#WONDERFUL ORANGE BABY I LOVE MY LITTLE LIZARD | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lighthousegod · 2 years ago

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WHAT IS MY CAT

Hey, so I have a Cat Question (or more like a Cat Request, really) and was hoping the science (??) side of tumblr, or cat identifying side of tumblr, or something like that, could help?

So, I got my cat Mikey (Michelangelo Mayhem Apollo *last name*) in January of 2022. The vets estimated she was about 3 months old. She was found by a family friend we met through my grandma, who is a manager at a vet clinic herself. Unfortunately, her areas of expertise are horses and dogs, so she could only help so much. I'm looking to find out what breeds Mikey may have in her.

Physically, Mikey has only gotten stranger (and cuter, ofc) as she's gotten older. She is a looong cat. She's got longer legs than my roommates' male cat at 1 year old. Her tail is much longer than other cats I've been around too, about the length of her torso. Despite that, she's not very big. She's skinny, and pretty small compared to our medium sized male cat back home.

She's also got big ears. I thought she'd grow into them, but they still look kinda big compared to our other cats. They even have the slightest hint of a tuft coming off the ends, but I think that's more likely to be her long-ish fur.

That's another thing- her fur. I say long-ISH because it's not quite domestic-long-hair-long. The vet called her a domestic medium hair, which I didn't know was a thing. She's a calico, with half of her face being black, the other (right) side being orange, and a cute white strip down her nose leading to her white chin and chest. Her fur pattern is pretty regular for a calico, but that's not even the weird part-

Her fur is CRAZY soft. Like, for the longest I thought my fluffy grey and white tabby, Loki, was the softest I'd ever felt, but she takes the cake over any of mine, or my friends, or any alley cats I've had the pleasure of petting. The best I can describe it is like- you know when kittens are real little? Their coats aren't fully grown in and their fur is almost like down on a baby duck or smth- all fuzzy and soft as a cloud and sticking out everywhere. It's like that, even as she's grown a little, all the time. It lays down mostly now, and looks more silky than downy, but the softness is still there. Still, it's not all that thick. My roommates short hair is so much denser, where as Mike's hair seems so light. I've even had other cat owner friends comment on it, wondering why she was so soft ("but silky? Like, not fuzzy. Loki is fuzzy, but she's silky. Its weird")

Jumping back to bone structure and how long she is, though, she's got a long face, too. Not quite like a Siamese or Oriental breed, her nose is much longer than any of my other cats. My dad says her face looks like a lizard or a dragon, while my other cat's face is like a racoon (Idk man he's weird). Either way, she does have a sort of long, more harsh bone leading to her nose that reminds me of those two breeds I mentioned before, and they do also have long limbs and ears, but she just looks too different from them for that to be all she is. She is definitely a mix.

(If you read this far, here's a pic. Sorry for holding out on you.)

Now, let us discuss Michael's... strange... attitude.

She is a sweetheart. And when I say that, I really mean it. She's very vocal, and greets me every time I open my door. She purrs all the time, even when she's just looking at me. I love her so so so much god.

She is also insane. She yells a LOT. She never (or rather hasn't??) Grown out of that high pitched kitten meow even though she's over a year old. I think she just likes talking. I know Orientals are also known for being super vocal, so maybe that's got something to do with it, but there's more to it. She still acts like a kitten, running around SO much more than my other cats. Her "zoomies" are frequent, and while she isn't attacking my feet under the covers constantly anymore (my first 6 months with her were hell and I have the scars to prove it), she IS still PARKOURING OFF OF WALLS??? AND SHE'S ONLY GETTING BETTER AT IT. I swear she gets both feet on there, catapulting herself off like. On x games mode for real.

But yeah, she still acts like a kitten, mostly. Still looks like one a bit. I have a sneaking suspicion she could be a slow maturing breed, or at least a mix of one with something else, but I'm not sure what breed that would be.

Also, important note: she acts like a dog. She "talks" like one, plays fetch like one (she taught herself), and her romping with other cats really does just seem more like puppy play. She trots around like a little horse too, which isn't that important but it's very cute. And she's just so smart. Like I said, taught herself fetch (which isn't as uncommon as you may think, apparently), and can even PLAY GAMES that she MAKES UP.

Once, when I was at my first university, my dad came up to visit. I wanted to show him she could fetch as she'd just learned recently, and when I threw it she excitedly chased it and... brought it back to my dad instead of me. So, okay, fine, she just doesn't wanna play with me. Be that way. Except, the next time she brought it to me. And then to dad, and then to me again. And it became clear she was doing that on purpose. But soon, she broke the pattern, and picked dad over me again. I assumed we were all done and pretended I wasn't betrayed, but NO. She then proceeded to bring it back twice in a row to ME, and then to him twice, and the me again. Like, I know that's not that impressive. But my other cats don't even know what to do with their toys besides bat them around. It was big for a little kitten to be making up games and shit. Maybe she's just extra creative, idk, but it was wild. She still fetches to this day, until her balls all unraveled and she can get a new one.

Anyway, she's just. Such a weirdo. She's terrified of the car (it makes her carsick, but it didn't when she was younger), and she's scared of outside despite her curiosity(the lady who found her lived pretty remote. I got her because I thought she was affectionate and calm. Turns out she was just sick, and actually is insane! But very affectionate still. My mom has a theory that she fears going outside because she was sick and alone in the cold woods for a while as a baby.)

Alright. I think that's it? Idk I'm long-winded as hell and I'm sorry for that. But I hope someone may know some breeds who are known for her physical traits, and maybe these personality traits as well? We'll see. So anyway, thanks for meeting Mikey! Feel free to call her any iteration of Michael (Myers, Afton, Jackson, B. Jackson, Jordan, whatever floats your boat.)

Here's some more pics :)

#cat breed #cats #calico #my cat #cats of tumblr #science side of tumblr #science side please explain #veterinary #kitten #not like discord kitten #like my actual cat #she is just a baby #dont be weird

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wordpimp · 1 year ago

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We live in a world of calm and speculation.

Rainstorm gesthemane, hialeah watertown.

Be good to me daddy, he says.

I will baby, she says.

They argued a little earlier abt what to call things. They stepped into a mud hole, she carried him across a mud puddle. A turtle floated them across its back. It was flat. Lounge lizards in tucson, in tulsa, in poughkeepsie.

It was hot in july in the trailer. White broadside yellow cream trim, it was pretty in a way. Petticoat, baby wore mary janes to match, white socks farmer tan. Yellow wig. Ginger blossom. He had a few tattoos, but really only liked one of them. It was a bird, a kanji, the owl.

梟

Baby went to japan once, mt fuji, and asked for sake like a tourist. For a long time they thought abt him, there, in the wind.

Around evening, baby would want ice cream from the ice cream truck. Parlor junction. Mi casa es su casa, the driver used to say. But baby misinterpreted the one time he went down there: mikasa.

It was a brand of dinnerware but they already had some. Casa with a K. They did that a lot. Sign of puberty. The world was young, then. Flags were rectangular, money was printed on clothes. Put a dollar in me, the walls whined at night. Labor of love.

Signs in the chimney. When they were able to, they would have a fire again. Saturday maybe. The days were gone, mixed up since daddy had begun to work again. Out in the yard, in the cinder, baby could hear the pitchfork shovel of machinery. He smiled at his typewriter. It was fitting.

A bug flew in from somewhere, green-yellow, yellow-green, there must have been a window left open. It looked like a crayon. Stick of wax, eyes, cardboardy paper, birch bark. O the skin of my love.

Baby lit a cigarette on the stove, waiting to flick the ash, started boiling some water for mac n cheese. Mac in cheese. Macaroni and cheese. It was italian. Starving, he noticed. Ice cream for dessert, maybe tonight.

He wondered abt daddy, what she would do when she came in, what would she say, what new saying, what did she see out there. Or maybe a souvenir today, taking her time to dig up the bottles and ingots she got paid to hand over. Sometimes she would bring one of those back. A small gem, it might go into a scepter or a walnut, it might make a tree in the country, a beautiful place from a story.

Tire swing. That sounded too beautiful to baby. He hardly noticed the light swelling on his arm, where the crayon had landed, and the kettle boiling, or the white hot flowers. Bloom of midday he needed a nap.

Baby had the most extended childhood of anyone. He was born in a manger, he died on the cross. He was wet he was hard. He couldn't cum, then he couldn't stop.

That he wasn't a cult leader, that he wasn't a shepherd, with a flock to watch over or admonish, that he didn't abandon them all to go sit in judgment of everyone he ever met or heard of, that was a minor miracle. It made sense if you heard of easter, running out in bare feet with diapers, eating all that candy. Chocolate bunny marshmallow bird, give me the stomach to jesus. Baby jesus, jesu of man's desiring. If you ate all that candy, you would never want that responsibility.

Instead baby was a loud quiet person. Chaotic quiet, perturbed by everything. Lately he had been frustrated by the wallpaper, by the color of time, orange like the sun blue like the water green like the pears or unripe apples. Ripe pears unripe apples. Confusing. Some of the wallpaper was peeling but it was almost peaceful that way. Maybe it wouldn't burn all at once, if that was its destiny. It was a taste of freedom, for baby. Like coming out of a cupboard, a box cutter to skin. Letting the hunger abate.

Baby liked to sleep in a small bed. I think it's closest to the true meaning of his character.

Daddy shut and locked the front door behind her when she went to work outside. The back door stayed locked. It wasn't to keep baby in, it was to keep the lunatics out. She was going to ride her tractor for a little bit, and dig a little bit. Who knows. Metals in the earth. She had heard that there was a meteorite under the sand. It had brought up ghosts. It was actually what people had come to see. Why they lived there.

Daddy never saw the ghosts anymore, but jehovahs and mormons, scientologists, they would sometimes come by and that was bad for baby. He would talk to anyone, he just couldn't help it.

Daddy was more circumspect. She talked to strangers and people that she knew casually but said very little. Hi dolores hi bill, hi stephen. Their house was at the end of the street. A few neighbors, the creek. Mulberry tree, sideyard with a big hole from digging. They had been thoughtful and made the quarry wide enough to corkscrew down a few more turns. She hoped they wouldn't have to move for another year or two, it was a nice setup.

Daddy's schedule to get the ice cream was posted on the fridge. Left side mwf, right side, the rest of the week. Daddy made it, really worked hard on it. Pews in a church. Wings pearl grey. Everything was pearly. Cum colored or pink. Raw and toothy. It was the inside of a mouth. Of a cunt. Daddy shaved her leg. This is the one, lick it.

Tonight, daddy would go get ice cream for them, or eat the cake while the truck went down there for her. It stopped at the hill, not a long walk. Laundromat, axila, underarms. Excitement. Daddy liked to walk. It's the ether, she said. She never went to mt fuji either.

Daddy thought abt buying a general motors car, an olds cutlass supreme, gliding smoothly over rough asphalt. It's what you think abt while you shave, while you fuck. Nice, smooth. Blue midnight metallic half vinyl top. That's the kind of car they would drive.

They rode sidesaddle. Half beard in the mirror, there are pirates who invented transgenderism. Walk the plank. Is that also the abyss? Or a kind of it, a version. For reasons they only knew, this was never consummated.

Where do we live daddy. Is it a trailer? Is it a house. Is it a cabin?

It's a mansion. Big enough for you little bird.

It really was big enough, no matter what they called it.

Daddy stopped in the mirror. She was a bit run down from the summer. The gel of her eyes was blue or brown or aqua, ça dépendait, when the sun hit. She didn't wear pants or shoes. Inside, she didn't wear much of anything. Baggy shirt. Why hide all this, she thought, and so she didn't hide it.

Pudor is for the dirt, the shirt said, in yellowing cotton.

Daddy liked to sleep under covers. The bed was warmer for her. Nude and warm and redolent. Patchwork lace embroidered, panels in a tapestry. She felt like penelope.

One time daddy saw a diagram of a medieval church, all the parts like a body on a map, a table of divine making. But not anymore, they were done with operations. Trepan my brain, amputate my ear, excise, cut me, dig. It was already there. It was science.

Ash on a mantle. Face in a polaroid. There is one of daddy and baby pinned to the closet.

Baby said they lived on a cliff. It was curious to listen to him talk. He talked in his sleep too. Cliff, diving board. Daddy liked to hear him talk, she knew he could see something and sometimes she could see it too. Rolling down the street in a dream, jumping off a building. Play in that water. She felt good in the mornings when she could talk to him about what he dreamt, what he was seeing. It got her excited.

Meanwhile baby slept and talked in his sleep. Jackdaw emu...

She could tell he was dreaming abt birds again.

Daddy.

Yes baby.

Remember that movie abt the birds? You know the weird one I told you abt? I dreamt abt that again last night. But now there's a garden. And children. Well, two. I think they're us. I think they're us before, and maybe again. And it's very sad and very strange but also very healing. It's like when you come back from your work and tell me abt the outside. It's like when you tell me what to do.

Like I know you can't stay. I know this is all ending. It's the end already, but I can't help it. It's all I dream abt now.

Baby it's never enough but it always has to be enough. Why don't you come sit with me. Let me hold you.

I want to come back here. I want to grow up and get big and strong and ready. I want to lift you on my shoulders and fly with you, and throw you in the water. You'll see, then I'll dive with you. We'll swim. Will you wait for me, until I can do it. Will you watch me?

She could never say no to him, not like that.

When baby was finished talking he put the blanket on daddy and started a fire in the fireplace.

The flames did a slow dance, like salome. He saw a headless snake, ankles and rigging, the stubborn wind. It was the edge of the world. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep but he dreamt of the morning when they'd both be naked and wet.

#prose

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shemarmooresfedora · 4 years ago

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Rebuilding Family

Summary: Y/N and Spencer were college sweethearts at Cal-Tech but once Spencer got accepted to the FBI Academy, he ended things deciding it was not fair to make Y/N wait for him. When they meet again years later, he discovers something unexpected.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem! Reader

Masterlist

Chapter 3

“Hey buddy,” Spencer sat down in the chair next to Henry who was coloring at the table after dinner.

“Hi Uncle Spencer,” Henry replied, switching his orange marker out for a green one.

“So Josephine seemed pretty cool,” Spencer started.

He wanted to know more about his possible kid before going to Y/N. If it was true and she would let him meet her, he wanted to know all about her.

“Yeah, she sits at the same table group as me in class. One time when we were playing tag at recess, I fell and hurt my knee but she kissed it three times and said that’s what her Mommy does when she has a boo boo and it didn’t hurt anymore,” Henry explained.

“Does she talk about her Mommy a lot?” Spencer asked.

“She loves her Mommy like sooooo much. She says her Mommy says she doesn’t need a Daddy because her Mommy loves her extra,” Henry smiled.

“That’s nice,” Spencer said, getting up from the table.

Spencer was glad to hear that Y/N and Josephine seemed to be having a good life. He was just saddened that it didn’t include him even if she wasn’t his kid. He didn’t blame Y/N for not telling him if it was his. He honestly would have had no idea how he would have handled that news back then.

“And that is the difference between a stressor and a trigger. Any questions?” Spencer slid his hands into his pockets as he looked out into the audience.

The students were silent. Most of the girls appeared to be in a daze but still looking at him. Spencer furrowed his brow.

“Okay well then, I will see you next Monday. We will be covering chapter four section three of your textbook regarding victimology so I would suggest skimming it over before class,” Spencer finished.

He grabbed satchel from the desk and quickly exited the lecture hall. He had looked up the class schedules in the administration office and Y/N was also finishing a lecture at this time. Spencer was hoping to catch her before she could run away again.

He quietly slipped into the back of the lecture hall, taking a seat in the last row.

“Okay! That is it for today. Remember, we have a lab next class so closed toe shoes only and long hair tied back please. Have a great day, everyone,” you announced.

Students began to file out of the room, some coming up to your desk with questions so Spencer hung out in his seat a little longer. Once the last student had their question answered, Spencer got up and made his way to your desk as you were packing up your things. When you heard the footsteps, you looked up with a friendly smile that was immediately replaced with a grimace.

You grabbed your bag and keys and bolted. However, Spencer was expecting this and was hot on your tail.

“Y/N, please slow down. I just want to talk,” he pleaded as he chased you across the campus, garnering funny looks from people passing by.

You sighed and halted your movement. Spencer was not expecting this so he almost crashed into you. You took a step back to regain your personal space.

You looked around, noticing some people were staring.

“Let’s go to the coffee shop on campus,” you suggested.

Spencer still remembered how you took your coffee after all these years and insisted on paying even though you told him that wasn’t necessary.

You both sat down in a quiet booth in the corner. You were nervously fiddling with the coffee cup sleeve and avoiding eye contact.

“I-Is Josephine mine?” Spencer asked.

You could feel his eyes burrowing into your skull. You couldn’t lie to him, I mean you could but you wouldn’t get away with it because he was a profiler.

You finally looked up and made eye contact, “Yes, she is,” you stated.

Spencer smiled softly with tears brimming his eyes.

“Did you know before I Ieft?” Spencer sniffled.

“No, I found out after,” you responded.

Silence fell over the both of you.

“Why did you break up with me, Spencer? It all happened so fast that I never got a reason. We could have made long-distance work if you actually cared,” you spoke softly.

“Y/N please do not doubt that I cared about you. I loved you, I think I still do after all these years. I just thought you would be better off without me holding you back and not having a lot of personal time to visit you. It doesn’t mean I ever stopped thinking about you. I just thought you deserved someone better,” Spencer explained.

