn't feel right to me.

and poor jackie. it's inevitable that kids have to leave the nest, but i think the reason why jackie was so torn was that rose was still trying to have it both ways. travel with the doctor and also live with her mother - which could never work.

in doomsday, when micky returns, you can even see her trying to get her attention and micky doesn't even look at her and she seems sad that he's officially over her. and on bad wolf bay she says she doesn't care if the universe collapses which kind of sweet but simultaneously alarming and also the exact reason they've been seperated. i dont know why rose got called the defender of the earth because she almost let the shit burn twice haha!

even turn left, i didnt like how donna became a pawn, it felt like rose was sacrificing her which i doubt was the episodes intention but that's what it felt like. i also didnt understand how rose knew nothing of martha but knew all of the adventures donna would have wuth the doctor? if anyones knows the answer to this pls. also the "who's she" remark to martha made wanna bang my head against a wall. not to mention the "she's good" line towards martha later. i know russell wrote to be like see! no beef! but it felt like rose needed to be the one to give martha the seal of approval and i promise you she didn't need it. and of course, bad wolf bay. probably the most selfish thing she did. and i've seen a lot of rose fans hate this too. i dont even think billie was a big fan either. like i said, she broke his heart which didn't seem to make sense considering her declaration of love 2 seasons prior. for her to go so quickly to the fake changed that completely in my opinion.

[ckneal]

So, there’s this one angel story in the back of my head that I know I wont write. I wont write it, because it’s utter nonsense, with very little regard for the canonical timeline of Supernatural, and a willfully blurry view on what is and is not “in character.” It’s fluff. It’s all fluff, in the form of a bunch of smaller stories that gradually weave together, following the Love, Actually style of storytelling, but instead of problematic love stories, it’s all about angels playing hooky from Heaven after the Fall.

(Seriously, there is no substance here, I swear.)

Stories include Abner, living out the first half of the movie Family Man, struggling to figure out how to be a good father and house husband after he steps into the life of the raging alcoholic who agreed to be his vessel. There’s also a very minor story about Esther (not to be confused with Hester, who is not in this story because she never deserted her post in Heaven) learning to play the part of a little girl and navigating schoolyard politics, but kids can be mean and Esther learns the hard way that Michael’s approach to asserting dominance in Heaven does not translate well. There’s also Daniel and Adina, who both settle into vessels in the same movie theater where a romantic comedy is playing, and fall into a very innocent, play-acting sort of love after they leave the theatre—like little kids pretending to be in love, recreating the scenes from the movie, but at the same time not really understanding it. Balthazar, Gabriel, and Anael each trying to roll with the luxurious high roller life style, and awkwardly running into each other at VIP poker games, exclusive spas and clubs, and the occasional orgy that they promptly leave IMMEDATELY after running into a sibling (don’t give me weird looks, Balthazar and Gabriel canonically include that sort of thing in their definition of luxury, and the whole thing of their story is their siblings keep cramping their style). Tyrus is in there bowling, somewhere. Benjamin’s playing arcade games with his wife. And then there’s Thaddeus, my pet favorite minor angel character, realizing what’s happening as he’s falling with all the other faithful angels during the Fall and seizing the opportunity to abandon his life as a guard and torturer, settling into a pop star for his vessel—initially for the sake of the cushy lifestyle, but then gradually looking back, before the garden and Lucifer, before everyone was assigned a job in Heaven, like it or not, and the options were to adapt or to be smote, and remembering that back then, he could sing.

And of course, Michael and Adam get a story too—in which Michael lowkey gets into a pissing contest with death, as he and Adam travel the world, hitting up hospital after hospital to heal people. Because the first thing Adam wanted to do after getting out of the cage (okay, second thing—burgers came first) was go to the nearest medical center and start healing people left and right. And at first, they’re having a great time. Adam steals a white jacket he finds in the breakroom somewhere, and anytime someone says he looks a little young to be a doctor (Adam still looking nineteen years old, because I say so), Michael wipes the poor sap’s mind. But eventually—sometime after they’ve cleared out the children’s ward, the cancer ward, the cardiac ward—Billie shows up, sniping at them that they can’t just go around healing people who are destined to die, because there is an order to life and death that cannot be shoved aside. And Billie tries to make a show of it, as Terra did with Dean, by having several people who Adam had healed over the course of the day inadvertently cause several massive accidents. The news suddenly comes pouring out of the television, channels flipping as newscasters talk about tragedies occurring in several different parts of the city they’re currently in. The sound of approaching ambulance sirens fills the air, as in the hospital hallway, doctors and nurses begin hurrying to receive a rush of ER patients.

Adam’s horrified.

Michael does not take kindly to this. He snaps his fingers and makes it so that the carnage has never happened. Because he is the archangel Michael, only two steps away from being a god, and if he says that all of these people are going to live, then they are going to live, and he WILL NOT be intimidated, especially by an amateur reaper whose only qualification for her position was dying at the right time.

Billie in turn lands Michael with a cold stare, and points out that the order to life and death is beyond even God’s authority, let alone daddy’s blunt, sniveling instrument.

As Michael’s eyes start to glow, Adam steps in and says, “So, to be clear, you want us to stop healing people on the verge of death? We can do that.”

After Billie leaves, Michael is outraged, but Adam says, “No, Michael, THINK about it.”

We then cut to other stories, where newscasts in the background reveal that ailments that are not IMMIEDATELY fatal (AIDs, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, etc.) are mysteriously disappearing overnight, worldwide.

Billie is not amused, and tells her reapers to be on the lookout for an archangel at every major hospital in the world.

Cut to Michael throwing open the door of the bunker, muttering aloud to Adam that he’s going to do it, he’s going to bind Death, just like Lucifer did—how hard can it be? Sam and Dean see him as he goes stomping off toward the cabinet where they keep all of their magical dry goods, but Michael snaps his fingers and the two of them are abruptly half drunk in Dean’s man cave, sitting in front of Dean’s flat screen TV, watching some campy monster movie, because that’s lowkey what Michael and Adam assume they do all day.

As they’re raiding Sam and Dean’s supplies though, Adam says, “Wait, I have an idea.”

Cut to Abner looking up while pushing his vessel’s daughter in a park swing, and literally seeing Michael and Adam chasing an ambulance, so they can technically heal the person inside before reaching the hospital.

Yes, I’m aware that Abner was dead by the time Michael and Adam got out of the cage. But see, this story? This story is like when someone gifts you a goldfish unexpectedly, and you put it in a bowl, checking in to feed it a couple times a day, lowkey expecting it to die. But it doesn’t die, it gets bigger. And you’re not a cruel person, so you put it in a bigger tank, but it just gets bigger again, and you don’t really know what’s going on, but you know, you just kind of keep checking in, meeting the minimum requirements but not really getting in there as a guiding force because it’s a goldfish and it’s surely going to die any minute now—but then you look over and there’s giant tank taking up your living room, and you’re thawing out bloodworms twice a day, and looking into tankmates to keep Charles company, and realize that “Oh wow, I guess this is a thing now.”

In short, the story says we’re ignoring the timeline, and it’s calling the shots. I’m just keeping the tank clean.

The angels all eventually wind up running into each other. Abner and Esther happen upon one another in a park, where Esther is morosely realizing that she is terrible at being a human child but she does not want to go home to Heaven, and it just happens to be the same park where Abner goes with his “little nibblet” once a day to let her toddle around the playground while he chats with nannies and other house parents. Anael, Adina, and Daniel meet up when the latter two’s game has reached the point where they’ve decided to get married, and they apparently need to buy something new—preferably blue—as per this very important rhyme someone told them about. Esther and Gabriel run into each other in an ice cream parlor. Thaddeus gets recognized while doing an interview on TV that everyone sees. And, while out joyriding in a Lamborghini, on their way to meet up with the growing community of angels who decided to opt out of their responsibility to Heaven and their father’s legacy, Balthazar, Gabriel, and Anael are all startled to see Michael land on an ambulance stopped next to them at a red light.

Balthazar and Anael are both terrified, as if they’ve just been busted by a parent, because Michael, of course, is the guy who enforces the rules, and isn’t he supposed to be in Hell? They both shoot Gabriel looks as if to say ‘what the hell are you doing’ when Gabriel, watching as Michael climbs down and matter-of-factly wrenches the ambulance doors open, calls out, “Hey, Mike! Is that you?”

Michael looks over, freezes for a second—not prepared to be suddenly thrust into a social situation in the middle of his self-imposed mission to spite death—then his eyes flash and Adam takes over. “Oh hey, you’re Michael’s family? What a small world! I’m Adam, I’ve heard so much about you. Wait, hang on—”

The light starts to turn green, but Adam snaps his fingers and it promptly reverts to red.

Three jaws drop in the luxury car, and they don’t even hear Adam politely explain that he and Michael are in the middle of something, as he ducks into the ambulance, because Michael’s evidently letting a tiny human use his powers like it’s nothing, and what does that mean?

