#Well in this case frog facts actually

[sarahmackattack]

One last talent show to save the rec center

Ok everybody here's the deal.

My science education nonprofit, Skype a Scientist (you might know her, creator of the squid facts hotline and matcher of classrooms + scientists) has secured absolutely no grants to support general operations for 2025. But! We're selling advent calendars to fund our program! They absolutely rule. They can save our nonprofit asses. If we sell 5000, which I realize, is so many, we can fund our program for 2025. Then I can offer a bunch of programming for free. Running a nonprofit is a weird job.

Every day, counting down to frankly whatever you want (it's usually Christmas, but man, maybe you want to count down to Halloween, that's fine by me) scratch off the sparkly sparkly iridescence and reveal a fact about frogs! We have 24 top-notch frog facts here.

You should get one for every kid in your life, then get one for all the adults who still let themselves access joy in critters.

Get 'em here: https://squidfacts.bigcartel.com/

[celestial-kestrel]

It's that time of year again where Mari Lwyd starts to be talked about and shared around and an INCREDIBLY misleading post gets shared a lot. As someone who grew up with Mari Lwyd I wanted to clear some things up.

Also hello, if you are unaware who Mari Lwyd is. This is about the Welsh tradition of the horse skull who visits houses during the Christmas to New Years period in Wales asking for alcohol.

First off and probably the most important one:

Mari Lwyd is not a cryptid!

I can not emphasise this enough. She. Is. Not. A. Cryptid. There is no story or mystery about a ghost or zombie horse roaming the Welsh valleys. She's not even supposed to be a ghost or a zombie. It's just a horse skull on a stick with a guy under a sheet. She's a hobbyhorse and a folk character used to tell Welsh stories and keep songs alive. When people spread the misinformation that she's a cryptid, it's the equivalent of saying Kermit the Frog is a cryptid.

She is actually only one character in a wider cast of characters who go door to door or, in more modern times, pub to pub. The cast of characters can change town to town and village to village but there are some common ones I see time and time again. The Leader, the Merryman, The Jester and The Lady are just some I see regularly. Punch and Judy used to be more popular a few years ago but I haven't seen them in a while as their tradition has mostly fallen out of popularity. In most cases, almost the whole cast will be played by men. Even the characters are considered and referred to as female. Though this again depends and varies by which group is partaking in the Mari Lwyd tradition.

This point also goes onto my second point,

Mari Lwyd does not rap.

I think this comes from a very common misunderstanding of what rap is vs spoken word. Rap is a very specific style of music originating from the African American communities of the USA and has it's own structure and motifs unique to it. It's a lot more complex than people give it credit for as a style of music and just flippantly assign anything similar to it as being rap. If someone is talking fast or reciting poetry, it is not rap. Or anything that is an exchange of words between two people is not a rap battle. Mari Lwyd does not do rap, actually something that gets left out of these posts is the fact Mari Lwyd does not even speak. It's actually the Leader, who does all the speaking and song based banter between the house/pub owner for entry. Mari Lwyd just clicks her mouth, bites people and bobs her head around.

I think Mari Lwyd is a really beautiful and unique part of Welsh culture. She's not actually as wildly celebrated as a lot of the posts make her out to be. Actually, I think most Welsh people themselves learn about Mari Lwyd through the internet as well. Her popularity is increasing thanks to the drive of local groups wanting to keep the traditions alive and a renewed desire to document Welsh traditions before they're gone. Which is why it's such a shame that she's turned into something she's not to earn horror points on the internet. I think this is why it bothers me so much to see the misunderstandings of the culture and the folk tradition. Mari Lwyd's origin is very hot debated as well as how long it's been going on for. But I think it's thanks to a lot of traditions like this that the Welsh language and our stories weren't lost forever. Welsh culture is recovering as is the language. But it's still in a very fragile place. I think it's why it's important to document and correct information when it's spread.

Anyway, if you want to see the tradition in action, here's a lovely video from the Cwmafan RFC going to one of the pubs for charity. It includes the song exchange with the pub owner for entry and the whole pub singing and joining in once Mari Lwyd and the rest are inside.

As well with another video from St Fagan's showcasing the more traditional and door to door form with the larger cast.

[boysborntodie]

Details from The Outsiders you may have forgotten or missed

-Cherry doesn't appear after the hearing (her not waving Ponyboy is just a movie thing)

-Ponyboy fucking hates people with green eyes so bad and gets pissed when someone points out he also has green eyes

-Steve always combs his hair into complicated swirls

-The Greasers always play football together

-Soda is one of the only Greasers who never gets drunk

-He also doesn't smoke unless something is bothering him or he wants to look tuff

-Darry, on the other hand, never smokes because it would affect his perfect body which he is very proud of

-Darry is also proud of being smart and sensible

-Ponyboy is the heaviest smoker out of the Curtis family

-Johnny started smoking at 9 and Steve at 11

-Johnny would've run away from Tulsa if it weren't for the gang

-Soda gives killer massages

-Ponyboy's razor wasn't working while he had to dissect a frog so he just took out his knife

-Darry goes skiing with some of his old friends sometimes

-Cherry and Marcia barrel race often and are pretty good at it

-Soda used to ride in rodeos but after breaking a ligament, his dad made him quit

-Sometimes Soda and Steve let Ponyboy help them fix the cars at the DX

-Johnny is the most law-abiding of the gang, and didn't even carry a knife until the Socs jumped him

-Cherry has an older brother

-Ponyboy used to have a yeller cur dog

-Johnny's scar his from his temple to his cheekbone (it's huge and also hard to look at)

-Two-Bit is great at doing impressions

-Two-Bit often raises one eyebrow, and the gang associate the gesture with him

-Dally and the Curtis mother got along well before she died

-Ponyboy is a scarily good liar

-Ponyboy notes that while he sees Johnny as a scared puppy, he actually looks rather hardened and cold to a stranger

-Johnny's skin is lighter under his bangs

-When at the church, Johnny puts his jean jacket over Ponyboy while he went out to get groceries

-Steve, Dally and Two-Bit wouldn't have thought of buying soap at a grocery store

-Ponyboy calls himself a Pepsi addict

-Dally hardly ever cuts his hair

-Johnny loves drag races

-The Curtis Dad took the brothers out hunting often in the country

-Ponyboy has the best aim but hates shooting

-Dally heard of the old church from a cousin

-Ponyboy is the youngest person on the track team but still one of the fastest

-Darry was the closest to their dad

-Steve once called Darry 'all brawn ans no brains' which made Darry made because it reminded him of the fact he didn't go to college

-Darry will suddenly pick up a random Greasers and swings them around

-The Curtis Dad used to call Soda 'Pepsi-Cola'

-The Shepard gang and the Curtis gang have fought seriously on at least on occasion (but it's nothing compared to the rumble)

-The Curtis brothers stayed at the hospital all night for Johnny and Dally until a doctor forced them to leave

-Johnny has a clean police record

-Ponyboy chews his fingernails when nervous

-Johnny often sleeps at Two-Bit's house

-The Curtis brothers all have huge appetites

-Darry always checks Ponyboy's Math homework for mistakes

-Johnny looks like his mother; having the same black hair, dark eyes and tiny built/height

-Soda did actually try really hard to stay in school but he kept failing

-Darry and Ponyboy both enjoyed school and athletics while Soda isn't into either

-The only thing Dally did honestly was jockeying

-Johnny really good at poker (or Ponyboy is really bad)

-The only time Johnny has been confident and not scared in his life, was when rescuing the kids in the church

-Johnny actually gets hurt because he pushed Ponyboy out first of the church

-Sodapop loves attention and was good with the reporters

-Sodapop has a crazy sweet tooth

-The Curtis brothers all love chocolate

-Darry never locks the front door in case one of the gang need a place to stay

-Ponyboy once found Tim Shepard sitting on their couch reading the newspaper

-Ponyboy thinks that Two-Bit wouldn't have gone inside the church if he was there

-Two Bit wished that the one hurt was anybody but Johnny and that the gang would have still been able to get along had it been anyone else

-Darry once took an aerobatics course and taught all the Greasers everything he knew

-Soda and Two-Bit were doing aerobatics and then got arrested for disturbing the peace

-The Curtis gang are noted to be better at fighting than the Shepard gang

-Tim Shepard looked like a model from the magazines Ponyboy reads

-Ponyboy notes that sweat ran down Dally's face when Johnny died, but it was probably tears

-Cherry drives a Sting Ray

-Curly once slipped off a telephone poll and broke his arm

-Johny's a good listener and all the members of the gang often go to tell him about their day or their problems

-Johnny says in his letter that the lives of kids were worth more than his

[shanastoryteller]

happy winter time! naruto, dealer's choice. thank you!

a continuation of 1

Sakura is terrified that she’s going to mess this up.

Naruto’s never been mean to her, and has complimented her hair several times, but they’re not really friends. Back when she was friends with Ino, she’d see her at the Yamanaka compound sometimes and they’d play together, but she doubts Naruto remembers that.

Sakura doesn’t think she and Sasuke have ever had an actual conversation. He used to be the center of all their competitive crushes, to his hilarious dismay, but then he got betrothed to Naruto and no one was willing to piss off the hokage’s daughter by flirting with her fiance.

Well, besides Ino, but everyone knows she does it just because Sasuke hates it and Naruto feels duty bound to defend him.

Also because Shikamaru ended up taking Sasuke’s place as Cutest (and Available) Boy and Ino would rather stab herself in the eye than bat her eyelashes at Shikamaru, even if that means there’s a social game she can’t win.

Sakura's on a team with son of the Uchiha clan head and the hokage’s daughter, Rookie of the Year and Top Kunoichi, and their sensei isn’t even some normal jounin, but the Inuzuka clan head.

Tsume-sensei seems dismayed when they pass, although Sakura thinks she should have expected this. Naruto and Sasuke have been working as a team for even longer than they’ve been engaged.

Maybe she’s just surprised that they folded Sakura in with them instead of leaving her behind. Honestly, she’s pretty surprised by that too.