“Yeah well no one wanted to date the single mom in college. Guys would run for the hills when I told them,” you chucked sardonically.

“I’m sorry” is all Spencer could manage to say.

He thought he was doing Y/N a favor by breaking up with her but instead he made everything worse. He abandoned her to figure out how to take care of their child on her own.

“Can I-um...I would love to get to know her more,” Spencer stuttered.

“Spencer, I don’t know if that’s the best-” you started to say.

“Please,” Spencer begged.

You closed your eyes and exhaled.

“You can come with me to pick her up from the school if you want. You can play with her for an hour with my supervision. Under no circumstances are you to tell her that you are her father,” you demanded.

“Understood,” Spencer nodded.

You finished the last sip of your coffee and slid out of the booth, tossing it in the trash can.

“Let’s go,” you motioned for him to follow you.

Spencer scrambled out of his seat to catch up with you.

You unlocked the car and you both hopped in. Spencer noticed the backseat of your car had random toys and articles of children’s clothing scattered around and he smiled at just the thought that they belonged to his daughter.

When you pulled into the school parking lot, you turned to speak to him for the first time since he entered the car.

“You stay here,” you said as you turned the car off.

Spencer watched as you approached the line of kids and a genuine smile grew on your face. Josephine ran over to you and was immediately scooped up and littered in kisses. Josephine was dressed in overalls with a dinosaur sweater and a mini pair of converse. Y/N whispered something in her ear and she nodded as they made their way back to the car.

“Jo, you remember Spencer, Henry’s friend?” you opened the car door.

“Hi Josephine!” Spencer greeted.

Jo snuggled herself closer into your neck.

“Why are you being shy today, Baby J? Remember you already met him? He told you all those cool dino facts. Maybe he can tell you some more on the way home,” you bounced the child in your arms a few times before gently placing her into the car seat and buckling her in.

“Josephine, I remember you said stegosauruses were your favorite. Stegosaurus actually means ‘roofed lizard’ and their brains were the size of ping pong balls,” Spencer was looking at the child through the rearview mirror.

He heard the sweetest little giggle. The sound was music to his ears.

“Mommy, did you hear that? They have ping pong balls for brains,” Jo laughed.

“Yes, baby, I heard but I think Spencer said they were the size of ping pong balls, not actual ping pong balls,” you smiled as you corrected her.

Spencer turned around to face her now that Jo was feeling more comfortable.

“They also weighed about two tons which is about the same weight as this car,” Spencer smiled.

“Woah,” Jo exclaimed in awe.

“Okay! We’re home! Jo, you can play with Spencer for a little but then we have to do your ABC’s homework,” you explained as you parked the car in your driveway.

You lived in a small grayish blue house. It had a tiny gated backyard but you usually just took Jo to the park anyways. It was enough for the two of you. You moved in last year after accepting the job at Georgetown.

You unbuckled Jo and unlocked the front door with Spencer awkwardly standing behind you until he felt a tug on his sleeve.

“I want to show you my room,” Jo said.

“Sure! I would love to see it,” Spencer replied as he was tugged by Jo up the stairs.

Spencer laughed when he saw Jo’s bedroom. It was decked out in everything dinosaur. Dinosaur wallpaper, bed sheets, toys, and a carpet.

“You really love dinos, don’t you?” Spencer smiled.

Jo nodded, beaming as she seemed to be very proud of her room.

“Jo, I’ve got a snack for you,” Y/N called out from downstairs.

The little kid lit up even more and ran down the stairs, leaving Spencer alone in the room. He saw a small little bookshelf with picture books, mostly about dinosaurs. It was nice to know his daughter shared his love of reading.

“You have a lovely home,” Spencer complimented as he entered the kitchen.

“Thank you, I don’t know if you want some apple slices and peanut butter too. I would offer you something else but I haven’t had time to go grocery shopping this week,” you explained.

“It’s all good. If you ever need help-” Spencer began.

“We’re quite alright,” you snapped.

A silence fell over the room, even Jo picked up on it and stopped the loud chewing of her apple.

“I’m sorry,” you sigh, patting the top of Jo’s head to tell her she could continue eating, “We’ve been on our own for so long that I can sometimes get a little defensive when someone suggests I can’t handle it.”

“I wasn’t suggesting that at all. I think you have done a wonderful job raising Josephine. But, I also had a single mom so I know that sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day,” he replied.

“Thank you,” is all you said.

Spencer glanced at his watch, “I should get going. My hour is up. If it’s okay with you, I would love to come over again sometime,” Spencer said.

“Leave your number and I’ll text you,” you replied, handing him a scrap piece of paper and a pen.

“Bye Josephine!” Spencer smiled at the kid who had peanut butter smeared all over her face.

“Ew, Jo! Did you get any in your mouth?” you laughed.

“Bye Spencer!” she attempted to wave to him as you were wiping her face and hands with a damp paper towel.

#spencer reid fluff #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds #cm fanfic #spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer x reader #reid x reader

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bored-mumma · 4 years ago

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Sebastian Stan - Fluff Alphabet

MASTERLIST

Bucky Barnes version

A = Attractive. What do they find attractive about the other?

He loves your passion. How even little things in life can get you excited and happy. He also loves your strong will. You two being in the lime light takes a strong personality and you match that perfectly.

B = Baby. Do they want a family? Why/Why not?

He really wants kids. He likes to imagine Sunday mornings, your children waking you up and you all making breakfast before spending the day playing games and just being a close family. Nothing makes him happier than thinking of his future family.

C = Cuddle. How do they cuddle?

No matter how warm the nights get, Sebastian likes to be snuggled entirely under the blankets. Usually one of you will be spooning the other but if its too hot then just either your legs or arms are slightly tangled.

D = Dates. What are dates with them like?

Sebastian doesn’t do ‘little’ dates. He sweeps you off your feet every single time. You’ll come home from work expecting a normal evening at home to find some new fancy clothes and jewellery lying down on your bed, along with a note telling you what time to be ready by. Bang on time, Sebastian knocks on the door (you live together but why not be romantic and come pick you up like he used too) with a bouquet of your favourite flowers. Before driving to a beautiful restaurant, champagne sitting there waiting. All evening he would throw compliments at you, repeating his love. If you felt like it, you two would go for a walk along the sea front or just drive randomly and talk away.

E = Everything. You are my ____ (e.g. my life, my world…)

You are my light.

F = Feelings. When did they know they were falling in love?

He couldn’t really give a proper time when he knew he was falling for you. It just kind of happened! He knew he missed you when you were gone, even if you spent all day together. He knew he dreamt of waking up to your face everyday and he knew his heart skipped a beat every time you kissed him. One day he just realised ‘holy shit, i love you’.

H = Holding Hands. How do they like to hold hands?

I = Impression. First impression/s?

You two got along very well. Your personalities just clicked and the two of you became friends fast. It took a few months, but that friendship soon turned into love.

J- Joker. Are they into pulling pranks?

He loves them, a lot more than you did. Barely a day went by that Sebastian didn’t play some sort of joke on you. Usually you find it funny and playful but other days you want to slap his pretty face.

K = Kiss. How do they kiss?

Most of the time Sebastian will hold your chin with his finger and thumb, tilt your head up and kiss you deeply. Although sometimes he’ll be a little more rough and grab your waist, pulling you towards him.

L = Love. Who says ‘I love you’ first?

You do. After a particularly breath taking date and nearly six months together, you finally felt as though you were ready to say those words. When you uttered those words, Sebastian grinned at you before saying it back.

M = Memory. What’s their favourite memory together?

You two were walking home from a lovely date night a restaurant. You both had a few drinks so couldn’t drive and you were struggling to catch a taxi so decided to take a longer walk across the parks. It was a stunning night and half way home, he placed his jacket on the ground and the two of you lied down, watching the stars and resting your feet. Feeling merry anyway from the drinks flowing through you, you lied there for nearly an hour, just joking together and sharing kisses. Going from the last letter, this was the moment you looked up at each other and said I love you for the first time.

N = Nickel. Do they spoil? Do they buy the person they love everything?

You are so, so spoilt. Literally anything your eyes land on, Sebastian will buy it for you. Even stuff you had never seen or even heard of, if he thinks you’ll like it, he’ll buy it, Date night? He’s got you some new clothes and jewellery for it. Anniversary? You cant see the floor in your home from all the gifts. And birthdays are just insane with the amount of stuff he gets you.

O = Orange. What colour reminds them of their other half?

Sky Blue. A lovely calm, stunning colour that reminds him of summer days. Days he loved to spend with you. He would often buy you some sky blue jewellery, making a matching dress too.

P = Petnames. What petnames do they use?

You two are cringe as hell and like to think of the most sickening names for each other as possible. Bunny, sugar-plum, precious. Just as cringy as possible to make each other laugh.

Q = Quaint. What is their favourite non-modern thing?

Sebastian's a simple man and loves the simple things. One of those things is a gentle bike ride. On a hot day with the cold breeze cooling him, he loved to just bike through the country and forget about life's trouble for a while.

R = Rainy Day

A busy man leads a busy life. Rain or shine, his days barely change. Although on the rare days you both have a day together with nothing to do and its pouring it down outside, he was known to drag you out in it. Whether to just dance in the back garden or to go for a quick run, Sebastian loved to just be out in the rain for a while with you. It felt like a reset for you both and it was those moments you treasured the most.

S = Sad. How do they cheer themselves/others up?

As most people know, Sebastian talks to his therapist often. You try not to pry too much, knowing if he wants to share his feelings with you, he will. But you can always tell when he’s feeling a bit down. It’s usually cured with a cup of tea, cuddles and you dragging your nails gently across his skin to make him feel relaxed. Sometimes he’ll talk to you about what’s bothering him, other times he just wants to feel your touch.

T = Talking. What do they like to talk about?

You two are low key conspiracy theorists. You will often find you both having deep conversations about a theory you saw online or about a new documentary. Whether it was something like aliens exist all the way to the queen is a lizard, you two would have debated on it.

U = Unencumbered. What helps them relax?

As said above, he loves to feel your nails dragging across his skin. He felt most relaxed when lying in bed on his stomach, you lying beside him and dragging your nails along his spine. He would get Goosebumps from it and always felt like he could fall asleep right there and then.

V = Vaunt. What do they like to show off? What are they proud of?

You and your career! Sebastian was your number one fan and would brag about your acting success every chance he could. Even if he’s doing an interview about his own movie, he’ll still slip in there how proud he is of your new project. He couldn’t help it.

W = Wedding. When, how, where do they propose?

It was your two year anniversary and you two decided to take a week off of work. Nothing special planned, just a week to relax and actually get to enjoy one another's company. Sebastian watched you with admiration as you cooked dinner, watching the way you sung along to the radio and how you refused to let him help, insisting on spoiling him. As you stood at the stove, Sebastian walked to the bedroom and grabbed a little box from his bedside drawers. Going back to the kitchen, he stood behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist, head resting on your shoulder.

“This wasn’t how i planned it,” He said, letting go of your slightly to open the box and show a beautiful ring. “But i couldn't wait any longer. Will you marry me?”

X = Xylophone. What’s their song?

wonderful tonight - Eric Clapton

Y = You. You are the ___ to my ___ (e.g. the cookies to my milk, the macaroni to my cheese)

You are the honey to my bee.

Z = Zebra. If they wanted a pet, what would they get?

Sebastian has always wanted a dog! You two ended up adopting a puppy together.

#sebastian stan #imagine sebastian stan #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan fluff alphabet #fluff alphabet #bored-mumma #fluff #sebastian stan alphabet

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be-dazzled · 4 years ago

Text

Miraxus Day: Family is Family

Laxus Dreyar, Mirajane Strauss November 8, 2020 Dedication: To my small Miraxus family. I love you all.

Writer’s Corner: Of course I’m not gonna forget. This is such a mess. I was going back and forth with drama, comedy, drama and comedy. It’s all over the place! But I hope you guys still appreciate it. Let me know what you guys think.

HAPPY MIRAXUS DAY!

All rights reserve to Hiro Mashima, original creator.

Masterlist

---

Family. That’s all Laxus ever wanted – a family. He used to believe that a mother, a father and a child made a family. But Laxus came into a world his mother had just left and all he had was his father. He thought maybe the two of them were enough but Ivan’s quest for power had consumed him and eventually, Laxus was not enough anymore.

Gramps came into his life and introduced him to a new home – Fairy Tail. But even then, his concept of family never changed. Laxus still considered his father as family, the only one he had aside from Makarov. And so, when Gramps was forced to excommunicate Ivan, Laxus considered it the highest betrayal. Because what father could disown his own son? What family would choose strangers over one’s own flesh and blood?

His dear Gramps destroyed Laxus’ family and he was so filled with hatred and darkness that he started to believe that there was no such thing as family. Only power.

Little by little, he had become his father – so obsessed with power that he was willing to step on and destroy what his grandfather held closest to his heart. But deep inside Laxus knew it wasn’t the search for power that pushed him to declare the battle of Fairy Tail. It was his hatred of his grandfather who chose a bunch of strangers over his own son. It was his loathing of Makarov, who created his own family in Fairy Tail, and left Laxus alone and lonely. Without a family. He was so consumed by his hatred that he failed to see that the only reason Makarov protected Fairy Tail was so that Laxus would never feel lonely ever again. That he would always have a family.

He was beyond saving but Makarov never gave up on him.

It was a long road for Laxus but in the end he came to finally understand what Gramps was trying to tell him. That family was not only defined by blood but most importantly, it was about love. In the end, he finally realized that he had family and all along, he was home.

But something was still missing.

---

Laxus’ return to the guild did not usually call for some big celebration because they did not need Laxus to create some ruckus. They got Gray and Natsu for that. Recently, however, it wasn’t only the Thunder God Tribe whose faces lit up every time the big boss came back from his long missions. One pair of blue eyes gleamed upon his return.

Mirajane Strauss. Now, that’s the woman who knew the importance of family. She had dedicated her life to protect her own.

“Welcome back, Laxus.”

There was surprise in the dragon slayer’s eyes but one that was welcomed. He gave him a soft smile, one that was considered meager as compared to Mirajane’s.

“I hope you weren’t charged with so much damages.” Mirajane started a conversation while she took the accomplishment report from the S-Class mage.

“I’m not Natsu.” defended Laxus, “nor Erza.” His orange eyes followed the Head Waitress as she read the report and filed it in the books. He planned on taking the day off and getting some much deserved rest. However, the job request Mirajane just handed to him was going to put a dent on that plan.

“Don’t forget about your promise.”

Laxus did not. He was a man of his words and when Mira decided to cash in on that promise, he would definitely honor them. But the thought had kept him up some nights. Knowing Mirajane, she’d cash in soon and would probably make him do things he’d never do as long as he was alive. Despite his inhibitions, he still agreed to go on a job with Mira. They argued about their meeting point: him wanting to pick her up from her house and Mirajane wanting to do the opposite. His pride was not having it, so, they settled on meeting halfway.

“Oi, Demon. Don’t make me do weird things.”

It was one of his wisest decisions to leave before Mirajane gave him details of the job.

“I won’t!” Mira shouted after him and the Dragon Slayer disappeared behind the wooden doors.

The next day, they met right in front of the guild, where they mutually decided was fair for the both of them. Mirajane led him to a residential district, lined on either side with common bungalow houses. Laxus was right to worry about that bright smile and even brighter blue eyes, when, at the end of the block, they were welcomed by a nice middle-aged couple about to leave them five crazy boys to care for the day. In short, Mirajane just dragged him, the great Lightning Dragon Slayer, Laxus Dreyar, into a baby-sitting job. Him? Makarov’s grandson about to follow into his footsteps in leading Fiore’s strongest guild? One of the most respected mages of whole Earthland? A Dragon freaking Slayer? Going to babysit a crazy bunch on a sugar rush? No way, Ma’am. Not in this lifetime.

If Mirajane wanted to spend her day babysitting, that’s up to her. Not Laxus Dreyar.

But if Mirajane said they were going to spend their day babysitting, that’s what they were going to do.

That’s how Laxus Dreyar found himself in the middle of all that chaos: dangling two thrashing boys in either arm; head throbbing, ear splitting from all the screaming; staying really, really still in the middle of the kitchen floor because there were loose marbles all around him. The reason why he was in the middle of marble island was with him too but instead, she was wobbly carrying some easily breakable plates.

“Kids! Don’t run around please.”

Laxus tilted his head on the side, just a little tilt, and wondered how Mirajane could keep the honey on her voice despite those little spawns of the devil making their job a tad harder than usual. If it was up to him, he’d fry the little demons and call it a night. Five evil boys, at their age and without a nanny? What were that middle-aged couple thinking? But Mirajane was nothing but patient with those kids, like she had always been with the grown-ass children back at the guild, and she was pretty good at it. So, Laxus was going to trust Mirajane with whatever crazy plan she was going to come up with.

“Do we have a plan?” asked he, trying very much not to be condescending, even though he was really close to just squeezing the squirming boys into silence, with his bare arms.

“Put me down, spark plugs!”

Laxus had learned earlier in life, you have to be stern with these boys or you would never get the respect you deserve. So, he stared down that little demon and pulled the most deadly glare he had mastered.

“I’m gonna show you plugs if you don’t keep quiet.”

Which, his inexperienced ass had taught him, was not a very good idea, since the boy with mahogany hair discovered a higher pitch for his screaming.

Definitely not the best idea.

“So?” He turned back to the woman who at least was the more experienced between them.