“Sweet dad in the unknown, Michael’s shagging a human. . .”

“Nooo!”

“HOW?”

“Hey, kid, you like weddings?”

At some point in the story, all the MIA angels are together, and Benjamin or someone comes running in saying, “Quick, they’re coming! Everyone hide!”

And everyone scatters, except for Michael, who stands in place, saying, “Gabriel, we’re archangels, two of the most powerful beings in existence. Why would we—”

And then Gabriel picks Adam up like a sack of potatoes and sprints off, calling back, “Trust me, you do NOT want to get involved with them!”

Being a projection, Michael is obligated to follow.

Team Free Will then walks by, looking constipated from whatever Big Awful Thing is currently threatening to destroy the world.

The story, of course, culminates in the wedding of Adina and Daniel, who still don’t quite understand what marriage is beyond promising to love each forever, which of course they will, after all, they are the very best of friends—which is about the same concept that most of the other angels present have. Adam is the first one to actually approach the big awkward question, upon finding out who the bride and groom are.

“Wait, aren’t they brother and sister?”

To which Serafina’s Adam, (who is of course there since Serafina was the original angel to play hooky) whose sons married his daughters, and all the angels, who do not understand what that has to do with anything, all cock their heads in unison and respond with, “So?”

Adam struggles to find words, looking into so many innocent faces. Then Benjamin’s wife puts a hand on his shoulder, whispering, “Shhh, let them have their fun.”

Benjamin’s wife and the two Adams wind up sitting at the venue’s bar, where they order nachos from a very confused bar tender, and watch as the angels go about setting up a wedding. But given that most angels haven’t been on earth regularly in roughly two thousand years, none of them have a clear grasp of what a human wedding entails.

“I heard it’s traditional for the father to give away the bride.”

“I think they’re supposed to kiss over bread.”

“Do humans still slaughter cows at these things?”

“I’m pretty sure someone is supposed to break a glass—”

Several angels promptly throw glassware on the floor.

At no point do the angels ask the humans for advice.

Occasionally, Gabriel knowingly throws out obscure details to keep the confusion going.

“You know, the groom needs to stand with the right arm to the aisle in case a sword fight breaks out.”

“Right! . . .How do we know which one’s the groom?”

At the bar, Adam open’s his mouth to say something, but the original Adam shushes him.

“No no, son, let them get there.”

The angels agree that being the better fighter, Adina should be the groom.

They’re nearly ready to start when Michael suddenly doubles over with his hand over his mouth. It coincides with the sound of Adam pounding the bar top, having just eaten a Carolina Reaper pepper on dare. Michael’s eyes quickly flash silver-blue as he straightens, and both he and Adam are abruptly fine—even if their eyes are still watering somewhat. But a different sort of damage has already been done, as Anael, Balthazar, and Gabriel all abruptly turn toward the triad of humans, having been reminded that the Michael walking around with them is actually a projection. In actuality, Michael is anchored to the human ex-college student sitting at the bar.

All three of them rush toward Adam, but Serafina gets there first, asking Adam if he’s ever tried mushroom tea.

Balthazar gets there next. 

“Adam, was it? We didn’t get to talk in the car, let’s fix that. Are you over twenty-one? You know what, this is a family affair, don’t worry—CAN I GET TWO SHOTS OF DON JULIO OVER HERE?”

From that point on, any time Adam turns around, there’s one of Michael’s siblings, wanting to get to know him—by consuming some sort of beverage. Because Adam and Michael are sharing body—and that means they share a liver too. A bet ensues as to how much it will take to get God’s alleged favorite wasted.

Gabriel’s actually one of the first out, having been convinced that Michael would be a lightweight. Little does he suspect that Benjamin and his wife caught onto what was happening soon after Adam was fed his third long island iced tea and second jager bomb, and began quietly cleansing the alcohol from his system through casual shoulder pats and high fives.

Adam does not know what to make of any of this, but it’s Michael’s family and he wants to make a good impression, so he just goes with it.

Thaddeus, of course, is in charge of music, Gabriel and Esther consume the majority of the cake, and Michael catches the bouquet (he may have cheated after finding out what the bouquet toss is for).

[samantha-thewinchester]

We Pulled A Barry Allen, Bloody Hell.

|| Hope's Point of View ||

I shoot up, gasping for breath and immedately looking at my surroundings.

We're in Mystic Falls. The big oak tree to be exact... I remember it from when Lizzie had the Oni in her and was slowly going insane. "Good times". I continue to look around, before realizing how dark it is. Is it night time? School was just happening. What the hell made us pass out? I stand up, embers floating around all three of us.

I walk towards Lizzie and Josie, and see if their awake. At my touch Lizzie startles awake, hand rushing up to her chest as she looks at me.

"Hope! You gave me a damn heart attack!" She is taking deep breaths, calming down, before looking around. "Wait, where are we?"

"We are in the park, in the middle of town Lizzie. Now, stop hitting me and help me wake your sister."

Lizzie reluctanly stood up, and walk over to her sisters sleeping body. We wake Josie up, who was by far less startled. As soon as Josie stands up, we hear a scream.

That was suddenly cut off.

"Fuck..." I whisper, before taking off towards the source of the scream, Lizzie and Josie running right after me.

We slowly approach the source, we found two-probably dead-bodies. One male and One female. One was on top of the hood of the car and the other was a bit further down the road. Both with two teeth marks in their necks.

The teeth marks of a vampire.

"Crap..." Josies says.

"When can I get these mudy clothes off?"

"Lizzie!" Me and Josie shout.

|| 2 hours later ||

We walked to the old mill, figuring that the old mill would be a safe enough place to sleep for a while. I take watch first so I watch as the two sleep. I hear movement in the distance, so with one last look back at the girls, I walk towards the movement to see what it was.

I see a man with raven hair and a blue ring on his finger.

"Who the hell are you?" The raven haired man asks.

"The better question is who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing out here."

"Oh, you know. Just walking around. Looking for a bite to eat. Maybe a place to stay for the night. Where are you staying"

"Tell me your name and then we can talk, Raven Boy."

"If you must know, my name is Damon. Damon Salvatore."

"Like the founding family?"

"Yep. Exactly like them. Your turn girly. Whats your name?"

"Hope."

"What a cliche name. I mean Hope?"

"Quiet, Raven Damon."

"Hey! I give the nicknames!"

"Would you rather me call you "vampire"?"

That makes him stop dead in his tracks. He isn't doing anything but looking straight at me. All the humor drained from his face.

"What... in the hell... did you just say to me?"

"I said that you were a vampire. I mean come on, in all black, walking around at night. The night we- I found two dead bodys with two holes, bite marks, in the necks, drained of blood."

"Who are you? No wait. What, the hell are you?"

He takes a few steps towards me, glaring. I bring my hand up and start to give him an anuerysm. He grips his head in pain.

"Witch Bitch... good to know."

"Now, are you so sure you want to eat me?" Hold up... He said his name was Damon. Damon Salvatore. Meaning the very human, married, with children, Damon. Salvatore.

"What day is it?"

"Sebtember 10th. 2009. Why, don't you know your dates Hopey?"

Think Hope, think. You've read his brother's journels. You should know what's happening now. This was just a little bit before Dad came to town. I've read these journels a million times...

Katherine Pierce.

Damon Salvatore is in love with her. He think she's in the tomb. He's going to try and get her out... I can use that to my advantage.

"Not the point. So are you going to kill me , or would you rather have my help to get the love of your life Katherine out?"

"How the fucking hell do you know about that?"

"Did you forget that I'm a witch, or are you just an idiot?"

"Alright fine. I'll make you a deal. I won't kill you, and you help me find Kathrine. Deal?"

"Only if you don't kill my friends either."

"You have friends. Shocker."

"A least I have more then you. Deal or no deal?"

"Deal Hopey. Are your friends by chance witches, or warlocks I don't descrimiate, too?"

"Why?"

"We need all the help we can get." Oh, so he doesn't believe I could do it myself. Rude.

"Yeah. Their witches."

"Great. Now, where are we sleeping?"

After I look into the back of my head because of how hard I rolled my eyes, I gathered the strength to reply. "Follow me. It's not the best, but it's the best we could do on the sort notice we had."

"What did you just magically apper in town?"

"Something like that."

"Ok. Cryptic girl. Anything else?"

" We are all underage girls. Lay a hand on anyone of us we will kill you ."

"I won't unless they want me to."

"No, you won't at all, because then I will kill you." I warn, giving him a sweet smile.

We just continue to walk in silence. When we get to the mill, I raise my hand and put a finger over my lips. He just rolls his eyes.

What is it about him that makes me want to kick him in the face? Or drop him off a building? Or just kill him?

We quietly walk inside, finding Josie sitting there by her sister, who was still sleeping soundly.

"Hey Jo... This is Damon Salvatore..." I whisper to her.

"What? How did you find him? Why did you bring him here? Why-" To quickly cut her off, I put a hand over her mouth.

"So. You both know who I am now, who are your friends Hopey?"