“Does this mean we get a dog?” Naruto asks brightly as Sasuke picks twigs out of her hair. “Mom says I only get one pet and doesn’t believe me that the frog doesn’t count.”

“No,” Tsume-sensei snaps, then, “Maybe, I don’t know. I hadn’t actually expected that I’d have to train you, fuck.”

Sakura can’t see this going well.

~

Naruto walks home with Sasuke, because her mother is working late to avoid her father and her father is working late to avoid the fact that her mother is working late to avoid him.

She wishes they’d just get a divorce. Maybe they will now that she’s legally an adult. Maybe she’ll move out and take herself out of the equation.

She won’t. But she thinks about it a lot.

“Maybe it’s good that it’s Tsume,” she says. “Sakura’s biggest weakness is her conditioning and you know that Tsume will train us into the dirt.”

Sasuke hums. “Maybe we should introduce her to Gai.”

She stares. “Do you hate Sakura?”

“She’s fine,” he says dismissively. “It’s too bad we didn’t get Hinata, but both my father and hers would have thrown a fit and gone to complain to yours. He’s the best at taijutsu, if she joins Team Nine’s morning workouts then she’ll be up to par in no time.”

“If it doesn’t kill her,” Naruto says dryly. “Why don’t we see what Tsume cooks up first, yeah? The first chunin exam is months away. She has time.”

“How do you know Tsume will sign us up for that one?” he asks, although by the glint in his eye he already knows.

Naruto answers anyway. “Tsume is going to take the first opportunity to get rid of us that she can, which would be the chunin exams. She’ll be praying for us to either pass or die.”

He laughs, a breathy sound that wouldn’t qualify coming from anyone else.

They arrive at the Uchiha compound and she stares at it wistfully. After helping uncover the almost betrayal, every Uchiha is nice to her now. The compound is so warm and bright and everyone is happy to see her and there’s always somewhere she can go.

“You can join me,” Sasuke says. “Mom always makes extra.”

Just in case she shows up.

“They’ll be expecting me to be home after the test,” she says, trying not to sigh. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

Sasuke nods, a pinched look on his face that she pretends not to notice.

When they get married, she hopes they live in the compound.

[cbrownjc]

Thoughts and Speculation after 2x07 (Spoilers):

A lot of people have said that this moment from the Season 2 trailers might actually be caused by a fight between Louis and Armand in the penthouse:

gif credit: @hermit-frog

And I have to say, after watching episode 2x07? I think they might be right.

Because if you know the book, you know that it is at the very end of it, like literally the last few pages, where it's revealed that Louis knew the whole time about Armand's role in what happened to Claudia. And they break up.

And so I think the same thing is coming next week on the show. Only in the show's regard, Louis knew of Armand's role, as we saw here -- but then was made to forget the actual full context of just how involved Armand was.

Because, as I pointed out on Twitter, this image from the trial --

-- is quite something. You have both the writer and director for the Théâtre des Vampires not on stage for this whole thing. Very much underlying the fact that this is a theatrical play that is being put on. As we saw, there was even a real, actual SCRIPT for this whole thing!

Like, how much more could the show have been pointing to what was really going on here? Trust a writing staff of playwrights to be meta about all of this. 🙃

Because the ending of this trial was written and locked in long ago. And who is the one that usually says when a play or film is locked in and finished?

The Director. (And yes I know producers and studios do too, but Armand is very much all of that wrt his role for their little theater as well).

BTW, Santiago and the coven did NOT expect Armand to do that to the audience. Saving Louis was very much off-script. And if Armand really had no power here, the coven could have just taken Louis off stage and killed him another way. The only reason they didn't was because Armand was very much not powerless in all of this.

Like, I love Armand's character, I really do -- now. But that is something that only came about after I read the books from Queen of the Damned forward. For the first two books, I very much did not like him. And, particularly when it comes to the Paris part of this story, that is where we are with his character right now. I know why he's doing what he's doing, I understand it. But I can't defend it.

Louis probably figured things out before San Francisco in 1973. He probably knew Armand's full role in what went down, same as in the book, after it all happened. But it was his suicide attempt that had Armand redact that knowledge from Louis' mind. The clues for that being the case are all there after episode 2x05.

Because, at the end of the day, even knowing Armand's full role in Claudia's death, Louis still mostly blamed himself for it all.

As we see, things are slowly starting to come back to Louis, but he's not fully there yet. And I think this whole memory thing is a more literal interpretation of the veil that descended over Louis' mind after Paris in the books.

A veil that only began to lift once Armand revealed to Louis that Lestat was alive. As we've seen, Louis knew Lestat was alive back in 1973. I'm not sure if he does so now. But maybe this isn't about knowing if Lestat is alive or not. Maybe it's just Louis thinking he needed to be punished because of his own role in failing Claudia -- and staying away from Lestat was part of that self-punishment. Because that view is a feeling I got when watching episode 2x05 and Louis not wanting to speak to Lestat. His refusal to speak wasn't out of anger IMO, but more fear and even sorrow.

The show is very much sticking to the beats of the book with all of this, and not revealing things about what happened that were revealed in later books. So I don't think Louis fully knows what was going on with Lestat during that trial. I wouldn't be surprised if we learn he still doesn't, since he never learned it in the first book.

But as I said here, it was clear as day that Lestat wasn't himself during that trial. Physically and especially mentally. I didn't even guess that the show would be that obvious about it, but they were. All very much hinting about what was really going on with his appearance here.

And Louis himself might, just might figure that out for himself. Especially if Dreamstat might appear to be back in his mind again. Because Dreamstat is very much Louis' subconscious. And I think Louis' subconscious knows something important is missing wrt all of this.

It was nice that, at least in the end, someone chose Claudia. Madeleine could have escaped this but chose to die with Claudia instead when she didn't have to. Her little middle finger to the crowd gave me a smile.

They did not do the full reveal of Claudia's diaries and what was in them on stage, which I seriously thought they would. They gave a hint about it, but more so in episode 2x05 than in here. Which means that, in a later season, we're still looking at that reveal from Merrick happening it seems. But then again . . . there were some things I suspect got left out on purpose because the actual (attempted) murder of Lestat was very much glossed over for us, the audience, during that trial sequence. We are very much set to revisit that whole thing during The Vampire Lestat adaptation in Season 3, of course. But I think even more will be revealed about that there then I originally thought.

And finally, Claudia. They said in the Inside The Episode they wanted her to go out with as much strength and defiance as she could and yeah, she did. But in the end, I still think she was angry, sad, and hurt by it all, which she had every right to be. Because at the end of the day, she never should have been made and was made for all the wrong reasons. But being turned so young made her a fierce and pure vampire though and though because she never had enough time to have lived a human life to have those types of morals and outlooks fully imprinted on her. That was always one of Claudia's core traits wrt her being turned so young, and she still had it here. And yes girl, you will haunt things after this -- particularly your parents.

In fact, it probably very much was your voice Louis heard calling him back in 2x05, wasn't it?

So, for a penultimate episode, this was very, very good. And things are very much going to explode next week. I knew Louis going Carrie/Firestarter on the coven would happen in 2x08. That moment always screamed "season finale" to me. Santiago picking up Claudia's yellow dress is also significant, as I think we'll see Louis' POV of that moment with Lestat about it.

And the break up between Louis and Armand might just be much more violent than it was in the book as well.

[drconstellation]

Obligatory Reminders and Crossing the Lines

Have you been wondering why Shax tries to do a mail delivery to Crowley as he escorts the shop keepers to safety from Aziraphale's Eldritch Ball? It seems a pretty random thing to do at that moment.

SHAX: I brought your mail. CROWLEY: Why? SHAX: It stacks up by the front door. CROWLEY: Keep it for now, not a good time.

It's not the first time Shax has tried to give Crowley his mail. We first see her hand a pile over on the park bench in S2E1, while they have an introductory spy vs. spy catch up, in St James Park.

SHAX: I brought your mail. CROWLEY: Anything interesting? SHAX: Bills, mostly. I don't understand why they won't just deliver them to your car. CROWLEY: Send the bills to Hell's finance office. SHAX: I did. They say they can't accept my signature as your replacement.

Bills, mostly. That aren't being accepted by Hell's finance office, unless Crowley signs them. And they expect to find him in the official residence of Hell's ambassador plenipotentiary to this corner of Earth, in Mayfair.

Next, we see Crowley redefining all that mail as "junk" and discarding it.

uh huh. Lets ignore the conveniently placed disposal unit for the moment...

We need to stop and define what those "bills" actually are. Because they are not actually the financial type of bills. Well, they could be. But this is the GOmens AU, so they have a second meaning as well. Paying your bills is also meeting your duties and obligations to another party, and this is something Crowley is refusing to do right now.

I don't think its as simple as Hell being short staffed and they just haven't got around to doing the change over (I know I suggested the latter recently, sorry) and that's why they aren't recognizing Shax's signature. It's that Hell actually hasn't let Crowley go - he is still "on the books," so to speak, despite all that has been said and done since the Nope-ocalypse. He might call himself a "former demon," and he might call Hell his "former side," but that is definitely NOT how Hell sees it, despite the fact they aren't harassing him or giving him tasks to do.

Actually, that should be haven't been harassing him, because since Gabriel "disappeared," they have been back on his case. The mail is a warning sign, but Lord Beelzebub's summons really should have given you the chills.

Crowley protests that they had a "generalized understanding" that he would be left alone, but Beelzebub declares that "we don't."

Ah. So all is not as it appears. They are just playing nice because they want something (Gabriel) and in reality Crowley's position in relation to Hell really is fragile. Yet outwardly he seems more worried about Aziraphale.

It goes downhill from here. Shax begins to stalk him.

This image of Shax is just delish. The sharp "V" of her her decolletage reminds us of a stork's bill, her avatar animal, and it's stabbing down at the snake on her belt. She might be seeking the Frog Prince who escaped Heaven but she's also got a certain snake in her sights.