All the answer she could offer him was an apologetic smile – beautiful but apologetic smile. Then, not like it was crazy enough – that Mirajane was out of any ideas, crazy or not – the universe was really testing them. Five, eight and ten year olds never listen to anything an adult says. Because when you tell them not to run around, they bump into you while you’re carrying a tower of ceramic plates.

So, Laxus had to step up and use some magic. He charged the marbles with small static to clear up a way for Mirajane.

“Cool!” one of the kids exclaimed and the two stubborn rascals in his arms stopped squirming for freedom. The kids all demanded he do it again, cheering him on until Laxus caved in.

Now, he wasn’t the kind of man who got pushed over and ordered around. No one could make Laxus do what he didn’t want to do. But those kids were looking at him like was some kind of a hero. And so, Laxus charged the marbles again so they rolled around the kitchen floor in some entertaining fashion. The boys didn’t move an inch.

Kids were too easy.

Easy to win over and had no loyalty, at all.

Because now they were entertaining their eyes with Mirajane’s Take-Over magic. Who even thought a pink giant lizard was cool?

Traitors.

His static charged marbles rolling around every direction was way, way cooler.

Laxus did not feel abandoned by his disciples. No way. He decided to sit there at the couch, comfortably at that, and scoffed at those simpletons who thought a blue bunny existed in this world. Geez. His great magic skills were a waste on those kids. Laxus glanced towards where the giggly laughters were coming from.

What a bunch of school girls.

Laxus was just thankful he didn’t have to waste any more energy on children’s play, quite literally. But his plan on spending the rest of the night slipping into a nap – and letting Mirajane do all the babysitting – was put on hold when, at the corner of his eyes, he saw a nonthreatening silhouette standing under the arch. Not a second later, a little girl holding a blue bunny stepped into the light. They held each other’s stare, one studying the other. Then, the little girl with the long reddish, brownish hair approached the big guy on her parent’s couch.

“Who are you?” interrogated her. “And why are you lazing around in my house?”

Laxus thought she was very articulate for a little girl.

“Laxus.” He offered his name. “I’m your bab– I’m your guardian for tonight.”

“You mean my babysitter?”

One orange eye twitched at the word. It was enough Laxus had his argumentative baby blue eyes at home; he didn’t need another one on his job too.

“Guardian. Alright?” insisted the big guy. “Now, it’s past your bed time. Why are you still up?”

“Those brats woke me up.”

She climbed onto the couch and settled next to her babysitter. The way she casually dropped he word ‘brat’ pulled the corners of Laxus’ mouth just slightly up but the spark of amusement in his eyes showed that his interest was piqued.

“Is that your girlfriend?”

Laxus’ orange eyes followed her stare and saw Mirajane turning back to her original form. But one who never shared about his life, the guardian a.k.a babysitter tried to dodge the bullet.

“Didn’t your parents tell you not to talk to strangers?”

She nodded in response. “Stranger Danger.”

Laxus wanted to ignore the kid but she had other plans.

“Is she your girlfriend?”

“So, why are you still talking to me?”

“You gave me your name. So, you’re not a stranger.”

Laxus kept his lips shut just in case smarty-mouth took the hint and would just go away. Turned out, she wasn’t as smart as he thought she was.

“Is she your girlfriend?”

Couldn’t get the hint.

“I could be dangerous.”

“You’re a big guy lazing around a couch.” She gave her a look that made him feel like he was stupid. “How dangerous can you be?”

That was not only Little Miss Smarty Pants being such a smart pants but also being the ingenious, unintentional snark that she apparently was. Laxus could feel another headache coming.

“How old are you again?”

“Eight. Is she your girlfriend?”

Laxus eyed the girl, giving her one of those serious, intimidating look he used to scare the people in his guild with. It did not make her budge, not even just a little. Laxus just had to admit defeat. The little girl was not going to drop the subject until she was satisfied with an answer.

“Sort of.”

Appearing satisfied with that, the smarty pants whipped her head to the side to study the lady who was making her brothers guffaw. In just a matter of seconds, she already made up her mind about Mirajane. “She isn’t that pretty.”

That was a surprise for Laxus. As far as he knew, Mirajane Strauss was every man’s dream. Sometimes, a woman’s too. Guys wanted her. Girls wished they could be her. But, what did an eight year old know?

The girl turned to face him again and, in a matter-of-fact tone, told him he could do better.

Laxus folded his lips to keep that thin line on his face from pulling wider. He didn't want to be the one to tell Mirajane that an eight year old girl just flatly told him that Laxus was out of Mirajane’s league. He couldn't fault the child for being that honest. Kids didn't lie.

"You think so?"

"Yeah." The little girl answered around a big yawn. Then, she leaned on the big guy and rested her head against his arm, pulling her blue bunny tight to her chest. “Way better.”

It maybe wasn't right for him to feel good about that but he did. Sure, he wasn't going to win the best secret boyfriend award but the woman being so lovable made him doubt himself. Laxus knew he wasn't the friendly, approachable type. Kids were either afraid or just dismissive of him. He had improved over the years but sometimes, as much as he told himself it didn’t bother him, Laxus was worried that he wasn’t as likeable as Gramps, who was grooming him to be the next Guild Master. There were times he’d think he made a breakthrough, like earlier, when those boys looked up to him like he was the greatest thing in the world. Then, all of the sudden, he wasn’t. But thanks to this little girl sleeping soundly beside him, Laxus felt a lot better.

---

“She said that?”

Mirajane showed no signs of being bothered or insulted by a little girl calling her ‘not that pretty’. In fact, she was more surprised that Laxus was the one hogging their conversation. He tried to repress the enthusiasm in his voice and expression but the Dragon Slayer was never this chatty. On their walks, Laxus always played the audience and Mira would always talk his ears off.

“Don’t take it too personally.”

It was very late in the evening and the two managed to put the kids to sleep before the couple came home to relieve them. Guardian missions paid well and Laxus finally realized why.

“Those boys gave you a hard time, huh?”

“It’s like we never left the guild.” Mirajane’s giggles were abruptly cut off by the sudden gush of wind.

Laxus noticed it. So, he shrugged out of his large coat and draped it over Mira’s shoulders. To keep himself warm, he shoved his hands inside his pant pockets and slid closer to her as they continued with their walk home. Bickslow said something about sharing heat or something. He said girls liked that.

“Mina’s just like you.”

The declaration made Mirajane turn to him, a bit surprised. The little girl obviously hated her. “Really? How so?”

“She snores when she sleeps.”

Yeah, she thought. She pulls your hair and pretends to sleep too.

“Oh.” Mirajane didn’t really know what to make of it. She was sure she didn’t snore. Or did she?

“And talks in her sleep.”

Mirajane didn’t think she did that. But that wasn’t the thought that caused her stop and fall behind. Looking back, she realized that from the client’s house up to now, they’ve only been talking about the boys and their sister, Mina. Laxus even had that warm expression on his face when she talked about the little girl who slapped and kicked Mirajane when she tried to pick her up from the couch to place to bed. But when it was Laxus who carried her away, Mina snuggled up to him and slept in his arms, like a baby.

“Mina’s really…” Laxus struggled, although he tried not to show it, to look for the right word to finish his sentence. “C-cu–. Mira?” He only noticed Mira’s absence when he looked at beside him and she wasn’t there.

“Oi,” Laxus came back for her. Worry and confusion made lines appear on his forehead, “what’s wrong?”

She stared at him, studying his features slowly changed as years passed by. Mira remembered the time when he was just a little boy, the cute young golden boy who doted on his grandfather. The little boy whom people expected great things from. Vignettes of his growing years played in her memory, his highs and his lows, until her reminiscing brought her to the here and now, staring at the man that Laxus had become.

“Mirajane.” His voice was laced with equal concern and warning.

“Do you know why I took this mission?”

She was proud of him, of how far Laxus had come. He started as a sweet kid; broken by what Laxus took as his grandfather’s betrayal when he sent away Ivan; until he found his way back home.

“I’m not in the mood to play guesses, Mira.”

And he realized that family was not only defined by blood but also by love. That we may be born into a family but sometimes, when we are lucky, we find one or we get to create our own.

“Because I wanted to see how you’ll be around kids.” Without knowing it, tears had started to roll down her cheeks. Mira rested her hand over her belly, feeling the bump that wasn’t there yet. “Now that we’re expecting one.”

The cruel, November wind slapped on Mira’s tear-stricken cheeks. It was late and the streets had been emptied. From Laxus’ expression, she was glad they had the privacy to have that conversation. Mira dropped the hand on her belly and tightened the large coat around her body with it. For the first time since she received the good news, Mirajane got scared. She got scared as she stared into Laxus’ widened eyes and found no emotion in them. She took a step back, mind in complete mess.

Did he not want the child? Would she be raising their child on her own?

Questions ran around and about her mind. But Mirajane was strong. In those quick moments when he said nothing, she tried to rebuild a life that was just in ruins.

Mira took a deep breath, mustering the courage to tell him, “You… you don’t have to do anything. I–”

But before she could finish her sentence, Laxus had bridged the small distance she placed between them. He dropped his head on her shoulder and once again, they fell into complete silence.

“I’m just tired, Mira.”

Laxus words were muffled by the collar of his coat but Mirajane could hear the croak in his voice. He didn’t say anything after that but Mira noticed his shoulders lightly shaking. When he shifted his head to nuzzle at the crook of her neck, she felt his warm tears. Right there and then, without Laxus saying anything, Mira finally understood his feelings. She gently patted the back of his head, silently telling him that it was okay. They were going to be okay. They were going to figure it out, together.

Laxus then wrapped his arms around Mira’s slender figure, tighter and tighter, until her fears were squashed. The thought of messing it up as first time parents tentatively crossed her mind but she wasn’t afraid of it. Because it was Laxus. Because she was going to embark on that journey with Laxus. Because even in his small voice, she heard his words over the low howling of the November wind.

“Thank you, Mira.”

Family. That’s all Laxus ever wanted – a family. Even if his definition of it had changed over the years, one stood the test of time. Laxus was the luckiest man alive to have known a family defined by blood, by love and now, by both.

---

Bonus:

Laxus did not know regrets. He believed that everything that happened – good or bad –were, simply, opportunities to learn.

But now he was starting to regret when he told his wife he wanted a daughter.

“I hate you, Papa!”

His three year-old hit him with a fist in the face. Now, being the daughter of two of the strongest mages in Fairy Tail, his daughter’s punch could not be taken lightly.

“Princess, you need to eat your vegetables.”

“No!”

“But it will help you grow.”

She crossed her arms and barked a definite, “No!”

If she was a boy, Laxus’ glare would do the trick. But when it comes to his little princess, Fairy Tail’s ninth guild-master could not keep a straight face, how much more a frown.

“But–”

“See? This is why you shouldn’t spoil her.” Mirajane, with a slight bump on her tummy, moved around her husband to her seat at the dining table. She wasn’t too far along but already showing. “Fayna, you need to eat your vegetables.”

The Dreyar daughter did not say a word but only gave her mother a look that said, ‘make me’, which Mirajane did not appreciate coming from a three year old. It also didn’t help that pregnancy hormones cut her patience by half; so, Mira stared back at her daughter and the two ended up in a silly stand-off, while the father took the cowardly way out by just waiting for them to stop.

Just another day at the Dreyar House.

Laxus knew exactly how it would end – with his little princess crying to her daddy.

Fayna’s baby blue eyes brimmed with tears. Laxus just had to count to three until his little demon conceded to the other demon in the house, curl up to her daddy and cry to him.

“Mama’s being mean, again?”

Fayna buried her face against the dragon-slayer’s chest and nodded, clutching on his father’s pressed shirt.

“Laxus!”

The dragon-slayer shrugged but gave his wife an apologetic smile. Papa Laxus was definitely whipped and totally twisted around his little princess’ finger. Mirajane did not like it one bit. She didn’t like to always play the bad guy and she told him about that. Laxus promised he would try to be stern with the little demon. When the time came, he’d be the one to discipline her.

Laxus sought her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, his orange eyes begging for understanding. Mirajane just rolled her eyes and Laxus mouthed quick thanks.

When the day came that his daughter wanted to learn magic and eventually joined the guild. When she finally went to her first mission without her Papa and Mama. When Fayna finally sought her independence, he’ll subject her to the same discipline the Guild Master puts all the kids at the guild. No special treatment for his Fayna.

But for the meantime, while Fayna was still his baby girl and she still liked her papa, Laxus wanted to spoil his little princess.

#miraxus #miraxus day #miraxus day 2020 #laxus dreyar #mirajane strauss #be-dazzled #lamira

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eevee-eclair · 4 years ago

Text

Smitten Like a Kitten

Written by EeveeEclair

TW: fluff, crying, (tell me if I missed one!)

Random side note: This was made possible thanks to @does-this-look-logicality-to-you’s Animal Shelter AU! Thank you!

>~~~~~<

About ten years ago when Patton and Logan were still in college, Logan told Patton about his soft spot for animals. Patton was shocked the ‘emotionless’ man (or so everyone called him) loved something as much as him. And animals no less!

“It’s just… they tend to follow me everywhere and I feel like they understand me somehow,” Logan said, looking a little sheepish. “I know it sounds illogical, but I think I want to open an animal shelter when I graduate.”

Patton gasped and squealed. “Can I help?!” He asked.

Logan looked at him for a second, then gave him one of his rare smiles. “Yeah! And we could help all kinds of animals!” He said.

Patton smiled and got comfortable at the desk he was sitting at, listening to Logan ramble about his dream shelter. He listened as Logan told him about a lamp room and how he would run the place, nodding every so often as giving his opinion here and there.

It was then he realized he might have a crush on Logan.

~~~

A few years after graduation, Logan and Patton bought what would soon be their dream animal shelter. They had asked some family for financial help, and asked their friends Virgil and Roman if they would want to work there.

“I can’t believe this is happening!” Patton squealed as he walked through the empty animal shelter. “Right, Logan?” He asked. He was met with silence, so he looked around for Logan. “Logan?” He called. It took a minute but he found Logan in the backyard where the dogs would be able to run around. Upon closer inspection, he saw his friend crying.

Logan saw him approaching and wiped the tears away. “Hello, Patton. What do you need?” He asked, trying to hide the fact he was crying.

Patton wasn’t going to let him just forget it, though. “Why are you crying?” He asked, putting a hand on Logan’s back.

“It’s just… I never thought I would be living this dream,” he told him. He laughed a little. “It’s all thanks to you.”

Patton smiled and felt tears build up in his eyes too. “It was only because you told me it was your dream,” he said, hugging Logan.

They sat there, wrapped in each other’s arms crying happy tears for about an hour. It was sundown but the time they went back to their respective apartments.

~~~

Two months after they had bought the empty building, they had their first dog. After everyone saw how happy the dog became only a few weeks later, they got more and more animals and with it came more and more adoptions.

But every time someone came to adopt a pet, they asked how said pet became so happy so fast. Every time, they said the same thing, ‘you can thank Logan Barry’. Yet, every time, the adopter would take one look at the emotionless receptionist and laugh.

“You can’t be serious,” someone once said.

“Ma’am, I've never been more serious in my life. The animals love him,” Patton told her.

As if on cue, a mother cat and her five kittens all jumped onto Logan’s workspace. His face immediately lit up with the biggest smile, making Patton melt. He watched as Logan put a kitten in his shirt pocket and two on his lap. Logan then set another on his head and the last one on his shoulder, leaving the mama cat, Sammy, kitten-less and given a well deserved break.

Sammy meowed at Logan before jumping off, leaving her kittens to snuggle with the kind man. “Bye Sammy,” Logan said, before turning back to work.

The lady stared at Logan in awe. She gave a small ‘oh’ before leaving with the bird she adopted. Patton smiled as she walked off, happy to have proved her wrong.

~~~

It didn’t take long for Patton and Logan to realize they would need a better way to get to work faster. Both their apartments were about an hour to thirty minutes from the shelter, so they had to get up extremely early. Not to mention the late hoodies they already worked.

“We can’t run on three hours of sleep forever, Lo,” Patton yawned.

“I know,” Logan said, rubbing his eyes. “But for both of us to move would be expensive. It would also take up a lot of time we don’t have to give.”

Patton taped his chin for a second, thinking of a solution. “We could move in together?” He suggested. “It would save us money, be more convenient, and we won’t have to waste a lot of time moving! We could even call Roman and Remus to help unpack!”

Logan nodded. “It would be beneficial for both of us,” he mused. “Okay, I like your idea. But we need to plan it out. We can’t be gone from the shelter for too long or Virgil will have a panic attack.”

Patton smiled. “Okay! I’ll start looking for houses nearby!” He said, opening his laptop to search. Logan smiled as he watched Patton search for houses. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was very excited about the idea of sharing a house with his best friend.

~~~

Patton watched with a small smile on his face as Logan walked around the shelter with at least four dogs trotting after him. He also noticed a black cat had fallen asleep on Logan's shoulders and a small bird was snoozing in his hair. Logan saw Patton watching and walked over to him, beaming.

“Ah, Patton! I’ve been looking for you,” he said.

“Oh? And what can I do for you?” Patton asked, smiling back.

“I’ve got a few more adoption papers for you!” Logan told him. “Two cats and one dog!”

Patton laughed at Logan’s enthusiasm. “Alright, let me see,” he said. Logan handed him the papers and he skimmed them quickly. “Alright! I’ll send Roman over for a house inspection tomorrow.”