"Friends." was all I said.

I walk over to wake Lizzie up. Again, she didn't want to wake up. Again, she started attacking me with her eyes closed.

"Lizzie. Up. Please."

She grumbles, slowly sitting up and rubbing her eyes to wake up. When she see Damon her eyes widened.

"Quiet" I whisper to her. "I'll explain later."

"What are you two whispering about? You know it isn't polite."

"Shut up."

"Well then, I can see you don't have a house, unless you try and convince me this run down mill is a home. And your minors, I remember you telling me that for a fact Hopey, so shouldn't your asses be in school?"

"Yeah, but we don't have transcripts or anything so we can't go. And we don't have any damn money for a house or apartment." Lizzie states, just staring at Damon in confusion.

"Well ladies, that the beautie of compulsion. I can have you in school and get you a house by the morning. As long, of course, you follow up on your part of the deal."

"Wow. Thanks." I say, rolling my eyes for the fifth time today.

|| The Next Day ||

I slowly open my eyes, feeling comfy and warm in a bed. I really should thank Damon.

But will I?

Nope! But, compulsion is now my new favorite thing. And this bed is so damn soft, I could never leave.

Unfortuantely, I already hear Lizzie and Josie up downstairs so, slowly I get up. I get dress in a new outfit Damon had kindly gotten us as well.

Damon had also kindley gotten us backpack and school supplies, I can already see some humanity left in Damon even he suppositly turn it off. I guess Stefan's journels were right.

I slowly walk downstairs, seeing the girls just eating fruit at the counter. I grab an apple and look at them.

"Well, we should get to school, shouldn't we?" I suggest, eating a few more bites.

"Ladies first." Lizzie says, standing up and walking out the door. I hear Jo laugh as I shake my head, before we follow her outside.

As soon as we got to the school, we saw the Elena Gilbert and The Bonnie Bennett standing in front of the office. I snuck a peack inside and saw The Stefan Salvatore. Then I herad Elena and Bonnie start to talk with my werewolf hearing, me and the girls just standing by a locker..

"Hold up. Who's this?" Bonnie asks.

"All I see is back." Elena responds.

"It's a hot back."

They stand there watching for a minute, then Bonnie decides to speak up.

"I'm sensing Seattle, and he plays the guitar."

Elena scoffs. "You're really going to run this whole psychic thing into the ground, huh?"

"Pretty much"

"What are they saying?!" Lizzie says, snapping me out of my consentration to listen to them.

"Shut up, I'm trying to listen."

Thats when I spot Jeremey Gilbert heading into the boys bathroom after a kid had told him, "Jermey, good batch man."

"I'll be right back" Elena says and follow Jeremy into the bathroom.

After Elena left Bonnie mumbled "Please be hot." at Stefan.

"What did your mom see in these people?" I ask sarcastrically.

"What happened?!" Lizzie demands.

"Okay, yes, I want to know too--" Josie agrees.

"Well, first Elena and Bonnie made comments about Stefan and how he was hot. Then, Elena went after her brother because someone told him he made good drugs and such."

"Okay, yeah, I agree with you." Lizzie says, Josie laughing beside her.

"Quiet, both of you. We have to get our schedules." Josies says, getting us to focus again.

"Yeah, sorry."

We walk into the office, talking to the lady at the desk to get our schedules. We all only have one class together each. History with the infamous Mr. Tanner. Again, I remember him from Stefan's journels. Yay. This will be so fun. We go about our days until it is finally time for lunch. Then we all sit down at the table together and start to talk about a game plan and what the hell happened.

"So where are we. I mean our mom's like 17 and our dad hasen't even moved to town yet." Josie spoke first, writing things down in a notebook.

"Last night, I asked Damon what date it was, because he is a vampire and we know for a fact that isn't the case because he took the cure to be with Elena, and now have kids. So , you know, I thought about how shitty our lives are and it clicked, so I asked him what the date was. He replied that it was 2009. That means time travel. And we're probably the Barry Allens of this story. But, also, let's not Nora ourselves out of existance."

"And that wasn't even the craziest thing to happen last night."

"What happened Lizze?" Josie asked worry evident in her voice. I look over at Lizzie too, watching her face which only shows horror.

"I got mud on my awesome outfit! I would never do that!"

"What the hell Lizzie! We're in fucking 2009 and all you can think about is the fact that your outfit had mud on it?" I stare at her, debating hurting her, as I grit my teeth. I mean we fucking time traveled and she only cares about her damn outfit! What the hell kinda person is that?

"Yeah, well maybe some of us don't usually have as big of damn problems as you!"

"Alright! Enough! Stop fighting please, and just head to class."

|| A little while later || Mr. Tanner's class ||

We were all heading for the same classroom. I still was determined not to talk to Lizzie so when we bump into each other trying to get through the door, we just glare at each other. Josie walks ahead of us and opens the door, walking in first.

"Ahh, more little devils for this period. And you three are?"

"I'm Josie, and my sister's are Hope and Lizzie." Josie speaks up.

"Would you happen to have a last name, girls?"

"Marshall." I quickly say, cutting off Lizzie who tried to speak before me.

"Marshall. Alright Marshalls, sit down in empty seats."

We all head to three diffrent seats. But knowing my luck, I got put closer to Lizzie then I would like at this time.

"Marshall?" Lizzie whispers over to me, eye still showing anger.

"Yeah, that way, when our familys move to town we won't be asked about our names."

"Isn't it still your mom's name?"

"Yeah, but it's more likely to be a coincidence then if we were Mikaelson's or Saltzman's. It's a more common last name."

"Fine."

After that Stefan Salvatore walks into the class room. He, surprisly didn't get as many questions from Mr. Tanner as we did.  He just walked to his seat without any questions. Lucky.

Then Mr. Tanner started to drone on about the civil war. I would enjoy learning about this, but with everything going on, I'm not so intrested. That and I already learned everything there is to know about this. Thats why it helps to have a 1,000 year old family.

"Once our home state of Virgina joined the Confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amout of tension within the state People in Virginia's northwest region had diffrent ideals than those for the traditional deep south. Then Virginia divided in 1863--" Time to ignore him and think about my problems instead.

Ha, maybe this won't be as different from the Salvatore school as I thought.

I start to look around the room, trying to find out more. Stefan's journels only had his point of view. This way, I can learn more about... everything. I looked over at the famous Elena Gilbert, who was looking at the other famous Stefan Salavtore. He also looked at her. What a damn 'Love at first sight' story this is.

Thats when Bonnie takes out her phone, and starts to type something into it. Not too long after, Elena's phone goes off. So Bonnie was texting her. How fun. How the hell would you even work one of those phones. I'm guessing that they started to gosip about Stefan Salvatore. I swear, it's like this is a damn TV show version of Twilight. At least for the 'love at first sight' aspect. Vampires, thank god, don't sparkle.

After a lot more of civil war talk, and the bell rings. At that we all get up and head to the next class. And then the rest of the day goes by like any normal school day. Or what would be a normal school day if I didn't have to sit through classes with people that we were taught at school about and was owned and taught us about all of this. Isn't awkward at all.

When the final bell rings, I run out of the room to find Lizzie and Josie who are by their lockers. I grab them and start walking away. Lucky for me, I don't have to stop at my locker so I just start dragging them home. I ignore the fact that Lizzie is complaining the whole way, as I was planning her death in my head instead of paying attention.

When we get there I sit them down on the couch.

"Alright. We need a game plan. We are Fre-emies to Damon. We help him, he helps us. We are going to high school, with your mom and her friends, and that's about it. Now that we recaped, we need to talk about what we have to do."

"How about, we look into ways to time travel, that might actually work and are real, while also looking for monsters that might have the ability to time travel. Maybe find Malivore and see if it is spiting out any monsters now?" Josie suggests.

"That sounds great. We can search the library during our free periods." I say.

"Sounds great. Now I'm going to go anywhere else. Like literally anywhere else." Lizzie says before walking out.

"Lizzie we need more of a plan--"

"And I need a break. Bye-bye!" Lizzie tells me, walking up the stairs of the house and disapearing from view.

I roll my eyes and take a deep breath. "So, Jo, what do you want to do?"

"How about we go to the grill? Get the milkshake you always like. What was it?"

"Peanut-Butter Blast with whip cream on the bottom."

"Yeah! Thats it. Lets go. Lizzie can have some time to herself, and we could get delicious milkshakes."

|| At Mystic Grill ||

Me and Josie were sitting down at a table, just chatting about random things as we wait to order.

Our waitress, as luck would have it, would be Vicki Donovan.

"What would you guys like to drink?"

"We will have two Peant-Butter Blasts with whip cream on the bottom." Josie says.

"Coming right up."

"Was that who I think it was?" Josie whispers over, while watching Vicki who just brought drinks over to Matt, her brother, Donovan and Tyler Woofwood, sorry Lockwood.

"Yeah. The Vicki Donovan. Doesn't she die in a few days?"

"Yeah. Damon kill's her I'm  pretty sure."