Shax can't can't cross the threshold of the bookshop without an invitation from Aziraphale. This plays into the old belief that supernatural creatures such as vampires, demons and faeries can only enter a house if invited in. We also see this extended to the Bentley, once "ownership" is extended to the angel, but the door of the bookshop is the important border here for now.

Then have this threat of war being declared:

War on Aziraphale, not Crowley, as they still consider Crowley to be on Hell's side. They don't see it the way Crowley does as Us and Them, to Shax there is still only Heaven and Hell.

So we come back to the second round of mail delivery:

Crowley is about to escort the human shopkeepers to safety and Shax confronts Crowley right on the threshold with his duties and obligations. He really doesn't want to have that conversation right now, not here and not with Shax. As far as he is concerned, he has no obligations to Hell any more, and he's not taking any notice of their demands in any form, either, so Shax may as well just get out of the way and take the mail with them.

And with that, Crowley crosses the threshold, leading the humans out.

At this point in the story you might be asking what's the big deal about that? Crowley has been going in and out over that doorstep several times a day lately, and has crossed it hundreds of times over the last couple of centuries since the bookshop was built. It's not a barrier to him.

The significance of this boundary line has been highlighted to us in S2. We have Shax actually telling us that she knows she can't cross the "threshold" in S2E3, then she asks again in S2E5 where the boundary line is just before Mr Brown is hauled off into the demon Legion. But its even more than that.

On one level its the line that Crowley has drawn for himself. He's not going back to Hell if he can at all help it, and he's quite resolute about that. It's his side or no one's side, from there on in. He reinforces that when talking to Aziraphale in the Final Fifteen.

On another level, I'm wondering if we could consider this a step on the eponymous Hero's Journey? Crossing the Threshold is one of the early stages of the journey where the hero crosses into danger or the unknown. We're shown things aren't normal outside by the mist and green light. Then he diverts off unexpectedly to Heaven with Muriel. Just throwing it out there to see if its worth exploring a bit further. I'd say we've only got the early stages of the journey in S2, with the remainder to come in S3.

[finleyforevermore]

🌟CASTING MY MUTUALS IN: SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET!🌟

Side note: I cast based on if the character reminds me of the moot, or if I can see the moot playing the character! If you get cast as a bad guy, of course I don't think of you that way! The reason I casted you is the second reason, I can just see you in that role! Cool? Cool! Now grab your razors, and let's get to cutting!

For those who paid attention to my blog, you all saw this first one coming 😅:

Finley as Sweeney Todd and Zeep (@ziipzeepzop-eez) as Mrs. Lovett

Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett in the picture. (2023 Broadway)

Reasons for...me!: Sweeney is an actual dream role of mine! Not to mention it'd be a blast to get to play a not nice guy for 2 hours >:)

Reasons for Zeep: I wholeheartedly believe Zee has the comedic chops to play Lovett, and would absolutely sell the serious moments as well. In Zee we trust 😌

Mari (@heylittlestellbird) as Johanna

Maria Bilbao as Johanna in the picture. (2023 Broadway)

Reasons for Stella: Johanna is associated with birds. Who's got "bird" in their username? Mari! I rest my case! XD /silly

Atlas (@literatureisdying) as Anthony Hope

Jordan Fisher as Anthony in the picture. (2023 Broadway)

Reasons for Atlas: Anthony's number one character trait is yearning for Johanna. Atlas' number one trait is yearning for Auden. Simple! /silly

Mikey (@mushroom-hoodie) as The Beggar Woman

Ruthie Ann Miles as The Beggar Woman in the picture. (2023 Broadway)

Reasons for Mikey: Admittedly at first I had casted you as the Beggar Woman, because one, I just couldn't turn down your offer to be included, and two, I was struggling to think of skmeone else to cast you as but the more I thought about it the more I genuinely liked it! I think you'd do a really good job in this role! ^^

Frog (@ofthefrogs) as Tobias "Toby" Ragg

Joe Locke as Toby in the picture. (2023 Broadway)

Reasons for Froggy: I mean....just look at you and then look at Toby and tell me you don't look alike.

But also! Toby is a sweetheart! Froggy is also a sweetheart! I rest my case.

Ender (@ender-outlaw) as Adolfo Pirelli

Nicholas Christopher as Pirelli in the picture. (2023 Broadway)

Reasons for Ender: While you and Pirelli really couldn't be any more different, you're already a very charming person (Pirelli is in fact not that XD) and I think you'd have a great time playing him! Also, this is Tumblr! Who gives a hoot about gender? We can have a female Pirelli if we want!! >:D

Greaseball (@gb-diesellok) as Judge Turpin

Jamie Jackson as Turpin in the picture. (2023 Broadway)

Reasons for Greaseball: Just like Ender and Pirelli, you and Turpin really couldn't be any more different XD but your voice definitely fits comfortably into all of Turpin's vocal parts! ^^

Rook (@rook-specter) as Beadle Bamford

John Rapson as Bamford in the picture. (2023 Broadway)

Reasons for Crepuscule: Just like Ender and Pirelli AND Geebs and Turpin, you and Bamford aren't very much alike either! Who woulda guessed? XD

But I think your portrayal would be absolutely delightful and very funny (very much like his portrayal in the 2023 Broadway revival funnily enough)

And last, but most certainly not least..

What's a musical without it's Ensemble? :D

From left to right, we have:

@sandsmand, Troy (@the-fag-with-the-swag), Ash (@ripash), Wolf (@electricfied-wolf), Razzle (@whistlingstarlight), Ash (@idk-what-to-make-user), Charlie (@gently-decaying-flowers), Cal (@treasure-goblin), Amor (@nuncscioquidsitamor-14), Gabi (@splendidred05), Finn (@lordcatwich), & Eli (@theelispace)!

[salty-croissants]

if your still taking requests, can you do a Bullfrog and Rayman/ramon of their S/O is Pregnant? if you can't that's okay

Thank you for the request !

I apologize for taking longer than usual , I found myself in need of a break since I was feeling a bit too uninspired to write :,T

Anyway I’ve never really written anything for a pregnant reader before , so this was a pretty fun challenge :,) 

Hope it turned out okay ! 

Details : use of female reader ( thought I’d go for that given the prompt , hopefully that’s alright ! ) ;

established relationships ; 

no warnings needed 

Bullfrog 💚

Deep down , Bullfrog still can’t believe he is actually going to become a dad …

While he is definitely worried about how he is going to keep you and your future child ( or children :> ) safe , this frog is still really looking forward to start a family with you , and he will remind you of this a lot .

< y/n , my dear , I’m just so grateful to have you by my side , you know ?

I’m so happy about our child , je ne peux pas attendre … >

He is the absolute best at taking care of you , using all the spare time he gets when he isn’t out for missions to be there anytime you need something , no matter how small .

< I’m back mon amour ! 

Here , I brought you some more food in case you get hungry , and I also made some tea while I was at it . > 

< Thank you honey ! This is exactly what I needed , you’re amazing ~ > 

When you’re feeling a bit fatigued , Bullfrog loves to just rest by your side , with the two of you often falling asleep into each other’s arms .

And if you ever try to stay up anyway , well … your partner is very good at persuading you to do otherwise .

< Hmm … I’m not that tired , sweetie … we can still … talk , or maybe do … something else … > 

< Non y/n , you need to get some sleep … you had a long day today , and I don’t want you to stress yourself too much . 

I’m going to be right here with you mon cher , so don’t worry , alright ? > 

< Heh , alright , thanks Bullfrog … 

Oof , give me a second , the little one is starting to feel heavy … > 

Your beloved assassin adores those simple moments of intimate bliss he gets with you , and whenever he occasionally opens his eyes to check on you he can’t help but feel an overwhelming happiness , knowing that you’re the person that he’s going to share a family with …

Despite the uncertainty of your futures , Bullfrog knows that as long as you’re with him , there will always be hope for him somehow .

Rayman 🧡

Oh boy is he excited ! 

Rayman loves children , so the mere thought that he’s going to have a kid with you fills him with joy …

He never thought that he’d be able to have something like this in his life , given the way people see him despite his popularity , so you better believe that he will be showering you with affection … even more than usual . 

< Oh y/n , sometimes I still can’t believe this is happening , y’know ?

I just … god , I love you so much ~ > 

Unfortunately , I honestly doubt the Directors would show much care about the fact that their star’s partner is going through a pregnancy …

They need Rayman to be on the show , that’s what matters most to them , so as much as he hates the idea of leaving you alone he doesn’t have much of a choice …

< Damn it …

I’m so sorry … if I could stay with you I would , but the Directors … > 

< Hey it’s alright hun , I’m just gonna lay here and rest until you come back , I should be just fine . > 

< Mm … well , maybe I can convince them to let me go home earlier than usual : I don’t want anything to happen to you because I couldn’t be here , y/n … I … I would never forgive myself … > 

< Ray , love … you worry too much . 

Now come here , I didn’t forget about your goodbye kiss ~ > 

< Heh , thank you y/n … mm … ~ 

I’ll be here as soon as I can , I promise . > 

During the immensely frustrating hours where he can’t be with you , Rayman is still going to remain in contact with you by calling you and sending you texts … a lot .

“Hey sweetie ! 

This should be the last interview for today , I can’t wait to see you ! ❤️

How do you feel ? I remember yesterday night you couldn’t sleep much , did you manage to get some rest ? Oh , you should also remember to drink some water if you haven’t already , it really is important , especially now !”

“Hi Ray ! ❤️

I’m okay , don’t worry , I got some sleep and that really helped a lot !

I think our child is happy you’re coming home … I can feel it kicking since I begun writing you this message ! 

We’ll both be waiting for you ❤️❤️”

After Rayman gets home , I hope you’re prepared to be showered with love and affection for the rest of the day :

he just can’t express how much he missed you , from your voice to your beautiful face … you just make him so happy , and knowing that you’re about to start a family together is just everything he could possibly need .

Ramon 🖤

1 Now that he doesn’t have to care about his job or the orders of the Directors , you better believe that Ramon is never , ever going to leave your side , especially now that you’re pregnant .