Logan nodded and walked off, still smiling. Patton noticed that the amount of animals had increased in the few minutes he stood still, as he walked away.

~~~

Logan watched as Patton smiled when another animal was adopted. More specifically, how cute he looked smiling. Usually, he thought nothing of it, but today he just couldn’t shake how adorable Patton looked in the skirt he insisted on wearing even though Logan had told him it would get ruined (and at the end of the day, it was) and how well it worked with his wide smile.

Patton looked in Logan’s direction and his smile turned from customer service to one of his genuine smiles. The kind you can’t say no to.

Logan sat up a little straighter (read gayer) as Patton made his way over.

“Hi, Lo! Did you need something?” He asked in his cheery tone.

“Oh no, I’m fine!” Logan said. “Just… umm… getting some work done! Yeah, that’s it!” He rushed in a panic.

“Okay, well I’m going to go get lunch! Roman brought sandwiches! Do you want anything?”

Logan shook his head. “I brought my own lunch, thanks,” he told him, pointing to his lunchbox. Most days it held not only a tuna sandwich and an orange, but treats for the animals that sit around him.

“Okay! If you change your mind, let me know!” Patton smiled, walking off.

Logan waved goodbye before slumping in his chair letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Sammy meowed in protest as he laid his head on her tail.

“Sorry, Sam,” he mumbled. “He’s just too cute!”

Sammy meowed in acknowledgement before tucking her tail in and laying back down.

“Did you just call Patton cute?”

Logan jumped at Virgil’s voice, startling Sammy again and the bird who decided Logan’s hair would make a good napping spot.

“Virgil!” He cried, adjusting his tie nervously. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“Sorry,” Virgil shrugged. “But you’re avoiding my question. Did you just call Patton cute?”

Logan sighed and covered his face. “Yes.”

“Why?” Virgil asked. Then realization dawned on him. “Oh my god, you like Patton.”

Logan’s face turned red and he quickly shushed Virgil. “Don’t say it so loud!” He hissed.

Virgil laughed. “Everyone knows, L. It’s no secret. Well, except to Patton,” he said shrugging. “Poor dude is too innocent for his own good,” Virgil mused.

“Do you have any advice for me?” Logan pleaded, snapping Virgil from his thoughts.

Virgil nodded. “Yeah.”

Logan stared at him for a second. “Well? What is it?” He asked, growing impatient.

“You don’t know?” Virgil asked, shocked. When Logan shook his head no, Virgil groaned. “You’re hopeless.”

Logan began to panic. “What does that mean?!” He cried.

Virgil laughed. “No, dude, like, you’ve never asked out a crush before?”

Logan’s face turned a light shade of pink. “You’re suggesting I ask Patton out?” He whispered. Virgil nodded. “You’re insane!” He cried.

“Who is?” Patton asked.

Logan jumped. Again. “No one!” He exclaimed, adjusting his tie. “What can I help you with, Patton?” Logan asked.

“Roman found a kitten hiding under a car at a car dealership and I was wondering if you could help us get it to eat?” Patton asked. Logan saw Patton looked distressed and felt his chest tighten at the sight.

Logan nods. “Absolutely, tell me where it is,” he said, standing up.

Patton smiled. Logan’s heart jumped at his new favorite sight. “Thank you Logan! They’re both in the lamp room,” he said. The lamp room was where they had all their heat lamps for snakes, lizards, and other reptiles. Sometimes they used it for baby animals (like kittens) that had no mother for warmth.

Virgil smiled as Logan walked away with Patton. He pulled out his phone and started to text his friend, Remy. They didn’t usually hire outsiders, but Virgil introduced him to Logan and Patton and they quickly hired him. Remy was also really good with birds for some reason.

You: u and ro are gonna help me set up our bosses

Sleep King: k. when we startin?

You: lunch. imma talk to ro dont b l8

Sleep King: k see u then

Virgil put his phone up and followed the others into the lamp room to talk to Roman. They had a date to plan.

~~~

Patton smiled as Logan finally got the sick kitten to drink some formula. Normally, Logan wouldn’t have to do this, but there were no mother cats willing to provide milk. Hence, the bottle of kitten formula.

He watched as Logan smiled and pet the small cat for doing such a good job. Patton decided then and there he would do whatever he could to make Logan smile like that more often.

Roman noticed Patton’s helpless staring and nudged him. “You good, Pops?” He asked.

Patton blinked and stopped starting at Logan. “Yes? Why wouldn’t I be?”

Roman laughed a little. “You’re kinda staring at Logan,” he said.

Patton’s face burned red. “O-oh! I didn’t notice,” he mumbled.

Roman stared at him for a second before grinning. “You have a crush on Logan,” it was a statement, not a question.

“Noooo…” Patton lied, looking away. “What makes you say that?”

Roman tried to hide his giggles but he failed miserably. “Oh my god you do!” He laughed. “You have a crush o-“

Patton put a hand over Roman’s mouth before he could finish his sentence. “Okay! I do! But don’t tell him!” He pleaded.

Roman rolled his eyes but nodded nonetheless. Patton removed his hand and sighed. “Fine. But I’m telling the others.”

Patton paled. “You can’t! No one can know!” He cried.

“You can’t expect me to keep this a secret from everyone?” Roman asked, raising an eyebrow.

“A gay can dream, can’t he?” Patton said with a sad but hopeful smile.

“I’m telling Remy and Virgil,” Roman said. “And possibly Remus and Janus,” he added after some thought.

Patton lowered his head in defeat. “As long as Logan doesn’t find out, you can tell whoever,” he mumbled.

Roman took one look at his friend’s sad expression and sighed. “Fine. I’ll only tell Virgil and Remy. Deal?”

Patton nodded, smiling a little. “Deal!”

~~~

Remy sipped his iced coffee as he waited for Virgil and Roman I’m the breakroom. He had been waiting for a few minutes and was starting to get impatient. Usually Virgil didn’t keep him waiting this long.

“Sorry we're late!” Virgil said, stumbling through the doorway with Roman close behind. Both men looked a little rough.

Remy whistled. “Why were you two late? Wait, don’t tell me,” he said, smirking. He laughed at his friend’s red face. “Relax! I’m kidding! I know what really happened.”

“Remy!” Virgil cried. “Get your mind out of the gutter!”

Remy lowered his sunglasses, looking Virgil right in the eye. “It’s not in the gutter, babe. I never said what really happened.”

“Whatever! What’s going on?” Roman asked, changing the subject. He walked over to the fridge and pulled out the salad he had been saving. “Virgil said something about setting up some guys?”

“Yeah, Logan and Patton,” Virgil said. “Logan has this huge crush on Patton but he’s too chicken to do anything about it.”

Roman laughed. “This is perfect! Patton just told me he also had a crush on our Nerdy Wolverine!” He told them.

Remy shrugged. “Well, the answer is pretty simple. We set up two fake dinners. One between Virgil and Logan and one between Roman and Patton. Then, when they both accept, you both stand them up and watch from a different table,” Remy said it like it was obvious.

Roman stared at him. “That is so cheesy and cliché!” He cried. Then he smirked. “I’m in.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’ve got nothing better to do anyway.”

And just like that, they had a plan.

~~~

Roman and Virgil got off the phone about the same time, setting up their fake dinner dates. Virgil felt bad about lying to his friends, but Roman assured him it was in that name of love.

“They’ll thank us later,” Roman said.

“Let's hope so,” Virgil mumbled, snuggling into his side. “Cuddle me to make me feel better?” He asked.

Roman put an arm around Virgil. “Of course,” he said.

Remy groaned. “Get up you two! You have a date to stalk!” He whined.

“Can’t you do it? They could recognize us! Plus, you’d get to see the date first hand,” Virgil said smiling.