"No, it was Stefan to save Elena's life. I remember reading about it in his journal. Stake through the heart. I feel bad for her... Although, Damon does kill her to turn her."

Still watching Vicki we see Jeremy walk over and start talking to her. Not long after that conversation finishes, Caroline and Bonnie walk in. I point them out to Josie, and start listening into their conversation. It helped that they were talking so loud. I mean they are acting ike their on a TV show.

"His name is Stefan Salvatore. He lives with his uncle at the old Salvatore Boarding house. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot.  He's a Gemini, and his favorite color is blue."

"You got all that in one day?" Bonnie replies.

"Oh, please, I got that between third and fourth period. We're planning a June Wedding." Hah, they did have a June wedding. To bad, he also died the same day.

At that Caroline walks off, Bonnie following a few minutes later.

Then after that there was just gossip, so we stopped eavesdropping.

"June wedding huh." I say to Josie, laughing a little.

"Shhhhhhh. We don't wanna talk about that."

"But she just predicted what would happen in the future. It's kinda funny."

"No because Stefan dies the same day!"

"You don't think I know that? That wasn't what was funny. Don't worry."

After that we sat there talking and drinking our shakes. Vicki came back a little later and we got some fries. That when I heard Matt Donovan say something that peaked my intrest so I pointed over to them and I started listening in again, using my werewolf hearing.

"How's Elena doing?" Matt asks. Poor love sick teenage boy.

"Her mom and dad died. How do you think?" Bonnie points out to Matt.

"She's putting on a good face but it's only been four months."

"Has she said anything about me?" Poor, poor forever human, Matt Donovan.

"Oh, no. So not getting in the middle. You can pick up the phone and call her."

"I feel weird calling her. She broke up with me."

"Give it more time, Matt."

"What's happening?" Jo asks me.

"Matt Donovan is love sick over Elena and Bonnie isn't getting in the middle of it."

And again, with perfect timing, Elena and Stefan walk into the Grill. I swear they were on a TV show.

Everyone turns around and looks at them when they walk into the Grill.

"More time, huh?" Poor Matt. He never stood a chance with the girl when Stefan moved to town, especially when Stefan's brother followed.

After that Matt stands up and walks away from Bonnie and toward the couple of the hour, Stefan and Elena.

"Hey, I'm Matt, nice to meet you."

"Hi. Stefan." He says while they shake hands.

"Hey."

"Hey."

That wasn't awkward at all. The two of them (Elena and Stefan) walk over to where Caroline and Bonnie were.

"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" Caroline asks.

"Mm-hmm. And moved when I was still young." If by young you mean before you were over a hundred, then yeah. I'd agree.

"Parents?" Bonnie asked.

"My parents passed away." Didn't he kill his dad? And his mother is alive in a prison world? I mean he thought she was dead, but still. Passed away doesn't even begin to explain it.

"I'm sorry." Elena says. "Any siblings?"

"None that I talk to." I forgot how bad of brothers they were at this point. "I live with my uncle."

"So, Stefan, if you're new you don't know about the party tomorrow." Wow. I can't ever see Headmistress Caroline as a partier.

"It's a back to school thing at The Falls." Bonnie adds.

"Are you going?" Stefan asks Elena. Wow. This really was a 'love at first sight' thing. To much for my liking. What is this, a TV show?

"Of course she is." Bonnie replies for Elena. What a good friend.

Lizzie than walks into the grill and comes to sit at our table.

"There is nothing to do in this town. I miss The Salvatore school."

"Don't we all." Josie responds.

"So, I heard that there was a party. It's a back to school thing-"

At that I cut Lizzie off.

"We know."

"Ok, well great. We're all going. Because it's the only thing to do in this town. And no Hope, your coming too."

I just sigh and 'lay' down in my seat. This was going to be a long night. Scratch that. A long time before we get home.

|| The Next Day, At School, In History||

"The battle of willow creek took place right qat te end of the war in our very own Mystic falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?"

"Um... A lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot.

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett.  Mr. Donovan. Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your rmbrddrd jock stereotype?"

"It's ok, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it."

"Hmm. Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?"

"I'm sorry, I-- I don't know."

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reason, Elena, but the personal excuses ended with summer break." I inhale quickly, trying not to light something on fire.

"Four months isn't enough time for someone to grieve. Get your head out of your ass, and let someone who lost not one, but two people on the same day, deal with it." I glare at him. Four months is definetly not enough time to get better after one lose, let alone two. I should know, I lost three within... a month? Two?

After I went on my little rant I heard a few cheers while Mr. Tanner glares right back at me. Then Stefan speaks up.

"There were 346 casualties, unless you're counting local civilians."

"That's correct. Mister...?"

"Salvatore."

"Salavtore. Any relation to the original settlers here in Mystic Falls?"

"Distant."

"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle."

"Actually, there were 27, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church,believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts. Mr. Tanner."

Before he even finishes the whole class is pretty much chuckling about him showing up the teacher.

All Mr. Tanner could say to that was an "Hmm."

Good for you Stefan.

|| Later at the party ||

All three of us arive at the party, Lizzie the most excited. Everyone was already there, because we arrived a little late, so we just grabed a beer and started our separate ways. I start walking toward a tree stump on the ground by the entrence. We see Stefan start to walk up to the party. He's looking around for someone, probably Elena.

Before he walks away though he notices me.

"Hey, your the girl who stood up for Elena right?"

"Wouldn't exactly call it standing up for her, as I was sitting down, but yeah... My name's Hope."

"Stefan. I just wanted to say that I thought what you did was really cool. You know standin-- sitting for Elena." He smiles, before sitting down next to me.

"Well, I mean she only lost her parents four months ago. He was speaking like it was ten years ago. I know I wasn't over my parents deaths four months later."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. My parents died a while ago too."

"I'm sorry for your loss then."

"You too..." We sit there in a comfortable silence for a little while, Stefan looking around the party. Not too long later, he spots Elena, or probably listens for her, and finds her with Bonnie.

"Go on Lover-Boy. Go get your dream girl."

"I wasn't- I-"

"Go! You don't want to miss her."

With that he looks over at me, smiles, before standing up and walking over to her. Josie comes and sits next to me.

"Was that you talking to him?"

I noded, smiling at her.

"Cool. I only meet him a few times and I don't remember most of them, so you meet a walking Legend. Awesome."

We both look up and see Stefan and Caroline talking.

"You wanna do more eavesdropping?" I suggest.

"No, no, no. We shouldn't." Jo says, but I smirk at her, standing up and walking towards the two, hearing on.

"Hey! You made it!"

"I did."

"Well let's get you a drink."

"Well, I'm--"

"Oh, come on."

After they walk off, I look around and spot Lizzie. I look over at Jo and motion towards her sister, before slowly walking over to her.

"Hey, you ok?"

"Yep." She says before walking off.

"What's up with her?" I mouth to Josie, Josie just shrugging.

|| Josie's POV ||

I walk over toward Lizzie who is sitting down on the ground, her head inbetween her knees. Even over the loud music from the party, you could hear sniffles.

"Hey Liz. You ok?"

"Yup. Just fine."

"Wanna tell me what's wrong?"

"No."

"Lizzieeeeeeeeeeeee..." I say walking over to sit down next to her, criss cross apple sauce.

"No Jo. Not now."

"Lizzieeeeeeeeeeeee..." I say again.

"Jo, you can't help me."

"Sometime's talking about it helps."

"No Jo."

"Lizzie, you know you can tell me anything right? I will know how you feel. I've felt it before too."

"Do you know how I feel Jo? What this feeling is like? I feel like I'm going to go screw things up. I saw mom a lot today, and I wanted to go talk with her, but I was so scared that I would do something wrong, and mess up any chances I have to talk to her. And that's the best thing of all the downsides. I could have made it so we were never born!" She says tears streaming down her face.

"I could have made it so you were never born." She whispers.

"Oh, Lizzie..." I hug her from here she sits on the ground. "It's ok. You won't screw things up."

"You don't know that."

"I do. I trust you. And I know you have so much more potential to do good, and that you could go up and talk to mom and become her favorite person, even without her knowing that your her daughter. And that she won't love anyone more when she does."

"Thanks Jo." She sniffles, hugging me tighter.

|| Meanwhile || Hope's POV ||

I was walking around the party, beer in hand, when I hears Caroline, Matt, and Bonnie talking, while they look up on the bridge where Elena and Stefan are. Caroline spots me and runs over to me, grabing my hand to stop me from moving.

"Hey your one of the new girls right?"

"Yeah. That would be me."

"You're Hope, right? I'm Caroline. You seem to be all alone, which is no way to spend a party. Want to hang out with me and my friends?"

"I- um- I wouldn't-" Before I could even finish the sentence, she grabs my arm and brings me over to her friends, and I decide not to complain or anything. Easiest way to easedrop, be around the people. I feel like a spy.

"Hey Matt! Bonnie! This is Hope. She's one of the new girls!" Caroline introduces me, as I just smile at the two.