He is terrified at the idea of losing his one chance of finding happiness in his otherwise bleak existence … he won’t allow that to happen .

< y/n , where are you going ? > 

< Ah , I’ll be right back Ram , I just wanted to go for a quick walk just outside , my legs are a bit sore and - > 

< I’m coming with you . > 

< You don’t have to do that , love … I know the wounds you got yesterday while fighting those Eden guys still hurt , you should rest . > 

< I don’t … care about that . I need to be there for you . I need to keep you and our child safe .

Please y/n … you’re all I have . > 

< Okay , okay … we’ll go together , hun . I won’t leave you . > 

< Thank you … > 

He finds it especially comforting to gently rest his head on your stomach , listening to the baby’s occasional small movements beneath … 

It’s in little tender moments like these that Ramon can finally put his mind at ease , momentarily forgetting about Eden and the mess you’re in .

< Does this hurt , darling ? > 

< Hmm ? 

Oh no , it doesn’t ! Don’t worry about it …

It actually feels very nice ~ 

Ramon’s mind often gets crowded with unwelcome thoughts about what kind of life will he be able to provide to your kid , given the critical situation you’re currently both in , and as much as he tries to keep those feelings to himself you’re able to understand what’s on his mind . 

< I know you’re worried about our future , I am too … but I just know things will be alright for all three of us . > 

< How do you know that … ? > 

< Oh , that’s easy Ram : 

I have you here with me , and that’s all I need to keep on going !

It’s not going to be easy , but I know we can face what comes next if we stick together , and we’ll be able to make our child grow happily in a good place . > 

< Heh … you always know how to make me feel better , y/n .

I love you so much , you know that … ? > 

< I love you too Ramon … trust me , we are going to be okay . > 

[satansapostle6]

fire and ice | james cook

Cook’s interest is piqued when an old childhood friend moves in across the street.

Warning: Mature themes/language. Drug use. Sexual content.

part seven.

part eight. tiff and jj.

That particular Tuesday, Tiffany Wheeler had walked into class high. More so than was typical. Most of the time when Tiff was high, it wasn’t necessarily noticeable to anyone except those who really knew her. She would just act normal while seeming a bit more subdued, with red, bloodshot eyes at the most, and that would be the end of it. But not today.

Tiff had walked into class late with Effy, and the two of them were, to put it simply, on one. They had split mushrooms and some spliff, and were on another planet entirely. It was the first thing Cook noticed when they walked into the room. The classroom had been dead silent, with everyone silently working on whatever they were working on, whether it was their actual class work, or doodling, or lightly snoring. In Cook’s case, it was staring at the doorway off and on waiting for Tiffany to appear.

And when she finally did more than twenty minutes into class, everyone in their respective group knew that it was going to be an interesting class. For starters, Tiff and Effy both walked into the room stumbling and giggling, something that wasn’t necessarily typical of either of them. The two girls were laughing so hysterically at something when they came in that even the teacher had noticed that they were under the influence of something. But of course, no one actually cared.

Tiff and Effy had taken far too long to sit down, too sloppy and distracted to function in that moment. Their behavior had gotten many different reactions. Katie and Naomi both rolled their eyes. Panda was excited by the prospect of drugs. JJ was somewhat confused, meanwhile Freddie just stared at Effy. But Cook was too focused on Tiff. He couldn’t take his eyes off her; she rarely lost control when drunk or high. Or in general. Her laughter and smiles were something he knew to take advantage of when he got the chance.

James Cook sat in his seat, watching in amusement as Tiff sat half slumped over in her seat in front of him next to JJ, deciding to take out a notebook so as to blend in with the rest of the class, but she just stared at it, not writing or reading or anything. She wasn’t able to at all.

“Psst,” Cook whispered, trying to get her attention. “Psst!”

Tiff was still too busy staring at her empty notebook to notice.

“Psst! Oi! Tiff!” he hissed frustratedly.

Tiffany slowly looked up at him, eyes rimmed with smudged black eyeliner.

“What?” she whispered back.

“Did you and Eff seriously blaze up without me?” he pouted.

“It was girls only,” she remarked.

“Well that’s rude,” he frowned.

But Tiff was already onto the next thing. JJ was next to her, absentmindedly drawing something to entertain his train of thought. Tiff of course noticed it as her eyes wandered.

“What’s that?” she whispered, leaning in.

JJ looked up at her, surprised that she was talking to him. Tiff often hung out with him, Cook, and Freddie, but rarely did she and JJ ever speak to one another separate from the others.

“It’s a frog,” JJ responded quietly. “Or, at least an attempt at one.”

“Do you draw frogs a lot?” Tiff wondered.

JJ had to think about it for a moment. “No. I don’t really draw… I just randomly thought of frogs. I wanted to see if I could do it.”

He stopped for a moment to wonder if he’d been talking too much. He was somewhat comforted by the fact that Tiff didn’t seem to care.

“That’s cool,” Tiff stared. “I think frogs are interesting creatures.”

“Yeah, I suppose they are,” he agreed, genuinely engaged in the conversation. “I think it’s interesting the sounds they can make.”

“I think the poison ones are interesting,” Tiff shared, “Like the colorful ones. The poison dart frogs. I wonder why they call them that. Do they actually shoot poison darts?”

“Can’t say I know,” Jonah Jones thought curiously.

Cook was fascinated watching the two of them interact, wondering if that was how he sounded to people at times.

*****

After school let out, Tiff and Effy went with Cook, Freddie, and JJ back to Freddie’s shed where the boys usually hung out together. Effy was sitting with Freddie, and Cook was sitting on his own, drinking more than anyone else as he watched Tiff and JJ, still talking.

Cook was surprised that they were still having one long conversation about a variety of different topics. He knew Tiff and JJ were both very unique people who were often quiet in large group settings, but he just couldn’t seem to understand how they were still talking.

“I don’t really go out much,” Tiff thought, “It’s easier to just drink at home.”

“Yeah, that’s understandable,” JJ sympathized. “I just wish there was a way I could meet girls… Not that it’d matter anyway, even if I met one there’s no way I’d be able to get anywhere beyond friends, if that,” he admitted with a sad disappointment to his tone.

“Oh, I’m sure that’s not true,” Tiff insisted, taking his hand in a friendly manner.

Cook watched with surprise as JJ just got bashful in response, practically blushing when she touched him, even if it was just to give his hand a squeeze.

“Besides,” she offered, trying to find genuine and truthful ways to help, “Some of my best shags have been friends,” she shared.

Immediately, JJ turned red as Cook looked at her in curiosity, definitely invested. Everyone could physically see the JJ swallowing the hard lump in his throat.

“It’s okay,” Tiff smiled, taking JJ’s hand.

His eyes widened at the comforting gesture. Not only was JJ unsure of how to receive such a kind act of physical affection, he was also extremely confused by it coming from Tiffany Wheeler.

“You’re safe with me, JJ,” she said softly.

“Th-Thank you, Tiff,” he managed, clearing his throat frantically.

“Do you want to kiss me?” she said finally.

JJ nearly had an aneurysm, along with Freddie and Cook, who couldn’t take their eyes off of this fascinating new development. Cook was becoming increasingly jealous, while Freddie seemed to find the situation strange. Effy, on the other hand, watched eagerly. Effy wanted nothing more than to watch Tiff kiss JJ.

“Sorry, what?” JJ blurted out, laughing so as to offset his growing fear.

“I said, do you want to kiss me?” Tiff asked softly, not missing a beat.

“Uh, well, yes!” JJ stammered, “But, is that an offer, or…?”

“Of course it is,” Tiff nodded, slowly moving towards him as she sat on her knees beside him on the couch. “Would you like me to kiss you?”

JJ’s blue eyes were now locked on Tiff’s, completely frozen. He had no idea what to do or say, and frankly, he was afraid one wrong move would wake him from this splendid dream.

“Y-Yes,” JJ concluded, accepting the fact that his first kiss would be with Tiffany Wheeler, in front of his friends, “Yes.”

“Ask nicely,” Tiff smiled.

“Please,” JJ whined, surprising even himself. “Please, please kiss me, Tiff,” he pleaded with her, as Effy grinned, sitting forward in her seat.

“As you wish,” Tiff said softly.

JJ prepared himself, unsure of what to expect. He had expected a very innocent, almost platonic sort of kiss, with the two of them hardly touching; a sweet peck on the lips for the sake of allowing him a first kiss. But what JJ got shocked him. Instead of going the simple route, Tiff swung her leg over JJ’s body, sinking down in his lap as Freddie nearly jumped up out of his seat.

Cook’s eyes widened hungrily as he watched Tiff straddling his friend, hand subconsciously sliding down his lap. He couldn’t believe his eyes. For a moment, the spliff made him question whether any of this was even happening at all. But it most certainly and unmistakably was. Freddie gave in and applauded JJ as he looked up at Tiff on his lap, too stunned to move. Effy was more than entertained.

“Don’t be afraid,” Tiff offered, slowly pressing JJ’s hands, which had been hovering, onto her waist.

He grinned ear to ear with excitement, looking nothing if not grateful.

“Do you want to touch my ass?” Tiff whispered in his ear.

JJ pulled away, nodding quickly. “Please.”

Smirking proudly, Tiff slid his hands down to where he gripped her behind, slowly finding his confidence as his friends laughed and cheered. Tiff leaned in again, equally enjoying the shared moment of pleasure.

“Are you hard?” she asked huskily.

JJ looked petrified.

“Yes,” he confessed.

Tiff nodded, grabbing him by his hair as he felt another warm, tingly sensation, signaling to him that he was enjoying himself.

“Good,” she whispered to him.

He looked right into her dark eyes, his own eyes heavy as he began to pant softly. JJ was beginning to feel overstimulated as she sat on top of him, but in the best way. She could feel him squeezing her ass as he allowed her to sink down on top of him, the both of them feeling each other even through clothing.

“Please, Tiff,” he begged. “Kiss me.”