“You got me there,” Remy mused. “Fine! You can stay. I got some gays to stalk,” he said, walking away.

~~~

Logan fiddled with his tie as he waited for Virgil to show up. Virgil was never late and he was starting to worry. What could make Virgil forty minutes late? To a reserved time no less!

He was pulled from his spiraling by the sound of crying. Looking around he noticed Patton wasn’t far from him. Not only that, he was the one in tears. It broke his heart to see him so sad, so he walked over and put a hand on his back.

“Patton? Are you okay?” Logan asked.

Patton shook his head and wiped at his tears. “N-no. Roman said we would meet up for dinner here but it’s been almost an hour and he’s still not here!” He sobbed. Patton turned to him and it broke Logan’s heart to see his friend so distraught. “Do you think he lied to me?” He whispered, sounding scared.

Logan used his thumb to wipe away a stray tear. “Or course not. He’s probably running late! Virgil was going to meet me here too, but he hasn’t showed up either,” Logan said, smiling.

Patton tilted his head in confusion. He looked like a confused puppy to be honest. “Virgil’s never late to anything,” he said.

“I know, that’s why I’m a little concerned,” Logan sighed. Then he pulled out his phone. “I’ll call him and ask if he’s okay.”

Logan pulled out his phone and dialed Virgil’s number, praying he would pick up this time. Thankfully, he did.

“Hey Logan?” It was more of a question than a greeting. “How’s it going?”

“Where are you?” Logan asked, tapping his foot in frustration. “It’s been forty minutes! And do you know where Roman is? He stood Patton up and I found him crying outside the building!” He seethed.

On the other end, Virgil sighed. “I-I’m sorry okay? It was Remy’s idea. And Roman’s sitting right next to me.”

“What’s going on?! What was Remy’s idea?!” Logan cried.

Logan heard some movement on the other side and suddenly, Roman was the one in possession of the phone.

“Okay, L, listen up! You and Patton obviously have deep romantic feelings for each other and neither of you are doing a thing about it! So me, Remy, and Virgil set you guys up on a date! You’re welcome!” Roman said smugly. “Now go enjoy your date!” He declared before hanging up.

“Roman? Roman!” Logan yelled into the phone, hoping it would bring him back.

“Is everything okay?” Patton asked. Thankfully, his tears had dried by now and was looking a little less sad.

“Yes. They’re both fine. For now,” Logan added, stuffing his phone back into his pocket.

“What do you mean ‘for now’?” Patton asked, raising an eyebrow. When Logan didn’t answer he pressed further. “Logan, what do you mean?”

Logan sighed. “They set us up on a date by asking both of us to attend a dinner and ditching us both. Leaving us to spend the night together,” he explained.

“Oh! That’s not so bad, right?” Patton asked.

Logan shrugged, but smiled nonetheless. “Yeah, you’re right,” he said. Then he took Patton’s hand and led him to the front door and opened it. “Shall we?”

Patton giggled. “We shall.”

A few years later, the partner-owned animal shelter would become a family business, but for now they would enjoy dinner dates every Sunday and movie night almost every day after work. All thanks to their friends.

Logan was still going to tear them apart later, though.

#logicality #logan sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #princxiety #sleep sanders #remy sanders #background princxiety #remus sanders #sanders sides fanfiction #sanders sides fic #sanders sides #eevee writes

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3lc3lc3lc · 4 years ago

Text

JOSHUA TREE

An excerpt from my short story collection NOWHERE FAST, out now.

“so what i’m gonna do is i’m gonna get a moped and i’m gonna ride it around the desert. and i’ll have my shotgun for if i see a rattlesnake. you think i could shoot a rattlesnake from a moped?”

“sure, prolly.”

“i’ll shoot the fuck out of a rattlesnake. fuck a rattlesnake.”

“yea fuck em.”

“anyway, you can visit me if you want.”

“hmmmmm….. maybe.”

“hey can i call you? i can’t type so good. i got fat thumbs. plus i’m on ecstasy.”

Anna was in Los Angeles, where Ray lived, two weeks later on business. The business was a magazine interview with an R&B singer whose manager stopped returning Anna’s phone calls immediately upon her arrival. The business was a free vacation. “Guess where I’m at,” she texted Ray from the hotel. They’d been messaging each other for a month, friends of friends. Ray seemed psychotic, but that was no problem.

“You should come over and help me pack. I’ve got some soju,” he replied. Ray was moving to Joshua Tree in two days to make sad synthesizer music in the desert. “Oh. One thing I have to tell you. My teeth are all fucked up. I don’t smile in pictures. Thought you should know.”

An inflatable duck the size of a Subaru was drifting across the pool next to Ray’s apartment building on Sunset. The Elliott Smith mural from the one album cover used to be around the corner, he told Anna in the lobby, but they recently turned it into a brunch restaurant. “Oh and I’ve got a present for you.” They took the elevator to his studio, which was carpeted and offered roughly nothing in the way of furniture. The teeth were as advertised, a double row of craggy gray shards that made his mouth look like abstract expressionism. She sat on a cardboard box while Ray poured little cups of soju and retrieved a bag of mushrooms from a drawer. They ate a handful of caps each. “This isn’t your present. Come on.”

She followed him to the back of the apartment building, where three of Ray’s neighbors were smoking around a fire pit. Mary was in her fifties and blessed with the virtue of persistence, as demonstrated by the portable respirator she carted around in her non-smoking hand. Jeff with the blonde ponytail and Dickies had recently come back from Afghanistan. “Jeff’s better at Jeopardy than anyone on earth,” said Ray. “Other than me.” “Thanks, man,” said Jeff. In the corner, a large bearded man was lost in the act of twisting up some sort of balloon animal. “This is Balloonski,” said Ray. “Don’t look yet!” said Balloonski, his hands swooping and squeaking like ridiculous birds. Anna turned the other way and smoked a cigarette. By the time she’d finished, the balloon was in the shape of a man playing the saxophone. “Surprise!” said Ray. She promised to keep it always. “Balloonski,” she said, “you’re going places. The world will know your balloons. You’re headed straight to the top, kid. Did you know I’m a journalist?”

They went back to Ray’s apartment and fucked on the carpet to Elliott Smith, the popcorn ceiling rippling like lava. “Yeah so I think I’m in love with you,” Ray said. “Let’s go to your hotel and see what’s in the mini bar.” Anna swaddled the balloon jazz man in her jacket, their beautiful baby boy. “Sup, chumps?” she found herself barking at the nice people drinking wine in the hotel lobby, for no special reason beside the fact that she was untouchable and would never die.

They got to work on the mini bar, starting with the Wild Turkeys, then the Bombay Sapphires, then the Titos. Ray poured the last couple bottles on the floor and hurled them at the wall. “It ain’t on our dime, baby!” he crowed. “This is on Corporate America’s tab!” She couldn’t be sure if the room charges were, in fact, on Corporate America’s tab, nor if she would continue to have a job when all was said and done, but she could admit the sentiment was rousing. Give the guy ten minutes and suddenly you’re voting him for alderman. Ray called up room service, sprawled on the bed like some sort of Ottoman aristocrat. “Good morning. My wife would like to order steak and eggs please.”

It was May when she arrived in Joshua Tree. Or it was April. In any case, Prince had died and the desert was colder than she had imagined. It was an hour drive from the Palm Springs airport in a cab softly playing the greatest hits of Third Eye Blind, the windmills off the highway waving palely in the dark like great irrelevant gods. She should check out that place, the cab driver offered as some nameless saloon slipped past, if she wanted to meet a nice Marine. That sounded good, Anna said. She could swear the mountains were flashing with faraway wet yellow eyes.

The headlights caught Ray in front of a little house made of corrugated sheet metal that looked to be held together with staples, doing what could generously be described as karate. There were no neighbors to be seen for half a mile. “Darling, we haven’t any food!” Ray greeted her. The closest store was a two hour walk along the side of the highway, and it was closed. “But Loretta left a handle of Seagram’s, so we’ll be straight.” Who this Loretta was supposed to be she hadn’t a clue, but she would take a drink. Inside Ray’s Siamese cat hunted moths around the place, which was surprisingly well appointed, decorated with woven Navajo rugs and rattan furniture and a beaded curtain that clacked when you went from the kitchen to the bedroom. They drank gin and water and Ray told her the stories of his collection of scars, this one from being smashed over the head with a beer bottle, this one from falling through a skylight. By the time the sun was coming up she was drunk enough to ask: “Who’s Loretta?”

“Oh. Loretta’s my roommate.”

“There’s only one room.”

“We trade off. Anyway she’s not here right now.”

“Well where is she?”

“Couldn’t really tell you.”

Ray went and got the gin, refilled both their glasses to the top, and put on a movie about a dog who gets terribly abused by all numbers of people. Within twenty minutes he was sobbing uncontrollably, not even trying to be quiet about it. That was her favorite thing about Ray, probably. He cried at all the dog movies.

In the daytime Ray would hunch shirtless over his keyboard, chainsmoking spliffs and endlessly writing the same wordless song. Anna lay on a towel in the baked dirt of the yard, mindlessly scrolling through apps on her phone and seeing white when she stood up. Sometimes she watched Ray work, dragging colorful little chunks of minutiae back and forth across his computer screen and fiddling with knobs doing who knows what, the room quiet but for the bass in his headphones. This kind of boredom she had always liked, the kind that reminded her of sinking into decrepit couches to watch boys shoot at Nazis or whatever with their Playstation controllers. The wonderful kind of dullness that ferried you safely from one hour to the next. In any case, she’d lost her job. What else was there to do. She had two weeks left in the desert.

They were out front watching for jackrabbits when a bandaid-colored Volvo scraped up on wings of dust. A lady got out. She looked to be in her mid-sixties, with long gray hair and a tired face, dressed in the linens of some kind of cult, maybe. And she’d brought luggage. “I stopped at the Walmart and got hamburgers and beer,” she said, hauling out shopping bags from the back seat.

“Hi mom,” Ray said.

Ray’s mother turned to Anna. “Who’s this? Are you going to help me with the groceries?”

“Sorry... Ray didn’t tell me, uh...”

“You may call me Loretta. Here.” She handed Anna a case of Miller Lite. Anna carried it inside, shoving the underwear she’d left on the floor in her backpack before coming back for the next one. She caught Ray’s eye as he grabbed a box of frozen beef patties. “It’s cool,” he said. “We’ll sleep in the living room.” He turned to Loretta. “The drive was okay?”

“Left Tucson at four this morning,” Loretta said. “I feel like hell. Where did I put my…..?” She rummaged around in the glove compartment, retrieved five or six pill bottles, and went inside. Ray followed.

The sky was going pink and orange as Loretta unpacked her things and Ray heated up the charcoal grill. Anna made slow figure eights around the yard, listening to lizards scuttle around in the rocks. There were a few things she knew about Ray’s mother. She knew Loretta had been married five times. She knew Loretta had been a teacher, and that she wasn’t one anymore. She knew Ray hadn’t seen his mother in ten years, or at least that’s what he’d said, that Loretta’s boyfriend wouldn’t let him set foot in their house.

Loretta appeared in the doorway, her white linens dyed peach with twilight. “Would you like to play a game of Clue?” she asked Anna. They went inside and Loretta set the game board out on the floor, shuffling up the billiard rooms and candlesticks and slipping three cards into the little case file envelope. “I’m always Mrs. Peacock,” Loretta said. “Hope that’s not a problem.” They drank beer and waited for Ray to come and be the third player, Loretta’s left eye twitching gently as the sun went down.

“Are you Ray’s girlfriend?” Loretta asked.

“Sort of,” said Anna. “I don’t know. Something like that.”

“For the record,” said Loretta, “you shouldn’t trust half of what he tells you.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I know Ray, that’s all. Known him all his life.”

Ray walked inside with a tray of burgers. “You’re Professor Plum,” Loretta said, handing him the purple pawn. She turned her beer upside down, crumpled up the can and rolled the dice.

Loretta was holding Anna’s hair while she hugged the toilet, hurling. “Hey, we’ve all been there, hun,” Loretta said. “Mushrooms will do that sometimes.” Ray had brought his stash to the desert. It wasn’t sitting right. Anna choked out the rest, flushed, and staggered to her feet, sweating and mortified. “I should probably lie down for a minute,” she told Loretta, weaving her way to the living room. “Why don’t you take the bed tonight,” Loretta said, digging one hand in her giant purse. “I’ll send Ray in to join you. It’s no problem.” Anna slurred a thanks and goodnight and stumbled through the beaded curtain to the bedroom, wondering how long Ray’d been gone on his endless cigarette break. Or had he only stepped out five minutes ago? It was hard to be sure at the moment, considering that everywhere she looked, her surroundings kept turning to hamburger meat. She closed her eyes and tried to will away the kaleidoscope of tentacles churning inside her eyelids. When she woke up, Anna could hear Ray and Loretta’s voices softly from the other side of the curtain. The desert was dark still, a choir of crickets like distant static.

“I don’t have five hundred dollars, Ray. If I did, I’d give it to you. But I don’t.”

“Right. You’ve just got enough to make sure Gary can sit on his fat ass all day watching Matlock. But your only son can go fuck himself. Got it.”

“Let’s leave Gary out of it.”

“I would’ve liked to leave Gary out of it the day he broke my nose and kicked me out of the house, but I suppose we can’t have it all, can we.”

“Ray…... It’s complicated.”

“Yeah, being a mother sounds pretty fucking complicated. It’s not for everyone, I guess.”

Loretta was quiet for a minute.

“You know I don’t feel good about how everything played out. If I could do things differently…”

“I was thirteen years old living on the street because you chose fucking Gary over me, mom. I’ll say you could’ve done things differently. Jesus Christ.”

“That’s why I’m here every weekend, isn’t it? To see if we can’t be friends again?”

“You barely qualify as my mother, and you’re certainly not my friend. But I will take some fucking money, if Gary can manage to spare it from his Hot Pocket fund.” Anna heard shuffling and the crunch of cans being tossed in the trash. “And by the way, those pills are making you crazy. You shouldn’t be mixing all that shit at once. Your shrink ought to be in fucking prison. Anyway. Sleep well.” Anna lay very still with her eyes shut as Ray jangled through the beaded curtain and collapsed beside her in the dark, hitting the bed with a thud like he’d dropped from the sky.

In the morning Loretta was gone, and so was her car. On the kitchen counter were two notes, one labeled ANNA, the other MY SON RAY. Anna studied Ray’s face as he read, but it didn’t change, though he did slip a handful of twenties that had been tucked inside the letter into his pocket. Anna opened hers. In bold looping cursive it said, “Dear Anna, it was nice to meet you. He’ll take advantage of your weakness if you let him. Take care of yourself. Loretta.” Ray finished reading, folded the letter back up, and walked shirtless into the desert. He didn’t ask what her note said, and she didn’t either.

She remembered she had saved Loretta’s phone number a year later, after everything—after Ray had pawned most of her belongings and disappeared to Seoul with his secret girlfriend, that is, but before the whole Korean prison incident—and decided to ask. “What did you mean back in Joshua Tree, when you said he’d take advantage of my weakness?” she typed slowly. “How did you know?” She waited hours and hours until finally her phone buzzed. “I would never say that about my son,” read the text from Loretta. “What do you want from me?”

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slut4barzy · 5 years ago

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xmas with the lindmarks | owen lindmark

✰ day 4 of slutty’s twelve days of christmas.

when owen invited you to the lindmark’s annual christmas eve eve party he tried to warn you about everything and everybody in his family before he sent you out to the wolves. the nosey aunts and their invading questions, the drunk uncles, the rowdiness of it all. but one thing he did fail to mention, was the three, eight year old demons that he called his cousins.

the minute you entered his aunt’s house, his mother was already making a b-line towards the two of you, “i’m so sorry.” owen whispers into your ear, before pushing your coat off your body. monica’s arms were already up in the air ready to engulf you two into her bear hugs, “look who finally decided to show up!”

“hi mom,” owen presses a kiss on her cheek before wrapping his arms around her body. “what took you guys so long? nana seemed like she was going to have a heart attack if she didn’t see you.” owen looks over at you with a smirk making your face heat up, “traffic.” the both of you say in unison. there was no traffic on the way here.

“hi yn!” you were next, before you knew it monica’s arms were already around you, her perfume filling up your space, “you look gorgeous!” you pick at your flowly pink and green dress that was obviously meant for the summer, but when you saw it online you couldn’t pass up on it.

“hi mrs. monica, thank you!”she feels the dress, gushing over the material. “you should let me borrow this for the summer family barbecue.” she says, “will give me something to workout for.” you nod, “sure thing.” she smiles placing a hand on your shoulder, “now you two go on, i got some pies in the oven that are a minute away from burning.”

you watch as his mother speed walked back to the kitchen, laughing at her energy, “i love how no matter what day it is your mom always seems as if shes crushed five red bulls before she starts the day.” he takes your coat that he had in his hand and hung it up in the closet that was already bursting with coats. “at this point is there any other explanation.”

the triplets came running in, blayke who was the ringleader of them all of ran headfirst into owen’s stomach. “oof!” owen exclaims ruffing up his baby cousin’s sandy blonde hair.

“owen!”

“hey guys! i was wondering where you were.” you watched with a smile as the boys all trampled their big cousin with things that have happened since the last time they have seen each other. it just makes you smile seeing how good he is with children because it shows just what the future would hold when you have little ones of your own.

“owen! owen! owen!” colin prods bouncing on his feet, owen laughs, “what is it colin?”

“last game scored five goals. basically carried the team on my back.” the ‘baby’ of the triplets, ziggy — who was just a baby owen in glasses, turned to his brother offended by his statement, “did not!”

“did too!”

ziggy pushes colin’s chest, “did not!” colin does the same but his push sends ziggy to the ground landing right at your feet. “are you okay?” you ask reaching your hand out to help him up. ziggy looks at your hand, then looks at you, then back at your hand. at the sound of your voice owen and the triplets were out of their little bubble and registered that there was someone else in the room.

“thank you,” he says softly his little hand holding on to yours as you help pull him up. he walks over back over to his siblings. you smile nervously as they watched you, as if they’ve never seen a girl before. “are you not going to introduce me?” you ask owen.

the three of them turn backed to owen, “oh yeah. boys this is my girlfriend, yn. yn, this is blayke, colin, and ziggy, my mini-me’s.” you wave at them even though all you got back were stares. “hi, it’s very nice to meet you.” silence.

owen nudges blayke prompting them to say something, “it’s not really nice to stare.” still they wouldn’t budge, you look at owen who only gives you a shrug, “usually they’re not like this. i don’t know why they’re acting shy.” he says playfully poking colin in his sides who beings to laugh, “huh, mr. big shot.” monica pops her head out of the kitchen calling for her son, “owen come and say hi to your nana!”

he walks over to you, placing a kiss on your cheek, “duty calls. why don’t you go over to the couch and i’ll get you when i’m done.” when owen leaves you try and see if you could start a conversation with the triplets, maybe try and warm up to them a bit but when you turned around they were gone. sighing you give up and make way for family room where you go and wait for owen.

as you waited you made some small talk with his family as they were watching a game on television. you laughed at how invested his uncles were screaming at the screen, their big yells at the goals, reminded you of your family.

as you talked to his cousin, vanessa, who you have also met a couple months prior at one of owen’s games you notice from the corner of your eye that colin and ziggy have both slid in the seat next to you watching you intently as you talked to vanessa.

they sat like that, for ten minutes, watching you as you talked. every couple of minutes you would turn to see if you were wrong but nope, they were there watching you with their big blue eyes creeping you the fuck out.

“are these boneheads bothering you yn?” you weren’t the only that the two’s stares were bothering. vanessa gives them a look trying to scare them off, “leave her alone!” you shake your head, “it’s okay, they’re fine vanessa.”

she nods getting up and taking a big stretch, “okay i’ll be right back. i have a call to make.”

“i’ll be here,” you say. she looks over at colin and ziggy giving them both a smack on the head, “leave her alone. i mean it.” the two whine in protest, “we’re not even doing anything!” ziggy says, “yeah, we’re just watching the game!” colin backs up.

it wasn’t till a bit after vanessa left that you decided to say something. you turn towards their direction putting your hands in your lap trying to come across as nice as possible, “hi! do you wan-”

“how did you meet my cousin?” colin was the first to speak cutting you off. okay, starting off nice and easy. it’s obvious that the boys love their cousin very much, and of course with some strange girl taging along they are going to ask questions. so you are going to sit there and endure them all if it means acceptance.

“we met at school. we go to the same college.” the two look at each other, ziggy goes to whisper in his brother’s ear, eyes not leaving yours. “you’re not one of those girls, are you?”

you furrowed your eyebrows in pretend confusion, “what girls?” “those girls.” you knew what he what he was talking about you just wanted to mess with him. “what girls?”

“that wasn’t even the question colin!” ziggy huffs pushing his circle glasses up, “do you like lizards?”

your eyes lit up you loved any chance to blab about your pet. “oh my god, i love them! i have a baby one his name is rico.” you watched as his face lit up, “you do! i have three!”

as you continued to talk about your lizards and all you felt a an object hit the back of your head, “what the fuck,” you whisper you feel the back of your head turning to see who the culprit was. no one was behind the you but all you could hear is giggles. looking at the boys you ask, “did you see anyone?” ziggy shrugs, colin shaking his head.

you ignore it shaking it off, “anyways, i have a lepord gecko and he’s yellow and orange. i have to show you a picture, he’s so cute.” as go to pull out your phone from your dress pocket, again, another object hits your head. this time your turn your head quickly to make sure you catch the person, and there with his little nerf gun stood blayke laughing as if what he was doing was hilarious. “hey blayke, could you please not do that?” he looks at you with a stupid smirk, “or what?”

“or.. i don’t know. maybe just don’t do it.” he looks at you, raises up his gun and shoot a bullet right in the middle of your forehead.

that’s it, before you knew it you were up and ready to fight an eight year old. you felt colin and ziggy’s hands around your arms and waist and even though they are little people you were struggling to get out there hold. you point a finger at blayke, “i swear you little fuck if i wasn’t being held back by your brothers i would wrangle you right now!”

blayke drops the gun mouth wide open ready to scream “auntie monica! yn is saying very bad words!” monica who was passing through shakes her head, “please yn watch your mouth around the children.” your face heats up, “sorry, mrs. lindmark.”

you look back at him mouthing a you’re dead causing him to squeal in delight running away. you take a deep breath trying to calm yourself down from the events, ziggy tugs on your arm, “hey yn, do you want to come see my lizard collection?” you see owen exit the kitchen after finally saying his hellos, “hey guys, she’s my date! can i have her back.”

ziggy uses your arm to point to the direction of the stairs “i was just going to show her my lizards!” fake hurt crosses owen’s face, “its one thing that you’re talking to her the whole time. but c’mon dude, you’re taking her up to your room?! have some respect!”

“who cares, she’s hot.” you laugh throwing your head back. “thanks,” you say to colin.

you sit back on the couch owen following suit. ziggy tugs on your arm. “are you staying the night yn.” you shake your head, “i have to get over to my family’s house tonight.” he pouts, “no! it’s tradition you have to stay the night.”

you could see his eyes watering up, “oh my god ziggy! don’t cry.” tears start dropping from his eyes ziggy drops his head on your lap. “ziggy if i could i would but my mother would kill me if she knew that i was staying the night at my boyfriends, especially on christmas.”

you brush your fingers through his hair, “hey, next time okay. i’ll bring rico and he can play with your lizards.” he raises his head his face glistening with tears, “really?”

“mhm.”

“haha ziggy is a pussy. look at him crying!” ziggy stands up ready to tear colin to shreads, “i’m not a pussy!” you watched as the two scream chasing each other around.

“is this how they always are?” you ask snuggling into owen’s side. he wraps his arm around your shoulder slowly running his fingers up and down your arm. “you’re lucky they went easy on you. they showed the others no mercy.” your eyes widen, “the others?!” owen laughs, “i’m kidding babe you know you’re the only one.” you roll your eyes, “mhm, sure, totally.”