"Oh! Cool! Your in our History class right?" Bonnie asks.

"Yeah, she is because she gave Tanner that sass comment about Elena. That was awesome by the way. Not a lot of people would stand up for someone like that." Matt says before I could respond to Bonnie.

"Thanks. I just never like when teachers think that they are more important than what  is going on in the kids life. They could be having a really hard time, and not able to do most of the stuff they ask. And four months isn't enough time to grieve."

"Wow. You must be, like, a really good person." Caroline says.

"That is definitely debatable..." I laugh to myself, looking down at my beer.

After that we have just a bunch of chit-chat and small talk until after long Matt walks off, the Caroline. And... I can see she walked over to Stefan.

"That's not going to go well." I mumble

"Definitely not." Bonnie adds.

After a while, Caroline walked back over and immedately started to complain about the interaction with Stefan, saying how guys never go for her, but she gets cut off when Jeremy and Elena come running up from the woods, with Vicki in Jermey's hands. With a bite mark on her kneck.

The bite mark of a vampire.

Stefan quickly rushes a way, before the police show up.

And, eventually, the police show up with an ambulence for Vicki. Matt get's in the back with her, not wanting to leave his sister's side. I look around for Lizzie and Josie and I find them still sitting where Lizzie walked off to before. I look at them and they look at me, all three sharing the knowing look.

I'm heading with Caroline and Bonnie to the grill to get some coffee and wait for news on Vicki, trying to see if us being here changes anything.

Me, Bonnie, and Caroline get to the grill and I use the 'new' phone Damon got me and attempted to text the twins, with a little help from Bonnie who thankfully didn't ask as to why I didn't know how to use the phone.

|| A little while later || At the Grill ||

Me, Bonnie, and Caroline all are still at the grill in silence, sipping on our drinks every now and then, when I see Lizzie and Josie walk in. They grab a table by us and I just stare at the and try to comunicate without words, when Bonnie speaks up, and snaps me out of my consentration.

"Are you sober yet?"

"No"

"Keep drinking. I gotta get you home. I gotta get Hope home. I gotta get me home."

"Why didn't he go for me? You know, how come the guys that I want never want me?"

"I'm not touching that." Bonnie says, Caroline looking at me.

"Oh, nope not talking about that." I quickly say, Caroline looking frustrated.

"I'm inappropriate. I always say the wrong thing. And Elena always says the right thing. She doesn't even try! An he just picks her.  And she's always the one that everyone picks, for everything. And I try so hard, and i'm never the one ."

"It's not a competition, Caroline." Bonnie and I say at the same time, both trying to help Caroline.

"Yeah, it is."

At that we all just go back to sitting in silence. A little while later Bonnie had to go, and I gollowed soon after meeting Josie outside.

"Hey Jo. Where's Lizzie?"

"She'll be out in a minute."

|| Lizzie's POV ||

I look over where Mom was sitting. I see her send a small-- Nevermind. A big smile towards Damon Salvatore. Before they could even start talking, I sat down at Mom's table.

"Caroline, just because you don't get all the guys, doesn't mean your a failure. It just means not everything is working out for you. And if a guy turns you down, then he's the one with a problem. Not you. Your one of the best people there is out there. And if they can't see that, screw them. Most guy's are douches anyway." I say before I walk off towards Jo and Hope.

That felt really good. I got to talk to her... A teenage mom. I got to help her, or at least attempt to help her as she has many times before for me a Jo. Let's just hope that, you know, me and Josie are still born...

[maybe-your-left]

Clyde coming home from his 90days in prison ready to keep you well fucked to make up for lost time. He sees you have a new hidden tattoo/piercing for his eyes only

ME READING THIS ASK. I AM UNCOMFORTABLY WET AT THANKSGIVING. 

----- 

It's been 90 fucking days. 

90. 

You had been marking them off on the calendar. 

Nothing about Clyde’s sentence made sense, he was never someone who broke the law. He barely could swat a fly without having an existential crisis about the morality of killing a bug. And now he was convicted of driving into a gas station? Possibly threatening the life of a worker, and then trying to buy a bag of chips after? 

It didn’t add up. 

So during his incarceration, you ignored his calls. His letters, his pleads through Mellie. You were furious about him, the recklessness of him. Especially after the two of you got married, he just was sent off to jail. Leaving you all alone with the bar and bills, you were swamped. 

Now you stood leaning against the trunk of your car. Smoking a cigarette, pursing your plump lips around the butt end, exhaling through your nostrils as you waited for his departure. 

The gate buzzed, sliding open. 

Clyde’s large form stepping out of the doors, his clothes tucked under his left arm. He turned towards your car, stopping once he saw you, jaw-dropping to the pavement. You were dressed in a baby pink bodysuit dress, some matching baby pink fluffy heels. Your hair slicked back from your face along with some thin sunglasses perched on your petite nose. 

Your eyes danced all over his frame, soaking in his supple form. Prison had done him well, his biceps barely covered by his short sleeve button up he went in with. His dark jeans tight against his thighs. 

Smoke billowed out your mouth as you released your cigarette, nodding at your beloved. “Come here, Clyde.” 

He obeyed without conviction. 

Head held low, staring at the pavement as he approached you. Shoulders slacking when he stepped into your personal bubble. Your left hand snapped out, grasping his jaw as you brought the butt back to your lips. Forcing him to search your face for an ounce of remorse. 

“Darlin’...” he whispered, breathing in the smoke you exhaled. 

“I missed y’.” 

----- 

I LEFT IT ON A CLIFF HANGER. i feel like we wouldnt want to reward him for being put into prison, so even if we had a new piercing we wouldnt tell him immedately. 

which is why i made the reconnection so... angsty. 

[dearwriterciera]

Not In the Same Way (Spencer Reid x Reader )

a/n: ok so since I stan 5SOS and Spencer I figured I would write a short little story based on their new song Not in the Same Way. This is part of the little writing challenge I put on myself. I’ll link the list so you can see the other parts as well! 

Pairing: y/n x Spencer Reid

Warnings: fighting, breakup, depression, alcoholism, 

Summary: Spencer and Y/N have been getting into arguments a lot recently, and they’ve both been avoiding the inevitable, until Spencer sees a side to Y/N that he had only heard about. 

Words: 1855

a/n: I’ve been really sad recently so I figured I would get my feelings out the only way I know. I’m not going to lie, this one made me so sad to write. I almost cried but i’m also super emotional right now anyways lol i hope you guys enjoy it! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things between you and Spencer had been...rough these past few weeks to say at the least. Every little thing that happens turns into an argument between you two and it was starting to cause you a lot of stress. Just yesterday you guys literally had a fight over dinner, which resulted in you guys eating in two separate rooms, two separate meals, when you guys usually eat together and talk about your days. 

You had to admit all this fighting and things changing is making your usually pretty tame depression go wild. Whenever you got majorly depressed you would drink, a side of you Spencer had never seen. You wanted to keep it that way but sometimes things don’t go the way you want them to. 

You were home alone, Spencer was gone on a case so you knew that you’d have days to figure out how to talk about you guy’s last arguement, but, for now it was time for another session of binge drinking. You got up on the counter, pulling the bottle of vodka off the top shelf and set it down beside you. You slid off the counter carefully before grabbing a shot glass and a can of Dr. Pepper as a chaser. Looking down at the items in front of you made you let out a loud sigh. 

“Back to square one.” You mumbled to yourself as you poured vodka into the glass, setting the vodka back down and opening the Dr. Pepper. After very little debating, you threw the shot of vodka back, the burn hitting your throat almost instantly as you swallow the clear liquid, before you take a drink of Dr. Pepper. Setting both the shot glass and the can down, you place both hands on the counter and lean over it a bit. This had become such a familiar thing to you, you didn’t even question it anymore. You just went with it. 

After 5 more shots of the same repeated cycle, you set them down again, but as you stared at the counter all you could think about was the last fight you guys had, right before Spencer left for work. 

 “Hey, Spence, have you seen my phone?” You asked, walking into the living room of you guy’s shared apartment. Walking in you immedately saw he was on your phone, going through it. You didn’t have anything to hide of course, you loved Spencer, but you were hurt, you weren’t going to lie. You walked over to the couch he was sitting on and raised an eyebrow, crossing your arms, “Can I help you find something?” 

Spencer looked up from your phone and instantly became flustered, dropping it onto the floor as he began speaking, “Wait, y/n, I’m sorry!” He practically pleaded. You leaned down and picked up your phone, sliding it into your pocket, 

“Did you find anything you were looking for?” You asked, your voice was not very forgiving, he could tell you were mad..no..furious. You’ve never done anything to make Spencer think he couldn’t trust you, and you would never invade his privacy like that so why he felt the need to invade yours was..beyond words. 

“It’s not what it looks like, babe, I swear.” He defended himself, standing up from the couch and turning towards you.