Before JJ had to say anything else, Tiff pulled him in by the collar of his shirt, pressing a harsh kiss to his lips. JJ was initially stiff, unsure of how to reciprocate, but eventually, he felt his instincts kick in. The kiss was equally rough and loving. Tiff didn’t like to kiss with tongue, but she made sure the kiss was still fully engaging as they shared a series of breathy kisses.

Just as JJ began to feel himself getting carried away, his hands moving up to grope her breasts, Tiff pulled away. At first, JJ was startled and was convinced he’d done something wrong before she spoke.

“Open your mouth,” Tiff instructed.

JJ gulped. He had no idea what was about to happen, but strangely, he relished that feeling. JJ politely opened his mouth, staring up at her obediently. Tiff grinned as she grabbed his jaw and spit in his mouth. Freddie nearly gasped aloud. Effy just smiled, pleasantly surprised as Cook leaned forward, tempted to palm himself over his pants.

“Swallow,” Tiff said calmly.

Nodding quickly, JJ obliged and swallowed, eyes still completely trained on her.

“Thank you,” JJ breathed, as Tiff just leaned forward and pressed another kiss to his lips, a sweet peck on the lips.

“Good boy,” she said, before swinging around on his lap so that she was facing everyone else once again.

As if nothing had even happened, everyone continued with their conversation from earlier before eventually deciding to head out to a pub after Effy, Tiff, and Cook all took more mushrooms. Tiff headed out before Cook and JJ, as Cook stopped her in front of the shed behind Freddie and Effy.

“Tiff,” Cook called after her.

Tiff turned, as Cook pulled her aside.

“Tiffy,” Cook huffed with desperation, “I need a shag. Right now,” he said, about to undo his belt.

���Cook,” Tiff scoffed, looking around in Freddie’s yard, “No.”

“Tiffy,” he protested in a needy manner.

“Cook!” she scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Fuck off.”

Cook pouted as he ran off after Freddie, leaving Tiff at the shed with JJ.

“Tiff,” he said nervously.

“JJ,” she smiled, her high creating beautiful visuals within the sunlight around him.

“Sorry about Cook,” JJ apologized, seeming genuinely troubled. “He’s… horny,” he offered sheepishly, unable to come up with a better word.

“It’s nothing,” she assured him, “I’m used to it.”

JJ looked at her sadly. “You deserve better,” he offered honestly.

Tiff frowned sympathetically. “I don’t want better,” she admitted.

“But… why?” he wondered, genuinely confused.

“Better’s boring,” she told him, as they walked together. “Besides. I’m not as good as I seem, JJ.”

He tried to find a way to dispute her claim, but as he kept searching for reasons, he began to realize that he didn’t really understand people at all. Especially her.

“Sometimes I don’t understand what makes someone good, and what makes them bad,” JJ said, sounding troubled.

“Sometimes, it just depends on what you want to see,” Tiff offered, before taking his hand. “Come on. Let’s go get drunk.”

JJ knew that when it came to Tiff, he just had to accept this. JJ squeezed her hand as they walked off together.

-

part nine.

[lilypadlys]

Ghouls at the Aquarium

Headcanons about the ghouls at the aquarium. Inspired by a trip to the Shed Aquarium in Chicago. Had to shout it out because it was so frickin amazing. No one ask me my favorite exhibit because I will say all of them. But also definitely the belugas and the jellyfish.

Cirrus: She loves the dolphins. As serious and strict as she sometimes is, she’s like a kid at Christmas when the group reaches the dolphin enclosure. She admires how smart they are as well as how sleek they look darting through the water. And yes she knows what little shits they can be and she doesn't care. She still thinks they’re neat. She plans the day around making sure to catch the dolphin show at least twice. Cumulus buys her a dolphin plushie and she just about melts into a happy puddle.

Cumulus: As much as Cirrus loves dolphins, Cumulus loves beluga whales. She thinks they look majestic. And huggable. She would hug one if she could. The rest of the girls booked a behind the scenes beluga experience for her and they got to see them up close, feed them, and even pet them. By the end of it they’re all giggling at how cute the beluga’s are.

Sunshine: She thinks the lionfish are neat and likes how their spines look like sunbursts. Kinda sad that they’re an invasive species but understands why work to remove them from the wrong areas is important for the marine ecosystem. Gets a postcard from the gift shop with a picture of one to put in her room.

Aurora: She spent a solid half an hour sitting in front of the moon jellyfish tank watching them. It was one of those circular tanks that have a slight current to gently cause the jellies to drift in a circle. That and the color changing light had her mesmerized. She would have spent longer watching them but the others literally pulled her away so she could see the rest of the aquarium.

Dewdrop: He wasn't too sure about it at first. The aquarium kind of dredged up some melancholy and yearning for his water ghoul days. He's happy as a fire ghoul for sure, it suits him better. He definitely misses his water though. Fortunately he warms up to it; seeing how excited Rain and Phantom are playing a big part. He can’t help but crack a smile when Phantom starts mimicking the penguins. He ends up loving the eels and the caimans. Joins Rain in naming all this fish, offering increasingly unhinged suggestions.

Rain: His unglamoured form is pretty sharklike so it's not surprising that Rain has a fondness for sharks. The pile of shark plushies on his bed definitely isn’t a tip off either. Besides the sharks, Rain likes pretty much every exhibit. He gives silly names to every fish that catches his eye with help from Dew and discusses which fish would taste the best with Swiss much to the horror of the other patrons.

Mountain: He really likes the sea dragons because they look like plants. He didn’t know they were a thing until seeing them at the aquarium for the first time. Also really interested in the aquatic plants (of course) and the frogs and turtles.

Aether: He really likes the manta rays. He thinks they’re so cute. Loves how it looks like they’re flying through the water. Way too excited about getting to pet them but it's endearing.

Swiss: Phantom actually saw the piranhas before Swiss did, took one look between the two of them and dubbed them cousins. Swiss did not help his case by immediately baring his teeth in a grin. He then proceeded to chase Phantom around the room threatening to nibble on him while Phantom giggled. That is until Cirrus put a stop to that so they didn’t get kicked out.

Phantom: Loves absolutely everything but also the penguins and starfish. He asks the staff a million questions and they’re happy to answer every one. Leaves the gift shop with a stack of books on ocean facts that he and Rain end up reading aloud the whole ride home.

[iheartpeppino]

Here's what I think the Pizza Tower cast thinks of Maurice Spaghetti...

Peppino: The poor guy can't stand Maurice. He's one of the biggest reasons Peppino doesn't come home for Christmas anymore. After putting up with his abuse for years, Peppino is just... tired of Maurice. He's tired of arguing. He just says, "I know," to every horrible thing his brother says about him. And the worst part is, Maurice seems to invite himself into Peppino's life whenever he least expects or wants it. This is because Maurice is such an asshole he literally has no friends and relies on Peppino for company.

Gustavo: He also can't stand Maurice. He HATES him, actually. Gustavo really cares about Peppino, so the fact his own brother treats him like shit infuriates him. He has threatened to kill Maurice before (remember Gustavo's catchphrase?), so Maurice is (rightfully) afraid of Gustavo.

Brick: Our rat buddy can smell a bad egg a mile away. He does NOT like Maurice and will hiss at him whenever he appears. Maurice claims that Brick is "the second-biggest rat [he's] ever seen", so he's... a little unnerved by the sight of him.

Mr. Stick: He hasn't met Maurice yet, but I guarantee you if he DID, he'd try to scam him out of a lot of money and would likely succeed. Cue Maurice crashing with Peppino until he can get his house back. Peppino is miserable and not amused by any of this.

Pepperman: Met Maurice during filming of The Noise's "Swap Mode" movie. Pepperman thinks Maurice is really unpleasant to deal with due to his negative attitude and close-minded outlook. Even a pseudo-intellectual like Pepperman runs circles around Maurice intellectually, which the pepper is happy to do, much to Maurice's frustration.

The Vigilante: Met Maurice during filming of The Noise's "Swap Mode" movie. He does NOT like him. He actually feels bad for Peppino; it must truly suck to have such an immoral piece of cow dung for a family member. Apparently the guy conned his own granny out of thousands of dollars! The Vigilante keeps a very close eye on Maurice the whole time they're around each other. Maurice feels his sins crawling on his back the whole time.

The Noise: He's generally neutral towards Maurice. He thinks all the mean things Maurice says about Peppino are funny. It's when Maurice starts spouting racist rhetoric he's like, "DUDE" and rendered completely speechless because... well, he's never heard Peppino talk like that, so where'd his fucking brother get it from!? Anyway... The Noise only hangs around Maurice if he needs him for something, like annoying Peppino. Maurice has tried befriending The Noise, inviting him to hang out, but The Noise isn't interested in being friends with a racist prick. He does, however, want to remain on Maurice's good side in case he needs him, so he just makes up excuses about being too busy.

Noisette: Noisette is not the kind of person who hates people easily. She tries to see the good in everyone. However, she sees no good in Maurice. She hates him, openly, and without regret. She hates the mean things he says about Peppino. All the bigoted, ignorant blather he spews. How he once assaulted an innocent laundromat worker and called her a bitch just because she told him he couldn't pay to do laundry using nickels. Noisette growls like a rabid dog whenever Maurice is around. Maurice is (rightfully) terrified of Noisette...

Fake Peppino: Our favorite frog man met Maurice during filming The Noise's "Swap Mode" movie... he doesn't like him at all. Maurice is loud, mean, and generally unpleasant. When they were filming Swap Mode's Fake Peppino boss fight, Fake Peppino actually tried to kill Maurice. The Noise had to step in and scare Fake Peppino off. Fake Peppino had to pretend he was simply getting a little too into his role instead of trying to actively hunt down Maurice. Playing dumb. Playing pretend... and sneaking a hiss or growl in Maurice's direction when no one else is looking. Maurice is absolutely terrified.