“but seriously though, they really like you.” you smile, “i’m glad they do, because i like them too.”

ziggy and colin make another round before ziggy jumps on colins back turning the chase into an all out war. you found it funny how the whole family doesn’t even blink an eye at the boys antics, as if this was an everyday occurrence.

blayke comes back around plopping himself next to owen, “hey owen when you’re finished with her, can i have her?” owen shrugs, “i don’t know man i kinda want to marry her, so that won’t happen anytime soon.”

you smile, pressing yourself closer into him. if those were his plans after all then you wouldn’t mind marrying into a family like this.

#hockey imagine #owen lindmark #slutty’s 12 days of christmas #day 4 #college hockey imagine #wisconson hockey #christmas party #nhl #nhl imagines #👩🏽‍🌾💗#sorry for any mistakes #college hockey #hockey imagines

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red-and-blonde-moved · 5 years ago

Text

(Characters and premise by @kingbrickisthelocalcryptid story and art by me)

I was built to be a child, a Pinnochio of sorts, with china skin and painted lips, I was his daughter.

He didn’t want me, really, there were no blue fairies to make me the child he really longed for. Despite my rosy cheeks I could not grin, despite my pink lips they couldn’t open into the childish giggle I heard from other kids.

I was incomplete.

One night he rolled over and pushed me to the floor, my ball-jointed legs caught me so I could stand before slumping back into a sit.

I knew I could move but I never did in case I’d break his heart further through my lack of a voice.

Instead, I stood once more and climbed onto his windowsill and watched the stars go by, all I heard was the ticking of the old grandfather clock and the sounds of night creatures; I longed to be with them.

When the sun turned the sky blue I climbed back onto the foot of my father’s bed and returned to my lifeless pose, waiting for him to wake.

I loved my father despite the fact that I could not satisfy him, in the night I took his pens and wrote him letters.

He named me Polly and that’s what I signed them.

I don’t think he believed they were mine, but the smile they brought him was enough for me.

One day his niece came over, he loved his niece, his niece loved him less so.

She filled boxes with his toys and put them in the attic, she put me in a box of books and placed me next to some other dolls like me.

I thought father would come back but he never did, and I could never open the door to the attic.

I found a kerosene lamp and enough kerosene to last me for years, every night I spent reading the books I was placed with.

These books were about lands far far away, adventurers, pirates, knights, princesses, inventors, scientists, every one enthralled me.

I’d show the sea to my china brothers and sisters but they never saw, glassy bead eyes not glinting with life like mine.

I showed the swallows a desert and they brought me a beak full of sand each, I touched it, it was cold, I wished I could feel how warm it was wherever they got it.

The mice read the stories with me, one of them brought me a pendant and told me it was fit for a prince, I swore that like the princes in my story I would give it to whichever knight saved me from my tower.

The dust bunnies swarmed me excitedly when I read about an adventurer and his dog who walked through challenge after challenge to find a home together, I wished I could read it for them but I thought they could do it fine themselves.

But my favourite story was one about an airship, I wanted to soar the skies like these adventurers. Feel the wind on my face and watch the world fall away from me, it was all I wanted.

One day the trapdoor up to the attic opened, a young man in a tailored vest was opening it for a young woman in skirts much longer than seemed practical to be climbing stairs who was carrying a box.

“My goodness, Patsy! It’s a gold mine up here! Look at these beautiful dolls!” The young man said with childlike glee, I saw him pick up one of my brothers and examine him. “You know how my father works at this museum? He was saying they wanted some dolls for an exhibit! He’d be ecstatic.”

The woman, Patsy, placed down her box before she walked over to me and picked me up.

“Now little girl, why aren’t you with your friends? Why isn’t she just beautiful William? The detail! We have to show your father,” She held me gently, examining my joins before cradling me like a baby.

“She is quite incredible, and look! It appears she likes to read!” William laughed, going over to pick up my books. “We can hardly take her away from her stories now can we?”

“She must be getting terribly tired of them I doubt she’s read anything new for ages!” Patsy laughed. “You could tell us both one of your stories while I make us dinner tonight, we’ll pay your father a visit in the morning and let him look them over.

My home had changed a lot since when I went to the attic, I missed my father but I simply watched as the couple danced around their kitchen with a loving glint in both their eyes.

William told us stories about a clockwork dragon, and a cowboy who fought a demon train, and a navy man turned pirate who saved his crew from pirates by lighting their rum ablaze, and a couple who were almost killed while at a ball, then they sat for dinner and left me in the kitchen to go to bed.

I snuck back up through the open attic door and took my princes pendant and hid it in the layers of my skirts by tying it around my waist in between my skirt and petticoat, then I went back downstairs, I found a sepia photo of my father, old and grey with a boy who looked like William on his lap. I would have smiled if I could. Father got his son after all.

I returned to the table with the green pendant against my hip, knowing it was safe.

Patsy held me like a child all the way to Williams father’s house, I was excited to see my father again, but when William greeted the unfamiliar middle-aged man with “Hello, Father.” I knew it was a bust.

I saw his wife and knew it was my fathers niece immediately, the same orange-blonde hair and beauty mark beside her lip, and she laughed when she saw me.

“Why this was my uncles! I haven’t seen you in a while, sweetie I’ll write something up about my uncle for the museum, I think he would have wanted her to be remembered for others,” She said, running off to write that.

I spent the day in Patsy’s- or Martha as Williams father called her- arms. I watched quietly as he examined me and said I was perfect, then as they left she placed me carefully on the table and kissed my head.

“You’ll like your new home, I hope,” she said with a smile and took Williams hand to leave out the door.

My new home was loud.

Loud in the day as kids ran around and parents talked about me and people stared at me, one time when it was quiet I just turned myself around and no one fixed me until the night.

I broke the glass case around me one night and explored the museum.

There were the bones of giant lizards, and swords from real pirates, there was a boat that I climbed in to pretend I was sailing but most amazingly, there was a decommissioned aircraft.

The N.S.S Zephyr the plaque read, it was outside and looked like it hung from the sky, I scaled the stairs into it and looked around.

It had two long wings and looked like a giant bullet-shaped balloon was attached to a pirates ship, there was access to the lower deck which was full of automatons who were designed to look like Pirates, they were all powered off and I couldn’t reach the button to turn them on.

The upper deck had a captains cabin with books, I found a small enough one and opened it up. Madam Grimms Tales of Fae. I carried it awkwardly to the steps up to the top part with the steering wheel, where I placed it down so I could climb up.

At the wheel, I felt the night breeze push my long hair behind me and my bonnet begin to slip off. I truly felt like I was flying.

I stayed there until it started to get blue, the point before the sun rises where the birds sing to me. And I got my book and returned to my case, I hid the book under the stand, expecting that the owners of this museum would take it away if they saw it.

They took away my broken glass case, leaving me without it until they came back with a new one, for those days I snuck my book up and a few more from around the museum which I hid under the blankets and pillows I sat on.

When I got my new case I spent my nights reading about faeries and swan princesses and the adventures of princes.

I felt, more than ever, like one of these princes trapped in a tower, waiting for his knight, longing for the world away from my captors.

I pictured my knight, a china doll like me, or a human who would hold me against his chest, or a child who’d take me on adventures.

I waited every night for my knight in shining armour to appear, praying he would.

One night a door opened, I felt cold as I hid my book back under my pillow, but it was too late to get back into a sitting position before a brass robot with an aviator cap with goggles pulled down over his eyes, he had a long red scarf and a bushy brown moustache and he grinned when he saw me.

“Aren’t you beautiful, hello there little lady,” He greeted, taking off my case. I shook my head aggressively.

“Not a lady?” He asked; I nodded.

“Okay then. I heard about you and I was wondering if you’d like to go adventuring with me? How did I hear of you? Well, the little porcelain doll who steals books and breaks their case is pretty talked about.”

I sagged my shoulders in a sigh and pulled out all my hidden books, I had hoped they wouldn’t be noticed at all.

“I’d say you’re itching to go see the sights, I have a hot air balloon and I wanted a travelling companion.” I stared up at him in shock before nodding my head very fast.

“Well, come on pretty doll, let’s go adventure.” I cocked my head at the word pretty.

The bot laughed, pulling out a handheld mirror from his pack.

The brass robot gave me the mirror, I peered into my face as my father had wanted me, still just like I was painted, I did not change like my father, I was simply an eternal child, despite my age.

I had rosy cheeks and bright red lips in a slight smile, I had clear blue eyes with large painted eyelashes and long blonde hair with a brown bonnet.

“What are you staring at so intensely?” The brass robot asked with a robotic chuckle.

I raised my hand to my hair and tugged at it, peering up at the robot. He nodded and pulled out a pocket knife. Carefully he chopped my hair short and took away my bonnet.

“You must be cold now…” he murmured, he took the bright red woollen scarf from his neck, it was far too long for me and wrapped around my chin and neck and shoulders easily, but I wasn’t cold.

“Come on, before someone sees.”

The balloon was huge, big and green made of a patchwork of fixed holes so much I could hardly tell what the original balloon looked like.

It was tethered down with a rope and the brass robot pulled it down, helping me in before jumping in himself and closing the gate that opened up the basket.

He tugged up the peg out of the dirt and began to tug on the string which raised us higher.

When we were high enough he lifted me up and held me so I could look out over the basket over onto the slowly disappearing ground.

The stars shone brightly as we flew, he made a set up to let me peer over the edge while he worked on steering us.

He began to sing a song about a girl who loved to fly and her adventures, I listened happily before hopping down into the basket and dancing around his feet, playing with my skirts happily as I danced.

He picked me up and rocked me as he continued to sing and span me around.

He couldn’t see my face change, but I was happier than I’d ever been, and he knew.

“Come on my tiny prince, I’m gonna show you the world,” he whispered, kissing my cheek. And I knew I’d found my knight.

Taking the green pendant out from my skirts I held it up to him and he took it with a grin, tying it around his neck.

My knight in dull brass armour.

And held close to his boiler to stave off the chill of the wind I knew I was finally free.

#art tag #writing tag #steampunk #steampunk art #steam punk #please reblog

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szopenhauer · 4 years ago

Text

What are you wearing right now? bluzę Lucy, tunikę z napisem Can’t touch this na tyłku, dresy...

Who was the last person you hugged? dad

Do you write down your dreams when you wake up? often

When was the last time you cried? Why? not sure

Do you still have most of your childhood toys? a lot of them

Do you get leg cramps often? recently I started to get them as I never did before :o

What is your religion? Christianity

Do you make wishes on your eyelashes? I blow at them to check who’s thinking about me

Have you ever met someone online then met them in person? If so, which website did you meet on?: yes, Dorota, tumblr

What was the last thing you threw in the trash?: strzykawkę

How many orange clothing items do you own?: just a few

Are you procrastinating at the moment?: kinda

Is there someone you really wish would talk to you?: maybe

Is Halloween simply the greatest holiday ever?: nah (Lisa is offended)

When were you last frustrated?: now

When was the last time you wanted to tell someone something, but couldn’t?: today

How many true friends do you know you’ll always have?: I worry that I will end up without my gf and dad :(

What color car would you definitely not want to own?: pink

Do you look more for “cuteness” or “hotness” in the opposite sex?: cuteness

How old is the nearest framed photograph to you?: it’s my dad’s black and white portrait so older than me probably

Are you picky when it comes to music?: dunno

What is something new you realized today? sigh...

Do you pick out your outfits at night or in the morning?: morning

What is the longest period of time you’ve chewed a single piece of gum?: not long

Have you ever seen the movie “Chicken Little”?: nope

What is the closest green object to you?: scissors

When was the last time you got your hair cut?: this month

Do you ever wear long socks?: not anymore

Polka dots or stripes?: stripes

Do you like the smell of hand sanitizer?: noooo

If your friend just died, what would be the first thing you would do?: omg...

Do you like the colors of your room?: they’re fine

Would you rather it be snowing or bright and sunny?: bright and sunny

When was the last time you went to the dentist?: almost week ago

Do you believe in reincarnation?: hmm...

What do you think of when I say PURPLE?: asexuality and Prince :D

What was the last thing you watched on YouTube? I’m watching Mean girls reunion now How long do you think you could go without listening to music? dunno How long could you go without chocolate? years

How about without your Cell phone? depends Which do you prefer: computer or television? computer, I don’t watch TV Who do you get along with best in your family? my father obviously How often do you go to the movie theater? I don’t How late did you stay up last night? 1 am at least When did you wake up? late Are you ready for children? hell no Do you prefer to text your friends or call them on the phone? text Do you have a nice yard? meh When you’re bored in class, do you write on the back of your hand? used to at times Do you think that you see the world differently from others? kinda Do you watch the late night news? no news, I avoid them all as much as possible Do you have any odd obsessive habits? not obsessive? Do you prefer sour or sweet? sweet Are you currently in your house? I am indeed Do people ever compliment your eyes? M. complimented my eyes Do they compliment your hair? wonder why Do you laugh at extremely corny jokes? oh well... Do you prefer ketchup or mustard? preffered ketchup Garlic fries or curly fries? garlic fries? eww! Are you one of the top 5 smartest in your class? been in elementary and partially middle school too Do you own any crazy socks? wouldn’t say so

Tell me about the first five photos you have on your phone or camera.: Nat took pics of cats

Have you got any half or step siblings?: I have not

When was the last time you were disappointed?: constantly?...

What cars do your siblings drive, if they do drive?: she doesn’t

What about your parents?: neither

Do you like kid’s movies?: plenty

When was the last time you had to take someone home? Who was it, and where did you take them home from?: odprowadzaliśmy Gosie jakiś czas temu ze wspólnie spędzonego dnia w parku

Who did you last speak aloud to and what did you say?: parent, forgot

How many siblings do your parents have?: mom has a brother, dad has a sister and two brothers

What colour is your wallet?: I own several coin purses instead

Are you wearing any jewellery right now?: am not

What can you smell right now?: luckily nothing

Who last held your hand?: family member

Have you seen all the Lord of the Rings movies?: not Hobbit

What is something you can’t seem to stop doing (or start)? uh oh

When was the last time you comforted someone who was upset? hours ago When was the last time you yelled at someone? same What types of things typically cause you to cry? everything?... What is one thing that would make your life a lot better? better health - too late for that How would you describe your overall aesthetic? complicated What is one of your most positive characteristics? What about one of your most negative? matter of perspective

Do you blow dry your hair or do you let it air out? first option Are you always late or always on time? early

Do you face your problems head on or do you run away from them? run What do you think of dreadlocks? cool Who do you know without a doubt cares about you? I doubt everyone, sorry Have you ever caught yourself talking in your sleep? mom caught me once or twice when I was a child Do you catch lizards? I photograph them

What is your favorite lyric in the song you are listening to? I like it whole - Tame Impala - Feels like we only go backwards Has anything seriously made you mad today? whoops

What brand of chapstick do you use? none, gross Is it cold in your house? not now Where you live, has it snowed yet? thx God it didn’t :o Are you the type of person who says you like something just to be cool? been there, done that, regret it What is the title of the last story you wrote? personal Paper clips or staples? staples Is swearing really necessary? helps :x Have you ever stuck your tongue to a frozen pole? I’m not stupid Do you take screen shots often? shitload Is there an album that you can listen to without skipping over any songs? when in the mood Do you use Mozilla Firefox? only to listen to the mass on Sunday Cinnamon: Yes or no? rarely What would your initials be if you married the person you are crushing on? who said I’m gonna change my surname? What year was your dad born in? not your business Do you have any beauty marks? moles? mhm Lyrics to end this survey, aye? :] Baby, I'm dying for another taste

hows your life at the moment? “rollerclaster” or worse do watch funny tvshows like family guy and south park? prefer Simpsons

have you let someone down recently? nothing new quick lyrics from the last song you heard.. Hi my little kitten who have you talked to on the phone today? - make a wish. right now. anything. miracles won’t happen to me... if you had to live at one of your bestfriend’s houses, where would u live? I already live with one lmfao how are you on this fine day? not the worst yet? are there any stressful situations in your life? ha ha ha... can you love and hate someone? I felt that do your parents annoy you? my mother is a pro at this what’s your favorite Lady Gaga song? 911 lately any last words? better stay quiet...

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carmenlire · 6 years ago

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Turned Upside Down

I was talking to @followmetopromiseland about this idea and ended up writing a oneshot about it! I hope y’all like this!

read on ao3

Arms full with one of his quivers, Alec pushes the door open to Magnus’s apothecary. The bundle in his arms is a little unwieldy but this particular quiver wasn’t for going out in the field-- it was more of a collective place to rest all of his arrows, no matter if they were for demons, vampires, or just practice.

Dumping them next to Magnus’s desk, Alec rearranges the few books Magnus has sprawled out across the surface-- carefully marking what page his boyfriend had been on. Nodding a little to himself, he turns to the rows and rows of supplies that take up Magnus’s walls and the freestanding, open storage cabinets.

When he’d first asked Magnus if he could browse a little, maybe use a few of his ingredients, his boyfriend had been amused if nonplussed.

Go ahead, darling, he’d said. Just don’t blow yourself up.

Alec huffs out a laugh as he remembers the exchange. Magnus hadn’t asked too many questions and distantly Alec wonders if maybe he didn’t think that Alec was just asking out of curiosity, not really planning on making use of the apothecary that could be as personal to a warlock as their bedroom.

If Magnus had said no, Alec would’ve kept doing this at the Institute. He can’t pretend, though, that he isn’t happy to spend a quiet afternoon away from everyone while still being productive.

As he looks over the rows and rows of shelves, Alec picks out half a dozen ingredients. His search takes considerably longer than anticipated, however, as Alec lets himself be distracted by things he never wanted to see in a jar-- things he didn’t even know could be in a jar, for that matter.

Moon tears. Lizard nails. Hemlock.

Giving that a wide berth, Alec’s just turned his back when he freezes, reconsidering with a tilt of his head. Slowly, he turns back and grabs the vial of distilled poison.

Satisfied that he has everything he needs, Alec brings it back to Magnus’s desk before he’s off again, this time to the window seat. There are a dozen cauldrons in the storage space underneath and he grabs three cylindrical units.

Setting them up in a semi circle around his ingredients, Alec grabs the large quiver and lays it on the chair so that it can lean against the back. He takes the first arrow out-- with its sterling silver head-- as he slips his stele out of his pocket.

He spends the next hour refreshing the runes on the shafts. As always, it’s calming and Alec loses himself in the routine of it, his eyes trailing the glowing runes that signal swiftness and accuracy.

With each arrow he’d runed, Alec had placed it in a designated pile. There was one for almost every downworlder species as well as a few other categories besides. Once he’s finished with this first part, Alec takes the cauldron to this right and etches a few runes across it, watching as they light up against the black cast-iron and settle into place. In tune with the cauldron, Alec feels it hum against his palm, vibrating with angelic power.

Reaching for a jar of Wolfsbane, Alec pours a spoonful of the coarsely ground plant into the base. To that, he adds a few drops of ketamine. Alec watches as the runes heat up slowly, turning from dull gray to a silver blue as the contents heat up, slowly disintegrating into a pool of liquid.

Once everything is completely dissolved and the mixture has faded into a dull green, Alec takes the first arrow, submerging it into the cauldron. He holds the head and most of the shaft in the liquid for a few seconds before slowly pulling it out. He watches as the green sludge disappears into the arrow, as though melting under the surface.

The first arrow done, Alec sets it aside. From all appearances, it looks like the same arrow that it was before Alec dipped it into the poison. It’s even safe to touch with bare fingers. However, when it impales a rogue or feral werewolf, the painful serum will drip into the wolf’s body, acting as a paralysis as it enters the bloodstream.

It’s effective as hell even if it is a laborious process.

So, Alec finishes the silver arrows before moving onto the wood ones carved for vampires. It’s wood from the white elm tree, each arrow devastating for its sharpness, the way it's built to splinter in the chest cavity.

He works for a few hours, steadily going through the different types of arrows. He doesn’t do anything to the practice arrows that are in a variety of materials-- those go back in the quiver once he’s done runing them-- and they’re only a select few anyway, for Alec often likes to practice archery without using any runes. Nothing but his skill and sight leading the arrow to its dead center.

He’s just gathering the last few ingredients he needs to the last batch when he hears footsteps approaching the apothecary. Alec doesn’t look up, though, too intent on uncorking the stopper for the Botulinum vial.

“What are you doing, Alexander?” Magnus’s voice is bemused though there’s also a fair amount of skepticism in his tone. Alec doesn’t look up as he replies, using a miniature stopper to draw a dozen drops from the vial, pouring it into the third cauldron one drop at a time.

“I’m working,” he says easily, retracing the fireproof rune on the side. This particular mixture could be a little volcanic as the acid ate away at the other ingredients.

“And what are you working on,” Magnus asks, and Alec hears him step closer. Looking up, he sees his boyfriend eyeing the desk warily as if expecting something to jump out at him.

“I’m reinforcing my arrows,” Alec answers absently, reaching for a quarter brick of Adamas. It’s in a raw form that can be found in most weapon’s master workshops. Alec kept a personal stash, though, for just this ritual. The Adamas, when in brick form, was purer than anything else that could be found outside of the Iron City.

Coming over to his side, Magnus peers over his shoulder, down at the cauldron that was bubbling ominously. It was a slow simmer as the Adamas melted into liquid light, coiling around the drops of venom, the top of the mixture foaming lightly.

Magnus watches silently as Alec grabs an Adamas-tipped arrow and dips it into the solvent. There’s a low hiss but when Alec slowly drags the arrow out, it shine cleanly.

Seeing Magnus’s mouth part, Alec speaks into the silence first. “The Adamas in the cauldron binds to the Adamas that makes the arrow head. It’s a cleaner layer of film, then, and virtually undetectable until it collides with demon flesh.”

“Fascinating,” Magnus mutters. He looks at the arrow in Alec’s hand before making a show of studying the neat piles over the desk. “You’ve been at this awhile,” he asks dryly.

Alec nods. “The afternoon,” he confirms. “It’s soothing, runing the arrows, cleaning them if need be before coating them in a mixture.”

“I think you mean potion, darling.” Before Alec can protest, Magnus is continuing, “You’re using magic-- your runes that run on angelic power-- and ingredients, most of which seem to be from my apothecary.”

“You had everything I needed,” Alec says defensively. “It’s more convenient than going to the apothecary shop in Queens.”

Magnus waves that away. “I told you that you could use this room and I meant it, even if I never dreamed you’d actually be able to make your way around everything.”

“What did you think I wanted in here for?”

Shrugging, Magnus merely offers, “I thought you were being your usual lovely self and just wanted to learn more about this side of me.”