“Enlighten me then because from where I’m standing, it looks a whole lot like you going through my phone to find something, ANYTHING, that would make you want to leave me.” You said, your voice was filled with anger, you were on the verge of shaking if you were being honest. Spencer’s face was filled with guilt, confusion, and a hint of anger himself. This was common recently so it didn’t phase him. 

“Y/n, that’s literally crazy.. I wasn’t looking for a reason to leave you.” He started his argument, “I was just..curious.” 

“OH! Oh, my bad, you were just curious, my mistake.” You shot back, sarcastically, Spencer frowned,

“You’re being ridiculous.” 

“No, you know what’s ridiculous, you not trusting me to the point you had to go through my phone. Spencer, I have done NOTHING to show you that you cannot trust me. That’s so fucking low. If something is bothering you, you can talk to me, you don’t have to go through my personal stuff.” You rose your voice a little at the end, 

“Can I? Can I really talk to you about anything these days without you starting a fight over it?” He shot back, 

“Me? Spencer, you’re the one who gets angry at me for breathing half the time.” 

You were pulled from your memories as you heard the front door opening. Despite trying to quickly hide everything, you failed. Spencer walked into the kitchen and saw you causing you to freeze and looked at him. 

“Y/N, are you..drunk?” He asked, worried as he walked over to you, helping you put everything in the correct place before walking over to you,

“You weren’t supposed to be home yet.” you slurred your words together but Spencer was usually good at figuring it out. He held onto you as he guided you towards the bedroom. You were okay with it until you remembered what he did to you so you stopped in your tracks, 

“Don’t touch me.” You said, shaking him off you, but you immediately began to wobble and fall, until he grabbed onto you again.

“Let me help you.” He whispered, and you caved and let him take you back to the bedroom. As he got you into bed, he sat on the bed, next to you for a moment, in silence, before he spoke, 

“I had to come back for a file but I’ll be back by the time you wake up, okay?” He talked softly and you nodded, slowly drifting in and out of tiredness. You were completely out before Spencer had even left the bed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up, your head was banging. You don’t remember ever getting into bed, until you look over at the nightstand and there’s a cup of water, medicine, and a note. You smile faintly as you reach over and take the medicine and take a drink of the water to chase the pill. You pick up the note and read it, 

We really need to talk. I’ll be home in the morning. 

Spencer

You knew what was coming. You knew what was waiting for you the moment Spencer got home and you prayed he would get held up on a case and would be home late, but you also knew that would help nothing. You spent the rest of the time, sitting in bed, anxiously scrolling through your phone. Spencer sent you a text when he was on his way home but you didn’t reply. 

Way too soon for your liking, you heard the front door open and you drug yourself out of bed. Slowly and carefully you walked out of the bedroom and you instantly caught Spencer’s look. He looked so tired, so stressed, so drained, and you felt like you were part, if not the whole reason. He motioned for you guys to sit on the couch and you followed, sitting on the couch next to him. Being this close to him gave you a perfect sight of how dark the skin under his eyes actually was like he hadn’t been sleeping. His hair was messier, way messier than normal like he’d been running his fingers through it constantly. 

“Y/N, I know that you’ve felt it too..the  tension between us, the constant yelling and arguing.” He started, and you nodded, you didn’t trust yourself to not cry if you opened your mouth. He continued, “I didn’t know how bad it was affecting you, until last night.” He whispered softly, he turned his gaze down to the ground, “I never wanted to be the reason that you drink again, that was never something I wanted.” 

You reached over and grabbed his hand slowly, for comfort, but he slowly and hesitantly pulled his hand away. You retracted your hand back into your lap, the tears were definitely falling now. 

“Spencer..please.” was all you could manage to get out. 

“Yesterday, when I was going through your phone I wasn’t lying when I said I wasn’t looking for a reason to leave..but I was looking for a reason to stay.” He confessed, looking up at you again. You felt your heart shatter. As he looked at you, even through your blurry vision, you could tell he was on the verge of tears as well. 

“Did..did you find one?” You asked, sniffling and wiping your tears away off your cheek. You knew the answer because if I was what you wanted the answer to be, you wouldn’t be sat here having this talk. 

“No,” Spencer whispered as he began to break down in front of you. You couldn’t help yourself from leaning over and pulling him into a hug. He wasted no time wrapping his arms around you, pulling you close to him. You guys had been each other’s rocks for so long, you didn’t know anything else. 

You guys were like that for well over an hour. Just sitting there, in each other’s arms, crying. Maybe you guys were just putting off the hardest part, but you didn’t care. Finally, you pulled away and Spencer let go as well. You moved back on the cushion of the couch you were originally sat on. You wiped your tear stain cheeks with your hands, before reaching over and wiping his away next. 

“I love you, Spencer, so much. So fucking much.” You started, “and I know you love me just the same amount but, we don’t love each other in the same way.” 

“I know,” His voice was raspy and quiet from crying. 

“You’ve been drinking, I haven’t been sleeping, this isn’t good for us anymore.” He admitted, 

“I know,” You said, your voice barely a whisper. 

“This is goodbye.” 

“I know,” 

Neither of you moved. Neither of you knew what to do. Who was going where, who was supposed to stay in this apartment that you’ve shared all your memories together in? You eventually stood up, 

“I’m going to call my sister,” you said before walking out of the living room back into the bedroom. You didn’t explain anything as you asked her to come pick you up and you packed a bag. Carrying the bag out of the room, you enter the living room again, Spencer is still on the couch, he hadn’t moved an inch. You walked over to the front door, and pulled your keys from your purse, you took the key to the apartment off your keyring and placed it on the table next to the door, 

“Goodbye, Spencer.” You said before opening the door and walking out. As you closed the door behind you, once it was closed fully, that’s when it fully hit you. You were never going to see the love of your life again and god, that was the most soul-crushing thing you’ve ever experienced. 

[peterman-spideyparker]

Shampoo Bottle (Matt Murdock x Reader)

Author’s Note: Okay I saw this gifset last night and reblogged it, immedately wrote this fic on my phone, and then promptly proceeded to fall asleep. Keep an eye out for a follow up to Domestic Adonis soon! Enjoy! :)

Summary: It’s the understatement of the century to say that Matthew Murdock is stubborn. His attitude towards his shampoo bottle is no exception to his attitude.

Warnings: Fluff--sweet, ever-loving, domestic fluff, Matt being flirty/sassy/horny in the shower, allusions to shower sex

Other Characters: None

Word Count: 718

You hear a repeated banging from the bathroom. The steady rhythm of whatever it is tells you that you shouldn’t be worried, but you can’t help it with Matt—it’s almost a gut instinct. Sure, he’s usually fine when he gets home—some nights you need to stitch and wrap him up more than others, but he’s been relatively unscathed as of late. But what if some old injury caught up to him and he falls and can’t get up? What if some sort of muscle finally tore from such heavy and repeated use?

“Matty?” you call. “You good?”

The banging persists, but you don’t hear a response. 

“Matt?” you try again. 

Same thing. 

Putting down the books in your hands, you walk to the bathroom at a hurried pace. “Matt?” you call once more as you open the door to the bathroom. 

“Yeah, angel?” he finally responds. For someone with such heightened senses and acute super-hearing that can hear you sneeze literal blocks away while he’s arguing a case in court, the man can be so oblivious sometimes.

“Are you okay in there? What’s all the banging?”

“Oh, sorry. The shampoo isn’t coming out of the bottle.”

“Matt, I told you to get rid of that bottle! I pulled a new one from under the sink for you. Hell, at the very least, use my shampoo instead of assaulting the shower wall!”

“There’s still shampoo in it!”

“Not if you have to hit it that hard there isn’t!”

“I can hear it in there—it just needs some encouragement,” he says, whacking it once more. 

Rolling your eyes, you slide open the shower curtain, take the squeezed-to-hell bottle from his hands, and place the new one in his hands that’s just to the right of your shampoo in the shower. The look on Matt’s face is priceless—absolutely offended that you interrupted his process, but never the less flirty and amused that you actually put half of your body in the shower to get him to stop.  

“There, now you don’t have to crack the tile to get your hair clean,” you say, tossing the empty bottle into the nearly full waste bucket. Just as you’re about to turn and tie the bag off so he can’t take it out to try to get the last of the product from the bottle—because Matt has proven himself to be just that stubborn in the past—Matt’s wet hands grab yours and pull you into the shower with him.

“Matthew!” you chastise as he presses kisses to your neck.

“What?” he smirks. “You already got wet to throw away my bottle. Why not get more soaked?”

“Because I’m trying to clean and rearrange the bookshelf!”

“Eh, they’ll still be there when we’re done,” he chuckles, his lips closing around yours. 

“No!” you smile, the two of you laughing at your efforts to avoid his kisses. “Last time we did this in the shower, I got bruises—and not the sexy kind.” Matt opens his mouth, but you cut him off. “I don’t care that my clothes are wet! That’s why there’s towels.”

You peel off your stretchy pants and t-shirt, wringing them out before you step out of the tub. “You may resume.”

Matt makes one more attempt to grab you, but you’re just out of reach for him this time.