Pizzahead: Met Maurice during the "Swap Mode" movie. Holy mozzarella sticks, this schmuck is Peppino's brother!? And he... bullies Peppino? WHAT THE FUCK, THAT'S HIS JOB!! Pizzahead acts polite and even friendly towards Maurice at first, but as soon as they're alone together, he very calmly threatens Maurice's life, telling him to leave Peppino alone or else, all with a big, unnerving smile on his face. Maurice practically pisses himself in fear as he's forced to agree... for now...

Pillar John: Met Maurice during filming of "Swap Mode". Decided he absolutely did not like him, judging him for every hateful word that came out of his mouth. Fortunately, Maurice is so terrified of Pillar John's sheer size and strength, he doesn't pull his usual bullshit with the big guy.

Gerome: Met Maurice during filming of "Swap Mode". Gerome doesn't like Maurice at all, but he's not too bothered by his presence. In fact, he completely manages to ignore him. Maurice is insulted, but he's not about to talk shit about Pillar John's brother...

[sanderssidesthehouse]

Sanders Sides Ranked: Flirting???

Why do I have “For Legal Reasons This is a Joke” stamped on the front here? Because I get to saying some shit later that is NOT meant to be taken seriously. I enjoy saying words recreationally and making bits, not everything I say all the time is an accurate representation of my thoughts or beliefs and I just want to make that clear when posting on the piss on the poor webbed site.

Sorry, Logan. I don’t think he cares actually, but just in case. I would [verb] you. I also don’t think he cares about that, but just in case.

Also after adding the text on Logan's picture I decided I should add a little blurb to every slide so you can tell exactly how not biased I am.

When trying to decide on widespread appeal I had to acknowledge that most people would probably find him kind of annoying, which is his right, for sure, but then I had to gauge how annoying and how much that mattered and it took me a while.

For niche appeal, I just think that most theater kids™ don’t want to [verb] other theater kids™. They do [verb] for sure, but mostly because they can’t get anyone else because they’re theater kids™ and I think other insecure people mostly want to give him a hug.

(I was a theater kid but not a theater kid™, though I knew some. I just want theater kids™ to know it is their right to be insufferable.)

He's really kind of got two tricks, one is being dad and the other is being sad. I think I'd like to give him a Patt-on the head. If you're into that, though, hopefully you're also into frogs.

Look I was at one point part of all four niche appeal groups and I’m still part of two, this may be a targeted attack, but I caught myself in the crossfire.

Putting Roman in there was a joke bc you cannot tell me you don't classify what Janus was doing as flirting and it worked very well on our prince.

And unrelated to the ranking, I just get jump scared every time I see what Janus actually looks like bc he has long hair to me now. Where are his beautiful locks? Who cut my wife's hair?

Ok look. Quality of banter. We ALL saw his episode, ok? That was NOT top tier creative work. Granted he’s been locked in the basement for a long time so it’s understandable, but that doesn’t change the facts. 

For his blurb I was between what I wrote and something along the lines of "I would forcefem him" and I don't think either of those convey to you how not biased I am but just know that I adore him.

I had a blast making this, I kept cracking myself up, which means probably zero other people think it’s funny but here we are.

I actually went into this thinking I would have Logan as the worst and I thought Roman and Janus would tie for best so I’m glad to see we all have the same general consensus. It looks like this list would go Roman, Janus, Patton, Remus, Virgil, Logan.

I did my best to cut out any egregious swearing and anything explicit so I hope everyone can appreciate my sacrifice /j. Thanks for joining me, argue about it in the comments and reblogs. (<- Also a joke, please be nice.)

[sca-nerd]

Make A Quick and Cheap Circle Cloak

PART 1: JUST THE CLOAK

Step 1. Invite some friends to their first ever event. Make sure it's a cold weather event so that you have to make them cloaks. Then have your Scadian friends ask if you can make them one, as well, because they can't seem to find theirs or found that it wasn't warm enough last year. You have now agreed to make four cloaks.

Step 2. Go to Walmart. Get one (or four) of the $10 fleece blankets in Full/Queen size. If you want a shorter cloak (about waist length) Twin works. But these are all tall mfer's, so I went with the bigger blanket. These blanket don't fray, so there's no need to hem. The edges WILL roll, though, so if you want them to stay flat you'll need to blanket stitch or serge the edges. Or just leave it be, because this is a quick and cheap cloak.

Please note: these ARE polyester so be careful around open flames.

Step 3. Move everything out of the way in your living room, because you don't have any other space big enough to spread this thing out to mark it for cutting. You will probably upset the dogs, but they'll get over it because they're old and still have the couch to sleep on.

Step 4. Fold your blanket in quarters. This means you fold it in half one way, then in half the other way. The material is a bit stretchy, but do your best to make sure that you have your edges matching. Do better than me.

Step 5. Find your scissors and grab either a measuring tape or a long enough piece of string, and a sharpie. Tailors chalk won't mark on this stuff so I usually just use a sharpie instead.

Step 6. Measure the shortest length of the blanket. We already know that it says it is 90x90, but that is a lie. It's actually 90x94 or something like that. Anyway. Measure the shortest length to determine the widest you can make your circle. In this case, we're at 45.

Step 7. Use your tape measure or string like a compass, and mark your cloak. You do this by anchoring one end of the tape measure at the corner of the fold, stretching it out, and marking the fabric at the appropriate length every inch or so. This will create the curve of the circle.

Ignore the fact that I marked this twice. My anchor had come loose and so I had accidentally marked it wrong for a little bit. Anyway. Do this from one edge all the way to the other. Will this be a perfect circle? No. Will anyone be able to tell? Also no.

Step 8. Connect the dots, or find your scissors and just start cutting.

Step 9. Congratulations you have a circle. Now you need a place for your head to go. You do this by measuring two inches from the corner fold, and marking it the same way you did for the body of the cloak. Yes, two inches. Don't worry - your neck WILL fit. This fabric has a lot of stretch to it, and since all of the weight will be pulling from this point it will expand to fit you comfortably. Find your scissors and cut along the dots.

Step 10. Now you have a circle with a hole in the middle of it. Well done. Find your scissors and cut it open, by following the fold from the cut in the neck to the edge of the cloak. This will give you a straight(ish) opening. Try it on and see that I was right about the neck, and you are now cozy and warm.

Step 11. Wait for your housemate to come home so that they can hand-stitch the frog (clasp) closure onto it for you, because you hate hand sewing and she does embroidery as a hobby. Congrats, you have a circle cloak.

PART 2: BUT I WANT A HOOD!

Step 1. Grab that piece you cut off when you made the circle on your blanket. We're gonna turn that into a hood. You only need two matching pieces, but the good news is that you have four. So if you mess up, you still have material to work with.

Step 2. Mark a straight line of 8 inches. This will be the bottom of the hood to connect to the neck of the cloak. Find your scissors and cut it.

Step 3. Find your scissors and cut off the other tail end, making it as deep as you would like your hood to be. Or leave the tail and have a liripipe hood, you do you.

Step 4. Sew up the back and top of the hood. Leave the bottom and face open.

Step 5. Try it on to see if you need to use your back up pieces to make a new hood or not.

That'll do, pig.

Step 6. Pin your hood to the neck of the cloak, and discover that I was right when I said that 2 inches was enough for your neckline.

Step 7. Attach them together. You can do a straight stitch, but I prefer to do a zig-zig, only because there IS a lot of pull on that particular area of the cloak and I like the idea of reinforcement.

Step 8. Try it on. Be warm. Enjoy.

PART 3: GETTING BOUGIE WITH IT

Step 1. Realize that you have made four cloaks out of the same colored blankets because Walmart didn't have any other colors available, and while this isn't necessarily a problem, all four cloaks will be in the same camp and you don't want them to get mixed up or confused for each other.

Step 2. Go find some trim that you have had for years and haven't used up because there's so much of it, or run to the thrift store and see what you can find for cheap. Attach it to the front edge of the cloaks and stitch it down.

Note: you will want to attach trim BEFORE you put your frog on.

Step 3. Silently curse yourself for using wide trim that means you will have to stitch down both sides of it, rather than narrow trim that would only require a zig-zag stitch once down the center.

Step 4. Enjoy.

[alexanderwales]

The Hero is Finally Doing my Sidequest

The party was four people, but there were twelve of us all told. Kyper was the leader, the protagonist, the Chosen One, our assigned hero, so he was always there with his sword in hand and cape swirling behind him. Gendin was a big, blocky guy with thick armor, a heavy shield, and an incongruous little kitchen knife that couldn't have been longer than six inches. Merrith was the party's cleric, light and shadow coming from the hoop on top of her staff, a second-rate healer but with a high amount of versatility.

There were a handful of people that usually occupied the fourth slot. Cardi was an archer, always there if the party was going up against fliers. Terrent was an elemental mage, mostly used to counter affinities. Against humans, it was usually Dennin, who was a skulk-thief, unless they were mind-controlled, in which case it was Tathia, who could use her martial arts to take them down without killing them. Occasionally someone who wasn't even on the roster would join up for a time, but usually not more than a day or two.

Where were the rest of us, when the four members of the party were doing their thing? Good question.

I had the sense of being there, but could never place myself. After the fact, if asked, I would say things like 'we fought the wyvrens', but if you asked me what I had done -- which no one ever did -- I would have been puzzled and unable to explain, even if I was able to recount the blow-by-blow of what the party had done, every sword stroke, every claw against shield, every shout that lingered in the air. Where was I? There, I suppose. I must have been. I traveled with Kyper, didn't I?

Whenever we stopped to rest, I was much more clearly present. Kyper would always make his rounds, and he would always speak to me, and I would feel warmth in my chest and the small hairs raising on my arms. There was something electric about him. We all felt the pull of him, and it was hard to hold back a flirtateous tone -- for me, the rest of the girls, and a few of the men. Kyper liked to give gifts, even if they were small, and whenever we broke to rest that became a part of his visits. At first it had been things I didn't know what to do with, a little acorn or one time a live frog, but on one occasion he gave me blueberries, and I had blushed and asked if he was sure. Every time after that, he had blueberries on hand for me. They reminded me of my childhood and summers spent in the hinterlands, though I never had occasion to tell him. The gift was always the same, but it never stopped giving me a warm, fuzzy feeling. He had noticed my reaction and then gone out of his way to give me something I liked, and it was that, more than the blueberries or the summer memories, that made me blush every time.