Alec puts down the arrow before sharply backing away whenever Magnus makes to move closer. Holding his hands up, Alec just jerks his head to the sink in the corner and his boyfriend rocks back on his heels with a quiet, “Ah.”

Heading over to the corner of the apothecary to wash his hands, Alec calls out over his shoulder, “Okay, so maybe potion does make sense for what I was doing.”

“I’m telling you, darling, based on the little I just walked in on, you would've made a very clever warlock, indeed.” Carefully, he raises an arrow with a faint orange tinge up to eye level, studying it curiously. “How did you even start doing this? I thought most shadowhunters just cleaned their weapons on their pants leg before heading off to the next job.”

Drying his hands on a towel, Alec turns back and walks back over the desk, flipping the towel on his shoulder in a haphazard manner that does notmake Magnus find the man in front of him even more attractive than usual.

Alec slides his arms around Magnus’s waist, pulling him close before replying, “I was fifteen or so when I was out on a mission. I was fighting a Dormai demon and my arrow went right where the equivalent of their jugular would be. However, the damned things heal so fast that before I could send a kill shot or even move closer for combat, it had pulled the arrow out of its thigh and sealed the wound. I barely made it out of that fight-- and I didn’t do so unscathed.”

He winces. “I broke four ribs and had a gash on my arm that ended up with a nasty infection. I was in the infirmary for two days following that particular assignment.”

With a small noise of sympathy, Magnus pulls him closer, laying a kiss on his waiting mouth.

“Poor baby,” his boyfriend mutters before smiling and arching a brow. “Let me guess,” he says dryly. “You spent the entire two days brainstorming.”

“What else was I supposed to do,” Alec asks reasonably. “I actually watched a documentary on these frogs in South America that can kill a man with, like, a microgram of poison. It got me thinking that I could do something similar with the demons.”

“How Isabelle-esque of you,” Magnus teases.

“Hey, I scored top of my class at the Academy in combat strategy.”

“Oh, I had no doubts, Alexander,” Magnus primly retorts.

Alec clearly sees him biting back laughter but just huffs out a breath, letting his arms tighten around his boyfriend before continuing his explanation.

“Anyway, I needed something that could act as both a paralysis and was painful as shit. I test a few different formulas but I landed on the one I was now without too much trouble and I’ve been using it ever since. I do this about once a month, depending on my patrol schedule.”

Magnus listens intently to Alec and he can see his boyfriend’s mind moving as fast as lightning behind those wonderful eyes he loves so much. It only takes a second for Magnus’s eyes to dart to the neat piles littering the desk surface.

“What are all of these other ones, then?”

Grimacing a little, Alec bites his lip as he considers Magnus. He’ll tell his boyfriend the truth because anything else would be blasphemy but he has to admit that he’s worried about his reaction.

“Those are specialized formulas for certain groups of downworlders.”

Instead of recoiling like Alec had expected, Magnus keeps his thoughtful expression. “That’s damned near ingenious, Alec. Have other shadowhunters adopted this practice?”

Alec shrugs. “Not really,” he answers. “We usually just maintain our runes on our weapons. Most shadowhunters think anything more than that is unnecessary. Angelic power is all we should need, after all,” he ends sardonically. “Angel forbid we try to augment that power and give ourselves another advantage over an enemy.”

“Well,” Magnus says, pausing for a moment to pull Alec down for a kiss. “How lucky I am, then, that you have such a wonderful mind and that you aren’t afraid to try new things.”

“It’s common sense,” Alec tries to argue but Magnus hushes him before he can say anything else.

“Maybe it is a natural trail of thought to follow,” Magnus allows, “But that doesn’t mean you had to research and put in the leg work to fortify your arrows. Watching you make a potion, realizing its purpose, was fascinating, darling. You seemed so intent on the cauldron, so meticulous in your measurements.” His lips quirk. “It was like you were in your own little world and I was fortunate enough to see it.”

Alec smiles a little, shifting his hands so that they rest low on Magnus’s back. “I’m nothing compared to you,” he says. “I could watch you work in here for hours.”

Laughing, Magnus lays his hands on Alec’s chest and Alec doesn’t try to stop himself from leaning into the touch. “And you have,” he says. He waves behind him. “That’s the whole reason I brought a chair in here. Now that I know you can find your way around here, though, I might put you to work.”

“Oh yeah,” Alec asks softly, grinning.

“Yeah,” Magnus breathes and Alec can’t resist anymore.

He pulls Magnus closer and their kiss this time is soft but lingering. It’s his favorite way to end a workday, coming home to Magnus and kissing him. It’s a start to their time and he never tires of this little ritual.

When he pulls away, Alec doesn’t open his eyes immediately. Instead, he seeps into the quiet that’s settled over the room, the easy contentment. When he does open his eyes, however, it’s to see Magnus already looking at him.

Or, rather, he’s studying him, eyes flitting across Alec’s face like he’s trying to solve a puzzle. “You’re always surprising me, aren’t you?”

It’s a question that’s become a sort of joke to them but it’s yet another little thing that makes Alec feel like he’s sitting in front of a hearth, golden fire lapping over him and warming his bones.

“In good ways I hope?”

“Oh, the very best,” Magnus assures him.

Alec laughs and lets himself be pulled closer. Work’s forgotten in favor of much more interesting ways to pass the time and if Magnus finds a sock under his desk the next afternoon, than no one has to know why but him.

#turned upside down #this was actually fun to write even if it was a little challenging!#my writing #malec fic

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hungergames-fanfic · 5 years ago

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An eventful Monday

The 40th Annual Hunger Games started yesterday morning, a Sunday. Today during class, like every year, we don’t have to watch but I’m dying in curiosity. Ms. Gullard has placed a towel over the hanging television up on the wall corner and has made us write down verbs. She’s also lowered the volume to mute and because the towel is thick enough, I can only see vague shadows on the tv.

Next to me, Wendy sends notes to two of her friends, Cassidy and Orchid. I’m guessing they’re talking about the games and I want to almost ask them but I just know they’ll avoid the question and hurt my feelings. It’s all they’re good at.

During lunch, Efrain and I sit by ourselves as usual and eat. He mentions watching the games but refuses to tell me about it. Says that if I was allowed to watch he’d tell me. Also says that he got a good talking about it.

“Momma gave me a good bitchin’ bout talkin’ bout it at ya house. Said that if I make Ms. Bilmin cry I ain’t gon see the light of day”, he widens his eyes and shakes his head. He stuffs his mouth with peaches from his school lunch.

Since I met Efrain, he hasn’t changed that much except he looks a lot more healthy now. I guess his daddy working at Mr. Kwan’s stables brings in good money and puts food on the table. He’s still thin, but doesn’t look as bony as he used to.

He’s a little bit darker than I am and his hair is curlier than mines. My curls are big and wavy, his are small and abundant sitting at the top of his head. He says his oldest brother Eduardo cuts his hair. Trims the back and sides and leaves it longer at the top. I really like it and sometimes wish I could cut my hair too. Mines is so long sometimes I sit on it.

After school, we go to my house and eat what momma Bilmin has made for us. It’s vegetable and egg fried rice with cooked slices of pork ham. Because Efrain is here, she’s not crying as much as she normally does around this time of year, still her eyes are red and her nose is pink.

Momma Bilmin is so pretty. She ain’t as wrinkly as all the other old people. Her graying hair is long and straight and she’s thin, always wearing pretty yellow dresses. I love the color yellow, it’s the color of sunshine and sunflowers. The color makes me feel happy and warm, just like the sun. She fills our glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice and reminds us to do our homework after we’re done eating.

“That’s a pretty ring, Ms. Bilmin”, Efrain says to her.

On her right hand, on her middle finger she has a gold ring of a horse shoe with small stones on it, inside of it is a horse on its side. She told me it used to be uncle Amos’s but it’s hers now. Momma Bilmin smiles and puckers her lips. Her eyes get watery and she stares at me giving me a painful smile. Without a word, she takes a deep breath and walks out the room. We can hear he sandals make noise as she walks away.

“What did I say?”, Efrain asks me.

“Momma tends to be fragile around this time of year”, I inform him.

While we do our homework outside, sitting under a small tent daddy made for me when I was younger, Efrain tries to call Brownie over to him. She ignores him but her calf, now full grown, runs to us like a big happy dog.

“Daddy made this tent for me so I could spend time outside with him while he worked on the ranch”, I say picking lint off a corner. He pets the cow and it runs off.

“Ya daddy so strict and scary”, Efrain admits.

“No doubt, but I can tell he loves me cause he always wanna spend time together”, I add, “he always wants me to work outside with him, or go to places with him and on the lazy days, he likes to sit in the livin’ room while I read books. He snores really loud and it’s hard to concentrate but I enjoy his company too”.

“My daddy is always workin’, momma‘s sick so she stays home. My big brother Eduardo is always workin’ too, he brings home tessera every now and then”, Efrain says.

“What’s that like?”, I ask wondering what tessera is.

“Well it gets lonely cause it’s usually Felix and me but he acts like he’s too old and cool to hang out”, Efrain says closing his science book.

I don’t correct him and accept the answer. Soon the conversation changes to what he does for fun, which is pretty much what Ignacio said on our birthday. He plays outside with the neighborhood kids but cause it’s hunger games month he watches the games. This calls for my curiosity again.

“What are the games like this year?”, I whisper. I know that every year the games are different and set in different arenas. In fact, one time, on tv I saw that one of the arenas was all tall grasslands and a couple of trees. Everyone was stuck sneaking around.

“It’s swampy”, he says. “A lot of scary animals. So far a boy ran into a body of water and got eaten by a big lizard”, he widens his eyes and nods. This scares me.

“Ain’t the games start yesterday?”, I ask. I’d expect for them to just roam around the place at random and only be killed off by other tributes, I didn’t know that the arena was meant to kill you too.

“That don’t matter in the games. Anything’ can kill you, be it another tribute, the arena or even yourself. Everyone usually just tries to survive the careers though”, he says packing his book in his backpack. He’s done with his homework but I still have a lot of verbs to come up with for mines.

Our conversations change a lot, we go from talking about the games to all the weird animals we’ve seen here in 10. So far I win cause I’ve seen an actual coyote pack but he was pretty close with the feral chickens. After that, we talk about the animal we wish we were, he says he wishes he was one of our cows cause they look like they have it good. We laugh at this. I’m not sure what animal I wish I was, but right now, I think it would be cool to be a bird so I could fly.

“More like a wild chicken”, he jokes and makes a chicken call. This riles up the chickens in the coop and we laugh harder than before.

When his daddy comes to pick him up, mines tells me to go change and that I’ll be going to Efrain’s for a bit while he and Mr. Oxoro go do some errands. In my room, while I put on my shoes, daddy comes in and sits next to me on the bed.

“I know they watch the games at your friends house. I’m allowin’ you to watch them, but when you come back, there will be absolutely no talk about you saw, you understand me?”, he looks at me and points firmly. I nod in agreement. This excites me more than going to Bloques, but I keep the emotion to myself.

We follow Mr. Oxoro’s raggedy car in our wagon and soon, we enter Bloques. I’m not sure what it was that I expected, but it was nothing like this.

The streets are dirty and there’s trash on the corner of roads. It smells like pee and I’m sure the stains on building walls are exactly that. The houses are small squares and made of cement but some have been painted and given personality by their owners. Other houses look like mines but they’re half the size. Some people sit outside theirs and stare at us, kids playing around stop to look at our horses in awe. I see some point at them, others point at us.

“I ain’t ever seen so many houses in one spot”, I say to daddy.

“You see that red, run down house over there”, daddy points. The house looks empty and in shambles. It’s roof is caved in and the door is leaning off it’s hinge. Whoever used to live there must of had nothing if they couldn’t even fix it up.

“That’s where I used to live when I was around ya age”, he says ignoring all the people watching us. I imagine patting myself on the back for not thinking out loud.

After so many turns on so many neighborhoods and so many looks from so many people, some who I think I’ve seen at the Plaza on reapings, we finally arrive to Efrain’s. He lives in a very big gross looking building daddy calls an apartment complex. Our daddies don’t go in with us, they just wave us off and leave on the wagon without saying where they’re headed.

“We have six floors and guess what floor I live in”, Efrain says with an attitude tryna skip steps up the stairs.

“I almost don’t wanna go home no more”, I admit thinking about having to walk all the way down when we finally reach his floor’s hallway.

He laughs and knocks on the first door we reach and tells me we have to wait a little. Through the walls I can hear a baby crying and some loud music playing. Efrain says that’s his neighbors. I’m not used to the ruckus but in a way, I’m having fun just standing here.

When the door opens, a tall teenager opens the door and stares at us funny. He looks like Efrain but older. He’s skinny and just as dark, same haircut and everything except his clothes fit better.

“Where’s dad?”, he says looking at me funny.

“He and Mr. Wyetka went on an errand, this is Isa”, Efrain pats my shoulder. “Isa this is my brother Felix but we call him Fee. Can Isa call you Fee too?”, Efrain asks. Felix smiles and tilts his head swiftly inviting us into their home.

Unlike mines, his living room, dinning room and kitchen are all connected. Down a small hallways are three doors. Efrain tells me the door down the hall is the restroom in case I need it and we sit on an old green patchy, two seater sofa. Their tv ain’t flat or on the wall, it’s fat and huge and sits on a table decorated with little glass tea cups with pretty flowers drawn on them.

To our right is a big open window that leads to the fire escape, says Efrain. Here, his brother steps out and closes the window. He smiles at someone and then they peak their head to look and laugh too. It’s a blonde haired boy I’ve never seen, another teen. In his hand, he has a small stick that he lights with a lighter and sucks. I watch them smoke for a minute before Efrain points it out.

“They smoke that every day”, Efrain rolls his eyes and changes the channel where previously Dan McGee, 10’s news reporter, was talking in front a meat factory. He switches the channel to the games and looks at me with a mischievous smile.

“Daddy says it’s ok to watch, but I can’t talk about it back home”, I inform him. He nods and raises the volume up to the number twelve.

For the first twenty minutes all they show is a bunch of tributes minding their business. The careers, Efrain says they volunteer to be there and train for the “honor”, he quotes his fingers making a silly face, hang at the cornucopia talking to each other. Apparently they spotted someone and are gonna go hunt them down. This makes me feel nervous. Other tributes are shown sneaking around the swampy, muddy arena or climbing tall trees, hiding. Because nothing interesting is happening they replay the bloodbath. I am not emotionally prepared for what I’m about to see because when I do, I get so scared I start to cry.

The cannon blows and everyone runs towards the cornucopia, a boy is followed by the camera, he picks up knives and just as he does, a spear is thrown right at his stomach. This makes me jump. Efrain laughs and says “that must of hurt”. My stomach churns when I see one of the so called careers stab another boy mercilessly. The boy spits blood with every breath and weakly tries to push the career off but he dies before reaching the strength. I can’t help it. This is so scary I start crying immediately.

“What’s wrong Isa?”, Efrain asks scooting closer to me. He puts his arm around my shoulder. I look out the window and spot Felix giving him a thumbs up, one he retracts and sucks in his lips before he and his friend hide attempting to not be seen.

“They’re just killin’ one another like life ain’t mean anythin’”, I say, “like who they used to be never mattered and never will cause they gone. Just a memory to their loved ones. Momma Bilmin has a right to cry. This is horrible”.

“I never thought of it that way”, Efrain says guiltily taking his arm off of me. “Wanna do some else?”, he asks but suddenly jumps up with excitement, “wanna meet my momma? She’s been wantin’ to meet you, c’mon”, he takes my hand and pulls me into the hallway. We enter to the room on the left.

In here, the room is clean and white, colorless and almost empty. All that’s in here is a bed and a dresser. Above the bed is a big picture of her and Mr. Oxoro on their wedding day. She looks pregnant.

It smells like dampness and sickness. A scent I can’t specifically describe. At first, her eyes are closed but she turns her head to see us come in and coughs in a handkerchief. She looks like she’d be very pretty and on the picture above, she is. She’s light skinned and really pale, her lips are almost white and her hair is light blonde. It almost feels like she’s a random lady in their home because Efrain and Felix look nothing like her. They look like his daddy, who’s shorter than her, chubby and dark skinned. He has puffy hair like Olive.

She smiles at me. Efrain pushes me towards her and puts his hand on her arm.

“Momma, this Isa”, he says excitedly.

“Hello, Isa”, she says tiredly with a smile. I smile back. “Efrain’s told me a lot bout you”, she says.

“Momma”, Efrain snaps with his eyes wide open and turns to look at me with an awkward laugh. He scratches the back of his head.

“I’m sleepy baby”, she says to him before he gives her a hug and invites me to leave the room.

When we step out, he runs to the window his brother and friend are at and knocks. With his thumb he points back at me and Felix nods giving him a peace sign. Efrain takes my hand and we head down to the street.

“Where we goin’?”, I ask out of breath.

“I think everyone should be outside right now”, Efrain says skipping steps, going down faster than I.

“What you talkin’ bout?”, I scream at him but he doesn’t answer and leaves me behind.

When I run out the door after him, he’s waving at a bunch of kids playing with a deflated ball. Without skipping a beat, some run up to us. Others spot me and look at each other. They don’t bother to come.

“Why you with her?”, Edwin asks. He’s tanned with shaggy light brown hair. Skinny like most and wears clothes just as big as Efrain’s. He’s sweaty and looks mad that I’m here.

“Isa’s my friend”, Efrain snaps. “Besides, ain’t we been needin’ an extra player for Wendy’s team?”, he points at Wendy who too makes a stink face and nods. She crosses her arms and looks at me.

“She can be on your team, Edwin can join me”, she says.

“No way, she’s a girl, she’s gonna be in yours”, Edwin snaps back.

“Then I’m not playin’”, she says.

“Fine, Isa can take over for ya”, Efrain snaps at her. I stand next to him feeling bad about no one wanting to play with me, but Efrain standing up as my friend makes me feel better.

“Oh c’mon it’s just for today”, another girl says. She has loose and messy pigtails, whatever she ate has stuck to her cheeks and it looks sticky. Her clothes are stained in red and her knee caps are scabbed from having fallen recently. “I’m Wigma”, she says, “I’m the oldest one here cause I’m eleven”. I give her a shy smile.

After some back and forth, Wendy rolls her eyes and accepts me on her team. She doesn’t talk to me at all for the first thirty minutes but after I successfully kick the ball into the middle between two trashcans, where we make a goal, she smiles at me for the first time ever. By the time the game ends, Wigma scores by kicking the deflated ball at a trashcan making it fall back. The boys refuse to accept that as a score and refuse to claim we won, instead they call it a tie. Laughing at them for being in denial, Wendy smiles at me, sweaty and out of breath and high fives me.

One by one, everyone starts to leave. Wigma hugs me goodbye and Wendy just waves. Edwin avoid contact with me and a boy named Lucas just gives me a half smile. Efrain and I stay outside until the sun starts to set, we climb a fence and run around pretending we’re foxes running after feral chickens, whom I learn from they shouldn’t be trifled with.

By the time our daddies get home, they find us running back to them and jumping on top of the wagon with an angered chicken tryna fly and peck at our heads. They smell like alcohol and Mr. Oxoro laughs so hard he falls off the wagon. Daddy laughs and hiccups a burp before he asks Mr. Oxoro if he’s ok.

Waving goodbye to Efrain and Wigma who I spot looking outside the window on the second floor of the apartments, I turn to look at daddy with a big smile.

“You had fun too, daddy?”, I say listening to him chuckle to himself.

“Yep, and I see you did too”, he says pulling me closer, under his sweaty armpits, and hugs me tightly.

“Uh-hu! I did! We watched the games but it was too scary”, I admit, “I never want to watch something so horrible again!”, I snap. Not to him but at myself. I’m upset that I’ve saddened momma Bilmin so many times for wanting to watch. I understand why I’m not allowed and won’t ever ask anymore questions again. I’ve had enough!

“Why do the games exist?”, I ask daddy.

“Cause!”, daddy sings, “how else is the government gonna control us? How else can they remind us that we have no power and mean nothin’? By takin’ our children and forcin’ us to watch them kill each other, that’s how!”, he chuckles and nods. “That’s why I work my ass off! So you never have to be part of that”, he says and kisses my forehead.

“Crud”, he burps. “I think we’re lost”.

#isadora wyetka #efrain #Polomir Wyetka #momma bilmin #Wendy #Edwin #Wigma #Felix #Mr. Oxoro #Mrs. Oxoro #Hunger Games #age 9 #arielle

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littlemusicreviews · 6 years ago

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100 Best Songs of 2018

100. MØ (feat. Diplo) – “Sun In Our Eyes”

99. Hayley Kiyoko – “Curious” 98. Vince Staples – “Relay”

97. Brockhampton – “San Marcos”

96. Blood Orange – “Saint”

95. Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso (feat. Florida Georgia Line & Watt) – “Let Me Go” 94. Little Dragon – “Lover Chanting”

93. Florence + The Machine – “Patricia”

92. ionnalee – “Samaritan”

91. Cher – “Waterloo”

90. Camila Cabello – “Never Be The Same”

89. Tirzah – “Holding On”

88. Sam Bluer – “Body High”

87. Ravyn Lenae – “Sticky”

86. Ball Park Music – “I Am A Dog”

85. Kylie Minogue – “Golden”

84. Post Malone – “Rich & Sad”

83. Mariah Carey – “GTFO”

82. serpentwithfeet – “fragrant”

81. Tierra Whack – “Pretty Ugly”

80. Cardi B – “Money Bag”

79. Diplo (feat. Lil Yachty & Santigold) – “Worry No More” 78. Tomberlin – “Tornado”

77. Marissa Nadler – “For My Crimes”

76. Ross From Friends – “Thank God I’m A Lizard”

75. Yves Tumor – “Noid”

74. Anna Von Hausswolff – “The Mysterious Vanishing Of Electra”

73. Charli XCX & Troye Sivan – “1999”

72. Miya Folick – “Stock Image”

71. Christine And The Queens – “The Walker”

70. LOOΠΔ – “Hi High”

69. Sheck Wes – “Mo Bamba”

68. Migos – “Stir Fry”

67. A$AP Rocky (feat. Moby, T.I. & KiD CuDi) – “A$AP Forever”

66. Junglepussy – “I’m In Love”

65. Charlie Puth – “Boy”

64. Kurt Vile – “One Trick Ponies”

63. Jamila Woods – “Giovanni”

62. Soccer Mommy – “Your Dog”

61. Childish Gambino – “This Is America”

60. Calvin Harris (feat. Dua Lipa) – “One Kiss” 59. Pinkshinyultrablast – “Taleidoscope”

58. easyFun (feat. Iiris) – “Be Your USA”

57. boygenius – “Me & My Dog”

56. Hinds – “Soberland”

55. Allie X – “Girl Of The Year”

54. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu – “Kizunami”

53. MGMT – “Me And Michael”

52. Shawn Mendes – “Lost In Japan”

51. Snail Mail – “Pristine”

50. Amen Dunes – “Blue Rose”

49. Troye Sivan – “Plum”

48. Drake – “Nice For What”

47. Speedy Ortiz – “Lucky 88”

46. Silk City & Dua Lipa (feat. Diplo & Mark Ronson) – “Electricity”

45. Nicki Minaj – “Good Form”

44. Pusha T – “Come Back Baby”

43. David Guetta (feat. Sia) – “Flames”

42. Kim Petras – “Heart To Break”

41. Devon Welsh – “Summers End”

40. The Wonder Years – “It Must Get Lonely” 39. Lykke Li – “Last Piece”

38. Courtney Barnett – “Charity”

37. Rosalía – “Malamente”

36. Low – “Always Trying To Work It Out”

35. Porches – “Country”

34. Julia Holter – “Les Jeux To You”

33. James Blake – “If The Car Beside You Moves Ahead”

32. Guerilla Toss – “Jesus Rabbit”

31. Jon Hopkins – “Singularity”

30. Kero Kero Bonito – “Swimming”

29. Mayday Parade – “If I Were You”

28. Robyn – “Ever Again”

27. Azealia Banks – “Anna Wintour”

26. Kali Uchis – “Feel Like A Fool”

25. St. Vincent – “Fast Slow Disco”

24. Angélique Kidjo – “Once In A Lifetime”

23. Janelle Monáe (feat. Zoë Kravitz) – “Screwed”

22. DJ Koze (feat. Mano Le Tough) – “Planet Hase”

21. CHVRCHES – “Never Say Die”

20. Mount Eerie – “Tintin In Tibet”

19. Kraus – “See”

18. Let’s Eat Grandma – “Donnie Darko”

17. Teyana Taylor – “WTP”

16. Noname – “Don’t Forget About Me”

15. Adrianne Lenker – “blue and red horses”

14. The 1975 – “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)”

13. U.S. Girls – “Poem”

12. Charli XCX – “No Angel”

11. Years & Years – “All For You”

10. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Party For One”

9. Empress Of – “When I’m With Him”

8. Kacey Musgraves – “Slow Burn” 7. Hop Along – “Somewhere A Judge”

6. Ariana Grande – “Breathin”

5. Hatchie – “Sleep”

4. Mitski – “Geyser”

3. Beach House – “Woo”

2. SOPHIE – “Immaterial”

1. A.A.L (Against All Logic) – “I Never Dream”

#100 best songs of 2018 #best of 2018 #best songs #music review

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inkytealeaf · 6 years ago

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Reunion part 1

It was time the siblings meet again, so here. Have this