“Pout all you want, Murdock, it won’t faze me!” you smirk. “No matter how cute that face of yours is.”

“What if I stick out my bottom lip out a little more like this?” he tries, exaggerating his frown so his bottom lip protrudes further out, droplets of water from the shower head bouncing off of his soaked hair.

You poke your tongue into your cheek, trying to keep your resolve as you look at Matt, standing there all cute and wet and naked . . . and naked and wet.

“I’ll see you when you dry off,” you say quickly, snapping your mind out of the gutter as you begin to leave the bathroom.

“Ouch,” Matt breathes, but not without a little chuckle as he slides the shower curtain closed. “I’ll get you back for this, angel.”

“I’m sure you will, Matty,” you hum as you close the door behind you. “I’m sure you will.”

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[handelplayssims]

So ending the last session of the Sims, I randomly roll from all of the households that are currently in homes and today we’re heading on over to Windenburg and the Lonely Artist household, aka Gunther Munch! But why is he called the Lonely Artist?

The Story thus Far

So, while Gunther was living with his mother, he met Salim Benali, his co-worker. The two bonded over their mutual bookish ways and were wed. And thus did the two break off from the Munch household, ready to live life by themselves. But alas, an accident happened in Salim’s life, and thus is Gunther all alone. Aka, Neighborhood Stories claimed Salim while the household was inactive. The Random Number God is fickle that way. Also, Mila Munch was also taken by the hands of Grim in an accident, Wolfgang has fled from Windenburg and Lucas is missing? Hmm. What could have happened? Who knows if we’ll find out~

Anyway, Gunther is in this nice home in the plaza of Windenburg. Instead of leaving it’s basic starter home status be, I downloaded a home off of a gallery. A very cozy home in the middle of town. Which was done by a simmer named PikeSims!

All I really did was turn what was a kid’s bedroom and a playroom into two seperate offices for Salim and Gunther. Alas! Alack and woe! Futures lost!

Anyway, it’s time to sell most of the belongings that were Salim’s and pack up the rest that’s personal to Gunther and head on off to the old family home. Coorinburg Cottage. Because someone has to take care of the old Munch family home, and if Gunther’s brother says it’s too much, then he’ll do it himself!

Ooof. Even with selling our furniture from the old home, that’s still quite a dent. I remember that Wolfgang’s excuse for leaving was the upkeep of the home. Still, Gunther’s far along in his food critic career! I did the math! He can afford this place!

Well, that was before I remodelled this bedroom just a little. We’ll see if that’s still the case after. No. I don’t know what to do with that corner. There’s a reason I download things off of the gallery in the first place.

Anyway, I had Gunther munch on some leftover salmon and then took a nap. He’s sleep need is low and he has work in a bit. Two hours until work. Not much time but time enough to at least do something related to his wants and whims. It’s to get a premotion at work. Gunther’s aspiration is the Renaissance Sim one which means he wants three jobs at level 3, which I’ve already completed, and level 8 in 6 skills. He’s only got two of those but he’s got several at level 7. And the first one that grabs my interest is the logic one. Which...means I thankfully have a use for that corner now. A good place for a chess set. And a small telescope outside. I don’t think of him as super into the stars but perhaps if it’s clear outside, it would be nice.

Anywho! It’s time to work! And we’re “working from home!” Why is it in quotations?

This is why! We gotta head on out and about and go and review some food! Let’s see what’s local around here… we literally have the bar down the lane, the Shreiking Llama, so that’s where we’ll start at!

Gunther has a few more options here on this bar top. ...I kinda more want to review drinks since this is an actual bar that just only has bar food but hey. I can at least order a drink to go along with said food. Since he immedately also went to chatting with the bartender when eating, I decided to introduce myself as well to him. And did my standard greeting of WHOM ARE YOU, WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING!? Aka, Get to Know and Ask for Career. It’s a good way to note which people I’ve actually chatted with as Gunther instead of when Gunther is chatted with by others. Because at this moment, all whom Gunther really knows is his brother, Wolfgang.

Anyway, time to ruin this place’s culinary reputation because the food was bad! Gunther would know, he has refined tastes. It’s time to write up about it!

Now at any point, you can write in your column in your food blog. Or perhaps it’s writing up an article. But if you have a positive or negative moodlet from your food experiences, you’ll get a better payout! And, ya know, it’s quite fitting. Also ties into that second job thing of “write for two hours.” So, on the spot review we go! We earned a nice 700 bonus from the inspirations. Nice nice!

Gunther’s energy need is still low so we’re heading back home and taking another snooze before we find another spot to review. Only a brief nap though. It’ll also hopefully reset his sleep schedule a little bit before he needs to work again. Next things next! Let’s find dinner! Even if he isn’t that hungry. The needs of a food critic are demanding! After a quick search for art on the computer. Gotta get that small inspiration buff!

Windenburg has two cafes, another bar and two nightclubs to hop into. Hmm. Hmm. Hmmmmm. Not real good suppertime options between them but, it’s still important to report on such places that are open anyway.  I think I’ll go with the Narwhal Arms, the more undergound bar. Time to see what the local fish and chips are like! And maybe chat with the nearby folks. Maybe. Well, I say maybe but the Sims do so automatically. Still bleh tasting food! Will he ever find anything up to his supreme standards?

Oh and I spotted a werewolf and a ghost in this place. As nightclubs attract anyone with high dance skill and that’s practically any sim I play since you gotta dance to the tunes! A full raging werewolf at that. Might want to leave quick and go somewhere else. And I know where to go!

The fancy shopping and other venue district of Windenburg! Now, I could be here for this nightclub’s food but there’s usually a food stall op-

Aha! Seasons introduced some seasonal food stalls all around some of the older worlds. And I thought that reviewing one of these would be a nice finisher to the dining experiences. Granted, that’s if the vendor spawns. I’ll give it until 9 for that.

Annd they didn’t pop up. Shame. Dessert would have been nice. MORE BAR FOOD AT BARS! We’ll end this with a pretzel. Really want some ice cream though… Anyway, the food here is...actually decent! Good to know that the highest end nightclub sells the good stuff, even if it isn’t up to Gunther’s highest expectations.

He’s utterly exhausted and yet! We must not sleep! He needs to still write for 2 hours! Let’s practice our writing before heading off to bed. Which we do and now we sleep!

Neighborhood Watch!

Rarahu Tilo in the Tilo household has died. Shockingly, Rarahu botched a repair and was electrocuted.

Glimmerbrook: The Laughlin household recently moved in.

One day I will somehow get a Glimmerbrook household in my rotations. One day.

[musubiki]

What do you think Leon and Chairman Roses relationship is like? I mean, in the games he seems to reasonably get along with him more or less up until they have that argument at rose tower, but the whole thing is honestly kinda vague. I've seen a lot of different fans have different takes on that, and I'm just curious what yours would be. (Especially in regards to your Leon/Sonia scenarios)

Good question tbh..,...in my hc their relationship is..,...rather gray area like most business relationships. You dont always agree with what the other person thinks/says/does, and you certainly arn't friends, but you work together to help the galar region move forward

(For my hc) in the first few years of leon being champion they got along reasonably well. Obviously leon is well integrated into roses business deals as champion (or is at least knowledgeable about them), since rose owns 90% of galars companies, its good to keep him in the loop, and rose helps leon find his footing with his new life and responsibilities.

AFTER the first few years, when leon is about 15, roses company discovers the large meteorite deep in the mountains of the galar mines, and rose is immedately interested in its energy potential. This is before he essentially loses his mind, and has his research team look into it like any normal person would

But over time the heavy raw exposure to the galar particles (or it was just eternatus poisoning his mind) made rose obsessed over the dynamax energy and twisted his thing of awakening whatever was in the egg into the excuse of saving the galar region. And thus, he dragged leon to a lot more meetings, business deals, etc and it gave leon less and less time to go home and visit sonia and hop. Which leon never resented him for because he thought this was just how it was for champions (spoiler alert, it wasnt, leon got robbed). So he ended up missing a lot of family parties, birthdays, holidays, whatever. And it didnt help that sonia got more distant because she was bottling up all her insecurities and pushed him away.

But its more like an employer who overworks you and asks you to do things not technically in your job description. Leon is the type to be grateful for all the chairman has done for him, but also draws the line in the sand where its like okay, this is batshit crazy, you need to calm down boss.

And rose REALLY goes off the deep end after hop and gloria set out, and also sonia who happens to be researching the missing piece of roses puzzle, which leon both loves and hates because YEAH i dont have to carry this emotional burden all by myself without telling anyone AND i have a chance to get closer to my childhood friend again, but also OH SHIT now rose is gonna go after her because she has everything he needs for his crazy ass plan. And at that point they become more like enemies than anything else. Leon and sonia are doing hero stuff, raiding power plants and stopping lab takeovers by MC (typical pokemon protag things), and once rose finds out its LEON whos been doing all of this he is. Not happy. The only thing stitching those two together is their titles by the end of the rose tower event

So TLDR kind of like a shitty boss/employee relationship except leon gradually gets sick of roses shit and then it turns into a coup

[iamcinema]

IAC Reviews #011: Bloodstream (1985)

Let’s go back a few years close to when I made this blog, roughly 2013 or 2014.