In the scheme of the world, I was special. I had been born from a crystalline fragment of a god that had fallen down to land in the woods, and been raised by the Winter King as the Lightning Princess. I had power that most people could only dream of: I could run across water without getting wet, twist myself high up into the sky, clap like a thunderbolt, and glow with pale blue arcs of electricity.

In the scheme of the roster, I was dirt. I could fight in the air and at range, and I was the fourth best person at both those roles. I could use the lightning coursing through my veins to resuscitate people in a pinch, and I was the worst of the five of us -- Barbarelle could bring a person back healthier than they'd been the day before and with their clothes repaired to boot. I could take a hit, but not that many of them, and I could fight, but not as well as the others. We were each supposed to have our niche, but I had none. Maybe that was my role, to be the all-arounder, jack of all trades and master of none, but if that was it, it was a role that consigned me to eternally sit on the sidelines.

Was I actually there for any of it? I thought about that a lot. It might have been that I only existed in those moments when Kyper was talking to me or giving me another handful of blueberries.

There was one time the team had to split in two, when we became separate parties of four attempting to achieve two mission objectives at the same time. I watched as Kyper made the parties. I wasn't on either of them. One party went north to the shield generator, while the other party went south, to the castle walls. Where was I? Both places. Neither. No one ever talked to me about that experience. I never mentioned it to Kyper. I think it was then I realized that I would never have anything to do, that my life would exist only while resting in inns or at campfires, and then only to get blueberries.

Eventually I stopped believing that I would somehow make the party. I stopped hoping for it. I was growing stronger the more we adventured, and every now and then I would find myself in a new outfit I didn't remember picking up with a collection of throwing stars that was sharper than the ones that had come before, but it was all irrelevant.

Someday, Kyper was going to complete his quest. Maybe I would know who I was then. Maybe I would be there, for one last party, before the team dissolved. I no longer had illusions that he was going to make me his wife.

And then, as it seemed like we were about to go after M'ok Tannid the Ancient and bring about the end of prophecies, I found myself standing in my hometown.

I looked with shock on the thatched-roof cottages and the fir trees that had been bent by the wind. The smell of smoke reached my nostrils, birch in the fireplaces, a faint whiff of meats being preserved. I knew this village, Thanholm. I had been here with my father, before his illness.

"Is everything okay, Titania?" asked Kyper. He was looking at me with a furrowed brow.

I looked back at him. He was looking at me. Gendin was beside him, looking at the village, and Merrith was adding yet another carving to her staff in that bored, disinterested way she seemed to do everything.

There was no one else.

I was in the party.

"I ... this is my home country," I said.

"Oh," said Kyper, seeming relieved by this for some reason. "Well you're going to be our guide then, okay?"

"Okay!" I said with an enthusiastic bark I didn't feel.

We walked into the town together, the four of us, my first time in the party since we'd met. I felt the ground beneath my feet, the wind in my hair, and the lightning in my spine. I was real, whole.

Whatever happened next, I knew I had only one goal: I wanted to make this last as long as I possibly could.

[boilbluedenim]

Over the liminal mindscape

I love and hate how this show's ending is completely left up to interpretation, mainly because of Wirt and Greg's potential deaths and how that makes me feel about the show as a whole. It attaches a sort of bittersweet feeling to it which I'm not too sure about. more on that soon though.

Anyway, when paying even just an inkling of attention to this show, you can almost immediately connect the dots and come to the conclusion that none of the adventures (for the most part) actually happened. This conclusion is heavily drawn from the frames we see at the very beginning, of Wirt, Greg, and Jason Funderburker (the frog) drowning. (ep 1)

and from the frames where Wirt wakes up in the water after having said goodbye to Beatrice, saving his brother and the frog by carrying them both out of the water. (ep 10)

Taking into account that Wirt, Greg, and Funderburker all fell into the water moments before almost getting hit by a train, which we discover in episode 9; Into The Unknown, I think it's pretty safe to assume that this is, in fact, the case and that OTGW takes place in either a mental space or a physical limbo, occurring while they are all in the process of drowning.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that OTGW is heavily based off of Dante's Inferno, which, in the simplest of summaries, is a poem about a journey that begins in a forest, leads through hell, and eventually into heaven, hence the theorized death I mentioned earlier. It's actually pretty easy to spot where these references and homages lie, for example, the formula of the story is somewhat similar, and the characters take on similar roles. (for example, Virgil: Beatrice/Woodsman(?)or even Greg in some cases, Beatrice: Sara, Dante: Wirt.) (please read Inferno or a summary of it to fully understand this if you haven't already because it's actually really interesting).

Rewatching OTGW with this in mind led me to realize a lot of things that I originally passed off as unique writing choices with no actual meaning behind them. Then again that could be the case but what's the fun in assuming that?

Upon entering the unknown, we're launched into a universe with a seemingly ever-changing time period. Characters talk funny and fancy, dress and act as if they're from the 1600s-1700s, and none of our protagonists seem particularly fazed by this (except for Beatrice, occasionally) with Greg using a phrase such as "brother o'mine" and Wirt's dramatic poetic rambles. Everything feels very inspired while also being all over the place, almost as if it's been composed from memories, lying in the pits of somebody's mind...

Wirt is a Huge Nerd.

If I am to believe that this show takes place in one of our protagonists' minds, which I do in fact believe, then I would say that that protagonist has to be Wirt. Wirt has a tendency to go on poetic spiels, even dropping two of them in the very first episode. Accompanied by his teenage boy dread (being a nerd at 14 is tough) and his overextending knowledge about curious things, which he showcases in his exclaim at Beatrice's ability to talk and his comment about one of the rooms in Endicott's mansion (below), It becomes a glaring possibility that OTGW is primarily from Wirt's point of view, with the Unknown existing solely in his head.

I've actually seen this point argued before, with some people mentioning the black turtles on the poster in Wirt's room or just his entire room in general. However, if true, that doesn't really answer the question of whether the unknown exists as a physical space or a mental one, having no supernatural effects on the real world.

2. The Implications of the Bell

Okay, so, listen.

I hate to be the kind of person who goes "Well it's probably just a fun and silly bit that doesn't actually mean anything." but I'm gonna be that person anyway, or at least I'm not going to assume character death because I don't want to and free will is a thing blablablabla. I will however be serious for a second and try to provide a tangible reason for why I think this scene doesn't have any real-world implications.

For one, this scene immediately jumpcuts to a voiceover, followed by scenes that serve as conclusions for the stories of the characters we've met along the way, all of them being positive. I think this serves the purpose of letting us know the story did in fact have a good ending, with Wirt learning how to treat his brother with respect. I also think that ties into the theory above.

Not only does the unknown serve as a mental limbo but it also serves as a lesson for Wirt in particular. This journey is riddled with self-critique, characterized as Beatrice, all the while Wirt is drowning and realizing he's not only failed himself but his brother as well.

3. The Beast

Surprisingly I haven't mentioned the beast yet even though he's very important to the story. The beast represents a couple of things, one being death and two being the overarching, real-world problem. Those may sound like the same thing, and honestly, they are depending on what you think the problem is. To me, it's Wirt's relationship with, and treatment of Greg in the real world that bleeds into the universe of the unknown.

The exchange that Wirt has with the beast at the end of episode 10 fully encapsulates his character growth. The characters his mind has created have actually taught him something, that being; wallowing in sorrow and accepting your fate is just going to lead you further down this winding path, or in this case, to the bottom of this lake. You will never get home.

Unlike I've seen others suggest, this is not a story of a boy failing and dying while so wrapped up in his own fantasy, eventually residing in a false heaven. Instead, everything is put back where it needs to be.

From the forest, through the unknown, and finally, back home.

[storiesofsvu]

Post Its

Tara Lewis x reader req'd by anon Warnings: language, some slight teasing, pure fluff. Tbh, it is a fcking crime that there isn't more Tara stuff out here, wtf? Send a req here! Sign up for her taglist here!

Tara loved you more than anything in the world, she had from practically the moment she’d met you. You were exactly the opposite of all the darkness that she saw on a regular basis working with the BAU and that was part of what drew her to you originally. You were soft, warm, colourful, her own personal ray of sunshine to come home to after a long dreary day. She knew part of that stemmed from the fact that you taught kindergarten, spending the days with tiny humans, you were always full of laughs, stories full of imagination and your sticker collection was far larger than she’d ever seen before.

She couldn’t help but smile when she’d catch you in moments of still very much being in teacher mode, as if you were talking to tiny humans instead of actual conversations. She’d once overheard you in the kitchen when a pot was boiling over say something along the lines of “oh come on now Mr. milk, that is not very smiley face sticker behaviour of you.” She chuckled but didn’t say anything, she found it endearing and adorable, not something to tease you about. It was just something that made her love you more, made her softer around you, able to finally embrace that side of herself knowing that you loved it as well.

Once the two of you moved in together it was pretty frequent that you’d pack lunches for the both of you to take to work. Tara hadn’t thought much of it, she usually bought lunch or they were on the jet by the time noon hit anyways, but you always brought your own, and made sure your classroom was stocked with extra snacks for kids who got hungry. So it just made sense for you to make double what you were making and pass the bag off to her with a gentle kiss on the way out the door. It started out as just food, though sometimes things were cut into cute shapes, sandwiches without crusts, little animal or frog skewers in the smaller pieces of fruit to use instead of forks.

“Awe, did your mom pack your lunch.” Luke teased with a smug grin one day and Tara simply snorted.

“Nah, you should know this by now, it was your mom.”

It was almost too easy to tease him back, and besides, he walked right into that one and he knew it.

That was when the rumours started that maybe Tara had a secret kid at home that no one knew about, hence why everything was kid accessible. The rumour lasted approximately ten weeks until she was invited out for post work drinks and she said she had somewhere important to be.