~~~~~~

Amaya couldn’t sleep.

Soon, she would be back home. Only a few hours were between her family and herself. A few long and painful hours. They would first enter the port in Vesuvia, a city she had missed with her whole being and where she had made so many memories, then she would have to ride for another hour to reach her hometown. She could already see their happiness on their faces when they would find her on the doorstep, bags on her shoulders and tears at the corner of her beautiful eyes – one blue, the other green. They would talk, asking here where she had been, asking her why she had never sent them letters, and after the tears and laughter, her baby brother would come in the tiny kitchen, eyes still full of sleep.

How old was he today, eighteen? Twenty? No. It has been fifteen years since the last time she’d seen him. Long was gone the little boy who would sneak into her room and sleep with her even though he was too old to still need someone to sleep peacefully. Long was gone the little boy who would ask her to make stars fall, the blanket hiding them being their sky. What did he look like now? Was his hair still full of knots? Was he still chasing birds and lizards behind their house? Were his eyes still shining with wonder?

A single tear ran on her cheek, guilt choking her. She should have never left Nevaeh without an explanation, with only that piece of paper, a ‘see you soon’ written on it. She should have never left her baby brother alone, alone in the dark. Did he cry when she didn’t come back home that day? Of course he did. Amaya was the only person in their hometown he was so close to. Not even his friends knew what was scaring him in the middle of the night, none of them knew the secrets he shared with her. Where Amaya was, Nevaeh was too. It had always been like that, since the first day their parents introduced them to each other, right after they took him out of that orphanage.

Elbows on the wood and eyes fixed on the horizon, Amaya let the wind caress her sun-kissed skin and the few strands of smokey purple hair she hadn’t tied in the bun resting at the base of her neck. And as dawn broke colouring the sky in beautiful colours of orange, pink and purple, she saw the cliffs far on the horizon.

A sailor screamed in the crow’s nest, but she already was running back to her cabin, back to a warm bed. She bit her lips at the sight of the naked body laying on her bed as she silently closed the door behind her and walked slowly to the sleeping beauty. Her fingertips traced her calf, then moved higher on her bum, squeezing as she put dozens of kisses from the end of her spine to her shoulders. She gently bit an earlobe when she felt her move in her sleep, slowly waking up, and slide her hand higher on her body, fingers tracing her ribs.

“Rise and shine, beautiful,” She said against her ear, her hands wandering more on her body, caressing warm amber skin. Amaya smirked when she reached a hand behind her and grabbed her hair.

“Keep touching me like that and I’ll tie you again, Quartermaster.” She said with a sleepy but stern voice.

Amaya laughed and put a loud kiss on her cheek. She fell beside her and wrapped her arms around her, lips kissing the scar across her nose. “I wouldn’t mind, my dear Elidi, but keep that idea for another time.”

Elidi was the Master at Arms on the ship, taking orders from and reported to the Quartermaster. Tall with thick and long golden hair and a fresh sidecut, Elidi was a stern and demanding woman regarding the training of the crew, but behind closed doors, Elidi would change into a whole different woman.

“Why did you wake me up? Something happened?”

“Land is in sight, my love.” She said brushing a thumb under her emerald eye before kissing her lips.

Amaya took a deep breath as soon as she set foot on land, arms wide open, back straight. She stayed like that for a moment, enjoying the feeling of the sand under her feet, the sound of the market place nearby, until she felt an arm around her waist.

“Mind to show me around?”

“I thought you wanted to stay on the ship?”

“Well, something made me change my mind,” Elidi curled her lips, looking away. When Amaya raised an eyebrow, she added, “The whole crew decided to have some fun in town, even the captain. Except Gabriel.”

“Oh.” Gabriel was a young sailor who had joined their crew only a month ago and loved to play the troublemaker each time he could see Elidi on the deck. Smiling, she kissed her temple before taking her hand in hers. “You’re better with me. Now let’s go!”

Amaya knew the city like the back of her hand for having lived here a few weeks before joining her first crew. Of course, Vesuvia had changed since her last visit, but her favourite spots hadn’t changed place.

She took her to the market first, crowded as in her memories. At a stand, she took advantages of the seller being too occupied with the many people buying their fruits to steal an apple. She bit into the fruit ignoring Elidi’s fake shocked expression before giving her the rest of the apple, reassuring her that no one saw her. As they walked through the stands, she told her about a few events that happened when she was living here like that time she almost got into a fight with a fortune teller for telling crap to a young couple, or that time she got chased by the guards throughout the city because she had stepped in the palace gardens, uninvited, and had managed to lost them in the market place. How did she go in the gardens? No one knew.

They reached the temple district where they lit two sticks of incense, then made a prayer asking their deity to keep them safe during their next journey. After a few other streets full of people, Amaya let out a loud ‘Ah ha!’ and pointed to a structure with coloured windows.

Elidi took a closer look to it, and above the wooden door she could read the name of the tavern written in red letters. Rowdy Raven.

“It’s too early to stop at a tavern, love.” Elidi told her as Amaya had her hands and face pressed against the glass to see if they could sneak inside and say hello to the barkeeper.

Amaya pouted. “You’re right. Anyway, no one’s in there. Did I tell you I’ve spent most of the nights here before joining the crew?”

“Never,” She lied, and noticed the smirk on her full lips. Elidi simply loved listening to her stories, no matter how many times she had told them.

“Well, I have a lot of happy memories from that place. Memories of broken noses and wrists too.” She traced a heart on the green coloured part of the window before taking a few steps backwards, eyes fixed on the wooden raven. “I got into a fight once, or rather more than once, but this time the guy managed to punch me in the jaw. Hard,” She said as they started walking again, hand in hand. “Auntie was so mad when I came back home that night with a huge bruise on my jaw and cheek. You should have seen her face.”

“And the guy?”

“What? Are you underestimating me, dear?” She bumped her hip against Elidi’s. “Hm, a black eye and his manhood strained. ‘Don’t use your magic during a fight, Amaya. Aim for the crotch!’, auntie was always telling me that.”

“Does she still live here?”

“I hope so, I wanted to stop by her shop to say hello before we’d left the city. Don’t worry, she’ll love you. Mom and dad too, and Nevaeh.”

“Oh I’m not worried!”

They turned right at the corner of a street. Her aunt’s shop was there, as she remembered it. A grey stones wall and wooden pillars, a large curtained window, the symbol of a snake embracing a mortar and pestle hanging near the front door, and, to Amaya’s greatest happiness, the lit lantern indicating the shop was open.

As soon as she opened the door, a wave of memories hit her. There she was, standing behind the counter looking at the vials and other precious object trapped in the glass. She would wait for a customer to push that door and be surprised by the many scents of the candles and incense sticks burning at every corners of the shop. Amaya would take care of them, her aunt only stepping in when she didn’t know the answer to one of their questions.

Her eyes fell on deep purple drapes embroidered with stars, closed on the shape of two people she couldn’t hear. She wanted to push those drapes and hug her aunt, see the surprise on her wrinkled face, but she couldn’t do that now. Not in the middle of a reading.

They both waited in front of the shelves where her aunt had her books, and Amaya told her more stories about the shop.

After a few more minutes, the two people left the backroom, but Amaya didn’t move. She wanted to have a look behind her, just a sneak peek of her aunt, but Elidi squeezed her arm and she focused again on the book they were reading.

“Listen to your intuition,” A voice behind them said. “You’ll make the right choice.”

Amaya almost dropped the book, that wasn’t her aunt’s voice.

“Oh, good morning,” he greeted them, coming closer. “How can I help you?”

Amaya wanted to laugh. She had wanted to see her brother again so much and now that she could, she didn’t dare to turn around and face him. She wasn’t ready.

“Is everything alright?”

She felt Elidi move beside her, ready to get them out of that uncomfortable situation, but she stopped her, clasped her hand and turned around.

“Hello, Neva.”

The sound of a cup breaking echoed throughout the shop.

#the arcana #fan apprentice #nevaeh ravensteel #amaya #elidi #my writing #that will be a short thing #two parts max

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