Around this point, I was looking for some unique, weird, and obscure titles to share for the horror forums I was apart of and to make notes of to eventually add to my collection. If I was able to find names that had little to no available information on them, then I knew I was onto something special. This would often bring me to sites like TwistedAnger that sold copies and transfers of horror, exploitation, and mondo films to fill me in on elusive material that were often times obscure and never got an official release. This little search would bring me to find Bloodstream, and with the interesting cover art, I knew I had to find more about it - but much to my dismay, there was very little to be had or known about it.

Bloodstream is 1985 low-budget slasher film directed by Michael J. Murphy, whom A Slash Above has dubbed the Ted V. Mikels of the UK, which is quite the comparison. Given that there was very little to go off of with this beyond the site’s review, I was left to scratch my head a bit as to whether or not I’d be able to find the film in its entirety beyond a few clips, which only made me hungerier for more after reading the synopsis.

Our story centers on Alistair Bailey, an up and coming filmmaker who is suddenly fired from a project he’s working on by a sleazy VHS distributor named William King. Instead of the film being scraped like he thought, he later finds out that King plans on distributing the film globally and it becomes a critical hit with the home video market. Rightfully pissed by this, Bailey seeks revenge and conspires to go on a killing spree with vengeful employee in a similar manner as the deaths in his movie - only this time, the effects will be real.

This got me pretty excited to check this out, and once the film got added to Youtube a few years ago, I was quick to jump at this. As a full disclosure, I did see and review this for UTA several years ago, but the details of my experience are on the hazy side. So, I won’t count this as a retrospective review this time around, but I’ll reflect on what I can if it’s as good or bad as I remember it being all those years ago.

Bloodstream in One Gif:

So, let’s dip our toes into this one.

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But first, a little backstory about the film and what I was able to find. Going off the premise and opening alone, this one has a certain kind of tone to it, dare I say very pointed and self-aware. According to Murphy, the film was his response to distribution companies and presumably bad business experiences he’s had. Unfortunately, the film failed to be picked up for distribution before falling into total obscurity. I’ll return to this again towards the end to help wrap things up. The budget is also very low as one could expect; roughly £400 in 1985, or £1,053.02 in February 2020 (I’m not to sure what that comes out to in USD or CAD). Given the limited budget, I’m a bit surprised with what they were able to accomplish, and for that I’ll give it that much.

As far as our characters go, they were quite forgettable and the first time around I couldn’t remember who was who or what purpose they served. So, coming back into things with a fresh slate was helpful. Aside from our two focuses being Alistair and William, we have a couple others that will become topics of interest.

We have Judy, an actress brought into the flock by William whom he’s having an affair with to help advance her career. We also have Greg, a former pornstar who was brought in like Judy was to work under William. There’s also the matter of William’s family; his brother Simon, a misogynistic sleaze who has a thing for power while also being held under financial ransom by William at the company, his wife Sally, and his daughter Lisa - both of which whose dreams of being in the industry are held under William. All of this becomes important later on, which is why I brought this up. There’s also another focal character that ties this all together, that being Nikki, William’s secretary who acts as a mole and accomplice to helping Alistair get his revenge by adding fuel to the fire with her own hidden motives and intentions.

Now, with that out of the way, let’s begin.

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As far as the story goes, it’s not all that bad, and in a way it reminds me of some tellings of Phantom of the Opera where our masked antihero seeks to get revenge on the Opera house owners who did him wrong by stealing credit for his work after being presumed dead. In a simialr fashion as the Phantom, there’s a lot of anger and malice behind the premeditated violence, and each of the murders was dragged out with a purpose in mind to send a message.

The plot moves along fast, as we’re immedately dropped into the action from the jump and the revenge scheme starts to take off within the 30 minute mark in a 73-minute film. However, it can feel like a log jam a bit with things being slowed down or padded out in the form of Alistair watching either his own movies or those from William’s distribution company. The quality of those films is pretty damn atrocious, playing on various horror film tropes and references like vampires, cannibalism, the occult, body horror, zombies, and Exorcist II: The Heretic - yeah, that happens. While it’s quite clear why these scenes are here in the first place, the run time could be shaved down to at least 65 minutes of these weren’t here.

From a technical standpoint, it’s not all that great and is overall uninteresting. The lighting is fairly poor, though I’ve seen worse. Some shots are overlit and others don’t seem to have enough, and while it doesn’t make it hard to see what’s going on, it adds to the overall cheapness. Speaking of which, the sets themselves aren’t all that remarkable either and it shows that they did their best to work with whatever they had with the budget since some of the locations feel like sound stages with black walls if it wasn’t places the crew likely had easier access to like their homes or a basic office space to rent out. There’s also a weird flickering problem where it will go from color to black and white briefly, which is a bit annoying as well.

The sound is probably it’s weakest point of everything else stacked against it, as some moments will be decently clear and others you’ll need to rewind it and try to figure out what was going on. I had to do this three times with finding Greg’s name, because I thought they were saying “Burke” for some reason. There’s also a fair amount of bad ADR going on, which is a bit laughable when it comes up. The sound quality in general just makes for a bad time with figuring out what’s going on, particularly in crowded areas where you have the background noise to deal with on top of it sounding like the actors are on the other side of the room when they’re in front of the camera. So, unless you have a good ear, you might be a tad bit lost, but it’s not on levels of Ax’Em bad.

On that note, how about the gore and deaths? While they aren’t perfect and are on the hammy side, I’ll at least give them some credit for having memorable death scenes and succeeding in what they could do for a microbudget. Some of them give me similar vibes to other slasher movies of the decade like Final Exam, Woodchipper Massacre, and Cannibal Campout, which I think helps me to enjoy them a bit more in a way. It tried, so I guess an A for effort is fair enough - especially with a particular implied off-screen death that’s quite brutal and Murphy apparently got a lot of e-mails and letters about it.

The acting is a fairly mixed bag as well, with it being mostly meh or average for the type of low budget flick where none of the actors went on to do anything else. When it comes to Judy, Greg, Simon, and the rest of William’s family, they aren’t there much to land a solid impact. So, when they get their own individual scenes where they’re on their own, there isn’t a whole lot to see to comment on about how well they hold up. They’re okay, nothing truly dreadful though. When it comes to Alistair, Nikki, and William though, that’s a different story.

While I found Alistair (and to an extent, Nikki) to be sympathetic, they didn’t do much to pull at my heart strings to get me totally revved up for the revenge sequences. The same can be said for William as well. Yeah, he’s a total sleazy, swindling bastard, but that’s about it. As a villain, he’s sort of forgettable. The writing itself is fine, which is surprising for this type of film, but the acting is stiff and doesn’t feel natural or right. I don’t know if any of the actors had prior experience given that they haven’t shown up in any other productions that I’m aware of or if a lot of the fault could be placed on poor direction. It’s a damn shame too since this could have been much better if one or both of those things could have been resolved. Plus, it could have been much darker too by pulling out all the stops since it already took plenty of risks with the aformentioned death scene and the social commentary it addressed. But we’re 35 years too late for that now.

To return to something I said at the start regarding Murphy’s intentions behind the film, much of this is heavily reflected in Alistair’s characterization where he brushes off the films produced by William’s company as “garbage”, and rambles about censorship, on-screen violence, and belittling distribution companies during the final showdown between him and William. Subtlety isn’t in this film’s dictionary, even more so towards the end where it raises the question about whether or not horror movies and the media contribute to real-life violence; much akin to other later films like Video Violence and Woodchipper Massacre. Yeah, it’s not an original concept at all and it’s been no stranger to us since the turn of the century or even for the time when the Satanic Panic and PMRC Senate case was going on, but it’s nonetheless fun to see how different artists handle the topic at hand.

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So, what are my thoughts on this one? Well, I’m torn.

Back when I reviewed this in 2015, I was rather harsh on it for how low the quality was and that the acting was subpar at best. It left so much to be desired, as it could have been much bigger if it was given better resources to shine. I’d like to think there’s some other timeline where this could have been the success that Murphy wanted it to be, rather than his least favorite film he’s directed and ultimately faded away into obscurity - fulfilling its own prophecy in a way to become Bloodstream decades later.

With that being said, I think my old rating of 3/10 was a bit much. It’s no gem or masterpiece in any way, which again, is the sad part. But, it’s also not a total disasterpiece. If all the pieces fell in the right spot, this would be an easy 7.5/10 for me at the very least. However, with the technical issues and wooden acting, I’d give this a 4.5/10 to be on the generous side. If a day ever comes where someone wanted to do a faithful remake of this to show what we could have had, that would make for a fun night. If you want to give it a watch some time, it’s up on Youtube and it makes for a decent popcorn flick.

Rating: 4.5/10