“I’m betting girl.” Spencer muttered and Luke laughed.

“Nah, I’ve seen dinosaurs in her lunches.”

“Girls can like dinosaurs too.” Garcia cut in with a huff and Tara raised a brow in their direction.

“This started out with me thinking you were trying to figure out my sexuality but you lost me at dinosaurs.”

“They think you have a kid.” Emily cut in dryly, already knowing the truth and Tara barked out a laugh.

“No, absolutely not. I have to get home because it’s my anniversary.” She shouldered her bag, “with my future wife, because I know you’ll spend another two months speculating that next.”

It was shortly after your wedding that the notes started. You and Tara had thoroughly enjoyed your three week honeymoon off in Italy. Nothing but time for each other, so much wine and more pasta than you could even imagine. While the transition back into work was relatively smooth for yourself, Tara found herself instantly thrown back into the world of darkness and back to back very jarring cases. You knew she was a little off when she came home absolutely defeated, forgoing dinner for a large glass of bourbon and latched onto you like a koala bear for as long as she possibly could before Monday rolled around. She accepted her lunch with a soft smile and a kiss, pausing to steal another one before you sent her on her way.

When she pulled her lunch out a yellow post it fell out of the bag, her brow furrowed when she went to pick it up, wondering if it was a work note she’d gotten stuck in there by accident or the label from someone else’s lunch in the fridge. Instead she found your writing scrawled across the front,

‘I love you so much, you are my sunshine.’ A large sun drawn in the corner with a huge smile and a pair of sunglasses. A couple of sparkly cloud stickers on it as well. She felt her shoulders drop as her entire body relaxed, releasing the tension of being back at work again and the small smile stayed on her cheeks for the rest of the day.

The next day she opened her lunch to find a slightly crushed chocolate chip muffin among her items, a pink post it with ‘You’re my stud muffin.’ Scrawled across it with a winky face and a print of your lipstick on the paper. She laughed silently, shaking her head at the way she could hear it in your voice. Opening the drawer of her desk she added the note to the little basket she had put the first one in, smiling softly down at them.

Two days later and she found an extra container of candy in her lunch, the post it note blocking the label, ‘You are one hot tamale.’ With a wink. She didn’t need to move the note to know what the candies were, but she still slipped it into the small growing pile in her desk drawer.

‘I know it’s cheesy, but I think you’re grate!’ Stuck to the outside of a cheese string. She audible laughed at this one, earning a raised brow from Spencer, but he didn’t say anything.

‘A list of cute things:

-you

-also you

-hey look, you!

-wait, wait, wait

-you!

-you’re cute’

‘Olive you’ with a drawing of two martini glasses complete with extra toothpicks of olives. (and a note on the back ‘seriously, don’t forget about drinks with the Tanners on Thursday’)

‘You are the sugar and spice of my life’

The notes weren’t every day, obviously if a case took her out of town for a week she wasn’t bringing that many packed lunches in one go. And she could tell that you usually did them the day after rough days, days when she needed a little uplifting, that you knew you would make her smile, if not laugh. Some of them were funny, some punny, and some just utterly adorable. It didn’t matter the theme, she saved every single one of them in her desk drawer, not quite able to part with them. And each day that you left a note, she would come with an even warmer smile than she left with, holding you a second longer when she greeted you, murmuring a soft I love you into your skin as she kissed you hello.

‘There is night so we can appreciate day, sorrow so we can appreciate joy, evil so we can appreciate well, you so I can appreciate love’

She felt the warmth blooming through her chest at that one, a little boost of how important she was to you on a day she was doubting herself.

‘The sound of your laughter is food for my spirit.’

‘I love you more than anything in the entire world. You are my rock, my sun, my moon and stars. You are the most snuggly teddy bear I’ve ever had in my bed, and without a doubt my absolute favourite. Can’t wait to see you, because that’s my favourite time of the day.’

It had been a rough couple of days and she almost felt tears building up in her eyes at that one. She quickly tucked it into her desk drawer and shook the feeling off, she had a reputation to uphold at the office after all. However the moment she was home she was sure to make you know just how much she loved you and how much she really did adore the lunch notes, even if you’d never actually talked about them. It was silent cues you took from each other about them, the way she had a little more pep in her step when she got home after you’d sent her one. And that was all you ever needed.

It was a few days later when Luke was looking over something for a case at her desk, Emily across at Spencer’s desk, eyes looking up at the white board trying to figure something out, Garcia perched on the edge of the desk. Luke let out a huff, recapping the highlighter in his hand before tossing it into the trash.

“Tara, you got a highlighter?”

“Yeah, top right.” She gestured to the drawer and turned back to Spencer as the two of them went through the geographical profile. A small chuckle broke out from behind them that she didn’t think anything of, probably some snarky remark from Penelope until she heard the shuffle of paper and Luke’s voice.

“The most snuggly teddy bear I’ve ever had in my bed… this is pure sap.”

“Oh, but she’s got puns too, look at this one.” Emily’s laughter was what broke Tara out of her trance when she finally turned around to see the three of them with the large array of colourful post it notes spread across her desk.

“Oh come on! That is not a highlighter!”

“Yeah, but it’s way more entertaining.” Luke replied with a smirk, reading off another one of the very sappy ones.

“I think it’s endearing.” Spencer, who had left her to join in on the fun chimed in, smiling brightly in her direction, “couples that continually do little things to keep each other’s spirits up are found to be much happier and have much more successful relationships.”

“Aweee, pookie bear.” Luke teased, “that your new code name?”

“I will shoot you right now.” Tara shot him the coldest glare.

“Does she come up with these on her own?” Penelope asked with a smile, “cause they are good!”

“I don’t know.” Tara replied with a shrug, “I’ve never asked her.”

“Are these what you’ve been smiling at in your lunch all the time?” Emily asked with a wild grin, holding up the stud muffin one and Tara let out a huff, rolling her eyes.

“Can we just stop this? Maybe focus on the task at hand?”

“Whatever you want pookie.” Luke made a kissy face in her direction and she hucked a white board marker at him.

It wasn’t that she was particularly embarrassed by it, but she was a little irked by them seeing all of them. Sure, they were all from you and they didn’t technically see how soft she got with you, but the façade was ruined. As much of a bad ass that she was in the field, she knew that nickname wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon and almost instantly started planning her revenge against Luke. Garcia would help her, she knew that.

A couple of days later she was smiling at a pink post it;

‘You are the sun on a cold day, the crunchiest leaf on my walk to work, the first snowflake of the season to catch on my tongue, the first daisy to bloom come springtime. You are the light of my life. You are the small things that make every and each day the absolute best that it can, you are the only thing that can brighten me up no matter what. I love you.’

She pulled open her desk drawer to add it to the basket and her hand stalled in its tracks when she found the basket empty. She groaned, pinching at the bridge of her nose as disappointment surged through her. Despite her best efforts the team had insisted on going through every single note you’d left for her, she must’ve forgotten to put them back into the drawer before leaving for the day, the cleaners probably thought the pile was garbage. Letting out a soft sigh, she placed the new note into the basket, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to start over now.

*

You were in the kitchen when you heard the door open, Tara calling out to you while she clunked around a little more than usual in the entry way.

“Hey!”

“Hey! Hope you’re in the mood for lasagna!” You called back, wiping your hands on a dish towel before padding your way over to the entry way to greet her.

“Baby you really don’t have to slave way over a hot stove for me after you’ve finished a full day of work.”

“Babe, please. I picked up a frozen lasagna and garlic bread on the way home, the oven did all the work.” You laughed, cupping her face in your hands as you popped up on your toes to kiss her softly. When you pulled back you noticed the black frame under her arm, “what’s that? Did you get some kind of award you failed to mention?”

“No.” She laughed, nudging her go bag off her shoulder to its spot on the entry way bench, “the team may have found the collection of post its stashed in my desk.”

Your head tilted in that adorable way that she loved so much, “the lunch notes?”

“Yeah.”

“You kept those?” You practically melted, a happy and somehow dreamy pout on your lips as you gazed up at her with wide eyes and she couldn’t help but fall even more in love with you, her hand stroking your cheek before she leant in to leave a kiss on the tip of your nose.

“Are you kidding me? As if I could ever throw them away! They were the second best part of my day.”

“Second?” You eyed her suspiciously for a moment before a grin broke out on your lips.

“Well the first is always coming home to you.”

“You fuckin’ teddy bear.”

“Yeah, and now the entire team knows it.” She rolled her eyes, “I guess after approximately one hour and forty two minutes of teasing they got scheming, but my money’s on this being Garcia’s idea.” She turned the frame on the table so you could actually see it, “she’s a bit of a sap and thought the notes were super cute, figured they’d be nice to have all together in one place we could actually admire instead of stashed away in my desk drawer.”

“Oh I knew I liked her.” Your fingers reached out, ghosting over the side of the frame, “this is so cute, and so thoughtful.”

“You like it?”

“I love it.” You leant into her side, humming happily when she kissed your temple.

“Where do you think we should put it?”

“Hmm.” You tugged your lip into your mouth, glancing around, “the wall behind the couch is particularly bare.” You turned to her with a warm smile and a gleam in your eye, “then maybe… we should have your team over for drinks next weekend? It’s practically a crime that I’ve only met Emily so far.”

“I’d love that.” Tara smiled brightly at you, cupping your cheek as she leant down to place a tender kiss on your lips, “and I love you.”

“Not as much as I love you.”  

_______________

@mysticfalls01 @evilregal2002 @maybe-a-humanbean @alcabots @dextur @wchipxchipxp @m00nkn1ghts @daddy-heather-dunbar @augustvandyne @supercriminalbean @prentiss-theorem m @unsubologyy @svushots @happenstnces @sapphicprentiss @heidss @geekyandgay98 @pagetboobstarcomments @onmykneesformarvel @inlovewithemilyprentiss @akingcalledkris @desperate-gay @amypoehlfey @overtrred28 8 @kalixxa